Marriage is Murder

Jack pulled a face at mention of the stale cookies " yuck even I won't eat two week old cookies" he said to Abby but sat back and smiled as the cake was brought out. " happy birthday Abby" they all said together Brant stood up and moved the rather large pile of presents over to her and smiled seeing her face. Jess took pictures of the cake with her Wizard camera , soon she had plenty and smiled sitting down again with Jack as she made the picture's appear in a special book she'd bought for Khaat and Brian as memories of Abby's third birthday. Standing Jess moved to Khaat and smiled.

" this is for you and Brian" she said and gave her the book." its from us all" she opened it to show her the inscription and smiled 'to the best mom, from all who know and love her.'

Abbey's eyes grew wide with the mountain of gifts that were hers. Brian excused himself for a moment and left to retrieve the bag of smaller gifts that he and Khaat had bought for the other kids so that no child felt left out, He and Kate read the names on the gift tags and handed out the fits so that every child had a gift or two.

The air was filled with the sound of wrapping paper being torn to shreds. The cats came from everywhere--both the real cats and the enchanted cats, and they dove through the paper and made a grand mess.

"Thank you, Jess," Khaat said, touched that Jess would remember Khaat's love for pictures and for things that reminded her of the people she loved and the memories in her life. "You always remember the important things, don't you?" she said, looking through the book, with the countless places to add more pictures from the day.

The kids were all delighted with the new toys--the ones they themselves were getting and the ones that they saw Abbey getting that they knew they'd all get a chance to play with.

Jess smiled and nodded. "Well, whats a birthday if you can't remember it in future times." she said smiling at her as she sat back down to the sound of ripping paper and laughter from the kids. Jack smiled and held Jess close to him smiling.

" she is a one fore the small things" he said lent against him happy to see every one together and smiling. Steven moved to hold Cassidy's hand gently as she smiled at her , Jaylen held up a teddy bear and giggled happily as she held it close to her.

Abbey honestly didn't know which gift she liked best. She liked them all.

"Cake, Papa!" Dakota piped up.

"Mama? Cake?" Abbey looked at Khaat hopefully.

"Do you want cake or cookies?" Angus teased.

"Yes!" Abbey nodded.

"Well, which is it? Cake or cookies?" he asked. Abbey pointed to the cake.

"That!" she said clearly. "It mine!"

"Yes, it is," Angus laughed. "Will you share it with us?" She nodded.

"Ice cream" she asked, hopefully.

"Only because you asked," he said, knowing he'd made fresh Italian gelato from wild strawberries and it was going to be wonderful. Michael got up and went into the kitchen and brought the gelato and dessert plates and servers. Michael lit three little candles on the roof of the carousel.

"Make a wish, Abbey," Brian said. "Don't tell us what it is. Close your eyes, make a wish, and then blow out the candles." She took a moment, closed her eyes and took a deep breath in as she made her wish. She looked at Brian.

"Daddy, help me," she pointed to the candles. He helped her blow out the candles. Everyone clapped. She looked at Angus, "I cut cake?"

"How about I cut it and I'll give you the first piece?" he said, not wanting to put the large cake knife into the hands of a three year old.

"Okay," she agreed. Angus cut the cake, and Michael added a scoop of the gelato to each plate and passed them around to be sure everyone got some.

"

Caitlin and the others cheered as Abby blew out her candles each loved the cake and ice cream Jaylen got more on her face than in her mouth. Jack cleaned her and chuckled as Jess shook her head " kids will be kids " he said and Jess nodded watching the others eat and chattering happily.

" I'll check the horses after we've eaten " he said eating some cake handed to him " nice cake Abby" he said and looked at Angus knowing he was the one who had made the cake. Jess nodded she agreed with Stephen.

Abbey was almost overwhelmed with the decorations, the cake, the balloons, the attention and the flood of gifts.

"Abbey," Robert called to her in his quiet voice. She looked at him. "Its naptime. Why don't you pick out one of those new storybooks, and I'll read to you?" She nodded. She was grateful for his calming guidance. She looked through the books and found one about a princess and a magical rainbow. The pictures were beautiful. She picked out the book.

"This one, Papa?" She asked.

"That one looks just fine," he nodded, smiling. He looked at the other kids. "Abbey and I are going to go read a brand new story. Anybody else want to come with us?" It was his way of trying to get the kids to go take their afternoon naps without a fuss. Khaats kids went willingly, always glad for a brand new story. They loved storybooks, and they soaked up every moment of attention they could get from their Papa. And for them, there was nothing like having Papa read a brand new story with pictures they'd never seen before. It was something special to not be missed.

"I'll go with you," Kate said, offering to help settle the kids for a nap. "I like new stories too." It was merely her way of offering to give Robert a hand.

Jess and Cassidy watched as their children looked to them for permission both nodded and the children ran off happily to listen to the story. " they do love it when he reads to them" Jess said softly as she smiled watching Jaylen toddle off after them.

" yes I find they sleep better after a story ,Steven usually does it for us"Cassidy said and saw Jess look to Jack and she smiled " guess were on the same wave length. Brant stood up and began to clear the table as he knew the others would want to have coffee or something stronger now dinner was over. He wanted to get back to the book Edward had given him about puzzles so he could finally get the box open.

"We all sleep better if we have something to unwind us," Edward said. "The only difference between them and adults is that we don't generally use stories anymore. Unless we read before bed. Some folks listen to music. Some work out in the gym until they're tired enough to sleep."

"Some of us have kids, and by the time bedtime comes, we're ready for sleep," Brian laughed.

"Yes, that too. I had a lot of those days. Still have them sometimes," Edward said. His compound operated a lot like Brian's house had become--full of people, and a lot of them being little people.

"It was a great birthday, Guys," Brian said. "Thank you. Abbey had a wonderful time."

"I think we all had a good time," Michael laughed.

"Did I see you were making coffee, Brant?" Edward asked.

Brant chuckled hearing every one talk on hearing Edward ask if he had made coffee float he nodded and smiled " I thought we could use some after all that cake" he said and made the tray float to the table each cup filled with coffee and floated to each person a tea pot came out and filled two cups one for Robert and one for Edward as he knew he drank tea . Tacking his own he sat down to drink his own. Jess took her cup and blew over it.

" nice coffee Brant" she said and took a long sip hearing the quiet that filled the house after the hustle and bustle of the party and the children's laughter.

Angus poured coffee for the others and handed them mugs.

"Thank you," Brian said, sighing, contentedly. A good lunch, a nice party, and now, sleeping children. The house was temporarily quiet again. He laughed out loud.

"What?" Khaat looked at him.

"Its funny. I was glad for the chaos a few minutes ago. Now the quiet seems like a relief," he laughed.

"And now you sound like a parent," Edward laughed. "Makes you a normal dad, my boy."

"Indeed it does," Robert said, coming back downstairs. "Kate is just doing some last minute fidgeting. You know how grandmas are. They need every kid to be covered up and to have their stuffed animal, and all that business."

"Yes, and Grandpas decide to not touch them once they've gone to sleep. Grandpas decide to leave them alone," Edward laughed, as Angus handed Robert a cup of coffee.

"Definitely. If a kid is asleep, I sure don't plan on waking it up," Robert laughed. "I much prefer to leave well enough alone."

"Indeed. Must be a woman thing," Edward said. "Never understood it myself."

"It is a woman thing," Khaat said quietly. She left her coffee on the table, feeling drawn to the living room. Brian simply kept a watchful eye and saw her merely standing at the windows looking out. She seemed to be a bit on guard for something. He didn't get a sense she even knew what she was watching out for, but she seemed to be expecting something.

"Are you sure there isn't something we should know?" Brian called to her.

"Not that I know of. Just feeling a little uneasy," she said.

"Well, if he hadn't overpowered you, you might have remembered," Robert said. "Again, that's not like him. You'll have to wait until you get your energies back, but when you do, you might try to go find him and ask him if he's lost his mind or what the heck he thought you'd get out of that."

"I don't think one can lose their mind after death," Khaat said.

"Maybe we're just seeing that he had already lost his," Robert teased.

"Daddy," she rolled her eyes at him. "He surely had a purpose. By the way, where's Jim? Did he take an extended leave? Has anybody heard from him? He hasn't come back yet."

"No clue," Robert shrugged.