Chapter Eighteen
Looking out the window of the community center, Teagan chuckled.
The playful screams of the Littles could be heard even inside. Decorating for the upcoming Thanksgiving dinner, some of the Bigs were hard at work. Teagan had taken a break, though, to see what all the commotion outside was about.
“Those cuties are sure having a lot of fun,” she noted.
Behind her, in the main room, Candace finished arranging a centerpiece on a table and said, “What are they up to now?”
“Having some kind of gun fight. Kind of looks like water guns, but that’s not water they’re shooting.”
“Probably some invention of my Little Stryker,” Amelia Pine said. “He’s always coming up with something.”
Teagan still couldn’t get over the fact that one of the world’s most famous actresses was a resident—and a Mommy—of Mountainville.
Teagan turned away from the window and went back to helping. On a ladder, hanging a banner that read HAPPY THANKSGIVING, Bo said, “Teagan, your boy seems to be relaxing a bit and really getting into the spirit of this town.”
Teagan went to another table and started working on its centerpiece as she answered. “He is. But not as much as I’d like. I think he’s still having trouble regressing.”
“Does it stem from his profession?” Bo asked.
“I think so. He worries about what his fellow officers would think if they knew his secret. And what the community would think.”
Bo nodded as he climbed down from the ladder. He moved it a few feet over and walked up a few rungs to work on the other side of the banner. “I get it. Being a cop is strange. It’s a very demanding job physically and emotionally. It’s sort of something you can’t explain. People don’t fully get it unless they’ve lived it.”
“Yeah. I try to understand,” Teagan said. “But it’s hard sometimes.” She stopped arranging the flowers and looked up. “I think he’s worried about how I’ll see him, too. He doesn’t realize I am all in on this.”
“Now that, I think, is common among all Littles,” Nancy said. “Or at least a lot of them. Eli was worried how I’d respond, too. It took us a while to find our dynamic.”
In the kitchen, working at the counter, looking out through the rectangular cut out that opened up into the main room, Diana said, “Have you spanked his bottom yet?”
“Not really. Not seriously,” Teagan said.
Diana continued to knead pie crust. “It might sound strange, but I think discipline is one of the best ways to establish your role as a Mommy. I’m not saying you should be a hard-ass and jump on them for every little thing. But I think it deepens the connection. Increases intimacy.”
“I’d agree with that,” Nancy said. “Especially in the beginning.”
“Of course, if you have a Little like Eli, you have to keep up that discipline. Forever,” Candace said.
Everyone laughed.
“Truth,” Nancy noted.
They worked for a few moments before Teagan said, “You know, there is something that’s been bothering me.”
“What’s that?” Aubrey asked.
“I think Dylan is lying to me. I’ve told him when he’s in diapers he has to use them. But he hasn’t even had so much as a wet one. Obviously he’s going to the bathroom. But when I ask him about it, he swears he isn’t. I’m not stupid. No living thing can go that long without peeing.” She laughed.
“Have you told him you’ll bust his little tushy?” Candace asked.
“Yep.”
“Do you want some advice? Mommy to Mommy?” Candace said.
“Please.”
“It’s time to follow through. If you don’t, he’ll never take your authority seriously. And as Diana and Nancy said, it will help establish intimacy. It deepens your relationship.”
Bo finished hooking the banner through a nail and then looked down from the ladder. “As the lone Daddy in the room right now, I concur. Sometimes, even when I want to let Little Megan get away with something—because she’s so darn cute—I still take her over my knee. That’s a unique dynamic that only she and I share. It’s intimate. And it reminds her that she’s my little girl. As much as she hates the spanking, they nurture her soul. She needs them.”
The other Bigs nodded.
Teagan put down the faux flowers she’d been arranging and said, “Thank you, everyone. If you’ll excuse me, I have a diaper to go check.”
The Bigs offered cheers of encouragement as Teagan marched out to get her little boy.