Page 283 of Dirty Discipline, Vol. 2

That evening, Betsy sat wrapped in Jack’s arms. His foot pushed against the wooden slats, keeping the porch swing swaying in a gentle motion. “Happy?” he asked.

“Ecstatic,” she said, snuggling in a bit closer. “I just hope your family likes me as much as mine loves you.”

“They are going to love you, sweetheart.” He lifted her chin with his fingertip and kissed her yet again. “Get some sleep while you can. You’ll need to start packing whatever you don’t need for the wedding. I’m afraid I wasn’t joking about the timing. We can spend our wedding night at the hotel, but the rest of our honeymoon will have to wait a bit. We need to be ready to load the truck when it comes the Monday morning after our wedding.”

“I’ll be ready,” Betsy assured him and then giggled. “In all the excitement about the wedding, you never told me where we are going to be stationed. Or are you going back to England? I’ve never been to a foreign country.”

“Well, we won’t be living in a foreign country exactly, but we won’t be living in the United States, either.”

“Where does that leave? The moon?”

“No, honey, I’m being stationed in the territories of Hawaii.”

“Really? Is-is that safe? I mean, with the bombing of Pearl Harbor…”

“It’s perfectly safe, sweetheart. The war is over. We’ll be living on the island of Oahu, but the Army post is outside the naval base. I promise, I’ll keep you safe and you’ll fall in love with the culture and the people. Trust me?”

“With my heart and my life,” she said, smiling as he bent to kiss her again.

Chapter Eleven

Betsy’s life became a whirlwind of activities. She missed her students and yet was very grateful school was out for the summer. Every morning, she dashed over to her parents, very much aware that she was spending more time at their house than she had in months. No one could blame her, though, as that was where her fiancé was. After breakfast, they would return to her small house and had been deciding what pieces of furniture they could use in their new home in Hawaii. Though her parents offered several pieces from their home, Jack reminded everyone that the container he was allotted was only so large.

By mid-week, Betsy could have sworn that Jack had met everyone in her small town. He was a great sport, not once complaining about being pulled into activities preparing for the wedding. His parents and a few of his siblings were arriving early the next week and Betsy, her mother, and Jane readied the guest rooms for them. Their neighbors had offered to put up any guests who wouldn’t fit in the Riddle house.

“I’ll be fine,” Jack assured her Thursday evening when she was lamenting the fact that she had agreed to be a bridesmaid in Vicky’s wedding. “You go have fun at the shower, honey. We’ll attend the rehearsal dinner together. Your Dad and I are going to play golf. I haven’t played in quite a while, but it should be fun.”

“I’m going to miss you so,” Betsy said with a pout.

Jack chuckled and pulled her to him. “I’ll miss you, too, but soon we’ll be together.”

“And alone,” Betsy said, immediately flushing at her forwardness, but he only pulled her closer.

“And that, my love, makes every bit of this worthwhile.” After a final kiss, he once again told her to drive safely and wished her sweet dreams.

On Friday, she and Jane, another bridesmaid, attended Vicky’s wedding shower. The four had grown up together and were surrounded by other childhood friends who had grown into women. Betsy took on the duty of keeping track of the gifts opened, everyone groaning a bit as the third iron was added to the list. “You’d think my aunts would have gotten together to avoid duplicating gifts,” Vicky said with a smile. The groans turned to giggles as she opened gifts from her friends which included several sets of peignoir lingerie. “Now, this is more like it,” Vicky said, standing and holding a gown in front of her. “Ryan will be far more interested in this than any iron, toaster, or cooking pot!”

“Yes, when you’re wearing that, the heat won’t be in the kitchen,” Jane said, causing all the girls to laugh. Punch flowed and when Betsy began to giggle uncontrollably, Jane bent toward her. “Maybe you should switch to coffee.”

“Now who’s the fuddy-duddy?” Betsy asked with a wave of her punch cup. “I’ve spent all week in my parents’ house. I need to relax.”

Jane just gave her a look and shook her head, bending closer. “All right, but don’t blame me if that relaxation costs you. You know what Jack thinks about imbibing…”

Betsy just giggled. “Mr. Bossy was talking about you! You drank almost that entire bottle of wine.” An hour later, she was no longer laughing as Jack came to collect her.

“How much did you drink?” he asked when she stumbled and would have fallen if he hadn’t had a firm hold on her arm.

“Good grief, you’re turning into my father,” Betsy said, rolling her eyes. “It was just punch.”

“Punch that will require you sleeping it off before the dinner tonight,” Jack countered, helping her into the car. Betsy was sure he was just another party pooper until she had to urgently beg him to pull over. She barely made it out of the car before she was bent over, losing the contents of her stomach in the shrubbery. Groaning, she felt her face flood with heat as Jack held her hair back until she was giving nothing but dry heaves. He wiped her face with his handkerchief and eased her back into the car. When she heard him assure someone that everything was fine, just a bit of an upset stomach, she moaned, but was too embarrassed to look to see who had witnessed her being sick. Laying her head against the back of the seat, she closed her eyes.

“I guess that punch was a hell of a lot stronger than I thought. I know I must be such an embarrassment to you. Not exactly the sweet girl you thought, huh?” She straightened and opened her eyes, squinting at him when he said nothing, but the car didn’t start. “What? I’m sorry to be such a bother, but I’m fine now. We can go.” When he remained silent, she felt her tummy flip but not from sickness. “Jack, why don’t you say something?”

He turned to look at her, reaching to run a fingertip across her lips. “Shh, you are the only girl I will ever want,” he said, bending and giving her a kiss on the forehead. “And, sweetheart, you’ll never be a bother.”

“Oh, that’s good,” she said, relaxing back against the seat and then giving a strangled giggle. “For a moment, I thought you were going to open the back door and you were going to… um…”

“Spank you?” he suggested as he turned the key in the ignition.

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