Marriage is Murder

Steven smiled and held Cassidy " thank you that's more than enough and I have had my eye on that property " he grinned at them all " it will be enough to retire to when I finally do " he said smiling as he looked at Cassidy " For both of us " cassidy smiled at him and kissed him , then looked at Kate , Robert , Brian and Khaat.

" thank you so much " she said and looked at the picture again it looked like a true home to her. Jack and Jess looked at the keys they held , they both didn't want for much they had their children, their love for each other and their health that was good enough as far as Jess was concerned.

Robert looked at Jack and Jess. "Your turn. First. The first two keys on your key chains go to this." He flicked his wand and showed them a beautiful copper colored sportscar, almost identical to Steven and Cassidy's. "We know that won't hold all your kids but you'll find the keys to a minivan in the garage---here."

http://villas.tuscany.org.uk/villas-tuscany/villa_petrea/index.html

"The extra key goes to this. This is yours, from us, and it lays right between Brian and Khaat's place and Steven and Cassidy's." The image was a moving tour of the new estate that they had bought for them.

"And, so you know, as long as you lot are going to be in Tuscany, Kate and I have bought a farm of our own there. On the other side of Khaat and Brian's. Kate, this is for you, my darling. If we never go back to England, we will always still have a farm of our own. Merry Christmas." He kissed Kate and flicked his wand to show her the estate he'd bought for them.

http://villas.tuscany.it/villas-tuscany/villa_felciai/index.html

Jess looked at the villa and smiled her own gift now paling in comparison to what they had been given but she smiled " thank you both its beautiful beyond words " she held Jack close who smiled and nodded to them.

" Thank you, it will be open to all who are in the organization, a safe haven for those who need help " he said and kissed Jess as she nodded she agreed with his words to them . Steven nodded and moved to stand with Jack along with Cassidy.

" Both our homes are" he looked at Robert and smiled " now I think the children should open their gifts " he said holding Cassidy close to him.

"Well, having those we love is a gift that money can't buy but thats what really matters to us," Robert said. "We wanted you to know that, regardless of what happens with Grindelwald in England, we will all still have homes of our own, for ourselves and our children."

They agreed with them about letting the kids step in and open their gifts, but Abbey and Dakota got the idea rather quickly and took care of ripping the paper off their own packages. They weren't interested in the clothes, but quickly got excited about the toys. Khaat got a laugh out of watching Abbey open a box that had a beautiful dress in it and watched her get the dress out of the box and, findiing no toy in the box, she tossed the dress aside and went back to the last toy she had opened. Angus picked up another box and put it in her lap to give her something else to open.

Dakota just wanted to rip paper off of packages. She didn't particularly care about what was in the box, so long as she could rip off the paper. But then she found a talking toy tea set that she liked. Angus was glad because Dakota was getting to the end of her packages by that time.

Abbey was more excited about a stuffed mama kitty with 4 kittens. The toy cats did almost everything a real cat did. "Max!" Abbey said.

"Max?" Angus frowned. "No, her name is Mimi."

"Mimi!" Abbey was delighted that the toy had an easy name.

Steven watched John open his gift it was a full set of books he would need for classes along with new robes and things along with a pocket watch Steven had engraved with his name so he'd not be late for classes . For Andrew he'd got the frog super environment cage and also replaced the clothes he had sent to him along with a card and inside that sat 100 dollars. He walked over to Andrew " That's for you to spend or keep your choice. " he said " and you'll get that every week once your back in school as it should have been when you first started " he smiled at him. Jack smiled as little Andrew walked over to Abby and gave her a gift he'd been holding proudly.

" for Ab..Abby " he said and smiled at saying hr name right Jess smiled and looked at Khaat.

"Its a stuffed cat he choose himself " she said

"Thank you" Andrew said. He took Frog out of his pocket and put him in the new cage. He was pleased when Frog seemed to like it a great deal. He put the cash in his pocket. "You..don't have to send more money if you don't want to," he said to Steven. He knew that Steven rarely did anything he didn't want to do but he wanted to give Steven an out if he wanted it.

"thank you, Andrew," Khaat said. "Abbey, this is for you. From Andrew." Abbey gave Andrew a delighted smile and ripped the paper off the snuggly kitty. It was Mo's color and Abbey liked it a lot. "She likes it. Good job, Andrew," Khaat said.

Robert gave Kate a large ruby ring for Christmas, and she gave him some very rare potions equipment and ingredients. It brought a large smile to his face.

Brian bought Khaat an emerald tennis bracelet styled ankle bracelet and some new stilettos and some new clothes. She bought him a brand new winter cloak, and a gold wristwatch, along with some clothes. Then she handed him a wizarding photo. He looked at her, stunned. "For us?" he asked.

"Yeah. For all of us," she said. She had worked with her father to buy Brian a large yacht. Large enough for all of them to take a cruise on, anywhere in the world. "Angus says he'll maintain it an take care of it. Its docked at the pier in Tuscany." She looked at Jack and Jess and Cassidy and Steven. "I hope you'll consider some sort of a luxury cruise with us maybe this coming year. Anywhere we want to go."

Jack, Jess and Steven all smiled and nodded " of course " Steven said and looked at Cassidy who chuckled and smiled at Khaat " just so long as there's deep see fishing , some one still owes me " she said looking at Steven who chuckled .

" ah yes I remember " he said and moved to hold her close " if I'm not mistaken we got distracted last time " he said and she smiled handing him a small box. Steven smiled and took it finding a silver Texas ranger belt buckle inside and he smiled kissing her gently " how did you know I wanted one " he said nd she just grinned and looked at Jess.

" you should not shout your thoughts dear Steven " Jess said and chuckled " I'll teach you how to block your thoughts" just as she finished the small black and white kitten ran in skidded and slid into Abby's lap and looked at her, Steven chuckled.

" Abby she thinks you nice" he said to Abby as the kitten sat facing her lightly batting some ribbon that hung from the tree beside her.

Abbey liked the kitten. She had grown up with Max and Mo and liked the baby kitty. "Mo," she said.

"Well, sorta," Angus said. "But that's not her name."

"Aggy?" she asked.

"No, that's me. What the devil is her name, again, Steven?" Angus asked. "I'm surprised she turned up again. This house is so big it would be easy for her to get lost in here."

"Nah," Robert said. "I saw her trailing after Max last night. I think Max took over taking care of her. "

Michael arrived a bit late, but he did arrive. He had been taking care of business for Robert, but now he could give out gifts. He presented Jack and Jess and Steven and Cassidy each with a footstool puppy, and then he unveiled the gift he'd been working on for weeks. He unveiled wizarding portraits of Robert and Kate. They were beautiful. And he had had arranged for copies for everyone. Part of it was the gift of being part of the family. The other part was that the portraits, like all portraits connected those who owned them together. the portraits could slip easily from one location to the other. Michael was thinking of security too. He wanted everyone to be safe and to be able to either call for or respond to an emergency at an instants notice.

Steven chuckled and nodded " her name is Sofie " he said softly and the kitten meowed at Abby for her to dangle the ribbon so she could play. " and I agree, I think she wants to be your kitten Abby" he said and knelt down to stroke the kitten who brushed against him meowing softly as the larger mother walks in and up to her. Steven looked at her and nodded " she says she will stay here , Angus she says your food is exquisite " he said and moved to stand with Cassidy as the mother kept an eye on her as two more, a pure black with green eyes and a ginger one padded in and sat with him. " That's tom and the other is Georgina." He said smiling at them both

"Daddy?" Abbey looked at Brian, asking permission to keep them. Brian noticed instantly that Abbey had called him Daddy instead of Dada for the very first time.

"You," he kissed Abbey, "can have anything you want. If you want the kitties you can have them but they need to live here."

"No. Home."

"We'll see," he said, laughing.

"You are spoiling her rotten," Khaat laughed, watching Steven teaching Abbey how to play with the kittens. It made her giggle as she watched them all frantically trying to get to the ribbon.

"I'm her dad. That's my job," Brian said.

Angus's staff came back in and spoke to them. "the Christmas feast is ready, if you're all hungry. Its being served in the dining room. Robert, you will cut the first turkey, please?"

"I'd be honored," Robert smiled.