Page 58 of Learning Little Lizzie

“Okay. Bye, Mrs. Cat.”

“Bye, Eliza. It was lovely to meet you.”

She raced for her bedroom, barely resisting the urge to slam the door behind her. She wasn’t angry, not like she had been when she’d been in so much trouble earlier. It was more like she wanted to cry and she wasn’t sure why. And because she wasn’t sure why, she couldn’t seem to make the tears come, no matter how badly her chest and throat hurt.

Muffled voices drifted through the door and she wondered what they were saying about her. Was Mrs. Cat telling Daddy she was a lost cause and he’d be better off with another Little who wasn’t so much trouble? Or was he telling Mrs. Cat he didn’t want a Little who needed so much of his attention? Maybe he was?—

The door to her bedroom opened, interrupting her spiral. “I’m sorry I’m such a mess,” she blurted out before burying her face in the General’s fur.

“Nobody said you were a mess, baby.” Her mattress dipped and a moment later she was being lifted up into his arms. “My poor Little girl. Today was a hard day, huh?”

“Really hard.”

“What do you usually do when you have a bad day? Do you have a favorite movie to watch, maybe a game you like to play?”

She thought for a moment. “Kylie and I usually go down to the store and stock up on junk food and watch a movie together.”

“Done. Do you want to change your clothes first or go in your pajamas?”

It should have made her happy that he wanted to spoil her. But the weight in her stomach that had been there all day just grew heavier. “I don’t know.”

“What don’t you know, baby?”

“I don’t know.”

“Baby, I can’t help you if you don’t tell me what’s wrong.”

“If I knew, I wouldn’t have said ‘I don’t know’,” she snapped, immediately regretting her tone when her Daddy’s arms tightened around her.

“Hmm. It sounds to me like maybe my Little girl needs her bottom warmed before we go downstairs.”

“Daddy, no!” But even as she protested, her heart leapt at the offer. “I don’t want a spankin’!”

“I know, baby. But maybe you need one. To help you process all those big feelings from today.” He patted her hip gently. “Hop down. Daddy’s going to go get your brush.”

“No,” she whined, sliding from his lap to crumple on the bed with the General still clutched in her arms. “Not the brush!”

“How about this, little one. We’ll start with Daddy’s hand, and if you’re able to get all those big emotions out, then we won’t need to use the brush. Does that sound fair?”

“No. It sounds stupid.”

Daddy sighed. “I have a feeling we are definitely going to need the brush.”

Poor Little girl. It was obvious she was having some very big feelings and she wasn’t sure how to process them. Much like what had happened earlier today if he wasn’t mistaken. Luckily for her, but perhaps unluckily for her bottom, he had a hunch that he knew exactly how to help her process those big feelings.

Brush in hand, he made his way back to the bedroom and settled on the bed with his back against the large wooden headboard. “Come here, baby.”

“I don’t wanna,” she protested with a whine, but it didn’t escape his notice that she crawled right over his lap despite her insistence she didn’t want a spanking.

“I know, little one. But Daddy’s going to help you feel better.”

“By making my butt hurt?”

She was adorable, all pouty and whiny in her cute pink pajamas with her stuffed bear in her arms. Exactly how he’d always imagined his Little girl.

Well. Perhaps not exactly. He had fantasized a lot about having a baby girl who would rely on him for her most intimate needs. But it seemed a small price to pay, giving up those fantasies to have Lizzie, his Lizzie over his knee and in his arms.

He tugged her shorts down, exposing the swell of her bottom, her perfect, pale skin just waiting for her Daddy’s hand. Cupping one cheek, he gave it a gentle squeeze before moving to the other. “I want to be very clear that this is not a punishment, Lizzie. This is just to help you work through everything that’s happened today.”

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