A Birth day

"See?" Robert looked at the boys. "Jessie knows, you should be able to learn that too. That's just how that goes. And someday, your dad will know that too, and he'll stop trying to avoid me too."

"I don't try to avoid you," Angus said.

"Yes, you do. It just never works for you," Robert said. The boys were laughing as hard as the girls were now. "Alright. Sam and Victor, you're with me. Let's go. Give me just a moment to reassemble the boys and then we can go."

"That gives me time to get some horses for us," Edward said.

"I'll go try to connect with Dennis," Angus said. "I'll be right back." Angus went and talked Dennis into coming earlier than he planned, so long as Angus was willing to let him and a few of the werewolves that were going to come along sleep in tents on the grounds. That was fine with Angus.

Angus went back to Jessie. "Dennis is going to come today. I suggested he come early so he can spend some time with the girls before tomorrow. He's bringing a few of the pack that were close to Phoebe with him. They want to put up a communal tent on the grounds rather than staying in the house, and that's fine with me. They'll need an hour or so to put their things together, and then you can go get them any time. Thank you. I appreciate all you're doing, Jessie."

The boys emerged, patched and ready to play Twister, and Robert and Kate were ready to go riding. Edward had gotten horses ready for himself, Simone, Ruby, Robert and Kate.

"Ready to go, All?" Edward called. "I've got some fine horses. Come and pick one, and let's ride."

Jessie laughed and looked at the boys as they left with Robert to get patched up. He looked at Angus and smiled "It's all good" he said " I'll fetch them in an hour" he said smiling and still chuckling at the boy's responce. He picked up some plates that were left and wlked them to the kitchen and into the sink where he started washing up for Rosaria as she was busy with Caprice.

Ruby smiled and followed Angus as he harnessed several hourses . " I'm redy" she said and climbed up onto the back of a grey gelding and waited for the others " I'm excited to see the whole estate." she said ith a smile as she sat a top the horse that sem to be just as excited to get out and run after being in the barn for so long.

They all mounted their horses, and Edward took them all on a ride to see the gardens, and the houses where all the relatives lived, then the winery, the grape vineyards, the olive orchard, the olive oil mill, the stables, the crops that fed the horses, the shipyard and the fleet of luxury yachts, the beaches, all of it.

"Edward, I'm impressed," Robert said. "This has to be the biggest estate I've ever seen. And it is incredibly well organized. It has to employ most of the village."

"It employs people from several villages in the area," Edward said. "Every operation is lucrative. Not massively so, not hand-over-fist profitable, but put together, it is profitable, and it provides employment to a lot of people that wouldn't be employed otherwise. There was a time when I did all of this to make money, and I probably old be that profitable again, but that's not why I do it. We can honestly help people here to support themselves and their families, and that's worth something. So, Ruby, understand that everything you see is going to belong to Angus someday to keep or to divide up in pieces and sell off. And that can be a powerful motive for some of the family to want to try to get rid of him. And that's why I insisted he know how to fight. He's been trained his entire life to be able to take this on, but I am not going to turn it over to him until I can no longer take care of it myself. I do realize you didn't marry him for money, but realistically, you're going to need your courage and your self confidence back when that day comes because your lives will dramatically change at that point.

"Oh, and so you know, I will be giving the boys, for their graduation, Donohue signet rings. The rest of the family will recognize them as my stamp of approval that I have accepted them fully as grandsons, as fully as if they were biologically mine. Not everyone will like that, and I don't care. They each will also be receiving the right to pick one of several plots of land here to build a house on for themselves that they will have the right to live in for as long as they choose to remain part of the family."

Ruby sat atop her horse and looked at the land as they passed threw each area , pulling her horse to a slow trot she listened to Edward and nodded "I understand, Jeffery says I have come a long way in a short period of time already" she told him but listened to him continued " as far as Im concerned their already Donohues but I have no objections I think they will love it" she said smiling at him as he said they would each have a plot of land to build their own home if they wanted.

Jessie waited the hour then ported to the camp finding Anises father and several people ready to port back. Getting them all in a ring he ported them to an open area ready for them with tents already set up. " these tents are for you to use while your here, rest and settle in" he said " I'll arrange for some food to be brought over." he smiled as he headed back to the main house and into the kitchen " Rosaria Anise and Gingers father is here with some of the pack, would it be possible to send over some food for them?" he asked checking on Caprice while he was there.

"It isn't about whether you or Angus believe they're Donohues, Ruby," Edward told her. "It's entirely about whether Angus's sons will be accepted and recognized by the rest of the family, the same people who have always hated Angus. The signet rings are entirely about the rest of the family not being given a choice to reject them. It tells the rest of the family who have never accepted Angus that they are my grandsons. Angus's sons, and with just as much a legal right to inherit part of the Donohue property, just as if thy had been biologically born into the family."

"It's like hanging a huge 'hands off' message on each of the boys to tell the rest of the family that if they ever think about touching them like they've touched Angus, Edward will have them for it," Robert told her. "In essence, sort of a line of succession, if you will.."

"That's precisely it," Edward said. "It gives the boys priority over other family members."

"Wow," Dennis said. "Is this a private estate? All of it? My girls belong to a rich bloke now?"

"Dennis, your girls will always be your girls," one of he women said to him.

"Why would they want me? I can't offer them..."

"They told you," An Irish man said. "You're their da. You'll always be their da." They looked at Jessie. "Thank you for the tents and your kindness. We'll settle in, and then maybe the girls will feel like visiting us."

Rosaria agreed to send some food over to the werewolves, and she began to put some things together to send to them.

Ruby listened to Edward and Angus explain more and she nodded "Oh I get it now, it's an important thing to happen" she said looking from Edward to Angus " I'm sure they will be honored to be thought of that way." she said as they moved around the grounds seeing all it had to offer. she heard Angus say it employed two villages and smiled at the employment of the locals as it made for local produce. She moved the Horse to look at the olive trees and picked one smiling at how green it was in her hand. " these will be ready to pick soon, do they do it by hand or is it automated?" she asked

"By hand," Edward said. "We very well could have automated it, and we'd have made more money doing it, but at harvest, we employ every person who can come help pick. See, the grapes are picked at around September, and the olives are picked after, in about October, so it employs every local around who wants to work and for some families, it gets them through Christmas and helps pay their expenses in the winter months. So we do it by hand. The locals take great pride that it's still all done by hand, and then we host a huge harvest meal for them in the olive orchard after al the grapes and olives are in. It's one whole day of feasting and dancing for anyone who participated and who wants to come--and their families. These people welcomed Caprice and I when we were newlyweds and struggling, and now we can give back to them. Its just what we should be doing. We have enough, so we need to give back and help where we can."

Rosaria sent over some raw meat entrees, some vegetable dishes and fruit desserts, beverages, fresh water, and anything else she could think of. Carlo knew they would want to make a fire, so he took them firewood, and they were grateful.

When the girls stopped playing twister, they took the boys and Evie and Faith and went to see Dennis and the friends who had come with him.

Angus spent his afternoon helping to set up the yard for the lunch tomorrow. He helped to design the table, the flowers, the chairs and all the rest of it. He doublechecked to make sure the right spot was readied for the funeral, and made sure all the food that was purchased in the village was slated to be delivered in the morning. And then he offered to help Rosaria with breakfast, but she again chased Angus from the kitchen.

Ruby listened to Edward and nodded " As it should be" she said smiling knowing it was all done the traditional way which benefited the community and made for better wine and olive oil since it was harvested with care. " we'll keep that tradition going." she said with a smile as they rode onward past the shipyard. " I know about the shipyard as we sailed on one of the yachts," she said smiling at the memory she had of that time with Angus and how happy she had felt being close to him.

Jessie walked over to the Tent with Dennis and the pack members. " I hope everything is to your liking" he asked smiling as he saw several had already set down beds to sleep in. He also saw the food Rosaria had sent over and the wood stacked ready to be lit once the sun set. Reasuring some that they were safe he headed back to the house to chuckle seeing Angus being kicked out the kitchen again " again?" he said " she realy dosn't want you in the kitchen, did you do something when you were younger to make her not trust you in there?" he asked

"This is great," Dennis said. "We will manage exceptionally well. I can't think of another thing we'll need. Thank you. I actually like these tents better than what our pack currently uses. These are bigger and far more waterproof. I may have to get some for our pack."

"You should," Anise told him. "Those tents are so worn out. They've been patched a million times. This would be a definite upgrade, and we could certainly change the color on them to a camouflage so that the pack is better hidden in the woods."

"We've talked about camouflage," Dennis said. "We've also talked about wizarding tents so that we take up a smaller area but have a better quality of life, but that would be hard for us to come up with that many wizarding tents. They're quite expensive."

"We'll talk to Angus. I'm sure..." Ginger said.

"Angus has done enough for us," Dennis said.

"Jessie, we'd like to stay long enough to have supper with our dad," Anise said.

"If their human friends stay, we would certainly prepare cooked meats for them," Dennis said. "We know they wouldn't like what we eat." He looked at Evie and Faith. "Do you have adults you need to ask?"

"Probably," Evie said. "I'll go try to find Dad and ask him." She excused herself to try to go find Evan.


"Well, the first reason is that she's run Edward's kitchen now for over forty years, so this is her kitchen--period," Angus told Jessie. "And she does not want anyone else, ever, at her stove. But, aside from that, she honestly doesn't know I can cook. She doesn't know I even know how to boil water, much less any other cooking. She never knew I went to culinary school. I really do want to surprise her with a five star gourmet meal sometime to show her that I do know my way around a kitchen. I just haven't decided what I am going to cook and when. It's rather hard to do any complicated cooking with one hand, and if I have any help to do it, she's going to believe it was them and not my own efforts. So it might have to wait for a different trip back to do that. This may not be the proper trip to do it."

Evan came into the kitchen, and he saw Angus there with Jessie.

"There you are," Evan said to Angus. "I have a question, and I'm not trying to be disrespectful but I could use some advice. Evie and Faith and the boys have been invited to eat with the girls and Dennis and the members of the pack that he brought. Do I have anything at all to be concerned about if I let them go?"

"No," Angus said absolutely. "I doubt the girls will ask my permission, and the boys won't feel like they have to ask at all, although, all four of them honestly should. Do I think they're in any danger? No. Absolutely not. They might not get much more than meat to eat, but they know where this kitchen is if they're still hungry. I think it would be good for Dennis to see that the girls have friends and that they're happy."

"Then, that's good enough for me," Evan said.

"Go introduce yourself to Dennis so he can see that you have no ill will towards them, and I think you'll see for yourself that they're just people like anyone else."

"Good idea. Thank you," Evan said, turning and leaving. Angus looked out the window and saw the girls spending time with their father, and he knew that today, they could push away the thought of burying their mother but tomorrow it was all going to be completely different.

"Figlio," Rosaria said to him, from behind him, "oggi ti chiedi ma domani ti basterà."

"Grazie," he said quietly to her. She gave him a hug.

"La cena è pronta, se chiami i tuoi ospiti," she said. He nodded. He called the others to come join him in the dining room for supper. He was feeling that surely Edward was winding up the horseback tour of the estate, and perhaps, if the rest of them started with the appetizer course, then Edward would bring the others by the time the other courses began.

Jessie looked at Dennis and Anise as she asked about staying to have supper with her father He smiled nd nodded " okay" he said simply " any problems, not that their will be, but if any just come home okay" he said and turned to return to the main house.

Entering he heard Angus reply to his question and chuckled " yeah maybe the next time you guys come here you could sneak a meal in for her and Carlo." he said then heard Rosaria talk to Angus " um not to be rude but what did she say?" he asked seeing Ruby and Edward on their horses enter the front of the house.