162. Chapter 162

Chapter 162

Before the following Friday, which they had reserved just for Martha and John's wedding, Rick and Kate had also arranged a visit with Kate's doctor and a meeting with Black Pawn's production team on Thursday. Schedules for both meant that he would have to take both Kate and Jamie with him to the production meeting. He had intended to take Kate anyway, and Jamie usually behaved pretty well. And he was anxious to see what the illustrator and the production team had come up with.

The little family in the Hamptons enjoyed the rest of the week before they returned to the city, and Jamie protested heartily at having to leave. They promised him that they would come back to the beach after he slept in his bed at home for two nights. Castle told him that Mommy had to see the doctor again and that they were going somewhere that he needed to wear his suit, and his suit was at home. He obviously liked wearing his suit and looking and acting like Daddy, so that helped a little bit. But he reaffirmed several times on the way home that they would go back to the beach soon.

They were able to arrange an appointment for Kate at nine-thirty, and her little entourage went with her again. Jamie was distracted from beach assurances by the two little photo books his parents gave him with the ultrasound pictures. The book with his own printouts ended with a picture of him with his parents on the day he was born. Peanut's book still had room for two more printouts and the picture with their family.

After the examination, Dr. Holland was ready for the enthusiastic Castle men to join Kate. "I sent someone to bring the rest of the Castles in. I love that your guys are so supportive. The two of you have done a good job of letting Jamie be a part of looking forward to this baby. It's great that he refers to his sister as 'our baby' and wants his own copy of the printout."

"We bought him a couple of small photo albums for comparing his printouts to his sister's, so he's excited about the new picture. Actually, both of my men are excited about the new picture…so am I."

"Are you looking forward to having a little girl?"

"Yes. And my mother-in-law started buying girl clothes as soon as she knew."

"And you haven't?" the doctor teased.

"Not as many as she has, but I've had to hold Rick back."

"Hold Rick back from what?" a baritone voice asked as he entered the room.

"Buying baby girl clothes."

"But they're so cute," he protested.

"Are you going to put icky stuff on Mommy's tummy?" Jamie asked the doctor.

"Do you get this kind of three ring circus often?" Kate asked Dr. Holland.

The doctor laughed and answered, "It's a pleasure when it looks like the baby is going to be this loved. And yes, Jamie. I'm about to put icky stuff on Mommy's tummy."

"You can sit up here with me if you don't touch the icky stuff," Kate told him. "You can see the screen better from here."

Castle put Jamie on the exam table next to Kate and stood beside them to hold her hand. Both their arms were around Jamie.

"Everything seems normal, and both of you look perfectly healthy," Dr. Holland reported. "I'd advise you to either see Dr. Layton near your beach house or to make another appointment here as you leave. Let's make it two weeks this time. When do you plan to move back to Manhattan?"

"The weekend after Labor Day unless our little one decides she can't wait to be born."

"Based on today's exam, that's probably fine. You might want to make your next appointment with Dr. Layton, though. It wouldn't hurt to meet her, just in case you need her before you move back home."

Two pictures were printed, and the doctor held one out for Jamie. "There you are, Jamie. The latest picture of your little sister. She's getting big, isn't she?"

Jamie smiled and nodded as he looked at the picture.

"And this one is yours, Mr. Castle. I know you want your own copy, too," she teased, and he responded with a smile and nod almost identical to Jamie's as they both focused on the pictures.

"What do you say to the doctor, Jamie?" Kate asked.

"Thank you," Jamie said, looking up.

"You're very welcome," Dr. Holland answered before she left the room, saying, "I'll see all of you soon."

"Thank you," Castle called out, remembering his own manners. "Come on, Buddy. We should let Mommy get the icky stuff off her tummy and get her clothes back in place. We'll be outside." He leaned to kiss his wife before they left.

After the appointment with the doctor, they had time for a quick snack before going to Black Pawn for the meeting.

When they all walked into the meeting with Garrett and a couple of others, Castle explained, "We just left an appointment for Kate and didn't have much time. I had intended to bring her this time anyway, and it occurred to me that a little kid's opinion wouldn't be a bad thing for a children's book, either."

The two men shook hands, and Castle announced. "Ladies and gentlemen, this is my wife, Kate, and our son, Jamie."

"And this is my assistant, Marcus and our intern, Cindy. We've put some time into your book, and I think you might like it," Garrett told him. Castle shook their hands as well, saying, "It's good to meet you."

Looking at the table, Jamie asked, "Why does he have Lexis's book?"

"You should be a gentleman and say hello first and then ask questions."

Jamie held out his hand like Daddy and said, "Hello. It's good to meet you. Why do you have Lexis's book?"

Garrett laughed and shook his little hand. "It's good to meet you, too, Jamie. Your sister's book is here because we're deciding how to illustrate it. Do you know what that means?"

The little boy nodded. "The pictures. But Lexis illustrated it when she was little like me." The word 'illustrated' was said slowly and carefully, but correctly, and the others seemed impressed at what he had picked up on so quickly.

"We have the book so we can work on illustrations to go with the ones your sister drew. Your daddy is going to publish the book so lots of other little boys and girls can have their parents read it to them, too. Their parents can buy it for them in bookstores."

"Will Daddy have to write in them like when we went on airplanes?"

"Book tour this summer," Castle explained.

Garrett obviously understood. "I don't know, Jamie. We'll find out about that later. Will you tell us what you think of the new illustrations?"

Jamie nodded. "Okay."

Garrett seemed to be enjoying Jamie, but also seemed intent on getting to the business at hand.

He had put together another book using the new illustration format, but he started with the photoshopped pictures of Alexis at almost age four and Jamie a year younger than he was presently.

"Look at that, Jamie." Kate said. "That's Alexis and you…just like in the story."

There was a little gasp of surprise, and Jamie said delightedly, "She's little, too."

"We made you look like The Girl with Red Hair and Little brother are supposed to look in the story," Garrett explained.

As the pictures were lined up in front of his family, Jamie grinned. "That's when she finds Monkey Bunky. She's hugging him."

"I want copies of these," Castle said.

"No problem," Garrett answered with an understanding dad look about him. "These are the drawings from the illustrator," he said, spreading them in order in front of the Castles.

"I want copies of these, too."

"They're beautiful," Kate almost whispered, and Castle agreed.

"Somebody drew Lexis and me?" Jamie seemed almost as awed as Kate and his father.

"I told you she was good," Garrett answered. "We put the book together so you could see the end result...get the full effect. Here's your original. Here's the new one. We spread the text out over two pages to allow for the professional illustration and the child's drawing, and we've alternated where the drawings are placed on the pages.

"We were pretty happy with the way it worked out," Marcus told him.

Castle held the book and turned the pages, holding a fascinated looking Jamie in his lap. "See how the new book looks?" he asked his son. "There's the illustration that says, 'This is what happened.' Then on the other page, it says, 'This is how The Girl With Red Hair drew it.' What do you think?" He handed Jamie the book.

"It looks like we're in the story," Jamie answered. "It's bigger."

"It's heavier. That's because it has the extra pages for the extra pictures. Do you like it with both pictures?"

Jamie nodded. "I see us there," he said, pointing to the illustration. "But it's s'posed to have Lexis's pictures," he added, stroking his sister's drawing as if it had great importance."

"I'm very happy with this," Castle stated firmly. "This team has done exactly what I asked, and better than I could have imagined. I'm both impressed and appreciative."

"So am I," Kate immediately chimed in. "I know how much it meant to him to hold on to the feeling of collaboration with his first child.

"And it looks like our little expert on children's books is satisfied, too," Garrett answered.

"Read it to me, Daddy."

"Just the last couple of pages."

"Aaawww"

"It's that or nothing."

Jamie looked up and seemed to decide Daddy meant it. Then there was a disappointed, "Okay."

Castle turned to the last two pages where the illustration showed The Girl With Red Hair hugging both Monkey Bunky and Little Brother. It was right after the culprit was revealed. Castle gave his normal dramatic reading, and the two younger members of the production team applauded.

Cindy, the young intern on the team, turned to the younger man and said, "We just heard the author of a children's book tell us our work was exactly what he wanted and then heard him read part of his book to his own little boy. I don't know about you, but that feels like a good day to me."

"Glad I could help," Castle answered with a chuckle.

"While you're here, take a look at this, too," Garrett said, handing him another page. "This is the statement you wrote explaining the origin of the books. It's right after the title page in the new book I gave you, so you can see the effect the way it would appear in the book. If there are edits to the text, it won't be a problem. I'm more interested in the presentation right now."

Castle looked at the page and approved that, too. "Good work. A little more than just a page of text, but not overdone. It's a good balance; I like it. I did see a paragraph I'd like to edit, though."

We can handle that easily later. Just send us your corrections and we'll clear all of this through Brad now that you've seen it. If you'll sign off on it, we'll get it to him this afternoon, with the caveat that you want to edit the explanation page." After making a written notation of the need for the edit, he pushed the page for Castle to sign across the table to him.

Castle signed, thanked the team again, and helped Kate from her chair with a teasing smile.

"Thank you, but you don't need to look so smug about it."

"I got you into this. The least I can do is help when I can."

The team was treated to a look at the connection between the couple, as her appreciation and his concern showed in their eyes. The feeling was still in the air around them, but the eye contact was broken when Kate reached for Jamie.

"Give me my little boy. He may not be able to sit in my lap anymore, but I can still hold him." Jamie leaned out of Castle's arms and went to her willingly with a smile for his Mommy, and anyone watching college age Cindy would have seen her nearly melting at the love in the atmosphere of the room.

Hugging Jamie to her, Kate thanked the team again, too, before they left to find a real lunch.

"Remy's?" Kate asked. "Does a hamburger and a milkshake sound good to you?"

"It sounds amazing. I was craving a Remy's burger yesterday on the way home."

"As long as there's a milkshake, I don't think Jamie cares what else is on the menu," Kate answered.

"Milkshake. Yaaaaaay!" was heard from the back seat.

"Looks like we all agree," Castle said with a chuckle.

xxxxx

That evening, they all went with Martha and John to take a look at the apartment next door and hear what changes would be made now that the two of them would be occupying it. Martha sounded excited about moving there.

"I've told Merritt I'll be paying the bills for the apartment," John informed Rick. "You won't be paying for my home. And Julian will be sending me the bills for anything that's done to this apartment. I think Martha and I will like it here, and we've agreed about the changes to make it ours rather than just hers. It's bigger than you made it sound. And we like the idea of being near our grandchildren. You and I can talk about the purchase price next week."

"Grams?" After being quiet while the adults talked, Jamie pulled at her skirt, and he looked upset.

She ran her hand lovingly over his hair and asked, "What is it, Darling?"

"Are you going to live here…not with us?"

"I am, but it's really close to you."

"Why? You don't you like us anymore?" His voice quivered and his eyes were filling with tears.

Martha picked him up immediately and hugged him tight, looking like she might cry, too. "Oh, my sweet boy, I love all of you. I'm going to live here because I'm going to marry Grandpa John…like your Daddy and Mommy are married. They live together, right?" Jamie nodded next to her neck where he was clinging tightly. "Well, Grandpa John will be living here with me, so we'll both be close by. And we both love you. You can come and visit us, and we can come and visit you. I'll live at Grandpa John's apartment for a little while until Mr. Julian finishes working on this apartment. Then Grandpa John will come back with me so we can live close to you again."

"Will you still come and eat with us, and talk to me, and sing with me?"

"Of course I will. And you can take walks with Grandpa John and me sometimes." She hugged him tighter. "Never, ever think that I don't love you. I will always love you. Remember that."

"I'm sorry, Martha. We didn't prepare him for this."

"Well, I didn't think about it, either, and I should have," she answered still holding her little grandson close and kissing his head now and then. "You two have a lot to think about right now."

"Grandpa John loves you, too," John told him. "Will it be okay if I come and spend time with you, too…and live here with Grams where we can both be close to you and Peanut?"

Jamie peeked over Martha's shoulder at him and nodded, but he didn't let go of his grandmother; and Martha didn't look like she intended to let him go, either.

Eventually, John went home and Martha came back to the apartment with them. Martha asked if Jamie wanted to sleep with her that night, and he hurried off to get into his pajamas while she talked to Rick and Kate.

"Thank you, Mother," Castle said quietly. "I know sleeping with a three year old isn't the best of all possible worlds."

"Richard, that precious little boy thought I didn't love him anymore. If it's my last night in this apartment, I'm spending it with him. He's going to have enough change coming in another month or so with the baby. I just didn't think about this changing his world, too."

"We're usually a little more on top of things like that, but it sneaked up on us, too," Kate told her.

"John and I will be sure to give him enough attention to assure him he's loved."

"I talked to John earlier, and I'm planning to take you for a mother/son brunch tomorrow. After that, he gets to take care of you. I'll miss knowing I'll be allowed to do that, but I'm betting this time you won't need me to. I'm betting you and John will be together for the rest of your lives."

"I'm beginning to feel pretty confident about that myself. And I would love to have brunch with my son."

"Kate has arranged to take Jamie and have brunch with Lanie, so it's just us."

"I'll look forward to it."

"We have a reservation at eleven."

"I'll be ready. Right now, I'm going to go and make sure my grandson knows his Grams loves him. You are officially relieved of bedtime story duty tonight…and anything else."

Castle just smiled and pulled his mother into a hug. Neither of them needed to say anything. She patted his cheek and kissed it and went upstairs in full grandmother mode.

The brunches went well. Both were enjoyed. Castle spoiled his mother to the best of his ability and told her she was to let him give her away. If that wasn't part of the civil ceremony, she was to ask Bob to throw it in.

Lanie delighted in her adopted nephew and wanted all the information about the baby. When Kate told Jamie Aunt Lanie would want to know how Peanut was doing, he took his little photo albums to show her. Lanie also wanted to know when they would be back at the end of the summer, which was rapidly approaching. Kate caught up on what Lanie and Frank were doing and what was going on with Ryan and Esposito, and they thoroughly enjoyed their time until Kate said they had to go and get dressed for the wedding.

Kate kept complaining about looking like a whale; and Castle told her he'd never seen such a beautiful whale, that she must be a mermaid. Jamie seemed to grow another year older when he put on his suit and, as always, watched his father's manners carefully. They all met the rest of the family at City Hall and quickly split into smaller groups.

Kate met her father and Meagan, and took Jamie's hand, saying, "Let's go in.

"Where's Daddy?"

"He's with Alexis and Grams. He's going to walk Grams in and then he'll come with us."

"Is everybody ready?" Bob Weldon asked. When heads nodded, he said, "We're here to get Martha and John married, but as usual, my friend Rick had to get his face seen, too. John, you and JD stand here, and your bride will be here in a minute. Alexis walked in to stand across from John.

Castle smiled and then offered his mother his arm. He walked her up to where John stood, and Bob asked who gave her to this man. Castle responded, "I do." Then he kissed her cheek, gave her hand to John, and joined his family.

When it was time for the rings, JD and Alexis provided them for their grandparents.

Bob pronounced them man and wife and had already taken them up on their invitation to join them for dinner. His wife was meeting them at the restaurant. They had a nice dinner, everyone mutually enjoyed the company, and then they went home. The simplest wedding the family had seen so far was accomplished.

John had rented a suite at the Four Seasons for a few days, so the honeymoon was on.

When they were tucking him in, Jamie asked his parents, "Do we go to the beach when I wake up?"

"Yes, we do," his mother assured him. "So go to sleep fast. We'll have everything ready to go when you wake up."

xxxxx

The next morning they left for the beach without even packing a bag. Most of their clothes were already there anyway. They just put on shorts, shirts, and sandals and left. No one claimed to be hungry right away, so they waited until they got to the Hamptons and went for breakfast at Bernie's. He and Inez fussed over them, commented on how much Jamie had grown, talked about their grandchildren who were about Jamie's age, and generally made them feel welcome.

Walking into the beach house felt like they had started a new tradition. To the beach in our clothes?" Kate asked, and her two men were immediately taking off their sandals and heading for the back door. This time Jamie ran on his own, and he and Castle were cavorting in the little waves by the time she reached the beach.

"Play with us, Mommy," Jamie called loud enough to be heard above the waves, and she kicked her foot in the water to splatter it around. Her son laughed and splashed back. They played for a while as they had before and she left them to the waves and went to sit on the porch and watch them.

"Are you okay?" Castle asked before she walked back to the house. He wasn't accustomed to Kate leaving them behind.

"I need to call and make an appointment with Dr. Layton while I'm thinking about it. Two weeks will go by pretty fast. I'm already wet; so I'll sit here and make my call and dry out while I watch you guys get wetter."

xxxxx

As Castle had predicted, they were invited to a couple of parties, but one was at Stan and Polly's house next door and would include their young great grandchildren and another couple of family members with young children…low key…no need for a babysitter. The other was another neighbor several houses farther down the beach. That one would be more on the high society side. It definitely called for a babysitter, as well as a dress Kate didn't have available. They were debating that one.

Castle had already planned to have their own Labor Day party for all their friends from the twelfth and the rest of their family, and the others had already arranged to be there. The Castles would end the season with the party, stay another week to enjoy the relative calm after tourist season was officially over; and then they would get back home before their new daughter arrived in the world.

"I'm taking you shopping," Castle told his wife. "The second party isn't formal. It's fine casual…if there's actually such a category. I looked online and found a couple of maternity shops here, so we'll go tomorrow and look for a very nice casual dress. There will be snobs there, but the people giving the party are easygoing. I'm not sure how some of the people they invite end up at their parties…business connections maybe, but you'll find some nice folks there, too. We'll put in an appearance, and if the party is awful, nobody can possibly argue if we say you're pregnant and tired.

"That witch from the playground would be trying to get you in her bed again."

"Well, she'll be disappointed."

"I love you."

Castle chuckled. "I love you, too." He leaned and kissed her. "I talked to a woman who used to babysit for Alexis, and she said she'd love to meet Jamie and watch him for the evening for that second party."

The parties and days at the beach with Jamie came and went. The snobby party wasn't as bad as Rick knew Kate had feared. There were some insufferable snobs, and a couple of women hitting on Castle; but she also met some people she enjoyed. She and Rick did leave a little early, but just to have some time to themselves to leisurely walk home down the beach…and maybe to take a few minutes to sit on their bench and enjoy the time together before going in to relieve the babysitter.

xxxxx

Kate had her appointment with Dr. Layton that week and brought her enthusiastic entourage along.

"Dr. Holland told me to expect you," Dr. Layton said as the two Castle men joined them after the examination.

"We'll try to be on our best behavior," Castle promised. "Dr. Holland is used to us now."

The doctor laughed. "And when we talked, I could tell that she enjoys your entire family. We're ready for the ultrasound. I hear I'm supposed to be sure that Jamie gets his own copy of the printout."

Jamie nodded. "Is our baby bigger now?"

It hasn't been too long since the last picture, so probably not a lot bigger. Did you bring your book so you can see?"

"It's in the car."

"Then you can see when you look at the last one."

"I can see her face," he said excitedly. Then he giggled. "It's scrunched."

"I see it, too, Buddy. You think she's trying to figure out how to say hi?"

"Well, whatever she's trying to do, she's certainly wiggly about it," Kate told them.

Jamie laughed and pointed. "Mommy's tummy is wiggling."

"Peanut is busy in there," she answered.

"Here are your printouts, gentlemen." The doctor handed a copy to each of them, and Castle said, "Hey. Her face isn't all scrunched in the picture. She looks sweet. See, Kate?"

"That's our baby," she said softly, and her eyes teared up. Wiping her eyes, she said, "Damn hormones."

"Mommy, you said a bad word."

"Yeah. I owe the jar a dollar when we get home. "Sorry Baby Boy."

"Not a baby." Pointing to his mother's stomach, he said, "She's a baby."

"That's right. You're getting big now. Sorry again. Now go with Daddy and I'll be there in a few minutes."

Castle kissed her forehead and said, "We'll be in the waiting room out in the front."

"When the door closed, Dr. Layton said, "You family is delightful, as advertised."

"Thanks. Sometimes we can be a little overwhelming.

"Nothing I can't handle. People should always be enthusiastic about their babies."

xxxxx

Labor Day weekend was a catered affair. Kate was getting tired faster and sometimes taking an afternoon nap when Jamie did; and Castle knew who to call to get the job done so she could simply enjoy the party with her friends and family.

This year Mr. and Mrs. Gates were consciously added to those they considered extended family; and they seemed to feel the same way, the captain insisting Kate call her Victoria.

Esposito announced that he and Maria were expecting a baby in April. They had just found out. And Ryan and Jenny were trying for another one, hoping to have their own announcement soon.

Lanie said she and Frank had decided they would enjoy everybody else's children…just have lots of adopted nieces and nephews. "We saw one of those rear window stickers on a van a few weeks ago, you know the ones…the parents with the children and the pets lined up beside them. This one had the two adults alone…standing next to a big bag of money. We decided we wanted to be them. We should add suitcases with ours, too. We like to travel."

There was laughter along with agreement that it would make that difference.

Again, the family was staying at the house, and Castle had covered rooms at a hotel close by for everyone else, and Stan and Polly from next door were included and fit right in; but most of the day was spent at the beach house relaxing. There was an all women shopping trip one day, but the men seemed happy to play volleyball on the beach or spend time in the pool, play poker in the evenings, and help Castle grill steaks, etc. On Labor Day, Monday afternoon, the men participated in what had now become the annual cannonball contest, which Stan happily joined. At the end, a lot of water had been displaced, and Ray Gates had the opportunity to strut around the pool to celebrate his victory the way Castle had the year before. On Monday night, all of them went out together. There was an outdoor band concert followed by the fireworks, and everybody seemed to enjoy all of it. Most of the group left to go back to the city after the fireworks, but the extra family members stayed at the house and left at various times on Tuesday.

xxxxx

A couple of days later, Kate was glad she had already met Dr. Layton when a Braxton-Hicks scare happened right after they had tucked Jamie in. After about an hour, they called Polly next door, and she came to stay with Jamie. Kate was embarrassed that it was a false alarm, but they were home by the time Jamie was awake and thanked Polly profusely when they returned. More concerned now than they had been before, they started packing to go back home. It was close to when they had planned to leave anyway.

When Jamie started to complain about having to leave, they explained that it was almost time for Peanut to be born and they needed Mommy to be close to her doctor and the hospital so somebody would be there to make sure she and Peanut were okay.

Their son actually seemed to accept that. "She's gonna be born soon?"

"She is." Castle assured him. "When we get home, we'll make you a calendar so you can cross off the days until she's supposed to be born."

"Peanut needs a real name," Kate mentioned.

At that, Castle started making up strange, silly names, making both of them laugh. And a lot of the trip home was spent looking forward to having a new member of the family.