A Birth day

"I don't think that's a bad idea," Marcus said. "We'd have to ask Robert or Brian before we did anything, since its not our property, but I'm presuming that they'd approve of us doing something or other. Angus would be the one to ask first about it."

"Angus would be the first about what?" Angus asked, coming downstiars, in clean clothes, freshly shaven.

"A gazebo," Marcus said.

"We have one," Angus replied.

"No, not for you, Silly," Marcus said. "Something more central in the yard, like an outdoor living space--maybe with a grill and tables at one end, and an outdoor fireplace and comfortable outdoor sofas and such at the other."

"Oh. The outdoor living room thing," Angus said.

"Your chicken farmer has a gazebo he wants to get rid of. It isn't a pergola, though," Marcus said.

"So? We're wizards, remember? If its hexagonal, and we want it rectangular, we transfigure the shape. That's not a deal," Angus said. "The bigger deal is getting it past Robert or Brian. Robert's first question is going to be 'And why do we want one?'"

"So we can be outside more," Marcus said. "Fresh air, Healthy living, and all that folderol."

"Okay, that's sales pitch language. Now, why do we really want it?"

"I just told you. So we can be outside having fun in more kinds of weather."

"Okay. That's better. That's the real reason," Angus said. "And what are we doing under it?"

"Cooking, eating, talking, celebrating..."

"Drinking," Angus added, knowing where Marcus was going.

"Well, yeah, there might be some of that too, I would imagine," Marcus laughed.

"Okay. Well, I'll ask him about it, but let's not start construction on anything until I get an answer, shall we? In case he says no?"

"Fair enough," Marcus said.

"I'll be back. I really want to check on Anise to make sure she's okay," Angus said, heading downstairs.

Ruby smiled and walked over to Angus kissing his cheek " good to see you up and about, and of course we won't." she said then chuckled at the banter between Marcus and Angus when he said about seeing Anise she stepped back " if she needs a drink or anything give me a shout" she said smiling as Aria placed several sodas fresh from the fridge on the counter and chuckled.

Aria finished making her biscuits and cleaned up the kitchen moving to sit in the living room. " wonder how long the boys will sleep " she asked sitting back as she popped open a can to drink.

Angus went downstairs, and he saw Anise appeared to be asleep. Ginger was sitting on her own bed, and she was making something. He went over and sat down with her.

“What are you making?” he asked sofly, not wanting to wake Anise.

“Lace,” she told him. “We sort of want to see if we’re smart enough to make our own wedding dresses.”

“I don’t sew, of course, but I don’t think there’s any question that you’re both smart enough.”

“You know what I mean. Its such a human thing to do, but its something that we all four agree we want when the time is right. And lace takes time to make, especially when one needs a lot of it.”

“And I’m sure there’s nothing i can do to help, is there?”

“Well, maybe there is. In order for the lace to all look exactly the same, the thread all needs to come from the same batch. I’ve tried to get more from the maker from this batch, but they don’t seem interested in helping me. Can you talk to them and see if anyone has more?”

“For you? Anything,” he smiled, “I might put Ruby onto it, but we’ll give it our best.”. He got up and went upstairs.

“Ru, Ginger needs to find more lace making thread drom the same dye lot as what she’s using. can you see if you can find her more? However much you can find? Money’s no object.”

Ruby finished her tea when she saw Marcus return from the girls room and ask her if she could find some lace making thread " sure I could look on line " you got the make and grade for it?" she asked . Taking the bale he had she sat down and began searching for more.

Aria chuckled as she saw Ruby get right into finding the thread for Ginger and Anise " how was Anise , still sleeping?" she asked " its what she needs right now, I'll check on her later" she said handing Marcus one of her biscuits to try.

Ruby looked over the internet and found a company in italy that sold the exact thread Ginger needed after placing an order she then e-mailed the company since they ere muggle or so she thought , soon the floo opened and a male voice spoke " is a mrs Donohugh there?" he said

" I'm here , who is this?" she asked

"I'm Giovani pascal, owner of the Italian lace thread company, you just placed an order , its large order mind if I ask what its for ?

"its for my daughter she's doing lace for her wedding dress" she explained and saw him smile.

" ah, now I understand , happy to send over the order and if you need any more please I would be happy to provide a discount to such a well known name in Italy, arrivederci signoria Donohue.2" he said and she chuckled as the floo closed. Standing up she wrote down his details and headed down to Ginger.

"hey how's it going" she asked and sat gently on her bed, " Marcus asked me to find a supplier of the lace your using , well good news I found an authentic Italian lace thread supplier whose going to send over your thread and any order after that he'll do at a discount" she said and held out a piece of paper to Ginger " here is his details." she said as she heard the thud of a large box arrive " that could be it" she said .

"Thank you," Angus told her.

When Ruby brought the lace downstairs, Ginger was delighted.

"Thanks, Ruby. You're the best," Ginger said. "Kate has a book of photographs of antique wedding dresses, and we've really liked some of the dresses that are completely crocheted in Irish lace. But That's a lot of work. I'm making some lace for the trim on the veils, but I really don't know if I'm skilled enough to crochet a whole wedding dress. Kate makes lace so much faster than I do, and hers is absolutely perfect. We don't have a wedding planned or anything but we'd really like them to be homemade. I might have to ask Kate for help, I'm thinking. Anise found a spell to have the shuttle make the lace itself, but that feels like cheating. She doesn't have any patience at all for making lace, though. Somebody else is going to have to make her dress anyway. What do you think? Should I ask Kate for some sort of help? Or should I just keep working?"

Ruby smiled as Ginger thanked her and she listened to her talk more about it she smiled " asking for help is not a bad thing and I know she will be over the moon you asked her to help." she said " and I'm sure Kate would love to help she might have some tips on how to do it faster , some times those who do it for years know short cuts or tricks to make it go faster, I would help too but Lace making is not my thing" she said with a chuckle " but I will help where I can just like Angus, that's what we're here for " she said and smiled as she stood up " well I should get upstairs and let Anise sleep " Ruby headed up to the living room.

Aria finished making her drink and moved to sit and do her word search " being out side when the warmer weather comes in would be wonderful, both for the babies and the kids too" she said looking at Marcus and Angus.

"It would be, yes," Angus said. "And Robert is always preaching about getting outside and getting more Vitamin D. He preaches it like it's the only way to get Vitamin D."

"Well, he has a valid point," Marcus said, as the clock struck nine. "Besides Vitamin D, sunshine helps to regulate circadian rhythm, and that promotes better quality sleep. It increases serotonin and melatonin and that can also help to decrease depression and increase overall wellness. Sunshine also lowers blood pressure, helps to regulate metabolism, reduce inflammation, prevent certain kinds of cancer, and actually help to increase life expectancy."

"Okay, Dr. Belby, you've made your point," Angus laughed.

"Just saying that Robert's right."

"Robert always thinks he's right," Angus said, as Sam finally dragged downstairs.

"You're home," Sam seemed surprised. "Is Anise back? Is she alright. Is..."

"Calm. She's alright," Angus said. "She's in her room sleeping. She's got a concussion and a couple broken ribs but she's fine. Don't you go waking her up. You can see her when she wakes up."

"I'm just gonna go see her for myself," Sam said, heading straight downstairs."

"I'm sort of surprised Victor hasn't slipped off the job this morning to come back to see her," Marcus said.

"I think he'll show up back here for lunch at noon," Angus said. "Do you realize it feels like we've been sitting here all morning and its only 9 am? I really should try to reach Madame Maxime now. I'm sure she's probably at work by now."

"You might try contacting Evan. If the tutor is there by now, you can try to see how much the tutor can do for you directly," Marcus said.

"Good idea," Angus said.

"And, you should try to get some sleep now that you know Anise is home and safe," Marcus told him.

"Yeah, probably," Angus said. "You should too, you know. You haven't slept either. I can nap a little if I leave the cooking and such to you today, Ru. Are you good with it?"

"I can nap too if you have things under control, Aria," Marcus said. "I presume you can wake me if the house is set on fire or something?"

Anise and Ruby both watched as Sam walked down to the living room and asked about Anise she heard Angus tell him not to wake her and saw him head down to see her for himself. Ruby heard Marcus mention to Angus about going for a sleep " please, nothing is going to harm her here we're all watching out for her, besides the babies will wake soon and you know how noisy they can be" she said to Angus.

Aria nodded as she looked up from her book and looked at him as she then crossed off another word from her list. she could not help chuckle as Angus called Marcus , Dr Marcus " he is right though best way to absorb Vitamin D" she said as she then found another word.

"Alright, I think he and I are going to try to nap while things are quiet," Marcus said. "Wake us if you need to." Angus and Marcus headed upstairs to their rooms. Marcus stretched out on the bed and was asleep almost instantly. Angus opened the floo to Evan, and he talked with Evan and the tutor for awhile. The tutor said he would talk to Madame Maxime and get back with him but he gave the girls the rest of the week off and said he'd send their assignments so the girls could keep up with them. He told Angus how proud he was of how quick the girls learned and how far they had come. And he was very complimentary of Ruby and Angus both because, he said, not every student had parents that were so devoted to their kids. When he was done talking to Evan and the tutor, Angus laid down on the bed with a blanket and slipped into a deep, drained sleep.

Robert stopped over at about 9:30, as Sam was coming upstairs from checking on Anise. Robert knocked and went in and when he saw Sam, he smiled.

"Sam," Robert said. "Good to see you. How are the ribs?"

"All better, I think," Sam said. Robert laid his hand gently on Sam's ribs.

"Almost," Robert said. "If you don't do something stupid, you should be good to go back to work next week, on Monday."

"Thanks," Sam said. "And Anise is gonna be okay?"

"Yep. She needs some rest and quiet, but yes. She'll be just fine," Robert said.

"Okay. Good enough," Sam agreed. "So are you checking on her?"

"No, bringing some potions for your dad. He buggared his shoulder yesterday when he fell out of Minos's tree."

"That's because he was a klutz."

"Well, basically, yes," Robert laughed. "Ruby, I've got Angus's potions here. I brought him two different potions for the next couple days. One is daytime potion. One full dose at breakfast and lunch. The other is a night time potion only. Just one full dose at bedtime. I'll probably have to reformulate it to adjust the strength in a couple days, but, for now, this should do it. It has the pain potion, the anti-inflammatory and some other things all blended together, so he shouldnt' take other things with it. It's fine to mix it in some tea or something, just so long as he gets a full dose when he does take either one. Any questions?"

Ruby smiled seeing Robert and Sam talking she walked over as Robert said he had potions for Angus " he's finally sleeping right now" she said and took the two bottles from Robert " okay I'll mark the day and potion, for my own relief" she said as she marked the day potion with a sun and the night with a crescent moon. She heard Robert continue and nodded at his words then shook her head " nope , I'll let Angus know when he's awake , I'm thinking he'll sleep for a while seeing he was awake all night" she said " along with Marcus" she added " You going to check on Anise while your here" she asked.

Aria walked over to Sam and handed him some food and a soda " sorry Angus is off kitchen duty and no he doesn't know yet, so we're filling in" she said chuckling handing Ruby some soda too. " we made almond biscuits if you need a snack too."