School for Nurses by T. Sayers Ellis

tone alarmed her as much as it had the night she remembered all too well when he took her in the doorway both ways. ‘Mm,’ she murmured noncommittally, not liking the drift of this at all.
    â€˜Have any of you ever seen a demonstration of what that oath involves?’ Andrew inquired pleasantly.
    â€˜I say, do you have a kinky streak, Pen?’ Amanda giggled. ‘You dirty thing, you!’
    â€˜Amanda, you will find that Penelope is not into anything,’ Andrew said quietly. ‘But she does have her perks, don’t you, my dear? Have you shown them your pearls? Have you shown them the lovely gifts I give you?’
    At the mention of the pearls, a crimson flush spread over Penny’s face and her whole body seemed to get hot.
    â€˜Look at her!’ Caroline exclaimed. ‘Oh, this must be dirty!’
    â€˜Not at all,’ Andrew assured her, ‘it is merely a jewel, Penelope’s private jewel. Isn’t that so, my love?’
    Penny felt her stomach turning. Since that night in the doorway she had stepped softly around Andrew and kept those pearls hidden safely away in a drawer. She only pulled them out when he asked her to wear them in bed for him. And then he caressed her bottom very gently before fucking her in the pussy as courteously as he usually did. Now, however, she felt her bowels stirring anxiously. ‘It’s a very private jewel,’ she said finally.
    â€˜Why don’t you fetch it, my pet?’ Andrew suggested. ‘Let’s give the girls a full, live demonstration of what it means to love, honour and obey your husband.’
    Flushed from head to toe, Penny fled the room, but it was upstairs she ran, to fetch her pearls. She knew she did not have a choice even as she reassured herself that he couldn’t possibly mean to do anything to her in front of her friends. Yet the sound of laughter downstairs told her this was not a dream; this was happening. She lifted out the box she had hidden beneath her undergarments in the bottom drawer of her cabinet. Inside it, lying against the plush red lining, was the cool white string of pearls.
    With an anxious tightness in her bottom, she walked slowly as a schoolgirl bound for punishment, back down the carpeted stairs.
    Caroline was smoking when she came in and laughing at something Andrew had said. Susan was lying sprawled on her side on the other end of the sofa, asleep. Her husband was sitting between them.
    â€˜Bring it in Penny,’ he said, ‘and stand right here in front of us where we can see you.’
    â€˜Oh,’ Caroline smiled at her, ‘you aren’t half kinky on the sly, are you, Pen? I didn’t know you were like this.’
    â€˜You’ve not seen much of Penny’s dark side, have you?’ He smiled at her.
    â€˜Not for lack of trying,’ Caroline replied, and returned his smile.
    â€˜You don’t surprise me.’ He looked back at his wife, who was standing a little unsteadily before him, holding the box clasped over her chest as if it might keep him and his intentions at bay.
    â€˜Show them what’s in the box, Penelope,’ he instructed firmly.
    â€˜Do I have to?’ she asked, even though she knew what he would say.
    â€˜Do you remember what I offered you the last time we discussed the issue of whether or not you were a woman of your word, Penelope?’
    â€˜But I haven’t worn them,’ she protested.
    â€˜Oh,’ Caroline looked delighted, ‘this is good!’
    â€˜Would you like to see Penny’s best jewel?’ Andrew asked her.
    â€˜Would I!’
    â€˜There you have it, my dear. I think you should show your friends what domesticity means. I think it is your duty, as the only married woman in this room, to show them just what it means to love, honour and obey a man.’
    â€˜But I don’t want to wear the pearls,’ Penny insisted in a whining voice. She could feel matters slipping