Where Does My Heart Beat Now- Chapter 4

Chapter 4

 

On the last night of Gabriel’s vacation, he and Kate sat silently on the rock in the beautiful clearing. Neither of them were ready for what was coming in mere minutes: saying goodbye. They had grown so close to one another over the past week that it would be hard to bear not seeing each other. Everything had turned out to be the best time of their lives, and once she left it would have to end.

God, why does it have to be like this? I don’t want to leave, but I have to go home, Gabriel was trying to keep himself from breaking down altogether while thinking about what he could do to cheer Kate up. Eventually, the tension became too much for him, and he got up and started pacing. “Kate, I have to leave, my home is in Texas. You know I don’t want to, but I have to. My family and friends are there.”

“What about me? Don’t you care anything about me… about us?” Kate’s voice wavered as she bit back tears; she had grown so fond of Gabriel and wanted to stay with him.

“Of course I do, Kate. You can’t possibly think otherwise,” He stopped in front of her and tilted her head back to look into her eyes. “I don’t want to leave you, but I don’t have any other choice. I’ll still take you with me to a reenactment, but I need to figure out what’s going on with my life, right now,” Gabriel wrapped her up in a hug when she started to cry. “Oh, please don’t cry, Kate. You’ll see me again.”

Kate held onto him tightly, continuing to cry even though she didn’t want to, “I don’t want you to leave, Gabriel.”

He pulled out his phone to check the time, cursing under his breath when he realized their time was almost up, “I’ve got to go now, I can’t miss my flight,” with a final hug, he would end his vacation, but not before impulse forced him to do something that shocked both of them.

Before Kate knew what was happening, she felt Gabriel tenderly press his lips to hers. The sudden show of affection almost caused her to go into convulsions of joy. From that moment on it was very clear where his feelings were. Oh, my gosh! Is he seriously kissing me? All too soon, the intoxicating moment ended when Gabriel pulled away from her and stood straight.

“I’ve got to go, but don’t worry, I’ll stay in touch. I promise, Kate,” And with that, he turned to walk down the path, leaving her sitting on the rock, staring after him until she could no longer see his figure in the growing darkness.

 

 

The time passed slowly while Gabriel and Sean waited to board their plane that would take them back to their sunny home state. Nick and Max had already gone back, but Sean had stayed with Gabriel. For Gabriel, the time couldn’t pass any slower since it meant he was still near to Kate, but that changed when their number was called to board. Great, now I’m having second thoughts.

“Come on, Gabe,” Sean pulled his friend up from the chair and the two of them started down the jet bridge.

About halfway down, Gabriel stopped dead in his tracks, unmoving. What am I doing? This isn’t right. He stared right at his friend when Sean turned around after realizing Gabriel had stopped, “What are you doing? The plane’s getting ready to leave.”

“I can’t do this, Sean.”

“Yes, you can. You did it the first time. Just get on and buckle up, it’s that easy,” after seeing his friend still staring, he continued. “Look, you’ll get on that plane even if I have to get behind you and push.”

Gabriel picked up his bag and slung it over his shoulder, “I’m not going, Sean. I can’t leave.”

“Oh, no! Gabriel, you can’t be serious! You just met her, and now you’re staying because of her?” Sean rubbed his temples as he contemplated the issue.

“I’m sorry, Sean,” without another word, Gabriel turned his back on his past life and ran back up the jet bridge to what mattered then. When he got outside of the airport the rain had started to fall in sheets, again, but he didn’t care. Once inside another rental truck, he gunned the engine before speeding away from the airport. When he pulled onto the highway, he nearly collided with a tractor trailer, but that was the least of his worries. This is the right path, and no one is going to tell me otherwise. I’m sure Mom’s going to have a fit when she finds out, but I could care less.

The rain continued to fall as the truck pulled into the long driveway which lead to the large house, whose lights twinkled in the dark. After slamming the truck door shut, Gabriel hurried up the porch steps two at a time and rang the doorbell, hoping Kate would be the one to answer. His hopes were dashed when Kate’s father opened the door.

“Gabriel? I thought you had a plane to catch?”

“Long story, but no time to tell,” He glanced inside, trying to see if Kate was in the living room. “Can I speak with Kate?”

Corey’s face fell slightly, “She hasn’t come back in, and her mother and I are getting worried. You would think she’d have enough sense to come inside when it’s raining.”

Upon hearing that Kate hadn’t returned home, Gabriel knew exactly where to find her, “I know where she is,” he immediately took off running up the path leading to the mountain ridge where he had left her. His face lit up when he saw her through the darkness and rain, still sitting on the rock, her elbows resting on her knees and her face in her hands. It seemed as if she never even noticed the rain soaking her, nor cared. Gabriel felt horrible seeing her in that state after he had left her, “Kate!”

The rain-soaked woman lifted her head after hearing the familiar Irish accent she had fallen in love with. Her heart started beating once more as Gabriel walked toward her through the sheeting rain, his aqua eyes twinkling in the faint moonlight, “Gabriel… what are you doing? You’re going to miss your flight.”

Gabriel gathered Kate up in his arms, resting his cheek against hers while she choked back tears. Even he had to contain himself from breaking down and crying, “No, I’m not… because I’m not going. There are just some things that are more important to me,” he rubbed her back in order to soothe her after causing her so much pain. “Now, let’s get you inside before you catch a cold. Your parents are worried about you,” with a small heave, he carefully lifted her into his arms.

“Well, you’re quite the gentleman,” Kate commented after a while.

“No, I just don’t want you falling. The path is very slippery, and I should know. I just about twisted my hip out of socket,” Gabriel glanced down at her rain-streaked face. “Just curious, but how long were you going to sit there?”

She chuckled softly, “I don’t know. Until you came back or Daddy called out a search team… Wait! How’d you get here so quickly?”

“I was doing about eighty on the highway. Good thing there weren’t any cops around.”

“Wow! You are a rebel,” she shifted her weight. “Why didn’t you go? Scared of flying?”

His eyebrows furrowed, “Why do you people think I’m scared of flying?”

A few minutes later, Gabriel opened the front door with Kate still in his arms, insisting he put her down. Eventually her parents entered the room with worried expressions on their faces. Cherrie immediately went over to them and started fussing like a mother hen.

“Good heavens! Look at you two!” She exclaimed when she saw the water dripping off them.

“Where do you want me to take her, Mrs. Rogers?” Gabriel questioned and shifted his weight

“Upstairs to change…”

Corey broke in while trying to hide a smile, “And it looks like you could use a change yourself.”

“I’ve got some dry clothes out in the truck,” he glanced down at Kate when he felt her kick him in the thigh. “Yes? Can I help you?”

“For the last time, put me DOWN!” Her voice held a tinge of anger as well as annoyance; she wasn’t about to be treated like a damsel in distress.

On command, Gabriel dropped her on the couch without saying a word. He smirked before heading outside to get his clothes, trying to figure out where he was going to sleep. I wonder how comfortable the truck would be? Nah, I’ll just get a hotel room in town. His thoughts dwindled when he walked back into the warm house where he smelled coffee brewing. The next thing he knew Corey had snuck up behind him with a dry towel.

“You can change in the upstairs bathroom, and then come down here and warm up with some coffee. Do you drink coffee?”

“Yes, all the time,” Gabriel quickly scaled the stairs in order to get to the bathroom before he had to explain about the reenactments. On the way down the hall he passed by Kate’s room, where the door wasn’t completely shut. To save himself an embarrassing explanation later, he decided it was best not to look. Once he was safe in the bathroom, Gabriel stripped off his soaking clothes and hung them over the shower curtain rod before drying off with the towel Corey had given him, thinking about different things as he did so. Her parents seem really nice. I hope they like me.

By the time he returned to the living room, Kate was already curled up on the couch, a fleece blanket wrapped around her while she sipped from her mug of coffee. Her head shot up when she heard him enter, her eyes shining in the lamplight, “That was fast!”

“You learn to dress quickly when you’re a re-enactor and have officers yelling at you to start drilling. Believe me, some of these people insist on doing everything authentically,” Gabriel pulled over a chair and sat down facing her. “I’ve had the misfortune of getting hit across the head with the side of a sergeant’s sword all because my “CS” belt buckle wasn’t polished, not to mention, slightly off center. And get this, I was a major at the time, a higher-ranking officer than the sergeant!”

“Well, you should have had your buckle polished. By the way, what happened to the sergeant?”

“He switched over to the Union side.”

Kate’s parents walked into the room before sitting down next to Kate, who wanted to hear more about Gabriel’s fascinating hobby. Corey raised an eyebrow at the green male, “So, what’s this about you being a re-enactor?”

“Oh, I’m a Confederate Civil War re-enactor,” Gabriel replied happily.

“Just Confederate?”

“Okay, I take that back. Sometimes I have to switch sides when they don’t have enough damn Yankees registered,” he found himself staring at Kate longer than he intended since her parents were watching his every move. There’s no reason to start freaking out. “But I still enjoy every minute of it. Actually, I asked Kate if she’d like to go with me to a reenactment sometime.”

The room remained silent for several seconds until Cherrie spoke up, a hint of excitement in her voice, “That sounds like fun. You should definitely take up his offer, Kate. I bet you’ll have a blast!” Then she posed a question toward Gabriel. “When is the next reenactment?”

Gabriel sighed, “Well, the next one is in my hometown of Jefferson, but the registration is already full. However, I might be able to get her in. The one I’ll be going to after that is Honey Springs, and I’m planning on taking her to that one, also,” he smiled warmly at the blonde woman sitting across from him, who returned the smile with her eyes. “That is, if she still wants to go.”

Kate immediately sat up straight, causing her blanket to fall from her shoulders. She didn’t even care if they were exposed to the cold air, “Of course I do! I want to experience how people lived back in that era.”

For over an hour the four of them sat in the room talking about Gabriel and what he did as a re-enactor. Kate and her parents listened intently while he explained how the tents were set up in rows. They enjoyed listening to everything he had to say and didn’t even realize how late it was getting. After a while Cherrie brought up another question.

“Where are you staying tonight, Gabriel?”

The question startled Gabriel somewhat; since he had gotten into talking about re-enacting he had forgotten about his sleeping situation, “Oh, I was going to get a hotel room.”

“Nonsense! You can stay here tonight so you don’t have to worry about finding a hotel. Also, I’m sure the spare room is much cleaner.”

“Are you serious? You want me to stay here… in the same house as your daughter?” He looked at her skeptically.

Cherrie leaned over and set her hand on his shoulder, “We trust you, Gabriel. You’ve been very sweet to Kate, and we thank you for that,” she glanced over at Kate, who was drifting closer to sleep. “Now, you two better get some sleep.”

Kate walked Gabriel down the hallway, where she stopped at the door to the spare bedroom. She watched him curiously while he took the opportunity to kiss her once more. After parting, he hugged her before closing the door and heading over to the bed where he crawled under the warm blankets. Hopefully I’ll be able to sleep tonight, knowing Kate is just down the hall. Apparently her parents do like me, otherwise they probably would have told me to leave. Gabriel turned over onto his back so that he was staring up at the dark ceiling, his eyelids becoming heavy.

Reviews

[Crimson Apples]

They're letting you stay Gabe!!! Now f**k the brains outta her!
Jk, but reading this, ---> convulsions of joy
cracked me up. I flipping love that word.

[Sympathy Heart]

he's still a gentleman. don't get your panties in a twist lol