Snow Day Lunch

"And I can't imagine your date not going well," Angus said. "Not on your part, anyway."

"If you were ready for it," Khaat said gently. She did know what it was like to feel not-so-ready to date. "But I've had to come to grips with what to tell Abbey because she's started having a bit of accidental magic already. Some if it, she gets honestly from me. But some of it, she gets from her biological father and not from Brian. She notices its different already.

"And--truth be told, Dakota is the daughter of my adopted daughter. She doesn't get anything biologically from me or Brian either one. She's actually my granddaughter, even though she and Abbey are only a couple of months different in age. I've always had custody of Dakota because my adopted daughter was a minor and in school when she had her.

"But...that's put me in a position of having to decide when to tell my kids the truth. And I've decided that the more I just make it a part of normal every day life and don't hide it, and let them grow up with it as part of what they see and consider to be normal, then the easier it will be for them to deal with. Or at least that's my hope. So I've told them the truth, as they can understand it, right from the start. And I just keep telling them--with love. I answer their questions as they ask, but otherwise, I try to keep them surrounded with
normalcy.

"Dakota," she continued "has always thought of Brian and me as her mom and dad. And that's fine. But she also knows she has another mom that she sees from time to time, and thats fine.

"Abbey sees pictures of her biological dad, and I tell her about him. But it doesn't change that she calls Brian Daddy. She knows there's a second dad somewhere but her loyalty is to Brian--by her choice. And I'm really good with that."

"In my case," Marcus said, "my wife ran off with a rich playboy and left my kids home alone as toddlers, while I was out of the country. I came home to find them abandoned and not cared for, for quite awhile. I was furious, and I separated from her. The kids old enough--just barely--to remember their mom. And, they've made their own choices. They hate her and the ugly memories she brings back for them. They live with my parents when I'm on assignment, and I spend every possible minute I can with them when I'm off."

"Well, and I grew up a bit differently," Angus said. "I grew up largely in my grandfather's Tuscan compound, surrounded by all sorts of extended family and family friends, of all ages. Probably why I like kids. I think its the quality of the relationships around Rose that count. Keep the truth of her father alive for her, but surround her with people--friends or family or both--that love her--especially you. Love and truth can accomplish a lot."

"Well the guy wasn't exactly thrilled that I had a child and it kinda ended before it started." Bella said truthfully and feeling slightly embarrassed. "It wasn't exactly the best experience I had on a date."

"Well that's the thing, my husband worked a lot and he was kinda married to his job. He would come home and work there as well even after Rose was born. When he did spend time with her it was for an hour before he'd get a call to go back to work." Bella said looking at Khaat hoping she didn't seem like the idiot she felt like. "Well I've told Rose the truth about everything she asked about her father. I just don't know how to talk to her about her father's death." She had lowered her voice when she spoke about her husband so Rose wouldn't hear. It was loud enough for the adults to hear though.

Bella listened at everything that Khaat was saying and understood everything that she was saying. "Well they all seem like they love you so very much and they are all so adorable." Bella said smiling she didn't know what to say. "My husband's parents want nothing to do with Rose but thankfully my parents love her to pieces."

"Well that's good that Abbey can see him as a daddy to her. You have a wonderful family Khaat," She said smiling softly at her.

Hearing Marcus' story her jaw dropped at his words, shaking off her disbelief she closed her mouth for a second. "I can't believe that, what is wrong with her? I don't care who you are, you never do that to a child. Your poor babies, were they okay?" She said stunned and angry at his wife's audacity to do that to her own children.

Bella looked at Angus and smiled, "Sounds like a wonderful place Angus." She looked around at them all, "Thank you all so much for everything." She knew that she was definitely going to have to make play dates with these kids. "So she could spend more time with the adults here."

"You know," Angus said, "Khaat's a seer. She's been privileged enough to have had visions of the other side of the veil a couple of times. She tells the kids when someone dies that they've had to go far away but that they still love us here."

"Keep saying the truth--in simple ways.  For now, Rose will accept what you tell her.  She will understand that he had to go far away," Khaat said.  "And as she asks questions, you can tell her in better ways as she understands more.  She'll just grow up knowing her father, who he was, and that he loves her.  Personally, what little I've seen lets me believe that our loved ones still love us--even on the other side.  And thats how I approach it with my kids."

Angus listened to them talk about Marcus's wife.  "I hope you don't have to meet Marcus's wife. She has a nickname--The Harpy.  She's an odd bird. Bright orange hair, loud printed clothes, big feather hats,..."

"And a screechy voice that could rattle the spinal cord of any grown man," Marcus rolled his eyes.  "She's a Harpy for a reason."  Khaat grinned, having met his wife.

"He's right. She's something else," Khaat said.

"Anyway, the kids were fine," Marcus said. "They are age 3, 2, and 1 when it happened. I had them checked by a healer.  Then when I took them to my parents, we made sure they got baths, and some healthy meals, and some good sleep--and a lot of hugs and nurturing.  They're great kids, but they sure don't like her."

"Our home and our family is always open to more friends and family," Khaat said.  "Always. You don't have to be alone.  Not if you don't want to be."

"Mama!" Abbey was unhappy. Abbey was very rarely ever unhappy.  She looked at her oldest daughter.  

"Yes, Dear," Khaat said.  

"'Kota took my berries, and she eatted them all!" Abbey said angrily.

"Hey," Angus said quickly, brushing the cheek of the normally very sensitive little girl, "Abs.  Have I ever let you run out of berries? Ever?"

"But Unca Aggie..." she looked up at him with big puppy dog eyes.

"I'll get you more berries. Promise," he said.  "You want berries, or you want one of the pink bunny cookies here?"

"Berries," she said quietly, with a pouty lip.

"Okay. Berries it is."  He ordered more berries. He looked at Dakota with a firm look. He didn't say a word.  He didn't have to.  Dakota was the precocious child in the house, and she was used to Angus's glare that said he meant business. She looked down at her lap.  It was all he wanted--to know she got his message.

He glanced back at Bella. "In case you're wondering, Abbey and Dakota couldn't say Angus when they were tiny. Aggie was the best they could do. Now its just stuck," he grinned.  "They can to better, but they choose not to.  So I leave it."

Bella listened in earnest and felt better knowing how she could explain it to her daughter. "That's a great way to explain it to her, I'll have to use that way. I didn't know how to properly word it to her but she always ran to the next question before I could answer. I know that she'll ask for it again and I'll finally have an answer for her." Glancing at Rose she smiled because her daughter had ate almost everything on her plate. Of course all the berries were gone and there's was very little of everything else.

Taking a sip of her water she almost spit it out at Marcus' wife's nickname. Bella coughed slightly tried not to laugh at the name given to the woman. "Well how you describe her sounds more like a banshee than a harpy." Face coloring and feeling embarrassed she looked at Marcus. "Sorry, sometimes I forget to not say what I'm thinking."

"At least the children were perfectly fine and didn't have anything medically wrong with them." She said knowing that if she came face to face with the woman she would hit her. "I don't blame them for not liking her, I wouldn't if I were in their position."

Bella looked at Khaat and smiled, "Thank you. One of these times I might take you up on that. It tends to get kinda lonely with just Rose and me there. She needs someone to interact with and hopefully get her to talk a little more." Rose was staring intently into space before shaking her head and going back to finishing her food. Bella's brow furrowed in confusion but then she realized that her daughter was thinking of something.

Bella watched the interaction of the children with each other and with the adults. She smiled because she wanted the same thing for Rose and herself. She finished her own meal as she looked around the table seeing that everyone there was a big family.

Looking at Angus when he spoke she nodded smiling. "I think Rose is catching on but hasn't quite got the A in Aggie." Bella said grinning more, "At first I thought she was calling you Iggy." She giggled at her own confusion of her daughter's annunciation of the word. "Then I realized it was ggie that she was saying. I do have to say though Angus my daughter attached herself pretty well to you. It surprises me because she doesn't do it with just anyone, to me yes but other's she's choosy about who she allows to pick her up."

Everyone laughed when Bella suggested a banshee was more fitting for Evelyn Belby.

"I don't think there is anyone that would argue with you, Bella," Marcus laughed heartily. He had no warm feelings left for the woman Evelyn had become. "Honestly, she wasn't always so ridiculous. I'm not sure when she changed so much, but, I do remember her telling me I was a horrid father for being gone from home so much."

"Before Marcus started to work for me," Khaat explained, "he was assigned, on sort of a special loan from our ministry to work as the Protections Specialist for the Minister of Magic for Bulgaria."

"Oh, spit it out," Marcus cast Khaat a bit of an amused smile. "I was a special agent assigned to him, largely as his bodyguard--his and his family's, but it sometimes also entailed some other sorts of missions work related to Bulgarian security."

Angus shook his head. That didn't simplify it much. He looked at Bella. "What he's trying to say is that he's been a bodyguard and a spy," he laughed. "Now, his job is to bodyguard Khaat. I know you've been living on the continent, but if you watch the papers, when you see a photo of Khaat, you'll almost always see him there with her."

"Its where I'm supposed to be," Marcus shrugged. "It certainly isn't for a love of the press or the cameras."

"But that's why he was gone from home so much," Angus said. "Bodyguarding a national leader isn't exactly a 9-5 gig. Sometimes making him gone for weeks at a time. He didn't have a choice. One thing I can tell you is that he provides very well for his parents and his children. They don't want for a thing."

"I know what its like to be lonely like that, Bella," Khaat said. "And it can sometimes make parenting feel like an even heavier weight knowing you have all that responsibility yourself without much support or backup."

The server brought a large bowl of berries for them to serve family style, with a stack of small fruit bowls, and a platter of Babbity Rabbity cut out cookies expertly decorated with royal icing.

Julia reached out quickly and snatched a cookie. Without saying a word, she broke it in half and handed the bigger half to Rose.

"I hope that's okay that she wants to share," Angus said to Bella. "She's so timid, she doesn't normally have anyone she wants to share with unless its either Abbey or her grandfather." When Bella was impressed that Rose was already attaching to Angus, Angus honestly was fine with it. "If Rose is comfortable in calling me Aggie, she's becoming one of the gang already," he laughed.

"It looks to me like Rose has impeccably good judgement," Khaat approved. "Angus is a very skilled auror. He's being a bit modest. He was hired, not just to cook and manage the estate, but Brian's work sometimes took him away from home. Abbey's birth wasn't easy. I was barely on my feet when I was discharged, and since my first husband left me the night Abbey was born, I had no home to go to. Brian and I were childhood friends. He's a good healer and an even better auror. My father wasn't sure that Abbey or I, either one, was going to survive Abbey's birth. He summoned Brian in to assist him to try to save at least one of us.

"Brian knew that my work with the Wizengamot was sometimes dangerous," she continued, "so he took me and my newborn baby in. Brian handpicked Angus not just to help take care of Abbey and me but he specifically wanted someone he trusted as a bodyguard.

"If Rose is attaching to him, then so far as I can see, she has excellent taste. He's probably the only man I know that can captain a ship and fight off an intruder, all while he's got a five star meal on the stove."

"What?" Angus frowned, laughing. "I don't know that I've ever had to quite do that."

"You could, though," she said.

He shook his head, rolling his eyes. "The fact is that Rose is a wonderful child, and if she likes me, then I'm honored. I'm flattered. I like her too."

"Why don't you and Rose come Valentine's weekend?" Khaat asked. "We're going to do sort of a special winter-warm up weekend for the kids. We're going to let them decorate the house with paper hearts. We're going to let them make all sorts of pink, berry flavored cookies, and, probably, there will be lots of storytime in front of the fireplace with mugs of cocoa, and that sort of winter fun."

"There's plenty of room for Rose in the nursery," Angus said. "There is a room for the boys, and a room for the girls. The rooms are huge, and there are four beds in each room. Rose could certainly sleep in the same room with Dakota and Abbey and Julia. And the house has a lot of guest rooms. We've got plenty of room, and plenty of staff. It should be fun."

Bella smiled hearing them laugh and couldn't help but laugh with them. "Sometimes depending on the person they will change after they are in a relationship. I honestly think that there is something wrong in her head, maybe a screw loose or something." She said as she wondered how a mother could do that to her own babies.

She furrowed her brows at Khaat's explanation because she wondered what it was to be a Protection Specialist. Hearing all their explanation to Marcus' job description had her fully understanding it. "Oh wow, you must be very good at your job." She said looking at Marcus smiling softly. "I'd feel kinda weird having someone like that shadowing me. I'd turn around almost all the time because I'd feel like I was being watched."

She laughed him saying that he wasn't there for the cameras or the press. "I bet some people started a fan club for you though. Sometimes that tends to happen especially if your in the pictures." She giggled at that thought.

"Yeah it gets really hard especially around holidays and birthdays." She said then remembered that Rose's birthday was coming up next month. Right then she tried to figure out what she was going to do for a party for her daughter.

"Oh no it's fine, Rose does the same thing. She's got a big heart and she likes to share everything she has." Bella said and smiled at Angus' words, "Well she seems like she'll fit right in with the children." Rose started munching on the cookie grinning after saying thank you to Julia. Bella couldn't help but laugh softly about how she eating the cookie. It was in small measured bites and sometimes looks of bliss.

"She does have good judgement on actually, I had several people that I interviewed to get a nanny for her while i was working. She wouldn't come near any of them no matter what except the last woman. Who has done an amazing job with her, I asked Rose why she didn't like the others. She told me that they weren't nice people, I found out later that they weren't very good at babysitting." Bella said softly as she looked over at Rose then back to Khaat. "More times than not I go with what Rose says about people."

"Well that's reasonable having someone there to protect you from something dangerous." Bella said then laughed at her words. "Well that would be a site to see him doing those things."

"We would love to, Rose will be excited at being able to have lots of kids to play with. She loves doing arts and crafts as well as making cookies." She said feeling like she would get along perfectly with the adults here. "It sounds like there will be plenty of fun for Rose and lots of things to do."

"Rose will probably try and see if she can get the bed next to Julia. I doubt we will have any luck separating them from each other. She has already, from what I can see, attached herself to Julia." Bella said wondering if this is what it felt like to have so many wonderful people around you. If it was she felt like she could get used to it and knew her daughter would love being with little kids like herself.

"Then it's settled," Khaat said. "I think Rose will perhaps deal with the porting spell a bit easier, if she's not used to porting, if she's with someone she trusts. So, Angus, I'm going to leave it to you to get Bella and Rose that weekend and port them to the estate. And, there is a spare bed next to Julia's so it will work fine. Abbey and Dakota sleep on one side of the room, and Julia is on the other side, with the additional bed. Sounds like it'll be just what they want."

"Does she like playing in the snow?" Angus asked. "There are plenty of things do to inside and outside both. And if she's a bit short on snowsuits and such, we have plenty. With all those kids, we have no shortage of winter gear."

"Last year, Brian and Angus got like little boys," Marcus. "You have no idea what dads and wannabe dads can do when you let them out in the snow with a wand. They had igloos and snow forts and an amazing two story snow castle."

"And probably a hundred snowmen," Khaat laughed.

"Yeah, but they didn't last," Angus said.

"That's because you and Brian lobbed snowballs at them," Marcus said.

"Get the idea?" Khaat laughed. "We've got little kids--and we've got big kids too." She flashed a smile at Angus, teasing him.

"She's not quite got the hang of porting but I'm sure she'll do better with a port spell." Bella said smiling at Khaat warmly. "Well that works perfect, I'm sure that Rose will become quick friends with the other children. I'm just glad that she was able to find a friend since she's been sticking to herself lately."

"Once she's out in the snow it's hard getting her to come back in from the snow. She'll play in the snow until she get wore out, she tends to have a lot of energy." She said remembering the one time they were out in the snow. "It's really hard to get her to come inside but once she's in and warmed up. She'll put everything back on and run back outside to play in it again."

Bella started laughing, "Well I can't say much because I'm like a little kid when it comes to playing in the snow as well. I can't say that I've built a fort but Rose and I made a snowman that stood six feet tall."

Bella laughed softly at the thought of them becoming children when there was snow. She giggled and thought about what it would look like. "Maybe it's the snow that makes the 'big kids' lose several years and be in short pants again."

"Well, I know that's true in Brian's case. He and I grew up together. Its a long story, but, when Brian and I were kids, we spent most of our time playing outside, and my uncle used to be right in there with us. It was some of the best times we had. And now he loves to be outside, and he wants our kids to like it. What's your excuse, Angus?"

"Who lives in Tuscany and spends life indoors?" Angus laughed. "Life is about being outside in the sun and enjoying the sea and, well, whatever life brings."

"That doesn't explain snow."

"Oh, that falls under his 'whatever life brings' clause," Marcus laughed. "Sounds to me like Rose is going to have a great time and Bella will be able to breathe a little bit."

"And thats the perfect recipe for a great girls' weekend," Khaat said.

Angus passed Bella a small notepad and a pen. "If you write down where you live, I'll pick you up that weekend. When would you like me to pick you and Rose up for that weekend?"

Bella grinned as Khaat spoke about her and Brian growing up together. "Well mine was much the same except I grew up playing with few dogs but no one else. My father would come out to play with me and would get into snow ball fights with me. He'd let me win though, he's a great grandfather with Rose though he does move as quickly as he did." Bella said smiling softly at the memories of those days.

Hearing Angus say that he was always outside in Tuscany made her smile still. She leaned back in her chair and listened to everything. When Rose's name came up again Bella smiled, "Well that will be an interesting change. I'll probably keep checking on her I haven't been away from her since she was born except work. My babysitter however I drive nuts because I check on Rose so much."

"I've never had one of those but I think that it will be fun." Bella said smiling at Khaat.

Taking the notepad and pen from Angus she wrote down her address for him. "Well anytime after 8 am is perfect. I'm not quite a morning person," She said with a laugh.