Lost - 6
Martha caught Alexis packing. "So you're going back. You must like him." The actress was smiling widely. She'd been right. Her granddaughter had found someone and it wasn't here in New York.
"Yes, Grams, I like him. But don't get in front of yourself too far. I'm just staying for the summer. I'll be back for classes in the fall." At least that was her plan at present.
"Perhaps." Martha was betting that they had a college somewhere in the Bahamas. It may not be as prestigious as the one she was attending, but it was a college.
"You are coming out for a visit, Grams. The beach may not be to your liking but Nassau has a lot of places to go shopping." Alexis wasn't going to take no for an answer.
"Hmm." Martha thought about it. "They may have some jewelry that I can't live without."
Alexis offered another enticement. "And maybe a lovely dinner cruise with a nice man while sipping wine."
"Now you're speaking my language. Maybe even more than a week." Martha was starting to like this idea.
"I'll make arrangements for you after I get there. Find you a hotel room on the beach so you can see the ocean." She tried yet another enticement. "Maybe next to a casino."
"Gambling! Sold! What was his name again?" Martha had forgotten. Mostly because Alexis barely said it.
She told her again. "Andres White."
"That's right, Andre." Martha couldn't believe she had forgotten.
Alexis was all set to correct her again but let it go. She was either teasing her or really didn't get it. "Just pack and get ready to join us, please. It's going to be great."
"He does what for a living?" Martha had to admit that she wasn't listening as closely as she should have.
"He's an architect. At the moment he's part of a team that's sending in a remodel idea for the cruise ship port of Nassau. He's hoping that if they win they will get to do other cruise ports. Maybe even design new ones for new islands. He's talented, Grams." At least Alexis thought he was. They were about to find out if other people did as well.
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"Andres!" Alexis was happy to see him and he had even met her at the airport.
"Alexis." He walked right up to her and kissed her in the middle of the terminal. "You said you were staying all summer." He couldn't believe his luck.
"I am. Which reminds me. We need to remodel your apartment a little." His place spoke to her and not in a good way.
"Just don't go nuts on me. If we win I was thinking of moving to a new place," Andres said.
"Ooo, Nassau real estate. I'm all over it," she bubbled enthusiastically. Andres laughed and wrapped an arm around her. He was just loading the last bag into the back of his Jeep.
Then Alexis dropped her bomb on him. "I may have invited my grandmother to join us for a week or so." But before he could say anything, she continued, "I'm going to find her a hotel room."
"Good, my place only has one bedroom and one American in my room is enough," Andres teased and was rewarded with a glare. "You can unpack and then we can go out and eat. Unless you want to look for a hotel room or look up local real estate first."
"All that can wait. Feed me, I'm hungry and then maybe we can burn off all those calories in your one American only room." Alexis smiled at him and giggled when his hand missed the stick.
~[o]~+~[o]~
Andres came in behind Alexis dressed in only his boxers to find her sitting at his work desk in one of his shirts. "What are you doing?" He gazed over her shoulder. She looked to be using her computer but it was at his desk.
"Looking for a hotel for Grams. Then I can get her a ticket and tell her when she's leaving and where she's going," Alexis said absently, continuing to look.
"Since my Jeep can barely hold the two of us and your luggage, I'll give you the key and you can go get her. Just get an address, plug it into the GPS, and you should be good." Andres kissed her head.
"Breakfast? I went shopping yesterday just for you," Andres smiled.
"Hm? Oh, something light, please. Are you working today?" She wanted to know if she was on her own.
"Unfortunately, yes. We need to get this presentation right. Getting it will mean a lot." It meant work; hopefully lots of it.
"I'll go into town and do some shopping then." It was code that she was going to go see her researcher and find out what he had found so far.
"How about this for Grams?" Alexis called which had him leaving the kitchen to look.
Andres shot her first idea down. "Stay off of Paradise Island," he warned. "It's not that what's there is bad. It's just that access is limited. At rush hour it can take over an hour, even from here." Alexis went back to looking. "And stay away from the airport. Jet noise."
"How about here?" His warning about Paradise Island took away all of the high priced hotels except for this one.
He came back over to look. "The Island House just off of Old Fort Bay. It's nice. A bit pricey but nice. Sometimes it might take us a little while to get there from here." Andres signed off on it. "Book it if you like it and think your grandmother will."
"Asian House, Mahogany House, world renowned wines, coffee bar. They have a cinema, The Bamford Spa. The activities don't sound like my grandmother. Film festival. It sounds like a place she would like, though." Alexis went in search of rooms. "No, no, no. A suite. One king bed with 900 square feet of space and 300 square feet of balcony or patio." Alexis was happy with her choice and booked it, then went looking for an airfare.
"She'll be here in three weeks for a week. Longer if she likes it." Alexis joined him in the kitchen and kissed him before sneaking a bite of her breakfast.
"Call me if you think you have time. I'm going to go shopping." Alexis gave him a quick kiss before getting in her taxi and giving him the address she had for her researcher.
~[o]~+~[o]~
"Ms. Castle!" He was happy to see her since it had been a little while. "I'm ready for you." He had her take a seat. "Please forgive the surroundings. I'm renting a desk from these people who, as you can see, have the space." There were five desks and only three of them had any papers on them.
"Not a problem. We could have done this at a restaurant if you'd wanted." Alexis just wanted the information and didn't care where she learned it.
"I'll keep that in mind for next time." He liked that idea and was going to use it.
"This is the island in question." He showed her an aerial photo of Cat Island. "As you know they built a house here." He handed over another aerial photo, only this one was more of a close-up.
"As I'm sure you saw, it was built all by hand with no nails." He had been impressed by that alone. Alexis snapped her head up to look at him. That was something she didn't know and hadn't looked for when she was there.
"No nails." How did you manage that, Dad?
"My resources tell me that they were found in the year 1836. This would place the girl that was with them at 15 years old. I'm afraid I have no pictures of her. The boys are James, who was 13 at the time, and Levi, age 11." He gave her some information to read.
Alexis took her time since she had all day unless her boyfriend called to say he was free for lunch. "This talks about them being taken to Nassau."
"Indeed," he agreed. "From the notes I came across, the captain of the ship that found them was both a little shocked and a little impressed. He was shocked that all of them were naked and that the children all resisted being clothed." That had Alexis smiling. She hadn't really thought that her dad and Kate would be naked the entire time. But it made sense.
"He was also impressed that the same children showed that they were smart. His remarks suggested to me that they were home-schooled. He just didn't see how they did it." He read ahead while Alexis digested that bit.
To her thinking, it had her dad written all over it. She just didn't know how he'd done it either.
"I'm having difficulty chasing down the children and what they did next or where they went. But I will. I still have a couple of leads to pursue. I've had better luck with the parents, though.
"The woman was the easiest to find. She got a job in a local school." He handed over that piece of information.
Alexis started reading. "First grade!" She found that a bit of a shock.
He offered a comment. "It helps explain why the children impressed the captain as much as they did."
Alexis took that idea and silently agreed. "It says her name was Katherine Kravitz." It should have been either Beckett or Castle.
"Finding her gave me my first lead on him." He gave her the paperwork for him.
Alexis read as fast as she could. "Richard Kravitz?" Still both were Rick and Kate which was good.
"It took a lot of looking but I found a picture of her. It's with one of her classes." He searched for it, found it and handed it over. "It's old and faded and this is just a copy. However, you can just make out the date."
Alexis took it and studied it carefully. She was tall, like really tall with long legs. It was a little too faded to see the face clearly. But she was smiling. She had at least found Kate, and she was a teacher.
He didn't understand why she was so involved with people that lived almost 200 hundred years ago. He found it odd that his client was sitting there with a hand over her mouth as tears started. It left him with a lot of questions, though he was being paid good money and still had things to tell her.
"Once I had his name it was easier to find out more about him. He has a number of works that are still in the local library. Most of his earlier works, especially the first editions, are in the hands of collectors. I did manage to purchase one. It's not a first edition or anything but I thought you might like it." He pulled it out of a drawer and gave it to her.
Alexis took it and looked it over. "They didn't do books like we do today. There's no book cover or enticement to get you to buy it and read it. It's just a book." She opened it, turned a few pages, and began reading. "It's a children's book." She wasn't sure if she was shocked or not. It wasn't a mystery book like Derek Storm or Nikki Heat.
"From what I've been able to learn, all of his books were children's books. I found it interesting. She taught children and in a way he taught children through his books." They were obviously family-oriented people.
Alexis used the back of her hand to wipe away some of the tears that had spilled down her face. "He wrote books." It was all she really needed to tell her this man was her dad.
"Several actually. I have no idea what kind of money he made or what she made as a teacher. But having two incomes would suggest that they did relatively well given the time.
"I managed to find an area where they might have lived, although any houses in that area are long gone. At the moment I'm trying to find a grave and what happened to their children. If you're interested…" He feared that his money train had learned enough already.
"YES! Please. Both actually. Trace the children and their offspring all the way to present day if you can. And I would very much like for you to find graves for both of them. Please." She hadn't encountered either of them in the Void so far. And since her dad did this before her that meant he couldn't escort himself to his door.
It was one of the reasons she had her item for her plan on her at the moment. Just she hadn't worked out what she was going to do when they went to a beach with her boyfriend.
"Find them, please. All of them." Alexis wanted to learn all there was to learn. Maybe if she was lucky she would get to see and talk to family.
His curiosity got the best of him. He decided to risk it. "May I ask what interests you in this family?"
"Family, I think they might be family. Just find them, all of them," Alexis instructed him. "And thank you for all of this. I'll be here until fall so if you need me for some reason, I'll be in the area." She stood up and shook his hand, leaving a lot happier than she had been when she entered.
"You're around here somewhere, Dad, and I'm going to find you," Alexis said to the empty space around her.
~[o]~+~[o]~
"Grams!" Alexis hugged her and was really happy to see her. "I have Andres's Jeep. We just need your bags and I can take you to your hotel. He has to work today so I'm all yours until tonight when we have dinner reservation."
"Hotel? I was expecting to share a house," Martha teased.
"He has a small place with one bedroom. There's not really enough room for all of us." Alexis walked right into it and never even saw it coming. Martha was smiling broadly since she now knew where her granddaughter was staying.
"The Island House. How original," Martha commented as they pulled in at the front entrance.
"Give it a chance, Grams." She didn't have an alternative. If she didn't like it, they were going to be in trouble.
Smiling, Martha was walking around her room. It was a one bedroom suite. "It has two restaurants, a spa and a pool, and isn't far from the beach," Alexis said after she saw her on the patio looking out over the ocean. "And a view."
Martha was done teasing her. "You had me at spa, dear." She glanced at Alexis. "So when do I get to meet this wonderful fellow of yours?" She was really looking forward to it.
"Tonight at dinner." Alexis really hoped it all went well.
~[o]~+~[o]~
Andres showed up behind Alexis as she was drinking her morning coffee. "Your grandmother…" He was still searching for a word.
Alexis helped him out. "Grams is unique."
"That about sums her up. She is truly one of a kind. She also loves you a lot." Andres hadn't missed that, either.
"She's the only family I have left." At least until her researcher slash genealogist came through and found decedents of her dad and Kate. Kravitz. They got married. Officially married. She thought she had something.
"I need to call him." Alexis left him to go in search of her phone, leaving a bewildered Andres standing there. "Hi, it's Alexis Castle. I need you to look for weddings. Specifically the Kravitz wedding. That isn't their original name. If it helps, look for the names Castle and Beckett." She abruptly hung up on him since she didn't need his questions.
When she turned she saw Andres looking at her with questions. She gave him a bone. "I'm chasing my family tree. I've made it as far back as early 1800s. They were in this general area."
"So that's why you were here. It sounds…nice. Not a lot of people care about their ancestry. They're too busy living in the now or worried about tomorrow." It was one more thing to like about Alexis.
"Ancestry tells us who we are. We make our own choices so we write our own future. But people are our past. Without one of them we wouldn't even be born." Alexis wove a lie in with the truth, hoping he would believe her.
Andres moved in closer so he could hold her. "What else have you been doing these last few weeks? Besides shopping." He had found a few new things in his place.
She bristled a little. "This place needed it."
"Change it all you want. Just so long as it keeps you here." He didn't want her to leave.
"I do have college courses back in New York," Alexis reminded him.
"We'll talk again when the time comes. Maybe things will change." Andres kissed her. "What else have you been doing? You strike me as someone who doesn't slow down. I know you've been up to something. So are you going to tell me what?" Andres kissed her again, then again, and again.
"Okay, come see." Alexis led him over to her laptop and brought up what she'd saved.
"A boat!" Andres was a little shocked. He'd been sure she was looking for a house. "Pegasus IX. Says it is here in Nassau, meaning we could go look at it. Sabre Catamarans, Western Australia, 2005. Refit in 2013 in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. That makes it really recent. Like this year recent." He was impressed and kept reading before Alexis started showing him pictures.
"Ninety feet long, made of fiberglass, ABS certified and can be run with a crew of two." He liked the sound of that. "The owners have purchased a home here and are looking to downsize to a sailing cat. Two million nine hundred forty thousand US dollars. You can afford that much?" They had never talked about money. He'd suspected that she had money since she was flying out there but he'd never suspected she was that rich.
"I have enough." Actually she had more than enough and that was after buying her dad and Kate's home.
"What else?" He didn't think Alexis would stop at just one.
"Tigers Eye, a 2008 Hargrave Skylounge. Also located here in Nassau." This one was listed at $3,950,000 US.
He liked the pictures; it looked a lot more luxurious. "It costs a lot more but it looks like it needs more than two people to man it," Andres warned.
"Yeah, I was afraid of that. That will probably rule out the last one, too." Alexis showed him her third choice.
"Private Radio, 1984 Motor Yacht Poole Chaffee, 105 feet long. Only $1,400,000 US. At least it costs less," Andres commented and then looked at the pictures she showed him. "It looks like it's from 1984." He wasn't a fan of the interior.
"It says it underwent an extensive renovation." It talked about all new engines, new plumbing, new electrical. It included a tender and two garages for water toys.
"Still looks like more than two people can handle." He was ready to shoot it down just for that among other concerns. "Have you ever sailed before? Do you know what it takes to keep it clean inside and out?"
"Not yet." Alexis was willing to admit that she didn't know a thing. "But I'm not buying it yet. I'm just looking. Trying to decide on my options."
"Well owning a yacht sounds like a good plan. It allows you – or us – to get around. Explore a little. Go see smaller islands that can only be reached by boat. Just make sure it has a shallow draft or carries its own small boat to get around in. We need groceries after all," Andres cautioned and kissed her head.
"Don't forget we have another dinner with your grandmother tonight. She said something about a surprise." Andres headed for the shower to get ready.
"Okay, so maybe a yacht needs more research." Alexis sighed. "I wish you were here, Dad, I could use some advice." It was one of the few times that she suddenly felt all alone. It also left her wondering what surprise her grandmother had for them.
She was walking toward the bathroom to join him in the shower so she could get ready when she found herself in the Void. She was thankful it wasn't her dad since she had gotten lax about carrying around her idea. If it would even work.
