201. Chapter 201

Chapter 201

When the plane landed in London, the Castle family picked up their luggage and found their driver from the trip several years ago holding up a sign that read Rodgers. Castle smiled and pointed it out to the children. That's Mr. Alton. I think he's going to be driving for us. He drove us when we were here before.

"Did I know who he was then?" Jamie asked.

"You did. You and Mommy came to meet me after a book signing, and he strapped Bear into a seatbelt. You thought it was funny. All of us liked him a lot."

"Did he like us, too?"

"I'm pretty sure he did."

"Mr. and Mrs. Castle, it's a pleasure to see you again. Thank you for asking for me."

"I kept your card, but we haven't been back until now. I hope you're assigned to us for the rest of our stay…and for the couple of days we'll be back at the end of the tour. You might remember Jamie. This is our newest addition, Jo…Johanna."

"I am," he answered with a smile. "The car is just outside the door, and I have a luggage trolley here to move your things out." He and Castle loaded the cart and Alton drove them to the hotel.

When they arrived, Castle told their driver, "We have no firm plans for tomorrow, and after the flight today, we'll probably all sleep late in the morning. I'll call far enough ahead to give you some warning when I ask for a car." He handed Alton his tip, and Alton turned to the children. Master Jamie, you probably don't remember me, but it's good to see you again." He shook his hand and added, "You've grown up…and still look just like your father." Then he shook Jo's hand. "And Miss Johanna, it's lovely to meet you. I believe you look just as much like your mother. I'll see all of you sometime tomorrow."

Both children smiled at him before he left, and Jo looked up at Castle and said, "He's nice."

Kate smiled. "I think he likes children. He was good to Jamie when he was little."

Castle signed them in, passed a porter a tip, and asked that the luggage be taken to their suite for them. "Anybody hungry?" he asked. "If I remember correctly, the restaurant is this way." Before they reached the restaurant, Bentley and Gina met them halfway.

"This time your plane arrived in time for dinner, so we thought we'd welcome you to London and treat you to dinner," Bentley said. "Gina and I will both be working, but this is Neville's number. You can ring him and make arrangements for the children to have time to get together. He and Esther have already made time for it, and they're looking forward to seeing all of you. Gina will be around to help Paula with your tour here in the UK, and I may pop in to see how things are going." He led them toward the restaurant and said as they walked, "I'm looking forward to seeing your family again.

When the Castles got to their suite and finally had the children settled in bed, they slipped quietly out of the children's room.

"They seemed to be okay with the idea of taking turns sleeping in the extra roll away bed," Kate said. "I hope it works out that easily for the whole trip. It should keep them from fighting over the covers or who's taking up too much space."

"They'll be fine most of the time, but we may have to put somebody on the sofa once in a while, then move them to their bed again after they fall asleep."

"Gina is a lot easier to deal with knowing we can leave her in London when we go home." Kate observed mischievously.

"Yeah," Castle agreed, "Until she teams up with Paula again. I'd love to get an editor to work with in New York, though. As Gina moved up in the company to second in command, she kept editing for me because she had for so long. She has the same position here that she had in the New York office, so I'm sure she stays busy; but I don't like not being able to meet face to face over edits when I think there's a problem. I hope Walter finds somebody soon."

"When is it that we're supposed to meet the staff at Bentley's office?"

"Two days from now. They're having brunch for us and the staff. It's a meet the author thing, I think. I've probably met most of them by now, though."

"According to Paula and Gina, not often enough in the last ten years or so."

"Well, we're here now…and the time difference thing is still messing with me. I'm not sleepy yet. Are you?" he asked flirtatiously.

"Nope, not yet," she answered the same way.

"Want to wear each other out so we can sleep…since I brought the comforts of home with me?"

"There's a big ol' bathtub in there. Why don't we start with that? It's been a long, busy day."

He put his arm around Kate's waist and guided her to the big ol' tub, and they leisurely helped each other remove clothing before sinking into the warm water together and relaxing into each other's arms.

xxxxx

Alton didn't have to pick them up from the hotel until after lunch the next day. Then he drove them to Buckingham Palace in time to watch the changing of the guard. The children were fascinated with the uniforms they had only seen on TV or in movies and with the precision of the military moves. Then they walked around for a while looking for other things they might have seen on screen. What the children didn't recognize, their parents pointed out. Then Alton drove them around pointing out other landmarks and told Jamie the first thing he asked about London was whether they had fixed the bridge.

Jamie asked, "The bridge?" Then he caught on. "That was a dumb little kid question, wasn't it?"

"You were three, and that was the only reference you had to London…and you were half asleep at the time. Not a dumb question for a sleepy little kid," Castle answered.

"What bridge?" Jo asked.

"London Bridge is falling down," Kate sang.

"Oh." Jo giggled.

They had dinner and spent the evening at the hotel, taking advantage of the pool for a little while to wear the children out before bed.

The schedule had been planned for an extra day at the beginning of the trip to catch up on sleep and allow them a little free time. The morning of the following day was free as well, and that was planned for meeting some of Bentley's family to give the children time for another visit. Castle had a late afternoon book signing, but he could enjoy the morning with them.

The next morning, they met all four of the Keane children and the parents of two of them at the park where Jamie had played on the pirate ship during their last trip to London. The children played on the ship and took advantage of everything else in the park as well…things Jamie wasn't old enough for the last time, the Keane children showing them all their favorite parts of the park. All the children were old enough now to understand wading in the water feature rather than sitting down in it, so they all took off their shoes and played there for a little while, too. Castle had to leave before they got around to the pedal boats, and Neville, Bentley's brother only had the morning off from work; so with a lot of rules about how to behave, Kate and Esther herded the children into the back of the boat and pedaled them around for a while. There was a lot of silliness in the back of the boat, but nobody was behaving badly enough for the two moms to worry that anybody might go overboard. Afterward they took the children for snacks, and Kate called the car to pick them up. She had told Neville not to worry about getting everybody home. Alton drove them to their house, and then took the Castles back to their hotel.

When Rick got back, the children were anxious to tell him about everything they had done, but he was wiped out; so he picked one up under each arm. "Daddy is tired," he told them. "I'm going to sit here and prop my feet up, and you can tell me all about what I missed. Hang on." He dropped them on the sofa, one on each end, sat down in the middle and slid down so the back of his head rested on the back of the sofa, propped his sock feet on the coffee table, and pulled one child close to him on each side. Then he said, "Okay, I'm ready. Tell me all about it." And they did.

Kate walked over in the middle of the storytelling and kissed his forehead, and he smiled up at her. He was in his element.

xxxxx

Walter Haskell had been interviewing to find a replacement for Gina. In spite of starting ahead of her move to London, he just hadn't found the right person yet. Therefore, Paula had to work with one of Gina's former assistants to take care of the arrangements for the European tour. The assistants seemed to be keeping the Managing Editor's office functioning, but apparently neither of them was what Walter was looking for, either.

Haskell arrived in time for the staff brunch in Black Pawn's London office before Castle left for the Scandinavian countries.

"Walter, I didn't expect you to be here before the big to do in Paris," Castle said.

"My wife convinced me we deserved a trip to Europe. She said if we're going, we should have time to enjoy it, so here we are."

"I won," Nadia Haskell added with a smug smile. "I'm getting a good shopping trip in Paris out of it, too."

Walter looked at her fondly and sighed. "And she's undoubtedly going to drag me along with her." But he didn't look like he'd really mind too much.

"So the brunch has gone from the standard, meet the author to meet the big boss?"

"I think they'd still rather meet you," Walter answered. "Kate. It's wonderful to see you again. It's been a while."

They talked for a moment before Walter moved on to be a good boss and meet his European staff, and members of the staff came to meet Castle, some of them with his latest book for him to autograph. One of them was a man about his age who had a copy of Storm Fall.

"I loved this character. I hope you won't mind signing one of your older books for me. I thought having your signature on Storm's demise would be appropriate. Of course, I love Nikki Heat just as much."

"I'd be happy to. What's your name?" Castle answered, accepting the book.

"Blake Davies, Mr. Castle," the man answered reaching to shake his hand. "I like your writing style. The two book series both carry it consistently; but in the Heat series, I could see a subtle difference from the Storm series."

"Rick is fine. What kind of work do you do here, Blake?" He wrote a quick note and signed the book as Blake waited.

"I run a small part of the operation and editing. I was hoping to move up, but when I heard that Gina Co…Gina Keane would be here, I realized that wouldn't happen. She's too good at what she does and has too much history with the company. I've only been here for five years."

Someone else brought a book for Castle to sign, and he asked for a minute. "Most people, even editors, wouldn't have noticed that little difference. I realized I was doing that as I got farther into writing the first Heat book; but no one else has mentioned it, so I thought I was the only one who knew. I'd like to have time to talk to you before I leave London." Turning to Kate, he introduced them and asked, "Would you give Blake one of my cards and my schedule and see if you can find a time we can meet for half an hour or so?"

"It's good to meet you, Mr. Davies," Kate said. "Let's go over here out of the melee…where I have a good view of my children's behavior, and I'll find Castle's schedule."

"From what I've seen of your children, you have nothing to worry about. They've been lovely so far."

"Thank you, but they're children, and sometimes… Here it is." She pulled their schedule from her purse. "We'll be leaving for Norway late tomorrow afternoon, he has an afternoon signing today from two to four and another from ten to twelve tomorrow morning. He probably won't get away much before five today or before one tomorrow, though. Here's his card and phone number. Do you have a card with you? I could tell he really wants to talk to you if you have time, but this morning is likely to be full of interruptions."

"Would he feel up to meeting me tonight? Around seven or half seven?"

"I think so. We should have had time for dinner by then. Maybe you could meet him in the bar for a drink."

"I would enjoy that. Here's my card. I'll let him call me at his convenience. I don't want to misjudge time and interrupt him at one of his events or to keep him from the others here who want to meet him this morning."

"Thank you, Mr. Davies…"

"Blake, please."

"And I'm Kate. I'll pass this along with your suggestion. Aaaand it looks like there are children becoming normal children. We'll talk to you later on. Thank you." Blake smiled as Kate went to stem what seemed to be a burgeoning argument. The children had been promised some of the sweet part of the brunch menu after they finished the healthy part of their breakfast, and their mother saw that as a good distraction from what was building.

Castle signed several more books and carried on brief conversations with other members of the staff. Then he excused himself when Paula appeared at the door saying he needed to get back to the hotel to change before his signing. Before he left, he stopped to tell Blake that he would meet him at the bar in the hotel at seven.

After unwinding with his family at dinner, Castle met Blake and took his laptop. He showed him one of his recent original chapters and asked for his opinion as an editor. Some of the same edits Gina had made were mentioned, but another one came up that he hadn't expected. When he looked at it and Blake explained his reasons, he saw it differently and agreed. Then he showed Blake the same chapter with Gina's edits marked.

"Tell me if there's anything you disagree with. Be honest. I'm not trying to set a trap, just looking for opinions."

After reading through it, Blake said he agreed with everything but one place where she had made a change. "I liked the way the first sentence flowed into the second one originally."

"That's exactly what I argued. It changed the flow of half the page."

The two men talked for over an hour, about editing and then about literature in general, their families, Castle's move into the children's book market and his collaboration with his children, etc. Eventually, realizing how long he had been there, Castle excused himself saying he wanted to be back in time to tuck his children in, and Blake understood. They shook hands, both having enjoyed their meeting.

When he returned to their suite, Kate had both children bathed and in their pajamas and was about to read them a bedtime story.

"Let me do that. I didn't mean to be gone that long, and I haven't snuggled with my munchkins since I got back today."

"What do you think? Should I let Daddy read to you?" Kate asked. "Do you need a daddy snuggle?"

Both children nodded and Kate got up to make room, then Castle moved into the space Kate had just left and wiggled his bottom to make room between them on the sofa, making them laugh.

"Mommy needs a snuggle, too," Jo said.

"I'll snuggle Mommy later," Castle assured her, giving Kate a smile that was understood between the two of them.

Kate went to put Bear and Elephant in the correct beds so there wouldn't be an argument about who slept where that night; and once they were tucked in, Castle went about snuggling his wife. He was tired, so they stretched out close together in their bed to talk.

"How did your meeting with Blake go?"

"Really well. Don't let me forget to call Walter first thing in the morning about him. From what I saw tonight, I think he's a very good editor. He pointed out a few things that surprised me, and he was right on point with them. I want to suggest that Walter vet him for Gina's old position in New York…if he's willing to move that far from home."

"That meeting must have really gone well."

"It did, but I didn't mean to leave you alone with the kids for that long."

"This is about your job for a while, remember? You need a good editor, and I'd be happy if you go home knowing who that will be. And I came along remembering from last time that I'd have the kids to myself a lot while you're working, so don't worry about it. You have them alone while I work a lot more than this."

"Could you use that snuggle now?" he asked

"That would be nice."

He pulled the covers around them, they faced one another, and after a long loving kiss, just held each other for a while.

"You must be exhausted. You haven't had much time to slow down today. Turn over, and I'll rub your back," Kate told him.

"Better idea," he answered. "We stay where we are and rub each other's backs."

"That could work, too," she answered with a little smile. "But sometimes that leads to other things."

"If it does, we're married; so it's legal and everything. If it doesn't, we both fall asleep relaxed."

"Deal," she answered. "I love you, Writer-Man."

xxxxx

The next morning, Castle called Walter Haskell and made his request before leaving for his book signing. When he returned, the family had a leisurely lunch before a porter brought down the luggage trolley Kate had already loaded and helped put it in the car.

"Where are we going now, Daddy?" Jo asked.

"Norway. We might have part of a day to find something fun to do. Or you and Mommy and Jamie can spend some time in the pool at the hotel while I'm working. We'll see when we get there."

"Are we going to the airport now?" Jamie asked.

"You got it, Buddy. Up in the clouds again."

Their trip through the Scandinavian countries went by quickly, with the little bit of extra available time spent at a children's museum, play areas, and seeing landmark sights. Then they worked their way through Amsterdam, Brussels and into Germany where Castle had signings in Berlin and Munich. Then they would be in Venice and Milan.

"Paula, when we were in Munich last time we were here…do you remember where we were shopping when the fashion gods were so good to you?" Kate asked.

"I remember the name of one of the stores, and all the rest were in the same couple of blocks. I'm sure we could find it again. Why? Are you looking for a shopping trip? I'm always willing, and Gina had to go back to London for a couple of days."

"I'm pretty sure that's where we found the dress I wore to the last European party, and it's still one of my favorites. Jo and I need dresses and I was hoping to have the same kind of luck this trip. I haven't found things for us so far. Oh, and Martha and the rest of the family will meet us in Munich, so you'll have another willing shopping partner for a week."

"We get to dress Jo up, too? That should be fun. We can look around in Berlin. There's some good shopping here, too. If we don't find anything, we still have Munich and Milan before we get to Paris."

"Jamie's patience with dress shopping may have something to do with it. He loves to dress up like Rick, but his patience with girly dress shopping doesn't last but so long."

Paula chuckled. "Typical male. The other men in the family have probably missed him enough to keep him occupied while we do some serious girly dress shopping once we get to Munich, though. He and your dad will probably be inseparable for at least a couple of days."

"I'm kind of counting on it," Kate answered with a smile.

xxxxx

Castle had only one signing in Berlin, and their limited Berlin shopping time didn't turn up anything Kate found appealing enough to buy, but Munich turned up an entire family who would be with them for a full week, including a doting Meagan, a loving big sister and a grandmother who was about to be part of finding her granddaughter her very first formal dress.

A couple of days were scheduled for some free time in Munich. Castle had the morning free on the first day to have breakfast and lunch with his family and show the children the Rathaus Glockenspiel in the Marienplatz near the bookstore where he would be working. They watched the figures moving as the chimes played and wanted to pick him after his signing and have dinner there so they could see it again. The second day there were two signings, but the third day was entirely clear. They agreed to take the children to see Neuschwanstein Castle in Bavaria. He wanted to include them because they would like that Disney was inspired by it and because Munich probably wouldn't be included in the next summer's book tour.

On day two, while Castle was working his way through two book signings, JD and the grandfathers took Jamie for the day. They started with TV in Jim's room. After some channel surfing, for some reason it struck them all funny to watch a series of Bugs Bunny cartoons in German. Then they went to lunch and ended up spending the afternoon at a game arcade. Jim had been pulled over to the dark side when Jamie started building an interest in video games, and JD had corrupted Grandpa John long before that. There were a lot of games they recognized, the controls worked the same way, and the feeling of victory or defeat was the same in any language. They tried a lot of what was there, went back to their favorites, and returned to the hotel late that afternoon.

Meanwhile, the women in the family set out early on a mission to dress themselves for the party in Paris. All of them had brought something from home just in case, but they were all hoping to find something that felt a little bit magic. Paula googled the store whose name she could remember and found the right location, and she and the rest of the women in the family took two taxis and got out to shop. The area was full of boutique shops with unusual items, and Martha and Paula had found several things that struck their fancy before Kate, Megan, Alexis and Jo had made a full scan of the first store. Looking out the window, Kate said, "I don't see anything formal here. I think it was that one," pointing out a shop on the corner across the street, "The one where I found that coral dress. They didn't have a lot of formal dresses, but they were all really nice.

"Want to go over there?" Alexis asked. I think I found mine in the place next door to that one. It looks familiar.

"Let's go, then. And we can ask someone there where to find something for Jo. I'll tell Martha where to find us."

Their little group went across the street to look for dresses. Alexis said a few words to the sales woman and announced to the group, "I think we've struck gold."

JD had told her how to ask for formal dresses in German in case she needed it; and the sales woman, Emilia, told her in English that they had just received some new ones and had a little more in stock than usual. Emilia was very good at her job and went about pulling out the ones she thought would fit each woman. It was a relatively small shop, and they took turns in the two dressing rooms. Again, Kate found a dress she liked and tried it on. It was a rich, royal purple silk dress with one shoulder bare…very simple, but very sophisticated, and she came out to show the others.

"Oh, Darling," Martha exclaimed as she entered the store. You can stop looking now. That dress is perfect. There were remarks of agreement from the others.

"So the other two don't even get a chance?"

"Let's see them," Martha said, she and Paula joining them.

Kate held the other two up, one at a time, and the entire group shook their heads to say no to each one.

"What do you think, Munchkin?"

Jo looked up at her and said, "Those are pretty, but that one is really, really, really pretty."

"So you think I should buy this one?"

Jo nodded vigorously. "You look like a princess again. Daddy would have that funny look on his face if he saw you."

Everyone, including Emilia was trying hard not to laugh as Kate asked as casually as possible, "What look is that, Jo?"

"The one when he thinks you look really, really, really pretty and it takes him time to start to talk again."

Then the whole group broke into laughter. "Yeah, I think we all know that look…when he thinks you look really, really, really, really, pretty," Alexis answered with a little smirk.

Kate blushed. "And my not quite six year old sees it, too?" she asked quietly.

"Kate, anybody within sight of the two of you sees it. And you don't hide it too well when he shows up in a tux, either," Meagan answered quietly with a big grin. "Buy the dress."

Kate handed Emilia the two other dresses and went back into the changing room. "I guess I'll take this one," she said before closing the door.

"Do you have anything that elegant for me?" Martha asked.

"For you, too?" Emilia asked Paula, who nodded as Emilia went to the rack to find something for Martha. "What about this one? The deep green should look nice with your red hair…or maybe this black one? We don't have a huge selection, but all of them are excellent quality."

"I don't do black, but it's a beautiful dress."

"You could pair it with a jacket or shawl to add some color."

Alexis wasn't happy with what she tried on, nor was Paula; but Meagan found something she liked, and surprisingly, Martha actually loved the black dress.

"It looks and feels wonderful, but it does need a little pizzazz. Surely I can find a suitable jacket between here and Paris…or in Paris. Now, where can we find a formal dress for this beautiful child?" Martha asked.

Emilia rang up all their purchases and gave Martha the names of two stores and their addresses. "Both shops specialize in weddings and should have the quality I think you're looking for. One of those should have something for your beautiful young lady."

They arranged to come back and pick up their purchases before going back to the hotel, and before leaving that block with all the wonderful little boutiques, the other two women had dresses for the party and Martha had found a jacket in a colorful, abstract print. Then they were off to outfit a little princess.

Jo had been very patient with them, so they found her size and let her look through all the long dresses and decide for herself what she'd like to try on. Meanwhile, the adults were making some choices of their own and surreptitiously holding them for the others to approve. There was one dress in a soft shade of purple. The tag called it amethyst, and Kate held that one in the back of the group of dresses. They had about ten dresses in all, and Kate helped Jo try on each one to show the rest of the women with them. When they got to the last two, the ones that Kate and Martha had chosen, Jo looked surprised to see them and tried the first one on without actually seeing the last one. She liked it and modeled it for the others, and they approved. Then she saw the last one. It was a soft satin with a boat neck. There was a wide beaded band in the same shade of amethyst on both sides of the shoulder seam that fell over the shoulder into a nice little cap sleeve. A much narrower band of beading decorated the waist, and random beads were scattered across the skirt. In spite the abundance of beading, the overall effect was relatively subtle but striking.

Jo's eyes lit up. Do I get to try that one on?" she asked.

"That's why it's in here," her mother answered. "Let's get you out of that one." She helped her into the new dress and then turned her around to see herself in the mirror.

"It looks like a real princess dress," she said, looking awed.

"You think this is the one you want?" Jo nodded slowly, and Kate said, "Then go and show everybody. See what they think."

She opened the door and let Jo have her moment, and it was everything she could have hoped. The other women oooo'd and aaaah'd and had Jo turn for them so they could see the entire dress and told her how pretty she looked.

"I feel like a real princess," she told them.

"And you look like a real princess, too," Martha assured her, barely keeping tears from her eyes.

"Can we buy this one, Mommy? I like it best."

"Then this is the one we'll buy. We'll take it home and show Daddy."

xxxxx

The entire family arrived back at the hotel within about ten minutes of each other. Castle had come in a very few minutes after the rest of the men. Jamie told him about the cartoons in German, and all of them told him about their afternoon at the arcade. The women were back just in time to hear Castle complaining that he'd missed all the fun.

Don't worry, son. We'll find another arcade before we go home and make sure you're included," John promised.

Jo ran to her father and pulled at his pants leg to get his attention. "Mommy bought me a dress for the party, and it's the prettiest dress in the world."

"In the whole world?!" Castle gasped, playing to her enthusiasm, and she nodded excitedly. "Are you going to show it to me?"

"Right now?" she asked.

"Let's take everything to our rooms, and you can show me then. Did Mommy find a dress, too?"

"Uh-huh. You're gonna like it."

"Jo says you're gonna get that funny look on your face when you see Mom wear it," Alexis teased.

"Funny look?" Castle looked as stunned as Kate had.

"Yeah," Jamie agreed. "You look kind of out of it and have trouble talking."

"And my kids notice?" Castle asked.

"Hard to miss, Dad," JD answered, looking highly amused.

"We're going to put all this stuff away." Kate told Castle. "See you upstairs. Want to come with us, Jamie? We got each of you a little Lego set that should fit into your toy suitcases. Jo said you don't have this one."

Jamie followed his mother and Castle turned to the others looking concerned. "Are my kids seeing anything inappropriate?"

"No. Nothing like that," John answered. "Relax. They're just seeing a man in love with his wife, and that she likes seeing her husband look at her that way. Somebody told me once that the best sex education a kid can get is seeing that his dad still likes to swat his mom's backside and that Mom likes it. In Jamie's mind, the worst thing he sees is that you're 'kissing all the time', and he sees that she likes that, too."

"But my five year old noticed."

"I don't know if you're aware, Rick, but we have very intelligent and perceptive grandchildren," Jim answered proudly, resting a hand on John's shoulder. "They notice a lot."

"Well, I guess I'd better go and see the prettiest dress in the whole world before the little one explodes from excitement waiting to show me."

"Honestly, Son, don't worry about it. I'm sure Katie saw me look at her mother the same way. There are some things that have scarred her in her life, but that wasn't one of them. If anything, it might make them feel more secure."

"Thanks. I'm…" He pointed to the elevators and walked away.

"Unless they're in danger, nothing much shakes him, but I think that did," Jim observed.

"Nothing's more important than knowing he's giving his children what they need. He has a decidedly...um...irreverent sense of humor; but he knows Jo and Jamie are too young for that now, so he tries to separate them from it. I think he was worried that maybe he hadn't. He just needs to take care of his kids," JD explained quietly. "He even worries about me. It's a good feeling."

"Looks like we've been mostly deserted," John said, dropping his arm around his grandson's shoulders and including Jim in his glance. "Might as well go see what our women bought to make us want to give them 'the look'."