Chapter 24
LANIE
Alarm whips through me as the snowmobile barrels down the mountain. I’d nearly gotten caught twice on my way to the barn and I’d thought I was scared then, but that fear was nothing compared to the absolute terror I feel now, watching the treeline come rushing up toward me.
Leaning all my weight to the left, I just manage to avoid a collision with a giant pine, but I’m still going too fast, way too fast. Panicked, I run my gaze over the controls. Where the hell is the brake?
A red button catches my eye and I pry my fingers from the handlebars long enough to slam my palm down on it. The engine dies instantly, bringing the snowmobile to a sudden, jerking halt. And because I’m not holding onto the handlebars any longer, I’m thrown forward, face first into the snow.
“Lanie!” Daddy’s terrified cry reaches my ringing ears as I push myself up into a sitting position, the world spinning around me.
“Don’t touch her!” A woman’s voice now, not Auntie Gray’s, but familiar. “She needs to be checked for injuries. Where’s Ford?”
“Right behind you.”
Uncle Ford drops to his knees beside me, his hands gentle on my face. “Do you hurt anywhere, sweetheart?”
“C-cold.”
He smiles sympathetically. “I know, honey. We’re going to get you out of that snow as quickly as we can.”
“Daddy?”
“Right here, baby.”
Tears blur my vision as I throw myself into his waiting arms. “I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I was just trying to help. Please don’t be mad at me.”
Before I bury my face in his neck, I catch sight of the sheriff’s narrow-eyed expression, and dread drops like a rock in my stomach as the certainty that I’ve made things even worse washes over me.
“Shh, baby. Nobody’s mad at you. We’re all just happy you’re not injured. But you need to let Uncle Ford check you over, okay, baby?”
My world becomes a blur of movement and snapped orders as they help me up out of the snow and back into the house, to Uncle Ford’s exam room.
The sheriff insists on staying, despite Daddy’s growled protests, and I try to be brave and pretend I’m not dying of embarrassment when I’m stripped down to just my diaper right in front of her.
Uncle Ford examines every inch of me, performing a dozen different tests to make sure I haven’t injured my neck and I haven’t suffered a concussion before declaring me well enough to be interrogated by the sheriff.
Well, he doesn’t actually say that, and both Uncle Ford and Daddy try to argue with her that her questioning can wait until tomorrow, but I manage to convince them that I’m up to her questions and I’d rather just get it over with.
Still not looking quite convinced, Daddy wraps a heavy blanket around me and kisses the top of my head. “I’ll go get you some warm, dry clothes while you talk to the sheriff. But if you need us, just yell and someone will come running.”
“I’ll be fine, um, Axel.” I’m painfully aware I’ve already called him Daddy in front of Sheriff Donnelly and she’s seen me in a diaper, but I can’t bring myself to say it again right now.
Daddy’s eyes narrow, but he doesn’t say anything, he just nods and gives me another kiss before shooting the sheriff a glare and striding out of the room. Leaving us completely alone.
I desperately wish I was wearing something more than just a blanket.
“You gave everybody quite a fright there, little girl.”
Pulling the blanket more tightly around me, I drop my gaze to the floor. “Sorry. I didn’t mean to.”
“Look at me please, Melanie.”
I have to force my gaze up to meet hers, and I’m surprised to find nothing but compassion in the clear green. “Ma’am?”
“I’m going to ask you some questions. I want you to know that anything you tell me is strictly confidential and will stay between us. Do you understand what I’m telling you, Melanie?”
“Yes, ma’am.”
“You’re being very brave for me, sweetheart. Can you keep being brave and promise me that you’ll be completely honest with me, even if you think the answers might not be what I, or anyone else, wants to hear?”
I hesitate, nibbling at my bottom lip. “Do you promise to believe me even if it’s not what you want to hear?”
A soft smile curves her lips. “Aren’t you a clever little girl? Yes, sweetheart, I promise to believe you if you promise to be honest with me.”
Wiggling my hand out from beneath the blanket, I hold my pinky toward her. “Pinkie-swear?”
Sheriff Donnelly blinks, then to my utter surprise, lets out a delighted laugh as she hooks her finger with mine. “Pinkie-swear.”
“Okay. What do you want to ask me?”
“My first question is, do you feel safe here with the Thornes?”
That’s an easy enough answer. “Sheriff Donnelly, you saw how they reacted to me falling off a snowmobile. If Axel could wrap me up in bubble wrap and keep me from ever getting so much as a papercut again for the rest of my life, he would. I’ve never been more safe than I am here, with them.”
“All right. Is anyone forcing you to stay here?”
“No, ma’am.” It’s not a lie. Maybe it would have been a week ago, but now it’s nothing but the pure, unadulterated truth.
“Even though you tried to flee for your life on a snowmobile?”
There’s an undercurrent to her words that sounds eerily like Auntie Gray’s voice when I’ve been naughty and I have to fight the urge to squirm. “I wasn’t fleeing them. I was fleeing you.”
“Me? Why?”
“Because you threatened to arrest the people I love and you said you wouldn’t believe me even if I told you I wanted to be here. You were going to take me back to my parents and I would rather live alone in the woods for the rest of my life than go back there.”
Awareness flickers in her eyes. “We found your church van on the side of the road, abandoned. From what your parents said, you were running away from your wedding. I assume you weren’t… thrilled about said wedding?”
“The marriage wasn’t my idea. Which isn’t unusual in our church, but…” I shrug. “I couldn’t do it. I tried imagining my life with this man who was twice my age and who I’d barely spoken ten words to in my whole life. And it all just felt so bleak.”
“I see.” And from the tone of her voice, I can almost believe she does. “And you were worried that if I took you back to your parents, you’d be forced to go through with the marriage.”
“Pretty much. Between that and you threatening to arrest my family, I thought maybe it would be better for everyone if I just disappeared.”
“Little girl, I want you to listen to me very clearly. Absolutely no one would be better off if you disappeared. Do you understand me?”
Her voice rings with such conviction that all I can do for several long moments is stare at her in disbelief. “Um, yes, ma’am.”
“Good girl. Just a few more questions and then we can be done. When I first got here, you weren’t wearing any pants. Have you…” She hesitates, clearly choosing her words carefully. “Has anyone touched you, sexually, without your consent?”
Heat floods my face. “Axel is the only one who, um, touches me like that. And he has my full consent.” He’s always had my body’s full consent, even if it took a while for my brain to catch up.
“And what about the marks on your bottom?” Obviously uncomfortable, the sheriff clears her throat. “Was that, ah, consensual as well?”
“Yes.” Suddenly more tired than I can ever remember being, I sigh and shift the heavy blanket on my shoulders.
“Sheriff Donnelly, Axel and his family rescued me from certain death. They gave me a place to stay and made me one of their own. And yes, part of becoming a member of their family involves me getting my butt spanked from time to time when I’m naughty, which I sometimes am on purpose.
Like switching out Ford’s cotton balls for marshmallows, which he’s going to be very mad about when he finally realizes.
But I love them and they love me. Now, if you don’t have any further questions, I would like to see my husband. ”
The sheriff blinks again, surprise written all over her face. “Your husband?”
I grin. “Yes. Axel is my husband, and if you think I’m going to let you or anyone else take me from him without a fight, you are very, very mistaken.”
“Lanie… You realize if Axel is actually your husband, nobody can force you to marry someone else, right? All you had to do was tell your parents you’re already married and they wouldn’t have been able to pressure you into anything.”
Now it’s my turn to be shocked. And more than a little embarrassed at my own oversight. “I didn’t actually think of that. And I don’t think there’s any paperwork or anything.”
“Well… if you’re very sure you want to stay here with the Thornes, I’ll see what I can do about getting that paperwork. But you have to promise me that you will never, ever do anything as dangerous as you did today.”
“I’m very sure. And I promise.”
“All right.” Sheriff Donnelly gives a decisive nod. “And what about your parents? They’re waiting for us in town, but you don’t have to see them if you don’t want to.”
“I’ll come see them tomorrow.” With my Daddy by my side. I have no doubt that even if I wanted to go alone, after today’s incident with the snowmobile it’s going to be a while before he lets me out of his sight again.
“I’ll let them know.” Stuffing the phone she’s been typing notes on into her pocket, the sheriff straightens, then pauses. “One last question, if you don’t mind.”
“One more.”
“Are you happy?”
Another ridiculously easy question. “Sheriff, never in a million years would I have ever dreamed that I could be this happy.”
“Good.” She nods absently, as if her mind is already somewhere else. “That’s good.”
I watch as she opens the door to leave. There’s a muted conversation I can’t quite hear on the other side of the door before it opens again and Daddy steps inside. He seems to fill up the entire space, not just with his body but with his very presence.
Plucking me off the table, he cradles me in his arms, pressing a kiss to my forehead as I close my eyes and snuggle into his embrace. “Scared me, babygirl. You scared all of us.”
“I know. I’m sorry.”
“Want to tell me what the hell you thought you were doing, sneaking out in the snow to drive a vehicle you have no business driving?”
Nerves twist in my stomach at his stern words.
“I heard what Sheriff Donnelly said about arresting you all and how she wouldn’t believe me even if I said I wasn’t being held against my will.
And I was so scared she’d go through with it and that she’d take me back to my parents and they’d force me to go through with marrying the man they picked out for me and I just… panicked.”
Daddy sighs. “So instead of trusting your Daddy and the rest of our family to keep you safe, you decided to take matters into your own hands and escape using a piece of dangerous equipment you’d already been told not to touch.”
“Well it sounds extra bad when you put it that way,” I whine.
“It sounds bad because it was very, very naughty, Melanie Brynne. You are incredibly lucky you didn’t get hurt any worse than you were. What if you hadn’t been able to steer away from those trees in time? What if you’d hit your head or broken your neck when you went flying?”
“I’m sorry, Daddy. I was just trying to help.”
“I know, baby,” he says, his voice going soft as he presses a kiss to my hair. “But you are still in so much trouble. Do you remember what I promised you would happen if you touched any of the vehicles without Daddy’s permission?”
“Um, that you would whip me with your belt again.” There was more, but I’m hoping against hope he doesn’t remember the rest of his threat.
No such luck.
“That’s part of it. You are grounded for the next week, other than when Daddy takes you into town to see your parents.
And at the end of the week you’ll receive your spanking, and then Daddy is going to fuck your naughty little bottom so that hopefully you never even think about running away again. ”