Richard Castle 25
While carrying Vincent, their infant son, Kate stepped into Rick's smithy and found him hard at work again. She knew why, but was afraid that he was working himself to death. "I brought your drink." She set it down near him. "You really need to rest, love. You can't keep drinking this stuff. It will catch up to you eventually. Plus the longer you drink it the more you will want more." She truly feared it was addictive.
"I'm attempting to finish two, almost three months of work in one. We need this job. We need for this demonstration to work." Rick replied and continued to work.
She needed to reach him. "And what does it gain us if you kill yourself doing it? Please don't leave our son behind. Don't leave Alexis in limbo." She feared she was losing him; they had not made love since their son's birth.
That stopped him in mid-hammer strike. "Alexis," he whispered to himself.
"Please take a break," she begged. "Just for a few hours. Get some true sleep. We will still be here even if you don't win." Kate couldn't lose him simply because he wanted to provide for them.
Rick slowly laid down his hammer. He allowed her to guide him to their little space and into the tent where she stripped him and put him to bed. She sat down next to him and nursed their son while she watched him sleep. "No more of that drink for you, my love. I'm not losing you now that we're truly together," she vowed quietly.
Kate held her baby to her breast with one hand and stroked her husband's hair with the other. The quiet gave her time with her own mind which went back about two weeks.
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"It's the best dress I have, Castle." Kate saw the look on his face. "Smith." Why was it so damned hard to get the last name right? "And before you say it, we need the money that a new dress would cost."
Ever since the birth of their son they'd had to stop using Rick's traps and rely on buying food in the city. They were doing that daily and it was eating up their money. Yes, her business had actually picked up a bit lately; she suspected Mathias might have something to do with that. However, she did like the location. A lot of people passed by her shop.
"I just want you to..."
She interrupted him. "No, Rick. As long as you think I'm pretty that's all that matters to me. No one we know will be there." Kate had so few friends as it was.
"That's not entirely true." Rick had invited a guest; the look he was getting told him he had better explain fast and it had better be good. "I invited Mathias since he's given us this chance." He really wanted to add that this church wedding needed to be done quickly; he had far too much work to do.
She wasn't sure how she felt about that. He was Rick's friend and she barely knew him. How did he know so much about weapons? How did he know these people that offered Rick this chance? She knew they needed witnesses so she acquiesced.
xOx
Kate liked the church. It was so grand. It boasted massive stained glass windows, huge heavy wood doors; it was perfect. Once they entered they found the sanctuary was almost packed with people. It was actually late in the morning and before they went home they would need to shop for their daily food.
She had Vincent in her arms and knew her eyes were wide and her jaw a little slack. "Who are all these people?" she whispered to Rick.
They only found out later that they were the third and final wedding of the day. The people from all the other weddings along with a number of complete strangers had stayed for theirs along with the previous weddings.
Kate saw the midwife who had helped her give birth to her son; she came over and took him from Kate.
The priest said a few things most of which Kate wasn't listening to. Rick was standing right in front of her and he was smiling at her. It was all she could do not to cry. She barely noticed when the priest asked her if she had something to say. Every word was trapped in her throat and she was sure she would be embarrassed. She took a deep breath and began speaking. "I don't know where I would be without you." Actually burned at the stake came to mind. "You've given me a life I never knew I could have." She realized she was crying. "I love you." Kate croaked out the last words and wiped furiously at her tears.
Rick cleared his throat as his own tears threatened. "You've given my heart back to me. Given back the life I was sure was lost to me. I know I've said the words to you before and honestly, I questioned whether I meant them. But this time I do, with the whole of my heart. ...I love you and want you as my wife for the rest of our lives."
She couldn't keep up with the tears and had no idea how she was still standing. All she saw was Rick's face getting closer till he was kissing her. She latched hold of him to remain standing and kissed him back with all her soul.
She paid no attention to the priest after that. It wasn't until Vincent started crying that she was brought back into the here and now. Kate grabbed hold of Rick's head and kissed him again and felt him kissing her back.
Kate had been surrounded by a number of women, some of whom had their own children in their arms. Rick was off to one side surrounded by men. She turned to find the midwife holding Vincent standing right next to her. "You're probably hungry again aren't you, little man?" she cooed then took her son back into her arms. He quieted almost immediately but began crying again just before they reached home.
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Kate was returning from shopping for their dinner. Vincent was safely tucked in one arm and her goods were in her backpack. She had found Rick gone this morning but that came as no surprise. He had told her that he would be in his shop before moving to the testing range and he'd warned her that he might be gone all day.
She turned the corner, glad to be almost home. What got her immediate attention was a horse that was tied up outside their home. His horse! She walked faster. "Your daddy's home!" Kate was positively beaming by then and kissed Vincent's head.
She had just gotten the door open when she found herself enveloped in a giant hug that lasted a split second thanks to Vincent being crushed a little. Rick took the baby from her arms. "I'm sorry, Daddy's very sorry, baby boy." He rocked back and forth briefly trying to soothe Vincent. "But Daddy has news!" Rick smiled wide at Kate.
"It went well?" She looked hopeful. One whole month of hard work needed to work out for them.
"Better than well; it went GREAT!" He reached for the paper laying on their little table and handed it over.
She read as fast as she could.
His Majesty has granted you the use of a squad of troops using your weapons as part of a full-scale test. This test will be your squad using your weapons against another squad using the English Army's standard weapons.
A final evaluation will be conducted following the completion of the test.
You have six months to complete construction of the weapons for the squad of twelve soldiers and train them in their use. The winner will be awarded a contract to supply His Majesty's soldiers with weapons.
Nigel Lancaster
Advisor to the Crown
Kate thought it a little strange. It wasn't written like she would think it would. It was far less, she didn't know what. It just wasn't worded like she would expect from royalty. Maybe it should have been longer? More detailed? She shrugged. As long as it made Rick happy, that was all that was necessary.
"This is great, Rick! ...Does this mean you won?" Creating weapons for twelve men didn't sound big, but it was more than he had now.
"You should have seen the place!" he almost crowed. "There were six weapons makers and they had us demonstrate each of our three weapons. Most had a simple hand weapon and a rifle. One man actually had something new but two of his three weapons jammed and without repairs he couldn't get them to fire again. His idea was good; I might even be able to modify it and make it one of my own." Rick was smiling wide the entire time.
"So you won?" Kate hadn't heard him say yes yet.
He started chuckling. "Yes, I won. I won the right to compete in the next phase. I win and I get to make weapons for... everyone." He spread his arms wide and smiled gleefully. "We need to celebrate. Any ideas on what to do?" He was open to suggestions.
Kate was by far the more practical of the two of them. "Can we afford to make these twelve weapons?" She knew that money was barely holding steady. Their two incomes allowed them to buy only what they needed and feed the two of them.
Sporting a huge grin, Rick reached for his backpack and pulled out bag after bag, dropping them on their little table. "Rick is that..."
"An advance, yes." He was still grinning.
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Kate had forgotten about cooking though she had managed to tell him what was in her backpack. She'd just finished counting when Vincent indicated that he needed attention. Her heart still aflutter, she watched as Rick changed a dirty diaper and handed him over so she could nurse him.
She settled into feeding Vincent. While he nursed, she turned things over in her mind. Worrying her lower lip, she asked hesitantly, "Rick, is... is it enough to move?" She knew how much he had been given and it was a lot. A whole lot. Did he need it all to make his weapons?
"Where would you like to move?" Rick replied, his face solemn.
Where would she like to move? Was he serious?
"Anywhere outside of the city but still close enough to get to our shops. Someplace that has fresh air, fresh water." Not to mention someplace safe for their son and Alexis.
"Rick... Can we start trying for Alexis again. If you still want me, that is." She dropped her eyes when she said that last part. She was still carrying some baby fat. But she'd been applying a cream that she had found in her mother's book that lightened her stretch marks. And she'd found a recipe for a salve that would help heal her sore, cracked nipples. It was such a relief. "I'm trying..." She squeaked when Rick suddenly pulled her into the space that Vincent didn't take up and kissed her, stopping her from speaking.
"Does that answer your question?" he asked tenderly. Kate smiled and felt her eyes start to water. He still wanted her, hopefully as much as she wanted him. Her need to make love to him had returned.
"I can cast the spell tonight, if that isn't too..." Rick kissed her again, once more stopping her from talking. This kiss, however, got a little more heated. She reached down to intimately caress him and found that he was already semi-erect. "I can take care of that for you, you know," she purred as she stroked his cock to get it even harder.
"And if you keep that up we'll be skipping your spell," he warned her. It had been almost two months since he had made love to her; a man could only stand so much.
Kate sighed and reluctantly took her hand away; she didn't want to waste a moment by not casting the spell. Getting Alexis was too important to both of them. "Fine but we I'm casting that spell after dinner." Kate made her wants clear.
"You cook while I entertain our son. We can look at properties tomorrow after we both close up a little early," Rick said. She kissed him again and would have skipped over to their tiny hearth where their dinner simmered if she had the space to do that. As it was it only took three steps.
"We need to hide all that, Rick. It wouldn't do to get robbed or have some pickpocket take it all." That money was their key to a better future.
"A good thing we both have those pouches attached to our bodies then, isn't it," he replied. He was learning to adjust to having a witch for a wife. A headstrong witch to be sure, but one that loved him and he, her.
"A white witch, Rick, and don't you forget it," Kate said smartly, knowing just what he might be thinking.
"I'm still having issues with my weapons. I don't suppose your witchy skills can help me with that." His rifle really needed to allow the shooter to see a long distance. Once again he silently wished he had found the papers to make more of them.
"My mother taught me to make a few things, but helping you with your weapons isn't one of them. I can search her book when I have time. There are a lot of spells; hundreds upon hundreds if you know what to fold and when." She didn't think there would be anything, but she didn't know for sure. Weapons were more of a dark witch thing.
"Your mother's book." Rick went back to that again. "I still don't see how that book got into my mother's room. Hiding that she was a witch, ...I suppose I can understand. But I was her son. Why wouldn't she trust me?" He was more hurt that his mother didn't trust him.
"White witches hide, love. It's what we do. Not hiding well enough got my mother killed." That was a day in her life that she really wished she could forget.
He cocked his head, thinking. "You said you saw my mother in my nightmares. You don't remember seeing her before?"
Kate ran through what she'd seen in his dreams. A tall thin woman with vibrant red hair. The hair alone made her shake her head. "There's no one like her that I remember."
"Either my mother came to you or yours came to mine. Would your mother have let someone else take the book to my mother?" Rick really was trying to think this through.
"No, absolutely not. That book is powerful. There are spells in it that are almost beyond powerful. Just think what it takes to give me Alexis. There are spells equal to that power or even more powerful." Kate needed to make sure that book was secure. She hadn't yet tried putting it in her pouch but now that she was thinking about it, she would try it.
Dinner being ready put a stop to Rick's questions, at least his spoken ones. Who went to whom? And when?
"Is six months enough time to make twelve weapons? And Rick, ... baby, - I'm not giving you that drink again, I'm just not. It's not healthy for you to be awake that long." She needed him alive and as healthy as she could make him.
"I've been thinking about that. I really only need the one rotating barrel gun, but I have two. The one with six barrels. Two rifles when I really only need one. Everyone else will get the handheld, rotating barrel weapon; I already have two of them. So I'm effectively already halfway done. Six months to make six weapons. It's still going to mean long nights, though." Rick had no illusions about that. "And I need to get started soon. Six months may sound like a lot of time, but it's not," he warned in case she was thinking something else.
Kate was quiet for a moment then said, "You know six months will mean winter."
"Shouldn't matter, hopefully. Just make moving more of a challenge." Rick started to worry about how he was going to transport all of his weapons, especially the large, six barrel, rotating unit. The best he could think of was barrow; or perhaps rent a wagon or cart of some type.
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Rick was deep into his construction when Kate walked into his smithy carrying their son. The little fellow was growing up fast. He was just a little over four months now and they had been actively working on her getting pregnant again for the last three months. But much to her sorrow she had begun bleeding again last night while he worked on his weapons. She had closed her shop for the day; it was doing much better of late. Word of mouth had apparently been working for both of them.
He was finding it harder to focus on his weapons when paying customers kept coming to him for things they needed, things they wanted. It did help pay the bills and Rick didn't turn down anyone.
Kate was seeing the Rick Rodgers that he used to be. The life that he used to live. "Rick, ...baby?" She waited until he quenched the glowing steel rod in water. "Time to visit another house. He's going to meet us there and show us around."
She was growing weary of looking but was unwilling to settle. It needed to be nice. It needed to have a well or spring so they could have fresh clean water. If the water wasn't in the bathing room or kitchen, it had to be able to be taken there easily. It needed a minimum of four bedrooms. She wanted a large kitchen; she was tired of working with almost literally nothing. There also needed to be a garden space so she could grow things. It needed to be home.
There had to be space for Vincent and Alexis. It needed to be pretty since she'd had it with living in mud. "Please let this be the one," Kate whispered softly.
"What did you say?" Rick questioned; his mind was on trying to finish his weapons and he hadn't heard her. He needed to win this next phase. He wanted to be able to provide for his family. Give them what they wanted, what they deserved.
The property turned out to be a little ways outside of town. Maybe just a bit too far. "Mr. Smith, Mrs. Smith." They were met by the man they had hired to search for homes they might like.
"This home has everything you asked for. The first floor has three rooms: a drawing room, a dining room, and a sizable kitchen. The only water pump is located in the kitchen; its water comes from a deep well. There's a large hearth with a spit and two swivel arms for cook pots. Plus there's a pantry. The second floor has four comfortable bedrooms and a bathing room. The house sits on just over two acres of land, has a barn that is used to hold farm equipment, and has stalls for three horses. I believe you could put a wagon or carriage of some type inside the barn. There's more than enough space for a garden." He started smiling. "In addition there is a small corral space to allow the horses to run a bit. Shall we go in?"
"Just why is this property for sale and how much?" Rick inquired since both were important. Houses like this one were either owned by someone important or were part of an estate handed down to family members.
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1/2d (half a penny)
Half a loaf, during the gin craze earlier in the 1700s
1d (one penny)
Enough gin to get drunk on
A day's allowance of coal
1 1/2d (one and half pennies)
A pound of soap (by no means as gentle as today's soap, for it might contain traces of lye)
Hourly rate for a boy to chop firewood
2d (tuppence)
Enough gin to get dead drunk on: as the old advertising saw goes,
"Drunk for a penny, dead drunk for tuppence."
3d (thruppence)
Supper of bread, cheese and beer
Cost of blood-letting for a poor person
Cost of postage of a one-page letter going 80 miles (paid for by recipient)
4d (fourpence)
A quart of beer
A boat across the river
4d - 6d
A pound of cheese (domestic)
5d
A pound of hair powder
6d (sixpence)
A barber's fee for a shave and dressing of one's wig
Cost of sweeping one chimney
6 1/4d (Sixpence farthing)
Dinner for a government clerk: cold meat, bread and a pint of porter
8d
Cost of an evening at a coffee house
Turnpike toll for a coach and four horses
8d -10d
A pound of butter
9d
Cost of an almanac
10d - 1s
1lb of fat bacon (enough for two working men)
A dozen Seville oranges (not the kind we would care to eat today - nowadays they would be used for making marmalade
1s (one shilling)
Dinner in a steakhouse - beef, bread and beer, plus tip
Sign-on bonus for army recruitment: The king's Shilling
Admission to Vauxhall Gardens
Admission to Ranelagh Gardens (although it could be as much as 2 guineas on masquerade nights)
A dish of beef at Vauxhall
1lb of perfumed soap
Postage of a one page letter from London to New York
1lb of Parmesan cheese
One shilling was commonly written as 1/-
One and a half shillings ("one and sixpence")would be written 1/6 etc.
1s 6d
Rate of window tax per window of a house with 12+ windows (1762)
2s (2/-)
Cost of 12 yards of gold braid (and you think our Guards lace is expensive!)
Weekly rent of a furnished room for a tradesman.
2s 2d (2/2)
Daily pay for journeyman tailors
2s 6d (2/6)
A whole pig
A tooth extraction
Dinner sent in from a tavern
A chicken at Vauxhall gardens
A ticket to hear the rehearsal of the music for the royal fireworks at Vauxhall
2s 10d (2/10)
1lb of candles
3s 2d
A pair of men's yarn knitted stockings
3s 3d
A barrel of Colchester oysters
4s 6d
A petticoat for a working woman
5s (5/-)
A pound of Fry's drinking chocolate
A bottle of claret at Vauxhall
A box at Drury Lane Theatre (1763)
A workman's secondhand coat
4s 9d - 6s
1lb of coffee (but tea was more expensive!)
5s 2d
A pint of lavender water
5s 7d
A pair of women's worsted stockings
6s
A pair of stays for a working woman
7s
A dozen rabbits in the market
A stout pair of shoes
7s 6d - 16s
1lb of tea
8s
A bottle of champagne at Vauxhall
8s 8d
A yard of flowered damask (you would need 15 1/2 yards for one dress)
9s
Weekly wage of an unskilled laborer
A piece (14 1/2 yards) of Indian sprigged muslin
10s
Cost of Dr Johnson's just-published Dictionary 1756
10s 6d
A bottle of Dr Prossilly's water for the pox (half a guinea was a common professional fee)
A ticket to hear Handel's Messiah (Handel on the organ) at the Foundling Hospital
A ticket in pit or box at Theatre Royal, Covent Garden 1763
10s 6d - 1 15s
Cost of various wigs
13s 10d
A yard of Mechlin lace
16s
A pair of men's lace ruffles
17s 4d
A pair of men's silk stockings
18s -22s
Weekly wage of a journeyman tradesman 1777
18s
A wig for a clerk in a public office.
A brass barometer
18s 6d
A yard of rich brocaded satin
£1 - 36s (One pound to 36 shillings)
Price of carpet per square yard
£1 1s (one guinea)
A fine beaver hat
Twelve French lessons
£1 9s
Season ticket to Vauxhall 1742
£1 10s
A pair of velvet breeches
£1 12s
A pair of stout silk-knit breeches
£1 15s
Monthly pay of an East India Company seaman 1762
£2 (two pounds)
Annual shaving and wig-dressing contract
£2 2s (two guineas)
A month's dancing lessons£2 10s
Annual pay of a ship's boy
£4 10s (Four and a half pounds)
A suit of clothes for a clerk in public office
£5
A silver hilted sword.
£5 5s (five guineas)
A silver watch
£6
Cost of a night out, including supper, a bath and a fashionable courtesan