Where Does My Heart Beat Now- Chapter 33

Chapter 33

The following evening, the entire Dawson family, including Sean and Ava, was gathered around the dinner table. Mae, Ava and Kate were cleaning off the table once they had finished eating, and the others were conversing lightly when Gabriel’s phone started ringing.

 He shoved his hand into his jeans pocket and pulled the device out, “Oh, it’s the general. Excuse me,” he stood up from the table and went into the next room to talk to the general.

“Wonder what he wants,” Sean pondered. “But whatever it is, it must be important.”

“I hope it’s not trouble,” Kate said, slightly worried.

Any other form of conversation had been cut off by Gabriel’s steadily rising voice coming from the other room. All they could hear was snippets of the conversation, “No… No way… Really… Are you serious?!”

The people in the room exchanged glances with each other. What on earth was going on? They didn’t have to wait long for their answer, however, because-.

“YES!!”

Gabriel ran back into the room and jumped onto the table, doing a fist pump and a dance of happiness, much to his mother’s displeasure, “Yes, yes!”

“Gabriel Irial Dawson!” Mae exclaimed, “What in the name of Jefferson Davis has gotten into you! Get down from your grandmother’s table this instant! Don’t make me go get a peach switch!”

“Sorry, Mom,” Gabriel climbed off of the table, a little embarrassed by his sudden outburst. It was the moment he had been waiting for ever since he had started reenacting. It was every re-enactor’s dream to go to the 150^th anniversary of Gettysburg, and he would finally get the opportunity of a lifetime, and he would be there with his family.

After the kitchen had been cleaned up, everyone moved into the living room to discuss what would happen next. Kate joined them a few minutes later with Shannon clinging to her shirt. The newborn had just woken up from her nap, and was ready to be adored by her family. Kate took a seat next to her husband, who immediately took Shannon and sat her on his lap while he searched around for her pacifier. Having found it on the coffee table, Gabriel popped it into her mouth. About that time, Casey entered the room from the kitchen with a bottle of Bud Light in one hand and Tate in the other. He sat down on the couch and took a swig from the bottle, and then he put the opening of the bottle to Tate’s mouth, and she started to chew on it, much to everyone’s surprise.

Seamus cleared his throat, “Um, Casey… Isn’t your daughter a wee bit young to be drinking?”

His cousin took another drink, “I forgot the munchkin’s teething ring at home, so this is the next best thing.”

“Well, since you’re drinking, hope you and Dionysus don’t get pulled over and given an RUI,” Gabriel laughed.

Casey looked at him, confused, “What’s an RUI?”

“Riding Under the Influence.”

Once all joking had ceased, Gabriel proceeded to explain what they would need to get in the next couple of months in order to be accepted at the reenactment. The most important aspect was their uniforms, and they all agreed to meet at Beth’s seamstress shop the next afternoon to get measured for their uniforms. At the same fitting, Kate decided she would look at some of the fabric Beth had in order to have a special ball gown made for the big reenactment. It would be her most extravagant, yet. Turning her thoughts away from the dresses, she heard him mention getting the period correct tack for the horses and how expensive it was. When the talk returned to uniforms, Gabriel made a point to give them officer rankings.

“So, being that I’m the colonel, Sean is my lieutenant colonel, followed by Dad, who is a major,” he counted them off on his fingers, “I already have a captain… So what I need is a first lieutenant; honey that’s going to be you. Seamus, you’re going to be Second Lieutenant, followed by Sergeant Major, and that’s going to be Riley, and finally Casey, you will be my first sergeant. Since I know you are probably wondering, you are not the low man on the totem pole.”

“That makes me feel so much better, Gabe,” Casey rolled his eyes while bouncing Tate on his knee to entertain her. “The one with the jugs gets a higher rank than me. I sense some favoritism there.”

“Naturally, I’m going to make my wife a higher rank. She is, after all, my right hand man… uh, woman… in marriage. So, don’t make her mad or she’ll report you.”

Kate had a devilish grin on her face as she eyed Casey, “That’s right. I’m out to get you. So, you better not screw up, First Sergeant.”

Casey kept his distance from her in case she tried to attack him with something, “Your wife scares me, Gabriel.”

“Good.”

 

The men and Kate stood in the back room of the seamstress’s shop the following afternoon, waiting for Beth to measure them for their uniforms. At the moment, the older woman had disappeared to another room while they stood around her sewing area, waiting for her to return. Casey picked up a red and green pin cushion that was sitting next to the sewing machine, but he quickly dropped it when one of the pins stuck him in the finger. He put the tip of his finger in his mouth to suck on it as Kate shook her head and rolled her eyes at him; bringing him to a place like the seamstress’s shop was bound to be a disaster. If she could just make it through the fitting without strangling him, it would be a win in her book.

“Okay, my dears, let’s get you measured for your uniforms,” Beth said when she walked through the door with a measuring tape in her hand. She stopped in front of Seamus and grabbed him by the arm before hauling him off to the fitting room. Once in the room, she motioned for him to strip, “Go on, now. I need you to get all of those off so I can get the correct measurements. Don’t be shy.”

Keeping his eye on the woman, Seamus hesitantly undid the buttons of his shirt and slipped it off, and then he started on the belt holding his jeans up. When he was completely stripped except for his boxers, Beth proceeded to wrap the tape around his chest, moving it down his torso as she wrote down the measurements. Seamus jumped when she passed the measuring tape between his legs, getting a little close to his man business. As soon as she had taken the last measurement, he put his clothes back on and went out to join the others.

Beth’s next victim was Casey, but she’d soon find out what a challenge taking his measurements would be. After shutting the door, she instructed him to strip down just like Seamus, only he decided to make a show of it to entertain the older woman. He slowly slipped his tight-fitting t-shirt over his head, tossing it to the side. While taking off his jeans, he made sure to wiggle his backside around as much as possible to get Beth’s attention. After he had finished undressing, Casey decided to flex his muscles to end his performance.

“Lovely, dear,” Beth kept a straight face as she measured the length of his legs from his pelvis to his feet, “If this was a  Play Girl cover shoot I’m sure the ladies would be going nuts over you, but I need you to hold still long enough for me to get your measurements.”

Casey stood there perfectly still until she reached between his legs to grab the measuring tape, “Hey, now, I know I’m sexy and all, but please keep your hands off the family jewels. Thank you, have a nice day.”

“Don’t make me knock you upside the head,” she finished by wrapping the tape around his butt, and regretted it as soon as she did.

“It’s about time someone touched me a*s. I’ve been toning it up for the past year and a half just so a fine young lady like you would enjoy it.”

Out in the front of the shop, the rest of the group had been wandering around looking at the different merchandise Beth had arranged in cases along the walls, but all of them looked toward the fitting room when they heard a loud noise that sounded like someone getting slapped across the face.

“S**t, lady!”

It wasn’t long before Casey appeared, rubbing his cheek where a red mark in the shape of a hand was visible. Beth motioned for Riley to follow her while keeping her gaze on Casey in case he did or said anything else worthy of gaining another slap across the face.

As Riley followed Beth to the fitting room, Kate caught Gabriel’s eye. He tilted his head in Casey’s direction with a mischievous look on his face. He then caught Sean’s attention, motioning to Casey. Afterwards, he proceeded to sneak out of the room, Kate following him curiously. As soon as they were out of the room, Sean snuck up behind Casey, and with the help of Seamus, managed to drag Casey out of the room without being noticed.

Once in the next room, Kate turned to Gabriel, “Okay, what’s going on?”

“Nothing,” Gabriel smirked, “Only we men believe that my esteemed cousin needs a makeover.”

“Oh,” realization dawned on Kate, “And you need me because…”

“…We need an expert on makeup,” Sean said as he and Seamus dragged in a struggling Casey. They then proceeded to tied him up before gagging him with an empty pin cushion.

Kate raised an eyebrow at the reasoning Sean provided, and that was when a certain colored fabric caught her eye, “Alright, I’ll play along. What do you boys think of this?” She showed them what caught her fancy-- a pink, frilly girly-girl dress with little pink hearts all over it.

Realizing where the situation was headed, Casey struggled harder against his bonds without success.

“I like the way you think,” Gabriel chuckled.

The following fifteen minutes was spent trying to force Casey into the dress, or more precisely, the corset. After a few moments of dodging his flying legs, Kate wrapped the contraption around his middle and fastened the busk at the front of the corset. She then moved around behind him before taking the stays in her hands and pulling back on them as hard as she could to cinch in his waist. When he felt the corset tightening he gasped for air, but she wasn’t through tightening it, yet. Kate plucked on the laces to pull the back together, and then set to pulling on the stays, again, making his waist even smaller.

“How do you women breathe in this thing?” Casey gasped once more as soon as he managed to get the pin cushion out of his mouth.

Kate chuckled, “You’re not supposed to breathe.”

Satisfied that his waist was small enough to fit in the dress, Gabriel helped Kate slip the pink dress over his head before tying the giant pink satin bow in the back. During the whole ordeal, Casey put up one hell of a fight, but they finally stood back to admire their handiwork. Casey was glaring at them, embarrassed beyond belief.

“Aww, don’t worry, Casey,” Kate pulled out a tube of hot red lipstick, “It’s only just the beginning.”

Casey’s eyes widened in horror as she brought the makeup near him, “Hey, Gabe… You three go find some lacy ribbons or something…”

Meanwhile, Riley and Beth returned from the fitting room. Rob had started to wonder where the others were, and they were just about to go looking for them when the door was flung open. Gabriel, Sean and Seamus walked in; all three of them looked as if they were desperately trying to hold in laughter. That was when Kate appeared, pushing Casey into the room.

The poor man ended up wearing the pink dress, along with elbow length silk gloves and high heels. Kate had done his makeup, and, boy, did she go all out: the red lipstick, shimmery blue eye shadow, winged eye liner, mascara and pink blush. They had also managed to curl Casey’s long hair and had tied it with silky pink ribbons.

Rob, Riley and Beth stared at Casey in stunned silence. For a moment, the room was quiet, and then everyone, minus Casey, burst out laughing. A flash went off, and Kate smirked as she lowered her camera, “That’s a keeper!”

 

While Casey was in the bathroom removing the makeup and dress, Kate found herself in the back of the shop staring at a gorgeous mint green silk fabric. Seeing the fabric made her wish she had a ball gown made out of it, but she didn’t know if Beth would have the time to make one for her what with the uniforms she had to get made. Kate walked over to the bolt sitting on Beth’s work bench and fingered the soft material before looking over to see a bunch of white beaded fringe. She pulled over the fringe and laid it across the green fabric; it was stunning! Thinking that wasn’t enough, she dug through some baskets underneath the work bench and pulled out a few white floral appliqués adorned with pearls and crystal beads, and she placed those on top of the material, as well. Kate stepped back to admire her work, and that’s when she knew she had to have the dress made no matter how much it cost or how long it would take to get it made.

This is it! This is the one for Gettysburg! Kate saw Beth enter the work room, and motioned her over. Once the older woman was beside her, she pointed to the fabric, “Beth, I know this is going to be hard what with all of the uniforms you have to make, but I need you to make this into a ball gown for me.”

“Oh, my. That is going to be amazing, dear,” Beth inspected the material, “Yes, I can make this for you. I may be up at all hours of the night, but I can get it done before you head up to Pennsylvania.”

Kate threw her arms around Beth, overjoyed at the exciting news. She would let everyone know that she was Colonel Gabriel Dawson’s wife, and proud of it, “Also, could you make my baby girl a little outfit?”

“I’d be happy to.”

 

That evening, the family returned home, and after saying their goodbyes to everyone, Gabriel made his way into the bedroom where he found Kate underneath the covers with Shannon nestled against her chest, nursing peacefully. So as not to disturb the two of them, he quietly stepped into the bathroom to take a quick shower. As he undressed and turned the shower on, thoughts of his cousin in the pink dress filled his mind, making him chuckle to himself. The hot water was soothing when it hit his back, relaxing every muscle. He stood there letting the water pound his back while thinking of what was to come; he’d turn twenty-five the following month, their anniversary was at the end of April, and then there was the Jefferson reenactment, but what he was ready for was their long drive up to Gettysburg. That would be the trip of a lifetime, and he’d be there with the love of his life and the rest of his family.

After pulling on his pajama pants, Gabriel slid into bed next to Kate, who was already sound asleep after having put Shannon in her bassinet. He lay there snuggled close to her and wrapped an arm around her middle before drifting off to sleep himself. Life couldn’t be any more perfect.