Where Does My Heart Beat Now- Chapter 13

A Chapter by Sympathy Heart

Chapter 13

At some point, light rays shone in the east, arousing the camps from their sleep. The early morning bustle began as the re-enactors started preparing their breakfasts over the campfires, and waking their families. From another part of the camp, the sound of the bugle rose high above the tents, no doubt waking other camps.

Kate’s eyes fluttered open before she looked around to see what was going on. A smile appeared at the corners of her mouth when she saw Mae tying the flaps of her tent back. She started to get up, but realized Gabriel had his arms locked around her waist.

“And where do you think you’re going?” Gabriel smirked and then threw his feet off of the stool they had been resting on during the night.

“To see if Mae needs my help with anything,” once more, Kate tried to get up, and she finally broke free.

Gabriel stood up and walked over to the fire, where Rob was laying out sausage patties in the pans, “Better come over here and get you some breakfast before Sean and those other pigs scarf it all down.”

She sauntered past him without even considering breakfast, but he reached out and caught her arm, pulling her to him, “Oh, no you don’t. You’re eating some breakfast. I can’t have you looking like a twig,” Gabriel nuzzled her cheek affectionately before handing her a full plate. “Now, you eat while I go clean up; I don’t care for smelling like campfire smoke.”

Kate had to think about what he had said, but it never made sense. There’s nowhere to take a shower around here. What’s he talking about? Where are--?” But he had already disappeared behind the rows and rows of tents. After contemplating the issue for a few seconds longer, she sat down next to Ava and hastily ate her breakfast. I’ll just go and see where he went.

The sun had already started to warm the air around her by the time she made her way down the street toward the Big Cypress Bayou. It seemed like the best place to look for Gabriel considering she didn’t expect him to use a garden hose. When she neared the river, Kate passed Sean, who was carrying a haversack full of what looked like bricks of wax.

“Good morning, Kate!” He called and waved cheerfully.

“And the same to you,” Kate continued on toward the river with the hopes of finding her husband. She came to a thick line of cypress trees bordering the river and stopped when she heard the sound of splashing water and became curious. With small, careful steps, Kate picked her way down the steep bank and stopped at the water’s edge, seeing Gabriel bobbing up and down in the middle of the river with ripples flowing away from his body. “You better hope there’s not a snapping turtle in there!”

Gabriel looked up, somewhat startled, to see Kate standing on the bank with a sly smile on her face like she had found something worth watching, “Spying on me, are you?” He moved closer to the bank, thinking of ways to convince her to join him. “What’s wrong? Haven’t you ever seen someone bathe in a river before?”

She glanced over to her right when something caught her eye, and saw his clothes hanging over a tree branch, “You’re naked.”

He rolled his eyes and grinned before speaking in his smooth, Irish accent, “Isn’t that the whole point? Besides, haven’t you ever skinny-dipped?”

“Well, no. Why would I do something like that?”

“Live a little! There’s nothing wrong with it, so come on,” he motioned for her to step into the water, but she wouldn’t budge an inch.

“No, what if someone sees us?”

“We’re not going to be seen, now… come here. Don’t be afraid, honey.”

The lustful sparkle in Gabriel’s aqua eyes drew Kate nearer, the water coming to her ankles and soaking the hem of her dress and petticoats. His beckons became more and more tempting the longer she stood at the water’s edge. For an instant, she saw herself floating mindlessly next to her husband’s perfect body, and then a sudden cold sensation hit the front side of her body, causing her to leave the pleasant daydream. When she looked back at Gabriel, he was shaking with laughter, “Gabriel!” Kate wiped away the ribbons of water running down her chest before shooting him a glare.

“Are you coming in, or what?”

With a quick glance around her, Kate confirmed they were alone. I hope no one comes looking for us. Once she had made up her mind, she unhooked the crinoline and stepped out of it, but fumbled with the buttons on the front of her dress, partially from nervousness. Once she had worked them free she let the day dress fall to the ground in a pile of light pink ruffles. All that remained was her underpinnings, but losing the tight-fitting corset was fine by her. Geez, why couldn’t the bra have been invented earlier? And why did fifteen inch waistlines have to be the fashion back then? She untied the petticoats and pushed them off of her hips, but she struggled with the corset stays. Eventually, she thought of an easier way to get out of the contraption, and unfastened the busk, allowing her to unwrap it.

“Having problems?”

“Yes, and you’re not helping.”

“You know, I would have already had that thing off of you,” Gabriel floated on his back while staring up at a lonesome cloud drifting by overhead. “It’s strange that I would know more about women’s fashion from that period than you. I could probably even tell you the order in which it goes on.”

“It wouldn’t surprise me if you could.”

“Maybe I need to teach you these things… Kate?” When he looked back at her she was wading out to him with her arms crossed over her bare chest in an effort to conceal her breasts, “Hey, there’s no reason for you to feel ashamed of the body God gave you,” Gabriel pulled her against him and laid his cheek against hers, inhaling her hypnotic lavender fragrance. “It’s a beautiful masterpiece.”

Kate turned her face away from his, still feeling extremely shy about exposing herself like in broad daylight when anyone could walk by and see them. It was also exceeding everything her parents had taught her. Since they weren’t there, at the moment, she threw all of their rules out the window. This feels so dirty, and not because I’m in a river, “Gabriel, this is crazy. There’s probably snakes and who knows what else in here.”

“I saw a copper head swim by earlier.”

“What?!”

“Do you want to move down river?”

“Preferably, because I don’t want that snake snacking on my butt.”

Without saying another word, both of them swam around a bend in the river, which turned out to be a better location after all since it had more trees to hide them just in case someone happened to pass by. It was the perfect place to spend private time with each other without anyone to break in and bother them.

“Now, tell me what you think about this whole reenacting business. Do you think you’ll want to go to others with me, and possibly even get involved with the real side of reenacting?”

She stared at him, somewhat perturbed, “Isn’t what I’m doing now the real side?”

“Hell no! I’m talking about getting into the action, like what I do…. Do you have anything you might be interested in doing?”

“I don’t know. I don’t seem like the person to be doing something like that.”

Gabriel reached out and rested his forearms on Kate’s shoulders while staring into her pale blue eyes, searching for the spark he loved, “I know you can ride, but can you shoot a gun?”

“No, but I can learn…” a smile spread across her face as a thought entered her mind. “What if I joined your cavalry unit? Surely there are women in it.”

Wow, she’s got some serious spunk, “We’ll talk about it later, but for now, come here, baby.”

Thirty minutes later Gabriel and Kate swam back to where they had met up, but stared in shock at the riverbank; all of their belongings had disappeared! Every article of clothing except for a couple towels was missing.

“What are we going to do, Gabriel?! I’m not walking through camp naked,” Kate questioned.

“We’ll have to use the towels,” and I’m going to kill Sean for this. He stepped out of the water and snatched up the towel before wrapping it around his waist. When he looked back, Kate was still in the water trying to conceal her naked body while waiting for him to toss her a towel.

“Would you hurry up and toss me that towel?! I want to go beat the person who took our clothes.”

“My senses tell me it was Sean,” Gabriel started up the hill towards the road with Kate following closely behind. “He’s always doing stuff like that to annoy me. Now that you’re married to me, you’ll also be an easy target for some of his pranks… but don’t worry, I’ll get him back.”

By the time they arrived at the camp, the 1^st Texas Cavalry was gathering by the tree for a quick overview of the day’s battle. Apparently they had been waiting on their colonel, since all of them turned to look at Gabriel when they walked up in their towels. He noted that the only member not present was Sean.

Figures. He’s probably off hiding our clothes, the idiot, “What’d I miss?”

Rob stared at his son for some time before speaking, “Why don’t you get your uniform on, and then we’ll start the meeting.”

“I would, but Sean decided to play a nasty joke on us while we were down at the river. So now our clothes are missing.”

“You brought your Federal uniform, didn’t you?”

Gabriel remained silent for awhile, contemplating what his father had suggested. He had a point, but didn’t think that would look so good if a colonel wearing the Union blues was leading a Confederate cavalry unit, “Do I have to wear it? I’d rather ride naked than wear that disgraceful uniform.”

“Unless you can find your gray one in five minutes, yes, you do.”

“Where’s Sean?”

“He’s at the Louisiana campsite. Why?”

His son had already taken off in the direction of the larger camps in hopes of tracking down Sean and their clothes. The manner of his stride meant he was on a mission and wasn’t about to stop for anything. When he neared the bed and breakfast with the mural painted on the side of the building he could see the Louisiana Tiger’s colors blowing in the breeze. Several Zouaves were already drilling with their rifles, but stopped when they saw Gabriel walking toward them dressed in nothing but a bath towel.

“Hey! Have any of you seen Sean Howitzer around here?” Gabriel asked.

A tall, lanky man who looked to be in his mid-thirties stepped forward, “The Howitzer kid? Yeah, he passed by a few minutes ago, and then he left in that direction,” the man pointed toward the saloon which Kate and Gabriel had visited on their ghost walk. “Is he a friend of yours?”

“Yeah.”

“Hey, you guys are camped up by the Schluter Mansion, aren’t you? Great place. Well, hope you find your friend.”

“Me too,” and then I can make him run drills until Hijinx kills over. “Thanks!”

“You bet.”

A few minutes later Gabriel spotted his friend standing near a tall tree, but when Sean noticed him a wry grin crept across his face as he waved Gabriel’s uniform and boxers in the air. It was always fun to joke with him, but he knew he was going to get rebuked for his actions. No matter what the punishment ended up being, he’d deal with it.

“Sean, you are so dead,” Gabriel growled and stepped in front of his best friend with a scowl on his face. “I hope you have Kate’s clothes with you. She’s not too crazy about standing around camp in a towel.”

“Well, I thought it was a rather nice joke. Now, how about we go and get ready for today’s battle?”

All the while Gabriel was dressing in his gray uniform; Sean sat on Kate’s cot adjusting his suspenders. Several thoughts ran through his mind, including the one of Gabriel’s dream of being a father. He couldn’t believe how long it had been since he had lost Susan and the baby; to him it seemed as if it had happened yesterday. He’d never forget the phone call he received that evening when Gabriel called him to inform him that his wife had passed away giving birth to their child, who ended up being stillborn. The sound of Gabriel crying would haunt him forever.

“Gabe, I’ve noticed that Kate seems different.”

“How do you mean?” Gabriel snapped his suspenders onto his shoulders before fastening his sword belt around his middle.

“Do you seriously think she’d get that sick over eating catfish? And do you recall how beautiful she looked last night? She actually looked as if she had a glow about her.”

Gabriel turned to face Sean, his eyebrows furrowed, “Are you insinuating that she’s pregnant?” He was positive that it was too early to tell.

“Hey, it’s possible. Besides, if she was, then you might have that little girl you’ve always wanted.”

Kate was helping Mae and Ava at their suttlery tent when the two men walked in, Gabriel’s sword on his hip. Both of them stopped by the counter, where Kate was tying bows on a bonnet, but she smiled at the sight of her husband and hurried around to hug him. She even hugged Sean even though she had given him a serious tongue-lashing earlier that morning when he returned to camp with Gabriel. After releasing him, she stepped back and daintily straightened some white lace handkerchiefs that were near the bonnets.

“Look how pretty she is, Gabriel. You are certainly a lucky man to have such a beautiful wife. Why, if you weren’t married to her I would have to take her for my own,” Sean took Kate by the hand and twirled her around.

A pink tint shone on the apples of Kate’s cheeks at Sean’s comment, “Oh, stop it. You make it seem as if I’m the only woman around. That’s just what I need,” she hitched up her skirts in preparation to stand on one of the stools so that she could put some of the bonnets on the top shelves, but when she turned back around she lost her footing and started to fall.

“Easy, now!” Gabriel was right there to catch her when she fell, his arms wrapping around her small body. “Be careful, honey. I don’t want you getting injured,” the look in his eyes was one of pure love and concern.

She straightened her dress before planting a kiss on his cheek and going over to a basket of corsets,” I’m fine, Gabriel. You don’t have to worry about me.”

“I’m always going to worry about you, Kate. Besides, I’ll be acting the same way once we have a baby. There won’t be any room for stupidity and acting like an a*s,” he threw a look over in Sean’s direction, who quickly turned away. “I’ll be devoted completely to my family,” he reached over her arm after stepping up behind her, and placed one of the rolled up corsets into the basket. Kate’s lovely lavender scent filled his nose, sending a pleasant shockwave throughout his body just as it always did.

“When are we returning home?”

Her question caught him off guard, but he eventually found his voice, “We’ll be striking the camp after the battle… and then we’ll be sleeping in our nice, warm house again… That is, until September when we go to Honey Springs.”

“How far away is that?”

“It’s in Checotah, Oklahoma,” a warm smile appeared at the corners of his mouth. “Don’t worry, you’ll love it. It will be as big as this one, if not bigger.”

Some time in the late afternoon the final rebel yell fell silent over the body-strewn battlefield as the Battle of Port Jefferson came to a dramatic end. All of the men in blue and gray, including the ‘casualties’ stood in front of the crowd and shot off a volley within their regiments as a salute before they made their way off of the battlefield.

Gabriel scooped up his wife after dismounting from the saddle and gently set her on Bo’s back before getting on behind her, “Now it’s time to finish taking the camp down so we can go home and relax,” he clucked to his horse before they rode off to their camp.

While the two rode through the streets of Jefferson a thought came to Kate’s mind, “Are you ever going to show me The Grove?”

“The Grove?” Gabriel glanced down at his wife with a confused look on his face. “You’re positive you want to go on another ghost walk after you nearly peed your pants the first time?”

“Hey! You ran, too… and I only ran because that ghost was smelling my neck.”

He sighed and wrapped his arms around her neck, planting a kiss on her cheek. She’s my girl.

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