"Kate has not been known to lie," snapped Jacqui, annoyed by now, "That's three strokes of the large whip for failing to show me respect. We will do t...at at Punishment later." Now wait a minute," Sarah bristled, but was cut off as Jacqui slashed the crop down hard on to her outstretched hands."Ow," Sarah screamed, "that hurts." Six," said Jacqui menacingly, "How many more stripes do you want across the welts from last night?"Suddenly Sarah seemed to curl in on herself."I am sorry, Madame. I was. "Janie covered her head with a pillow."I'm going to work out, you can sleep in."The only response was a muffled, "Barbarian."Scott stopped in the kitchen and started a fresh pot of coffee. The packaging for the wineglasses went into the trash.In the gym, he was on a leg schedule so he stretched and started with squats. The routine was familiar and didn't require much thought. His brain was surprisingly quiet, and he chalked it up to contentment. After a forty-five-minute weight session, he put. We didn't have to be there until the following Monday, but something told me Jana wasn't looking forward to it. It could have been the sounds of her throwing things while she was on the phone or maybe even her adamant declarations that she wasn't going to go to any therapy sessions, I don't know, but once she was too worn out to argue, I convinced her that Vanessa wouldn't have done this if she didn't love her. I got a call later from Vanessa asking what I told Jana because when they met up. Yep, that’s how she relaxes, by knitting.“Hello, X.”“MOM!”“How was the future Charles & Claire Newman Cotillion, tonight?”“Now, you have got us married, and running the cotillion? Well, I guess our first girl could be Sarah Antoinette, our second could be Sally Claire, while our boys could possibly be, Brian...”“That sounds like you have given that some thought, Charles?” she said, sounding a bit concerned.“No, Mom,” I said laughing, “Just rambling off the top of my head. It’s kind of fun.