Excerpt from Randolph's Mill - Book 3

          The next morning the girls were all very sore.  Their men had made sure that they would not soon forget their spankings.  Church was going to be miserable, sitting on the hard wooden benches.  All of the girls were more subdued than usual and much more compliant than was normal for them.  Their parents wondered if they had finally accepted the situation, but knowing their girls doubted that they had seen the last of their pranks.  The various rides to church were all quiet as the girls were all deep in thought.  They had no idea what they could do next to try to stop these weddings from happening.  Everything they had tried so far had only ended up getting them spanked and then they ended up acting like simpering fools as they let their men hug them, hold them and kiss them.  This pattern was not at all what they wanted.  They told themselves they wanted these men to give up and decide they were more trouble than they were worth but so far the Randolphs had proven that they were just as stubborn as the girls, and had bested them at every turn.  Naomi realized that she only had one week left before she would become Mrs. Joel Randolph.  Her freedom would be completely gone.  If she truly admitted it to herself there was a part of her that really did like Joel and was attracted to him.  He was ruggedly handsome and extremely strong.  Working on the mill, cutting down all the trees and milling them into lumber, had left all of the Randolph boys broad and muscular.  She would have to have been blind not to notice.  But Naomi did not want to get married yet, and definitely not to someone that would demand obedience.

          Obedience, Naomi sighed to herself, that one word was one that she simply didn’t like.  She wanted to be able to do what she wanted when she wanted to do it.  She did not want to have someone telling her how to behave and expecting her to listen.  Naomi knew that her parents loved her, and she knew that Joel did as well, but they were always bossing her around and she didn’t think she wanted that forever.  How could she get out of this marriage?  What could she do to stop it happening?  Frustration welled up inside her.  The girls had made a plan for their lives.  They had intended to try to find a business they could run together and all live together, marrying only when they wanted and to men that would not come between them and their sisters and cousins.  They would marry men that would not demand obedience from them.  She knew it had been idle dreaming, as they had never even really decided on what they could all do but she wanted that dream; it had been years since she had been enamored with the Randolph boys.  They had totally destroyed that fascination with their bossy ways.  It was their bossiness that had caused the girls to decide they didn’t want these boys, now these men were the ones they were destined to be with.  What a mess.  What was she to do?

          As she sat in church Naomi didn’t hear anything that was being said.  She was too deep in thought.  The other girls were worried about Naomi, she looked so distant and they hoped she had not been defeated.  After church while everyone was talking they managed to get a few minutes with Naomi where others were not listening.  “Naomi what is wrong?  You do not seem yourself at all,” Abigail asked.

          “I am just trying to figure out what we can do to stop this wedding.  I only have six days left,” Naomi said with desperation in her voice.

          Ruth looked at her sister with deep compassion.  “I know.  We will come up with something.  Abigail, why don’t you wander over and see if you can get Missy to come over and join us.”

          Abigail nodded and wandered over to where Missy was standing talking to her mom.  “Hey Missy, come on over and visit with us for a while.”  Missy hesitated but went having a nagging sensation that they would be asking her to participate in more of their pranks.  She knew that the part she played was very small but it still made her uncomfortable sometimes.

          Missy and Abigail casually walked back to where the other girls were talking.  Even though there were many people around Naomi had managed to come up with an idea for a plan that she thought would finally work to stop her wedding as she and her sister and cousins were talking.  She had been thinking about it all through church and she had passed the idea on to the others in whispered installments whenever no one was around to hear.  But anytime anyone did come by their conversation was normal and completely innocent.  At one point Abigail said loudly, “Missy do you think you could come over for a visit tomorrow?”

          Missy was not used to being such a large part of one of the girl’s pranks.  It was her biggest role ever, even bigger than helping them to hide the nails for the cabin building.  She was very uncomfortable and fidgeted.   “I, um, I guess so. I will have to check with mamma.”

          Ruth nudged her hard, “calm down or you will blow this whole thing.  Stop acting so nervous.  We need to be able to count on you to do your part.  We can’t pull this off without you.  Act natural.”

April
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