Marriage is Murder

Steven moved Cassidy to the side of the pool his arms were growing tired and his body wrinkly at being in the water " okay times up for today "he told her and both climbed out grabbing a fresh towel he smiled seeing Khaat and Brian sat together " looking good Brian" he said and smiled wiping the water off of his face. Cassidy looked around and frowned.

" what no smoores?" she said " ow this is wrong, a camp out isn't one with out smoores" she said and dove back inside changing her clothes to a light sun dress and slip flops she headed to Angus " Angus , Smores , we need Smores out side" she said grabbing the chocolate from the fridge and the marshmallows from the cupboard.

"You're supposed to be on your date, remember?" Marcus asked her. He had an idea of his own, though, and sent to Angus for several unbreakable jars and some pumpkin seeds.

Angus didn't understand why Marcus wanted all that, but he sent it over.

"I have to ask," Brian said. "What's that for?"

"What campout is official unless one can catch fireflies?" Marcus asked.

"What?" Brian laughed, frowning. Marcus cast a simple charm on the pumpkin seeds making them glow like fireflies and letting them flutter through the air like fireflies.

The kids were delighted.

"And now all you need to do is teach them to catch them," Khaat said. "Should be simple to teach a bunch of three and four year olds to catch flying pumpkin seeds, right?"

Steven chuckled and shook his head as he headed to the bedroom to change in their part of house. Cassidy gathered the things and headed to the kids room she saw the firefly seeds and chuckled " oow pretty there hard to catch fire flies, hey any one want smores?" she asked and looked at Khaat and Marcus. " if thats okay of course" she asked smiling " thought it would add to the experience, Steven says every time he went camping he had smores at it so I thought the kids might like it" she said and placed it all down to make them.

Jess and Jack sat outside and enjoyed the warm breeze Jess had changed into a light shirt and slacks with sandals. Jack sat with no shirt and trousers on both lay cuddled together enjoying the quiet and romantic setting. "Remind me to thank Brian for this Jess" Jack said as he felt Jess cuddle closer to him.

"Yes Jack now be quiet and just enjoy" she said and felt him chuckle.

"It does," Brian said to Cassidy.

The kids ate s'mores, caught some of the 'fireflies', and then settled in on the floor in front of the enchanted campout fire to listen to Brian and Marcus tell stories until, one by one, the kids all fell asleep in their bedrolls on the floor.

By the time the kids were asleep, Marcus heard Khaat's stomach growl.

"You didn't eat dinner," Marcus said. "You got busy with the kids. What can I get for you?"

"I got it," she said, picking up a chocolate bar.

"Nutritious," he sighed sarcastically.

"I was thinking of pizza," Brian confessed. "With pineapple and ham and...."

"Sounds good to me," Marcus grinned. "With a beer."

"The beer sounds great!" Khaat said.

"What do I have to do to get you interested in food?"

"Get her un-pregnant," Brian said. "She's never interested in food while she's pregnant."

"Why does that sound backwards?"

"It is."

"I eat," she frowned.

"When did you eat last?"

"Um...this morning," she said.

"And what did you eat, exactly?" Brian asked.

"Michael made some cheesecake Danish..."

"And that says it all. Cheesecake."

"How about I send for some food?" Marcus laughed.

"You don't have to stay with us all night," Brian said.

"Oh, yes I do," Marcus said.

Cassidy smiled as she helped make the smores, she watched the kids eventually fall asleep and heard Khaat and the others " I can make something," she said " what about a fresh fruit salad?" she asked and looked at them all. She stood up and headed to the kitchen returning with two cold beers and a soda for Khaat " sorry " she said simply and placed the can's down. " I feel its is time that I did Angus a favor and do some cooking." she said and brought out a plate of danishes and a bowl of fruit salad. Cassidy then left to find Steven who she found out by the pool." call if you need anything else" she told them

" Hey how are the kids?" he asked softly as she joined him on the lounger.

"Sleeping finally" she said and lent back against him and looked up at the sky the stars just starting to come out above them.

"Thank you," Brian said. "The salads look great, and I"m sure Angus appreciates the help."

Khaat picked up both of the beers, opened them and took a sip from each bottle.

"What are you doing?" Marcus asked.

"Taste testing them. I have to make sure they're still good."

"That is just about the worst excuse I've heard you make," Marcus frowned. "Give me those." He took both bottle from her and handed one to Brian. Then he handed the soda to her.

They ate the salads, and she pulled pieces off one of the cheesecake Danish and ate it slowly. Khaat fell asleep near ten pm on the mattress. By eleven, while Brian had gotten up and had gone just outside to stretch his legs, Abbey had awakened and had crawled over to her mother and had curled up tight against her. Marcus didn't say a word, but as the tiny girl cuddled tight to her mother and went back to sleep, Marcus pulled Khaat's blanket over Abbey too.

Jess after an hour or so got up and stretched her legs by walking to th e bed room Jack folowed " what you doing?" he asked and she smiled back at him " leave them there safe and quiet" he told her.

" I can't help it I have to check " she told him " its a mothers instinct" she said and pointed to Abby curled against Khaat " I knew it wouldn't take much" she said as Jack held her from behind. Steven and Cassidy both moved inside and saw Brian.

"Hey everything okay?" Steven asked as he pored two drinks for him and Cassidy." you enjoying the time with Khaat?" Cassidy hit his arm and he looked at her as she took the drink.

" Steven thats none of our business" she told him with a deep sigh " sorry Brian hes just being nosy again" she said " you enjoy the quiet time" she said and sipped her drink.

"There's not much to enjoy when she's asleep by ten," Brian said. "Actually, its more like spending the evening with Marcus."

"And he's not my type," Marcus said.

"And what exactly is your type?" Brian asked.

"Shapely females," he said. "Really, any female who isn't my wife or who isn't anything remotely like her."

"Khaat said she isn't supposedly the nicest lady."

"Well, Evelyn is not nice. Nor is she a lady in any definition of the word. She's female, but she can even give that a bad name. The only thing decent she's ever done was to give me four great kids."

"Why are you still technically married, then?" Brian asked.

"I haven't had time to divorce her," Marcus shrugged. "And right now, it keeps me from having to marry someone else. Its working out rather well for me right now. Although, I can't imagine any woman being worse."

"She can't be that bad, surely," Brian said.

"She can be," Marcus said. "She has a shrill, annoying voice that sounds like a harpy. And the last I saw her, she was dressed in feathers from head to foot and rather looked like a harpy too. My kids are calling her The Harpy too."

"Then you won't be inviting her here to any family summer outings, I take it," Brian teased.

"Not in this lifetime," Marcus said. "My kids might be a different story, though. Maybe. If that invitation to include my family from time to time still stands."

Cassidy and Steven both sat quietly listening Cassidy could not help but chuckle as Marcus walked in and spoke about his wife. " wow I'd love to meet her." Cassidy said in her best sarcastic voice as Steven chuckled. " sorry I hold no contempt for women that give us a bad name and I'm guessing she does." she said taking a drink of her beer. Steven remained quiet he didn't like the sound of her ether.

" I agree" Jess said walking in and over to get a soda from the fridge " she sounds totally awful, what did you see in her if you don't mind me asking?" she asked and moved to sit on a chair close by them both. Jess was interested as they had never known much about Marcus and now here he was telling them about his wife and how bad she was.

"When I met her, she was spontaneous, funny, and creative. She was beautiful and fresh. She was unlike anyone I'd ever known. For a very short time, it was really great.

"And then it all went sideways when she realized I was making good money. That brought out a very ugly side of her. She stopped loving me and the kids and started loving my bank account and everything she found it could get her.

"I came home from a mission and found my kids alone in the house and without food or clothing. My oldest boys were maybe 4. Brooke was maybe 2 or 3, and my youngest was under a year. I don't know when I've been so angry.

"I took them to my parents, filed for sole custody of them, blocked her from all our accounts, and they haven't seen her since. Well, Brooke did see her from a distance at Christmas. The only time I hear from Evelyn now is when she runs out of money. She keeps trying to get more out of me, and she gets the same answer every time. As far as I'm concerned, she needs to find some new playboy to hang with."