A Birth day

"Well, maybe this won't go amiss, then," Michael said, handing over a large food bag to Marcus. Marcus peeked in the bag.

"Oh, there are several dishes here," Marcus grinned. "I sense surprises."

"A large tiramisu, a large mixed berry slab pie, and a huge tossed salad with some of Michael's homemade raspberry vinaigrette," Kate said. "I made the salad and the pie, and Michael made the tiramisu and the dressing."

"Thank you. Rosaria will definitely appreciate these," Angus said.

"I'll take them through to her," Marcus said.

"Jessie, could you take Robert and Kate up and show them where their room is? Their room is the room right before yours on your side of the hall. They're your next door neighbors," Angus said. "Feel free to make yourself at home. I'm sure Rosaria will have some sort of lunch ready for all of us in just a few minutes."

"That's good. I never got breakfast this morning, so I'm hungry," Robert said.

"How's the baby?" Kate asked.

"Sleeping. We gave her the second dose of ear drops and she drifted right off," Angus said.

"Good. That sounds very promising then," Kate smiled.

Jessie stood up and walked over when the bag was produced he chuckled then smiled as Angus asked him to show Robert and Kate up to show them to their room. " sure, follow me please" he said and headed up the stairs until he reatched his room then stopped and opened a dor next to his " this is your room, the girls are on my other side and the boys are opasite them." he said.

Ruby nodded to Kate as she ahd asked about Caprice and Angus said she was sleeping " yes and I belive the cot is an hairloom, dating back to his great great great grandfather." she said " they gave her a wash with some herb water earlier and it soothed her too." she said smiling " smelled wonderful too"

"I'll check on her later, but if she's sleeping, I have no intention of waking her unless I absolutely have to," Robert said. "I'll really be on her bad side then if I have to wake her up."

"This room is beautiful," Kate said when they went into their room. "This is exactly what I expected an Italian farmhouse bedroom to look like. It's perfect. This would be such a lovely holiday destination."

"And this is where Angus grew Up. It's probably a good thing not all his mates have seen this or they'd think he was just a spoiled little rich boy."

"Well, maybe, but if they knew him, they wouldn't have reason to say that."

"I didn't see the back of the property when I came in, so this estate must be sizeable. Have you seen it all, Jessie? So what do you think of this place?" Robert asked.

Jessie stood and listened to Kate and Robert he smiled and nodded "Agreed on Robert, she can be cranky when woken and it is extensive and I don't think I've seen it all myself, but there's a pool, a private beach, tennis courts, and a private grave yard some place" he said as he crossed to open the balcony doors " see for your self and we don't think hes a spoiled rich boy, we think he's a great mate, friend, fighter and family man too." Jessie said smiling to them as he motioned to the grounds they could see from it. " okay I'll leave you to get refreshed and settled in, see you downstairs for supper." he said then paused " or is it dinner?" he then chuckled to himself as he headed down the stairs back to Angus, Ruby, and Marcus.

Ruby sat with Angus and Marcus " its good to see them again" she said " feeling like it had been ages since she'd seen them even if it was fleeting for the moment. She saw Jessie return and sit down " they get to their room?" she asked.

" yeah I left them to settle in." he said and sat back on the couch.

Rosaria had fixed a big stack of hot, fresh paninis with assorted meats and cheeses, and a fresh cream of tomato soup with fresh basil and some shredded asiago cheese melting on the top, along with some fresh lemonade, and a plate of assorted Italian cookies. She told Angus that lunch was ready, and Angus called everyone outside to the outdoor living room area to the big dining table where lunch was set up.

"That looks great," Sam said as he and Victor came in. Victor had ripped a hole in the knee of a new pair of jeans, and Sam had some new bruises forming across his left cheekbone.

"What did you do?" Angus frowned.

"Skateboards," Sam said, as if that explained it.

"So, you both took spills, and Victor hit it with his knees, and you did a faceplant?" Angus asked.

"Yup. Pretty much," Sam said. "It's fine. Just bruises."

"You know, you're supposed to stand on the skateboards, not put your face on them," Angus said.

"Yeah, I'll try that next time," Sam said sarcastically.

"You might not want to do that any more today, though.'

"They're not so graceful," Anise said as she and Ginger made it to the table. "We won't be skateboarding. After lunch, Evie and Faith are coming over, and we're all going to play Twister until we get a champion."

"Well, that should be fun," Angus laughed. Edward and Simone arrived, and so did Robert, Michael and Kate.

"This looks great," Robert said, his stomach growling loudly.

"Wait til you see supper tonight," Marcus told them. "It's always stunning."

Jessie heard Rosaria and smelt the food she put out. Walking out he took a panini and bite into it "Yum this is great" he said Ruby chuckled as she took some soup and some fresh lemonade. Jessie stood up to let the girls sit with his plate and ate happily. Ruby sat and ate her soup loving the flavors of the basil and cheese. Once he finished one he went for a second making Ruby chuckle at his apitite.

"I think the Tuscan air is giving Jessie an apitite" she said and Jessie pulled a tounge at her making her chuckle again. " is it me or does this place make you feel calm" she said smiling as she looked out over the grounds. Seeing the bys she gave a soft gasp then chuckled " yeah not having bruises would be good" she said then smiled to Angus " boys will be boys right?" she said chukaling.

"That's okay," Angus said. "It's going to be busy tomorrow, so Jessie's going to earn it, I'm sure. And our boys will always be rambunctious lads, I think."

"Is there anything we should be doing?" Anise asked Angus.

"No," Angus reached over and patted her hand. "It's all good. We've got this. Do you know when your dad is coming?"

"I don't know if he is now," she said.

"Why not?" he asked.

"He can't find the portkey you gave him. He doesn't have a way to get here now," she said quietly, disappointed.

"Hey," Angus said to her, squeezing her hand, "If he wants to come, we'll go and get him. We'll contact him straight after lunch and we'll make arrangements to go and pick him up so he can come."

"He said it's alright if..." she began.

"No. It isn't. This is important. We'll get him. Trust me," Angus said. "It'll be fine. Now, tuck into your lunch. You're going to need energy this afternoon if you intend to be the twister champion."

"With these klutzes? No problem," she said. Then she gave Angus a bit of a mischievous grin.

"That's my girl," he said. "Women are always smarter at such things anyway."

"Absolutely," she agreed. She and Ginger tucked into their lunches, starting to feel that if anyone could help their dad get to Tuscany, it would be Angus.

"What did you faceplant into?" Robert asked Sam.

"Pavement,' Sam said.

"Epic skateboard fail," Victor explained to Robert.

"It looked like an epic fail at something," Robert laughed. "Did you knock out any teeth?"

"Just one--over on the side," Sam said.

"Where's your tooth?"

"In my pocket,' Sam said.

"Straight after lunch, we're putting it back," Robert said. "Understand?"

"Put it back? You can do that?" Sam asked.

"Not if you leave it in your pocket," Robert said. "Anything else missing or broken?"

"Nope. Don't think so," Sam said.

"Unless you can fix Victor's jeans where he ripped open his knee," Ginger said.

"What? Is it bleeding?"

"Nah," Victor said. "I fixed it."

"What do you mean you fixed it?" Robert looked under the table to see the knee and he saw something in the hole of his jeans. "What is that?"

"A wad of toilet paper," Victor said. "It works fine." Robert rolled his eyes.

"Your boys need a lesson or two on telling us when things happen," Robert looked at Ruby and Angus. "Toilet paper indeed. After lunch for you too, Victor."

Ruby listened to Anise and also touched her hand lightly as Angus spoke to her agreeing with his words. " he'll be there" she reassured her. Turning to Sam and then Victor she chuckled at how they fixed Victors knee and shook her head " That needs cleaning right" she said seeing a slight pink tinge to the toilet paper. " and it's still bleeding." she heard Robert and chuckled as she looked at Angus "rambunctious indeed" she replied to him.

Jessie looked up from his food and heard Angus talk of bringing Anise and Gingers father " I'll fetch him" he said " im not realy doing much so I could pop back pick him up then return all inime for the service" he said looking from Anise to Angus and back all while eating his third panini

"Well, I'm so surprised since toilet paper is such a great healer," Robert said sarcastically.

"I'll talk to them," Angus said.

"You? You're as bad as they are at telling me things," Robert said. "No thank you. I'll teach them myself."

"He knows better. He just blows you off," Sam said. Angus looked at him wide eyed for a moment, as the girls burst into hysterical laughter.

"He's just telling the truth, Lad," Edward laughed.

"Anyway," Angus ignored them and looked at Jessie. "We'll try to place a floo call to Dennis after we finish eating and we'll decide when to go pick him up. He was originally planning on coming in the morning, but he's certainly welcome to stay tonight so he can be closer to the girls if he likes. We'll work it out with him."

"Hopefully we can find the portkey," Edward said.

"We'll find it when we get home," Angus said.

"Do avoid casting an accio spell for that, won't you?" Michael asked. "If you try to accio a portkey, you'll get every bloody portkey on the estate and some of them could impale you if you aren't careful. So, no. Don't take the easy way out. You'll need to actually look for it."

"Impale me? What the hell are you using for portkeys these days?" Angus frowned at Michael.

"Oh, don't ask. You really don't want to know anyway,' Robert said. "This was great soup." He reached for a cookie. "Oh, my goodness. Those are addicting."

"They're a citrus and olive oil cookie," Angus said. "Pretty traditional here."

"They're delicious," Robert said. "Edward, after I get done with the boys, could I see the estate?"

"Absolutely,' Edward said. "We'll get a couple horses and ride. Anyone else want to come riding?"

"I'll come along unless I could help Rosaria in the kitchen," Kate said.

"Just go enjoy yourself, Kate," Angus said. "We'll manage." Angus looked at Ruby. "You haven't seen it all, have you? You want to go along?"

Ruby chuckled hearing the boys and Angus banter she nodded as Robert complimanted the cookies" yeah there realy good " she said and sat listening more. Hearing the port keys she laughed and nodded then heard Angus ask if she wanted to see the estate and she beamed " I would love to" she said finishing her cookie.

Jessie ehard Angus and nodded " well if he can't Im able to fetch him" he said " just let me know okay." he offered and sat back with a clean plate infront of him. "I have to say this is the best lunch I've had, thnk you Rosaria" he said smiling at her he then laughed as Robert spoke to the boys about telling him when they hurt themselves. " don't matter wht you do or how old you get, its best to just tell him and get it over with" Jessie said and chukled softly.