by Rosanna Young
Anne wiped her brow in the sweltering heat of August. Damn, it was hot. She'd soon be home though, and she couldn't wait to sink down on the couch with a cool drink and a romance novel.
She and her husband Dan had recently moved into the family home when his parents had decided to retire to their second home in Florida... not that they were old enough to retire, but Dad had made a wonderful career as a college professor, and now that they had the money and were young enough to enjoy themselves, they were going to. Dan and Annie had been fortunate enough to be able to relocate into the beautiful 140 year old Victorian mansion that had originally been built by his great-great-grandparents in 1870. It had been lived in continuously by his family ever since.
Having been given some of the history of the house when they moved in, Annie knew that Dan and Kathleen, her in-laws, had done some remodeling during the time they were custodians. It was a modern home on the inside, despite it being authentically restored on the outside. Except for the back parlor.
The wall paneling there was still the original, installed when the house was first built. The fireplace was also original and would make the room a cozy place to sit during the winter months.
In the suburbs of Philadelphia, the house stood on its original four acres. In 1870, when the house was built, the land was enough to house the barns and sheds needed to maintain a home, and provide for the horses that were needed for transportation, the chickens needed for eggs and food. The barn also housed the stable hands, and on the third floor of the house were two small rooms the inside help called home.
Society however encroached, as all of the fine homes in the area were owned by the up and coming young bankers and businessmen who wanted to show off their newly begotten wealth.
Now their pool cabana stood where the woodshed once was, and the 20 x 40 in-ground pool took up the space once occupied by the kitchen garden.
About a month after they moved in, Annie was dusting the beautiful paneling in the back parlor. For some reason, she had an uncontrollable urge to care for it. For now they had put a comfortable old couch and a couple of recliners in there. They had decided against the TV, wanting it to be a place of peace and relaxation. In a front corner, where she hoped to install a desk for her computer, the paneling was as rich and beautiful as the rest, but it was different in some way. Taking care, Annie ran her cloth around the edge of the panel, suddenly catching it on a snag in the wood. Concerned, she unhooked it, and then gently prodded at the rough spot and the panel slid to the side, exposing a small cubby hole.
Inside were six small books. The oldest was bound by the softest leather. Each one different, one even had a purple paisley, patterned cloth. Awed, Annie took the oldest one out, and settling into a corner of the couch, she opened it and began to read.
June 15, 1870
Dear Diary,
Today is the first day after we have returned from our honeymoon in New York City. We had a beautiful Wedding, Dan and I. It seems like ages ago, but it was only two weeks. Our honeymoon was wonderful. Dan has spent the last two weeks teaching me the delights of the marriage bed. I had no idea how it would be. Certainly it was a far cry from the 'shut your eyes and grit your teeth' advice I got from momma. I was scared at first but I'm glad he persevered because it turned out so much better than I could ever have imagined.
We saw a play on Broadway, and walked in central park, but by the end of the day I was ready to have dinner in our suite and retire to our bed.
When we got home, I thought that we were going to be staying with Dan's parents for awhile, but the carriage that brought us home went right past their house and continued out into the countryside for another hour. When I asked Dan where we were going he just smiled and said I'd see.
I never expected this beautiful house. He had it built just for us, as a surprise when we got home. Lifting me out of the carriage, he carried me over the threshhold, not putting me down until he had shown me all the rooms, and carried me upstairs to the bedroom where a giant canopy bed was waiting for us... our first night in our own home.
Annie heard her Dan come into the house, and quickly put the diary back in the cubby. She wanted to read more of it, before she showed them to her husband.
It was three days before Annie got another chance to bring out the diary again. She was excited to read more about the marriage of Amelia and Dan. Obviously it was a family name. She'd had a strange dream the night before, too. The couple were invading her mind.
The diary was very easy to read even though it was 140 years old. The writing hadn't faded, it was as if it had been written yesterday. She held the old book gingerly, carefully turning the pages as she read about Amelia's foray into married life.
July 5th, 1870
Dear Diary,
I have done a terrible thing, and my beloved Dan was so angry with me. Let me start at the beginning. Yesterday for the Independence Day celebration, we went to a big picnic at Dan's parents house. I had a new dress, and a hat I was excited to show off. Everything was going wonderfully until she showed up.
Annie looked up from the diary to sip her drink. Amelia could be a feisty little thing when she needed to, at least if what she wrote was any indication. Getting settled comfortably in the corner of the couch, Annie picked up the book to read, when an unexpected lethargy came over her and she drifted off into a dream that seemed to pick up where the words in her mind led.
It was quite a large gathering. The house decorated with red, white, and blue buntings, colored lanterns were hanging from tree branches, waiting for nightfall. At least a hundred people milled about. There was a huge table piled high with food. A whole pig roasted on a spit, a big, black kettle hung from a tripod, a pile of shucked corn at the side, waiting for the water to boil.
On the other side of the yard a band was playing, and some people were dancing across the lawn. Everyone was laughing and having a good time. No one noticed the beautiful woman sidle up to the tall gentleman, stroke her hand up his arm, and smile at him in that way that a knowing woman smiles at her man. No one noticed except the man's wife, that is.
Suddenly a loud screech rent the air, and then another in a different voice, as the latter was the recipient of a glass of lemonade, without the glass.
"Look what you did!!"
"Well keep your hands off him!!
"You bitch!!"
"Tart!!"
"That's enough!!" came a bellow from the startled gentleman in the middle of the confrontation.
Handing the dripping brunette over to another gentleman, he took his wife by the arm and started propelling her through the snickering crowd.
"Amelia, we're leaving. You can make your apologies tomorrow."
For most of the ride home, Amelia listened to her husband as he made clear his disappointment in her. Unfortunately for her, she wasn't in the mood to agree with him. Why had he let her touch him that way. Didn't he see the way she was looking at him? When they arrived at home, a groom came and took the horses and carriage.
Steering his wife into the back door of the house, he immediately turned into the small paneled room she like to call the back parlor. "Undress to your shift, Amelia."
"What? Huh? Why?"
"Why do you think, wife? Do you think I will tolerate that kind of behavior? We discussed consequences before we were wed. You've just been lucky to have escaped it before this. Fighting in public - unwarranted fighting - is not condoned. Now, do as I say."
Slowly Amelia complied. Starting with her short boots, then her hose, she undid a few buttons before she put her arms to her sides.
"I can't," she said.
"What do you mean, you can't?"
"I usually have my maid to help me undress. I can't reach all these buttons."
"I'll do it. Turn around."
Her angry husband had roughly turned her back to him and undone the many buttons.
Amelia got more upset as he worked. This was not the teasing fun undressing she had known before, but a cold methodical stripping of her clothes with only one end in mind, and it wasn't the one she wished for.
Too soon there was a pile of clothes on the floor at her feet; a small bustle, her blouse, skirt, three petticoats, her drawers and her corset lay there, as she stood in front of her husband clad only in a shift that fell short of her knees. Amelia looked up at her irate husband, A tear ran down her face and dripped off her chin when she saw the determined look on his face. She knew she would soon be very sorry for letting her jealousy get the best of her.
Amelia was not a stranger to this type of punishment. Her father had done so when he felt it necessary. It was not uncommon for wives and daughters to be spanked. It was just that her husband had never done so before.
Dan drew a straight back chair into the center of the room, seating himself and drawing Amelia over his lap in one motion.
"Do we need to discuss your behavior any more, Amelia?" SPANK. "Amelia?"
"No sir. But..."
"But what, Amelia?
"She was touching you, and I didn't like the way she was smiling."
SPANK.
"And that made it OK for you to throw lemonade on her?"
"Yes."
SPANK, SPANK, SPANK.
"WHAT?"
"No, sir."
With those quiet words, Dan began spanking her in earnest.
SPANK, SPANK, SPANK.
Amelia tried to be stoic but before long she was crying out. Dan watched as her skin turned from pale pink, to a rosy blush as he continued to apply his hard hand to her. Since this was the first time he had to punish her in this manner, he would limit it to what pain he could produce with only his hand but he fully intended it to be a lesson learned when he was through.
When she tried to put her hand back to cover her burning skin, Dan caught it in his left and held it firmly in the small of her back, all the while spanking her as hard and as fast as he could, spreading the burn from the tops of her cheeks to the middle of her thighs.
Before long, Amelia was struggling in his grasp. She didn't think she was crying, the burn on her nether regions so extreme she couldn't concentrate on anything else. This was far worse than any spanking her father had ever given her. A sudden shift in his position, and her head was closer to the floor and her bum had risen up as he raised his right knee higher. She felt his grip tighten just moments before he centered his assault on the part of her where she sat, and she was soon wailing her discomfort. When her bottom was the appropriate shade of scarlet, he desisted.
Dan rubbed his large palm over Amelia's hot skin. She was crying so hard he didn't think she realized he was done punishing her.
"Sshh," he crooned soothingly. "We're done here now, love."
He gathered her onto his lap, tucking her under his chin and held her close. Rocking her gently he made sure he held her so as not to inflict more pain to her sorest places. Standing, he carried her towards the stairs.
"Where are we going?"
"Somewhere I can prove to you that you don't have to be jealous ever again, my love."
Dan came home from work about an hour after Annie, only to find her stretched out on the couch they had put in the small parlor with the beautiful wood paneling. She was clutching an old book to her chest and she had a very weird smile on her face.
Opening her eyes to see that Dan was home, and looking down at her as she slept, Annie reached up and grasped the back of his neck gently with her hand and drew his face down to hers for a kiss.
Over the next couple weeks, Annie managed to finished reading the story of Amelia and Dan. They lived a decently long life together, raising a son and a daughter. There were other misadventures too, other spankings for other things, and Amelia faithfully recorded everything in her diary.
Annie was disappointed that she hadn't had any more of those remarkably vivid dreams, but she was positive that the couple in her dream was Amelia and Dan. She couldn't wait to get to the next diary, that of Amelia and Dan's daughter-in-law.
Annie had quickly settled into life on the outskirts of Philadelphia. She was substitute teaching for the local school district, but even that meant working almost full time. Dan's commute was a little longer, but in going in the opposite direction than before, he was making better time because of the traffic patterns. Most days they managed to have dinner together, and they always managed to find something special to do on the weekend.
Unfortunately, Annie was beginning to wish that Dan was more like the men in his family, those who had lived in this house before them. She was part way into the second diary. Amelia's first born, a son named Daniel James, after his grandfather, rather than John after his father, married and brought to this beautiful house a young woman whose name was Grace. She had only been able to read snatches here and there, and hoped that was the reason there had been no dreams. Dan was out of town on business, and she had plans to sit in the quiet of the paneled room and read more of Grace's diary.
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