Where Does My Heart Beat Now- Chapter 40

Chapter 40

“So, where are we going to start this tour?” Kate turned her map of the battlefield right side up while she attempted to find their location on the map.

Gabriel was following behind Rob’s truck as they drove down Emmitsburg Road to the north side of town. They had wanted to go around the battlefield to visit the most important places, and that required them to go through the town. On the northern side of Gettysburg, the trucks turned left onto a street and drove west for a ways. That was when Gabriel pointed out of the passenger window at a brown stone and white clapboard two-story house. It looked a little odd with the more modern buildings around it.

“That house was General Lee’s headquarters during the battle,” he followed his father’s truck when he turned onto another road. “As for your question, we’re starting where the battle began. First, we’re going to stop at a monument on Oak Hill.”

A few minutes later, they parked the trucks on the side of the road, and the family, along with Sean and Ava, walked up the path to a tall monument that had a flame at the top of it with statues around the base. Off to the side of the monument were a couple of cannons. Kate gazed at the large flame at the top of the tower as it flickered in the breeze, but never went out. When she dropped her gaze, she saw Gabriel taking a picture of a phrase etched into the limestone and decided to join him. Smiling, he slipped his arm around her waist and pulled her close as if to share the moment with her.

“The Eternal Peace Light Memorial,” Gabriel said to no one in particular, “It was dedicated on the seventy-fifth anniversary of the battle.”

“It’s beautiful. Does the flame ever go out?” Kate pondered the flame and why it kept the same brightness despite the wind.

He shook his head, “No. It’s an ever-burning flame. On perfect weather days some have reported to have seen it twenty miles away.”

The others milled about by the base of the monument, some reading the plaques nearby explaining what had happened at that location during the battle. Rob scanned the landscape until he saw a thick line of trees across the way to the southwest of their location. He could see a white equestrian monument standing in front of the trees. Those woods were called Reynold’s Woods for the Union Major General who had been killed there shortly after the battle began. The statue represented the famous general and had been erected in his honor.

I don’t think they’ll ever know where that bullet came from, he mused; it remained a mystery as to who fired the fatal shot that ended the General John Reynolds’s life. Many speculated that it was a Confederate sharpshooter, but others thought that it might have been a Union soldier.

Everyone piled back into the trucks a few minutes later and continued their tour down Confederate Avenue. To their left they passed by the Lutheran Theological Seminary where Major General John Buford, standing in the blue-domed cupola atop the seminary, surveyed the damage wreaked by his men.

Various types of cannons lined Confederate Avenue, facing out toward Cemetery Ridge three quarters of a mile away. The line marked the location of Colonel Edward Porter Alexander’s massive artillery bombardment on the Union center at the Copse of Trees. In front of the cannons, the fields of Pickett’s Charge, or more formally known as Pickett-Pettigrew-Trimble Charge, stretched out to Emmitsburg Road with regiment flank markers dotting the fields. Further up the road the group passed a number of monuments dedicated to the units that fought on those grounds, but when they reached Spangler’s Woods, Gabriel insisted that they stop. Everyone piled out of the trucks and walked up the path to a massive equestrian statue with General Robert E. Lee perched on his horse, Traveller.

“Okay, so what’s this monument, Gabriel?” Moira stared up at the top of the monument with her hand shielding her eyes from the sun’s glare.

Gabriel had to pull himself away from studying the statues at the base, “This is the Virginia State Memorial. It shows Lee looking toward his objective… way the hell over there. That little clump of trees is where he wanted his men to march to,” he pointed to the east where a group of people could be seen walking around. From where they stood, the people looked like colorful dots.

Seeing Casey bent over inspecting one of the bronze statues, Kate cocked an eyebrow and replied, “What are you gawking at, Casey?”

“We’ve seen a lot of monuments so far, and I’ve noticed something odd about them,” Casey stood up, waving his hand at the statues, “Why aren’t there any bullet holes in them? This is a battlefield, for crying out loud!”

The family stared at him perplexed, and Gabriel fought the urge to shake some sense into Casey. If there was such a thing as a stupid question, his cousin had just asked one. Didn’t he understand the concept of what a monument was? Obviously not. Gabriel was in too much shock to move from his spot. “Seriously? I can’t believe you just asked that,” he just shook his head.

Seamus walked over to Casey and placed his hand on his shoulder, “Seeing as how Ellen killed off your last brain cell when she smeared your face in the side of that flower pot, it’s understandable why you asked such an absurd question, so let’s play a game… How many stupid questions you ask while we’re going around the battlefield. You’re already at one.”

 

The next stop on the tour was the massive boulder strewn landscape of Devil’s Den across the road from the slopes of Little Round Top and Big Round Top. Many vehicles were parked in a small parking lot in front of the structure, but Gabriel found a spot beside a motorcycle. Casey immediately walked over to the boulders with Tate on his hip to inspect them. He had never seen such an interesting rock formation before; the boulders were piled on top of each other like they had just been thrown down randomly. Some of the boulders formed large crevices between them that a person could walk into. Gabriel, on the other hand, was on a mission to find a particular location at Devil’s Den where a famous period photograph was taken of a dead Confederate soldier.

Kate took the time to take pictures with the other women and Seamus as the men read the plaques near the boulders. The last time she had seen Gabriel, he had disappeared on the backside of Devil’s Den in search of a notch in the rocks. At the moment, she sat atop one of the bigger boulders with Shannon on her lap as Seamus used her phone to take a picture of them. Looking around, Kate could see many tourists walking around on top of the rock structure and around the base just as her family was doing. The sound of Gabriel’s excited yell caught their attention a few minutes later, making them run over to find him at the back of the structure already snapping pictures of a low stone wall between two of the large boulders. In front of the wall stood a plaque showing the staged photo of the sniper taken by Alexander Gardner.

“I found it, Kate!” Gabriel pulled his wife close to show her the sniper’s nest, “Can you believe I found it?”

Kate rolled her eyes in exasperation. Should have just looked for the plaque, you weirdo, “I’m happy for you, honey. Why don’t you take Shannon and squat down by the wall so I can get your picture?”

While Kate and Gabriel were occupied with the pictures, Casey and Seamus took the time to walk around the front of Devil’s Den and talk about Casey’s experience with Faye the previous evening. From the way the younger man talked, he had Faye burned into his mind. Just as they were getting ready to walk back to the trucks, a pearl white Nissan Titan whipped into an empty parking spot after almost running the Dawson men over. Seamus focused on keeping his cousin from stomping over to the white truck and yanking the door open to give the driver a piece of his mind. However, as soon as the door opened, Casey didn’t feel so tough, anymore.

“You’d think someone would have enough sense to not walk down the road when cars are driving by,” Ellen remarked, but when she saw that Casey was the one she nearly hit, a scowl crossed her face, “Although, you I should have hit.”

Casey sighed heavily, “Oh, that’s cold. What did I ever do to you?!”

“Leave it be, Casey… Before she snaps your neck like a chicken,” Seamus wasn’t really paying attention to Casey; he was too busy trying to figure out what was going on with the third occupant of Ellen’s truck; the man wore a purple plaid button up shirt with bright purple Converse sneakers to match. His pants were a different story; skin tight jeans adorned with chains and rhinestones. He had spiked medium brown hair with violet tips draped over his eyes. His appearance reminded Seamus of a very feminine man… That was, until he spoke.

“Like, oh my goodness. I can’t believe how absolutely gorgeous this place is,” he started toward Devil’s Den, motioning for Ellen and Faye to follow. “Ladies, let’s go. Tobi wants to take some group selfies!”

Nope, he’s definitely gay. Seamus stared awkwardly as the man walked by, swinging his hips as he went. He had almost wanted to disappear, but that was when the man caught sight of Casey standing near one of the plaques. Oh, this is gonna be good…

“How you doin’? Like, what shampoo do you use, because it smells so sexy,” the man leaned closer to Casey to get another whiff of his hair.

Even though the man was being friendly, Casey wasn’t too thrilled about having him that close. His eyes darted back and forth as if he didn’t have a clue as to what was going on, “Why in the hell is there a man smelling me?! It’s called personal space, dude!”

The entire time Ellen’s friend was checking Casey out, Ellen took the moment to get her phone out in order to take pictures with Faye. Seamus watched the two of them for a while, admiring how happy she was when she wasn’t out to kill his cousin. In fact, he was growing even more attracted to her and wanted to chat with her seeing as how she didn’t try to run from him. He walked over to the women and tapped Ellen on the shoulder to get her attention.

“Would you like me to take a picture of you two?”

Ellen seemed genuinely touched by his offer. How could she possibly turn him down? “Well, thank you. That would be awesome since I’m terrible at picture-taking.”

After giving Seamus her phone, Ellen and Faye stood against one of the boulders with their arms around each other. Seamus was just about to snap the picture when Casey ran in front of the two women with their friend right behind him.

“I like b***s, not balls!” Casey shrieked in desperation.

The group taking the pictures in front of the boulders watched as the women’s friend chased after Casey around the backside of Devil’s Den and over the top of it. Finally, not wanting to traumatize her hopeful boyfriend, Faye reached out to grab her friend by one of the belt loops on his jeans, allowing Casey to find safety behind Moira and Riley, who had just walked up with Tate. The young man’s face fell when Faye explained to him that Casey wasn’t interested in a relationship with him.

“Everyone, this is our awesome friend, Tobi. He works as a nurse in the Senior Care section at the hospital Ellen and I work at,” Faye turned to address Casey, who kept his eyes trained on Tobi in case he needed to make a run for it. “Sorry, Casey. He’s very flamboyant and open about his feelings.”

Casey rolled his eyes. I can see that, “Just as long as he walks in front of me and not behind me, I’ll be okay with him.”

A little while later, Faye had gone looking for Ellen after the scarlet-colored woman had disappeared from her when the women had gone to check out the top side of Devil’s Den with Tobi and Kate. As Faye passed by a deep crevice at the front of the structure, she let out a startled squeal when she was pulled into the crevice, but a hand clamped over her mouth to keep her quiet. Another hand held onto her arm to keep her in place. The sound of Casey’s Irish accent in her ear caused her to relax; however, she wasn’t prepared for what happened in the following moments. Casey pushed her against one of the stone walls, his hips pinning her there. Before she could say anything, he forced her lips apart with his own and kissed her hungrily. It appeared as if her wish had come true.

Unbeknownst to the two in the crevice, Ellen, Seamus and Tobi had found a nice seat on the boulders and couldn’t resist looking down at Casey and Faye below them. Watching Faye kiss a man irritated her to no end considering Faye never heeded her warnings that men couldn’t be trusted. Looking back down in the crevice, she noticed Casey become sneaky and put his hands on Faye’s bottom. Apparently, the other two saw the move, too, because all three of them leaned over further to get a better view. When they did so, they knocked their heads together, creating an audible thump.

“Ow! Watch it!” Ellen pushed Seamus out of the way in irritation.

Seamus rubbed the side of his head where he had made contact with Ellen’s, “You watch it!”

“Now, Ellen, you know Tobi doesn’t like you like that,” Tobi sat back with his arms folded over his chest. He appeared to be fine.

“Shut up, Tobi!” Ellen and Seamus said together.

The commotion above them caused Faye and Casey to break apart and look up. A scowl crossed Casey’s features at the sight of the other three peering down at them. Was it too much to ask for a little privacy? Casey considered chasing after them, but decided that it wasn’t worth the hassle or the possibility of getting beat up by Ellen. The two of them exited the crevice to meet up with the others by the parking lot, both of them disappointed that they couldn’t have spent more time alone with each other.

Out in front of Devil’s Den, Gabriel was staring up at the sky, pondering the fluffy clouds above them. Earlier that morning he had learned that there was a small chance of rain, but not enough to worry about. Kate had taken Shannon to their truck to change her diaper, so she was already waiting for the rest of them to get in their trucks in order to go explore Little Round Top across the road. Once everyone had met up, they were in the middle of discussing where they would go on Little Round Top when an all too familiar sound was heard above them.

 A low rumble caught Seamus’s attention. He looked up to the sky, concerned. The previously fluffy clouds had turned a gray color and looked heavy with rain, “That sounded like thunder.”

“Oh I hope it doesn’t start raining now,” Faye said. As soon as the words were out, however, they found themselves caught in a sudden downpour.  The rain beat down on them in a blinding sheet before they had time to find cover.

“That was hardly a fair warning!” Ellen shook her head in disbelief as Casey made a break for the nearest tree several yards away.

Gabriel called after him, trying his hardest not to laugh, “You know Casey; you’d only look worse if you get fried alive by the lighting!”

“I don’t care,” Casey responded while holding his arms over his head in an attempt to shield his head from the rain, “I’m getting outta this rain.”

Standing out in the open with her arms crossed over her chest and getting soaked by the stinging rain, Ellen said over the downpour, “We agree on something for once,” and then did a double-take, “I can’t believe I just said that.”

A few moments later, the rain stopped just as abruptly as it came. The clouds moved across the sky, allowing the sun to shine brightly once again to help dry the grass. It was a strange phenomenon that made everyone look around at the sky to figure out if it was just a hoax and more rain was on its way or if it was truly over with. Sure enough, there weren’t any clouds headed their way.

“Well, that’s that,” Mae said, already wringing her wet hair out with her hands, “Could’ve been worse.”

“The bad news is, our hair is shot,” Casey grumbled when he rejoined the group. Despite his efforts to keep himself from getting wet, his hair was plastered to his head and neck. “I’m heading back to the truck to get me mousse.”

“The feel of wet clothes isn’t so comfortable, either,” Seamus sighed as he watched his cousin leave. “I guess I’ll be headed back too. At least Tutu wasn’t with me " she’d catch her death! Not to mention it would ruin her clothes…”

A wicked idea popped into Ellen’s head after hearing Casey mention that he was worried about his hair, and she ran over to Gabriel’s truck to get Kate’s attention. Kate was all too happy that she hadn’t been caught in the rain shower and listened intently to Ellen as she explained that she wanted to mess with the guys. The two women hurriedly dug through the men’s bags in the back seats of the trucks and pulled out several tubes. After confirming that they were their hair products, Kate and Ellen shoved the tubes down the front of their shirts and concealed them between their breasts so that the men would never find them. Both of them scurried back to sit on the hood of Gabriel’s truck with Faye and Ava joining them to watch the scramble begin. Casey was the first one to the truck and flung the door open so that he could get into his bag. Seamus began his search a few seconds later in Rob’s truck, but looked over to see Casey getting frustrated that he couldn’t find his mousse. Oddly enough, he couldn’t find his own mousse when he could have sworn that he had thrown it in his backpack. Gabriel was leaning across the center console of his truck digging around through the glove box and swore when he couldn’t find his jar of frizz tamer, eliciting some colorful words. The entire time the men were throwing their belongings to the ground in search of their hair products, Kate and Ellen giggled like little girls, throwing glances back to see the men’s expressions. Ellen had to admit; she had no idea what she was getting into when she suggested that they swipe the boys’ hair products after getting stuck in the rain earlier. She had not a damn clue. But that didn’t mean that she regretted it. Not at all.

After watching the boys go through a rather fruitless attempt to find their lost belongings " Casey freaking out more with every passing second, since he didn’t find it worth going out without his hair being perfect " Seamus finally gave up. “That’s it guys, we can’t find them. Guess we have to do without ‘em.”

“What?” Casey looked horrified; he couldn’t allow himself to have one strand of hair out of place.  

“You heard me, Casey.”

 Gabriel just nodded, slamming the driver’s side door shut, “Yeah, and we might as well get dressed in dry clothes while we’re at it.”

What happened next caught Ellen by total surprise. After hearing Gabriel’s suggestion, Seamus suddenly seemed to realize how uncomfortable his wet clothes were. Ellen watched as he reached down and started to pull his shirt up. Inch by agonizing inch his skin was revealed, finishing off with a smooth, marbled finish, glistening in the light as his drenched shirt had soaked through to his skin. And to unnerve Ellen even more, she noticed how perfectly his jeans clung to him, and the smooth arch of his hipbones. Then, as if to torment her further, he reached back to pull his hair free, giving his head a light shake to knock his hair loose from the form it had been held in. The dark green locks reached his mid-back in waves from the braids it had been in.

For the first time, Ellen knew what Faye saw in men. If there was such a thing as sweet torture, Seamus Dawson was the very essence of the word. He seemed more angel than man at that moment, what with the angle in which the sunlight hit his perfect chest. She couldn’t help but marvel at the sight. My God, there should be an age restriction on him! He can’t possibly be of this world!

“Ellen, you’re staring,” Faye chuckled. She had noticed her best friend staring longingly at Gabriel’s brother like he was a piece of Hershey’s chocolate. I knew she would find someone, eventually.

Brought back to reality by Faye’s voice, Ellen felt her face go red. At least it wasn’t noticeable under her scarlet complexion. She felt shaky. Quickly diverting her eyes from Seamus, she hastily said, “I need some time to think,” and then left to go change her wet clothes. She would return once she got her heart to slow down and was dressed in dry clothes.

Seeing Seamus in such a light threw Ellen off balance. She didn’t know how to react to how obviously she’d been attracted to him moments before. As she walked away, she couldn’t push the image of his perfection out of her mind. What on earth was wrong with her? Hadn’t she always said that she was better off without a man? Why did she suddenly doubt that? She was better off, wasn’t she? Right? All those questions were beginning to confuse her. But was that truly such a bad thing?

 

Seamus was walking back to Rob’s silver truck after talking with a finally calm Casey and Gabriel when he passed Ellen’s truck. To his surprise, he saw her standing on the far side of the truck just as she was pulling her soaked shirt over her head, since she was still drenched from the sudden downpour from a few minutes earlier. As soon as she pulled her shirt over her head, he caught sight of her side and back, as she was turned away from him. His eyes widened in disbelief, and he felt himself blush; Ellen had a tattoo of angel wings on her lower back. A glint caught his eye, and Seamus noticed the two iridescent dermal piercings in the dimples of her lower back where the wings came together.  Wow, never knew she was the type.

After gaping a few more minutes at Ellen finally pulling on her clean, dryer shirt, Seamus wanted to let her know that he was there so as not to make her think he was being a peeping tom. He cleared his throat to alert her of his presence.

Ellen jumped and turned around to see him standing at the end of the truck bed, “What are you doing here?!”

“I was passing by,” Seamus said innocently. “Couldn’t you change in your truck?”

Ellen blushed at his comment, and then narrowed her eyes, “What’s it to you?”

“Nothing,” Seamus replied quickly, “Just that there are people who’d take advantage of such a situation.”

An awkward pause. They stood contemplating each other for a while. Seamus thought about how jumpy she was around men. “I wonder why.”

“Huh?” Ellen looked confused.

“Sorry, I was thinking aloud,” Seamus replied, “I was just wondering why you get so jumpy around men.”

“None of your business,” Ellen snapped and shoved her shirt down to cover up her tattoo after realizing that he must have seen it from the way he looked at her.

Seamus held his hands up in defense, “Okay, okay, it was just a thought.”

“It was something you had no business of thinking about,” Ellen sighed and slammed her truck door shut, “I have my reasons.”

Another silence break.

“I just wanted to see if you wanted to talk about it,” Seamus said in a gentle tone, “I’m always here to listen, Ellie.”

Ellen’s eyes widened, “What did you just call me?”

Seamus rethought the sentence, and went red again. Did I really just call her that?  “Sorry. It just slipped out ".”

“No, I liked it,” Ellen confessed; she, too, started to blush at the thought of Seamus calling her what she considered a pet name. It also didn’t help the fact that she was growing rather fond of the man in front of her despite hating men. Talk about not practicing what you preach, Ellen.  “No one has given me a nickname before.”

Seamus sighed in relief. He hadn’t wanted to stress the moment more, “It suits you.”

“Thank you,” Ellen gave him a hint of a smile.

“So, I’ll see you later then?”

“Yeah, you will,” Ellen watched him go, and then mentally kicked herself. For a few moments she had been warming up to him. Hadn’t she learned that men weren’t worth her time? She didn’t want to be hurt again, and seconds before she had been asking for it. Don’t go soft, Ellen. They all seem nice when you first meet them. He’s not worth the time.

 

Happy once again in dry clothes, everyone climbed into the four trucks and drove up the road and parked in the small parking lot at the base of Little Round Top where all of them unloaded. Rob, Mae, Riley and Moira headed off to check out the castle-like monument on one of the slopes of the hill while the others contemplated scaling the steep path to the peak. Gabriel managed to persuade them to go simply because he wanted to show them the 20^th Maine monument and the still-existing stone wall that was built by the Union soldiers when they were charged by the Alabamians. He and Kate took the lead, Kate carrying Shannon, with Sean and Ava a few feet behind them. Casey had gotten Tate’s cloth carrier out of the truck so that he could carry her like a backpack instead of suffering from hip pain; after receiving a round of teasing from Seamus, he took off at a run to catch up with Gabriel.

Seamus was getting ready to make the climb, as well, when he saw Ellen pondering the walkway with a perturbed look on her face, “Are you three coming, Ellen?”

“Yeah, but that steep of a grade will kill my knees,” she had a crazy idea pop into her head, and ran after Seamus. “Can I hitch a ride on your back? Tobi’s a feather a*s and won’t be able to support me. Faye’s the same way; you should have seen her try to move a four hundred pound woman when she collapsed in the ER lobby. It wasn’t pretty.”

“So, you want to blow my knees out, is what you’re saying?” He threw her idea around for a bit, and then caved, “Alright, get on… but try not to pull my pants down. I don’t feel like exposing my backside to the world.”

Since you mentioned it, I just might do that; I wouldn’t mind checking that caboose out, “I’m not that heavy!” Ellen jumped onto Seamus’s back, wrapping her arms around his neck once he had braced himself for the impact.

Surprisingly enough, Seamus bypassed a huffing and puffing Casey halfway up the asphalt path. He and Ellen started to laugh at his predicament, taking note of his frazzled appearance; the added weight of his daughter just made his climb more difficult.

“Hey, Casey… Wanna switch passengers?” Seamus playfully poked his cousin in the side with his elbow.

Not at all amused by Seamus’s attempt at a joke, his eyebrows furrowed, “Ha ha ha. Very funny. I’ll stick with me offspring.”

The scenery around them was absolutely beautiful, and the farther up the hill, the thicker the canopy of trees got; barely any sunlight shown through the branches of foliage, leaving the earth in shadow. Small droplets of rain water dripped down from above, creating wet spots on their clothes. The path widened toward the backside of Little Round Top where Gabriel, Kate, Sean and Ava were reading a gray marble rectangular monument with a pyramid-shaped top. It was the monument dedicated to the 20^th Maine’s location during the battle where they had to stand their ground as the flank of the Union army.

Ellen slid off of Seamus’s back before going over to investigate the stone wall being swallowed up by the flora. Seamus went over to listen to his brother’s explanation of what had happened where all of them stood. It was amazing to learn how a colonel ordered a bayonet charge out of desperation to protect the flank when his men had run completely out of ammunition. After experiencing the walk up to the 20^th Maine’s location, it was a wonder how they fared the charge down the slopes of Little Round Top, chasing the Alabamians away in defense.

“Why didn’t they just use the bloody sidewalk? It would have been a hell of a lot easier than running down on slick leaves and Lord knows what else,” Casey raised the question after sitting down to rest on the wall behind the monument with Tate still strapped to his back. “I mean, I just about had a heart attack coming up that damn thing, but there’s no way I’d be running straight up and down that hill.”

The group stood in their spots and stared at Casey for several awkward moments. Eventually, Ellen broke the silence when she called back over her shoulder, “Did he really just ask that?!”

“Stupid question number two,” Seamus held up two fingers to indicate that he was still keeping track of the insane questions Casey asked. They hadn’t even made it to where the most important events occurred and already Casey was on a roll.

Gabriel kept his temper in check and replied, “Casey, the path was built well after the battle was over so that people like us wouldn’t kill ourselves trying to walk up here. Try to imagine what it would have been like without the nice walkway.”

While the others were busy talking about Casey’s ridiculous question and without anyone seeing her leave, Ellen disappeared to go explore the rest of Little Round Top on her own, but mainly so that she could sort out her emotions that were going wild in her mind. She knew that the rest of them would eventually wind up where she had intended to go, and that meant Seamus, too. Winding her way back down the path, Ellen found herself walking toward the monuments Gabriel’s parents had gone to look at.

 

By the time Kate and Gabriel caught up with Mae and Rob, the older family members were ready to keep moving on with the tour even though the younger members had just arrived. Gabriel took his daughter from Kate, allowing his wife some free time to chat with Seamus, who appeared to be looking for something or someone by the way his eyes wandered over the rocky slope of the hill. She walked up beside him and rested her hand lightly on his arm to get his attention.

“What’s got you sidetracked, Shay?” Kate smiled up at him, hoping he’d want to talk with her.

At first, Seamus didn’t feel like talking, he just wanted to find where Ellen had run off to since she had left her friends behind when they were up at the 20^th Maine monument. The longer Kate stood there waiting for an answer, the more he wanted to open up to her about how he felt towards Ellen. This is something I can’t talk about with Gabriel… and especially not Casey. It needs to be with someone who knows how women work and the language they speak, “Kate, I’m looking for Ellen. Did you see where she went?”

“No, I didn’t. The last time I saw her she was taking pictures of the stone wall when we were up there,” Kate jabbed her thumb back behind her. “Why are you so interested in her?”

“I just feel a connection to her, Kate. I want to find out what makes her tick around men.”

Kate tried to hide a giggle, “Are you sure that it’s not just Casey? I know there are times I want to punch him in the throat.”

I’d like to see that when you do, “Oh, I’m positive that it’s around all men, except for Tobi.”

Getting back on track, the two of them walked around near the statue of G.K. Warren overlooking the battlefield from its location atop one of the large boulders. Seamus kept his eyes open for Ellen in case she happened to be anywhere close by. He was just about to go back to the top where the others were when Kate nudged him in the side and pointed down the slope. Ellen sat on a boulder a little ways down with her legs crossed and her right arm moving slightly. She moved her gaze from the portion of the battlefield out in front of Little Round Top, in the direction of the Peach Orchard and the Rose Farm, and then back down to her lap. In the distance, the three cupolas of the Codori farm were barely visible near Emmitsburg Road. On Ellen’s lap was a pad of paper, and she was bent over it as she drew what appeared to be the landscape around her. It was hard to tell exactly what she was drawing, because she was too far away from Kate and Seamus for them to see.

“Go talk to her, Shay. See if she and her friends would like to join us for the rest of Gabe’s fantastic tour,” Kate said sarcastically and carefully pushed on Seamus’s back to get him moving. She knew for a fact that he wasn’t one to be shy around women; not after the Jefferson ball when he slung Ellen over his shoulder and carried her out to the dance floor.

Time to get Miss Fussy Pants to talk. Seamus left Kate standing by the sign indicating that they were on Little Round Top, and picked his way down the rocky slope until he stood behind Ellen. He watched her draw for a few moments, and once she picked her pencil up from the paper, he spoke, “It’s beautiful out here, isn’t it? Who would have ever thought that it would have been a place of bloodshed?”

His voice caused Ellen to jump and turn around to see Seamus standing behind her on a boulder, an intoxicating smile on his face, “Are you stalking me, now?”

“No. I just saw you sitting down here by yourself and wondered if you wanted any company.”

“I like to be alone sometimes to think,” she went back to her drawing, not even wanting to look at him for fear he would find her weakness, “It’s good to get away from everyone for a while.”

Not wanting to intrude on her privacy, Seamus started to turn away to rejoin the others, “I’ll leave you be, then.”

“Wait!” Ellen quickly threw her drawing pad down on the ground, not wanting him to leave her, “I don’t mind if you stay, Seamus.”

He tried to hide the smile that appeared on his face; finally, a breakthrough in Ellen’s standoffish ways. In all actuality, he never thought he would get her to let him be near to her, “So… this place is pretty amazing. I found the period buildings in town beautiful,” he found a seat beside Ellen and stared out toward Seminary Ridge.

“They are, but I’m waiting to see the High Water Mark over there on Cemetery Ridge. Can you believe those are the actual trees from the battle?”

Seamus seemed genuinely surprised by her remark. Being from Dublin, Ireland he didn’t know much about the history of the United States. Wow, not only is she pretty, she’s smart, “Really? I had no idea.”

“What do you mean? Didn’t you study American History in high school?” Ellen cocked an eyebrow in questioning.

“I’ve lived in Ireland for most of my life. Only within the last couple of months have I lived in Texas.”

Ellen’s eyes widened in realization, and she pointed her finger at him in excitement, “That explains your accent! Damn, it’s hot!” She immediately covered her mouth with her hand, trying her hardest to not let her blush show through her scarlet skin, “I can’t believe I just said that. The Pennsylvania heat must be getting to me.”

Casey chose that moment to save Ellen from more humiliation by walking in front of them and holding his phone in the air two-handed like Rafiki holding up baby Simba. If the opening theme of The Lion King had started playing at that moment, the situation would have been perfect. Totally forgetting about her embarrassing comment, Ellen couldn’t help but laugh at Casey’s pose.

“What are you doing?” She asked.

Disgruntled, Casey shoved his phone back into his jeans pocket, “I was trying to get service, but me phone is a piece of crap.”

The sound of Gabriel’s voice calling for them to hurry up pulled them away from Casey’s display. From the look of it, the group was moving on to a new location, and if they didn’t hurry, they’d be left behind. Seamus offered his hand to Ellen to help her to her feet, and afterwards, they jogged up the slope to meet the others; however, Casey decided to race Ellen. Bad mistake; he wasn’t prepared for when she reached out and shoved him into a tree.

“Obviously you haven’t learned by now,” Ellen rolled her eyes at Casey when she looked back to see him clawing his way up the tree trunk to a standing position.

Once at their respective vehicles, all of them drove down Sedgwick Avenue to the point where it ran into Hancock Avenue so that they could go to the place where Gabriel couldn’t wait to see: the Copse of Trees on Cemetery Ridge. Along the way they passed by the massive white Pennsylvania monument where they could see tourists walking around on the balcony encircling the top portion of the monument. A little ways past the Pennsylvania monument, Gabriel parked his truck alongside the road near the monument dedicated to General George Meade. He didn’t even bother waiting for his passengers to get out of the truck before he practically ran over to the bronze monument in front of the Copse of Trees. The monument was shaped like an open book and was covered in writing. It symbolized the farthest advance of the Confederate army even though a Mississippi group had made it a little further north of that location.

What I wouldn’t give to be able to touch one of those trees. As soon as he finished reading the monument, Gabriel stared up at the bright green clump of trees surrounded by a wrought iron fence to keep tourists from destroying them.

“Wow, I can’t believe these are the actual trees that witnessed the battle,” Kate stopped beside Gabriel with Shannon on her hip. “I don’t think I’ll be able to pull you away from here no matter how much I try.”

“No, you will. Just give me a little time to-,” he was distracted when his eyes fell on the light gray marble monument a short walk to their right, “Kate, follow me!” Gabriel drug Kate with him to the monument and nearly went into convulsions of happiness when he read the words inscribed in the cool stone.

“You are officially starting to scare me, Gabriel.” Kate just shook her head at her husband’s behavior and listened to him explain why the monument had so much significance. Looking back to the monument, she rolled her eyes and sighed heavily at him; Gabriel was on the ground with his forehead against the monument, his eyes closed and arms wrapped around the marble, “What in the name of Jefferson Davis are you doing, Gabriel?”

“I’m getting in tuned with the spirit of Armistead,” Gabriel replied simply, still running his hands over the monument.

Kate was about to go into one of her jokes of how Gabriel was a ghost whisperer, what with Susan’s spirit occupying their house until after Shannon had been born, but Gabriel got a call from General Mayo explaining that he needed to come up with two-person groups for all-night picket duty to guard their camp from any trouble. Knowing that someone needed to be near Shannon constantly in case she woke up, he determined that Kate would be in a different group from him; she would be paired up with Riley for the first shift while he would be with Sean for the second shift. Seamus groaned in annoyance when he found out that he would be stuck with Casey for the two o’ clock to four o’ clock shift.

Why am I always getting stuck with Glitter Britches? If I can make it through our shift without murdering that loon it’ll be a miracle. Seamus did his best to ignore Casey’s protests of even being selected for picket duty. If that was any indication of how their night would go he wasn’t looking forward to it, “Let’s go find somewhere to eat before I decide to roast Casey over the truck’s engine.”

“Hey! This sexy beast is not on the menu,” Casey leaned in close to Faye and gave her a playful growl, “Not unless you want a taste of what I have to offer…”

Faye instantly blushed at his comment, trying her best to hide it. She was saved by her best friend when she grabbed onto her arm and hauled her off toward her truck, but not before shooting Casey an evil glare. In fact, he was almost positive Ellen shot him the middle finger with her free hand. It was as if she was out to get him, because any time she was around the other guys, she was much calmer.

“Does she just hate me or something?” Casey asked Seamus as they walked back to the truck with Gabriel and Kate.

“We weren’t the ones who called her a w***e,” Seamus leaned against the green Ram, his arms folded over his chest and an amused look on his face. “You need a filter on your mouth so you don’t end up on some woman’s hit list.”

The sound of Gabriel starting the truck meant that they were getting ready to leave, “Enough chitchat. Let’s go get something to eat and get back to camp,” he called back to the other two men.

Without saying another word, everyone loaded into their trucks, eager to get something in their stomachs. With picket duty that evening, they needed to get back to camp soon in order to dress in their uniforms since the reenactment was beginning that evening. Seamus stared out of his window at Ellen’s truck pulling away in front of them; the next time he would see the women they would be dressed head to toe in their enormous period dresses with their hair pulled up into some fancy hairdo. Who knew what Tobi would be wearing, and he was almost afraid to know. In the front of the truck, Kate and Gabriel were discussing where they would eat as they pulled back out onto Emmitsburg Road and drove into town. They didn’t go far before he pulled into the parking lot of Friendly’s, a restaurant right across the road from the Gettysburg National Cemetery.

“Eat hearty… You’re gonna need it for tonight,” Sean chuckled while holding the door open for the others before going inside himself.