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96% Dash It All / Chapter 96: 96. Chapter 96

บท 96: 96. Chapter 96

They're sitting at a children's table, his knees bracketing the table top, scribbling messages inside paperback books while Kate reads at his feet. She leans against his shin, Ellery lying in her lap as Kate goes through 'Green Eggs and Ham.'

"Okay, so how about this one?" he asks, nudging her with his knee.

Kate rocks forward, shoots him a little look for that to which he only grins his You know you love me grin and wriggles his eyebrows.

"Write It's your lucky day," she says, resettling against his shin.

"Ahh, good one," he murmurs, and quickly jots down the note on the title page, signs his name with a flourish below that. Fits perfectly with the plot of this one too. She's good at this. "You should come with me next time I have to do a signing."

"No, thanks."

"You're just shy."

"Hardly."

"Yeah, you are. In front of my scores of adoring fans-"

She snorts, and he nudges her again; Ellery sits up and shoots him a scowl for rocking her boat.

"Sorry, cricket. Lie back down." He reaches over and guides her back into Kate's lap, smoothing his fingers through her hair. Kate catches his hand and kisses his thumb, lets him go.

"It's the adoring fans that - yes - unnerve me a little."

"It's astonishing, really." He cracks a yawn and glances around, checking on Dashiell. The boy is half under the train table, playing with a couple of board books that have wheels and are made to look like dump trucks. "It always surprises me when we go to an event and you stand there so quietly."

"I don't usually have that much to say."

"Yeah, but-"

"Only a fool opens his mouth and removes all doubt."

He chuckles at that, closes the book, reaches for the next one. "You saying I'm a fool?"

"Ah. I plead the fifth."

Castle tweaks her ear, leaning over to look at her. She's grinning back at him, smug and softly gorgeous; he can't help pressing a quick kiss to her mouth.

"Read!"

He backs off, shoots Ellery a look, and Kate goes back to reading the Dr Seuss book. Castle sneak-signs the last of them, piling them on the table in front of him, then leans back a little in the tiny chair, listening to Kate's voice as she rhymes I would not, could not in the dark.

"Sit up, babe," he murmurs, pushing on her shoulder. She leans forward, and he stands up, heads over to Dashiell under the table.

Getting down in the floor with him, Castle studies the kid's little world he's created - piles of books for mountains, the roads are made of board books, and the trains from the table have been appropriated as well.

"Hey, Daddy."

"Hey, my man. What are you doing?"

"Playing."

"Yeah. I see that. Want to read?"

"I already read."

"I mean, want me to read to you?"

Dash scoots around, crawls out from under the table. "You read me Sherlock Holmes?"

Castle glances over to Kate, who is still halfway through the book. "Sure. Let's go get it."

"Wait. You read me Edgar Allan Poe?"

He debates that for a moment. He started reading Poe to Dashiell on accident. Well, of course, reading anything on accident is highly unlikely, but that's his defense. He thought Dashiell was too little to understand. Now it's a thing.

"A little bit of 'The Purloined Letter' - okay?"

"Yes!" Dashiell fist-pumps and jumps up. "Go get it, Daddy."

"Stay here. I'm gonna put my books back."

"Ooh, can I go with you? I wanna watch."

"There's nothing to watch. I'm putting them back on the shelf."

Dashiell darts for the table and grabs a couple of the paperbacks. Kate turns and watches him a moment. "Baby, those aren't ours. Be gentle."

"I know," Dash says, and flips open the pages. "I'm looking for Daddy's name."

"It's on the front."

"No, the inside name."

"My signature?" Castle squats down next to him and takes the book out of his hands, turning to the title page. "Here it is."

Dashiell grins, takes the book back and closes it. His fingers run over the raised letters of his father's name. "That's you."

"Yup. That's me."

Kate has turned around to watch this exchange, Ellery sitting in her lap, the book still open. Castle can't quite read the expression on her face. This is the first time Dashiell seems to actually get that his father writes books that wind up in bookstores away from his own home.

"Daddy has a lot of books," Kate says.

"This is Daddy's book about you, Mommy, right?" Dashiell pulls a Nikki book from the bottom of the stack.

"Yes."

"Is this you?" He taps the silhouette with a finger.

"No. They have someone draw the covers. It's not me."

Castle smirks at her; she narrows her eyes at him.

"Hey, Dash, what would you say if I wrote about you?"

Dash lifts his eyes to his father, wide and round. "You write about me?"

"I'm going to. Working on it." He grins at his son, waits for Dashiell's judgment.

"Cool. What do I do?"

"You're a kid who solves mysteries. It'll be a book you can read too."

"I can read about me?"

"Sort of you. He doesn't have your name. Just like this book about Mommy doesn't use Mommy's real name."

"What's my book name?"

"Felix."

"Cool. I like that name. I can be Felix. Is Ellery in my book?"

Castle glances down at his daughter, rubs a hand over his jaw, thinking quickly. "Sure."

"Castle?"

He shrugs at her, but actually, Dash brought up a good point. And a good idea. "Ella's there too. But in the book, she's your best friend. You guys solve mysteries together."

"Ellery is my friend."

"Right," he says, grinning at Dash. "Good boy. But I mean, she's not your sister in the book."

"What's her name?"

"I - I haven't found a name for her yet."

"Chandler," Kate says, her mouth falling open after it pops out, as if she didn't expect it at all.

He grins at her. "Chandler?" As in Raymond Chandler, most likely. "Yeah. Chandler. That's Ellery's book name."

Ella climbs out of Kate's lap and snuggles down into his, wrapping both arms around his neck. Apparently, this gets her approval.

"Tomorrow, on your birthday, I was going to read some of it to you. For a birthday present."

"Awesome," Dashiell whispers.

Castle grins and holds out a hand for Dash to slap. He gets an enthusiastic high-five and then Dashiell is stacking the books back up and gathering them to his chest.

"Let's go put these up and get Poe. I want to read Poe now."

"Castle," Kate huffs at him.

He lifts Ellery out of his lap, hands her back to her mother. "Here, take the cricket. Dash and I are going to find some Poe."

"No 'Tell-Tale Heart.' No 'Pit and the Pendulum.' Remember?"

"I know, I know," he says, getting to his feet and gesturing for Dashiell to follow. Those were bad nightmares. "We're going for 'Purloined Letter.'"

She chews on her lower lip, but shakes her head at him. "Fine. Ellery, let's find something good to read. What next?"

Ella casts a sly glance his way, then beams up at her mother. "We read Little Prince, Mommy."

Kate grins. "In French?"

"Yes."

"Okay, leaving you girls to be snooty. The boys are going for horror." He guides Dash ahead of him towards the fiction. Let the girls read The Little Prince in French, fine. Show-offs.

Kate runs her fingers through Ellery's hair as they snuggle together in the corner. Two bookshelves meet and provide a tight, if hard, space for the two of them.

"-Bonjour, répondit poliment le petit prince, qui se retourna mais ne vit rien. -Je suis là, dit la voix, sous le pommier."

"Mommy?"

"Hmm?"

"Qu'est-ce que le pommier?"

Kate grins when the girl uses the French phrase Kate just taught her. "Apple tree."

"Le pommier," Ella muses, tracing her finger over the page. "I like that better."

"Better than apple tree?"

"Oui."

Kate bites her lip, grinning around it. "Parce que c'est plus joli?"

"Que?"

Kate shakes her head. "Quoi."

Ella sighs at the correction. "Quoi?"

"Because it's prettier that way?" Kate says in English.

"I not know anymore."

Kate laughs and scrapes the hair out of Ellery's eyes, kisses her forehead. "You're doing very well. Très bien."

Her phone rings as Ellery repeats her mother's French, and Kate scoops it up off the floor, surprised by the caller ID.

"Dad?"

"Hey, sweetheart. Just wanted to warn you, now that I've got a free moment."

"Where are you?" She hears traffic noise and the regular thumping sound of gas being pumped. She thought her father was upstate.

"Martha got this wild idea to fly out to Texas and surprise you guys for Dashiell's birthday."

"Oh no. We have no more room," she laughs. "Allie and Rafe are here too."

"Papa?" Ellery asks, holding a hand up for the phone.

"Not right this second, baby. Dad - you guys will have to stay in a hotel. Or rent a place in our condominium. Is that ok?"

"Kelly is with me, Kate."

Ah, thus the reason for a warning phone call. She takes a slow breath. "Okay. So - two condos? I don't know. What are you thinking here?"

"I think Kelly and I will rent a motel nearby-"

"Oh Dad, no. I'm sorry. I meant - Rick and I will pay for it. Of course. Our fault for not getting a bigger place. Mine really."

"Katie, that's not what I was asking."

"I know. But I'll have Rick go down to the front office and ask about condos. If it's say a three bedroom place, would that be all right? Room for - whatever."

Her father laughs on the other end. "All right, sweetheart."

"Do we need to come pick you up at the airport tomorrow?"

"Actually. We rented a car. We're - an hour out."

"Dad!"

"Kate. It's the first time I could get away. Martha has been right on top of us ever since. She wants it to be a surprise."

"I'm surprised," she says with a roll of her eyes. "Okay. We'll figure out sleeping arrangements when you get here." She breathes out, smiles brightly at the little girl not waiting very patiently in her lap. "Dad, Ella wants to talk."

"Oh good. Hand it over."

Kate gives Ellery the phone and grins widely to hear her little voice.

"Papa! You come?"

Kate closes Le Petit Prince and slides it back onto the shelf, then gathers Ella in her arms and gets slowly to her feet, wincing as her shirt pulls away from the scabs on her back. She resettles the girl on her hip and leans down to grab the pile of books Dashiell and Ellery picked out before, then catches the phone before it can slip out of her girl's little fingers.

"Hold on, baby girl," she murmurs, sliding it back to Ella's ear. The girl curls her hand around it again.

"Yeah, we have fun. The beach." Ella continues, answering another of Kate's father's questions. Papa is used to having to carry the whole conversation, so Ellery's little comments are probably quite surprising.

She heads out of the children's section and finds Dash and Rick in the section of main fiction, both of them sprawled on the floor on their stomachs, reading an illustrated version of Edgar Allan Poe.

"Here's Daddy," Ella says suddenly. "Papa-"

Kate muffles her with a hand, brushes her mouth to the girl's ear to whisper. "Shh. Surprise, cricket. Don't let Dash know."

Ellery gives her a huge grin, the phone still pressed to her cheek, those blue eyes sparkling like her father's.

"Say bye-bye to Papa."

"Bye, Papa." And she thrusts the phone at her mother.

Kate chuckles and takes it. "Dad?"

"Yeah, I gotta go. Martha is coming back from the bathroom. Oh wow, Ella is a riot. All that talking. And Kelly says hi."

"Call me when you're close?" she murmurs.

"Yeah. See ya, Katie."

"Bye." She ends the call, slides her phone into her back pocket. Castle is looking up at her from the floor, Dashiell has climbed up to sit on his back, dragged the book with him.

"Kate?" He lifts up onto his elbows and gives her a long look. Oh yeah, he caught that last part of her conversation.

She nods.

He mouths, My mother?

She nods again.

Castle groans and buries his head in his hands, then shifts up, reaching a hand back to grab Dash. Kate snags the book before it can fall, closes it, and Castle shifts Dash so he can ride piggy-back.

"Okay, kiddos. Let's buy our books and head back."

"Can we get this one?" Dash reaches for the book in her hands, but she pulls it away.

"Choose one." She holds out the pile of books he picked earlier.

He pouts at her, and despite herself, something gives way in her resolve.

"Choose two, then, since it's your last day of being four."

Dashiell's lips spread into an eager smile, and he reaches for the Poe book again. "Oh, how I love you, Mommy."

She huffs at him, leans in to give him a quick kiss, and sees that Castle is grinning at her too. The two of them are a pair - so alike. "Okay, all right. Poe and what else?"

"I want the Captain Underpants book."

Castle laughs, one arm still holding Dash on his back but reaching for the books with his free hand. She hands over the illustrated Poe, which Kate is almost certain they have at home - or something very similar to it, and the Dav Pilkey book.

She shifts Ellery up a little, moving her knee away from the raw place at her back. "What about you, cricket? What two books?"

"Two?"

"Just two." Kate fans them out. "You have this one at home, baby girl. Not this one."

She drops the princess book of manners in the floor with the others Dash isn't getting, then holds up the rest of her choices.

"Harry the Dirty Dog," Ella says, pointing to the book about the dog that doesn't want to take a bath. "And . . . and . . . Charlie and Lola!"

Kate grins and gives both of them to Castle. Ella picked the book about the two kids who absolutely have to draw - and which lets her draw and paint and scribble all through the book. It looks like fun, and Kate kind of wants to 'help' her read it.

Ellery squirms with delight and snuggles closer to her mother as they head towards the front of the store.

"Kate? Did you want anything?"

She shakes her head. "I got a couple new ones on the iPad."

"Shame. Nothing like having the actual book," he sighs.

"Hm, hold on. Actually." She kisses Ella's cheek and leans over to put her down. "Take the kids up there. I'll be right back."

"Yeah?" he says, giving her a grin and taking Ellery's hand.

"Uppie," she whines, lifting both hands.

Kate winces but ducks out, leaving him with the kids as she heads back for the fiction section. There is this one book she's loved, and has always meant to get, but she likes to have a reason to buy an old favorite, a memory attached to the purchase. This is a good time to add to her collection.

Kate finds the C's quickly enough and scans the shelves, hoping to find the one title-

The Awakening.

She slides the slim volume off the shelf and brushes her finger over the cover. She's never seen this imprint before - a woman in blue, the smear of condensation over the cover like she's looked at through a mirror, the face turned away. Her heart pounds just holding it; she flips open the pages and scans the lines, wondering if it's as liberating now as it was then.

There were days when she was very happy without knowing why. She was happy to be alive and breathing, when her whole being seemed to be one with the sunlight, the color, the odors, the luxuriant warmth of some perfect Southern day.

Oh. Yes.

Happy to be alive.

She knows the book doesn't end well, knows the woman can't maintain the balance of happy days, but the language and the light, the way those happy days infuse the writing, the life of this character - it's still a wonderful novella.

Kate heads back to the front with the book against her chest and finds her family at the register. She bites her lip as she sees both Dashiell and Ellery in Castle's arms as he tries to juggle them and pay.

"Mommy," Ella breathes, throwing out both arms to her. Kate gathers her daughter close and hands the book over to Castle, wincing as Ella's fingers pull on her hair.

"This one too."

He glances at it, gives her crooked grin. "Doesn't she walk into the sea at the end?"

"Yeah. But I love it."

"Weird. You are weird," he laughs, then nods to the woman at the register. "Can I pay for this one too?"

Kate lifts on her toes and kisses the side of his neck, the two kids squirming between them. She feels his skin ripple and sinks back down flat on her feet, grinning at him. "Hm, a little weird. Still love it."

Castle reaches out and hooks his hand in her back pocket, tugging on her, something like desperate need in his leer. "Don't worry. I like weird."

"We all know it," she laughs.

Still. How absurdly grateful she feels to see that hot spark in his eyes when he looks at her, the sense she gets that these moments when she's most herself, and feeling most vulnerable for it, these are the times he loves her the fiercest.


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