Let Your Heart Be Light - Chapter 3
"But s'not cold!"
She can practically feel her husband's sigh from across the room. To his credit, though, Rick's face doesn't change. He still looks as even and unaffected as usual, despite getting glared at by all three of their beautiful children.
Ahh, the end of the easygoing, agreeable bliss of break.
"It is cold, Lily. I promise you it is cold. Remember the frost we saw on the trees when we looked out the window earlier? That means it's cold."
To emphasize his point, he holds up the fleece coat he's holding, gesturing for their daughter to put it on.
Lily crosses her arms. "I'm wearing long sleeves. That's enough."
"No jacket, Daddy!" Reece insists in solidarity with his sister. His brother choruses an agreement.
"Nah uh," Kate steps in, brushing her hand over Castle's shoulders in solidarity. He takes it upon himself to be the heavy pretty often, giving her the gift of being the fun parent when she comes home from work, but it's her turn this time. "Coats are not optional."
"Ms. Williams doesn't make me wear one."
Kate does her best not to roll her eyes. She is the adult here and the last thing she needs is for Lily to think eye-rolling is the way to respond to things she doesn't like (though she's sure the girl has already picked up the habit; it's the principle of the thing, really).
"One, I know that's not true because I've seen pictures of you at recess this year, and two, it wasn't this cold before your winter break started. So instead of spending the next hour arguing and missing the nice bright sunshine and the best time to be on the playground, we are going to put our coats on and go to the park."
"But-"
She cups Lily's cheeks, silencing her whine with a light kiss on her nose. "No buts. Just your coat and we'll put your hat in your pocket if you need it. You don't have to wear gloves or a scarf. Okay?"
Her daughter sighs but nods. "Okay."
Turning to her sons, she motions for them to pick up their coats as well. "You too, Peanut Butter, Jelly. Jackets on, hats in your pockets, or we're staying home."
They pout, looking at each other and then Rick. He pokes their cheeks in return, shaking his head to let them know they're on their own.
"You heard your mom. Bundle up or we're going to be sticking around here all day. And I don't know about you, but I want to slide."
Begrudgingly, all three kids jam their arms into their outerwear, allowing Kate to lean over and zip up the little coats.
She dots their cheeks with kisses. "Perfect. Now we can go, right?"
Lily shakes her head. "No."
"No? Are you sure?"
Her daughter crosses her arms, looking her up and down before turning to Rick and doing the same. "You need your coats, too."
Rick hides his snicker behind a cough, but she knows him well enough to know it's there. "We'll put them on right now, Sprout. Don't you worry."
"Mhmm, right. Why don't you and the boys go stand by the door and wait for us to get our coats," she trails off, glancing down at her bedroom slippers and Rick's bare feet, "and shoes on."
Beside her, Castle wiggles his toes and chuckles. "Right. Forgot about that."
Lily giggles, grabbing both of her brothers by the hand and pulling them to the door to the loft to wait.
"You're hot when you use your captain voice on the kids," Castle murmurs, closing his hand around her hip and drawing her closer.
Kate chuckles, leaning in to swipe her lips across his. "Maybe I use my mom voice as a captain. Did you think about that?"
He laughs easily. "Think about you being sexy and authoritative? All the time."
She pats his chest, nudging him toward their room. "Socks, Rick. Shoes."
Thankfully, they manage to get out of the house a few minutes later without any more foot stomping, tears, or arguments, and the walk to the park is full of chatter and cheerful questions (and not one complaint about being cold).
"Here you go," Castle says, holding out a double-layered cup to her, "one tuxedo latte, added whip, and a bear claw fresh from the oven."
She groans, taking both with grateful hands. They'd been at the park for exactly half an hour before her stomach had started making its desire for more food known and the one go bag they'd brought had been empty of actual food. Thankfully, Rick hadn't minded darting across the street to the coffee shop and coming back with snacks and hot drinks for all.
"Thank you."
He grins, sinking onto the bench beside her, pressing closer than necessary just to watch her give her head an affectionate shake.
"Huddling for warmth again, Ricky?" she teases, resting her cheek on his arm and sipping her coffee.
"Cuddling," he corrects, taking a pull from his own coffee before digging into his pastry and offering her a bite.
After a glance out at the kids to make sure everything is fine with them and then at her own bear claw to determine which part she's willing to share with him, she takes it.
"I talked to my dad while you were gone," she says a few minutes later once they've polished off both pastries and have tucked into their coffees. "He's finally able to get his car out of the driveway. Which is an improvement from a couple of days ago when he couldn't even make it past the porch and to the car."
He nods. "That's good. Is it melting or did someone make it over to help dig him out?"
"Little of both, he said," she exhales. "He's getting ready to come back to the city. He said he'd be cleaning up the cabin, winter proofing it a little more before he comes, but he's preparing to come back."
Castle nods again. His hand lands on her thigh, rubbing it gently. He knows how badly she'd wanted her dad to come for Christmas this year and how much of a letdown it had been when Jim had needed to cancel. "Today? How are the roads up there? I can send a car - or a jeep or something - to come get him if he needs me to."
He'd tried to do that a few days ago, too, when her dad had first told her he wouldn't be able to make it because of the snow and the ice, but none of the services Castle uses had been able to get drivers willing to risk the weather.
"They're okay," she assures, covering his hand and giving his fingers a squeeze. "He went to the store after he got the car out, just to make sure it would run. Said there are a few dicey spots, but everything should be fine once he's back on the main roads. He might wait until tomorrow just to be sure since it's supposed to warm up a little more."
Rick relaxes at that, turning his hand over so she can lace their fingers together. "Even better. Not that I don't want to see Jim, but I-"
"Want him to be safe," she finishes for him, lifting her head to kiss his chin. "I know. I told him the same thing."
"Good. So, he'll be back tomorrow. We can do a second Christmas once he's settled again - with or without Mother and Alexis, whatever you think Jim would want - and then maybe let the monsters have some grandpa time for themselves while you and I go out."
Kate laughs, nodding. "You know, Castle, I could be wrong but it kind of sounds like you're asking me on a date."
He grins, turning to catch her eyes. "Been a while since that happened, huh?"
"Too long," she says.
"Agreed."
His head lowers, closing the distance between their lips. She twists on the bench, nudging his knee with hers.
"Mommy! Daddy! Come push us!"
Rick's laughter puffs against her mouth before he backs off. "Too damn long. We're getting that date when your dad gets back into town."
She doesn't let him up just yet, using their joined hands to tug him close and give him a firm kiss. "You will hear no arguments here."
Together they stand, moving to join their trio of troublemakers by the swings.
Thank you for reading and for the love for the first two chapters! I hope you enjoyed this one as well!