Chapter 13

CHAPTER 13

Brittany was surprised by how much she enjoyed lunch with the other girls. It had, mostly, kept her mind off of Daniel and the turmoil caused by thinking of him.

Lara had packed up a pan of baked apples and the girls headed to the main house to share with everyone else. Katie had taken on the duty of carrying the dessert, and the rest entered the house with her, heading for the dining room where they heard the brothers talking more loudly than usual.

The women stood clustered in the doorway just as Daniel made his announcement. Brittany froze in place, gaping. A loud clatter behind her indicated Katie had dropped the baked apples. No one moved to clean up the mess. Everyone stared at her. A heavy cloud of silence filled the room.

Caleb was the first to speak. “Brittany,” he said, coming to stand by her, “is this true?”

She wanted to deny it. Call Daniel a big fat liar. Stomp across the room and slap his face. But she didn’t.

“Yes,” she said. “It is all true.”

Caleb looked around the room and said, “I believe we ought to give Daniel and Brittany an opportunity to talk about this.”

No one moved.

“Out,” he shouted. “Everyone out. The mess on the floor will be there when we return.”

The room emptied while Brittany and Daniel continued to stare at each other. When they were finally alone, Daniel walked over to her and took her hand. He led her to the living room to sit on the sofa.

Daniel glanced down at her and a smile turned up at the corners of his mouth and he lifted her hand, turning it over to inspect her palm. He stroked his thumb across the tender pad of her hand and Brittany’s breath caught in her throat.

“This isn’t the life you imagined for yourself, is it?” Daniel asked, his voice uncharacteristically tender, a dramatic change from the table-pounding man of a few moments before.

Brittany shook her head.

Daniel gazed out the window and shrugged. “It is odd to think we might be the only people for hundreds of miles, maybe more. But, overall, my life is about what I would have expected. Farming, living simply, building my house. The only thing missing was a wife.”

And then he drew her into his arms and kissed her. Unlike their previous kisses, which had been filled with lust and need, this kiss was sweet and gentle and caught Brittany completely off-guard. Inching closer to him, she cupped his face in her hands. When the kiss ended, their faces remained close and Daniel said, “Marry me, Brittany. Please, be my wife.”

Still stunned, she didn’t say anything. Thrown off by her silence, Daniel filled the void. “I-I know we might not love each other, yet,” he said and his hopefulness was sort of endearing. “But I would be a good husband to you.” He cupped her chin and forced her to look at him. “We already know that we are compatible in bed.” He grinned and she couldn’t help but smile in response.

He gave her hair a gentle tug. “Let me make an honest woman of you.”

She could handle stern, unreadable, grumpy Daniel. Sweet, vulnerable, and romantic Daniel… that was another thing altogether. This version of Daniel touched her heart.

“It would make Mrs. Potter happy,” he said and she laughed, breaking the tension.

“Would it make you happy?” she whispered.

“Yes, Brittany, it would.”

She gazed into his eyes and happiness washed over her. “Yes,” she said. “Yes, I’ll marry you.”

He pulled her onto his lap and covered her mouth with his.

They were married the next day. Brittany might not have been a giddy blushing bride, but she was eager to be away from the looks and whispers of the other women. Just yesterday, they’d all been chummy, but as soon as they found out she’d slept with Daniel and that he’d proposed to her, they treated her like she’d stolen something from them.

Mrs. Potter and the Miller family had been kindly, of course, but the girls had all turned into jealous brats. Shawna and Kimber, and even Katie, had expressed an interest in Daniel, but Brittany had won his heart. Though there were six Miller sons, Samuel and Benjamin were too young for marriage, and now with Caleb and Daniel off the market, the prospects for the rest of the college girls to marry were limited to Gabriel and Josiah.

It had created more than a small amount of awkwardness, particularly with Shawna and Kimber. Brittany had heard them whispering together the night before when they thought Brittany was sleeping.

She’d scrunched her eyes closed and put her head under her pillow, not wanting to hear what they said, but some of the words snuck through her barriers and stabbed her heart.

Maybe what hurt the most was that no one had stood up for her against their sullen behavior. The same people who had, just a few days before, hovered around Lara the bride as though the sun shone out of her ass, looked at Brittany like her wedding dress carried a disease.

She told herself she didn’t care what any of them thought.

But she did.

They all went through the motions of a wedding reception again, but Brittany would have been just as happy with a ceremony, no guests and then off to Daniel’s house. The pouty behavior of some of the girls had cast a cloud of gloom over the whole event.

No one deserved that on their wedding day, regardless of the circumstances that lead to the marriage.

Though she hated to admit it, Brittany was particularly galled that Lara, who had become the de facto leader of the girls due to her status as the first arrival at the Miller homestead, had said nothing in her defense.

She sighed. It was not exactly the wedding day she had envisioned for herself. But then she glanced up at Daniel and realized that maybe what she had envisioned wasn’t exactly what she needed. Despite the circumstances, she was happy to be married to Daniel.

The event was winding down, not that it had ever wound up, and Brittany was relieved to think she and Daniel would be able to leave.

“Are you ready to get out of here?” Daniel had not strayed far from her side since they’d officially been pronounced man and wife. He’d even glared at Shawna and Kimber whenever they’d scowled at Brittany.

Her protector.

She smiled up at him, daring to feel a bit optimistic. Maybe this was all part of a greater plan. He whispered something naughty in her ear. She blushed and giggled before he stepped away to say something to his father before they left.

“You look very pretty in that white dress.” Lara must have seen her opportunity when Daniel left Brittany’s side. It seemed as though she put particular emphasis on the word white.

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Brittany knew damned well what Lara meant, but she wanted to see if Lara had the nerve to actually spell it out.

“It doesn’t mean anything, I was just trying to give you a compliment,” Lara said. “Why do you have to read anything more into it?”

Brittany stared at Lara. She might be acting all doe-eyed innocent, but Brittany knew. She knew that Lara was trying to say much more with her comment. Well, Brittany was fed up with it.

“You don’t think I should be wearing white, do you? You think I’m some sort of dirty girl who should wear a dingy gray wedding dress. You think I seduced Daniel to keep the other girls from having a chance with him. You think I’m beneath you. You always have. That’s why you didn’t want to be my roommate.” All the hurt of coming back to her dorm room to find it empty, Lara’s mattress bare and just a note that said she’d moved out. Three years after the fact, the indignation and anger, the unfairness, every ounce of it surged through Brittany.

Throwing her bouquet on the ground, she crouched and rammed into Lara, tackling her nemesis and flattening her on the dirt. Hiking her dress up to her thighs, Brittany straddled Lara and buried both hands in the other woman’s hair, giving it a hard yank.

“What are you doing? Get off me and let go of my hair. Are you crazy? Can’t you take a compliment?” Lara slapped at Brittany’s forearms and bucked her hips in an effort to get Brittany off her, but Brittany wasn’t going anywhere. Lara yanked at Brittany’s dress and tore one sleeve loose.

Brittany pulled the torn sleeve all the way off her arm and threw it in Lara’s face. “You just couldn’t stand for anyone else to be a bride, could you? You had to ruin my dress too?”

It didn’t take long for everyone else to take in the scene and come running. There was more shouting, though Brittany couldn’t distinguish actual words or voices. She was too busy grinding Lara’s hair in the ground. Seeing the clumps of dirt embedded in Lara’s tresses sent a thrill of gratification through Brittany. But it wasn’t enough.

Picking up a fistful of soil, Brittany raised her hand and said, “Now you’re a dirty girl, too and here’s what you get to eat.”

Lara shrieked and before Brittany could force the dry bits of earth into Lara’s mouth, strong hands grabbed her beneath her underarms and lifted her off of Lara. Daniel held her close and whispered in her ear in an attempt to soothe his new bride. It was a pointless effort.

Caleb helped Lara to stand, but instead of demurely hiding her face against her husband, Lara charged after Brittany and threw a handful of dirt at her. “There! How does that feel?”

Brittany felt Daniel tense up but he said nothing. The two brothers each carried their wife away from the other in order to defuse the situation. Daniel retrieved his handkerchief and wiped the dirt from Brittany’s face.

“What the devil got into you?” he asked.

Angry tears pricked the corners of Brittany’s eyes. “I’m just tired of feeling like she’s looking down on me. She’s always thought she was better than me and then she made a snarky comment about me wearing white. I snapped.”

“You need to apologize to her.”

Brittany wheeled on Daniel. “Are you crazy? She insulted me. I wasn’t doing anything and as soon as you walked away, she came over and started with the snide comments.” Brittany searched his face for some acknowledgement that he understood, that he, at least, was on her side. “Don’t you believe me?”

“Yes, I do believe you. But that does not excuse your behavior. You are my wife now. Someday we will have children. What kind of example would you set for them if you are going around tackling people and rubbing their hair in the dirt?”

Brittany fisted her hands. Oh, how she wanted to scream and slap everyone in sight. “I will not apologize.”

Glancing over at Caleb and Lara, their countenances indicated that they were having a similar conversation with similar results.

“Stay here. Do not move. Do not speak. Do not do anything until I return.” Daniel walked into the neutral zone and had a whispered conversation with Caleb and Mr. Miller. Everyone else stood around and stared.

“This is the best wedding I’ve ever been to,” Katie said. Grace shushed her.

When Daniel returned, he grabbed Brittany by the arm. “We’re going to the barn.”

Confused, Daniel had propelled her halfway to their destination before Brittany realized what was happening. And when she saw Caleb and Lara also heading in the same direction, she stopped moving. “No,” she said. “I will not go into that building with her. I don’t know what you have in mind, but I’m not having any part of it.” She jerked out of his grasp and folded her arms over her chest.

Unimpressed, Daniel scooped her up and tossed her over his shoulder. “This is not how I planned to spend our wedding night, but you have left me no choice. Remember that, Brittany. You have chosen to make this more difficult.”

They entered the barn and Daniel deposited her into an empty horse stall. Brittany watched as Caleb and Lara entered the one adjoining it.

“What the hell are you going to do? Milk us?”

“Swearing and an uncooperative attitude will only make this worse,” Daniel said.

Brittany stole a glance into the next stall and saw the fury she felt mirrored in Lara’s face.

“You are both going to be soundly spanked on your bare bottoms,” Caleb said. Lara gasped.

“On my bare bottom?” Brittany screeched. “I don’t want him,” she gestured toward Caleb, “to see my naked butt.”

“That is why we have brought you here,” Daniel explained. He took hold of Brittany’s arm and guided her to the half wall that divided her stall from Lara’s. He positioned her so that she was braced against the rail with her hands. Caleb situated Lara in the same way, just a few inches down from Brittany. Not exactly face to face, they still could not avoid seeing each other.

Daniel piled the layers of Brittany’s dress on the small of her back and lowered her panties. “You two will be punished together, but, as husbands, we wish to preserve the privacy of your bodies for ourselves.”

Brittany watched as Caleb lowered Lara’s panties and pushed her dress up too. Though she couldn’t see any of Lara’s bared skin, Brittany knew how she felt, because she was in the same position.

Good. That bitch needed a good spanking.

Lara glared at Brittany and Brittany returned the favor.

“Let’s begin,” Daniel said and his hand smacked against Brittany’s bottom.

She heard the crack of Caleb’s hand making contact with Lara’s butt and it was oddly satisfying. When Lara gasped at the impact, Brittany smiled.

“If you’re smiling, I must not be doing a very good job,” Daniel said and gave her a firm swat in the center of her ass.

“Ouch,” Brittany said, rising up on her toes. “That hurt.”

“Good,” Daniel said.

The two brothers got into a rhythm of alternating swats while their wives gasped, groaned, and protested.

Daniel had rolled up his sleeve and when Brittany glanced over her shoulder and saw the muscles of his forearm flexing, she knew this was not going to be a quick few swats and then home for some honeymoon sex.

Heat spread across Brittany’s ass but her anger did not abate. She was in the right this time and she refused to apologize.

To Brittany’s surprise, Lara did not make any admissions either. Both women yelped and complained, but neither asked for mercy.

“This is going to continue until you each apologize to the other.”

The two women made eye contact and Brittany thought they might both comply at the same time, but Lara tightened her grip on the wooden rail between the stalls and said, “She’ll have to apologize first.”

“Ain’t gonna happen, bitch,” Brittany said. Why had she ever tried to be a good girl when swearing and name calling felt so good?

Although she couldn’t see Daniel’s face, Caleb’s face was in Brittany’s line of sight. He’d also rolled up his sleeves and removed his vest and hat, clearly preparing for a long session of discipline on his stubborn wife’s bare ass.

Brittany lost count of the number of times Daniel’s wide, work-roughed palm made contact with her backside, but it seemed like the spanking had gone on forever. Her shoulders were tight from gripping the wall between the stalls and her butt felt like it was on fire. Tears of pain started to sting at the corners of her eyes. She peeked at Lara and saw tears welling in her eyes too.

Finally they had something in common.

Just when she was starting to consider apologizing—not because she’d done anything wrong, of course, but just to get this foolishness over with—it stopped.

She blew out her breath and let go of the rail, shaking her skirt down over her backside, and bent to raise up her panties.

“What do you think you’re doing?” Daniel’s stern voice made her stomach flip-flop.

“I-I thought we were finished,” she said, puzzled.

“I didn’t hear any apologies, did you, brother Caleb?”

“No, no apologies at all. Not even to us for their bad behavior.”

“They are a stubborn pair, aren’t they?”

“Aye, but we have a cure for that, don’t we, Daniel?”

The two brothers laughed and stepped out into the main part of the barn and moments later she heard the door to the barn slide open and then closed again. Brittany strained to see what they were doing, but didn’t dare move from her spot in the stall, even though she was fairly certain she and Lara were alone in the big building. She was already in enough trouble with Daniel and she had no desire to risk adding to her list of demerits by moving out of place without his permission.

She could hear Lara’s labored breathing and glanced up at her. Their eyes met and the two women stared at each other in silence, each too stubborn to be the first to look away.

“This is all your fault,” Lara hissed. “You need to apologize.”

“I do not. You’re the one who always makes snotty comments and never gets called out for it. Well, I finally did.”

“I was trying to be nice but you are always looking for the worst in people, especially me.”

“Up yours,” Brittany said.

“Well, that is an appropriate sentiment, don’t you think, Caleb?”

Brittany gasped. She had been occupied with staring daggers at Lara and had not heard the men return. Glancing over her shoulder, she confirmed that Daniel stood behind her, an odd-looking piece of wood or perhaps a vegetable of some kind in his hand. He drew out his pocketknife and commenced carving away the outer layer.

Was he whittling? What the hell?

Turning to face forward, she noted Caleb doing the same thing. Silence hung heavily over the two stalls in the barn, the only sound the soft scrape of the knife blades as they slid over the strange items in the hands of Daniel and Caleb.

After a few moments, a familiar aroma wafted to Brittany’s nose. She sniffed a couple of times and finally identified the mystery object—ginger. Her eyes slid sideways to gauge Lara’s reaction. They exchanged worried glances, their animosity temporarily set aside while they each pondered what was in store for them.

Peeking across the wall in Caleb’s direction, Brittany focused on the piece taking shape in his hands. It looked like a long, curved finger. Lara must have had the same view of Daniel because her brow furrowed in confusion too.

What did they plan to do with?—

She got an answer before she finished asking herself the question. Though she could not see him, she felt Daniel use both hands to separate the cheeks of her ass.

No. He wouldn’t.

Would he?

While one hand held the globes of her bottom apart and exposed her puckered hole to the cool air of the barn, the other swiped through the juices of her pussy, gathering up her moisture and spreading it over her rear opening.

She watched Caleb make similar movements in the stall straight ahead of her. Unable to see Daniel’s actions, she still had a pretty clear picture due to watching Caleb.

Daniel repeated the process and circled her rosette with his thumb before pressing against it. Brittany clenched her ass muscles and gripped the edge of the worn wooden wall separating her from Lara.

He gave her left cheek a swat. “Relax and let me in.”

“No, no. I apologize. I’m sorry, Lara. Really, really sorry.” She didn’t care what she had to say or do, she did not want to have anything shoved into her ass and she most certainly did not want to share the experience with Lara. Brittany felt a bit dizzy as she realized the depth of trouble she was in.

“Me too,” Lara piped up, obviously reaching the same conclusion as Brittany. “I’m really, really sorry, too.”

The two husbands laughed. “Nice try,” Caleb said.

“Too late,” Daniel said. “Much, much too late.”

“Please, Caleb,” Lara whimpered. “Brittany started it all, you know. I was just trying to be nice.”

“Let this be a lesson to you, Lara,” her husband said. “An apology is best delivered quickly and without hesitation.”

“Much like a spanking,” Daniel said, emphasizing his point with a smack to his wife’s bottom.

“What the hell, Daniel?” Brittany tried to spin around, but her husband placed the offending object at the entrance to her bottom hole and she stilled.

Daniel gave her ass a hard swat. “Keep that language up and you’ll be getting your mouth soaped, too.” He leaned forward and whispered so only she could hear, “Ginger in your ass, soap in your mouth, and my cock in your pussy, what do you think of that?”

She gasped at the image his words painted in her mind.

Gathering up her pussy juices one final time, Daniel had her rear thoroughly lubricated and then worked the bit of ginger into her private hole. Pushing past the tight ring of muscles, the ginger root slipped into her ass and Brittany wrapped her hands more tightly around the rail that supported her.

Biting her tongue, Brittany watched as Caleb worked the piece of ginger into Lara’s bottom. She couldn’t see the details, but given what had happened to her, she was able to figure out what Caleb was doing. Her eyes met Lara’s at the instant the hard root breached her ass. She stifled a giggle at the discomfiture on Lara’s face. Their truce had been fleeting and now that she had a piece of ginger unceremoniously jammed in her ass, Brittany was in no mood to feel sympathy for Lara. It would not have bothered her to laugh in Lara’s face, but she had her wits about her enough to realize laughter would result in more punishment. She didn’t want to think about what else these two Amish men might have in store for them.