LONDON CALLING

"Sounds like a great idea," Angus replied. "I'd use chicken stock as your base. There could be some frozen chicken stock in the walk in freezer. The nutrition in chicken stock is huge, and it would be very helpful not only for him but might help ward it off in anyone else who is exposed to it."

"Sounds like you have it worked out," Robert said, considering it settled for Jessie and Rowan. "You should stay elsewhere too, Andrew."

"He can stay back at our place," Angus said.

"Thank you," Andrew said. Robert went now to the cub. He gave a shout for Kate, who came in a moment, wearing jeans and a turtleneck sweater with the sleeves pushed up. She saw the wounded cub and went over to it. He looked at Kate grimly. "This one has some internal injuries. It needs a proper vet, and even then it might be touch and go. Jessie, where's Jack? Does he know where the mother is for this cub? Are there any other wounded cubs? We're going to have to send for the vet for this one, and he might want to do some surgery. We'll need to set up some equipment in the small animal side of the barn. I'll take this cub out to the barn, and Kate'll send for the vet. See if you can find Jack, and then, if you're free, see if you can give Kate a hand to get things set up for the vet, please, while I try to see if I can do anything to help stabilize her in the meantime."

Angus motioned to Andrew and quietly asked Andrew to push his chair into his office so that things would be a bit less chaotic for Abbey. Andrew pushed the chair into the office and lit the kiva fireplace in the corner of the room. Then he went up and got Abbey's crayons, her coloring book, BooBoo Kitty and Abbey's favorite blanket and brought them down to Angus' office.

"When she's ready for some breakfast, let me know," Andrew told Angus.

"Just bring her a plate, and I'll get her to eat," Angus said. "And her pink cup with some juice or some milk, please?"

"Certainly," Andrew said.

You looked at Jessie and nodded he moved to hand over the cub " I do not know" he said as Jack ran in " mother down, six cubs" he said and looked at the one Robert and Kate held " okay" he said catching his breath " a bear attacked her and her cubs all but she and this guy got away, the others are with her now" he said as Yu dove out the door and towards the woods, several moments later he walked out with five cubs around his feet and the mother in his arms.

"I'll get the barn door, "Jessie said as he quickly opened the barn door and an empty stall for the wolf mother to be laid down in.

"I'll start the soup and I agree on chicken stock as a base would be good," she said walking to fetch some to make the spicy pumpkin soup. She cut the pumpkin in half and remove the seeds with a spoon Then cut the pumpkin into wedges and tipped it into a bowl. Then put some garam masala and A teaspoon of each of the coriander and cumin into a small bowl and mixed it with two table spoons of the oil and season. Then she drizzle it over the pumpkin and tossed the pieces to coat them in the spiced oil. Once done she transfer it to a baking tray and spread it out evenly and put it in the oven to roast, turning halfway through cooking, until the pumpkin is very soft when pierced with a fork.

Angus soon had Abbey feeling calmer and had her sitting on his lap, eating her breakfast at his desk. he was working on reading the stack of resumes and clipping little notes to each one with his honest thoughts about each candidate. They were looking for as few as two and possibly as many as four chefs. Andrew brought Angus some fresh coffee.

It wasn't ten minutes before a man in his thirties arrived, with a large messenger bag slung over his shoulder. He was wearing a duster length rain slicker, and he walked with confident strides to the barn. and went in and saw the people in the small animal side of the barn.

"Hello, Carter," Robert said, working to try to stop the bleeding and stabilize the heart of the cub. "Wolf cub," Robert reported. "Looks about ten weeks, attacked by a bear. He's not good, but the bleeding is slowing, and the heart is stabilizing."

"Jessie, this is Carter Pickering, he's the new lad that's taking over the vet position for Ian Smythe. He was our old vet, and he retired back in the spring. Carter's done a fine job of stepping right in for our zoo," Kate said. She moved out of the way for Carter to step in alongside Robert, and she went to offer the other cubs some food and water.

"Jack," Robert said, "we'll get a party of hunters together to go try to track the bear and see if we can't sedate it and get it relocated. We can't have bears tangling with our wolves here, and they can't be this close to people. They should be getting ready to hibernate as it is. I'll go with you, and I'm sure Edward and Michael will probably join the hunt. Brian will join if it can wait til he gets off work."

Ruby watched Angus with Abby and smiled as she finished making the soup for every ones dinner. " how you going to do that when theres two " she asked smiling at him as she moved to his ofice door and lent on the frame.

Jessie looked up at the new man and nodded" um.. nice to meet you" he said moving out of his way so he could get to the wolf cub and mother. Jack looked at Robert and nodded.

"I'll have the wolves track it and report back to its wear abouts" he said having placed the mother down on a baed of dry straw. " nice to meet you Carter." he said and stepped back also.

"Not a problem," he told her calmly. He wasn't concerned about juggling a child that would be probably 4 by then and a baby. "You'd be surprised all the things I learned how to do when this one was tiny, and besides, Abbey's my helper. She'll help me when I need it." He also knew that the time would be limited when he would have both children because Abbey was inching closer to being ready for school, even if her mother wasn't ready for her to go. He glanced down to see Abbey had taken his pen and was scribbling on one of the resumes.

"Here, Abs," he told her, holding his temper and getting out some paper. "Draw on that instead." He set that resume aside so that he could get someone to eliminate the scribbling off the resume. "How's your soup coming? I'd let it simmer for awhile because some of those spices infuse better when they've had chance to marry a bit into the stock. If you want to do some sandwiches, I would take some asiago and maybe some gruyere for some toasted cheese sandwiches, and, if you want a really great twist, on it, slice some apples paper thin and stack them on your sandwich and add just a dash of cinnamon to the apples before you toast the sandwiches. It will give you just a little sweet crispy texture to your sandwiches."

Ruby smiled and nodded " all right," she said then heard him mention the soup "it's on a low heat, just as you said to infuse the flavours, and those sound perfect I'll get on those right away," she said and began gathering the items to make several sandwiches for those who wanted some rather than the soup.

Jessie said in the barn with the small cub Yu stood right next to him both not saying a word as they could hear the patter of the rain on the roof " so.. how's the cub and mother?" Jessie asked as Jack walked back in from outside.

Jack looked at Robert as he spoke " the bear been tracked to the far east of the grounds, its headed to the wolves' den, I sent some men out and am joining them in a safe area ahead of the bear," he told him " were going to try and contain it in a humane trap."

"Ru, if you want a quick and easy dessert for lunch, take a few of those caramel apples the boys made, take the sticks out, cut the apples into wedges and remove the core and the seeds. Then take some of the chocolate bars in the pantry and melt them down. Add a little cream to it to make a ganache. Then put a little enchanted fondue pot on the sideboard in the dining room to keep the ganache warm, and let people use it to dip the caramel apple wedges into the chocolate," he suggested.

Of the resumes he was reading, he found three that he liked. The first two was from a married couple. The man was half Jamaican, half British, and his name was Nicolas Morgan, but he went by Nicky. He was biracial, and his wife was white. His wife was Irish, and her name was Shannon. They had a four year old daughter named Molly and 6 month old baby named Lucas, but they called him Luke. Nicky was applying for one of the chef positions, and Shannon was applying for the housekeeper position. Both of them came highly recommended. Nicky had worked at one time for Jeffrey Burnstein, and was, himself, a five star chef like Angus. Shannon had been the head housekeeper for a wealthy wizard who had lived in Switzerland until his death. She had taken a lesser position at Jeffrey's after her employer died, but she was anxious to find a position that allowed her and her husband to be privately employed.

The other resume that had captured Angus's attention was an American woman named Zoe Ricard from New Orleans. She was Creole, and her magical gifts were rooted in voodoo because the women in her family line had been voodoo priestesses. She had attended Ilvermorny, and she was another 5 star chef. She had owned a muggle restaurant in the famous French Quarter of New Orleans but it had been obliterated in a hurricane a few years ago, forcing her to work at a restaurant job at much less pay than her skills were worth. Zoe was absolutely willing to relocate, and it was Angus's friend Ian who had catered Edward's wedding that was recommending her for the position.

"The cub may pull through, thanks to Robert for stopping the bleeding and keeping his heart stable," Carter replied. "Haven't gotten to the mother yet."

"I'll see what Kate and I can do for her while Carter finishes with the cub," Robert said. He went to check on her, and Kate brought some supplies to try to help him. "If you need more men, Jack, just let me know."

Ruby listened to Angus's sugestio and nodded " that sounds perfect se said and began preping everything just as Angus had said soon the desert was ready and she placed it in the fridge ready for lunch. Ruby had seen the resume's Angus had been looking at and liked the two he'd settled on all three seemed capable of handling the job. " so you going to recomend those three to Robert?" she asked as she placed the last item into the washer.

Jessie breathed out when carter said the cub would be fine." thats good " he said about the cub " and Im just worried , though their in the best place and safest hads to make a ful recovery...right?" he said nervosly. Jack just stood and watched his arms crossed over his chest as was Yu he stood with his arms behind his back but saw how bad Jessie was getting, " come we should leave him to do his job" Yu said gently placing his hand on Jessie shoulder as he stood and together they walked to the door and out side " it is nice to se you have feelings for the animals but do not forget they are animals who live in the wild" he told him Jessie looked at Yu and sighed nodding his head.

"I get what your saying and I can't help my self, especialy with something that young" he said Yu nodded and smiled .

"Well, I'd rather interview any candidates first before I recommend them and maybe check on their references. After all, they're not just outdoor crew. They're folks that will have access to the house and they'll be feeding Robert and the family. I need to be sure they're decent, trustworthy people," Angus said.

Robert glanced up once at Jessie and saw Jessie wasn't one little bit better at coping with anxiety than Ruby was. They both needed to work on that, he felt. Jessie and Ruby seemed to have a need to fret about everything and then to simply give in to it by saying they couldn't help it. For himself, Robert was glad Jeffrey was still planning on bringing Sarah and their new baby--whenever the baby arrived--and coming to visit in November. Maybe Jessie and Ruby would get some benefit from it. Maybe they'd learn to be just a notch calmer.

Angus took a time out from his work to spend some time with Abbey. He had Andrew get him a basket of fruit and vegetables and a paring knife, and he worked with Abbey on the names and tastes of various fruit and vegetables. She knew a loft of them, but he wanted her to keep learning the names and the tastes with different things. She was, for the most part, a willing student. Andrew brought Abbey her little pink cup with some water in it if she wanted to take a drink in between what Angus was having her taste.

Ruby smiled and nodded " of course " she said finishing cleaning the kitchen leaving the soup on a low heat while she sat down to continue her knitting which was longer now. She saw Jessie and shook her head " I do hope Yu can help than man not be so worrisome" she said continue to knit.

Jessie looked up at Yu as he placed both his hand gently on each side of his face " relax and calm" he said softly Jessie felt himself do just that " you dont need to worry so much, remember your ti chi" he told him and Jessie nodded again feing the warmth of Yu's hands against his semi cold and wet skin.