“That’s right. It would break my heart if something had happened to you. I want you to be safe, healthy, and happy. Now, because this isn’t the first time you have disobeyed a direction on this topic, what do you think should happen.”

Closing her eyes, Jessa knew the right answer would be to have a punishment. Did she want that? No, but he was right.

“I should get into trouble for it,” she quietly answered.

Jackson nodded his head, “You should. Now, I know we haven’t had the discussion of punishment with you and Destiny. It seems like that will need to happen soon, but for now are you consenting to a punishment for disobeying the direction I gave you?”

Jessa waited for the fear to slowly creep back inside, but it never came. While she was worried about being punished, she knew that Jackson would never do anything to hurt her. How bad could the punishment really be?

“Yes, Sir. I’m consenting to that. I know what I did was not okay and I think it would help me in the future to remember to follow directions when given.”

“That’s my good girl. We will go easy this time since it’s your first punishment, okay?”

Nodding her head, she waited for him to lay out what was going to happen. Would he spank her? Her knickers warmed at the thought of laying over his knees. “I want you to go and stand in the corner. I’m going to set a timer for four minutes, one forevery time you said you didn’t technically break the direction,” Knowing it was best not to argue any further, Jessa agreed and allowed him to ease her off his lap. With a pat on her bottom, Jackson directed her towards the corner for her to stand in.

“I’ve set the timer, Little one. Every time you move or fidget it will restart. Understand?”

“Yes, Sir.”

For the next four minutes, Jessa’s world moved slowly. Who knew that when standing in a corner, four minutes felt like a lifetime. Not wanting to chance the timer restarting, she made sure to stand perfectly still.

The beeping of his watch alerted her that she survived her first punishment. “Come here Jessa,” Jackson called out, extending a hand to her when she turned around to face him.

Walking over and sliding back into his embrace, Jess waited for his next move. “Can you tell Papa what is going on in your mind right now?”

Taking inventory of her thoughts and feelings, she noticed that she felt lighter. She waited for the ugly thoughts she was having to settle back in her mind, but they never came, “I’m okay! It wasn’t as bad as I had thought it would be. I understand why the time out happened and I feel lighter because of it.”

“Thank you, Little Bear. Papa is so proud of you!”

“Even though I was naughty?”

“Yes, even then. All Little girls and boys sometimes make naughty choices, but that doesn’t change the way their Daddies or Mommies feel about them. Now are you ready for that date I promised you?”

“We can still go?” She asked, hoping that he wasn’t playing tricks on her. “Of course we can. This was just a small bump we had to take care of, that’s all.”

Wrapping her arms around Jackson’s neck, she squealed before hopping off his lap. Grabbing his hand, she pulled withall her might hoping it would make him move faster. Pulling the door open, Jessa stopped as Emmett stood before her with his hand posed like he was fixing to knock.

“Are you okay, Jessa?”

“I am, Emmett! Thank you for asking, but Papa didn’t hurt me.”

There was a small gasp behind her that Papa tried to cover with a cough. Wonder what that was about, she thought in her mind.

“Jessa, why don’t you go double check you have everything while I chat with Emmett for a second.”

“Okay! Bye Emmett!! Love you!”

“Love you too, brat!” She heard follow her down the hallway as she raced off to do as Papa told her to do.

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

JACKSON

Jackson stood and watched his Little girl walk towards the front of the house before turning and looking at Emmett, “I just wanted to thank you.”

“Thank me? For what?”

“It’s clear that you love the girls and would do anything for them. So thank you for being there and supporting them. I also wanted to thank you for trusting me with her. I know that it went against every instinct in your body, but having that faith in me shows the girls they are able to trust us, because you do.”