Through my lovers eyes
by missteff
June 2014
chapter 5
I won't get much sleep tonight. I'm already tossing and turning, worrying what evil Beckett might be encountering in Willow Creek. Why didn't see just let me go with her? I turn over once more, trying to get comfortable. The sun starts to rise, blinding me. Still no word from Beckett. What was taking her so long to find this guy? According to the internet search Ryan did for that town was not all that big. Maybe she didn't have time to text me or maybe she- I try shaking the thoughts that forming in my head. That's the bad thing about being a mystery writer. Your mind goes to the worst case scenarios but in our-
Yes I concider me now a part of her work, it's even worse. We've seen too many dead bodies, to know that not all people are who they claim to be. That's who she's out there hunting, a man she doesn't know. Yes, I used the word 'hunting' cause that's what she always told me that she did. She didn't look, she hunted. The one good thing is that she always gets her man, even-me. Chuckling, I smile at my own thought. She's going to be fine I told myself, she just had to be. I try to think of more positive thoughts but that wasn't helping my nervousness.
"Dad," Alexis shouts, at me. "Dad," there is her voice again, louder this time. She grabs my arm as I pass by her for the hundredth time. "Huh," Shaking my head, I stare at her.
"Dad you need to relax. Stop pacing the floor and checking your phone every two seconds." My daughter speaks strictly, as if I am the child and she is the adult. Which most of the times I am.
"I can't. I -" I begin, but cannot think of the words to finish my thought.
"Beckett knows what she's doing. She's probably on her way home now as we speak." Just as she finishes her sentences, a large bang echoes from the direction of the door. I nearly jump out of my skin. I race over to the door, thinking that it was Beckett. But why would she have to knock, she has her own key. A lump in my throat starts to form as I slowly turn the doorknob to open the door. It was a surprise to see Ryan and Esposito standing there with their shoes in their hands.
"Tux fittings right, I presume." Smiling a fake smile at them. This is not what I was expecting right now. Relieved as hell, yes.
"Castle what's wrong bro, it looks as you seen a ghost." Esposito responds, I guess from seeing my hesitation.
"I told you that we would be here." Ryan comments, shaking his head slightly.
"um..." I blink, "I just forgot you guys were coming over." making up a lie, for I couldn't tell them about Beckett and her real reason for finding Rogan. Alexis did remind me they were coming over today but all that went out the window when I found out about Beckett being already married. That's what I had to focus on and all the other little details had to be put on hold.
"It seems like your best man," Ryan points over to Alexis. "Should have reminded you instead of us." They both laugh.
"Funny." I snort back, tilting my head slightly.
"Come in and we will get started." Alexis says, stepping in front of me, almost pushing me out of the way. I move over to let them pass.
"Where she gets the work ethic from I don't know." I call as I shut the door.
"It's not from me." Martha glares at me from the kitchen area. She knows that I joke more when I get nervous. I was, I held up my hand, and could see that it was shaking on it's own. I flex it some moving into my bedroom where I watch as my daughter take over helping the boys get ready for the wedding. She's actually pretty good at taking care of what needs to be done. I couldn't have done a lot of this without her help. I now know that I picked the perfect person for the job.
"Now over there," her commanding voice rings out telling one of them to move it. "Pick out a tie." she yells.
"Which one goes better with-? There's-" Esposito complains.
"Give him the ugliest one," I call as I enter the room. Alexis turns from the mirror,
"Dad!" she points a finger in my direction. "This is-"
"Come on guys," I whine like a child, "Let me have some fun before my wedding."
"Any news from Beck..." I place my hand over my daughter's mouth quickly, I didn't want her to blab out anything that we talked about earlier.
"I haven't heard back from him. Yet." She nods against my hand. I hope that she understands what I was talking about. I didn't want her to say a word to them.
"You found him? That was quick." Ryan calls from another area in the same room.
"He told me he'd call me back." I respond, glaring over at my daughter.
"I wouldn't waste your time, bro," Esposito says, walking up to me.
"Esposito's right," a distant voice responds.
"Of course I'm right."
"He's not worth the risk. Anyway..." A pause. "We have another problem to deal with." Ryan enters the room. Esposito and I laugh upon seeing him. His tux is tightly stretched over his arms, making it look like he tried really hard to pull it on himself. He looks over at Alexis. "Um- Alexis? I haven't gained weight, have I?" He lifts his arms to demonstrate how tight the suit is on him.
"Nice fit bro," Esposito pumps fists with me. Ryan looks to the floor and shakes his head.
"Sure, make fun," He mumbles.
"That can't be right. I double checked the size ten times!" Alexis runs up to him, clearly freaking out. She tries to pull it into place, but it's far too small.
"Hey, maybe you finally hit that growth spurt that you've been waiting on bro," Esposito jokes, laughing along with me. Alexis continues to try and fix Ryan's tux. My cellphone in my pocket rings. Beckett's smiling face, greets me on my phone's screen. She posed for that photo in my bed, in the Hampton's, on our first vacation together.
"And I bet that's Beckett." Ryan struggles to get away from Alexis but she's not giving up.
I answer, moving a few steps away from the boys. "Hey, what's up?" without letting her answer I add, "How's today going?"
"They are with you aren't they?" she responds understanding the hint in my words that I can't really talk now.
"Yes," a pause, "Everything here is fine." I say to her to make it sound convincing. I've never had to lie on a whim.
"I'll- um-text you-" That didn't sound good I thought to myself, something must have gone wrong up there. I sigh,
"Sounds good," I lie again to keep up the appearance. "Have fun." a pause, "And I love you."
"I love you more. But read the text that I'm sending you right now." her voice turned stern.
"Will do. See you soon." hanging up, I glance up to see Esposito staring at me. I swallow, hoping that he bought my lie.
"So where's Beckett?" he asks me.
"She's out for the day."
"She left you alone for the entire day?" Ryan comments.
"Yes, wait," shaking my head I look his direction, "Why does that surprise you guys?"
"You two can't keep away from each other bro." Esposito adds. "Especially now that-" I look from Esposito to Ryan than back. "Now that what?" I question, not really understanding this way of thinking.
"That you guys are together. Duh."
"You're never far from her side like conjoined twins," Ryan smirks, "Always have been." That's true. We have been since that night, the night that, she came to my door soaking wet and I-we spent the night in each others arms. The night that changed everything for us. That's why we are here today, hours from getting married. My phone rings again.
"See what did I tell ya? She can't stay away from you that long."
"She's calling you that she misses you already." Esposito laughs,
"Boy are you whipped." They high-five each other.
"Guys." glancing down at my phone, "It's not Beckett. I don't recognize the number." moving away from them, into my study, I answer it. "Hello," A pause, "Yes, this is Richard Castle." I listen to the man on the phone, my face falls as I discover the bad news.
"What? You got to be kidding me!" I shout, a pause. "Ah..." I threw the phone down on the desk.
"Great now what am I suppose to do, ah..." I wanted to throw something else across the room. I have been known to do that, throw things, when I get mad. My mother must have heard my frustration from the other room; she came rushing in to see what was the matter with me.
"Richard." she yells, "What on earth,"
"Sorry." I look up from my chair, "I'm sorry. I just-"
"What's wrong?" she asks, "What's got you this upset?"
"Everything." wiping my hands down my face I get up.
"We lost our venue?" I tell her, shaking my head.
"What? How's that even possible?" Alexis asks over hearing us. Is nothing in this house secret any more?
"A circus party, had a freak accident tonight with some first time fire breathers and now our rooftop venue well does not have a floor Alexis let's just put it that way."
"This is a total disaster." Alexis sighs, "After all my-the hard work." I shake my head. I know what she meant, she did do most of the work getting things together.
"What am I going to do mother?" I glance at my mother who was standing there slack-jawed. "Now, I have no place to get married and no one to get married to. I think disaster is an understatement." I comment letting out a long sigh. my mother comes up, pulling me into a hug. "Kiddo, this so called disaster is merely opportunity in disguise."
"How do you figure that?"
"We'll just find another place to hold the wedding."
"Are-are you kidding me?" I lock eyes with her. "Where are we going to find a venue in Manhattan that holds 300 plus people?" Throwing up my hands, "And in less than two days time. It's impossible."
"Oh!" Alexis snaps her fingers, "We already have one." I turn my head towards my daughter, bewildered by her quick thinking.
"Well, it's not in Manhattan." Alexis goes on to explain.
"Huh?" I question, "Not in Manhattan? I don't-"
"We can move the whole party to our house in the Hampton's." She lifts her eyebrows. What a great idea! Why didn't I think of that? Of course Beckett might not agree with it, but at this point what choice do we have? I don't think she really care, where we got married as long as we do.
"Yes. Yes!" My mother shouts excitedly throwing her arms wildly in the air.
"We've held larger parties than this out there."
"We can also rent luxury buses to shuttle the guests and pay the vendors transportation costs."
Alexis adds, mentally taking notes as she walks around the island in the kitchen towards the den area.
"Brilliant. I will call the housekeeper first thing in the morning and have them start getting the place ready." I knew that I could count on Alexis and yes mother too to fix things for me when things didn't go as plan.
"Do you really think we can pull this off?" I question looking between them.
"Oh, please dear," Martha rolls her eyes at me. "I once staged A Chorus Line on a subway platform when our company lost its space. I think I can move a wedding. Alexis will help with everything."
It seemed my mother got more excited every second that clicked away. She said that she wanted to be involved with the wedding perpetration, it's all in her hands now. She turns to give Alexis a thumbs up. I'm so grateful, that they're determined to make this wedding happen for the two of us no matter what. I just hope that I don't let them down.
"You just make sure Katherine finds that deadbeat husband of hers." She whispers as she walks by me into the den area to join her granddaughter.
"What's this about moving the wedding to the Hampton's?" Esposito enters my study, now dressed in his regular cloths, holding his plastic covered tux on his shoulder.
"It's in the Hampton's? Did I call it or what?" Ryan stats proudly.
"You guys made a perdition about my wedding venue?"
"Well, uh..." Ryan stops his thought, looks at me and then continues,
"I mean it's where you guys went on your first vacation together." I narrow my eyes at him. No one was suppose to know about that. How did he? So he knew all this time? Was he the first to know-about us sleeping with each other? Wait a minute that guy; what was his name? oh, right; Learner. He must have told Ryan when he interviewed him.
"I thought that when way back when you two got engaged. You would have it there, your special place," he winks, "I guess I win after all." Once again, my cellphone rings and I jump at the sudden sound of it, and for some reason it makes me angrier than normal.
"Dude, calm down it's just your phone again." Ryan who was standing there closest to it reaches for it. instantly irritated, I swoop, my hand yanking it from off the desk. I raise it to my ear and ask in the form of a scream, "What?" Failing to check the ID of who is calling me sends a chill up my spine when I hear a reply of my name, in the soothing voice of my fiancée on the other end of the line. I pause for a second taking in a deep breath.
to be continued...