Where Does My Heart Beat Now- Chapter 8

A Chapter by Sympathy Heart

Chapter 8

Kate awoke around eight the next morning to find the bed empty on the left side. Gabriel must have been up for a while since his side of the bed was cool, He’s probably outside. After dressing in a pair of jean capris and a blue t-shirt, she sauntered out into the living room where she found Mae sitting in her chair, reading a romance novel. Once she saw Kate enter the room, she put the book down and stood up.

“Good morning, dear. Did you sleep well? Gabriel told me about the incident at the coffee shop last night.”

“Yes, I did sleep well. Speaking of Gabriel, where is he?” Kate asked.

“The cavalry general called a meeting to discuss the reenactment coming up,” Mae stepped over to the wide living room window and opened it to let in the sweet spring breeze. “Oh, Beth called earlier. She’s already got two of your dresses finished and wants us to come by so you can try them on in case she needs to make any changes.”

“Geez, did the woman even sleep? Well, I’m ready to go whenever you are.”

It was already noon by the time Mae and Kate arrived at the seamstress’s shop. From the looks of it, most of the town’s inhabitants were at the town square attending a separate meeting for the reenactment, but Beth was in her shop putting assortments of buttons, ribbons, spools of thread and other sewing essentials on the shelves.

“Hello, ladies! Beautiful afternoon to be out and about, isn’t it?” Beth greeted the two cheerfully from behind a tall shelf of fabric bolts.

“Hi, Beth! I brought Kate in to try on the dresses,” Mae replied.

“Great! Come on back.”

Mae and Kate were led through a curtain into a sunny room on the other side of the store. The room had many fabrics laid out on the floor with lace and buttons resting on top. In the center of the room was a dress stand, and positioned perfectly over the stand was a gorgeous lavender ball gown made out of light-weight silk and trimmed in shiny black ribbon. The sheer beauty of the dress was enough to make Kate’s jaw drop in awe.

“Oh, my gosh! Who’s dress is that? It’s amazing!” She exclaimed.

The seamstress chuckled, “That dress is your ball gown.”

“No way! It’s beautiful!”

“I worked on it all day and night. I also got one of your day dresses finished, as well as your underpinnings,” she held up a white garment with a smile. “Now, time to try them on.”

After closing the curtain hanging in the doorway, Kate completely stripped out of her clothes until she was standing in just her panties. She pulled on the long, white chemise, but stared dumbstruck at the pantalettes in front of her, “Okay, which way do these go on… and why is there a giant hole where the crotch and butt should be?!”

Beth and Mae burst out laughing at Kate’s comment; they knew exactly what she was meaning. They, too, had asked the same question when they had first started reenacting.

“Honey, Gabriel and I have a lot to teach you about the Civil War and its fashion,” Mae commented.

“Then tell me how these crazy things go on!”

“It ties in the back, so the bigger opening goes back there,” she explained before grabbing another article of clothing.

Finally, Kate managed to get the pantalettes on correctly, and then Mae stepped behind her with an odd-looking object in her hand and had her daughter-in-law turn around in order for her to wrap it around her middle. She nodded for Beth to move in front of Kate and fasten the front of the undergarment.

Kate stared at the strange white thing around her, unsure what to make of it, “What is this thing?”

“It’s a corset. Now, suck in,” Mae pulled on the corset’s stays, making Kate’s waist smaller. After several more tugs, she determined her waist was the right size for her to fit in the dress.

“Are you supposed to be able to breathe in this thing?” Kate gasped.

Beth and Mae spoke at the same time, “No.”

“What’s… next?”

Before she could say anything else, Mae dropped what looked like a huge circular device resembling a bird cage over her head until it came to rest on her hips. The size of the crinoline almost made Kate topple over. She inspected it suspiciously while the older women prepared the next layers of clothing to load her down. How many more things could she possibly wear before collapsing?

Some time later, Kate had to rest against a wall to keep herself from falling over. Already, she wanted to sit, and she didn’t even have her dress on, yet, Good, Lord, how were women able to stand all of this? Gabriel better be happy I’m doing this. She raised her arms over her head for Beth to carefully slip the beautiful dress onto her slender body. The silky material flowed smoothly over her head and fell delicately to the floor where it rested in tiny liquid-like ripples. She was surprised by how light the dress was compared to all of the underpinnings. While Kate inspected the lavender dress, Mae set to work lacing up the black ribbon laces and fastening the shiny black buttons where the dress came together between her shoulder blades.

“Oh, my goodness! You look absolutely stunning, dear. Gabriel won’t be able to keep you for long when you wear this dress to a ball,” Beth exclaimed and stepped back to inspect her work. “I think there’s only one more thing I need to sew on and then it will be perfect,” she dug through one of her baskets and pulled out several black crystal pendants and one large teardrop-shaped pendant, “Allow me a little more time and I’ll have this dress ready, as well as your others, by the time of the ball.”

Mae walked around in front of Kate, “Now there’s only one thing left for you to do so you’ll be ready for the ball… It’s time for you to learn the dances, and I believe Beth has a dress for you to borrow in order for you to learn properly.”

“Who’s going to teach me?” She questioned.

“Only the best.”

Kate stood in front of Sean a few minutes later, staring at him while he was showing her where to place her hands. She was shy from even touching him on the shoulder let alone moving any closer to him.

“Kate, you need to be closer to me for this to work right,” he reached around her, placing his hand on the small of her back and taking her other hand in his free hand. “There’s no need for you to be shy. I even taught Mae these dances. Now, this is a waltz. At every dance you go to there will always be waltzes… and a little info for you, the waltz is Gabriel’s favorite next to the Virginia Reel.”

“Okay. I’ll have to remember that,” she could barely breathe what with the corset squeezing her, not to mention the very short distance between her and Sean, Gabriel would be so jealous if he could see us now.

“So, the rule you need to remember when dancing the waltz, or any dance, is that the man always leads. We don’t need the dainty woman leading with her huge skirt, not unless we want to end up in a jumbled mess. Plus, it’s just proper if the man leads,” he pulled her closer and prepared to start teaching the steps. “Now, for the steps. They are very easy, but you have to stay with the beat and keep a steady rhythm. It’s one, two, three… one, two, three, and so on. In the middle of the dance, some of the men like to twirl the ladies. Are you following all of this?”

“I think so,” Kate replied.

“Then let’s try it.”

Kate felt like she was literally being swept off her feet. The speed was a little too fast at first, and it was difficult for her to keep rhythm since she was trying to lead instead of Sean. He had to constantly remind her that he was the leader. The man is always the leader. One, two, three… one, two, three, she repeated the steps over and over in her head while concentrating on where to place her feet. A few times she accidentally stepped on his foot, but eventually she got the footwork and rhythm down. Wow! This is actually fun now that I understand it. Won’t Gabriel be surprised at the ball?

“Good! I think you’ve got it now,” Sean praised. “Now, how about learning the Virginia Reel?”

“Alright.”

By the end of the dance session, Kate’s feet were sore and she was ready to get out of the heavy clothes. The lesson had gone over well and she felt like she was ready for the ball when the time came. Hopefully she wouldn’t pass out from the corset.

“Well, shall we go find Gabriel and Rob?” Mae asked after they left the seamstress’s shop.

“Sure. I wonder where they are?”

“Probably eating lunch at one of the diners. Let’s go find out.”

Both of them found Rob and Gabriel sitting on the steps of the gazebo in the middle of Otstott Park. Gabriel’s ponytail was draped over his shoulder and gently blew in the breeze. His eyes lit up when he saw his wife walking towards him with a slight swing of her hips.

“Hey, baby! Where have you and Mom been this afternoon?” He greeted warmly and pulled her onto his lap.

“We went to Beth’s.”

“Oh, no. Not more dresses,” he joked before kissing her cheek. Are you getting excited about the reenactment?”

Kate wasn’t really paying attention to what he was saying; she was watching a young woman across the square, who was playing with her baby. I want to be a mother. Maybe I can sweet-talk Gabriel, “Hey, can I talk with you alone, Gabriel?”

“Well, sure.”

Kate and Gabriel strolled along the sidewalk down one of the streets, both remaining silent for some time while thinking of what to say. She was having a rather difficult time of deciding exactly what she would say so as not to make the discussion awkward, but if she wanted to be a mother she need to say something right then.

Gabriel broke the silence when he said, “So, what did you want to talk about?”

Okay, Kate, just come out and say it, “Gabriel, I want a baby. I’m ready to be a mother.”

He nearly stumbled into a flowering crabapple tree upon hearing her bold statement. That was definitely not something he was expecting to hear her say so soon, “Um, well, I thought we were going to wait a while?”

“We will be waiting a while... nine months. That seems long enough to me.”

“We’ve got reenactments coming up, and that would be difficult if you’re pregnant. Besides, you have to be in period clothing while staying in the camps, so that means you’ll have to have special dresses made to fit you for when you expand.”

“At least I won’t have to wear the corset,” she commented matter-of-factly.

“True, but still… do you know how stressful that would be on you, having to sleep on cots while carrying? That wouldn’t be very fun.”

“I don’t care one bit. I’ve been through worse. Anyways, I’m the one who’s going to be carrying the baby all that time, so I should be able to say when I’m ready.”

“Alright, you’ve got me on that one. But I still have a say on what you can and can’t do in camp,” he hid a smile to show that he still had some control of the situation.

“So, does that mean we’ll try for a baby?” Her voice was filled with excitement.

“I guess. You’ve found my soft spot.”

That evening Gabriel and his parents sat in the living room with one of the antique lamps shining in the corner near the front door. Mae and Rob sat next to each other, watching their son, who seemed to be pondering something before he got up and walked over to the tall mahogany china cabinet.

“Gabriel?” Mae started to ask.

He turned around after grabbing a small box off the top shelf, “It’s time I gave her the ring.”

Kate found her husband sitting on the loveseat a few minutes later when she entered the room after changing into her chemise and housecoat, “What’s going on?”

“Come here, honey,” Gabriel motioned for her to join him.

She greatly obeyed his command and sat down right next to him with her legs curled up under her. Her curiosity got the better of her and she leaned closer as if that was the key to making him talk, “So… what did you want to tell me?”

Without saying a word, Gabriel pulled out the ring so that it gleamed brilliantly in the faint light. The silver ring immediately caught Kate’s attention and she pulled his hand closer to get a better look at the design of the ring. She could see what looked like a heart in the center holding up a crown above it, but she couldn’t quite tell what was on either side of the heart.

“This is the other half of your wedding ring,” he explained with a smile. “It’s called a claddagh, the Irish symbol of love, loyalty and friendship. It belonged to my great, great grandmother and it’s been passed down through my dad’s side of the family until it finally ended up with me… and now, I’m giving it to you.”

Kate was utterly speechless when he took her hand and slipped the diamond ring off, including the temporary band, then slid on the claddagh, the point of the heart pointing toward her chest, “It’s beautiful, Gabriel. I love it,” she watched as he replaced the diamond ring so that it rested above the crown and the shank of it fit perfectly together with the shank of the claddagh.

“Gabriel, aren’t you forgetting the necklace?” Rob mentioned.

“Oh, yeah!” Gabriel hopped up from the loveseat again and walked over to the glass case where Mae kept some of her crystal figures, and took out a silver necklace that looked like his, only smaller. After blowing off the dust that had collected on it over the past six years he fastened it around his wife’s neck. “Your knot fits inside mine like a friendship necklace; when put together they form one big lovers knot. Everyone in my family wears one. Now, you’re a part of my heritage.”

She yawned before lying down on her side of the loveseat, catching Charlie’s attention. The Golden Retriever padded over to where she lay and started licking her hand, “Hey Charlie. Am I in your spot?”

“Why don’t you go to bed, Kate? I’ll be in there later,” Gabriel planted a kiss on her cheek.

“Alright,” Kate was too tired to argue, so after hugging his parents, she disappeared into the bedroom.

It was almost midnight, and Mae and Gabriel were the only ones remaining in the living room. Neither of them seemed to notice how late it was getting, only their discussion kept them from heading off to bed, as well. The talk of children arose once more, although Gabriel was the one to bring up the subject instead of his mother. He found himself at a roadblock, and was turning to his mother for help.

“Honey, you know you’ve wanted a baby for a long time, and Kate would be a perfect mother,” Mae commented while knitting.

“I know, Mom.”

“Then why are you holding back?”

He turned his face away from her to hide the hurt in his eyes, “Because I don’t want to repeat what happened last time.”

Mae knew what her son was going through; she, too, had been devastated by what happened six years prior, but she wasn’t going to let that stop her from believing she’d eventually get a grandbaby, “Gabriel, you shouldn’t let Susan’s death stop you from going after what you want. None of us knew that was going to happen to her, and you’re not the only one who suffered from that loss. Can’t you see that Kate wants to be a mother? She wants to give you that baby, but she can’t without your help. It’s time to move on.”

“What if history repeats itself? I’d never be able to live with myself if it did,” Gabriel slumped forward on the couch with his face buried in his hands. “Losing Susan and the baby was the hardest thing I’ve ever been through. I can’t lose Kate, too.”

“Susan would want you to move on, Gabriel. You went for so long holding all of that remorse and sorrow inside that you wouldn’t even spend time with Sean. You hardly ever left the farm, and even when you did, you wouldn’t get out of Jefferson… You pretty much gave up on life, itself. That’s why your father and I were so happy when you met and married Kate, but now you’ve slipped back into that same state you’d been in for so long,” Mae stood up from her chair and wrapped her arms around her son. “Forget everything that’s happened in the past and move on with your life.”

“It’s easier said than done.”

Mae sighed heavily, “Do what you will, but remember that Kate expects you to be there for her.”

His mother’s words hit him hard. It was true, he needed to move on and be there for Kate. He had always turned to his mother for advice, and what she gave was probably the best he’d received. I do want a baby, and I know Kate does, but I really don’t want anything to happen this time. Then again, it’s up to me to make my own family a reality, he decided to end the discussion after he’d made up his mind and went to the bedroom where he found Kate curled up under the blanket.

“Gabriel? Is that you?” Her voice sounded groggy with sleep when she spoke.

He pulled back the covers before moving up next to her. The warmth of her body was welcoming to him after the stressful talk with his mother, and he was very thankful to have her near where he could reach out and touch her to know she was still there, “Yes, baby it’s me,” This is the right time. Mom’s right, if we’re going to have children, now is the time. I love Kate too much to deny her the experience of being a mother… and I want to be a father more than anything. His thoughts diminished when he wrapped his arm around her waist ever so tenderly and inhaled her sweet aroma of lavender and citrus.

“What are you doing?” She giggled, trying to escape his grasp. “Stop tickling me, Gabriel! Stop, stop!”

He obeyed her pleas long enough to look into her pale eyes and see the true love for him glimmering. That was one trait about her that he absolutely adored. No other time being around her did he feel more in love, “Then how about this?” Before Kate could say anything, Gabriel gently parted her lips with his, taking in the sweet scent of her breath as his lips moved with hers. After a while, the intensity of the moment grew, and as it did their bodies moved closer together, allowing them to cuddle.

As the night wore on their nervousness faded into pure bliss, and everything around them seemed to disappear. Without even caring to think first, Gabriel lightly ran his hand up the inside of her thigh, feeling her tremble underneath his touch; her acceptance of him being so near told him she was letting him do what others couldn’t. At one point he stopped abruptly after realizing that he might have gone too far and he looked at Kate’s face to see her expression.

“No… Don’t stop,” her voice came confidently, but a little hesitant as everything happening was new to her. For the first time in her life she felt like she was truly loved by someone. Oh, my gosh… Gabriel does love me more than I ever imagined. I wonder if this was how he felt when he was around Susan?

With receiving the go-ahead, Gabriel resumed kissing her and trailed his lips along her jawbone and started kissing her neck lovingly. In turn, Kate tenderly grazed her lips up his own strong jaw and nipped the lobe of his ear. Right in the middle of kissing her cheek, he felt her lace her fingers with his and pull his other hand up to her breasts. Eventually the passion between them heightened to such a point where they couldn’t stop, only to move forward. Gabriel shifted his weight on top of Kate and gently lowered himself while holding onto her side to keep from crushing her small body beneath his.

I can’t believe this is happening, Kate gasped suddenly from the amount of pressure being put on the lower part of her body as he entered her. And he’s being so gentle. Ouch! Okay, now that kind of stung a little.

“I’m sorry, honey, I didn’t mean to hurt you,” he apologized as soon as he felt her wince.

“You’re fine. Don’t apologize for anything,” she pulled his head toward hers and lightly sucked on his lips before clasping her hands on his shoulder blades and dug her nails into the skin. She could faintly hear him grunt every now and then. Over time a great feeling of pleasure started boiling somewhere inside of her, making her arch her back in response.

Toward the end of their lovemaking Kate let out a yelp of ecstasy after the amazing feeling of pleasure that had been building the entire time finally crested and coursed throughout her body in a huge wave, causing her toes to curl and her grip to tighten on Gabriel’s shoulder blades. It was the most wonderful feeling she had ever experienced, and she would hold the memory of it for the rest of her life. The whole thing had left her trembling to the point of her having to struggle to catch her breath, and her heart raced for several minutes after the sensation had died away.

“I love you so much, Kate, and I always will,” Gabriel was also trembling, and he had to swallow hard after speaking. His body was sticky with sweat and a bead of the salty liquid dripped off a strand of hair hanging from the side of his head. He gently pulled back from her before lying down on his own side of the bed and taking her hand and placing it on his chest. “I give you my heart.”

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