Marriage is Murder

"Alright. I trust you. Go ahead. And, Brant, I'm going to trust you with this. Just one ring. Not a bezillion." He took off his own gold seal that he took care of the estate with and handed it to Brant. "I'm going to trust you that this man is honest and won't make a copy for himself." It did make him nervous. It was a lot of money and property to risk.

Brian went back out towards the living room when he found himself falling, somersaulting over something.

"Oops. My bad," Marcus's voice said. "Sorry. You alright?"

"I'm fine--I think," Brian said. He looked to see what he'd fallen over. He'd fallen flat over two of the most elegant lace bassinets he'd ever seen in his life. "Nice," he said. "Would have been nice if I knew they were coming."

"Well, we've got some packages coming too," Marcus warned him. "Its liable to take Tobias a few minutes to package them and to send them here."

"It sounds like its a big stack," Brian said cautiously.

"For Khaat? Shopping at Tobias's? Its about average," Marcus said.

Brant nodded and took the seal he quickly slipped it into his bag and with coffee in hand moved to the coat rack grabbing his old leather jacket he ported out quickly. Cassidy walked back down and in time to see Brian go over two elegant lace bassinets she smiled and walked over " want me to move those to the Nursery?" she asked smiling knowing they all had worked hard on a surprise for Brian and Khaat. " ow tell me when they arrive I'll move them" she smiled at Marcus hoping he would twig to what was going on.

"That's fine," Brian said. He saw Edward bringing a large box towards Angus's new office. He went over to Edward and looked at him and then peered into the box.

"What the heck is so special about it? Its a brass porthole. Looks ordinary enough to me," Brian said.

"It is ordinary right now," Edward grinned. "It wont be momentarily. I'm going to put it on the outside wall, in between the two outside windows, so that it gets better light."

"Do I get to see what makes it special then?" he asked.

"That depends on whether or not you're going to ruin the surprise," Edward said.

"You don't think he'll recognize it?" Brian asked.

"Oh, I'm completely counting on it," Edward laughed. "Patience. Just wait." He took the porthole into Angus's office to install it into the outside wall.

"I'm no sure I want to know what he's doing with that thing or not," Brian frowned.

Steven and Jack placed the finishing touches around the room and looked at Edward watching him place the port hole in the room and smiled there decor worked well with it and they both high fived each other " so you think he'll like it Edward " Steven asked as Jack folded his arms.

Cassidy walked up and placed the bassinets in place and smiled but seeing the door to the new nursery was open she quickly closed it quickly so Brian wouldn't see any thing that lay inside as they all wanted it to be a surprise for Khaat and Brian.

"Your work? He's going to love that," Edward said. "My work here--not so much." He laughed. The porthole was an old family joke. He knew by giving it to Angus, he was asking to get the danged thing back again when he least expected it.

"This wasn't an easy choice for him," Edward said. "He loves what he has done here. And we've added some more luxury yachts to our own business in Tuscany. He passed up a job that would have allowed him to command a fleet of yachts, making about what Brian offered him in this job. He felt enormous pressure because he loves to sail and he wanted to honor his family.

"But on the other hand, he has found a family here that feels like his own where, for the most part, he is accepted without some of the sharp criticism that he sometimes gets from a couple of family members back in Tuscany.

"I want him to choose whatever makes him happy. I don't want him to choose the shipping line because of me. I want him to do whatever it is that makes him happy. And so, as I understand it, he's going to stay here for now. Unless he continues to feel that Jess would be happier with him gone. If that continues, I don't know what he'll do. I don't think he knows either."

Jack looked at Brian and scoffed "Ow don't worry about her, she'll accept him being here one way or another. " he said to them both and looked at Steven even he could not fathom out Jess's moods lately and he was getting worried about her himself

Cassidy walked out of the nursery and down to Angus's new room and smiled " wow this is wonderful but whats the port hole for?" she asked and moved to look at his closer " it does fit the room but...a port hole?" she asked as Steven moved her away from it.

" family joke I think" he said and she chuckled softly.

"ow okay well the other thing is finished " she said and the two men nodded to each other.

"I probably shouldn't tell you this but he wrote a resignation letter last night. I saw Brian read it and toss it away," Edward said. "I overheard just a moment of their conversation, and I did take the liberty of taking the letter out of the wastebasket. Angus is very clear about it, and he was when he accepted this position. He's here because he felt like he had a family here, but if that's ended for him, he won't stay. This is temporary for him--unless things are resolved here."

Edward wasn't going to say any more about it. Not right now. Edward knew, though, that if Angus wanted to live someplace where he felt that he, partly, not wanted, he'd have still been living at Edwards. Brian's had offered him something different--until the last few months. And it was steadily becoming difficult to feel accepted.

"Anyway, nice work. He'll like it," Edward said. "I'm hoping he finds a boat he really likes and finds a slip at the dock that he likes. He needs to be out on the sea a bit again."

Jack sighed and nodded he didn't want Angus to leave them not because of Jess " leave her to me "he said simply and moved out the room to find Jess.

"ow boy" Steven said softly as he looked at Cassidy. "Nobody wants him to leave." He said Cassidy nodded she agreed and held Stevens hand tight as they heard Edward talk about Angus's resignation.

"Please, don't let him go" Cassidy said some what upset at th thought of Angus some one she had known since arriving leaving them. Steven saw the look on Edwards face and lead her out of the room. and back down to the living room where she sat and looked at him.

" I think Jack better talk to Jess big time" he said to her as they walked.

"Shall I take it that you are finding out about Angus?" Brian asked, coming in from the kitchen with a mug of fresh tea.

"He's not been entirely happy for awhile, if you think about it. We've all known he's not happy in the kitchen but not everyone has looked at why," Brian said.

"He has been working from, roughly, 5 am until 8 at night, seven days a week. He's in the kitchen every moment of every waking day, trying to provide five star quality gourmet food for us.

"And he's gotten a lot of unhappiness and static at nearly every meal. Not just from the kids but from the adults too. There's always someone who doesn't like what he's cooked for some reason. Its not a food they're willing to try. Or its not the way they like it done. Or, heaven forbid, he didn't serve something someone wanted, no matter what he did serve or how many hours he spent doing it.

"He's worked unbelievably hard to get all the advanced training to be a five star, executive chef. He's serious about food, and he's serious about providing us some of the best food on the planet. He works by the hour on menus and going all over the world before you all get up for the best ingredients, no matter where they are. When he hears all sorts of unkindness about it as frequently as he gets it here, then it is a pretty serious slap in the face.

"I am not going to ask him to prepare one more thing in that kitchen and feel unappreciated for it. But I don't know if this new post for him is going to make him happy or not.

"Believe me, I will do as much as I know how to do to keep him. He was the first employee I hired for this estate, and I don't want to lose him. I don't know if I can fix this, though."

Cassidy looked at Brian and nodded holding back any emotions she had but it was hard she felt like she had failed him. " what about this we do the cooking with the elves from tonight, Jack and I will cook tonight's meal then we can sort out a router for the others " Steven said " might give him a chance to think things over"He suggested " at least give us that for now, cooking we can handle" he said. Jack walked down and listened and nodded.

" I agree" he said "We can do it Brian at least persuade him to stay a bit longer and if he still wants to leave at the end..." he sighed " then we'll let him go sad as it might be" he said and walked over to Cassidy who was holding Steven hard.