The Padded Palace Act IV: Chapter 19
DING DONG! DING DONG!
No more than five seconds passed before a second set of doorbell rings sounded off, signaling impatience from whoever was waiting on the other side. Sprawled out on her tummy in the middle of the living room floor with an old-school Polly Pocket castle playset, a pouty Ellie looked toward the office and then upstairs. “Guess I’ww gets it den,” she grumbled, slightly miffed to break away from her playtime. Her very soggy diaper sagged between her thighs as she toddled to answer the cruddy door.
CLICK!
“Hiya, Martin,” said Ellie quickly before rushing back to her spot on the floor, leaving Martin alone in the doorway.
Snorting softly, Martin’s caregiver side couldn’t help but find Ellie’s spastic behavior utterly adorable. It wasn’t enough to fully upend his dissatisfaction with Latasha and Connor’s care but it at the very least lightened the mood. Glancing around the mostly vacant space, he approached the prone little and squatted down to talk at her level. “Howdy. Sorry to disturb your playtime. You know where I can find Latasha?” he asked, receiving an abrupt and playfully silent point toward the office door. Peering inside, he was able to Latasha and Stacy in the midst of what appeared to be a serious discussion. Latasha briefly locked eyes with him, offering him a nod and a one-second finger, “And Riri and Connor?”
Ellie’s arm instantly whipped behind her to gesture upstairs, filling Martin in on the Padded Palace’s current layout. Rubbing the back of his neck anxiously, he wasn’t a fan of how spread out everyone was, especially considering that Ellie was in the living room with only a window’s worth of supervision. Opting not to wait until Latasha was finished with Stacy, he called out, “Riri! Come get your shoes on!”
Overhead, a series of quick footsteps could be heard leading toward the staircase. “Hi, Daddy!” insisted Riri, sprinting downstairs at Mach speed with Skye trailing behind and throwing her arms around Martin. In the back of her mind, she knew how peeved her Daddy was. She could feel it in his body language alone, which was all the more reason to butter him up, “I had lossa fun dis weeken. I cans wait to teww chus aww abouts it!”
Squinting down at Riri with a half-smile, Martin was no dummy. She tended to play up her Little Space lisp whenever she was in trouble; something that was as cute as it was aggravating. He knew he wouldn’t be able to stay mad at her, encouraging him to squeeze his baby girl extra tight. “Aww, and I can’t wait to hear every detail while you dangle from your special bouncer,” he said, feeling Riri tense up in his arms as he pre-selected a fitting punishment before his kind-hearted nature could win out.
KNOCK KNO-
“Oooh!” chirped Carol, her knuckles barely impacting the slightly ajar door twice as it swung open. Standing next to her was Mal, who had arrived at almost the exact same time. Not wanting to walk in unannounced, she decided to verbalize the remainder of her entrance, “Knock! Knock!”
In a complete reversal of her actions one minute prior, Ellie jumped to her feet with vigorous energy and ran toward the front door. “Mommy!” she yelled, knocking over the castle playset and practically tackling Carol as she leaped into her arms.
“Oh, good! Everyone’s here,” said Latasha, exiting her office alongside Stacy to find nearly every Padded Palace Big and Little accounted for. This was truly a serendipitous happening considering the announcement she needed to make, “If I could have everyone's attention for just a moment. I’m sure you all have places you need to be so I’ll be as brief as-”
“Hold up!”
Before Latasha could proceed with her address, an irritated Martin pushed his way to the front of the room. “Apologies, Latasha, but I feel the need to be frank. We put a lot of trust in you here, and I don’t appreciate being lied to,” he said curtly, his pointed stare shifting between Latasha and Stacy, “When you told me Connor would be operating on his own this weekend, I was assured he was up to the task.”
“Daddy, it’s not his fault. Honest!” said Riri, tugging on Martin's arm to suade his attention. Sadly, other than glowy platitudes, she had nothing to base her lofty statement on. The reality was that, no matter how kind Connor was or how desperately he needed a weekend like this, the way things unfolded this weekend was largely on his shoulders. By not standing up to Stacy and subsequently allowing the girls to transform him into a sissy baby, he seeded the caregiving responsibilities he had promised to uphold.
“Riri, not now. The grown-ups are talking,” he said with a sharp sigh, trying not to take pleasure in the line of blush that spread across Riri’s nose. He never enjoyed being the bad guy. Returning to the subject at hand, he placed a free arm sassily on his hip and clicked his tongue at Stacy; the grand architect of this chaotic weekend, “Well? Anything you’d like to say for yourself?”
Looking at Latasha solemnly, Stacy received a permissive nod from the Padded Palace’s matriarch. “Okay, so I’m pretty Goddess-awful at apologies…but I am sorry. I didn’t mean for you and Carol to get caught up in this. All the lies just…kinda snowballed,” she said bashfully. The taste of crow was always the toughest to swallow, “I’m sorry to you too, Latasha. And I’ll be sure to apologize to Connor too.”
“Yeah, speaking of, where is Connor, anyway? Stacy’s not the only person I’d like to hear an apology from,” said Carol, crossing to the center of the living room to join Martin’s side.
Raising her hand high like a good girl, Ellie happily answered, “He jus got out of da shower so he’ww be down soons.”
“Goddess! How long was he in that shower?!” replied Carol, failing to connect the dots of Stacy’s deception.
Gazing apathetically at the pair of disgruntled Bigs as Carol and Ellie discussed Connor’s whereabouts, a sudden realization struck Latasha. She let out an open-mouth scoff in disbelief as she approached Carol and looped a finger around her friend's pristine curls. “Mhmm, just as I thought…” she said, prompting Carol to pull her hair away, “...Donna’s handiwork, no? Seems someone had plenty of time to hit up the salon.”
“I-I was in the area and she had an opening! Sue me,” said Carol a tad too defensively for her own good. She flicked her hair back in an effort to fix and conceal her audacious hairdo.
Nodding smugly, Latasha swapped targets from Carol to Martin. An obnoxiously loud sniff filled the space as she held her nose near his collared shirt. “Hmmm, nothing like the smell of freshly cut lumber, huh?” she said, savoring the subtle pouts forming on Martin and Carol’s faces. They may not have been Littles but Bigs could be just as bratty if not more so, “So, let me see if I’ve got this all figured out. Stacy spins you a whole web of lies that easily could’ve been uncovered had either of you set one foot inside that nursery. All while you both take advantage of not having to play caregiver for a Saturday afternoon.” The guilty expressions worn by the pair of self-titled Bigs spoke volumes. Alas, someone needed to hold strong as the lone voice of reason amidst a sea of finger-pointing. “Why don’t we take a step back? No one person is wholly responsible for every single thing that went wrong this weekend. It took an army to mess up this badly, and I think it would behoove us to-”
SQUEAK!
An itty-bitty creak from the top of the staircase momentarily drew Latasha’s eye mid-statement. Her voice cracked and faltered whilst performing a startling double-take. “...Oh, my Goddess…” she muttered involuntarily, unintentionally imploring those around her to follow her eyeline.
Positioned on the tips of his feet while crouched at the top of the stairs, Connor attempted to scramble for cover. Unfortunately, his bulky diaper significantly slowed his reaction speed, giving everyone in the living room a glimpse at the Padded Palace’s resident sissy baby.
“AHA!” cackled Carol unsympathetically. She’d heard plenty of stories from Latasha and even teased Connor for wearing pull-ups but she had never seen him all dolled before. A similar albeit more subdued response was shared by Martin and Latasha, both of whom proceeded to cup their mouths to stifle their amusement.
No reaction, though, could top Skye’s. Having kept to herself by the couch while the Bigs deliberated, she was in the perfect position to get a good look at Connor in full sissy regalia. A feverish and unwavering smile spread across her face. Her and Riri’s ingenious plan had gone off without a hitch. Bounding to her feet, she weaved through the small crowd of Bigs and Littles as she bolted upstairs, skipping a step the whole way up. She couldn’t wait. She needed to see more.
However, as she reached the second floor, Skye slowed to a stop as she caught sight of Connor inching backward at a snail’s pace. Failing to stand with his knees buckling, he buried his face behind his arms and curled in toward the wall. “D-Don wook!” he yelled, his voice filled with fear and regret. Tragically, his actions only forced his short dress to hike up, revealing his diapers to the girl he was hired to help look after.
TO BE CONTINUED…