A Birth day

Ruby chuckled as Abby repeated what Reg had said about her mother. It was now Edward said he'd got all the peices from Angus's hair she looked and could not see any more " nope I don't see any" she said smiling down at Angus. Se looked to Edwrad as he said it was only one of three hundred in the set " ho , then I don't feel so bad he did that, but he still should watch his temper around the children" At the mention of food even her stomach growled and she chuckled again " it sounds perfect" she said smiling as she took back Caprice and accioed the diper bag with the bottles in. " do you think we'll need this or would they make one up for her if she needs it?" she asked them.

Aperating to the restaraunt she found her self in a rather attractive inn room with a four poster bed with dark wood and red fabrics. " oh this is nice" she said looking around " I like the reds they've used, not to dark and forboding" she said moving with them to the door and down to the main restaraunt area.

As she stood she listened to Edward explain about the restraunts history " wow." was all she could think of to say "Che piacere incontrarla" she said (It's nice to meet you)

"We'll take it so that we aren't exposing her to perhaps water with any unintended things in it that might upset her digestive tract, I think," Angus said. "If she were older, I might not be as hesitant but she's not quite a month yet, so I'd rather be cautious."

Elisa took them to a table for six, and she gave the adults the regular menu and gave Abbey and Molly children's pictorial menus to look from.

"Why don't you hand her to me, and I'll hold her so you can enjoy your meal?" Angus said to Ruby. "You don't get here very often, and I grew up in these parts. Besides, I'm an old hand at jockey babies and pasta at the same time."

"And the rest of us can help make sure the girls can handle their spaghetti," Simone suggested. "So, Edward, can I presume you're getting the vodka sauce?"

"Yes, I think I will," Edward said.

"Make it two, then," Simone said.

"I think I'm going for the tortelli that are stuffed with spinach and ricotta and topped with a ragu. Ruby?" Angus asked. "And shall I order a bottle of wine for the adults and perhaps sodas for the girls, since its a special occasion?"

"I'm fine with it if you are," Edward agreed. Turning to Abbey and Molly, he asked, "Do you two ladies still want spaghetti?" They both nodded.

"And toast," Abbey said.

"Oh. Garlic bread," Angus laughed.

"Good idea. I'll order us some for the table," Edward said.

"Why?" Abbey asked.

"Why? What do you mean?" Edward asked.

"Table no eat toast," Abbey said. Edward laughed out loud.

"This child needs to get out more often," Simone replied.

Ruby moved with them to the table and sat down when Angus said he would take Caprice she smiled and moved her into his arms "Thank you, this place is very quaint" she said smiling as she placed the bag down on the ground between them. when she heard Abby she smiled " oh the innocence of youth" she said chukaling " I'll have the ossobuco alla milanesea its a bone-in veal shank, cooked low and slow until meltingly tender in a broth of meat stock, white wine, and veggies, Traditionally, it’s accompanied by a gremolata, lemon zest, garlic, and parsley but that’s optional " she said to Angus "but all the food sounds wonderful"

Ruby looked around the restaraunt and loved the low lighting and cosy atmosphear that was all around them along with several other familys with children and couples. She smiled as Edwrad pored the wine and she took a sip feeling it warm her from the inside

"It's a fine choice," Edward said. "They do make it well here. Angus here has an excellent Ossobuco too. We'll have to have him make it sometime. Angus was just a couple days old when he was here the first time. Eileen was suffering from a hangover, believe it or not, after having Angus, so Caprice and I were babysitting, and we popped in here to pick up some takeaway. So technically, he was here. We didn't stay to eat here because we really did not want him around that many people while he was that little. So we picked up our food and headed home."

"Sounds like her," Angus said, sipping his wine. "Oh, this is a fine chianti, Edward. Nice choice."

"It will go well with our meals," Edward replied.

"I showed Ruby through the house while you were slacking in Paris," Simone teased Angus. "She was particularly taken by your swords in your room."

"There are quite a few more where those came from," Edward said. "He's got a large locked case of them in my office.

"She didn't know you fenced," Simone said.

"Fencing is a hugely popular sport here," Angus said. "That, and it reminded me of a lot of pirate books I read as a kid.

"He wanted to learn to fence, so I started him with fencing lessons on his seventh birthday," Edward said.

"So, with the sailing, too, maybe you should have been a pirate," Simone teased.

"Edward would have killed me," Angus laughed. "Do you remember the tin soldiers, Edward?"

"Do I? I had more fun playing tin soldiers with you on all those rainy days than I ever had as a boy. You had an imagination and a half," Edward said. "I found a full set of antique tin soldiers at a muggle antique shop, and I thought he might like them. So I bought them, thinking he would just display them, but no. This one, took boxes and towels and blankets and made a whole landscape for us to set the up on and insisted that he and I duke it out. The first battle took us darned near six weeks to finish."

"Because, as a boy, I thought Edward had the upper hand on me, so I might have happened to cheat a little," Angus confessed.

"You cheated a lot, and I knew it. I let you do it, but that was part of what I liked about it. I liked watching your mind work," Edward said.

"I don't know about what toys you had, Ruby," Simone said, as the servers arrived with their lunch, "but somehow my fashion dolls don't seem like they were as much fun as these two had with their tin soldiers. What did you play with?"

Ruby smiled then frowned a little as Edward mentioned his first wife, Angus's mother being hungover after having him. " no mother should drink while expecting, it's not good for the baby." she said and looked at Caprice. She heard Simone mention the sabres and smiled " yes, you didn't tell me about that " she said and heard him talk about how popular fencing was in Italy " I had heard that" she said thwn listened as he spoke more before Edward mentioned tin soilders and how they payed with them she chuckled as Edward said he let Angus cheat with them then head Simone sk what she use to play with, Ruby paused and looked at her " I never realy had much, a few hand me down dolls and as I got to teens it was all about dresses and makup with my mother." she explained " I guess thats where my love of the outdoors came from, my mother could not control it, the animals were my pets and the stars my night lights."

She looked at Angus and smiled " can you make ossobuco alla milanesea, it would be wonderful for the boys to try when there home," she said changing the subject away from her depressing past.

"Eileen wasn't expecting then," Edward said. "She had already had Angus, and believe me, she wouldn't be bothered breastfeeding. So the only real affect her alcohol had was that she wasn't fit to take care of Angus, but that was when Caprice and I went over and got him from Eileen."

"I guess I didn't mention fencing because it just never came up," Angus told Ruby. "Never occurred to me. I don't do much fencing these days."

Simone took a slice of garlic bread, cut it in half, and gave a piece to Abbey and one to Molly. The girls hadn't said a peep since their spaghetti had been delivered.

"How's your spaghetti, Girls?" Angus asked.

"Good," Molly said, seeming to enjoy every little bite.

"Yummy," Abbey said.

"Is it as good as Angus's?" Edward asked. Abbey looked around to see if anyone from the restaurant was watching. Then she shook her head no.

"Yours is more good-er," Abbey told him.

"Thank you," Angus said.

"Aggie," Abbey said. "They gots jelly for dessert?"

"Jelly?" Simone asked.

"That isn't what she means. We talked about gelato. I think jelly is the closest she can get to saying gelato," Angus said. "Let's see if you both have any room for gelato when you're done with your spaghetti. He looked at Ruby. "How's your lunch?" Just then, the baby decided to let out a wail, and Edward made up a bottle for her while Angus tried to comfort her for a moment til the bottle was ready. Then, Angus took a brief time out to feed her.

Ruby smiled at Abby and Moly as she ate her lunch then she smiled at Angus as he asled her how her lunch was " it good , realy good" she said smiling she heard Caprice let out a wail and looked to Angus but as always he was ready and she just smiled as she continued eating. " from what you've told me about her that seems to have been the norm for her" she said "maybe you can teach me to fence some time, if it makes your wand movements that good."

She watched as Angus fed Caprice and smiled "I still say shes a daddys girl" she said and chuckled seeing the look on Caprices face , her eyes never leaving Angus's even when he looked away for a moment her eyes were fixed on his.

"Sure," Angus replied to her. "I think there really are some similarities between wand accuracy and fencing accuracy, but that's just my opinion."

"Well, I did hear Michael mention that he was impressed with your slashing spell," Simone said, "so maybe that's where you got it."

"Maybe," Angus said. "I never thought about it."

"He does use a fencing stance when he's in a hot skirmish," Edward said. "He starts out in a normal dueling stance, but if you watch, when things heat up, he shifts to a fencing stance."

"I do?" Angus asked.

"You do," Edward said. "I'll show them some pictures of a proper fencing stance, and they can make their own opinions."

"You might be right about her being a daddys' girl," Simone smiled, "but she looks at you too. I think she's going to have a look for her daddy to try to wrap him around her little finger, but she also has a look for her mom too. She's going to be a kid that is deeply attached to family."

"Well, she's in the right family to do that, then," Edward said. The little girls finished their spaghetti, and the server collected what dishes were empty. The she brought two little dishes, each with a scoop of their homemade vanilla bean gelato, each with a little pizelli stuck in the top of the gelato.

"Ice cream!" Abbey said.

"Gelato," the server told them. Then she told Edward in Italian that the gelato was sent by owners, with compliments of the house.

"Graci," Edward told them. "Any one else want dessert?"

"I think I'm fine just as I am. My pasta was very rich and filling," Angus said, managing to burp the baby without any spit up for a change. "Well, that's almost a first. At least she didn't mess up on her first trip to a restaurant. Watch. When we get home, she'll have a complete diaper blowout."

"I wonder if Jack has had the lads plant our new plants this afternoon, or if we'll get home, with full stomachs and instead of a nap, we're going to be out in the garden," Edward said.

"That does not sound nearly as fun now, when I'm this full, as it did this morning," Simone laughed. "Well, maybe when we get home, you can tell us about your coffee date, Angus, instead of us going straight off to the garden."

"If you like," Angus replied. "Or maybe we can try to research to see if there is a rainmaking spell instead." He grinned at them.

"There probably is. There's a bloody spell for everything else," Edward laughed.

Ruby chuckled again at the banter " oh I've seen that and how he has a flair to his wand movements making them dance " she said when Edward mentioned Angus's stance changing when he was riled up. she heard Simone and smiled " yeah she does, she'll still come to me when daddy says no," she said and chuckled at Angus saying he got off light when she didn't spit up on him but will probably have a diaper blowout when they got home " oh it's always possible." she said chuckling.

Hearing Angus says he was full from his pasta she nodded too " same that was quite a filling meal." she said as the waitress took her plate and smiled "complimenti allo chef" she said making the waitress smile and nod her head. " I for one will miss this place, the warm weather, good food and extraordinary company" she said to Edward and Simone. She looked at Angus as she spoke again " next time we come we should bring the boys and maybe spend a weekend, what do you say?" she asked him.

"Well, that's the advantage of being a wizard," Angus replied to Ruby. "We can go whenever we like and be there in a moment."

"I'll have some port keys made for you and the boys," Edward said to her.

"We can go any time we want. Remember, that's home for me. If we want to go for a weekend, that's fine. I've been known to go just to spend an afternoon in the quiet and then have been back by supper time."

"He's been known to go and sunbathe in the nude on his balcony," Edward laughed.

"Well, there is just too many people to do it at Brian's," Angus said. "It's always a place that's chockablock with people."

"We'll have to get you a speedo," Edward snickered.

"Well, that isn't any more attractive, believe me," Angus said.

"You never paid attention, did you?" Edward asked, shaking his head.

"What?"

"Didn't you ever notice, when you worked the ships, at all those wealthy women oggling you when you would work shirtless and in your shorts up on the deck when they would go ashore either to shop or to go to the beaches?"

"No, I was working," he said. "I saw them looking at the ship once in awhile..."

"The ship," Simone laughed. "You really didn't have a clue? Women aren't interested in the bloody ship. They are, however, very interested in a well built, tanned ship's captain who also just happens to be a bachelor. Didn't you ever consider that?"

"No," he replied.

"Didn't you ever have any dates at all before Ruby?"

"He did," Edward said. "Though, I have no idea how he got them."

"How did you get involved with Ruby, then?" Simone asked.

"He probably wouldn't have if she hadn't approached him first," Edward laughed.

"Are you saying he can be a little backwards around women?" she asked.

"Around women he doesn't know? He can be a lot backwards," Edward said.

"I never thought you were so much of an introvert," Simone said.

"He's an ambivert," Edward said. "An ambivert who leans more towards introvert."

"What the devil is an ambivert?" she asked.

"Someone who has both introvert and extrovert traits," Edward said. "And there's another classification you've probably never heard of. There is also an omnivert. That's someone who can be either extremely introverted or extremely extroverted and can have personality swings, like some people have mood swings. I've honestly only met one or two omniverts, and, frankly, I don't understand them. They strike me as a bit weird, but that's just me."