#fluffyfriday

Here To Stay

Easter

Peals of giggles filled the air outside of Jim’s cabin and Kate looked up from her book smiling. She and her father had been up half the night hiding plastic Easter eggs filled with chocolate and other candies around the wooded part of the cabin’s yard. Rick had been up half the night as well, though he was pre-preparing their Easter dinner instead of hiding eggs.

So now he was outside with the three kids, helping them find the goodies, and finding some for himself too.

“Mama, Mama!” Lily burst through the screen door. “Mama you gotta come see!”

“Whoa, Tiger-Lily!” Jim said as he came into the room from the kitchen. “Slow down, what’s going on?”

“You too, Grap!” the little girl exclaimed and ran back out the door with a “Come on!”

“You heard the girl, Katie,” Jim said, holding out a hand to Kate.  “Let’s go.”

When the door shut behind them Kate called to her husband.

“Hey, Castle, what’s going on? You guys just started the hunt.”

Rick didn’t answer, just pointed at the Easter Bulldog sitting by the azalea bush, rabbit ears on his head, surrounded by plastic eggs, looking pleased with himself.

“Leroy hunted them all and brought them here,” Rick grinned.

“He didn’t eat any of them, did he?” asked Kate in a worried tone. “Chocolate isn’t good for dogs.”

“As far as I can see, he just fetched them all,” Rick reassured her. “Do you think you got all of them, or do we get a turn to search?” This last question was directed toward Leroy, who simply woofed happily as Kate and Jim looked over the eggs.

“No, it looks like he found all of them,” laughed Jim. “It doesn’t look like any of them opened either, so the chocolate and dog should be safe.”

Kate had told the boys she’d be incommunicado for two weeks. In fact, she seriously considered leaving her phone at the loft – she hadn’t, but the temptation was there. She had made it clear that nothing short of a nuclear bomb type of emergency would be a reason to call her. Same with Lanie. Kate wanted to spend time with her husband and daughter – just the three of them. She wanted to be Kate Castle for awhile, leave the worries, stress and captaincy behind for a few days.

Now she and Rick were in the Hamptons, reintroducing Lily to the beach and the ocean. They’d brought her here before, of course, but every time seemed new. Whether it was following the bubbles back to the sea, (Daddy holding her hand with a firm grip) or finding a tiny hermit crab and begging to bring it home, (“He already has a home, see his shell?”) the little girl opened her parents eyes to the beauty of the world around them.

Today was no different. Today was all about the swing and the splash.

“Higher Mama! Higher Daddy!” Lily squealed. “I wanna make a big splash!”

Rick laughed.

“Like how you jump in puddles after a rainstorm, Tiger-Lily?” he asked.

Lily’s eyes and smile grew even bigger.

“Yeah! This is the biggest puddle ever!”

It was Kate’s turn to laugh.

“We’ll have to take her to the Pacific,” she said to her husband.

“What’s Pafic?” asked Lily.

“The Pacific Ocean,” answered Kate. “It’s an even bigger puddle than this one,” Kate pointed to the Atlantic.

“Can we go now?”

“No, baby, it’s a long flight, even longer than the drive we took to get here.”

“Oh,” the little girl frowned.

“It’s a long way away,” Rick interjected as he and Kate swung Lily up in the air, bringing her down in another splash. “I’ll show you a map when we get home.”

“Not yet, keep splashin’!”