A Birth day

"My dad has always said that the flea markets and such are good places to get some good bargains if one takes the time to really look for the hidden gems," Marcus said.

"And he's right," Simone said. "The Stockbridge market is one of the biggest in Scotland. If you're looking for Scottish country lodge pieces, that's where I'd certainly start. It's open every Sunday."

"Thank you. We might have to check that one out," Marcus said.

"Oh, no, thank you," Anise said when Ruby offered her more soup. "Between the sandwich and the soup, I'm stuffed."

"Remember what Mom would say?" Ginger asked. That made Anise smiled.

"Yeah. She would say, 'I'm as full as a toad.' Whatever that means," Anise said. "Apparently toads overeat?"

"Dunno," Ginger said.

"Should I presume no one wants ice cream, then?" Simone asked.

"Ice cream?" the boys looked at her. "Anise is full. Not us. We'll eat hers. What kind?"

"Almond Amaretto with a caramel ripple," Simone said.

"Never had it, but I can already tell I want two scoops please," Sam said.

"Me too," Victor said.

"Alright. Ice cream all around then, with some for the Fae? Anise, just one scoop perhaps?"

"Oh, okay," Anise agreed. Simone got up to start scooping a lot of ice cream.

Aria listened to Simone and smiled nodding " sounds like fun" she said agreeing with the rip to the flea market " Maybe we'll find a lovely antique bed while we look" she said smiling " I hear the Scottish make them to last" she heard the mention of ice cream and turned to look Simone " oh sounds perfect" she said " I'll have some" she said smiling./

Ruby nodded when Anise said she was full and picked up her bowl taking it to be washed before she chuckled at her reaction to ice cream." it's nice and light" she said smiling to hr " I've had it before and boy is it good" she said as she passed Anise a bowl with a spoon before taking some for Angus and herself while Aria gave the baby's some and they tucked happily into it once they got a taste.

"Has anyone heard anything about when Nicky and Shannon will be returning to their duties?" Angus asked as they were eating ice cream.

"Actually, Michael mentioned that to me the other day," Edward said. "Mickey's done a fine job, and he and Trish are looking forward to tackling both the Paris headquarters and the kitchen in Colorado. Apparently they are going to be living in Colorado and visiting Paris to set up and manage the headquarters kitchen. Shannon and Nicky are going to be returning on Monday, and Mickey and Trish are going to be going to Colorado then on either Monday or Tuesday. Robert apparently took them to see the Paris building and the Colorado ranch, and I guess Mickey and Trish are over the moon. To them it feels like a fresh start, and Robert appears to be giving them pretty much a free hand to develop their own menus and such, so long as you approve."

"I'm sure it'll be fine," Angus said.

"Well, I think Robert knew that, with Priscilla, you had a lot on your plate, so he just went ahead to set them up as much as he could, and he was specific to tell them that you had to approve of it all."

"And I'm sure I will."

"Oh, and you need to show him your sketch of the pergola. He's not opposed to it but he wants to see your design."

"Okay. I'll try to catch up with him, then. Great ice cream, by the way. I'll try to get Mickey's recipe."

"I found the start of a recipe the other day in the desk drawer," Marcus said, "but you never finished it."

"What was it?" Angus asked.

"How the heck should I know?" Marcus laughed. He got up, went to the desk, got the recipe, and brought it to Angus.

"Oh. That," Angus said. "It is a completely untried ice cream recipe for an Irish Cream ice cream. I was going to make both a vanilla Irish cream flavor and a dark chocolate Irish cream flavor, swirl them together, and add pieces of Irish oat cookies along with little pieces of homemade Irish cream fudge."

"Well, what's the matter with you?" Edward frowned.

"What do you mean?"

"Why the heck haven't you made it already?"

Ruby listened as she ate her ice cream to Marcus and Angus talk about Mickey and Tris " that will be so good for them both" she said as she listened more to them talking. When the mention of the ice cream was brought up and of what Angus was going to do she chuckled " sounds like heaven in an ice cream bucket" she said " the kick that the rich cream would give it would be divine and tied with the dark chocolate it would be perfect."

Aria helped Dimond finished the last of her ice cream and then wiped her mouth clean before turning and doing the same with Caprice she chuckled and nodded in agreement to Ruby's words " would be more of an adult ice cram " she said smiling " something to have on a warm summers evening under the stars" she added and chuckled as she looked from Angus to Marcus and back.

"I'll play with it a little maybe this afternoon and see what I can come up with," Angus said.

"I have to get back to work. Thanks for lunch, and thanks for some great soup. Edward," Victor said.

"You're very welcome," Edward said. Simone got up and started to clear the table, and Ginger got up and pitched in to help her. Ginger was stacking some of the dirty dishes when she saw Minos and a couple other Fay fly in. She watched them, and they were each carrying something. She went over to them and saw they had large empty glass bowls.

"Could I help you with something?" Ginger asked. They held out their empty bowls to her. Marcus saw what they were doing.

"Ah. Ginger. Those were the bowls that Simone served the ice cream to them in. I believe that is a request to refill those bowls with more ice cream," Marcus smiled.

"Oh! I'm sorry!" Ginger apologized. "I need to practice my communication skills."

"We'd be glad to get you more ice cream," Simone smiled. "I'm glad you liked it. Ginger, bring me the bowls and I'll take care of that right now." She refilled the bowls, and the Fae seemed to be utterly delighted.

Angus sat back down with his sketch and refined his sketch of the pergola. Then when he had done all he could with that, he and Minos sat down with an atlas to try to refine where the Fae kingdom had been and where Minos thought the most likely places would be to try to find the Fae treasure.

"I think we have an idea of where," Angus said. "Looks like its in the Cornwall area, within spitting distance of Tintagel."

"Well, now, that makes perfect sense, actually," Marcus said. "That area is rampant with legends about all sorts of magic, so much so that even the muggles know some of it. How well do you have it narrowed down?"

"Not enough to go on a treasure hunt yet, but we're working on it," Angus replied.

Ruby listened and saw Minos fly in and over to Ginger she smiled knowing he was after more ice cream but was glad Simone had understood Minos. she looked at Angus as he finished drawing something and spoke to Marcus about a treasure hunt, hearing the name Tintagel " that's supposedly the place Camelot once stood" she said looking at Marcus and Angus.

Aria helped fill the bowls with Ice cream for the Fae and smiled " glad they like this its absolutely delicious " she said handing Simone the last bowl with ice cream in it. " there's enough for us to have every one hand one bowl again and then its gone"

"Yes. That's right," Edward said. "Simone and I went there on our honeymoon. It's a lovely area, but for something as small as a Fae kingdom or, even smaller yet, a Fae treasure, we could be searching for hundreds of years if we don't have more detail than that."

"Yes, I know," Angus said. "He's telling me something about sea roses, but I've never heard of such a thing."

"He's right," Edward said. "Rosa Rugosa. Beach roses. They're wildflowers that come in bright fushia colors and they bloom in spring and summer. The colder it is, the brighter their color. And, the rosehips from the rosa rugosa look like cherry tomatoes and are completely delicious and can be used not just for eating, like any other berry, but they can be used in medicines and potions too. Make notes of all those landmarks he's telling you about. We might end up with enough to go and get his treasure."

"Will do."

Anise went outside to take an indepth look at the Fae community, and the women in the Fae community hurried to her to try to minister to her bruises and her injuries. They were able to apply some sort of light pink colored ointment to her face, and it seemed to be taking out some of the horrid swelling and bruising. A couple of others seemed to draw off a little of her headache. Anise thanked them. She sat on the deck for quite awhile until the bright sunlight bothered her. Then she went inside and back down to her room.

When Angus had done all he could with the map for the moment, he began to work again on his ice cream recipe. He made the Irish cream fudge and the oat cookies first, and then he made batches of the vanilla ice cream that had the Irish cream. Then, he made a batch of a dark chocolate Irish cream ice cream that was so rich with dark chocolate that it was almost black. Lastly, he worked very carefully and methodically to put it all together. It had taken him almost all afternoon, but he finally had it together enough to put in in the freezer.

"Hey," Marcus told him. "You need to get some of the potion Robert left for you for your shoulder. I don't think he intended for you to be stirring batches of cookies and fudge and ice cream all afternoon."

"No, but now its time to fix something for supper," Angus sighed.

"Enough. Take a break. Ruby and Aria are very capable. We can nominate them to either cook or order out," Marcus told him.

Ruby saw Anise head out side to watch the fae she followed her out and lent on the door frame and smiled watching them fuss around her as she watched them. she smiled to the fae women and thanked them for their help. " I greatly appreciate it " she said and saw one give her a smiled and bow. Turning she headed back in to the duplex . She moved to sit with Angus when Marcus mentioned the potions she stood back up and went to fetch it walking over she pored one dose and handed it to him " Robert said one dose at night." she smiled handing over the spoon for him to take it.

Aria looked up at Marcus and chuckled at him " hey we can go and cook supper too" she said smiling to him " no trouble for us" she added as she put away the plates from the washer and then moved on to the cutlery.

"Thanks," Angus said, taking the potion from her.

"We'll leave you both to it, then," Marcus said to Ruby and Aria. "It looks like he made enough ice cream to feed an entire army."

"No, just this house. This house eats far more ice cream than you realize," Angus said. "I made a standard, commercial three gallon size tub. And if its no good, then we'll just pitch it, and I'll start over."

Marcus got up, went to the kitchen, got out a spoon, opened the freezer, opened the container and took a spoonful out and tasted it.

"Oh my god," he grinned. "You're not throwing a drop of this out. I won't be a bit bothered if nobody else likes it. More for me."

"It's okay, then?"

"I taste that really good vanilla bean ice cream, and the incredible dark chocolate, the cookies, the fudge, and just the right amount of Irish cream running through every bite of it. And if you did what you normally do and just threw it together without writing it down, I'm going to hurt you," Marcus told him.

"No, this time I wrote it down," Angus said, "because its tricky to make. It has alcohol in it, so it has to be blended carefully because its darned near impossible to freeze something with alcohol in it."

"But you did it," Marcus said. He got a bigger spoon from the drawer and took out a bigger spoonful for himself.

"You know, it will taste better if you actually let it finish freezing," Angus said.

"Don't bother me. I'm busy," Marcus teased, eating the bigger spoonful.

Ruby smiled at him as she watched him take the potion then she took the spoon back to the kitchen " oh there's a second one for the day time , three times a day he said" she told Angus then watched as Marcus found the ice cream Angus had made and took some " oh it is " she said and smiled " I kinda snick a taste" she admitted and Aria looked at Angus and held up her hand too.

"yeah I couldn't help it" she said softly with a chuckle as she to admitted she tried the ice cream. " it just smelled so good" she said and looked to Marcus " best safe some for tomorrow once its all nice and frozen " she said giving him a cheeky look.