Beyond the Broken Angel

CHAPTER TWELVE

— late night talk —

September 14th, 1937
02:04 AM

GISELLE WOKE UP to the rhythmic thumping of something outside of her window. Initially, she had tried to go back to sleep, but the thumping continued on long enough for her to realize that sleep wouldn't be coming back to her, at least for a while.

She sat up in frustration, resting her back against the wooden headboard and rubbing her eyes as she noticed that it was still dark outside.

She groaned, clambering out of bed to draw the curtains back. There stood Will a few yards away, driving the blade of his axe through logs of wood. A light was on somewhere in the house, shining through a window and bathing him in a soft, warm glow that the moonlight couldn't provide.

He was bare-chested, wearing only a pair of pajama pants, something that Giselle had noticed almost immediately.

"What on earth is he doing up?" she mumbled to herself.

Seeing a better option than staying by herself and waiting for sleep to find her, she slipped her feet into her slippers and threw on a white, satin robe and marched out of her room.

She ambled through the dark house, her arm stretched out, fingertips gliding along the wall as a guide. She passed by Will's study, noticing the streams of light seeping out of the cracks of the door.

When she made it to the back door and opened it as quietly as she could, Will immediately heard, whipping his head towards her. The light from his study window illuminated half of his body, highlighting the planes and dips of muscle on his chest.

"Giselle?" he asked, squinting his eyes to see her better. The moonlight made her white robe glow an ethereal blue.

She stopped herself in a pool of warm light, far enough for him to swing his axe freely without risk of injuring her.

"What are you doing up?" she asked, trying to keep her eyes strictly on his face, but she couldn't help them from drifting off to his torso. She could tell that chopping wood had definitely kept him in shape.

"I couldn't sleep," he responded, bending down to pick up a fresh log and set it onto the stump. He looked back over his shoulder. "I didn't wake you, did I?"

"No." There was something about the worried twinge to his voice that made her feel better lying.

"Good," he said. "You couldn't sleep either?" He swung the axe, splitting the wood in half.

"Nope. What time is it?"

"It was 01:00 last time I checked, so possibly 02:00."

Giselle breathed out a laugh, tucking her hands into the pockets of her robe. "I'm sure church at 07:45 will be a fun experience in the morning."

Will chuckled and picked up the pieces of wood, tossing them into a pile and starting over again with a new log. "Yeah, well Sunday is the day of rest. I'll tell that to anyone who questions why I'm sleeping in the pew."

Giselle laughed. "I was thinking about saying that I was so overcome with the Holy Spirit that I passed out." She let out a yawn.

"Giselle, go to sleep," Will told her. "You're tired and . . ." he looked down at himself, "and I'm not dressed for female company."

Giselle blushed, thankful her blush was hidden in the dim light. "Oh, you're fine," she told him. "And I'm not really all that tired anymore." It was a partial lie, but she was enjoying her time with Will, and didn't want to do anything to jeopardize that. "Seriously."