Marriage is Murder

"I'm glad you tried it," Angus told her. "Maybe I'll go out there today with Brian if you lot think you can spare me for a short time."

Robert came down after being upstairs with her for about 30 minutes. He figured the others would be nearly done with breakfast when he came down, but he had had work to do.

"Angus, prepare a plate for her, please. Gentle foods. Nothing too harsh. Her stomach is a bit off," Robert ordered. "I've eased that for her a bit. She'll do better with soups, toast, juice, tea, that sort of thing." He sat down at the table, and Angus put a plate in front of him.

"Robert Thomas," Kate demanded. "My daughter has been gone nearly ten days and thats all you have to say?"

"She's temporarily awake because I told her not to doze back off until she'd eaten. She's lost about half a stone," Robert said. "Is that what you want to hear? She's back to being underweight for her height. She absorbed my pain and the affects of my infection. She was truly ill. Whatever pain she feels now is from being sick for so long. It may take her two or three days to truly be fully back on her feet again. Maybe a week to be back at work full time. She's comfortable now, except that she needs to eat. Smaller frequent feedings will be far better than standard meal sizes. Fluids are imperative. Once she's got something in her stomach, my guess is that she'll sleep most of the time. And that's fine."

"And are you done argueing with her?" Kate asked.

"She's too sick to argue now," Robert said, considering that subject at an end.

Jess and Jack nodded “ of course we can, go try some “ Jess said to Angus as she smiled knowing they would love what they would taste as she did. Jack wiped Caitlin clean and hand her some apple to chew on while Jess did Alex and Andrew. Cassidy listened to Robert as he spoke to Kate and sighed.

“That bad, again, that can't be good for her body” she said softly and sighed as she wiped Fallon's mouth clean of juice and toast crumbs. Cassidy wanted to go and see Khaat but she chose not to after what Robert said about her health.

"I'll get her plate," Angus said quietly. He fixed a tray for her himself and took it upstairs to her. She was awake. Now that he saw her clearly, without Brian's use of glamour spells to disquise her, he had to admit, she looked like hell. "So, it looks like you fought the devil and you won. Nice work."

"It doesn't feel like I won by much," she admitted to him. It was the first she had admitted how tough it had been.

"A win is still a win, Khaat," he said, putting the tray across her. "Try some fuel."

"I'll never be my father, Angus."

"Thank goodness for that. You're a lot prettier than he is. Look, no one expects you to be him. You know what you'd be telling anyone else this morning."

"Um...no. Actually, I don't."

"Don't make any decisions today. Give it a bit. You know how it isn't wise to make big decisions when you're not feeling like yourself. You eat. I'll go make beds and check back and see if you need anything. I won't be far." He smiled and left her to eat, and deliberately stayed upstairs in case she needed anything.

"Can she be up today, Robert?" Kate asked.

"She could be, with help, but she won't feel like it," Robert said. "I know her. She's going to want to be off by herself a bit because she's tired enough that she'll feel like she's in the way. I'm going to go to work, and if you all need me you know how to find me. I trust you can deal with this. There isn't much to do but food and fluid and rest. I suggest the rest of you carry on just as if she weren't here, if that's possible."

Jack, Jess,Jim and Cassidy all nodded they agreed they would continue with their day. Jess moved with Cassidy to dress and change the kids while Jack and Jim went out to check the area. Jack walked around the barn while Steven who had left the house early walked out the stallion into the paddock and let him run while the fillies staid in a separate paddock watching him. Steven then placed fresh hay and water in the barn for them all and gave the mice some crumbs to eat before returning to the house to wash up.

“Well, the animals are all fine, thought I think one of the fillies is with foal.” He said and smiled as he took some coffee and sat down to drink it as Cassidy and Jessica walked own with the fresh dressed and changed children. All ran to play with the toys that now lay on the rug in front of him and he smiled. Cassidy sat with him and lent against him “ its good to be back” he whispered to her and she smiled.

“Stop thinking that way, your back that's all that matters, enjoy being back in control “ she told him and he chuckled pulling her closer to him as they watched the children play.

Robert went to work, and Kate went in to Madam Malkins. The fall fashions needed unpacked and displayed and the last of the summer things needed to be put on sale. They had some beautiful things ordered, and Kate was anxious to get them out and get the store decorated for fall. She had done some handmade art pieces to use as accent pieces.

Angus and Brian went out to the tent where all the canning was being done. They were amazed at the huge amount of food that had been harvested and canned already and how much they had yet to do. It would dramatically cut down on the food bill this coming year. Then they went to check out the greenhouse. It was going up swiftly. It was being done partly by hand and partly by magic, but it was absolutely stunning.

When they were done inspecting it, they came back to the house. Angus went to prepare lunch. He had chosen a fresh chicken stew with a loaf of crusty bread and a fresh salad. While the stew was simmering, he got out a cold bottle of soda and a glass of ice for Khaat. He found she was up. Sort of. She had managed to shower and was dressed. Sort of. Not by her standards. It was just a pair of cut offs and one of Brian's old American football jerseys. She had simply tied her hair back with a red hair tie.

"What are you doing up?" he asked her.

"Trying," she said. "That's all. Just trying." He put the soda and ice on the dresser just in time to see her try to let go of the furniture. He quickly caught her.

"Where are you trying to go?"

"Sofa?" she asked.

"With help," he said. He took her there and brought her the soda and ice and brought a blanket over to cover her legs. "The house is nippy today. If you're going to be up, you might need that in those shorts. Lunch will be ready soon. Do try to behave so we don't have to keep picking you up. Try tomorrow. Behave today, okay?"

"Okay," she sighed. He handed her a mystery novel that she had been meaning to read. "

"Here. use that as an excuse to say off your feet," he said, returning to the kitchen.

Jess took a leaf out of Kates book and after making sure the kids were happy playing she slipped out to madam malkins to help Kate with the unpacking of the goods that had arrived and left in the storage room. Jess walked over to Kate and smiled “ so where do we start?” she asked and saw a lovely vase Kate held “ that's a beautiful piece , we could make a beautiful window feature around it” she said looking at its colours and patterns. She wanted to talk about Khaat but she decided it would be best to stay away from that subject but if Kate wanted to talk about it she would too. Jess moved to the back office and brought a price gun so they could mark up the new clothes for sale. Back at the main house Jack played with Alex while Jaylen drew pictures Jack looked up seeing Khaat walk in.

“ Angus should she be up yet?” he asked but knowing Khaat he said nothing more “ feeling better?” he asked as he passed a red crayon to Abby.

"I knew the primary colors we were getting in this season, so I made my art pieces around it," Kate said. "Go ahead. Do whatever displays you like. I didn't have any particular designs in mind for them. I just liked the colors and how they turned out. I think if we put the summer leftovers on that rounder on the racks next to the changing rooms, people and advertise a summer sale, then the customers will have to go past all our beautiful fall things to get to the sales items. Oh, and I have a shipment of Italian art glass jewelry coming from Venice. Its a place Khaat really likes. She certainly has gotten some wonderful pieces there, so I contacted the jewelry maker, and he's consigned some fabulous pieces. They should be arriving in a few days, and Michael's friend Tobias and his sister are sending us some lovely scarves and shawls just in time for nippy weather."

"She told me she wanted to be on the bedroom sofa," Angus said, eyeing her. "I left her there just long enough to go put in a load of laundry. She can be up, but she should not be up by herself. She's not steady enough or strong enough. we'll be picking her up off the floor if she continues that. And you left your soda upstairs, didn't you?"

"I had enough issue getting myself here," she said. "I left my blanket and my book up there too."

"So I noticed," Angus said.

Jess smiled and nodded at Kate's suggestion “ Good idea and we can put the jewellery next to the counter, that way once they can see them once they by the outfit.“She suggested moving the summer clothing to beside the changing rooms and hanging up the Autumn line as she marked each one. “That's good, we need some new accessories around here and they make good things” she said finishing the last dress and she hung it up “ I see Fiona's baby things are still coming through ok, I like them and they sell well.”

Jack looked at Angus and smiled at Khaat as Angus spoke to Khaat “ I'll get it “ he said and moved upstairs for Khaat's soda while he was there he set a spell to make her bed so it would be fresh and clean when she returned. Returning he placed it down next to her on the small table. "There you go Khaat" he said and moved to play with Alex and his car.

Kate flicked her wand to have the clothes hang themselves on hangers and the directed the hangers to go where she wanted them to. It was easier to price them once they were hung. As she was doing that, several boxes arrived. Kate checked the tags on the boxes. "Well, well. Speaking of jewelry, its here And so are the boxes from Tobias." There were 6 large boxes in all. Kate paide the delivery wizard and then set about opening the boxes. She was stunned at how beautiful the items all were. She set back the pieces that caught her eye for Khaat. She knew Khaat loved clothes and jewelry, and she had a special love for shawls. Kate set apart the things that she knew were going to be the pieces Khaat could not resist.

"Thank you," Khaat said, exhausted from the effort of just getting downstairs.

"I suggest you rest," Brian told her. "You made it downstairs, and when you've been as sick as you have, thats a huge effort. Try laying down a bit and just resting. There's nothing you need to be concerned about that much. Much as we love you, I really do think we can handle it for awhile."

"I know," she said,leaning back against the back of the sofa He went over and simpy insisted she stretch out. He gave her pillows and accio'd a blanket. She was deeply relieved at the difference in how she felt laying down than she had belen when she was sitting up.

Jess smiled and nodded “ she will love those Kate there really lovely pieces” she said as she moved more of the summer clothing making room for the impatient autumn clothes. Jess looked up as Kate called out saying the jewellery was already there and Tobias's things as well “ ow good I'm glad about that I'll make a start on the autumn window design soon it was done and she smiled “ Kate what do you think?” she asked “ I incorporated a lot of the things we sell “ she said and went outside to check it out “ I think it looks good” she said as she moved back inside to continue displaying the rest of the clothes and jewellery around the shop she changed the colour of the shop and the displays to a warm orange and tan colors to show they were ready for the autumn season.