A Birth day

Jessie looked as Sergio spoke to him then glanced at Chris " please , take him inside I should have thought about that" she said and went over to Chris picking him up he warmed the boy as he held him close " Sergios going to take you to Angus and Rubys just while Yu and I finishes making sure these pepole are wam then we'll come and get you , okay" he asked him as he placed him down brushing Chris's hair out of his face " Im sure Angus might have a cookie for you " he looekd up at Sergio and smiled " thank you Sergio" he said with a light kiss on the boys cheek " see you at super okay." he said then he headed back to hand out the blankets.

Ruby chuckled " your right " she said standing and headeing to the door to open it " come in and warm up guys" she said to Sergio and Chris. Once they were inside she walked to the kitchen and picked up the cookie jar walking over to Chris she held it out to him " here Angus made these " she said offering him the now open Jar so he could take one or two.

Sergio and Ana were more than happy to take Cris out of the cold. Cris came in, grabbed a cookie and dashed over and curled up tight to Angus. Angus felt the cold radiating off Cris and his clothes, and he pretended to shiver with cold. That made Cris laugh. It didn't take Angus very long to hear Cris seemed to be getting the sniffles and was also getting a stuffy nose.

"I think he's getting a cold," Angus said quietly. "He might have to stop hanging out outside just because Jessie and Yu are doing it. Ru, can you maybe make him a cup of Robert's almond tea? It'll help him warm up."

"I was just thinking the same thing," Edward said. "We should get him warm, and once he's had something to eat, we can get him an aspirin powder to help him get rid of some of the aching he might feel."

There was the sound of apparating, and then a voice called.

"Ciao? C'è qualcuno in casa?" a man's voice called from Edward's side.

"Carlo," Angus laughed. "He's got supper, I'm sure."

"I'll go help him," Marcus said.

"I'll go with you," Sergio said. The two of them got up and went over to Edwards. They came back, carrying food containers and bringing Carlo with them. Edward greeted Carlo with a friendly hug and thanked him for sending food.

"That smells insanely good," Angus said.

"I can hardly wait," Evan said.

Ruby watched as Chris took the cookies and ran to Angus she smiled and headed back into the kitchen "I'm on it" she said as she put the kettle on and took down a small plastic cup for Chris. Making the tea and bringing the powders she smiled at the sound of aperating and a males voice. " here you go" she said smiling to Chris as she placed down the cup in front of him and added some aspirin powder to the sweet tea to help him with his cold.

Aria stood up when she heard Aperating and walked behind Angus seeing a man standing on Edward's side of the duplex she took some of the food containers from Carlo and walked back into the duplex once she had thanked him. Heading to the table she placed them down " they smell wonderful" she said as Ruby brought over plates and cutlery.

Cris thanked Aria for the tea, able to say thank you in English. He could say some things in English but he wasn't as fluid as he wanted to be yet.

"Aria," Marcus said, "this is Carlo. He's the manservant at Edward's estate. He and his wife Rosaria live in Edward's house, and they take care of the main house and the house garden for Edward."

"And they helped raise me," Angus said. "Carlo, Questa è la fidanzata di Marcus, Aria."

"Piacere di conoscerti," Carlo said to Aria.

"It will be every bit as good as it smells," Evan told Aria. Evan and Edward helped to unpack the pork ragu, the polenta, the caprese salad, and the Italian orange cake. Evan lifted the lid on the pot of ragu and looked inside.

"Do try not to drool in it, won't you?" Edward laughed, knowing it was Evan's favorite. He told Carlo in Italian that he was just hoping Evan wouldn't drool in the ragu, and Carlo laughed out loud. Edward thanked Carlo for helping with the girls' school things and asked him to extend the thanks to Rosaria as well. He nodded.

Aria looked back at the man and smiled as she walked over to him and shook his hand "Pleasure to meet you" she said and then looked to Angus before smelling the food as the containers were opened " wow " she said taking adeep breath in and her tummy rumbled loudly " oops sorry" she said and chuckled.

Ruby chuckled and walked over to Carlos with a cup of tea " here, to take off the chill before you head back" she said and held it out for him to take. Once he ahd taken the cup Ruby took the boxes from Angus " I'll take those you talk" she said and headed to the table to place the rest on it for Edward and her self to open ready for other to help them selves from.

"Gracie," Carlo said. "La traversata è fredda stasera perché nevica su Parigi."

"Carlo says the crossing is cold tonight because it's snowing over Paris too," Angus said. Edward disappeared into his side of the duplex, and he brought back a full length camel colored wool winter coat, with a pair of gloves, and gave it to Carlo.

"Questo è il tuo miglior cappotto invernale," Carlo frowned.

"E ora è tuo. Fa troppo freddo per viaggiare senza cappotto stasera. Prendilo," Edward said. Simone smiled, watching Edward make a gift of his own best winter coat to Carlo, wtih some fine quality winter leather gloves, telling Carlo it was now his coat to keep because it was entirely too cold to travel without a coat.

"Gracie," Carlo smiled, grateful. Edward called Cris over and introduced him to Carlo. Carlo offered Cris a handshake, and Cris shook hands. Edward helped them converse for a moment, translating Italian to Romanian and back, and then he sent Cris to help Angus set the table for supper while Simone poured some glasses of iced tea and out them on the table. As Carlo was speaking to Edward, the kids came back from work and were pleased to see Carlo there. They all went over and gave Carlo big hugs. Edward translated for them as they thanked Carlo not only for supper but for help with their school things. Carlo set down his almost empty tea mug and excused himself to head for home.

When Carlo had ported out, Angus uncovered the caprese salad, the large pot of ragu, and the pot of polenta. The kids went to wash their hands

"Ruby, do get some more place settings in case Jessie and Yu want to eat with us, would you?" Angus asked. There is more than enough here for them and Sergio and Ana too. I'm sure we'll still have leftovers."

"I'll go find Tara," Evan said. "I saw her head over to our room on Edward's side a few minutes ago. She's probably showering. I'll try to hurry her a little." He went to find her.

Ruby smiled and nodded as she headed back to the kitchen on hearing her name she looked up and nodded to Angus and saw Carlo port out in Edwards warm winter jacket. " of course angus. " she said and sent over more plates just incase.

Jessie and Yu both finished making sure every one was warm and comfortable before heading to the duplex " hi guys " they both said as they entered " some thing smells divine" Jessie said as they both moved to the fire to warm up from the cold from outside.

Ruby walked over to Angus and smiled " you know now that he dosn't have a good winter jacket maybe we could get him one for christmas?" she sugested " along with some good gloves." she placed down the plates and took some polenta to eat.

"Rosaria cooked enough for a couple very large armies for us," Angus said. "I don't think you've had this yet. It's Evan's absolute favorite. Her pork ragu, with a parmesan polenta, caprese salad, and a Tuscan orange cake for dessert."

Cris had finished setting the table and turned and started sneezing. Angus handed him a tissue.

"He's getting the sniffles," Angus told Jessie and Yu. "He's working on some of Robert's almond tea, and it has an aspirin powder in it."

"I'll get him a bit of potion to try to ward off a full fledged cold," Edward said. "but he should eat first so it doesn't upset his stomach. At his age, the potion could cause him some fierce nausea on an empty stomach. So, for now, let's all tuck in and eat."

Evan came down with Tara, and Ana arrived just in time. That made a large gathering of seventeen people at the table. Angus had had to do an enchantment to add some length onto the table and to duplicate some of the chairs to have a big enough table. He had placed 8 chairs on each side of the table and two chairs on each end, making a total of 18 places at the table. And so that people could get their plates fixed quicker, he got more serving bowls and platters out and divided the salad, the polenta and the pork ragu each into four smaller serving bowls. That made four bowls of ragu, four of polenta, and four big serving platters of salad. That would mean that each serving bowl now would serve only 4 or five people, and everyone could have their plates fixed in a moment or so.

"If we have a bigger gathering, we're going to have to enchant the living room to be bigger," Edward laughed.

"Fine by me. The more the merrier," Angus said.

"I like your choice to divide the food into more serving bowls. That's actually very clever," Simone said.

"I like serving food family style, but it can be hard to do with more than a few people," Angus replied. This makes it all go quicker."

Jessie heard Chris sneese and moved over to him kneling down to touch his forhead " yeah , his temp is up a little too" he said watching as Chris wiped his node clean. Picking up Chris he carried him to the table and sat down with him on his lap " thanks Edward I'll make sure he eats " he said and smiled as he placed Chris's cup down on the table " oh, if you could that would be great" he responded to the sugestion of the potion to help.

Ruby saw Angus make the table bigger , large enough to hold every one she smiled at the sugestion to enlarge the living room too "I think its cosy as it is." she said smiling as she dished out the food to every one then sat and ate her own.

"That's why I wanted him to have the aspirin powder," Angus said. "That'll nip it pretty quickly." Angus saw Jessie being just a wee bit overprotective of Cris by carrying him to the table and putting him on his lap instead of letting Cris eat at his own place at the table. After all, Cris had actually made a proper and polite introduction to Carlo and then had just finished helping to set the table. However, Angus said nothing because he realized this was the first time Jessie was going to have to parent a child who didn't feel well.

"How long has it been since you've had pork ragu?" Evan asked Angus.

"Your birthday when we had entered that sailboat race and then came home to find Rosaria had fixed ragu for supper," Angus said. "When was that? A couple years ago?"

"Five," Edward said.

"Five?" Angus frowned. "Are you sure?"

"He's right. I have our third place trophy in my office at the yacht charter office," Evan said.

"You two aren't going to wait another five years before you celebrate some holidays and birthdays, are you?" Tara asked.

"No," Evan said. "He doesn't get to run away again that fast."

"I didn't run away," Angus said.
"
"Yes you did. You were running from Benjamin and Eileen," Edward said. "Can't say that I blame you for it, particularly not that year."

"Oh. That," Angus said, remembering. "Well, maybe you're right."

"Our father broke Angus's jaw that New Year's Eve," Evan explained. "They got into a row that night because Benjamin didn't like that Angus had brought a huge package of filet mignons for Rosaria to serve for supper that night. Benjamin believed, for some stupid reason that New Year's Eve supper should always be red snapper, so he got into a row with Angus, and he broke Angus's jaw just to try to teach him a lesson. That was the last holiday we spent with him for many years, but Benjamin isn't around now to bollox things up. So hopefully, we can have a lot more suppers together."