'I Loved Her First'
Jim Beckett turned slightly from his position where he was standing with the minister, Martha, and Alexis. He smiled as he watched his daughter was slow dancing with his new son-in-law.
He couldn't believe it, that his only daughter was finally married. It was every father's dream, for their daughter to find a man who loved them unconditionally and made her happy. And at the same time it was also a father's greatest fear, to see as a new man take over the role as the center man in his daughter's universe. Maybe it was his father's intuition but Jim knew the moment he'd met him, that Richard Castle was that man.
In his darkest hour, in the times when he'd been sober enough to pay attention, he had seen his daughter read Castle's books. She would get so deep into them and on the rarest of occasions he would find her looking at the back of the book jacket with Rick's picture. A spark would catch her eye and just as quickly when she caught him noticing, it would fade.
His daughter wasn't the first young woman to fall for the somewhat famous writer but now she had a claim to him that no other woman ever would have.
He didn't care about his son-in-law's status or that he was world famous. The only thing he cared about was the smile he now saw on his daughter's face. No man had ever made her happy the way Rick did. His daughter had a tendency to run the other way whenever a relationship got too serious but that was not the case with Rick as evidenced in her vows.
Jim had read the dedication in Rick's first novel based on his savvy cop of a daughter when it had been published so he knew how much Rick loved Kate. Six books later, excluding the book dedicated to the late Captain Montgomery, they had all been dedicated to her.
Jim placed down his half empty glass of Champaign and walked over to the happy couple.
"Mind if I cut in?" he asked.
Castle backed away as he and his wife smiled at each other. He also smiled at his father-in-law.
"Wouldn't be a proper wedding if you didn't sir," he said to the man, "I'll go see what my mother and our daughter are up to."
It didn't go unnoticed by Jim or Kate that Rick had referred to Alexis as "our daughter," instead of "my daughter."
Like Castle, Jim pulled out his phone and the song 'I Loved Her First' by Heartland began to play softly.
The lyrics flowed and the two of them swayed. It had been years since Jim had danced but the steps were still the same.
"How are you, Katie," Jim said breaking the silence.
"Overjoyed," Kate replied with a smile.
Jim smiled back, "You know I still remember my wedding. Next to having you it was the most nerve wreaking experience of my life."
"You never told me that."
"It's a sense of pride with a man," said Jim, "With every step your mother took, among wondering how lucky I was to have found her, I couldn't also help but wonder if the next step she took would be the one where she decided to go the opposite way and leave."
"But she didn't."
"No. I don't even think it crossed her mind."
Kate smiled, "Guess that's something we have in common now."
Jim smiled back, "She's proud of you, Katie. I know she'd be here if she could."
Kate rested her head on her dad's chest, "I know that too. I love you dad."
"I love you too, Katie."
-END-