Where Does My Heart Beat Now- Chapter 11

A Chapter by Sympathy Heart

Chapter 11

The brassy sound of the bugle was the first thing Kate heard the next morning. Another sound caught her attention; Gabriel was on the other side of his cot tucking the bottom of his cotton shirt into his gray wool pants. The white suspenders attached to the buttons on the trousers hung downward before he pulled them over his shoulders and put on his gray colonel’s coat. The next items that went on were his knee-high boots and his gray Hardee hat, complete with an ostrich plume; despite history and most Confederate re-enactors he liked the look of the hat and thought it enhanced his looks as an officer. Before long her husband disappeared out the tent flaps.

Shortly after he’d left, Kate hopped off her cot and snatched up her pantalettes and corset along with the light blue dress sprinkled with a small floral pattern. She pulled the pantalettes over the bottom of the chemise, but struggled with the corset. Grr, I need help with this silly thing.

As if on cue, Mae’s voice called, “Are you decent, dear?”

“Oh, help me with this darned corset, Mae.”

Mae entered the tent and started pulling on the stays. She had her completely corseted within a minute and was already getting the dress ready to slip on over her head. Afterwards, she fixed Kate’s hair into a snood before tying the laces of her camp boots. At last, she was ready to walk out into the morning sunshine.

“Thank you, Mae,” Kate threw a smile toward her mother-in-law.

“No problem.”

The first person to greet the two was Ava, who sashayed over to them with tin plates full of breakfast. She, too, was in her day dress, although hers didn’t have the crinoline underneath, “Good morning Kate… Mae. Did you sleep well?”

“I did,” Kate replied happily. “But some of the guys were up talking for the longest time, I thought they’d never shut up.”

Ava chuckled, “Yeah, they do that at every reenactment. Don’t worry, you’ll get used to it quickly… Did you hear that really loud laughing last night?”

“Who was that?”

“Sean,” Ava had to contain her laughter in order to explain. “He sat down wrong in his chair and flipped backwards.”

“Oh.”

Mae nudged Kate in the side, “Eat and then follow me to the suttlery. Ava, you too.”

The suttlery was a bunch of large, white tents grouped together on both sides of the road. There were vendors already setting up their displays inside their tents when Mae, Kate and Ava arrived at the tent they would be working in. Apparently one of Mae’s friends had started setting everything up earlier that morning, for most of it was sitting on wooden shelves or hanging from racks.

Wow, this is pretty cool. I never thought the suttlery would look like this, Kate thought as she walked around inside of the tent, examining everything. Near the front counter stood a clear case containing beautiful jewelry, which immediately caught her attention. She found herself attracted to a black crystal necklace and earring set.

Around nine o’ clock the sound of horse hooves pounding on the cobblestone streets alerted Kate of the arrival of Gabriel since the meeting had supposedly ended a few minutes earlier. Her husband entered the tent with his sword hanging off his hip and the hilt of his pistol shining in the sunlight. As he approached the women he removed his hat out of respect. He stopped and bowed in front of Ava and made a sweeping motion with the hat as he did so, making Ava giggle.

“How are you ladies this fine morning? It doesn’t seem very busy, yet,” Gabriel inquired while he turned a brass button over in his fingers. He tossed it into the air and snatched it before it hit the countertop.

“Just fine, sweetie,” Mae was straightening up a box of uniform buttons and emblems. “How was the meeting?”

“Obnoxious like always. Where’s Kate?” His eyes drifted around the tent, searching for his wife among the merchandise. He found her standing by the rack of shawls, sorting them by size, and walked up behind her with his hands behind his back. “Are you trying to hide from me, baby?”

The voice behind her made her jump, knocking over a display of reticules. “Don’t do that, Gabriel!” She turned around and walloped his shoulder with one of the reticules, and then started setting up the display again.

“You’re very jumpy.”

“No thanks to you and your ghost walk.”

He wrapped his arms around her waist and leaned forward with his chin resting on her shoulder, “Ah, it wasn’t that bad. Now, did you sleep well, honey? I heard you tossing around last night and was wondering what was going on… whether you were having a bad dream or if a squirrel had gotten in bed with you and you were trying to beat the hell out of it.”

Her cheeks turned pink from hearing his assumption. She had hoped she hadn’t woken him, but he didn’t seem annoyed by it, “I’m sorry I woke you. It was just a dream.” A rather surprising one, at that.

“No harm. So, are you ready to see your honey in action out there on the battlefield?”

She pushed past him with a basket of wooden knitting needles, “Just don’t break your leg or crack your head open when you fall.”

He snickered before following her over to the counter where he leaned against it with his arms folded over his chest, the hat dangling from his fingertips. He loved how she always thought she was smarter when it came to safety, “I’ll probably get hit by an actual bullet before that happens. Trust me, I know what I’m doing,” he leaned over and kissed her cheek as she walked by. Here in a few hours it will be time to head to the battlefield. Do you want to ride over with me or take the shuttle?”

“I’ll ride with you, but you’ll have to help me onto Bo since I’m wearing this silly crinoline.”

As the clock hands fell on twelve-thirty, Kate and Gabriel arrived at a large pecan orchard where the battle was being held. They rode over to a group of men on horseback and Kate noticed that it was another cavalry unit. As she looked around she saw several cannons up on the hill with their limber boxes standing back behind the line. Before she could see everything, Gabriel kicked Bo, making him walk over to the hospital tent where they dismounted.

In front of them stood an older man with a red-stained apron, who was setting up a wooden door on two wooden saw horses. After the door was in place he laid out an assortment of different instruments with a bowl of red liquid to simulate bloody water. The surgeon looked up with a wide grin on his face when he saw Gabriel and Kate walking toward him.

“Well, hello, Gabriel…” he glanced over at Kate, who was standing slightly behind her husband. “Now, who’s this beautiful, young woman? She certainly is a jewel.”

Gabriel pulled Kate around in front of him to introduce the two, but she was rather shy about getting any closer to the surgeon when he was wearing a blood-stained apron with saws and other odd medical devices near him, “This is my wonderful wife, Kate.”

“It’s certainly a pleasure to meet ya, Kate. I’m Jack the surgeon,” he picked up a large saw and a tourniquet. “So, do ya want me to take off your husband’s leg?”

The question caught her off guard, “Uh… no. I think he needs it,” she eyed the stained apron, afraid to ask about it. “Please tell me that’s fake blood.”

The surgeon leaned over the table and beckoned her closer, “Well, let me tell ya somethin’ about this blood on me… We had an infantryman get shot in the knee last night when one of those damned Yanks caught him by surprise down by the riverboats. I was just sittin’ here in me tent, readin’ a book when I hear some of our boys yellin’ and hollerin’, so I go out to see what’s goin’ on and here come four dismounted cavalrymen carryin’ the poor lad on a litter.

“No doubt in me mind when I saw the condition of the boy’s leg that it had to come off. I had the men put him down on this here door while I wrapped the tourniquet around his leg right above the knee. Of course, when he saw me pull out the saw he started screamin’ and fightin’ off the boys I had holdin’ him down. As if that wasn’t enough, as I was cuttin’ through his bone, the fool knocked the tourniquet loose and blood spewed all over the place, includin’ me. Needless to say, he died within a matter of minutes,” Jack pointed toward a large pecan tree where a fresh mound of dirt lay at the base. “We buried him over there early this mornin’.”

Kate looked at the grave with a cocked eyebrow, “Why is his hand sticking out of the ground?”

“Oh… I just told the boys to drop ‘em in and throw some dirt over ‘em. By God, missy, this is war. There’s no time for proper burials around here. He’s lucky we didn’t just throw ‘em in the river.”

“Seriously? That’s really what happened? I don’t recall hearing any gunshots last night,” she was having a hard time believing the story the surgeon had told her. She was positive no gunshots had been fired the night before.

“Oh, yeah. I didn’t think any of those Yanks would have the gull to actually shoot one of our men.”

Kate turned to Gabriel for confirmation, but he, too, held a straight face, “Okay, so you’re saying if I go over to that grave I’m going to find a body with an amputated leg?”

“Yep”

“I swear I didn’t hear any shots fired last night, so how do I know you’re telling the truth?”

“Do you want me to show ya the leg?”

Kate folded her arms over her chest and had a determined look on her face, “If you can produce a leg, I’ll believe you.”

Finally, Gabriel couldn’t stand it any longer, and started laughing so hard he had tears in his eyes and his sides ached. The sudden outburst caused Kate to turn her attention towards him, “My God, Kate… You are so gullible. Of course that didn’t happen, we were just messing with you, and might I say, Jack, that was a good one. Better than the one you told me.”

Jack bowed in front of them with a flourish of his hand, “I thank ya. It’s always fun to joke with the new re-enactors.”

A few minutes before the battle was supposed to start Kate found a place to sit and observe at the very front of the crowd. Mae and Ava joined her right after the first cannon fired, causing Kate to jump in surprise. From what she’d heard earlier, all of the cannons fired at the start of the battle for safety reasons.

Twenty shots later, the battlefield opened up with Confederate infantrymen advancing on the Union soldiers. It looked as if the boys in gray were outnumbering the opposing side, but a horse’s whinny caught Kate’s attention and she turned to see the Confederate cavalry trotting forward on the outskirts of the battle, with her husband leading them. As they neared the middle of the field she heard him give the order to charge the Federals, and charge them they did. Gabriel was already galloping far ahead of his unit when Kate heard a gunshot and saw Bo fall to the ground. On instinct she wanted to run out there and help Gabriel, but remembered him saying he was supposed to fall at a certain time, so she relaxed a little.

The battle ended close to two o’ clock with the crowd applauding loudly as the ‘dead’ soldiers resurrected. For her first battle, Kate found it very interesting and action-packed, especially when the cavalry arrived to help out their men. From across the field she could see Gabriel cantering over to them with Sean right on his heels. Both of them seemed pumped up from the results of the battle, and it was showing very clearly by the way Gabriel grinned madly.

“What’d you think, Kate? Did it leave you on the edge of your seat?” He hopped down from the saddle and pulled her up to him.

“It was very interesting. I enjoyed it,” she examined the hilt of his pistol before pulling it out to get a better look at the design on the barrel. “What do we do now, Gabriel?”

He took the pistol back and put it in the leather holster while keeping his eyes fixed on hers, “Well, I’m going to take a quick shower while Mom takes you to get ready for the ball. I’ll meet you there, so don’t worry about me… the ghosts didn’t hold me hostage in the coffee shop.”

“That’s not funny,” Kate glared at him, her arms crossed.

“I’m sorry, baby. I had to say that,” Gabriel gave her a squeeze before heading off.

At the seamstress’s shop close to six o’ clock, Beth, Mae and Ava bustled around in their underpinnings getting everything in order for Kate while the blonde woman tied her large crinoline over the corset and loosened the purple ribbons at the top of her chemise to drop the neckline over her shoulders. As she tied the bustle on over the lacy petticoat, Mae slipped her black dancing slippers onto her feet and tightened the corset stays to cinch in Kate’s waist; from what she learned, it was very fashionable for women in the Civil War era to have tiny waistlines.

“Oh, Gabriel’s not going to believe his eyes when he sees you dear. He’ll probably have a seizure,” Mae cooed while patting a powder puff over Kate’s shoulders and the tops of her breasts.

Kate watched her curiously, “Is that really necessary?”

“Of course! This powder really emphasizes them to make them more noticeable,” the older woman explained.

“More noticeable?! They’re practically falling out of the corset now! And you want to make them more noticeable?”

“Kate, it was very common for women to do this.”

The young woman shook her head and rolled her eyes. If that’s what they did, then I guess it’s all right. I’m sure Gabriel will appreciate it, “Okay, Mae. I just hope my girls don’t pop out while I’m dancing. Boy, wouldn’t that be the talk of the night?”

Mae giggled at her daughter-in-law’s comment as she helped Beth get the dress ready to slip on over Kate’s head. Since the dress was so voluminous both of them had to lift it to put it on her. Once it was adjusted properly on Kate’s body, Mae made her way around, straightening the skirt out so that it fell to the floor in a beautiful cascade of lavender and black. Afterwards, Ava took to tying the black silk bow at the back of Kate’s waist, then positioned the sleeves below her shoulders and fluffed up the black lace at her bosom. The next item to be placed on her was the black crystal, which Beth had turned into a brooch. She gently poked it through the material at the point of the neckline and let it hang freely.

For over thirty minutes the three women crooned over making Kate the belle of the ball. As soon as the dress was ready, Mae concentrated on fixing her hair by twisting front sections around her head and pinning them in the back before curling the ends in tight ringlets. To finish the look she curled pieces of her layered bangs into spirals that hung down on the sides of her face.

“You look absolutely stunning, Kate!” Beth exclaimed as she stepped back to get a better look at her. “I think you’re ready for the ball.”

“Wait!” Ava ran through the curtained doorway with the crystal necklace and earring set Kate had been looking at earlier that morning and skidded to a stop, nearly knocking Kate over backwards. She wrapped the adorned chain around her neck and fastened the crystal clasp before handing her the matching earrings.

Mae took the opportunity to rub a stick of pink rouge onto the apples of her cheeks and swiped a red-colored stain over her lips. After putting the stain back in her reticule, she lightly ran a coat of black mascara over her long lashes and said, “Now you’re ready.”

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