Chapter 15
“Christian?” Satine croaked out
again.
Once her moment of shock wore off, she
ran as fast as her legs could carry her and threw herself to her knees in front
of him. He was fiercely trembling and when
she rested a hand on his arm, he let out a small cry and started whimpering,
“Please, no. No, not again…please.”
Satine brought her fingers to his lips
to quiet him and he winced in fear of a painful blow. “Darling, it’s me,” Satine breathed, caressing
his scratched face. “It’s me, I’m
here. You’re going to get out.”
“S-s-satine?” Christian shuddered. She wrapped him in her arms and thought
desperately of something to calm him enough so that she could get him out of
this hell hole.
Brushing her lips against his ear,
Satine sang, just barely above a whisper, “Come…what…may…”
With chocked sobs escaping his lips,
Christian threw his arms around Satine and held onto her so tightly; she was
finding it hard to breathe. She stroked
his matted hair as he slowly comprehended that it was her beside him.
“Christian, I need you to stand. Can you do that for me?” she asked. He nodded slowly and she helped him up onto
his shaking legs. “Yes, yes darling,”
Satine smiled. She kissed his rough, chapped lips and put her arm securely around
his shoulders. “Now, if you can just run
as fast as you can to the outside of the gate,” she said.
“No,” Christian cried, shaking his
head violently.
Satine was quickly beginning to feel
defeated. “Please Christian, we can’t go
at the same time, there’s too much risk of us being noticed.”
Christian slowly turned towards the
gate and whimpered when he saw the large German soldier sprawled out on the
ground. Satine could tell he was deathly
afraid of the big oaf. She didn’t even
want to think about what her Christian had been put through. But time was running out, he could wake up at
any moment and then they would both be trapped.
Emma was at the gate, waving them on frantically.
Christian swallowed hard. “You’ll come too?” he asked pitifully.
Satine nodded and felt a tear run down
her face. “I’ll hold you all the way
back to camp, my love.”
With that, Christian reluctantly let
go of Satine’s hand and dashed through the fence to Emma. When Christian was safely across, Satine ran
faster than she ever thought she could move.
Just behind her, she thought she could
here a moan from the German soldier, but she was running much too fast to look
back and know for sure.
************
There
was red and white all around her and she was surrounded by all the love in the
world. Christian stood beside her, not being able to
stop smiling and he wouldn’t take his hand from Satine’s; not for anything. As
if reading her thoughts, he leaned in and whispered into her ear.
“I’m
never letting you go, Satine…”
“I
love you so much,” Satine whispered back, letting two tears of joy roll down
her cheeks.
“Let’s
leave…”
“Leave?
Wha-…the
show?”
“I
don’t care about the show…we’ll leave tonight,” Christian uttered, looking
deeply into her eyes, not letting her look away.
“Yes…God-I
love you, Christian,” Satine smiled and wrapped her arms around her true love.
“I
love you too, darling…never forget that…never…never…”
Satine awoke to rumbling thunder and large drops of rain
splattering on the tent. Christian had
quickly fallen asleep after she had helped him clean up and rub alcohol on his
numerous cuts and scrapes.
She had been terribly alarmed at the
sight of him. She was prepared to see him
in bad condition, but no where near how she found him at the camp. She could barely tell it was him.
Satine felt her heart ache as she
leaned on her side to gaze at Christian.
He was shaking violently, his muscles
clenched so tight that shots of wrenching pain were moving up and down his
body. He began mumbling incoherent words
and his face was covered in glistening beads of sweat. He was soon startled awake by Satine’s lips
just grazing his cheek.
Christian sat up, his heart hammering
in his chest. “Wh-what? Is it-is it time to get up al-already?” He
muttered, trying to catch his breath.
“No darling,” Satine whispered, coming
up to be at his level. “You were shaking
and I was worried about you.” She
enveloped his trembling hands and traced the outline of his fingers. “Tell me what’s wrong.”
Christian closed his eyes and
swallowed hard. “Dreams,” he
sputtered. “Dreams
about this war. Hate, death…oh
God, Satine, I want it to stop.”
Christian’s eyes began to well up with tears like a frightened child.
“Christian…” she murmured as she ran
her hand along his face to cup his tear stained cheek. Christian quickly jerked away, embarrassed by
his surge of emotion. He had gained some
of his sanity back since Satine had found him at the German camp, but he still
felt as if his soul was being taken away.
Satine lifted his chin, gently forcing
him to face her. “It’s all right to
cry.”
It tore Satine apart to see Christian
like this. Her handsome, sensitive poet
was a broken man. The war had done this
to him, but she made a promise to herself at that moment; no matter what
obstacles came in her way, she would get her husband back. Come what may…
“We need to get you out of this,”
Satine whispered, sliding her fingers under the nightshirt that stuck to his
clammy skin.
Christian shivered as Satine’s fingers
grazed across his abdomen and up his chest as she pulled the nightshirt over
his head. She cringed as she felt all
the cuts across his tired body.
Satine nuzzled his face and placed
soft hands on his tense shoulders and guided their joined form back to the
mattress. She made sure he was facing
her; eye to eye, heartbeat to heartbeat.
In one slow, fluid motion, Satine
draped her leg across Christian’s hips and covered his face in gentle caresses. She ran her foot along the backs of his
thighs and calves; slowly easing his tensed muscles. Christian whimpered into her neck at the soft
touch. It had been far too long since
Satine had cloaked his body in such love.
She kept his head rested against the
crook of her neck while she massaged the tight muscles of his shoulders and
back. Satine began to hum a hushed
melody and quietly sang into his ear;
When all the others
Have gone and hurt you
Who won’t desert you
It will be me
Weighing the options
So much to think of
But when you think love
It will be me
You may not see it now
Love is strange that way
But someday, somewhere
Baby somehow
When you’ve been broken
And dreams don’t oblige ya
Who’s that beside ya
Oh, it will be me…
Satine stopped
singing when she felt Christian flinch.
He was clutching the side that Satine had just massaged. A surge of panic filled her, thinking that
something was wrong. She fumbled about
until she found some matches. She
quickly lit the oil lamp and removed Christian’s hands. Satine winced when she saw the enormous
bruise covering the fair skin across his ribs.
She gave the injury a feather light kiss, silently cursing whoever had
done that to her sweet boy.
Taking Christian in her arms once
more, she rested his head onto the pillow.
She snuggled into him and Satine gave a bittersweet smile when, even
through his fear, Christian’s trembling arms wrapped her into a tight embrace
as they fell asleep to the sound of the rain.
~“It Will Be Me” Faith Hill