Mirror Image

“I want my surprise.”

“Eat your dinner, dear,” Zee pleaded.

“No!”

“Then would you like a nice, warm bath?”

“No! I want my surprise. Daddy said I’d get a surprise.”

“Mandy, stop this,” Avery said sternly, “and eat your dinner.”

Mandy gave the room service tray a push. It went crashing to the floor. Avery shot to her feet. “That settles it.” She yanked Mandy out of her chair, spun her around and swatted her bottom hard several times. “I won’t put up with that from you, young lady.”

At first Mandy was too stunned to react. She looked up at Avery with wide, round eyes. Then her lower lip began to quiver. Enormous tears rolled down her cheeks. She opened her mouth and let out a wail that would awake the dead.

Zee reached for her, but Avery edged her aside and gathered Mandy against her. The child’s arms wrapped around her neck. She burrowed her wet face into Avery’s shoulder.

Avery rubbed her back soothingly. “Aren’t you ashamed of yourself for having to get a spanking? Daddy thinks you’re a good girl.”

“I am a good girl.”

“Not tonight. You’re being very naughty and you know it.”

The crying jag lasted for several minutes. When it finally abated, Mandy raised her blotchy face. “Can I have my ice cream now?”

“No, you can’t.” Avery pushed back strands of Mandy’s hair that tears had plastered to her cheeks. “I don’t believe you deserve a treat, do you?” Her lower lip continued to tremble, but she shook her head no. “If you behave now, when Daddy gets here tonight, I’ll let him wake you up to give you your surprise. Okay?”

“I want some ice cream.”

“I’m sorry,” Avery said shaking her head no. “Bad behavior doesn’t get rewarded. Understand Mommy?”

Mandy nodded regretfully. Avery eased her off her lap. “Now, let’s go take a bath and put your pajamas on so you and Grandma can go to bed. The faster you go to sleep, the sooner Daddy will get here.”

Twenty minutes later, Avery tucked her in. Mandy was so tired, she was almost asleep by the time her head hit the pillow. Avery was also exhausted. The incident had sapped her stamina. She was in no frame of mind to quarrel with Zee, whose compact body was quaking with disapproval.

“Tate will hear about the spanking,” she said.

“Good. I believe he should.”

She was on her way into the connecting room when the telephone rang. It was Tate. “Are you coming, or what?” he demanded without preamble.

“Yes, I’m coming. I had a problem with Mandy, but she’s in bed now. I’ll get a cab and be there—”

“I’m downstairs in the lobby. Be quick.”

She did the best she could in five minutes’ time, which was all she dared allow herself. The results weren’t spectacular, but good enough to make Tate do a double take as she stepped off the elevator.

The two-piece suit was smart and sassy. The sapphire blue silk enhanced her own vibrant coloring. The curl in her hair had been sacrificed to the humidity, so she’d opted for a sophisticated, dramatic effect and capped it off with a pair of bold, gold earrings.

“What the hell’s going on?” Tate asked as he ushered her toward the revolving door. “Dad said Mandy was upset.”

“Upset, my foot. Mandy was being an absolute terror.”

“Why?”

“She’s three years old, that’s why. She’d been cooped up in a car all day. I understood why she was behaving the way she was, but understanding only stretches so far. I hate to spoil Zee’s surprise, but I spanked her.”

They had reached the car parked beneath the porte cochere. He paused with his hand on the passenger door handle. “What happened?”