A Birth day

Ruby and Aria sat and watched the water rush past them as the boat moved threw the water out into open water. They both thanked Marcus as he handed them coffee in thermal mugs " oh thanks " Ruby said and chuckled at Angus suggestion but it was Aria that jumped up.

"oh yes I do" she said and looked at Marcus " might come in handy some day" she said and chuckled as Ruby chuckled at Aria's enthusiasm. " okay me too" she said placing down her mug and standing with Aria. Both looked at the large masts and gasped " um how do we do it?" she asked her hands on her hips.

"Come with me, and we'll raise the mainsail while he readies the lines and the other sails. On this ship, there are 3 masts and four sails. The main sail is on the middle mast. He's got those lines pretty much ready for us." Marcus said. He walked the deck to the main mast and showed them the lines and the rigging. He showed them how to attach the last of the lines and ready the sail to be unfurled. Then he showed them where the crank was to hoist the sail. "Okay, each of you take a few turns to see how it hoists. This is a modern ship, so it should hoist pretty easily compared to a lot of other ships. Once it's in the right position, we'll lock it in place. The other sails on the this ship has, which are attached to the other masts, are the jib, the foresail, and the staysail, up there..." he pointed to the mast in front of them, "and the sail back there is called the mizzen. Altogether, there are seven sails. The foresail and the mainsail are actually two sails each. It looks like a lot of canvas and rigging but it makes for a wonderfully efficient ship."

Marcus kept his eyes open to make sure that Angus wasn't going to have any issues with the lines or the rigging on the jib or the mizzen, but he needn't have worried. Angus's movements were confident, organized, methodic and strong. This was, literally, in his wheelhouse.

Ruby and Aria followed Marcus listening to him Aria jumped up and listened to him talk about the sails she looked then she clip the end of the halyard to a grommet in the head of the sail and pull on the other end to raise the sail. " like this?" she asked as the sail went down and billowed in the air. " I'm a fast learner and I have a good teacher." she said and then headed back to Marcus as Ruby moved to the second mast and copied Aria but slower in her movements.

Ruby walked back to Marcus and chuckled as she stood with Aria " always wanted to do that" Aria said to her and they chuckled " so how was that , okay I hope?" she glanced at the sails and sighed " it looks so majestic now." Ruby on the other hand smiled seeing Angus in the wheel house. She moved from Aria and Marcus walking over and entering the wheel house to stand with Angus .

"having fun?" she asked resting her head on his shoulder " I know Aria is." she chuckled softly.

"Yes," Marcus said, "that's exactly right. You're both doing fine. You'll be good help when you get more comfortable with it."

"This has always been, to some degree, an important thing for me, I think," Angus told Ruby quietly. "The first time Edward took me sailing, it was just a little dinghy, and it was just him and me. I was little, maybe four or five, I guess. Benjamin was having a cocktail party over at Edward's simply because he wanted to impress some of his seedy friends. Benjamin didn't have much money then, but he certainly wanted to look like he was loaded. And, one of the main investors he wanted to impress was a man who said he had a lot of kids. It was past my bedtime, of course, but he came upstairs and rousted me out of bed. I remember he really stank because he had had quite a lot of whiskey, but he got me dressed up and took me downstairs. I remember I was exceptionally cranky because it was late, I was tired, he stank, and I didn't know anyone else there.  

"Benjamin lost his cool with me, and belted me in the jaw, and knocked out three of my teeth. I remember seeing them on the carpet. I screamed, and Benjamin's wealthy investor busted Benjamin in the face and broke his damned jaw in four places. And then it all went to hell in a handbasket. It was one of the first big brawls I ever saw. I was trying to hide, and then, in the middle of it, Edward came striding in. He was so powerful, he looked like he was just parting the sea. He picked me up, and he told Benjamin that if he ever laid a hand on me again, he'd kill him. And I had no doubt Edward meant every syllable.

"The next thing that is clear to me is that dinghy. I had my teeth back, but my jaw was still pretty sore. And he and I were sailing. He'd brought along these amazing cheese sandwiches, some orange sodas, and these really soft sugar cookies. And we just sailed. He let me think I was manning the tiller to steer the dinghy. As a boy, that was one of the most peaceful afternoons I'd ever had, and it was one of the first times I could remember feeling truly safe. We barely said two words all day. We didn't need to. Most of the time, that same safe, peaceful feeling comes back especially on a sailboat. Not so much with motorized boats, but when a ship is moving just with the power of the wind, that was magic that even Benjamin couldn't touch. Still is."

Ruby stayed quiet as Angus started to speak of his child hood she knew that staying quiet was the best thing at the time, she watched the front of the ship rise and fall to the waves as they hit and looked to Angus smiling as he recounted a happier time with Edward and how he was taken from his fathers toxic grasp and brought into a loving home.

Ruby looked up at Angus and smiled at him. " and I know you love it , that's why I wouldn't want you any other way nor would I stop you from sailing, besides its relaxing for both of us" she said taking a deep breath in " like there's nothing to worry about , no stresses or worries, just the two of us in a vast expanse of ocean right."

"I'm glad you enjoy it. Years ago, I dated a girl that couldn't do any sort of boating because she got severe sea sickness. I did go without sailing but I wasn't sure how I was going to work that out in the long term. Fortunately, I didn't need to," he said. "Come back to the stern with me, and I'll show you how to steer with the tiller."

He turned off the engine, took her to the back of the boat, and had her sit on one side of the tiller, and he sat on the other. It wasn't all that difficult to use the tiller today because the water was calm.

"This is the best part of using a sailboat. You get to truly enjoy the sails and the wind," he told her. "You take the tiller, and if you need help, let me know." He took his hands off the tiller, and he stretched out his legs, leaning back to just enjoy the sound of the sails as they rippled in the wind and smell of the sea air.

Ruby smiled and chuckled as he mentioned he dated a girl who had chronic sea sickness "Well I don't have that issue" she said as she watched the sails billow with the wind. When he said about using the tiller she nodded " that's got to be relaxing" she said and followed him out and up to the back of the ship. Now sat with the rudder arm between them she took hold of it and did as he showed her to. It as after a moment of his silence she looked over and smiled seeing she was sailing or rather steering the ship.

Aria chuckled and lay down on the top of the cabin a she felt the wind blow around her " its like flying but without the effort" she said and looked to Marcus before she glanced back at Angus and Ruby " their having fun" she said smiling to Marcus.

"Well, she's having fun. He's chilling." Marcus said. He found a compartment under one of the benches and found a fishing pole and a tackle box. He took the pole, attached a lure and a hook to it and used a wee bit of the meat from one of the sandwiches that Rosaria had packed and cast his line in the water and settled in to enjoy a little fishing. He knew that some of the best tasting fish lived in these waters, and he was hoping to catch a few.

Angus saw Ruby was doing well, so after a bit, he went below, got some cans of soda and took everyone a soda.

"Catching anything?" Angus asked Marcus.

"Not yet."

"What are you using?"

"Pepperoni," Marcus laughed.

"Yeah, not sure that's gonna work."

"I figured it might catch an Italian fish," Marcus teased.

"You'd do better with bread, probably," Angus told him.

"If this gets me nowhere, I'll try it," Marcus replied.

Ara looked at Marcus and watched him talk out a fishing rod then add what she thought was a small piece of peperoni she could not help but chuckle as she watched him. It was after some time she saw Angus walk over to them with some sodas and she took one from him and chuckled at Marcus explanation of why he used that meat.

Ruby was enjoying using the tiller even if it didn't really need much movement but she was enjoying herself she watched as Angus walked over and spoke to Marcus and Aria who sat close by Marcus smiling.

Angus took Ruby a soda and sat back down near her.

"Marcus is trying his hand using pepperoni as bait," Angus laughed. "I don't think he's gonna catch a damned thing that way, but I'm not sure he really cares. Not to change subjects, but Priscilla is trying to come back into my dreams again. I didn't really expect that, but I probably should have. At any rate, Iya seems to be one step ahead of me because she was there last night, and she had somebody with her. They were concealed so I didn't see a face, but whoever it was, they were standing in front of me, between me and Priscilla, holding her off, I think. I kind of wondered if it was Kate or Robert. Rober thas done that sort of concealment thing before. So maybe I'll never know. But when I woke up, I looked out the window and saw my grandmother outside in the yard. It was like she was waiting for me out there."