After the Vows

Jim Beckett's Journal

Chapter 22

Dear Johanna,

The good news is that Rick finally got all his chapters in to Gina. After that things went downhill. Rick booked a suite at a five star hotel where he and Katie could relax and celebrate for a night. They were having dinner in the hotel restaurant when Rick just feel asleep. Katie was a little upset with him until she realized he was running a temperature. She had the doctor the hotel keeps on call look at him and she also called Lanie.

What came out was that Rick's body had really been weakened during the time he disappeared. Between a bout with Dengue fever, a bullet graze, whatever was done to him to induce amnesia, and the exposure and dehydration from his days at sea in a dinghy, he had a lot to recover from. He didn't really recover. He threw himself into finding out what happened, then into working with Katie and without taking a breath, into the marathon of his own work. He just pushed through everything. When he finally stopped pushing, it all came down on him like a ton of bricks.

Rick's own doctor wanted to admit him to the hospital for a day or two, but he refused to go. He didn't want to be away from Katie and his family any more than necessary and he was afraid the Alexis would regress in her progress overcoming her PTSD. The cover story, at least with Alexis, is that he has a bad case of the flu and he'll be in bed for a while. Katie has to work her shifts at the precinct but she's spending as much time with him at the loft as she can. A home care aide is coming in for the time when Katie can't be there.

Rick is disappointed that he can't jump right into the decorating he's been wanting to do, but there is still enough time until Christmas for him to recover. Alexis has everything lined up and organized so that when he's feeling better we can get it done. There are at least 20 containers of ornaments and lights that Alexis pulled out of storage. They're stacked all around the tree. That doesn't even count Rick's train set. Rick's garlands have arrived and they're ready to go as well. Katie had some boxes stuffed in the back of a closet in her apartment. They are Christmas decorations that she hasn't even opened since you were taken from us. Those boxes are at the loft now and lined up with all the Castle decorations. Rick knows that and is overjoyed that she has made that step forward, both in the recovery from her own trauma and in the melding of the families. I'm pleased as well and looking forward to seeing what once brought us so much joy being put to joyful use again.

Martha is going ahead with plans for her book. Unlike Rick, she has no plans to tie herself to a laptop computer. She's found herself a co-writer. Martha used a co-writer before when she put together a one woman show. She drove Rick crazy because the text implied that he got published on the basis of something other than his talent. Then, the co-writer was a young man, a hungry would-be playwright. This time Martha has found herself a young woman whose name is Dee Dee Mayberry. Miss Mayberry has been trying, so far without success, to launch herself as a beauty expert on the internet. As I understand it, The Martha Rodgers Guide to Ageless Beauty by Martha Rodgers with Dee Dee Mayberry is supposed give Miss Mayberry some much needed credibility. In exchange for that, she'll be doing most of the heavy lifting on Martha's book for twenty-five percent of the royalties. That's a great deal for Martha. It might work out to be a decent deal for Miss Mayberry, if sales are good enough. With Martha's talent for self promotion, as long as she stays away from cooking segments, the book could be a roaring success.

As far as my own work goes, we have a court date for my suit. As with most things now, nothing could be scheduled until the new year. We are looking at starting the second week of January but I expect that the company will file motions for multiple delays. I know you're familiar with the strategy. They'll just try to push things back until we run out of patience and resources. I don't expect to run out of either. I have a group of very determined women on a mission. I certainly know from the women in my own life that not much can stand in the way of that kind of determination. We have already prepared motions to oppose any delays. We may or may not prevail. Whether we do or not, however long it takes, we will go to trial and we will win. My team will accept nothing less.

As far as other legal matters go, I think I can discern what's happening in the battle against Bracken. Katie heard from her contacts in the Attorney General's office that an investigation has been quietly launched against the lobbying firm that now employs McGovern. They are also looking at the associated super-PACS. Investigating the super-PACS is a very difficult thing to do because of the lack of financial accountability required of them. That leads me to believe that confidential information is coming from somewhere or someone. I suspect that someone is William Bracken. As I mentioned before, I believe he is trying to cut some kind of a deal. Bracken has successfully gone after power before. He concluded that a king maker named Ben Moss was responsible for an attempt on his life from which he was ironically saved by Katie. Bracken had Moss exposed and arrested. Moss ran an extremely powerful super-PAC, but no amount of money or power could protect him from Bracken. We may see the crash of several previously untouchable organizations in Washington D.C. and I suspect that it will happen pretty quickly.

The weather in the city has warmed up again, but not pleasantly. We are expecting rain for the next couple of days. Most of the time I'd rather not see snow, because it takes so little of it to shut everything down, but this year I think It might be nice to have a white Christmas. It could bring an air of quiet and might help some harried New Yorkers to slow down and breathe for a little while. We could all use a little "heavenly peace." I hope that's what you have.

Forever love,

JB