Reunion (Hunter's Ridge Book 3) by Maggie Ryan Page B

all, practically screaming his sermons. His dark gaze would find some poor soul, pinning her to her pew with threats of eternal damnation in the fires of hell if they didn't obey his every word. When he became too full of his own sense of power, turning from a spiritual leader of his flock to a man far more thrilled with his position of disciplinarian, he'd been called back by the head of the church and reassigned.
    Their new pastor, Winston Goodeman and his wife Agatha, as well as their children, had been introduced at a special luncheon, and she'd found the entire family to be a very friendly addition to their church family. That knowledge allowed Louisa to not crumple to the floor, begging her Papa to reconsider his decision that his little lady attend today's session.
    Pastor Goodeman nodded to his wife, who stood and opened the door. He moved to lead his reluctant, naughty parishioners out of the church proper, his wife taking her place behind Louisa, who was last in the line. A moment before Louisa stepped through the door, she turned her head to find her Papa giving her a soft smile and a nod. Pastor Goodeman's children sat quietly in the front pew, and the calm looks and smiles on their small faces gave her additional courage. Surely if it were to be too horrid, his own personal flock wouldn't appear so relaxed and unafraid. Swallowing hard, she returned her gaze to her feet and accepted her fate.
    The group of five girls was led down a corridor and instructed to turn and face the wall. No one spoke as Mrs. Goodeman prepared each by lifting their dresses and petticoats to button them at their shoulders or tuck them into waistbands. Louisa had discovered the convenience of such buttons after Lucy's Nanny Molly had written about the tailoring to her mentor, Nanny Bremmer. The moment Nanny Bremmer had guided her into a pair of open crotch drawers that morning, Louisa had known that today would be the first time she was to confess her naughtiness to another outside their small family.
    "Charlotte, you may go to the pastor," Agatha Goodeman said after all the girls' clothing had been adjusted.
    "Yes, Ma'am," Charlotte said in a soft voice, as she turned from the wall and opened the door on the opposite wall.
    Noses pressed against the wall, the remaining four were left to contemplate their sins—though Louisa wondered if instead, they, like her, were contemplating what their bottoms would endure in that room. She jerked as a soft cry drifted out into the hallway, but when the cry did not become a ragged scream, she relaxed—if just a bit. One by one the girls were called, until the door opened to discharge Cynthia, the girl who had stood next to Louisa.
    "Louisa, you may go to the pastor." Hearing the same words that she'd heard four times before, only the name having changed, Louisa stepped away from the wall and turned.
    "Yes, Ma'am." She saw her fellow sisters standing against the wall behind her, all sniffling and shuffling on their feet a bit. Before she could fully process the fact that instead of seeing red, bare bottoms, she saw nothing but the backs of their dresses, she had stepped through the door, Mrs. Goodeman following behind, and turning to close the door.
    Pastor Goodeman was seated behind his desk, a book open in front of him. "Come, child."
    Louisa moved to stand in front of the desk, her hands at her sides, her heart pounding. He looked up from where he'd entered something in the book. "You need not be frightened, Louisa," he said as he looked across his desk. "I realize this is your first time coming to see me but I promise, my intention is not to frighten you. I wish to help you understand the pitfalls of choosing the wrong path."
    She nodded, his gaze not the piercing hateful one she'd often seen on Pastor Reed's face. Instead, he looked as if he truly wished to set her at ease—well, as much at ease as possible when she was in that room to be spanked, or whatever occurred behind his closed