The Natural Sissy and the Gang

The Cardinal Sin

"Both doors and all the windows are locked and the girls all know to keep a close eye on her all the time, Karen...please don't worry?" Barbara Carter assured her guest as she returned her keys to the hook beside the back door. Karen, Sarah Peters and Caroline were all sitting at the kitchen table, ready for coffee and cake, whilst the girls were upstairs in Amelia's room and the three boys were in the lounge. They had also managed to nab Danielle in addition to their own four children, so it was quite a playdate, all designed to make Arabella and little Felix feel wanted and welcome. "Olivia and Amelia are very responsible for their age...and Danielle is head girl...I think they will be fine with Arabella?"

"Sorry for putting you to so much trouble..."

"I am glad you did...I didn't know that the lounge window was unlocked?" Barbara grinned as she filled the kettle. "It must have been opened in the summer and never locked? Burglars could have had a field day!"

"It's just so embarrassing...and exhausting...my beloved stepdaughter tries to run away any chance she gets, no matter what we do or say...and we can't keep on spanking her for it...not that spanking her actually seems to bother the little minx!" Karen sighed, looking pained, and maybe even close to tears. "Our house is like a prison these days..."

"She wants to go to her mother, Karen?" Caroline asked, hoping that talking about it would not upset Karen Sinclair.

"Oh, yes...because her father and I are deliberately stopping her from seeing Christine...she tells everyone that...but it is not true? Her mother had a complete breakdown...because of the state poor Felix was in...and probably the pressures of home-schooling the two of them? That is why we applied for...and received...sole custody?" Karen explained as Barbara served them all coffee. "Christine is in no fit state to see the children, let alone look after them? We offered her supervised visits...not with us present, necessarily...we arranged to have a social worker sit in with them...and she turned up blind drunk...but you try explaining all of that to an angry thirteen-year-old! She won't listen to us and she bolts every chance she gets."

"I can imagine," Caroline sympathised, before taking a thoughtful sip of her coffee. "And she is clearly resisting her petticoating?"

"She is trying...Duncan and I are sure it is the right thing for both of them...especially for Felix, who is a really fragile little boy...but Christine was against it, and therefore, Arabella is against it..."

"I am not so sure any of them are really for it?" Sarah Peters suggested, as a joke, trying to lighten the mood a little. But that was not really true, Caroline thought, taking her friend's point seriously. Sebastian did not like being petticoated at first, and he would probably still say that he was not very keen, but he knew that it was good for him and he liked feeling safe. She had been appalled by his initial reaction to the news about Steven Deacon starting at Meadvale, and that just proved how fragile he still was, deep down. And therefore, she could relate to what Karen had just said about Felix. The poor little boy had been abused by two teachers at his boarding school and he was clearly traumatised, nervous and withdrawn. Making him feel safe was obviously important, just like it had been with Sebastian.

"But most accept it fairly quickly?" Barbara said as she put a plate of fairy cakes on the table and took her own seat. "Amelia only needed one spanking to settle her down?"

"Felix has taken to it like a duck to water...and Arabella needs it...she has had no discipline from her mother, ever, but especially since she left that awful school...and her general attitude has always left a lot to be desired...quite apart from her terrible grades." Karen sighed again before reaching for a cake. "I really do believe it is the best thing for her, but I obviously realise that it looks a bit...harsh...petticoating her as soon as we get custody...and she blames me for it, of course. Duncan made the final decision...because they are his kids at the end of the day and not mine...but I am still the wicked stepmother!"