Page 65 of Cage

Cage chuckled.

‘That’s the spirit,’ Cage said. ‘Keep your chin up and your eyes on the prize. Not long to go now. The last stretch will fly by.’

While it didn’t exactly fly by, Katie’s final few lines passed without too much drama.

Cage felt proud that Katie took so much pride in making sure that her work was completed to a high standard. Not only did it show Cage that his instructions were being taken seriously, but it also bode well for Katie’s future acting plans.

Katie had talent.

And now it looked like she was developing discipline too.

‘You know, your safety is my paramount concern,’ Cage said as he poured Katie a glass of tap water. ‘I’ll do anything to protect you. Always. But you have to learn to trust me when I speak. If I say something is a no-go, you listen. Does that make sense?’

‘It does, Daddy,’ Katie said.

Katie thanked Cage for the water and took a couple of sips before carrying on with the lines.

She was nearly done now.

Not many left to do.

Then…disaster.

Katie lost control of her pen for a split-second and made a blunder on her lettering. She looked horrified.

But to Cage’s surprise, Katie simply took a deep breath and steadied herself.

‘Daddy, I think I need to start again,’ Katie said. ‘I lost concentration and wrote a letter messily. Please can I have another sheet of paper to go again from the beginning?’

Cage was bowled over with how well Katie owned her error.

This was impressive.

Seriously mature behavior from his Little.

But Cage decided to surprise Katie.

‘No, that won’t be necessary,’ Cage said. ‘Carry on and finish up the remaining lines. One mistake doesn’t ruin everything. I think we can both agree on that.’

‘Are you sure, Daddy?’

‘Hey, don’t question my generosity, I might change my mind!’

Katie smiled and beavered away on her final lines until it was all done. When she was finished, Katie handed the sheet to Cage for a closer inspection.

‘This is good. It’s actually superb,’ Cage mused, scanning his eyes across all two hundred lines. ‘Excellent lettering. Flawless spelling. No signs of rushing or lack of care. You’ve done yourself proud here, kiddo.’

Katie smiled a big smile.

She was proud of herself.

Cage could tell that the lesson had very much be learned.

That was all he needed to see.

The one small mistake wasn’t a big deal at all. It was actually a blessing as it had given Katie the chance to show her maturity and offer to start over. That hadn’t been necessary. The success of the task was abundantly clear.

Cage offered his hand and gently lifted Katie to his feet.

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