Khaat set in to make some breakfast pastries. She made a pecan coffee cake and a couple of loaves of nut bread. One was an apricot walnut bread, and the other was an orange poppy seed loaf. While they were all baking, she stirred together a very quick apricot compote and a homemade cherry almond jam, and a homemade toasted cashew butter. She put on a large pot of coffee and a large pot of tea, and poured a pitcher of orange juice.
Marcus had gone upstairs and showed, shaved and changed while they started on breakfast. Then he had come downstairs and set up the sideboard in the dining room.
"You're welcome, Ruby," Marcus said. "It didn't take much to get him settled. I think he's have done just about anything I asked of him because he was just too tired to think anymore."
"Could you pick me some fresh tomatoes for breakfast, Marcus?" Khaat asked. "I'll do a quick grill on them since Ruby has the rest of it well in hand."
"Certainly. You want the ones in your mum's vegetable patch?"
"No, the breakfast tomatoes are in the herb garden, near the basil. She separated them out this year because they kept getting tangled up with some of the other varieties last year."
"Gotcha. Be right back," he said. He was only gone a few minutes and came back with a healthy portion of tomatoes and some fresh basil.
"Perfect," she said. She sliced the tomatoes in half, grilled them, added some olive oil, salt and pepper, a little fresh garlic, and as she plated them she added a chiffonade of basil, and some shavings of parmesan cheese over the top. The cheese melted quickly on the warm tomatoes. And then she and Marcus took platters of food to the sideboard and set them on her mother's enchanted trivets.
"I am still concerned about Angus," Khaat told Marcus as they were setting things up on the sideboard.
"He doesn't want us to make a deal of it," Marcus said, "and he doesn't want everyone to know, I think, because he's pretty closed about how he feels about things. But, he clearly thought for a few minutes tonight that he was going to die and thought there was no way out. When the steps gave way, taking him with them, he managed to snag onto a tree root and held on till I could get him. I guess, in his nightmare, he fell to his death, and he didn't remember that piece of it until the steps actually did give way. That was a part of what made him think it was over for him. The experience he had tonight, being a mere moment from what one believes is certain death, that can really mess with a bloke's head. I'll have a word with your dad after breakfast. Robert has the right to know, but he's also very good with handling these sorts of things.
"He might as well figure out that this team is close enough that everyone very likely already knows and has a right to know, but we can avoid making a deal of it. That much, we can do. I'm glad you were there for him or it might have ended badly for him. Thank you for that."
"I would never, never leave anyone in that situation, Khaat, and certainly not a teammate. No way. You can be sure of that. Didn't even enter my head as a possibility. I think those steps were purposely booby trapped to deliberately take out at least one or more of the team. Your dad is completely right. Their plan is Divide-And-Conquer. Think about it. They took out your dad at least temporarily, and Edward. They clearly took out Angus and never considered he would be along on the mission tonight. They were out to take out someone else, probably thinking that it would be someone like Brian or some team leader that would head down the stairs first. I think they were absolutely counting on taking out another member or two of the team tonight and keeping the Donohue kids."
"And they might have managed it," Khaat replied darkly.
"No, they weren't going to manage it. Your dad has trained this team to be rock solid. Things don't get by them easily. If I hadn't been there, Jack or Jessie or Brian or someone would have done exactly what I did. Whoever had ended up on that step would have had some well trained, strong backup. But your dad has to know all the facts of what happened for three reasons. First, he needs that information strategically to make an impact against Gelding's plan. And second, he needs to be able to help Angus sort it all out in his head so it doesn't continue to haunt him. Third, he needs to get Nigel to be a little less in-Angus's-face and a little more supportive. Angus will need that dressing checked, but Nigel needs to not rattle Angus's cage today. He's rattled enough without Nigel adding to it."
"If he can't do it, I can," Khaat said, "but I think Ruby could also be a huge help to Angus," Khaat said.
"Oh, definitely. Her influence with Angus will be huge. She was his first thought--his main thought. I had an idea about that. I think you should show her that spot here on your dad's farm where you and Brian and Remus used to hang out when you and Brian were kids. Ruby could maybe pack a picnic lunch for two and take Angus out there later today. Its not far from the house, so it isn't a long walk, and it really is probably the prettiest spot on the whole property. It would be good for him to see some wide open spaces and some sunshine. Even if he doesn't feel like going, he'll go because it's with her. The quicker he gets back into the things he loves about his life here, the better off he's going to be."
by 
