A Birth day

Jess listened to Kate and nodded " I agree, and thats good saves worring about her heading home in this weather" she said smiling at the two girls "Do you want a hand with washing them both" she offered knowing everything was relativly taken care of now.

Ruby saw Angus yawn and heard the clock chime ten smiling she gently picked up Caprice while Air picked up Diamond " we'll put these two into the cots " she said softly to him as Aria watched Marcus head up to shower. Now with the two babies in their arms they walked up the stairs to the nursary and changed both of them. Luckily without waking them, Ruby put Caprice in her cot and put Diamond in the travel cot next to her before watching Finn settle between the two and fall asleep.

As Aria headed to their room Ruby headed down to the main living room and placed a log on the fire. " the book any good?" she asked Angus as she gently poked the embers in the fire place before throwing the log on them.

"That would be great. Thank you. Molly has a lavender butterfly backpack in Abbey's room. It has her pajamas in it. She usually has lavender pajamas too. I laid Abbey's pajamas out on her dresser. Hers are pink with Christmas trees. I'll get the bath water ready if you can get the pajamas, please?"

"That would be great. Thanks," Angus yawned. He was almost finished with the first mystery story in the big thick book that Edward had given him. "Actually, yes, this first story was pretty good. It's the story about a string of murders where witches are being found dead and wrapped up in Christmas paper like oversized Christmas crackers and then tucked under Christmas trees. And, in this particular tale, every suspect seems to have an airtight alibi. I think I know who did it, though. I think it was the lady that owns the chippy, but that remains to be seen."

Jess nodded to Kate and headed up to find the PJ's for Abby and Molly once she ahd founf the she carried them to the bathroom " I found them and there undergarments too" she said placing them down next to the bath that she saw the to girls already neck deep in bubbles and chuckled " looks like there having fun" she said .

Ruby listened to Angus and smiled " you sure you know who it is , and why the lady that owns the chippy?" she asked curious as to know why he thought it was her and not any one else." she did like the idea of witches under the tree but not dead ones.

"They are," Kate laughed. "Oh, and I found something for them to have a little fun with. Check this out." She handed Jess a large plastic container that had a closed lid. The plastic tub held a full 16 ounces of a pink colored whipped cream that smelled just like candy floss. It felt exactly like a big bowl of whipped cream, and it had little purple and bright pink sprinkles in it. "It's soap," she told Jess, "so I don't think they should eat it, but I thought they could have a little fun with it and get clean at the same time. I do have some for grown ups too. I'll give you a container if you like. Ours is a pale yellow color and smells just like creme brulee. And it makes skin silky soft."

"I really think its the chippy lady," Angus said, "because she proposed a Christmas decorating contest to encourage a bit of business to the downtown shops, and the city council turned it down. I think they turned her down because she had some sort of falling out with the woman who was president of the city council. There's something that hasn't been explained in that, but I think it has to do with the chippy lady's husband--like maybe an affair with the city council president. But that's just my guess."

Jess smiled as he looked at the tub Kate held and smelled it " smells wonderful and I agree, fun and cleanlyness can go hand in hand" she sid with a smile " oh that would be wonderful" she added as she watched the girls play with the bubbles laughing and giggling s some flaotd up into the air then popped.

Ruby listened to Angus explination and chuckled " yep that would do it" she said as she sat down facing him. " do you think its time we head to bed too" she asked looking at the clock that had just finished chiming. " the book will still be here tomorrow." she added " but first do you need any pain potion?" she asked.

"Gam," Abbey said, "I telled Molly I sleep in the window."

"You want to?" Kate asked, knowing Abbey was talking about the window seat with the generous cushion that was deep and soft. It was one of Abbey's favorite places in the whole house. Abbey nodded. "Well, then, Molly, you can sleep in Abbey's bed." Molly liked Abbey's bed because Khaat had bought some pink mosquito netting for over Abbey's bed and had added some twinkling fairy lights to the netting. It made Abbey's bed look extra magical. The idea of sleeping in Abbey's bed with the pink mosquito netting seemed to make Molly very happy. The little girls seemed to have a wonderful time with the whipped soap.

"You read us story?" Abbey asked Jess. "I gots a new Christmas storybook--about a Christmas fairy. She no can find her magic."

"Is that one of the books that Papa bought you?" Kate asked knowing that Robert had bought her some new Christmas story books, but Kate hadn't seen any of them.

"It gots good pictures," Abbey nodded.

"If you help the girls, I'll go get them a little warm white hot chocolate to sip on while you read to them." Kate told Jess. Kate knew the old trick of warm milk to help people sleep, and she knew a recipe to make some creamy vanilla hot chocolate that used white chocolate instead of regular milk chocolate.

Jess heard Abby say she would sleep in the window seat and she smiled "that's very kind of you to give up your bed to Molly Abby, " she said then heard her ask if she would read her a book " Of course, when we go through to your room you pick the book and I'll read it" she heard Kate and nodded " good idea." she said as she watched the girls playing. Soon, they had to go out and Jess stood with two warm fluffy large towels to wrap the girls in. Now with Molly wrapped she dried her and quickly dressed her before letting out the water from the bath. " all right Abby time to get your book and climb into bed" she said taking Molly by the hand and walking her to Abby's room.

Pulling back the covers she lifted Molly into the bed and placed the blanket over her before looking at Abby. walking over she did the same and tucked her in sitting down she picked up the book and opened it to the first page before she began to read to both of them softly, keeping her voice low so she hoped it would lull them to sleep with the warm creamy vanilla hot chocolate they had to drink from Kate.

The girls drank their cocoa because Kate hadn't let it get overly hot for them, and between the warm milk and the warm blankets and the soothing story, they were soon slipping off to sleep as the wind howled outside. Abbey wasn't actually bothered by the storm, but if she did ever get frightened during the night, she now went right across the hall to find Papa. She had always gone to find Aggie, but Aggie didn't live here anymore. So now, she always went to find Papa. Tonight, she fell asleep thinking of the Christmas fairy and wondering if her papa knew any Christmas fairies.

"Ah, and there it is. I knew it," Angus said. "The chippy lady just outted herself, but she's an idjit. She found what she thought was a bunch of receipts for romantic gifts that her husband bought that he hadn't given to her. She thought it was for the president of the city council. So she started all this rampage by killing her husband. As it turns out, though, the gifts were things her husband was stashing away to give to her, not some other woman. He was going to try to observe the 12 days of Christmas, which doesn't actually start til January 6th anyway. She's a complete idjit. She killed a guy who really did love her because she's stupid.

"That reminds me," Angus, said, trying not to laugh. "Not too long ago, apparently Robert was trying to educate Abbey about the three wise men, and Abbey kind of got the jist of it, but she keeps calling them the wise guys. She understands about Jesus and the angels and all of that, and she understands that he was visited by 'a bunch of wise guys.' It made me laugh when she was trying to tell me about it."

Jess watxhed as the girls fell asleep and smiled slipping out the room quietly so not to wake them " sleeping angels" she said and chuckled " devils awake " she added and shook her head as she headed back down to th living room.

Ruby listened to Angus and chuckled " that woman is an idiot, it dosn't take recipts for a woman to know if her husbands cheating, there are other signs too" she said with a chuckle teasing Angus a little as she looked up at him as she poked the fire back into life.

Jack and Jessie worked several hours fixing the fence of the paddock. Now done they both headed back to the main house knocking thick snow off their boots " okay its fixed but I dught any one would want to go back out the snows coming down hard, Jessie get back to the cabin using the ropes before your snowed in here" he said and Jessie nodded heading to the abck door.

"Well, I presume there would be, but her husband probably was an idjit too for marrying someone who kills first and asks questions later," Angus said. "I mean, how could he even close his eyes at night with Jackie the Ripper in his bed? Anyway, the next story is something about a Chinese cricket box. Can't say I've ever heard of a Chinese cricket box. Might have to ask Yu when the storm is over. Edward might know too. He has a lot of odd souvenirs from his travels. Suppose they were really used for keeping a cricket in the house? And why would you want bugs in the house anyway?"

"Come sit with me and share the blanket," he told her, picking up the blanket on the back of the sofa. He opened it and spread it across this lap and then flicked his fingers to turn off all the lights except the Christmas tree lights. "I think we should just enjoy the fire and the tree. We won't get a whole lot of time to be alone like this, not with our busy house." As far as he was concerned, if they fell asleep in front of the fire, he couldn't think of anything that would be more perfect than that.