Chapter 13
Hospital in
Satine stretched her arms above her head
and yawned. She and a few of her friends
were taking a short break, something that was hard to come by in these hard
times of war. She had been caring for
the injured for about half a month now, and everything about it had completely
drained her. She felt sick inside when
she saw the maimed soldiers being rushed into the makeshift hospital. Violence was everywhere and there was no possible
way to escape it.
From
the moment that Satine had arrived in Langres, she
had tried to find Christian. But no one
that she had spoken to had ever heard of him before. She was getting horribly worried and didn’t
know what she would do if she wasn’t able to find him soon.
Taking
a deep breath and leaning back in her chair with a steaming cup of tea, she
remembered their song and let the words glide off her tongue…
Want
to vanish, inside you kiss
Everyday
I’m loving you more and more
Listen
to my heart can you hear it sing?
Telling
me to give you everything
Seasons
may change, winter to spring
But
I love you
Till
the end of…
Startled, Satine looked around the room
until she saw another young woman looking sadly into her lemonade glass.
Why’d
you have to go
And
make things so complicated
Acting
like you’re somebody else
Gets
me frustrated
Life’s
like this
You
fall and you crawl and you
Break
and you take what you get
And
you turn it into…
She turned her head to another few
girls, who all were singing the saddest songs.
By the depressing lyrics, Satine guessed that they had no belief in love
at all.
Yesterday,
all my troubles seemed
So
far away
Love
was such an easy game to play
And
I can tell by the way that you love me
I can
tell that the fire’s burning out
One girl, with tears in her eyes, took a
picture of a man, assumingly her beau, and tore it in half and let it fall to
the tiled floor. She looked at the
pieces and sang fiercely,
Goodbye
to you
Goodbye
to everything
That
I knew
You’re
the one I loved
The
one thing that I tried
To
hold onto…
Satine’s head began to spin as the
lyrics of all the heartbreaking songs came swirling together…
Complicated…yesterday…goodbye…
Satine shook her head and stood up, she
couldn’t let this bashing of the greatest thing in the world continue.
“Everyone!” Satine cried out, drawing attention to
herself. “Why all the long faces? Love keeps us going! It shouldn’t weigh you down.”
“Love
is a myth,” snorted one girl. Her
comment was met with many nodding heads.
“What
are you talking about?” Satine asked, knowing that no matter what these girls
said, everyone yearned to be loved.
Satine
immediately regretted what she said and was nearly knocked down with terrible
stories of love lost, abusive husbands and men that they could never have.
“Are
you all saying that you don’t want love in your life?” Satine asked, not even
able to comprehend the idea.
She
was utterly flabbergasted at the response; nodding heads could be seen
throughout the entire room.
“But…love
is a many splendored thing!” she cried out,
remembering the words that Christian had wooed her with. She was once a non-believer too, but she knew
she could help these girls understand the greatest thing they could ever learn. “Love lifts us up where we belong! All you need is love!”
Satine
was stared at oddly as a shining sparkle filled her eyes as she began to sing,
Love is a wonderful thing
Make ya smile through the pouring rain
Love is a wonderful thing
I´ll say it again and again
Turn your world into one sweet dream
It doesn't need sugar
'cause it's already sweet
It doesn't need an oven 'cause it's got a lot of heat
Just add a dash of kisses to make it all complete
And that's the recipe for making love
Satine was starting to get discouraged when all of a sudden;
Emma was by her side and began to sing with her.
Perhaps love is like a
resting place
A shelter from the storm
It exists to give you comfort
It is there to keep you warm
And in those times of trouble
When you are most alone
The memory of love will bring you home
It's everywhere you look
If you look hard enough
Its really not hard to see
Yeah, once you put your arms around it
You can never get too much
Love is a sweet, sweet thing
By this time, several more girls had joined in the small
chorus. With bright smiles, their
movements became more and more dramatic as they placed hands over their hearts
and swayed to the beat.
Love doesn't ask why
It speaks from the heart
And never explains
Don't you know that
Love doesn't think twice
It can come all at once
Or whisper from a distance
“Ugh, you all are pathetic,” one nurse with blonde hair
snickered. “Love isn’t real, it’s a myth
that people like you like to make up for comfort.”
Satine had to
breathe deeply to keep from smacking some sense into the snooty woman but knew
that she too, didn’t buy into the idea of love easily at first.
She kneeled at
the woman’s level and placed her arm on her shoulder,
Hey, little girl runnin’ out so fast
Gotta stay put for love to last
Why you gotta say that love has gone away
It’s not like that
Well, Everybody hurts when the feelings fade
The nurse nodded. She had
been hurt while in love and didn’t want to open herself up to that kind of pain
again. But Satine knew that she almost
had the reluctant nurse and continued on.
If you want ‘em
back, you know you gotta stay
No runnin’, No runnin’
Love’s coming back like only love can do.
All the girls cheered when she stood up with Satine and began to
happily dance around the room with everyone else.
Love, love, love, true
love
Must surely be good, must surely be kind
And that love sweet love, strong love
Is meant to be yours, is meant to be mine
Emma looked around the room and sadly remembered the reason that
they were all here.
Another day goes by
And still the children cry
Satine nodded but knew that there was only one way to dry all
those tears…
Put a little love in you
heart!
Emma’s happy smile soon spread across her face again as Satine continued
and listened with the other women as Satine sang.
If you want the world to
know
We won't let hatred grow
Emma led the chorus of women by crying out,
Put a little love in your
heart!
The room exploded in giggles as
Satine threw a blanket around her shoulders and began to wave about like a busy
housewife.
I'd like to build the world a home
And furnish it with love
Grow apple trees and honey bees and snow-white turtle doves
The whole room began to act out the words of the sweet song.
I'd like to teach the world to sing
In perfect harmony
I'd like to hold it in my arms and keep it company
I'd like to see the world for once
All standing hand in hand
And hear them echo through the hills
Everyone
yelled,
"Ah, peace throughout the
land!"
Several girls
started leaping and twirling through the room.
Delighted laughter was bouncing off the walls and making everyone smile.
What the world needs now
is love, sweet love
it's the only thing
that there's just too little of
What the world needs now
is love, sweet love,
no not just for some
but for everyone.
The room grew
quiet as the same woman that had been so negative about love stood up on a
nearby table and began to belt out,
Lord, we don't need
another mountain,
there are mountains
and hillsides enough to climb
There are oceans
and rivers enough to cross,
enough to last
'til the end of time.
She grabbed
Satine’s hand and was helped off the table as the entire room once again
exploded in giggles,
Love is a wonderful thing
Make ya smile through the pouring rain
Love is a wonderful thing
I´ll say it again and again
Turn your world into…
“GET OUT HERE!” Melinda Jefferson
yelled, frantically. Everyone nearly
leaped out of their skin at the interruption.
“There’s
just been dozens of men brought in. They
are all in critical condition. I need
every single one of you out here, NOW!”
Satine’s
small chorus had soon dispersed and went running into the room where the
patients were kept.
Once all of the commotion had once again
died down and Satine was putting the finishing touches on the bandages around
one man’s arm, she softly sang,
Love is a wonderful thing
I´ll say it again and again
Turn your world into
One sweet dream…
Langres, France ~ May 21st,
1914
Sweat dripped
from Christian’s brow as he lay against a hard, thin wooden pole behind him
that was sticking slanted out of the dirt ground. Barbed wire was everywhere
around him, closing in on him confusing his mind and consciousness.
“Please…” he muttered to no one in
particular. The large German soldier who had held him at gunpoint was standing
with his back towards Christian on the other side of what seemed like the
universe; it was just outside the barbed wire fence. He grunted in return at
Christian’s meek plea and walked away, tired of guarding an area that a
prisoner hadn’t even attempted to escape from.
Christian was alone. He closed his
eyes in the heat of the night and tried to focus on what time it might have
been; it was useless. He kept his eyes closed however, and gradually, one by
one images of his life flashed before him. The wedding…Reims…so much joy and love that he could barely comprehend
it. Eventually, these images turned to Satine and only Satine. God, she
was so beautiful.
“Was…” he said aloud to himself, not
believing he’d thought of her that way. “She isn’t gone…” he whispered,
reassuring his thoughts. He placed his head in his hands, and returned to his
memories. Those stormy days when they simply held each other, stroking each other’s
bodies; the moment when he asked Satine to spend the rest of her life with him.
That unforgettable night…
********
“Christian!” Satine squealed and chased me around the table,
wobbling the dripping white candles on top of it. After my successful attempt
at tickling her, she found that I was more difficult to catch then she figured.
“Now…I don’t recall you running away the first time we
met,” she spoke giggling. She’s so gorgeous when she laughs.
“That’s because I didn’t know how much you enjoyed being
teased…” I returned devilishly, making my way around the other side of the
table.
“Oh…so you’re the tease, now? Hmmm…we’ll see about that…”
she said exotically. I laughed, but soon I was silenced as I watched her carry
out her plan that was bound to work. She strode over to the bed and sat down on
it, her red luscious dress floating down with her. She reached behind her,
purposefully thrusting her chest out while she played with the strings on her
dress.
Her eyes never left mine as she pulled the top of her dress down
off her shoulders painfully slowly.
“Mmm…I’m so sore…” she moaned, rubbing
her shoulders. I shivered simply watching her, and nervously laughed not
wanting to give in. I wanted to be in control, just once. But just looking at
her sitting like a perfect glass vase wanting to be broken, made my passion
rise. She slid the dress smoothly down further and freed her breasts from the
dress completely. I gasped and unconsciously began to walk around the table,
not once taking my eyes off of Satine. I finally reached her and bent down to
kneel in front of her.
“Let me help you with that dress, Miss
Satine…” I whispered breathlessly.
“Only if you can admit that I…am the
tease,” she uttered back, leaning her chest near my face. It took me a moment
to respond.
“God yes…God yes…” I spoke, beginning
to kiss her breasts softly. She moaned in response; I could tell she had been
anticipating the contact all evening. I moved my hands sensuously over her back
and down to her waist that I found was still covered with the red dress. I
released my mouth from her hard nipple and watched my hands as they slid down
Satine’s smooth hips, removing the silky dress. I needed to feel her skin on my
lips again. As I moved the dress down, I kissed every inch I could of her hips
and thighs…legs…knees…ankles and the tips of her sweet toes.
She was out of breath by the time the dress was completely
removed, and a high-pitch noise escaped my mouth as I rose up and saw that she
had had no undergarments on beneath that dress. She laughed at my boyish
reaction and pulled my lips up to hers, silencing her giggles. We explored each
other’s mouths, hungry for each other. The more we kissed, the more I was
aroused. I thought for a split second about how the amazing feeling of kissing
Satine never changed. It would never change from being the one thing I could do
for the rest of my life.
We both realized my clothes were still holding me back from
feeling her body against mine completely, and so with help from Satine my
clothes were no longer an issue. I took Satine softly by the shoulders and
pulled her up from sitting on the bed, and she stared at me with the same
sparkling blue eyes that had held me once oh so long ago in
I began pushing her slowly down onto the bed once again, her
back flat. We moved further up to the head of the bed, never letting go of each
other’s gaze. I lay myself on top of Satine as much as I could without entering
her in full…I could barely stand the feeling of being so close to inside this
heavenly creature and not taking the opportunity. But I wanted that night to be
slow, sensuous and amazing.
“Please, Christian…” the angel whispered, begging me to satisfy
her insatiable desire as her body quivered beneath me.
“How wonderful life is…” I breathlessly whispered back. I
couldn’t take her face lost in mine any longer as I moved inside of her slowly
and deliciously.
“Ohh…” she groaned, loudly exhaling,
smiling at the familiar yet new feeling.
I used as much will power as I could,
and thrust slowly each time, relishing the sweet sensation of her wet desire
around my throbbing passion. I could live like this forever, I thought.
Finally, I felt her need for more as she began to thrust her pelvis up to match
my movements that were increasing in speed. We both breathed heavily, and a
loud groan escaped my mouth as I began to come.
I was on top of a mountain, the wind
was rushing through me, the blood rushing to my head; I felt dizzy. I could
only see Satine before me like a vision, towering down from the heavens.
“Christian!!” she shouted into the
night, her passion rising more than she could ever imagine. I sped up my movements
and my body shook as I spilled myself into her as she reached her own peak;
clinging onto my shoulders. We saw stars. The night enveloped us and I stayed
inside her as long as I could without losing consciousness from holding my
breath.
We ever so slowly parted and I pulled
her into my arms, feeling her sweat graze me skin. It was wonderful. That
mountain that was Satine’s passion would never leave my mind for as long as I
lived.
***
“Gefangener,” a German soldier snapped at Christian through
the wire.
“No…” Christian whimpered and forced
his chin not to quiver as he looked up from his heavenly flashback. He didn’t know it then and neither did
Satine, but that was the night that little Sara was conceived.
“PRISONER!” the man barked in a German
accent. “Up!”
Christian breathed deeply and stood up
on wobbly legs. After being told to move forward, he took a moment and then
walked until he was inches away from the barbed wire.
“You…want to know some things?” the
German soldier spoke in an eerily quiet tone as he paced in front of Christian
on the other side. Christian didn’t dignify the dirty man’s gruff question with
a response.
“I have done…some horrible
things…prisoner,” he continued, stopping directly in front of Christian’s stone
cold face.
“You think you are going to be…damned
to hell for killing men. Hmm?” he questioned in a deep, scratchy voice.
Christian would not answer.
“Well…I will know hell before you do
prisoner, this I KNOW,” he breathed in Christian’s face. “I…have slaughtered women;
mothers…in front of their-their tiny children. They WATCH their mothers DIE!”
Christian let his rage from him and
spat into the German soldier’s face through the fence; grabbing hold of the
sharp wire, not caring that it pricked through his skin, making him bleed.
“God…I PITY you,” Christian spoke
intensely through clenched teeth. “I pity…you. I’m not going to hell. I’m going
home. I know…that I am going home.”
“Come What May” Nicole Kidman and Ewan
McGregor
“Complicated” Avril
Lavigne
“Yesterday” Beatles
“I Can Tell” BBMak
“Goodbye to You” Michelle Branch
“Love is a Wonderful Thing” Michael
Bolton
“Recipe for Love” Harry Connick Jr.
“Perhaps Love” John Denver
“Love is a Sweet Thing” Faith Hill
“Love Doesn’t Ask Why” Celine Dion
“Love Can Do” Amy Grant
“Path of the Right Love” Gloria Estefan
“Put A Little Love in Your Heart” Annie
Lenox with Al Green
“I’d Like to Build the World a Home” The
New Seekers
“What the World Needs Now” Dionne
Warwick