Where Does My Heart Beat Now- Chapter 46

*Disclaimer: The song in this chapter is Oklahoma! by Rogers and Hammerstein.

Chapter 46

The mid-day sun beating down on them, the Dawson’s, Sean, Ava, Faye, Ellen and Tobi, found a spot at the front of the crowd of spectators with an excellent view of the large field out in front of them. For once, they would actually get to watch the battle from a spectator’s point of view instead of only seeing the parts they were involved in. The two women from Paris, Texas weren’t quite so free. They still had to keep an eye out for any re-enactors that went down from the heat and tend to them, hence the reason they carried with them cloth purses filled with medical supplies.

A loud explosion made everyone jump nearly out of their skin, and then turn around to see several large plumes of smoke out in front of the long lines of cannons: the beginning of the massive artillery barrage. Within a matter of seconds the entire line shot off their loads one after the other, causing the crowd to erupt in applause. The Confederate cannon fire was immediately returned by the Union cannons a good quarter of a mile away at the bottom of the steep hill the cavalry had charged down the previous afternoon. Back and forth the two sides shot at each other, some of them going off at the same time. With the amount of smoke filling the air, the cannons furthest away from the spectators disappeared. The only thing that announced they were still there was the sudden explosions when they fired. They were holding nothing back.

Out of the corner of his eye, Casey noticed one of the gun crews acting sneaky. He nudged Seamus in the side to get his attention, in which the older male immediately bent over to listen to what Casey had to tell him.

“I don’t know much about black powder or cannons, but I think those guys are gonna make one big boom,” Casey pointed to the crew he had seen just as they loaded a large coffee can-sized load into the barrel of the cannon. “They already put one of those things in there.”

“Do what?!” Seamus appeared horrified.

Casey was just about to speak again when the double-loaded cannon fired, causing the ground to vibrate. The two women looked up in time to see the cannon jump about six inches in the air before rolling back another three to four feet. All of the cannon crews near the cannon that had gone off starting to cheer. Even though the show of the cannons was exciting, most of them were looking forward to the main event of the hundreds of Confederate infantry crossing over the large open field to attack the Union perched behind the low stone wall. They didn’t have to wait much longer. Once the cannons fell silent about fifteen minutes later a more haunting sound was heard. The sharp snap of drums pounding in the tree line brought everyone’s attention up to see regiment after regiment emerge from the trees on their way to the Yankee center. As soon as they passed by the spectators a deafening rendition of the famed Rebel Yell rose high in the air. The numbers were staggering, but not near as many as the soldiers that had been in the actual assault, but still impressive. Despite the intense July heat the soldiers kept up their steady march with their rifles resting against their shoulders and their tin drink cups clinking as they walked. Within minutes the field swarmed with men in gray and still more kept appearing from the shade of the trees.

This is amazing! Gabriel pulled his phone from his pocket and began snapping pictures. It took everything he had to keep himself from joining in with their war cries. I better not so I don’t scare Shannon.

Riding behind the regiments of men was a man with dark hair reaching to the base of his neck and riding a big brown horse. The man was supposed to be the famed general for whom the charge was named. He stayed toward the back to watch as his men neared the fence at the base of the hill on the other side of the road. At that moment the firing of rifles broke out. Almost immediately some of the men began to ‘take hits’, collapsing on the grass in heaps. Once more of the men made it past the fence a full out battle took place. Men from both sides clashed at the wall after the Confederates were led by a man brandishing his hat on the tip of his sword. It was hard to see what exactly took place due to the clouds of smoke obscuring the view.

“It sucks that the Confederates are gonna be whipped,” Kate stood close by her husband watching the battle while keeping her hands covering her daughter’s ears to protect them from the loud noises.

All Gabriel could do was watch the outcome of the battle; many men stumbled back the long distance to the tree line, some of them supporting each other while others crawled back. Still, the battle raged on. He knew all too well how it would end up, but nothing would stop him from hoping for a southern victory.

“It was never Lee’s fault despite what some may say.” Gabriel mused more so to himself than anyone near him.

It was over. Pickett’s Charge wound up as a failure with bodies covering the ground, the largest area of destruction at the area of the stone wall which had been used as the Angle. By that point most of the rebels had begun their retreat back to the trees, and the loss was made even bitterer by the Union cries of ‘Fredericksburg!’ carrying on the wind after them. Every single one of them was met by the man playing General Lee riding down the line of cannons on the back of a gray horse. He kept apologizing for the mistake he had made by sending them into a battle they were sure to lose, and they tried to tell him that he had done no wrong.

Standing and watching the show at the front, Seamus turned to his side when he heard what sounded like sniffling. He caught sight of Ellen wiping away a tear from the corner of her eye and trying her best to hide it. What’s wrong with her? Not wanting to mention anything about what he had seen, Seamus started off for the campsite seeing as how the battle was over. She’s still one hell of a woman to me even if she doesn’t like to show her soft side.

With the last battle over, Gabriel, Kate, and the rest of the group hurried after Seamus to catch up with him. It was a good opportunity to sneak in an afternoon nap before they had to go to the real battlefield for a special celebration they had been told about before the battle began.

 

“I knew I was asking for too much when I thought about a nap.” Kate sat underneath the tent fly with an extremely fussy Shannon squirming around on her lap. She silently cursed Gabriel and the others for leaving her to deal with the baby while they rested peacefully within the confines of the tents. What can I do to help her relax enough to go to sleep so I can catch a little sleep?

The longer she sat there the more she sweated, and to make matters worse she began to notice an uncomfortable ache in the area of her chest. In fact, it was just downright annoying and painful. It dawned on her that the reason for her breasts to be hurting so much was from her not nursing Shannon at all that day. She or one of the others had only given her a bottle simply because she didn’t want to have to remove the layers of clothing in order to feed her. That explained why Shannon had been fussy all day. If she had any hope of getting a nap that afternoon, her daughter needed to be satisfied with a full belly first.

“Mommy’s sorry, Shannon,” Kate pushed up from the chair and made her way into the tent to nurse the baby in private. “No wonder you’ve been so grumpy today.” The sight of Gabriel passed out on his back with his mouth hanging open and snoring made her scoff, “Just once you should have to experience the ungodly ache of massive b***s that need milking, Gabriel.”

Having gotten the baby latched onto her swollen breast after finally removing the last layer of clothing covering her torso, Kate relaxed back against the wall of the tent, being careful not to pull the entire tent down in the process. Her eyes closed momentarily as she tried to catch a few winks of sleep while her daughter suckled contentedly. That was short lived. Her eyes flashed back open at the sound of someone clearing their throat, and when she turned her head to see where it had come from, Gabriel had an eyebrow arched in amusement as he watched her from across the tent.

“Yes, can I help you?” Kate asked, not even remotely interested in a conversation.

A corner of his mouth turned up in a grin, “You should go around like that more often to make a man like me happy.”

“It’s hot; my b***s feel like they got slammed in a door… and you should really stop spending so much time around Casey before he rubs off on you.”

Gabriel decided to keep quiet for the remainder of the time in case Kate was not in the mood for putting up with men, which she obviously wasn’t. It probably won’t be a wise thing for me to say that those glorious melons look exceptionally perky today… “So, I should let you get back to sleeping and nursing our child?”

“If you don’t want to go see a doctor to have your balls removed from your body cavity, yes.” Her eyes had shut once more, signifying that she wanted to be left alone for a while.

About five minutes of silence was all Kate could enjoy, and then Gabriel’s voice could be heard from across the tent. It was just a mumble, not meant to be heard by anyone besides himself. Although, Kate knew he would eventually bring up whatever had been on his mind. When she got around to questioning him, she wasn’t quite prepared for his reply.

“Gabe, what are you talking about over there?’

He rolled over onto his side once more, a sparkle glinting in his brilliant aqua colored eyes. They reminded Kate of the breathtaking Caribbean seas, “Oh, I was just thinking about how much of a joy Shannon has been since she’s been here and that we should try for another one to give her a playmate; possibly a son to pass on the family name.”

Kate felt as if the wind had been knocked out of her upon hearing her husband’s suggestion. He couldn’t have been serious, not with Shannon being only five months old. “Crazy Irish husband say wha’?”

“Don’t you think so, too?”

The longer Kate tossed the around in her head, the more she began to warm up to the idea. We can at least talk about it for a while. By then Shannon will be a little older and my body will be able to take on another baby. “Hold that thought until we get home, honey. I want to be in the privacy of our bedroom and snuggling under the covers of the place where the deed will be done with the man who will help complete said deed.”

Gabriel tried his best to hide the grin creeping across his face at her answer. Perhaps a nice bottle of wine will help her warm up to my idea… “Sure thing.” Throw in some chocolate covered strawberries for an added bonus. There’s no way she’ll resist.

 

Dusk was fast approaching, indicated by the multitudes of warm colors painting the evening sky. Many people throughout the camps had started off for the battlefield a few miles away to attend a special ceremony being held at the Copse of Trees. Instead of piling into the trucks to drive over, Gabriel and the rest of his family, excluding his mother and the two babies, thought it would be fun to ride their horses. As they rode along the dirt road leading toward the suttlery, Kate took notice of the three familiar figures sauntering along in the direction of the vehicles. Ellen, Faye, and Tobi never heard the group approach until they were within a few yards of where they were walking.

Ellen suppressed a groan of annoyance when Casey stopped Dionysus directly in her path, cutting her off. She stood with her hands on her hips and glared up at him, “I’m guessing all of you are going to the battlefield for the ceremony? It’s gonna be sooo much fun waiting in that line of traffic to park.” She made sure he heard the sarcasm in her voice.

“The good thing about riding a horse there is that you don’t have to worry about parallel parking them or waiting in the lines,” Casey laughed, taking no notice of her sarcasm.

“What the idiot is trying to say is that unless you want to show up at midnight, get on.” Seamus offered his hand down to Ellen in order to help her onto the back of Hermes if she decided to accept his offer.

There was no way she could refuse it, not when she had relinquished herself and morals to him the previous night. And not just that, but she really wanted to feel his warm body against hers at least once more. Oh, how wonderful his strong arms had felt around her body. Just the thought of Seamus Dawson put her in a trance-like state as she stood there staring up at him perched so robustly atop the blue roan gelding.

“Ellen!”

The scarlet woman shook her head in order to bring herself back to the present to find everyone gawking at her, “What? What do you people want?”

Faye answered from her new place situated in the saddle in front of Casey, “Would you hurry up and take the man’s hand so he can help you up there and we can get moving?”

“I don’t need help getting on a damn horse.” Ellen was indignant; if she could bring a person back from the brink of death, she could get on a horse, “Move out of the way, Seamus.”

Without saying a word, Seamus quickly dismounted and stepped out of the way to allow Ellen plenty of room. However, he wasn’t quite prepared for what would happen next. While holding onto the horse’s reins, he watched Ellen back up a few steps before running up to the horse’s side and jumping up to catch her foot in the stirrup. Disaster struck seconds later when she overbalanced, sending her flailing over the other side of Hermes, where she hit the ground with a thud.

“Epic fail!” Casey burst out laughing along with the others, tears forming in his eyes.

Seamus hid the grin that appeared on his face while bending over Ellen, who was still on the ground in the midst of fighting to untangle herself from her skirts, “You sure you don’t need my help?”

To keep what little dignity she had left, Ellen pushed up to her feet and brushed the dirt from her dress, “I meant to do that.” She brushed a tangle of fiery red curls out of her face on her way around to the left side of the gelding to try once more.

“Mmm hmm.” Seamus couldn’t help but admire her attempt to conceal her accident; she was very prideful, he noted.

Altering her plan of mounting Hermes, Ellen once again ran up to the horse, only to jump and throw herself over the saddle. She hadn’t jumped quite high enough, because she ended up dangling with a quarter of her body hanging off the side of the horse and clinging to the saddle while her legs kicked helplessly in the air in an effort to catch in the stirrup. To make matters worse, the force of her jump made the hemline of her dress hook on the curve of her bottom, exposing her white pantalettes all of the way up to the waistline; Ellen had no clue of the show she was giving everyone. The women turned their heads away out of embarrassment; even a good part of the men didn’t know what to say to tell her that they could see through the large slit in the back of the pantalettes… That was excluding Casey, who had his hand covering his mouth to muffle his laughter. Eventually, the need to say something overwhelmed him.

“I didn’t even have to put on me sexy face or strip out of me shirt to see a woman’s bloomers this time around. Damn, I’m good!”

“Ugh, can someone slap him for me… Wait, did he say my pantalettes are showing?!” Ellen screeched as she kicked harder, not only to get in the saddle, but to get her dress to fall down and cover her backside.

“I’m surprised you can’t feel a draft.” Casey chose that moment to break out into song, and for some unknown reason it happened to be the Oklahoma state song, “Ooooooo-klahoma where the wind comes sweeping down the plain… Or in your case, Ellen, up your a*s!” He jumped down from Dionysus, leaving Faye where she was to assist her best friend, while humming through a good portion of the song until he reached a distressed Ellen, “…We know we belong to the land, and the land we belong to is grand,” pausing momentarily, he stopped right behind Ellen, a wicked grin on his face, and then continued with the song, “And when we say…”

At that moment Ellen nearly jumped out of her skin in surprise when she felt Casey’s hand shove up forcefully against the underneath side of her bottom to push her the rest of the way onto the saddle, which ended with her grasping for the saddle horn to prevent her from going over the opposite side again. “YEOW!”

“Excellent timing, Ellen. I had no idea you knew that song,” Casey grinned in sweet satisfaction at finally getting back at Ellen for all of the times she had nearly maimed him.

The only response he received was a menacing glare that said ‘you better learn to sleep with your eyes open’. “If someone has a loaded gun on them, please put an end to him before I give him a slow and painful death with my hairbrush or some other blunt object.”

Kate spoke up, silently liking Ellen’s idea, “Won’t do any good; he’s bulletproof.”

“Uh, Kate… he got his finger stuck in a door earlier this week. What do you call that?” Gabriel broke in.

“I said bulletproof, not stupid-proof.”

Completely ignoring the bickering between his brother and Kate, Seamus effortlessly swung up behind Ellen, taking hold of the reins and wrapping his other arms firmly around her waist to prevent her from falling off once they started for the battlefield. He could feel her relax into him moments later, telling him that she was comfortable and trusted in him. There was just enough time to sneak in a quick nuzzle against her neck, gaining a small sigh from Ellen in return, but the sound of Gabriel starting off in the direction of the main road into the town told him there wasn’t time for anything more. Clucking to Hermes, Seamus guided the horse right behind Gabriel and Kate with Casey and Faye quickly catching up to them along with the rest of the group. Even Tobi had found a spot sitting behind Ava on the back of her horse. The feeling of being free flowed through his veins, and without any warning, he kicked the gelding into a gallop, resulting in Ellen squealing in surprise before digging her nails into his thighs to steady herself; how dare he do that to her. The rest of the group followed suit, almost getting into a race after a while.

Seeing Ellen’s frightened appearance Gabriel threw back his head and laughed, “Relax, Ellen! It’s time for you to learn how to live!”

Onward they flew, passing vehicle after vehicle until they turned onto Emmitsburg Road. At one point they even passed Mae, who had taken Tate and Shannon in Rob’s silver truck since it would have been difficult, not to mention dangerous, to take them on the horses. Being the rowdy person he was, Casey flashed his aunt a wide toothy grin, creases forming by his eyes. There was no way he was going to leave Gettysburg without a little fun. Up ahead of the group all of them could see the start of the wooden fencing lining the road going into the national battlefield, as well as hundreds of cars in the process of finding a parking place for the ceremony. It would definitely be a night to remember for years to come…