Bab 26: 26. Chapter 26
Looking at Ellery on the beach, bouncing on her toes, her hand swinging in Dashiell's, Kate squeezes her legs around Castle and slides off, letting him feel every cool, delicious inch of it. Ella looks like she wants a turn, raising a hand to her father, her eyes shining. Such a Daddy's girl.
Castle was so sure that it would be a girl that he called kept calling her Baby Kate. Which was annoying, like a mini-me, but he at least shortened it to Baby K. Or BK, depending on how funny he thought he was. Which of course, confused Dashiell and made the kid think that Kate was pregnant with a hive of bees, and called his mother the Bee Queen, which actually, now that she thinks about it, might have been the inspiration for Ellery's name.
Dash took to buzzing around her, and asking if she would have honey too, and could he have some, and then he had to watch Winnie the Pooh every night before bed. He would fall asleep to the Piglet movie and that Carly Simon song from the end would go around in Kate's head all night: "With a few good friends and a stick or two. . ."
Thankfully, Castle didn't insist on naming the baby some stupid cartoon name; he'd called her belly Spike when she was pregnant with Dashiell, which did more than just irritate her then (it scared her half to death how in love he was with something they couldn't even see yet) and it had convinced her that there was no way she was letting him name the kid when it came.
But with Ella, she had promised him it was his turn. If he had picked a goofy, ridiculous name for her, she might have killed him, truly.
She might kill him now.
She shakes the water out of her ear and squeezes it out of her hair. The feather headdress tangles in her fingers; she thought she lost it. Kate pulls out the bedraggled thing and drops it to the sand. Her dress, beautiful, ruined dress, hangs on her frame, rivulets of navy-dyed water running down her legs.
The two kids are hand in hand watching her with interest; Castle is behind them, using them like a shield.
"You are going to have to take me shopping," she says, narrowing her eyes at him.
"Why?"
"This was my only dress."
"So?"
She tilts her head, and he must see the look in her eyes because he backs up a step. Ellery keeps holding out a hand to him, lifting on her toes; she must want a piggy-back ride too.
"Yeah, shopping. Of course."
Dashiell lets go of his sister's hand and scoops up the Indian feather, twirls it in his fingers. "You're still a pretty Indian princess, Mommy."
She softens, glances down at him to rub a hand through his thick hair. "Thank you, baby."
"I'm not a baby; I'm a Lost Boy," he says heatedly, throwing her a scowl.
She can't quite suppress the grin, and Ellery comes forward to trail her fingers over a line of navy dye trickling down Kate's shin.
"Ooh, baby, stop. That tickles." She presses her dress against her legs and lifts a foot, eyeing the damage. "Castle-"
"Shopping. I promise. Today?"
"No, stores will close soon. It's Sunday."
"Okay, then tomorrow. Anything you want."
She lifts an eyebrow at him and steps closer, the kids following in her wake, Ellery squeezing the water out of her skirt while Dashiell tries to untangle the band from the feather. When Castle sees her coming, he stands his ground but raises a hand as if to ward her off.
Kate lifts on her toes and presses against him, full body contact, raising up to kiss his hesitant, apologetic mouth. "Of course anything I want."
"What do you want, Kate?"
His voice has gone from pleading to demanding in the blink of an eye, and Kate feels her flesh warm at the sound, the sunlight turning the very air around him golden.
"More of you," she says back, sucking on his lip, her teeth grazing him, then moving away.
He shivers and rubs his hands down his face. She likes to watch him get flustered. Any time they go for a record, he always tries to be so solicitous the day after, tries to keep his hands off, tries to let her rest, tries not to touch her so much. It's quite fun to tease him the day after. How long can he go before he caves and takes her?
"You're an evil woman," he mutters, too low for the kids to hear, but his eyes intent on her.
She grins back and gathers her skirt up a little, tugging it out of Ellery's hands. "Let's go pack up our dinner and head back to the condo for our swimsuits. Okay guys?"
"Yay!" Dashiell yells, dropping the clump of feather back into the sand and throwing up both his arms. Ellery mimics him, silently, and starts dancing in the shallow water at the shoreline, looking a little crazed.
"Wow," Castle laughs, hands on his hips. "Ella. Nice moves."
Ellery grins at them and takes a big jump into a pool left stranded by the low tide, splashing water back up over her head, her eyes squeezed shut. She gasps and sputters, wipes her hands across her face, pushing her hair out of her mouth.
"Fun, huh? Let's get the dress off you and put on swimsuits. Okay?" Kate holds out her hand and Ellery comes running, grabbing her fingers, swinging.
Dashiell has run on ahead, stopping at the comforter with their stuff, and now he starts throwing things into the bag.
"Ooh, Castle - go help him."
Castle is already jogging forward, calling for Dash to wait up a second.
At her side, Ellery twirls around under Kate's hand, her dress flaring up, and grins up at her mother.
"You look beautiful, baby girl."
Ella releases her hand with a smile and runs toward her father, arms raised as if remembering her piggy-back ride.
Castle changes clothes while Kate unpacks the bag with their leftover dinner. The kids war whoop around her legs, hiding in her skirt, knocking into cabinets, and she nudges Dashiell away with her knee.
"Go strip down. You need swimsuits on to go back to the beach."
Ellery shoves her brother and runs for her room, giggling like crazy, Dashiell on her heels, chasing her with a growl.
"Swimsuits!" Kate yells after them, heading for her bedroom.
Kate finds Castle in the bathroom rubbing sunblock over his shoulders, navy trunks slung low on his hips; she takes the bottle away from him, squeezes some out, and slides her hands up and down his back, playing with it, her thumbs digging into the muscles along his spine. When she's done, he turns and wraps his arms around her, his mouth against her ear.
"Let me change, Castle."
He presents her with kisses while she strips off the ruined dress. A kiss at her shoulder while she scrubs blue dye off her legs; a kiss at her back as she slithers into her almost dry swimsuit. A handful of kisses like wildflowers, innocent and unfolding, all along her hands when she stops and turns to him, the reproach dying on her lips.
She curls her fingers around his jaw and lifts his head to press her cool mouth to his, warming.
"Love you, Kate," he murmurs.
She stands in it, like a pool of light, letting it illuminate her whole world.
"Love you more, Rick Castle." A brush of her fingers across his lips, sighing. "Now go change the kids."
He drops his hands and leaves with a smile on his face. A smile that stays with her as Kate applies a layer of sunblock, remembering the tops of her feet this time, the shine of her forehead. He can be such a lovely, adorable man. Sometimes.
She grabs the beach bag from the bathroom floor and drops the sunscreen inside, then switches out the books. Castle's finished with his paperback; she finds Goon Squad on the bedside table and puts it in the front pocket, along with her copy of City of Thieves, which she's reading for the second time. Sunglasses go in next, also on the bedside table, then she wanders out of the room to grab water bottles.
Dashiell barrels down the hallway and smacks into the open fridge door, not looking, rebounds off.
"Dash-"
"Ow. Hey. Daddy says-"
"Did you hurt your head?"
"No, ow. Mo-om," he whines, jerking his chin out of her fingers.
"Da-ash," she repeats, exaggerating the sound. "Let me see."
Kate brushes her thumb over the goose egg already appearing at his temple. He pinches his eyes shut and suffers through, not making another noise. But his knee bounces impatiently.
"Hmm, I think we'll need an ice pack."
"But I wanna jump in the waves!"
"Shoulda been looking where you were going, tough guy. We'll ice it down for twenty minutes when we get to the beach. Then you can jump waves. Got it?"
"Arg," he moans.
"Now. What did Daddy say?" Kate straightens up and opens the freezer door, the cold air giving her goose bumps. Dashiell reaches out and rubs his hand over her leg, fascinated by the texture, as always, but not exactly paying attention.
"Daddy says to ask you where Ella's suit is."
"Oh." She grabs an ice pack (sad that she has to travel with ice packs because she knows her kids so very well), and drops it in the bag, then their waters as well. "Uh. Tell daddy to get a new one."
"We looked for the others. Couldn't find them."
Uh-oh. Kate leaves the bag, slams the freezer shut, and heads for the stacked washer and dryer, opening the door of the washer. At the bottom, her beach wrap and Ella's swimsuit, both of which, along with the towels, she and Castle forgot to wash. Other things on their minds. Like a record-breaking day.
She reaches inside and pulls them both out, shakes out Ella's suit first. Sniffs it. A little. . .sour smelling. "Dash, kiddo, can you smell this?"
"Ew."
Damn. "You think it will go away in the water?"
"Um, sure."
"Will it bother you until then?"
Dashiell wrinkles his nose, steps closer to grab the swimsuit. He takes a long look at the offending thing, then sighs. "I can handle it."
Kate grins to herself, bites her lip to keep him from seeing it. "Thanks for being flexible. Will you take it to Daddy? - No, wait. I will. You don't have to touch it any more."
She plucks it out of his hands and touches his shoulder.
"I need sunblock too, Mommy."
"I'll do it. Get it out of the bag and wait for me here."
Kate carries the swimsuit down the hall, tugging on her wrap as she does, tying it at her waist. Probably the smell will dissipate in the sun, and then she'll just have Castle wash everything tonight. In Ellery's room, she finds them in an impromptu piggy-back ride, Ellery's arms locked around his throat, naked except for her spongebob underwear, her hair in her eyes as she giggles.
"This is her only suit?" Kate asks, holding up the black thing with its pink ruffles.
"I thought I packed the others-"
Kate glances sharply at Ella, the little face peeking out over her father's shoulder. "You hid them at home, didn't you, moja mala sakupljačica stvari?"
"What did *that* mean?" Castle asks.
Ellery lifts an eyebrow, an utterly unconvincing performance protesting her innocence, but thoroughly and adorably persuasive. Kate sighs and hands Castle the swimsuit, watching him as he squats and lets Ellery down to the floor.
"Uh, basically, I called her a collector of things." Kate frowns at her daughter as she hops around the room, avoiding Castle's reach. "Stop, baby, and let Daddy put your swimsuit on."
Ella strips and raises her arms to her father's shoulders for balance, Castle holding out the swimsuit for her to step into. "It sounded kinda dirty."
"Hush. We'll shop tomorrow morning," Kate says, dropping onto the floor next to Ella, crossing her legs out in front of her. "Get her a couple swimsuits so we don't have to wash it every day. And me a new dress."
"Yeah. Still not sorry for that though." He grins, knocks his shoulder into hers. "Ella, other foot."
"There's a surf shop a mile down. They sell suits."
Castle's eyes come up to meet hers. "And they do surfing lessons. Wouldn't that be cool?"
His enthusiasm slides into her. "Actually. Yeah? I do kind of want to try that."
He grins, leans over on his knees to push a kiss into her mouth. "Awesome, babe. Let's learn to surf."
"You can call me babe when you manage to ride a wave. Until then, off limits."
Castle smiles, practically squirming with delight. "Gnarly."
Ellery giggles, tugging on her swimsuit and dancing around the floor to get it pulled up. "Gnarly," she repeats, casting grins at both of them.
Kate lets out a startled laugh and glances at Castle.
He reaches out and helps her with the straps of her swimsuit. "Can you say Kowabunga?"
Ella tilts her head and gives him a long-suffering look. Kate laughs harder as Castle turns to her with a scowl.
"That's your look. You're corrupting our daughter."
"MOM-MY!" a voice yells down the hall. Thoroughly impatient.
"Oh, oops. I'm supposed to sunscreen him up. Ellery, love, come with me. I'll do you too."
Castle gets to his feet as well. "Will you do me?" His eyes flash at her, dark and amused.
She gives him back his kisses, all at once, perfect innocence and poise, lightly, her lips against his, pushes back from him to watch his reaction. "I've already done you, Castle."
Status Power Mingguan
-- Peringkat
Power 
-- Power
stone