160. Chapter 160

Chapter 160

After everyone had dinner, Rick asked, "Mother, are the stairs really feeling taller these days?"

"Sometimes. But this was not on the list of days I'd like to repeat. That didn't help."

"That's how it sounded at dinner. We have something to show you…just a possibility. It would be your decision."

"Well that sounds intriguing. What is it?"

"Jamie is playing with his long neglected toys in the study, sit down at the table with us and we'll show you."

"A floor plan?" his mother asked.

Castle showed her his rough sketch of the apartment next door and explained that was what it looked like now. Then he and Kate showed her the floor plan they had drawn up that afternoon. "This is what it could be. You've been talking about having an apartment attached to the school. I'm sure it would be more convenient for work, and you could work things out to have more privacy there than you do here. But there you'd still be at the school, and you'd be alone more."

Kate picked up from there. "Here you'd be close to family, and we like having you close to us. This would give you your own space and more privacy without having you so far away. You could still have dinner with us when you want to and visit often."

"Doesn't that mean I'd have a gym over my head," Martha teased.

"A well soundproofed gym," her son assured her. "We had Julian here today, and we're arranging for someone to look at the second floor and be sure it's safe and soundproof. The first floor would be the apartment...no stairs."

"May I see it?"

"I'll stay here with Jamie," Kate volunteered. "Take her to see it, Rick. And, Martha, you don't have to go anywhere, not even next door if you don't want to. This is your home as long as you want it to be. I want you to know that before you even look next door."

"Thank you, Darling. I know you mean that, and I can't tell you how I appreciate it." She pulled her beloved daughter-in-law into a warm hug and then took her son's arm and said, "Show me this place…and hand me the new floor plan before we go."

They walked inside the apartment, and Martha said, "All these years and I've never seen inside this place. I thought you said it was a small apartment. It's larger than I expected."

"You do remember that there are no bedrooms on this level, right?"

"But when everything is done there won't be stairs, either. That will open up the space. Let me see that floor plan the two of you drew. She looked it over and walked around the place, making air drawings where new walls would be, walking off measurements, and asking questions now and then. Is there a bathroom upstairs over what would be the master bath?"

"Yes. There are two, side by side, which is why we backed the ensuite for the guest room up to the master bath. The guest room is kind of small, but not bad."

"I like that little sun room sort of space. It should make a nice sitting area for the master bedroom, and I love the idea of the big, walk-in closet. That still leaves a nice sized living room, and a grand piano should fit nicely in the space the stairs will leave behind."

"Gotta have those show tunes," Castle teased.

"And Christmas. Don't forget Christmas," she said, straight faced, and then she smiled and backhanded his arm before moving on to the kitchen.

"What do you think?"

"I think I need to think about it."

"Would you like a key so you can walk in and think about it whenever you want?"

"Good idea," she answered. "and that floor plan."

"I'll make a couple of copies. Julian told me to give it to Uncle Eddy so he can run in and pick it up tomorrow morning."

Martha laughed. "It's hard to think 'Uncle Eddy' when I imagine Eduardo with his dignified uniform and decorum."

"Me, too," Castle answered with a grin. "I'm still deciding whether to give him a hard time about it. Ready to go back?"

"Let's do. I'm tired. It was a long, difficult day. I'll think about all this tomorrow after a nice long soak in the tub and a good night's sleep."

"Then take this key and you can think about it here whenever you want to."

"The idea has possibilities," she said, looking over her shoulder as they left.

"We're going to work on the gym first, so don't worry about being rushed."

Walking back into the apartment, Martha waved at Kate and said, "I'm going to soak in the tub and unwind and then go to bed. "It's a nice apartment, and I'm considering it. It feels good that both of you still want me around."

"Of course we do," Kate answered. "Never doubt it."

"Goodnight, children."

We need to get Jamie ready for bed," Kate said.

"I'll help…starting with separating him from his toys."

"Yeah, I'll be glad to run his bath, get his pajamas out, and let you do that."

Castle chuckled as he walked toward the study and said over his shoulder, "I'm sure you will. We'll meet you upstairs."

There was some argument in the study; but Daddy won, and he took his little boy upstairs where Kate took over the bath. Rick handled the pajamas and the bedtime story afterward while she cleaned up the after bath splashes. Both of them tucked him in and then sat together on the sofa downstairs for a while, just enjoying the peace and quiet.

xxxxx

Martha had considered the apartment idea for a couple of days and was warming to it more each time she thought about it. She had been back to look around a number of times, and had a couple of ideas of her own…small changes, but details that would make it feel like hers.

When she came home from work, dinner was ready. "Something smells heavenly," she announced as she put her things down and went straight to the table.

"I take it you worked up an appetite today," her son teased as he lifted Jamie and lowered him into the high chair next to Martha. Martha hugged her grandson and moved the high chair closer to the table.

"I could eat a horse," she answered. "My teaching schedule wasn't bad today, but the rehearsal schedule was full. I didn't have time for lunch, but it was worth it. My students are all well prepared for this performance, and several of them have developed some of the little nuances that make it stagecraft rather than simply acting. I'm so proud of them, and I loved every minute; but I'm here now, and dinner is calling."

"I've felt the same way when I was training new detectives. Suddenly all the bits and pieces they've known about fall together, and then one of them has a 'Eureka!' moment, giving us the missing link that solves the case. It's kind of a high, isn't it?"

"Absolutely, and all of us left on that high today." Martha said. "Now if we can just hold on to it through the performance. Oh, Katherine, is that your mother's pot roast?"

"Yes, it is. She would love that you're excited about it."

"Richard, sit down. Everything is on the table. If you missed something, you can get it later."

"Yes, Ma'am," he said with a grin, and he picked up his napkin to put in his lap. "We don't often see you this hungry. It's entertaining."

"Katherine, I don't know how you put up with him," she said, helping herself to the pot roast.

"We mutually put up with each other," Kate told her. "We each take turns annoying the other one."

"I've been looking at the apartment; and I think it's a good idea, especially if I can still join you for dinners like this."

"I think you might like having your own place, and we'd definitely like having you that close," Castle told his mother. "I know my house rules sometimes put a damper on your social life, but I gave myself the same rules."

"I understood then and I understand now, but a little freedom of choice would be nice. And I'd be close enough to still take care of the babies when you need me. After dinner, let me show you a couple of changes I'd like to make to your plan."

"Then we'll go next door and talk about it," her son answered. Merritt, the architect, will be here tomorrow afternoon. Would you like to be here to talk to him with us? If you want his opinion about what you want to do with it, you should run it past him. I want you to be happy with it.

"You really are a thoughtful son," she answered before giving her full attention to her dinner.

xxxxx

A few days later Walter Haskell called, and Castle answered cheerfully, "Walter. Before I say anything, else, I need you to know that I can't be talked into another book tour out of this area for at least a year. Now, that said, "What can I do for you?"

"Gina has informed me of your demands, and with a new baby coming, I understand that. We'll discuss it again when the next book is launched. But today I'm calling about your Girl With Red Hair books. Are you ready to publish them yet?"

"I might be. The women in my house are getting a little pushy about it. Jamie is happy if somebody just reads them to him now and then. The men are still sticking together."

"Well, I'd like to be able to give one of them to my grandchildren for Christmas this year; and to do that, we need the production team on it right away. And we'd need a good advertising team to set up a campaign to introduce the new series just about as soon."

"If I do this, I'd like to arrange for the royalties to go to a children's hospital. I have one in mind."

"That's very generous of you, Rick. You might want to think about offering a percentage, though. I can almost guarantee that these books will sell well. By the time you have all six of them out, the royalties could probably give a handsome head start to your younger children's college educations."

"We can discuss that later. Let me know about the production meeting. These books are a part of my daughter's childhood that were never intended for publishing. I'm going to be particular about working with the illustrations because she and I worked them out together. The team should know that ahead of time so they can offer some options. I'll drop off the first book sometime today so they can see what's there."

"I'll tell Garrett in production and have him call you to set up a meeting."

"Sounds good."

"How is Kate?"

"She's fine. Getting bigger, and a little grumpier as the weather gets hotter. And really good at giving me the evil eye from the kitchen when I mention it." He laughed as he watched his wife do just that.

Walter laughed, too, and said, "We had an August baby. I remember that. I also remember being glad men can't have babies."

"Right there with you," Castle agreed.

"Thanks, Rick. Other than making a lot of money, these books are going to make a lot of kids and parents happy. What I've read tells a good story, and you've slipped in some worthwhile lessons with it. They're quality books. The kind we want associated with Black Pawn. I'll talk to Garrett right now and have him call you."

"Good. See you soon."

"So you have to go to Black Pawn this afternoon?"

"Just for a few minutes. Want to take Jamie and go with me? We could always stop for ice cream on the way back. He'd like that."

"Yeah. So would his dad, I'll bet."

"Peanut probably wouldn't mind, either," he teased.

"Probably not. So I guess I'll have to force myself to help her out."

"Uh-huh. Peanut is forcing you to eat ice cream? Likely story."

"I can't use her as an excuse much longer, so shut up and give the pregnant lady some slack."

"I'll give the pregnant lady anything she wants," he promised and moved closer to kiss her cheek. "I'll get Jamie ready. Mentioning ice cream while we're out will have him moving like the Tasmanian Devil to change his clothes."

"You're probably right," she answered with a grin. "While you do that, I'll go see how presentable I can get."

They dropped off the book at Black Pawn's office and stopped at their favorite ice cream shop on their way home. After getting their ice cream and sitting down, Jamie leaned against Kate, put his little fingers on her stomach, and tapped it. "Hey, Peanut. Mommy's gonna feed you ice cream. It's really good."

"Yeah, it is," Castle agreed, running his hand over Kate's middle.

"You guys just let Peanut and me enjoy our ice cream before you have her doing a little happy dance while I try to eat," she said, batting his hand away.

"Is she moving?" Castle asked, always wanting to feel that.

"Not yet, so don't get her started."

"Yes, Ma'am."

"I'll let you know. I won't leave either one of you out," she promised just before digging into her ice cream. She managed to eat her ice cream in peace; but on the way home in the car, the baby started moving more than usual.

"Uh-oh," Kate said. "Looks like Peanut's having a sugar rush."

Castle laughed as he placed his hand firmly where Kate guided it. "Yep. There's the happy dance." They were pulling into the parking space below their building by then, and when they stopped he reached back to release Jamie from his car seat. "Come on up, Buddy. Peanut's all excited in there."

Kate told him, "Put your hands right here and you can feel her moving."

He put his hands where he was told and belly laughed. "Your tummy is jumping. Is that Peanut?"

"That's Peanut. She's been moving a lot lately."

Finally having felt his little sister moving, forthe rest of the day, Jamie wanted to know if she was moving again yet; and just before he was tucked in, she did. Kate told him it might be her way of telling him goodnight, and he liked that.

xxxxx

Planning for the gym area was going well. Martha and Merritt had talked about her apartment and where the structural supports would be, and they were getting along well. It seemed that the floor itself would be shored up to meet Castle's "let's be certain" standards. Castle also wanted to soundproof it to avoid both the possibility of annoying the resident of the first floor apartment, as well as waking the Castle children, who would be sleeping on the same floor as the gym. The weight bearing supports Merritt recommended would be in the form of columns in vicinity of where the stairs were being removed. He told her they should complement the area for the grand piano she had mentioned, which set off more of Martha's imagination. She was getting more excited about her own place as the project moved on.

xxxxx

When Castle got to the production meeting at Black Pawn, he was getting more enthusiastic about his project as well. He found himself looking forward to finding a way to preserve the collaborative feeling he and Alexis had felt at connecting her very childish drawings to his story, and was hoping they could transfer that feeling to the new version of the books.

"Rick, it's good to see you," Garrett said as he rose to shake the author's hand. "I hear we're looking at an audience of children this time."

"Yeah. The books have been written for years, but I've just been talked into publishing them."

The book he had been given was on the table, and Garrett patted it and asked, "Why did you have to be talked into it? It's a very good children's book. I've seen some with great illustrations but not nearly as much in the way of content."

"That's why I asked Walter to warn you about the illustrations. The books were written for my daughter. She always insisted on a little brother being written in, even though she didn't have one. She always wanted one. Now there really is a little brother but with about two decades between them. I'd like to find a way to do something with that. And I wrote the story and had her illustrate them. As she got older, she would suggest characters or situations for the stories, and her illustrations were at least a little more recognizable. I'd like to find a way to preserve the collaborative feel of it for us. If we can project that to the book's audience, that would be great. If I can just preserve it for my family somehow, I'll settle. These books were an important part of her childhood…and to my learning how to be a good father. If I can't do justice to that, I can't publish them."

"Then we'll figure out how to do that." Looking at the manila envelope Castle had brought in, Garrett asked, "Is that connected to what we're doing?"

"It might be. It's part of the best suggestion I've been able to think of."

"Let me see." Castle pushed the envelope over, and in the packet were Alexis's slightly fragile looking drawings and pictures of both his children at the ages of the children in the book. After looking through the collection, he asked, "What were you thinking of doing with them? I know you've tried to keep your children out of the spotlight."

"We told Jamie that Alexis drew the pictures in the book when she was little…the same age as he is now. When Jamie saw Alexis's drawings, his response was, 'She draws like me.', and he seemed really pleased with that. The books all say how old The Girl With Red Hair is, and she and Little Brother grew up as the books were written. I thought maybe an illustrator could do something more recognizable, and below it or on the page across from it, could be Alexis's original. It could have a caption saying, 'This is how The Girl With Red Hair drew it.' Maybe it would make other children happy to see that she drew things the way they do."

"That has good possibilities. What about the pictures of your children?"

"I just brought them without that much of a plan. Alexis is old enough to help with the promotions if she wants to, but Jamie is three. With a police captain who has put a lot of people in jail and a wealthy author for parents, we don't need to advertise how to recognize our child."

"That makes sense." Suddenly Garrett looked inspired. "Suppose we photoshop your children together at the ages of the children in the stories and have an illustrator draw them and soften their features. We could have everything more recognizable than your daughter's drawings but still include them the way you suggested. I don't think I've seen that done before. It may have been, but I haven't seen it yet; so we might have something unique. You might have to bring in a lot more pictures, though. Do you have a lot of pictures?"

Castle emitted a short, sharp laugh. "Do I have pictures? I am the stereotypical dad with a camera. And all of them are on the computer. I can bring you a stick drive full of pictures. You'll be sick of looking at my kids. But the good part of that is that Alexis at the ages of the next books would already be there for you. And I assure you, Jamie's progress between now and then will be just as well documented …and just as easily accessible."

Garrett laughed. "I could do the same with my kid's pictures. So it looks like we have a plan. What do you see for the illustrator's work? Did you have anything specific in mind?"

"Colorful but soft? Does that make sense? I'd like my children to recognize themselves but not have their features so clear that Jamie could be immediately recognized by strangers. And I'd like enough color to appeal to children without screaming children's colors…and maybe colors to coordinate with some of Alexis's drawings. Is most of that within reason?"

"I think we can work with most of it. And I know a good illustrator. Her work generally has a softer look about it than we'd usually associate with mysteries; but it's for children, and I've seen her adapt her style a little bit for certain projects. I'll see if she's available, and I'll get the team on this and have some things put together for you by next week. Are you free this same time next week?" Castle consulted his phone for his schedule and confirmed that he could be there, and Garrett said, "Good. I'm looking forward to this. Something different. Why don't you write what you'd like to say in an introduction to the books? Eventually we'll need to work up some graphics for advertising built around that."

"I feel a lot better about the illustrations already. Thank you."

Garrett reached across the table to shake his hand. "It looks like a great idea. My little girl is going to love this book. And I can tell her I helped with planning the illustrations. So thanks in advance for making Daddy look good," he answered with a grin. "We need to start working on the next Heat book soon, too."

"I might bring Kate next week. She's excited about the children's books, too. I'd bring Alexis, but she's taking summer classes at Columbia and probably can't be here."

xxxxx

When Castle got home, Kate was in the kitchen working on dinner. "How did it go," she asked from where she was working.

"I'm actually excited about seeing them published. The thing I didn't want to lose was the feeling of having collaborated with Alexis…the illustrations especially. Garrett liked my idea of using an illustrator as well as the originals, and he seemed excited about it, too. We have another meeting next week at the same time, and he promised me he'd have something to show me. I need to find more pictures of the kids."

Kate snorted a little laugh and answered, "Like that's going to be a problem." She turned and put her arms around his neck to kiss him when he reached for her, careful to keep her breading coated fingers away from his clothes in the process.

Standing with his arms around her, he gave her lips another little peck and answered, "Hey, you're looking at a proud dad. There will continue to be pictures."

"I'd be disappointed if there weren't," she agreed and turned back to her work.

Castle hugged her from behind, running his hands over her ever expanding baby bump. "There will be just as many pictures of this one, you know."

"I know." She leaned back against him lovingly.

"How are my girls this afternoon?" he asked, hands still gently circling. Kate chuckled, and he asked what was so funny.

"You know, if anybody had told me seven years ago that I'd be standing here enjoying having nothing to do but prepare dinner and take care of a three year old…let alone that I'd contentedly allow myself to be referred to as one of your girls while you rub my pregnant belly…I would probably have hit them with my best eye roll, asked what the hell they'd been smoking, and walked away in a huff." She was quiet for a moment and then added, "Six and a half years ago, I would probably have done the same thing, but then I might have gone to get coffee and considered what it might be like. But six years ago it would have been only the eye roll, the coffee, and some serious daydreaming."

"We've made a lot of progress, haven't we?" he chuckled, kissing her neck.

"Yeah, we have."

"Want to go with me to see what Garrett has worked out when I go next week? Maybe we can find somebody to babysit. I'm beginning to feel good about publishing Alexis's books."

"You've always helped me with my job. So, sure. If you're this excited about it, I definitely want to see."

"I know I keep saying this, but you're the most perfect wife I could have found. I wish it hadn't taken so long to find you. I could have skipped the second wife and we could have had these two children when we were younger."

"I don't know, Stud. Maybe we both had to grow up enough to appreciate what we have. And we aren't too old for all this yet."

"No, we aren't. And you called me Stud again." He growled as he planted little nibbling kisses on her neck.

"Slow down. I need to finish dinner, and then we're going to have to get your other child in bed. It won't be any time soon"

"Anticipation always makes it better." There was more growling against her neck.

"Daddy!" an excited young voice shouted from the top of the stairs. "You're home. Why are you growling on Mommy?" he asked as he came down the steps in as big a hurry as he could without falling.

Castle met him on the landing, reaching out to grab him as he was about half the way down. "Because it's fun," he answered. "Now I'm going to growl on you." He took him in his arms and turned him over to growl against his stomach as his son laughed and wriggled.

Looking over at his wife, who was watching her men, he said, "Later?"

And she smiled and answered, "Count on it."

He smiled back at her and returned to growling on the tummy of a happy, wiggly little boy.