Cameron To Candy

Candy was halfway through sweeping the parlor when Marcus looked up from the doorway.

“Well, look at that,” he said. “You’re actually doing your chores.”

“Yeah,” she replied, brushing hair out of her face. “I want to get to the bathhouse early today.”

“Well, good girl!” As soon as the words left his mouth, Marcus regretted them. His eye bulged as his hand flew up over his mouth.

Candy froze mid-sweep, eyes narrowing. “What did you just say?”

Marcus rallied. “Uh… nothing. I said, uh, it’s… good for the pearl! You know, the compliance pearl.”

Candy frowned. “Oh, no, that tracks corrections. You’re thinking of the sigil. Or maybe the chore list? Definitely not the pearl anyway.”

“Oh right, right, the sigil. My mistake.” He gave a weak laugh. Phew. She bought it, he thought. He quietly sighed in relief. Then her bracelet gave a clear plink! The unmistakable sound announcing the earning of a pin, cutting through the quiet house. Candy glanced down.

“Huh. I got a pin. That’s odd. Is it for the chores?” She looked down at the crystal in her bracelet as an image of the pin she’d just earned appeared. Her eyes went wide. “Wait a minute… It’s a Good Girl Pin!” Her head snapped up. “You jackass, you did call me—”

But Marcus was already halfway out the front door, boots thudding down the porch steps.

“Sorry about that!” he called over his shoulder. “It just slipped out! I’ll bring home the good chocolates!”

Candy stood in the middle of the parlor, broom in hand, caught between outrage and reluctant prideful amusement. On the one hand, she was naturally pissed at the demeaning expression. On the other hand, he had run like she was a bear with a war paddle, and damn it, she really did like the good chocolates…

A lot of conflicting emotions there.

***

Later that day, Candy made her way down to the bathhouse, her only bathing suit in her bag. She’d had the skirt portion extended early on, but the seamstress did a good job. It wasn’t particularly notable. The bathhouse was busier than usual, steam rising in lazy ribbons that carried the faint scent of lavender soap and gossip. Candy spotted Mona, Vivian, and Alyssa lounging near the tiled edge, their voices lilting over the bubbling pools.

“Hey, look who finally made it,” Mona said, beaming. “I saw your name on the scoreboard this morning. You earned a pin! Plink be praised!”

Candy grimaced. “Yes. The first Good Girl Pin.”

“Well, good for you, honey!” Mona cooed.

“Thrilled,” Candy muttered.

Mona fanned herself dramatically. “There’s nothing like being called a good girl by your husband. I swear, it makes me melt. Some women practically, well, ha, you know.” She winked. “It’s just how we’ve been bred, I suppose.”

Candy arched an eyebrow. “Can’t say I had quite that reaction.”

Vivian snorted, lounging back. “Yeah, Candy’s not really the ‘good girl’ type.”

Alyssa turned, curious. “How many pins does that make for you now?”

Candy hesitated. “…One.”

All three women stared. “One?!” Vivian blurted. “You’ve been married, what? Five or six months now?”

“Yeah, I’m not really into that kind of thing,” Candy said defensively.

Alyssa shook her head in awe. “That’s an impressively small number. You must’ve had to actively work at not getting more.”

“Hey—”

“No, I'm quite serious,” Alyssa interrupted. “That’s genuine admiration. Given how the system operates, staying at one takes effort. If I’m ever married off, I want a husband who lets me get away with so little as well.” Candy was still suspicious that Alyssa was mocking her, but Alyssa truly meant it.

Mona leaned closer, lowering her voice. “Careful, Candy. If you keep resisting, they’ll assign you a Praise Mentor.”

Candy blinked. “Mrs. Prim mentioned that once. What is that, exactly?”

Mona smiled, all sugar and dread. “A Praise Mentor’s job is to help you get through the ‘Praise Series.’ Good Girl Pins, Recognition Letters, Affirmation Sashes, the whole shebang. Every marriage needs a little help sometimes. Or so they say.”

Vivian rolled her eyes. “Translation: someone from the Ministry shows up to teach you how to get your husband to pat you on the head more.”

“The goddess Gulpidia would be proud,” Mona said with reverence. “Patron of harmony and verbal skills.”

“Uh, I think that’s ORAL skills,” Vivian corrected.

Candy sank deeper into the warm water, letting it hide her smirk. “You know, I’d rather take my chances without divine supervision. Oh, I don’t know if this will matter, but it turns out I could have had a few by now. It’s just that we hadn’t tuned all the crystals correctly, and Marcus wasn’t logging all my chore charts. Now that we’ve got that sorted, I’ll probably get a couple in a few weeks.”

“It might be enough to stay the praise mentor assignment,” Mona conceded, “but if I were you, I’d still earn a few a month to keep them off your back.” Candy considered that. Which would be less work? Going with the idiotic reward system or dealing with a woman whose only job was to make Candy evoke praise from Marcus… probably the stupid pins.

Steam drifted lazily over the stone pools as the four women eased deeper into the warm water. Candy let herself slide down until it covered her shoulders. For one blessed moment, she felt like a person again, not a walking checklist for the Ministry.

Vivian splashed lightly at her own knees. “Feels good today.”

“Better than good,” Mona sighed. “It’s the first time I’ve sat down all week without someone telling me to ‘straighten my posture’ or ‘soften my tone.’ I swear, if my husband corrects my ‘tone’ one more time, I’ll develop a new one just for him.”

Alyssa smirked. “The Ministry would call that ‘malicious obedience.’” Mona laughed.

Candy relaxed, letting the warmth lull her into something close to peace, until Vivian suddenly asked, “Hey, where’s Marilyn today? She’s usually here by now.”

Mona’s expression shifted. “Oh. Her husband’s on his National Guard rotation. Two weeks. So Marilyn is staying in Beltforge with her family.”

“Who’s her guardian right now?” Vivian asked.

Mona hesitated. “Her father.”

All three women made the same grimace at the same time.

“Oh no,” Alyssa murmured. “Please tell me he isn’t the one giving her maintenance while her husband’s away.”

Mona gave a sympathetic wince. “He is. Poor thing. Apparently, she chose that option herself.”

Vivian sank under the water up to her mouth, mumbling, “Two maintenance spankings from her dad. Hells no.”

Candy’s eyebrows shot up. “Is that standard? Going to your dad for, uh, what was it, guardianship?”

“It’s not uncommon, yes,” Mona said. “It’s often a father, uncle, older brother, father-in-law, or the court assigns someone. Oh, and some people use family friends.” She lifted a hand out of the water and let it flop back down. “Marilyn picked her father. Says he’s the least awkward and the gentlest of the available options.”

“Maybe,” Vivian replied, “but it still sounds awkward to me.

Candy stared at her, baffled. “Who do you stay with when your husband's out?”

Mona raised a hand. “My brother-in-law. Much less awkward. Though I must admit, staying with another man was easier before I had a child.” She sank deeper into the pool with a rueful sigh. “Once you have a baby in the house, half your modesty just evaporates. But still. Better than my father, thank the gods.”

Vivian nodded. “Alyssa and I trade off. When my dad’s out, I stay at her brother’s place. When her brother’s out, she stays with my dad. And not being married, we don’t have to worry about the maintenance so it’s not awkward yet.”

“I’ll admit, though if I ever marry, I might want to revisit the arrangement,” Alyssa said. “The prospect of being spanked by your father is… unappealing.”

Vivian grinned. “Not me,” she joked, “Your brother is attractive enough. I’d count to twenty for him,” she concluded with a wink.

“Oh don’t even go there.” Alyssa admonished.

“Candy dear, may I ask who you were assigned under when your husband did his last tour?” Mona inquired.

“Oh, it hasn’t come up yet, but Marcus said his dad is the default. A prospect I find… disturbing.” This was met with general murmurs of condolence.

The chatter died down for a moment as the girls adjusted. A fresh wave of vanilla scent wafted through the pools.

“Hey,” Candy said, trying for casual, “I, uh, heard you got a public correction the other day. Is that true?”

Mona’s cheeks flushed a warm pink. “Oh, that. Yes, well… it was a minor issue.”

Alyssa raised a brow. “Minor?”

Mona sighed, tucking a damp curl behind her ear. “We were out and about, and I got myself and my daughter a sticky bun at a cart after dinner, you know, to eat while we walked home. Well, it pushed me just a tad past my allowance. I’d already made the purchase by the time I realised it. And this isn’t the first time I’ve lost track, so he took me to the nearest bench and gave me fifty swats.”

“Fifty? Seems like a lot,” Candy responded.

Mona shook earnestly. “It really wasn’t so bad. I mean, it’s public, so my dress was down, it cuts the impact in half. And you know how it is. Half the town pretends not to watch, the other half applauds when it’s done. Builds character, they say. Very civilised.”

Candy paused. Civilized. Right. “And you’re just… okay with that?”

Mona smiled the practised smile of a Paddlewick wife. “Oh well, it’s important for our daughter to learn how to behave in society. If she saw me getting away with spending too much, it could throw her. She could end up bratting or even in the trouble girl program someday!”

Alyssa raised a single, perfectly manicured eyebrow. “Yes, well, that logic jumped pretty far pretty quickly.”

“I just hope none of the girls at school tease her. I know sometimes after a mom gets corrected, kids will bully and call them bad girls.”

“Ah, yeah, kids can be mean,” Vivian acknowledged, her eyes glazing over, lost in memory. She snapped back a second later."But the teachers usually shut it down pretty quickly, from what I hear."

“Why didn’t he just punish you at home?” Candy asked.

“The faster the response to the behaviour, the more likely it is to change it,” Alyssa pointed out.

“It’s the oral apology, isn’t it?” Vivian laughed. Mona pinked a little.

“Well, he certainly enjoys the apology, but I, I hardly think that’s why he chose to correct me publicly.”

Mmmmhmmm, Candy and Vivian said in unison.

“Has the diet you’ve put him on helped in that area?” Vivian asked.

“Uh, ha, well, yes. He tastes much better now,” Mona said with an embarrassed laugh, dropping her head into her hand.

Candy sank a little lower into the bath, feeling the water lap at her collarbone. Between the laughter, the pins, and Mona’s brave little smile, Paddlewick’s version of “civilised” felt odder than ever.