A Birth day

"I know, and that means more than you can possibly know," Angus said to her, knowing Ruby wasn't in it for the money. He hadn't been able to say that about a couple of the girls he'd dated before he met Ruby. The fact was, though, that he hadn't told her a lot about the money because he largely lived his life as if it didn't exist. He had always felt like he had to live that way because if he didn't, then he wouldn't have a chance to find someone to build a life with that was able to value him for just who he was, the good and the bad. If he had told people how much he was worth, then he would have always had to guess if someone cared about him or just gave him lip service.

As Ruby had been speaking about her wanting him to focus on his recovery, a note fluttered out from the floo, and Marcus caught it in mid air.

"Shall I open it for you?" he asked. Angus nodded. Marcus opened it and handed it to Angus.

"It's from Evan," Angus said, looking at it. "He says, 'Keep that big bloke close, Angus, and don't come back here for a bit. Edward's finally taken some action. Cora's out. He literally evicted her tonight. He let her have one suitcase of stuff, and she's got two weeks to let him know where to send the rest of it or he says he's pitching it. Things are definitely not happy here tonight, and Edward has told them that anyone who doesn't accept it can bloody well follow Cora straight out the door. It got worse after Edward left for Romania, and now I'm considering where to take my wife and girls for a few days to get them away from this mess for their own safety."

He looked at Ruby. "I can't let Evan and Tara and Evie and Faith be in danger because of this. He's just about the only other family member I have that will speak to me. If we had to, we could house him and the girls here or over in Edward's guest rooms."

"You just had a second major surgery on your shoulder. Have you lost your mind?" Nigel scowled.

"Where's Simone?" Marcus asked.

"He doesn't say," Angus said. "I have to go back. I have to go get them."

"No," Ginger said quickly. "There has to be another way. Can't you send Evan a note and tell him to bring Simone and his family and just come?"

"I don't know if he has a portkey," Angus said. "There's one in my room, though. Rosaria knows where I hid it. Ru, are you good with them coming? It might mean it'll be a little crowded maybe."

"Thank you," Angus said, appreciating Ruby's actions to help provide Evan a safe place to go.

"Evie and Faith could borrow the boys, room, right? And if I had to, I could sleep up there too, on the floor. That would leave our room for Evan and Faith to use."

"We'll put them all up in Edward's guest rooms for now. He won't care. He knows where Evan stands, so he'd be the first to want them to be safe. Evan and Tara can have one guest room, and Evie and Faith can have one of the others. That still leaves Edward and Simone their master bedroom and one more guest room at Edward's besides."

"We should go make sure there are clean sheets and towels and all that over there," Ginger said to Ruby. She rushed over to go upstairs and change the sheets on all the beds and make sure to lay out clean towels and anything else she could think of they would need.

"Marcus, please send a paper bird over to Nicky and ask him if he can send over supper for all of us. That will give Ruby and Ginger time to do anything they want to do to make this place ready for four more, and that will give Simone time to get here and get herself settled too," Angus said.

"Robert was planning on sending you supper anyway," Nigel said. "So you just need to ask him to include a few more."

"Tell Nicky we'll need supper for at least nine or ten people, please," Angus told Marcus. Marcus wrote the quick note and sent the paper bird next door to
Nicky.

"Now, for the last time, will you give it a damn rest?" Nigel said to Angus, becoming a little irked now with him.

"There are three guest rooms over here besides Edward and Simone's room. Remember, this side is laid out exactly like our side, and there are four bedrooms upstairs on our side and four on this side," Ginger called to Ruby. "I'll get the guest rooms if you get towels and soap and things."

Another note floated through from the floo. Marcus snatched it and opened it.

"Bless you, Brother!" Evan said. "I have Simone with me. She's closing the main house and sending Rosaria and Carlo on holiday for a few days. As soon as she's gone, I'll help her set protection spells in place at the main house, and then we'll all be there."

"We have a few more minutes," Angus said, showing the note to Marcus. Marcus read the note and nodded.

"Mate, you're getting pretty pale looking," Marcus told him. "Come on, let me make you more comfortable." He repositioned the chair to elevate Angus' legs and feet and leaned him back a little. "Rest while you can. They'll need time to settle in anyway. They'll understand. Let Ruby handle getting them settled and fed and cared for while you rest." Nigel laid a magic wrap on Angus's shoulder and activated to ice his shoulder.

"

"He'll be better if he starts listening once in a blue moon," Nigel said sarcastically.

"I already lived with animals," Ginger said to Ruby with a grin. "How much worse could these guys be?" She started to straighten things up and she found a pair of dirty underwear and a dirty blue sock behind one of the loveseats.

"Oh, for the love of Merlin," she sighed, picking them up and tossing them in the hamper. "If you find a blue sock, I just chucked its mate in the hamper with someone's nasty knickers.

Angus was starting to feel real pain again in his shoulder, and Nigel added some pain medication to his tea.

"Drink this," he told Angus. It wasn't more than about two minutes, and there was a knock on the door. Angus had every intention of getting up, and Nigel blocked his way. "Don't even think about it." Nigel said sternly.

"I think I remember how to open a door," Marcus cast Angus an amused smile. "We've got this. They're not guests, remember. You don't have to be a host. They're family." Marcus opened the door, and Evan and Tara and the girls came in.

"Where's Simone?" Marcus asked, noticing she was missing.

"She's here," Evan said, pointing out Simone. "She's talking with that woman over there."

"Oh. That's Kate. She lives here," Marcus said. "Simone will be along shortly then. Come in, and I'm sure Ruby and Ginger will show you where to find things. Supper will be here from the main house in maybe thirty minutes or so. Let me introduce you. This is Nigel Sigworth. He's one of the surgeons that's helped with Angus' shoulder surgeries. Nigel, this is Evan Donohue, his wife Tara and their girls Evie and Faith."

"Nice to meet you all," Nigel said.

"I'm sorry for us intruding right after your surgery, Angus," Evan said.

"It isn't an intrusion," Angus said. "Make yourselves at home. This is our half, and through that door over there is Edward and Simone's half."

"I like this a lot," Evan said. "This is far more the real you than all that pomp and circumstance in Tuscany. This is the Angus and Ruby that are down to earth and unpretentious. I could get to like this a lot."

"We like it," Angus replied. "Ruby! Ginger! They're here."

"Coming," Ginger called from the boys' room. She looked at Ruby. "Is there a cleaning and freshening up spell to get rid of the boys' room funk smell in here? It needs it, Ruby."

"She's here," Marcus told Ruby. "She ran into Kate in the yard. I'm sure she'll be along in a moment. Looks like everyone is safe and sound."

"So how much does Edward know?" Angus asked Evan.

"He bloody knows everything," Evan said, "and he is more than a little unhappy. He's damn pissed. He should have put his foot down a long time ago."

"He tried. I always stopped him," Angus said.

"Well, that was stupid. Oh, Edward sent this through the floo. He said it would make you feel better," Evan said, handing Angus an envelope. Nigel took the envelope, opened it and handed a couple wizarding photographs to Angus. In the first one, Sergio and Ana had Anise standing in front of them, and both of them had a hand on her shoulder, and they were beaming from ear to ear. Angus expected no less. Sergio and Ana had fully and completely accepted Anise as one of Angus's own, and that meant she was as good as one of their own. It made him smile. In the second photo, Sergio and Ana were holding Edward's photos of Caprice, and they were surprised and thrilled. They were pointing to Caprice and looking overjoyed at seeing Angus's own firstborn.

"They know," Angus looked at Ruby. "Look." He handed her the photos, with the picture of them looking at Caprice's picture first. Simone came in, and she had a large basket with her that had the supper that Nicky was sending over.

"I come bearing supper," Simone said, coming in. "Smells like a proper fish and chips to me. And I'm not sure what's for dessert yet, but it's chocolate. Either that or Nicky's buggared it up and served us fish with chocolate sauce."

"Ewww," Ginger scrunched up her nose at the thought.

"Perish the thought," Nigel said, at the mention of fish and chocolate sauce.