Chapter 10
"Hi Joseph," Alexis said when she opened the front door.
"Alexis. It's been too long. Look at you. You're all grown up." He gave her a little one-armed hug. "This is what I get for letting my associates work with our best clients. I lose track." Looking around as he entered the room, he zeroed in on Jim, walked over and held out his hand. You must be Jim Beckett."
"I am," Jim answered. "And you must be Joseph. I've heard glowing reports."
"Joseph Meads. And I'll do my best to live up to any such reports. We both want your daughter to have a wedding that meets all her expectations."
"We've already done most of this weekend's work for you," Martha said, patting the folder she held in her hand. "We saw everything on the list yesterday…nearly killed ourselves, but we're down to five candidates awaiting your well-trained eye."
"Bless you. Let me see," Joseph answered. "I was expecting more of a challenge."
"You know you had fun, Mother," Castle chided.
"Well that doesn't mean it didn't wear us out," she qualified.
"I see one of these is the one my contact recommended."
"And it was a good choice," Kate answered from her place wrapped in Castle's arm. "We'd like you to see these places with us today and look for potential problems…point out anything we might need to consider."
We're down to only one church, so time is a factor only for that one…oh, and for a party this afternoon at this place," Castle amended, pointing out one of the other print-outs. "We'll need to work around that one, too."
"I smell coffee. Can we have some and talk about these before we leave?"
"I'll get the coffee," Alexis offered.
After some planning and discussion, they were on the road again…on a much more limited trip this time. The church visit was scheduled in the middle of their travels so they would arrive about the time services ended; and they waited until the pastor, a tallish, stocky man with a lot of white showing in his once brown hair and his short, well-trimmed beard, had said good-bye to the last few of his parishioners before they went to speak to him.
When the minister saw them approaching, he gave them a warm smile and met them at the bottom of the front steps. Offering his hand to Rick, who was leading the group, he said, "Steven Grayson. Most people call me Steve…or Pastor Steve…or Pastor Grayson. I answer to any of them. If I'm not mistaken, you're the folks Martin mentioned from yesterday."
"We are. We enjoyed Martin and Millie, and the tour of your church," Kate answered.
"If I remember what he told me correctly, you must be Kate, Pastor Grayson speculated, and you're Rick…and Jim?" he said shaking hands as he went. "And the young woman with the nice smile and the beautiful long red hair, I understand from Millie is Alexis?" At her nod, he went on. "And this lovely red hair belongs to Martha… Oh, my goodness. Are you Martha Rodgers?!"
"I am," she answered graciously. "It's good to meet you. That's quite a memory for someone working from second hand information."
"They were impressed, even without knowing who you are. My wife and I used to go into the city more often than we do now, and we always made it a point to see you when you were in a new production. What brought you our way this morning?"
"My son's marriage to this lovely woman," she responded, indicating Kate.
"Your son?" They could see the man putting the situation together. "Which would mean Rick is Richard Castle…and Kate is Detective Beckett?"
"Right on the first try," Castle answered with a smile. The man apparently kept up with the entertainment news.
"My wife won't believe this," Pastor Grayson said, shaking his head. "And you're considering our little church for your wedding?" he asked incredulously. "I know you've already seen it. In this area, it's one of the larger churches from its time; but it seats a little under two hundred people. I'd expect you'd have more guests than that."
"No. This wedding will be family and close friends…and the spouse's and plus one's who come with them. This is Joseph Meads. He's going to be coordinating the wedding planning. And we'd appreciate it if you'd keep this to yourself. We'd like to have a quiet wedding if possible. No publicity."
"I understand." He rubbed his beard with his fingers, seeming to be weighing his next statement ahead of speaking. He then asked with a twinkle in his eyes, "I can tell my wife, can't I? She can keep a secret." He rolled his eyes and added, "You can't imagine how many secrets we have to keep stored in our heads in this profession."
Everyone laughed, and about then, a woman with a cheery smile came to the door asking good-naturedly, "Steve, are you almost ready?"
"I might be a little longer, honey. Let me introduce you to these folks."
The woman, whose hair was somewhat whiter than Pastor Grayson's, and whose eyes had the same sparkle, came down the steps to meet them.
"My wife, Angie," Pastor Grayson said. "Angie, I'd like you to meet Martha Rodgers, Richard Castle, Detective Kate Beckett…"
"Jim Beckett, Katie's father," Jim filled in when the pastor ran out of full identification information, and then Jim reached to shake her hand, "and this is Alexis Castle."
"I'm his daughter," she explained, pointing to Castle.
"And I'm helping them plan an important event," they heard from the as yet unidentified third man. "Joseph Meads," he said.
Looking to Castle, the pastor got a nod of approval. "Mr. Castle and Miss Beckett...they're considering our church for the wedding," Steve told his wife. "And you can't tell a soul."
"Well, that shouldn't be hard," she answered. "I'm speechless." Recovering quickly, she asked, "Are you really? This certainly isn't as grand as what you're probably used to."
"We aren't looking for grand," Castle answered. "We're looking for special…and trying to go back to the city this afternoon having found it. Joseph is with us today because he has to work with whatever we choose, and we want to give him a fair chance to do his job well."
"Then why don't I show you around, Mr. Meads? Angie, would you entertain our guests for a few minutes?" the pastor asked as he walked up the steps with Joseph…already talking.
"I really like this place," Alexis said, breaking the ice, and conversation expanded from there.
When they were ready to leave, Castle asked if Pastor Grayson would hold the May dates open for them until Joseph could be in touch one way or the other on Monday morning, and he agreed without hesitation.
They had already seen the beach house inn that Martha had liked so much from the day before, and they sat in the SUV to talk for a few minutes before going anywhere else.
"Pros and cons, Joseph?" Castle asked.
"Cons…it's small and old. There are places to separately house the bride's party and the groom's party, but they aren't at all luxurious…not even a little, to be honest. The reception would obviously have to be held elsewhere. It's right on the road, so security would be more difficult. Pros…It's beautiful. It's been maintained with amazing attention to detail…probably looks very close to the way it did in the late eighteen hundreds, and Rick, I know you love that sort of thing. I love the dark wood pews and trim work. And the stained glass windows…gorgeous. They've managed to install a heating/cooling system that you'd never know is there if you didn't know what to look for, so it should be comfortable for you and your guests." He paused to look at the two fiancés thoughtfully. "And you really love it, don't you…both of you?"
Kate and Castle looked at each other, and slowly, both nodded. "Can you make it work?" Kate asked, not moving her gaze from her future husband.
"I love it, too," Joseph admitted. ""I was making plans every step of the way...couldn't help myself, so I already have some ideas. And it looks like the people we'd have to work with will make it a good experience. That's important."
"What about the inn?" Martha asked. "Could we have the reception there?"
"That would be just about all pros," Joseph decided after a moment of thought.
"I like that," Kate answered. "Do you like that?" she asked Castle.
"I love that," he responded, and they smiled huge, relieved smiles.
"Are they both available on the same date?" they heard hopefully from Alexis.
After checking his notes, Joseph triumphantly announced, "Ladies and gentlemen, we have a winner," and stated the date. "I don't think we need to look any further."
Seeing the pastor and his wife in their car driving toward the road from behind the church, Castle said excitedly, "Give me one of your cards, Joseph." He pulled out one of his own, opened the door, and flung himself from the driver's seat to jog over and meet the pastor's car.
As they watched Castle, Joseph said, "The next thing we need is the right dress. I'll have to take that into consideration with some of the planning."
"I already have the dress," Kate told him absent-mindedly. "It's kind of non-traditional…in a traditional sort of way."
"You already have the dress?!" Martha and Alexis asked, almost simultaneously.
"Where is it, and why haven't we seen it?" Martha demanded.
"It's in the box Matilda sent it in…in the guest room where maybe your son won't be trying to sneak a look. "I meant to show you, but things got busy and distracting for a couple of weeks. You can see it when we get home."
"Who's Matilda?" Alexis asked.
"Matilda King," Kate answered.
Joseph joined them in echoing, "Matilda King!?"
"A story for later, Kate answered, intent on watching Castle. "What is he doing?"
"Telling them when you're getting married here unless I miss my guess," Jim answered.
"Did you have another question, Mr. Castle?" Steve Grayson asked after lowering his window.
"Not a question…a date….this one," Castle said, jotting a couple of things down on the back of his business card. "We'd like to be married here on this date. Would you be willing to perform the ceremony? One of the guests is Bob Weldon, and I'm sure he'd be willing; but I don't know if his jurisdiction as an officiate extends beyond New York City. That's something I'll have to check on."
"If you need me, I'd be honored."
"I appreciate that you're willing to allow the heathens who don't attend church to be married here. A lot of churches…"
"These days I'm so happy to see people who still want to make a public, lifetime commitment to one another that, regardless of their spiritual status, I'll always be at the altar with the doors wide open, waiting for them. Not that any of you looked like heathens," he qualified with a grin.
"Here's my card. That's my home number on the back in case you need it. Joseph's number is on his card, and he's good about returning missed calls. If it's convenient, he'll be in to see you tomorrow morning, to work out details."
"After ten tomorrow would be best."
"I'll tell him," Castle said. "And thank you for your time this morning. We didn't mean to take up so much of it," he added, reaching to shake the pastor's hand. Stretching his arm across him toward his wife, Castle shook her hand, too. "Thank you for your patience, Mrs. Grayson. We'll be seeing you soon."
"I'll look forward to it," she answered with a warm smile. "It's easy to be patient when you're watching two people so obviously in love trying to be married."
Castle made no effort to hide his smile at that statement, just stood away from the car so the couple could leave; then he returned to his own vehicle, kissed Kate soundly right in front of everybody, and announced, "We have a place, a preacher, and family and good friends to help us celebrate. That's all we really need for this wedding. Anything beyond that will just add to the satisfaction…aaaand I now know on exactly which day I can start calling you my wife," he said to his smiling fiancé. He kissed her again, started the SUV, and asked "Is anybody ready for lunch? Steak, lobster, whatever you want. We're celebrating."
"I think I saw a restaurant near the inn. Why don't we eat there and then go and get ourselves on their calendar, too," Kate suggested. "Let's do that first. And then I'm ready to celebrate, too, because that's the same date I can start calling you my husband."
"Help. Save me, Granddad. I think I might be dying of a massive sugar overdose," Alexis protested, sinking against the back of her seat dramatically.
Jim laughed and patted her hand. "Quite a performance, there. Your grandmother should be proud." Looking at Castle's smiling face where he watched in the rear view mirror, Jim grinned. "Well, you heard the girl. Your child needs…what does she need, Martha…protein?"
"Don't lobsters and steaks both have protein?" Martha asked.
"I need lobster," Alexis answered in her weak, death scene voice, with her hand placed palm out on her forehead…and sunk a little lower so her head lolled on her grandmother's arm.
"Well, if the red hair didn't convince me she's your progeny, this would do it," Jim Beckett stated, looking toward Martha.
"Katherine, I'm going to like having someone else my age in the family," Martha told her.
"What do I have to do to join?" Joseph asked. "My family is never this much fun. It's full of old geezers with no sense of humor. Even the young ones act like old geezers with no sense of humor."
"I guess you'll just have to come and visit now and then," Alexis said, never breaking character.
"Well done, darling," Martha complimented her progeny.
"We'll go to the inn first. If the restaurant near it isn't what we want, we'll find another one," Castle said, making the decision for all of them. "The Williamsons said the whole weekend was open and the entire inn would be available. We can have the reception there and rent the whole place for our guests, especially the ones from the twelfth, for the weekend, too. That way there won't be other guests with cell phone cameras to contend with. Security will be easier because any strangers will be obvious. Joseph knows who we can trust for everything else. We're about to make this work."
With the church and the inn secured for the wedding weekend and Alexis having made an amazing recovery after a good dose of lobster, they went home to pack to return to the city, their mssion accomplished.
Joseph returned to the house with them to pick up his car and go to check in at the hotel where Castle had arranged accommodations for him for the next few days.
"When I get back to the city, I'm coming by for a look at that dress. And Matilda King? I'll be looking for that story, too."
Kate laughed. "Just give me a call," she answered as he got in his car and left.
After everyone's luggage was lined up next to the front door, they all looked reluctant to leave.
"This was fun," Alexis said. "Thanks for letting it be a family project, Kate."
"No need to thank me. I had just as much fun as anybody here."
"It's still early. One more round of coffee before we go?" Martha suggested.
"We'll make the coffee," Castle volunteered, pulling Kate with him to the coffee machine before his mother could get to it.
"Hot cocoa again?" Alexis asked Jim.
"Why don't we just go with coffee this time?" he suggested. "Less to clean up."
"Okay. Want to help me get down the mugs," she asked seeing Castle and Kate leave the coffee machine to do it's magic.
"Sure." As he took the mugs she got down and put them on the counter and lined up the syrups and creamers they all used, he said, "You called me Granddad. Does that mean you've decided you could use one of those?
The girl seemed a little uncomfortable. "It just slipped out. Any time I've thought about having a grandfather, somebody like you was who I imagined," she said without looking up. "It didn't seem like you'd mind," she added hopefully."
"I'll be honored to be your grandfather," he assured her.
"Dad and Grams have always been my only real family. All I can remember of my mother is somebody I visit with now and then. I did meet a grandfather a few times, but I don't really feel like I've ever had one."
"Well, I haven't had a granddaughter before, either. We'll figure it out together," he said with a smile and a quick one-armed squeeze around her shoulders, and she finally looked up and smiled.
After coffee and easy conversation, they cleaned up in the kitchen, loaded their luggage in the SUV, and reluctantly left to return to the city…a much stronger blended family than when they left, and confident that Kate and Castle's 'always' would apply to that, too.