A Birth day

Aria stood with Even listening to Marcus and Robert talk about what they had discovered. She looked to Even and placed her hand on his shoulder as she spoke as Robert signed off. "We will Robert, Lets go to the living room and leave them to talk, there's not much else we can do until we're notified Robert has the coffin." she said and moved him and herself towards the living room.

Once there she sat down and looked at Even " I'm hoping we have to destroy the thing" she told him, I saw it and well I wouldn't want it around ether" she sat by the now lit fire to warm up and dry off after the rain her towel still in her hand as she dried her hair off.

"That casket is going to be etched in my mind forever," Evan replied. The entire incident was alive in his mind as if it had been yesterday. He vividly remembered seeing Kate digging in the ground with her bare hands and then Kate telling him that she was digging for Angus. He remembered firing the spell that unburied the casket, and he remembered helping to pull Angus out and watching helplessly as Robert worked to try to restart Angus's heart. That was way too close for Evan for any kind of comfort.

"I presume," Evan said, "it means that the voodoo woman still has some sort of hold either on the casket or on Angus or both. I wish to hell I'd have finished the job that night, but I read a book that I bought when we were there, and it suggests that some folk magic spells make the veil even thinner than it already is and that some forms of folk magic can keep that link alive regardless of whether the priest or victim is on the other side of the veil or not. It didn't say how to break that spell, but I'm wondering if that is what Gran was referring to."

Marcus came back into the room.

"Robert is going to see if Lee will bring Iya to Robert by the time we go back home on Sunday," Marcus said. "He's going to contact Daniella, and I presume that Fabian might be involved in helping to retrieve the casket. But his instructions were clear. We stay focused on our tasks here. He'll do the rest."

"Doesn't seem like there's much to do, actually," Evan said.

"Evan!" there was a shout from the other room, from the floo.

"That's Edward," Evan sighed. "Something tells me that he's heard already that we've seen Gran. He's hoped for that for almost 30 years, and then it happens when he's not here. I'll go try to ease him just a wee bit. Excuse me." He got up and went into the other room."

"You know," Marcus laughed gently as he spoke to Aria, "the kids have often told me over the years that our lives would have been quieter of Evelyn had simply passed on. But this makes me think--it could have been worse. She could have passed on and then pestered the shit out of me for the last decade. And that would have been far worse than what we did have."

Aria listened to Even and nodded " yep, I think breaking the link means burning the casket with Angus watching so he knows there is no hold on him any more" she said then saw Marcus walk in she saw the look on his face and heard what he dais " good , there all good people" she said then heard Edward threw the floo " oh boy" she said softly as she saw Marcus sit next to her and spoke of his Ex.

" wow do not want that, I don't want her in our bed room, I'd have her exorcized right away, " she said and shivered as she gave a chuckle " but yeah, that would totally be the worst, but at least right now she's getting the help she needs and your kids are happy with who your with and where they are, at least I hope so, they seemed it last time we were with them." she said and chuckled thinking of Evelyn haunting them. " that reminds me have they asked for any school supplies yet , I thought they were sending over a list so we could get it all for when they returned?" she asked

Marcus laughed when Aria said she'd have the bedroom exorcised.

"No, they're good," Marcus said. "I provide my parents a very nice check every month for them to buy anything the kids need and also to make sure they have enough groceries, the extra utilities, and all of that. My parents order what they need from London and have it shipped directly to them. It works well for them and for the kids both. They're fine. Plus, I ordered Poppy a massive set of good, professional colored pencils for Christmas. It had over 200 different colors in it, but the stupid company sent Mom and Dad a set of 200 boxes of plain No. 2 pencils instead, and each box had 12 pencils in it. My four kids and my parents are going to have enough pencils to last them for the rest of their lives. And I even gave a box to each of Angus' kids and one to Evie and one to Faith. But--I did get them to send the right colored pencils, and they arrived at my parents house just before midnight on Christmas Eve. So far as I know, the only thing they're probably going to need me to do for them is to make sure the girls each have a nice spring dress and that the guys' dress suits still fit because they're planning on doing some sort of spring dance this year before the end of the school year."

Aria lent against Marcus as he said they had all the supplies they needed for school then he spoke of clothing for the spring dance " oh we could do that for them, I could take the girls and you could take the boys" she smiled to him " with your permission of course" she added knowing with his ex's reputation asking him for permission showed she respected him as their father. " I'm sure the girls and I will have such a good time, or we could all go together and meet up for dinner after" she chuckled thinking about it " but we should get Angus sorted first , that's our priority , right." she turned in her seat and looked at him.

Aria hoped Edward wasn't going over board with everything that was going on around Angus as she knew Marcus had it in order and they were waiting for Roberts word now. "How do you think he's coping, Even I mean I know Angus is coping in his own way but this is new for Even."

"That's fine," Marcus said. "I'm sure Daria and Poppy would enjoy that. I can alter the boys' suits if they don't fit. That's not a problem. My parents aren't as good at the tailoring spells as I am, so we're all actually in agreement that I should do that. And, besides, the girls have sometimes some very different ideas of what is or isn't an appropriate dress for a dance, especially Daria. She believes she needs to look 'hot' for the dance. Well, I refuse to buy her some of the just plain trashy things she believes she likes. Whether she likes it or not, I actually do know what striking formal wear looks like, and I am not going to approve of brothel fashions. That just isn't going to happen."

When she asked about keeping on track about Angus and how to help him.

"Angus does a good deal better if he has something to fight," Marcus said. "He'll be fine, I'm sure. He needs to do something physical to work off some of his tensions. Depending on the weather maybe we can get him to take out a sailboat for a few hours tomorrow. I know Edward has some sort of sailboat, but I don't know what kind. Still, that would be right up Angus's alley, and I've done some sailing myself. I'm sure he and I could manage the mechanics of sailing and maybe the four of us would have a good time. I know the girls will have school, so I doubt Tara would go, but I could talk to Angus tomorrow and see if he's at all receptive. What do you think?"

Aria listened and smiled but had to agree about the style of dresses for the girls " oh you an be classy and not trashy, I'll show then a few dresses that are tasteful but yet can still make them look hot in a good say" she said smiling" oh and I can sew, I think I mentioned that once , not sure".

When he mentioned Angus and sailing she nodded then thought of something " what about arranging a picnic for when he gets back or even to take with them for the day" she suggested " I'd help Rosaria or is she a one kitchen and no none will enter, kind of woman?" she asked with a chuckle resting now against Marcus as she sat " he's been in there a while , what do you think there talking about?" she asked

"A picnic would be a good idea," Marcus said. "I'm guessing Rosaria has made more than one picnic lunch for a sailing trip. From what Angus said, Rosaria is always open to people joining her in the kitchen. From what Angus has told me, she knows he's a chef but that does not stop her from wanting to correct him if he's cooking and she thinks he's not doing it exactly right. I think that's her maternal side that will still always see him, in part, as the little boy she helped raise. I asked her once if she had any kids of her own, and you know what she told me? Twenty six. I was pretty thunderstruck until she explained it. She considered all of Edward's children as her own. They had six. They helped raise Angus, so that's seven. She considers Angus's kids as much a part of her family as he own, so that's five more. And she and Carlo had four. And they have ten grandchildren. So that makes twenty six. What's Evan talking about? Caprice, I'm sure. And he's probably trying to stall Edward from coming because he can't guarantee that Caprice would appear to him. I don't know if that will work for Evan, but I do know he'll try."

Aria smiled as he said Rosaria would not mind her helping with the picnic in her kitchen and she nodded but gasped when he said she had twenty seven kids then explained making her laugh " oh , so their all her children " she said and smiled then chuckled as he said Even was probably trying to stop Edward coming over to try and see Caprice " well I didn't see her ether, just a mist, so she might now show herself to him at all" Aria relaxed against Marcus her head on his shoulder " well I'm guessing for tonight its relax and just enjoy the quiet , right" she said and chuckled.

After about fifteen minuets Aria stood up and kissed Marcus " I'm going to talk to Rosaria about the picnic, hopefully we can come up with some dishes that he would like and would last a trip on a yacht for every one." she said and headed to the kitchen.

" Rosaria, possiamo parlare, stavo pensando di fare una scelta per Angus per quando saliranno sullo yacht" she asked as she walked in and sat on a stool by a counter that Rosaria was cooking at.

("Rosaria can we talk, I was thinking of doing a picric for Angus for when they go on the yacht")

Rosaria was kneading a loaf of bread that she intended to let rise overnight. When Aria came in and asked about a picnic for when they went on the yacht, Rosaria looked at her blankly.

'Qual è il viaggio in yacht? Non sapevo nulla di un viaggio in yacht. Posso certamente preparare un picnic, ma ho bisogno di sapere quando, quante persone, quale pasto stiamo servendo e gli altri dettagli." (What is the yacht trip? I didn't know anything about a yacht trip. I can certainly pack a picnic, but I need to know when, how many people, what meal we're serving and the other details."

Evan finished with Edward, having struck a compromise. He headed upstairs just to say goodnight to Angus. He knocked lightly on the door.

"Come in," Angus called, knowing Evan's knock.

"I just came to say goodnight," Evan said. "I need to keep my word to the girls and make sure they're good with their homework for the night. Got any ideas about anything you'd like to do tomorrow?"

"Nothing in particular," Angus said.

"We'll figure it out in the morning, then," Evan said. "Get some sleep. You look all in, Mate."

"I am," Angus said.

"I'll see you at some point in the morning then," Evan smiled. "Goodnight. Goodnight, Ruby. See you tomorrow." Evan simply apparated out to go home. Angus yawned, starting to feel a bit sleepy, even though it was relatively early.