A Birth day

Jack hummed he too had seen them but said nothing "angus will signle I take it when or if things go pear shaped" he said sipping his coffee and loving the taste " well you eren't wrong on how good this place was " he said chukaling as he could see both men talking but not hear what was said .

Ruby moved to the basil and began slowly and carfully digging up tow plants one for the garden and one for a pot to go in the kitchen. Once she had the first out of the ground she accioed a small pot and placed it in packing the soil around it then began on the second Caprice giggled as a leafe fell on her cheek. Ruby removed it and smiled down at her but continued digging up the second plant.

"I think it looks like Gelding is uncomfortable," Brian said. "He's not signaling anybody, but he clearly does not like what Angus is telling him. I think we should just hold tight for now.."

"Tom," Angus said, with an icy calmness to his voice, "I'm telling you right now. Its one thing for her to come after me, but if she makes one single move against Ruby, or my sons or my daughter, I swear to you, I will absolutely kill her and not leave you enough pieces to bother with."

"Gryffindor drivel," Tom laughed.

"No, Mate. It's an absolute certainly that you could take to Gringotts. Ask them if Donohue men are capable of killing."

"Alright, alright, look. She's not the same since Reginald's death. I didn't know that it was this bad until after I married her."

"Then you'd better keep a leash on her, or I won't just be stopping your enterprise. I'll be stopping her permanently, and then I will come for you directly."

"Lupin won't let you do that."

"First of all, you don't know Lupin nearly as well as you think. And second, even if he were to try to stop me, he and I would part ways if he ever thought he would stop me from defending my family. I could kill you right here and now if I wanted."

"And you would spend the rest of your days in Azkaban."

"If I thought it would keep my family safe? I'd do it in the fraction of a second and then go to Azkaban gladly, so I suggest you not try me."

"You know,' Gelding sat back in his chair and lit a thin cigar, "I actually think you might mean that."

"You wanna try me and find out?" Angus asked.

"He's nervous," Brian told Jack. "He's lighting a cigar, trying to look cool. I think Angus is getting to him."

Edward soon had a large number of plans in his trug, and Molly and Abbey were saying they needed to use the loo.

"I'll take them inside," Edward laughed. "And I'm sure by now, my cook has made a pitcher of lemonade with Italian citrons. I think you'll all enjoy that." He took the little girls and headed for the house.

"Have you ever had the citron lemonade, Ruby?" Simone asked, still working. "Edward says its special but I've never had it."

Jack listened to Brian and chuckled " good, but I agree we should wait and see, he might get thrown to him this time." he said still sipping his coffee as he waited with Brian. Ruby sat back and brushed off her hands as she looked down at Caprice now deciding she should get into some shade. Leaving her plants in the Trug she took a deep breath in and smiled.

Standing she moved to a shaded area and sat down. she heard the girls ask to use the loo and smiled as Simone walked over to her " nope not had them" she said " oh they should be perfect, I forgot how warm it was at this time of year " she said moving Caprice to let some fresh air blow over her.

"You hate Suzanne that much?" Gelding asked.

"I don't feel anything about her," Angus said dryly. "However, she went after her own children, every one of them, and they hate everything about her--every.single.one. of them. I didn't have anything to do with it because by the time they met me, they hated every cell in her body and the very oxygen she breathed. If she's gone mad now, it isn't my doing. Anyone who does what she's done against her own family has a screw or three missing already. I think she was a nutter long before I came into the picture, and I believe Reginald knew it."

Angus saw a very small movement out of the corner of his eye, and he saw the little square sugar packet container slide a few millimeters across the table, looking like it was moving entirely on its own, just a very slight movement that Gelding hadn't apparently seen. Angus was a bit confused for a moment, and the only reason he could think of that would cause it to move was one thing--Reginald. Reginald was announcing his presence at the meeting.

"Look," Angus said. "The solution is simple. Take away her toys from her and keep her home where she can't cause any trouble. Frankly, unless you're using her to solicit for buyers, she doesn't need to be 'entertaining' anyone anymore. It seems to me that if I were in your shoes, I would certainly think that letting her tinker about in dark arts, with things and people she knows nothing about would be bad for your business. Especially since what we saw last night was that clearly, her cheese is entirely off her cracker. Ask your own men. She couldn't hit a barn if she'd been standing right in front of it, and her spells were a complete cocked up mess. I will tell you one thing. She keeps coming after my family and me, and sooner or later, I will get damned sick and tired of her. When that happens, I can promise you I will take her out once and for all. It isn't wishful thinking. It's a promise."

"How do I know you won't strike first?"

"Now you look here," Angus said in a menacing tone. "Neither I nor Lupin nor anyone that is affiliated with Lupin has ever, ever come after you first. Not once. Any move we ever made against her or you has come with some prior provocation that you or she initiated. Stop the crap. You know better. If she stops, she gets to live. If she doesn't, we will come. As I see it, the ball is in your court."

"That's because you were working in the sun," Simone replied to Ruby. She set the trugs aside so they could come back and finish the job. "Change of subject. While we're here and Edward's inside, let me ask you a question. This house is huge. It has nine bedrooms because there was Edward, Caprice, their six children, and two guest rooms. That's not counting the two staff quarters downstairs. The only bedroom that has gotten used here since Angus moved out is the master bedroom. That leaves eight bedrooms upstairs completely unused. Frankly, they need updated.

"I've been discussing with Edward that you and Angus will likely be the only Donohue couple that will make use of this house besides Edward and me. So, I asked him if we might redecorate Angus's old room and the room next to it. I thought I'd put a door or a doorway in between them, and make a sitting room next to the bedroom. It already has an en suite bath on the other side of it. Then, I'd like update the old playroom as a combination nursery and playroom for the little ones. I know Caprice will use it at some point, and since Abbey will always be a part of our family as well, it could be used for little ones for quite awhile. And I know that Sam and Victor have already said they'd like to come. For now, at least, they could have their own rooms. That leaves us with three extra rooms that I would re-do as guest rooms in case you want to invite some friends along when you come. There's also a pool house out by the big pool, and it has two guest rooms, and I think Edward said there is a guest cottage too with three bedrooms. So There are abundant bedrooms. What do you think?"

"Hey, you two," Edward called. "Come get some cold lemonade and a cookie. The chef made some fresh lemon basil blondies, and Abbey and Molly are determined to eat them all."

Jack watched as Angus and Gelding spoke to each other he caught Angus's slight movement but said nothing as he ate his omelette quietly. Ruby chuckled and nodded to Simone " guess so" she said and let the cool breeze blow over her. She listened as Simone spoke then smiled.

" Im sure Angus won't mind redecorating his room and yes once she's old enough to start moving around on her own Im sure he'll come here more often and I hope whatever my mothers up to have stopped and were more settled, I would love to spend time here, its just as perfect as our duplex at Roberts." she heard Edward call and stood up " okay lets cool off a bit," she said and moved to where he stood. Taking a glass she took a drink dropping some clean old water into Caprice's mouth to cool her down too, she licked it up and giggled.

"I don't want you bothering me or mine ever again," Gelding said firmly.

"Ah, well, that is easily enough arranged. You go out of business once and for all. Stop dealing in human life, and we won't have need to bother you. Keep up making your money in such a reprehensible way, and we will be up your arse every chance we get. We will leave no one to the likes of you and the people who are foul enough to buy anything from you. I would think you've lost enough money and other things that you would see that as long as you do what you do, we will do what we do. So, how much of this dance are you willing to quit? You want me to stop coming after your wife, you stop her first because she's the problem. You want Robert to stop coming? You stop what you're doing because you're the problem there."

"You don't give an inch do you?"

"No," Angus said. "Are we finished here?"

"Evidently," Gelding sighed. He got up and left the table. Angus noticed, after Gelding left, that he hadn't paid for his espresso. Figured. Angus paid for his tab and Gelding's coffee and nodded towards Jack and Brian.

"Looks like the meeting is over. Let's go see what this was all about," Brian told Jack, folding his paper and taking his coffee cup and going to Angus's table. "That looked quite interesting. Find out anything interesting?"

"Perhaps," Angus said. He told Jack and Brian about the conversation he had just had with Gelding.

In the main house, Edward's cook, Rosa, served tall glasses with citron lemonade and ice. She had smaller cups for Abbey and Molly, and they seated in the conservatory, with plants all around them and a ceiling fan stirring the air. They were loving the lemon basil blondies that Rosa had made, and Edward was with them with his own lemonade and a blondie.

"Come join us," Edward told them. "I knew Rosa would have some lemonade made this time of year. I'm sure we can finish our gardening after we have a lemonade break. I don't think it will take us much longer, and I would expect Angus to come before too long."

Jack saw the meeting end and Gelding leaves Angus at the table " cheap skate" he mumbled " gelding left Angus with the bill" he explained after he placed a tip on the table for their waitress then stood up with his coffee and walked over as he listened to Angus explain what had been sad " sounds like he didn't make any sort of promise" Jack said not catching the subtleties of the conversation Angus and Gelding had, had.

Ruby walked over and sipped her lemonade " this is divine" she said " refreshing but subtle " she said as she placed down her glass and lifted Caprice out of the sling so she could feel the cool air against her skin but she accioed the sun hat from the bag that Angus had placed in and slipped it on her head to stop her getting sunstroke. Ruby smiled at Abby and Molly " are you both having fun?" she asked as she heard Edward mention the others "that's good don't want him to miss out on the lemonade and the blondies" she said with a smile.

"Well," Angus said, "he did disclose she is 'not right' and hasn't been, and that he didn't know how bad it was until after he married her. He said he thought it was caused by Reginald's death. I disagree. I think it started some time before she sold out Jessie and tried to sell out the boys--before Reginald's death. He thinks that was what caused her spellcasting to be so bizarre last night. I can tell you for a fact that Reginald was here. When we started talking about her sanity, this little container of sugar packets slid about two inches across the table on its own. I know darned well he was here, and I think her sanity somehow impacted what happened that led to his death. I haven't figured that out yet. And, I honestly don't think he knew she was doing that much dark arts stuff at night. He knows now. It could be very interesting."

"I'm glad you like it," Edward said. "We drink it by the pitcher full all spring and summer long here."

When Ruby asked if the girls were having a good time, they nodded.

"Papa, can we swim?" Abbey asked.

"If we swim, we won't have time to go get spaghetti," Edward said. "So, would you rather swim or would you rather eat spaghetti?"

"Basketti!" Abbey said.

"That's what I thought. We'll go as soon as Aggie gets here."

"He's with Stinky Man," Abbey said.

"What?" Edward frowned. "Is he where Stinky Man lives or is Stinky Man with Angus?"

"Huh?" Abbey asked confused.

"Let's wait," Simone said. "If anything severe had happened, you and Abbey absolutely would both have known it. Angus will be here shortly."

Jacj chuckled at Angus's words "Huh, so she went off her trolly ages ago and he didn't see it" he said and sighed " well balls in his court now" Jack said " and we should be getting back, you have a date with an itallian garden I belive" he said and chuckled again.

Ruby smiled and listened to them talk about the lemonade and smiled " I know see why" she said taking asecind sip of it and marveling at the sweet yet sour plesant taste that hit her as she drank. She chuckle hearing the girls say they wanted spaghetti rather than a swim and that Angus was with the stinky man " well I for one hope he dosn't some with him, i'd like to enjoy my time here." she said then heard Simone " I agree, theres no poin in worrying until its definate, right" she said lightly taping Caprice on her button nose.

"That's precisely what I told him," Angus said. "Listen, would you both come along to Edward's with me and take the plants back home and just set them either on the duplex's back deck? I'd really like to not have to take baskets full of plants to the restaurant."

"I don't mind doing that," Brian said.

"We could bring you all back some dessert. Tiramisu or Opera cake for a crowd?" Angus laughed.

"Would you like to see the rest of the house while you're here?" Simone asked Ruby. "You could leave the baby with her granddad for a moment while we take a quick walk."