Chapter Ten
Chapter Ten
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Coral
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I slept the entire day. My exhaustion is exhausted, which makes sense since they kept me awake the entire night, teaching my body things I didn’t know it was capable of experiencing.
I was made love to, fucked, caressed, stroked, held, fed, bathed, massaged, and made to sleep. I couldn’t wait for them to get home all so I could spend the night in their bed.
I couldn’t even keep up with my opposite chores as I called them. And before long I was detaching my sock train and doing my darndest to mend their socks. It wasn’t the best, and it looked lumpy, but hey, I tried.
Dinner upscaled from lettuce to pasta and things. Okay, they were more disasters than anything, but at least they were substantial. I tried to cook chicken, and I was so afraid I was going to make them sick; I was only satisfied when I burnt the thing black. There. Perfect.
And since they hid the megaphone, I took that as a hint not to sing to the trees at 3:45 every morning.
I can’t believe I survived this for three nights already. And it wasn’t that bad actually. I hate to admit it, but the cabin grew on me. The scenery too. It became more than just trees.
There was beauty everywhere. And more than that, I loved thrashing them at chess at night, which we played after dinner. There was beauty there too... If they weren’t such ogres, that is, but ugh.
I love them.
But what does it matter?
My father sent me to teach me discipline. It worked somehow, quietly, behind the scenes.
I love these three men. I have loved them since I was six years old, but I have a family obligation, and I will marry the man my father has chosen for me. It’s what being a Carlson is. My mother, before she passed away, promised me I would love my husband, and I had to trust my father.
She was never wrong, but on this one, she is.
Oh crap. Did giving them my virginity make it worse for me? Oh yes, so fucking worse; my heart is broken in three.
I need to call my father. He needs to come and collect me as soon as possible.
Before I change my mind, I make the call.
“Dad,” I say into the phone. “I’m ready. Can you come and pick me up, please?"
My father will be here in a few hours because, unlike me, who had to drive here as part of my privileges being taken away, he can fly on his private jet.
It’s good because then I don’t have to see them. I won’t be able to say goodbye to them, not now when I know what they taste like and feel like inside my body.
I pack up my stuff and drag my bags to the mudroom for a prompt escape. I have no idea what I’m going to do about my car, but I’m just going to leave that to my father. It’s the least he can do since I’m marrying someone I don’t love for posterity.
Dressed in a pink pencil-tight skirt, a frilly blouse, and high heels, my hair held together in a tight ponytail, I wait for my father to arrive.
Any minute now.
“Going somewhere?" Samuel asks as the three of them enter the living room where I’m sitting near the window so I can see my father when he arrives.
Ugh, they used the back of the cabin again, and I didn’t even hear them arrive.
“Umm... yes, as a matter of fact. I’m going home. I’m all cured of my brattiness. And now I will marry the man I’m destined to marry.” Can I ramble on anymore?
“My father is on his way to pick me up. I’m not sure what he’s going to do about my car, but... oh, there he is,” I say, overly enthusiastically to cover up my heart breaking yet again.
I really didn’t want them to see my father. I was supposed to leave undetected, and now my clandestine escape is ruined.
They match my father’s exuberance as they greet each other and have a small catch-up while I stand there with my lip quivering and a dam of tears fighting to be released.
“Can we go now, Dad?" I say, cutting into one of the stories.
“All right,” my father says, but he has a smile on his face I don’t recognize. What is going on? “I guess now that you’re ready to get married, I would like to introduce you to your husbands,” he says and then rocks on his heels with that same boyish smile lighting up his face.
“Umm, what?” I say, incredulity oozing out of me.
I’m sure I misheard the man. But when I glance at the lumberjacks, they’re not as confused as I am. They are in fact also smiling.
“Dad?” I say slowly.
“Coral. These are the men who have been chosen to be your husbands since the day you were born, actually. It goes way back.”
“What?”
“These are the men—”
“No. I know what you said. But let me get this straight. You sent me here so I could be disciplined into obeying you and marrying the man you chose for me to marry; only the men you employed to discipline me are my future husbands, because I now have three."
“That sums it up nicely, yes, daughter.”
“And you three knew about this?”
“Yes,” Cedar says.
“Since when?”
“Since the beginning.”
“You tricked me." I turn to my father accusingly.
“I thought it was a perfect way for you to get to know them again.”
“You thought that? Do you know what they did to me... "Nope," I say, catching myself before I admit to them spanking me because it wasn’t just a spanking. I got wet. I came for them. Oh god.
“And you three,” I turn to face them, wagging my finger. I’m so mad I’m going to start throwing a queen-size tantrum.
"Well, fellows, I think that is my cue to leave. Good luck, future sons-in-law," my father beams, kisses my stunned face, and flees.