A Birth day

"If Jack didn't get those boys back in time, that'll just make Kate set him on fire for real," Marcus said casually. "She does get a trifle protective about the youngest workers."

"Well, and unless Jack hired someone I don't know about, Sam and Victor are the youngest," Angus said, getting up. He looked out the kitchen window and saw Sam and Victor running back from the woods towards the barn, and both boys looked like drowned rats.

"You know, I bet we should shave Jack first before Kate lights him up," Angus said.

"Hm.  Boys still out in it, are they?" Marcus asked.

"Uh huh," Angus said. 

"Why would we shave Jack. He's already hairless."

"Not everywhere," Angus grinned mischievously. 

"God," Marcus shook his head. "I did not need that visual, Angus. I gotta work on unseeing that." Angus laughed. "You do these things on purpose, don't you, just to rattle my cage."

"Sometimes," Angus admitted.

"I'm gonna have to go over to the farm now. You know that."

"Why?"

"To see if Robert has any spells on how to scrub my brain," Marcus said.

"Well, there's another first for today."

"What would that be?"

"I finally out grossed Marcus," Angus teased him. Marcus picked up a throw pillow and threw it at Angus.

Ruby and Aria chuckled but Ruby saw a rather wet Jack walking back to the barn not far behind the boys " well he didn't do better " she said and motioned for them to look at Jack " hes going to smell like wet dog" she said and chuckled as a bolt struck a tree not far from him making him run to the barn leaving a trail of drops behind him.

Aria laughed and shook her head " oh boy didn't know he could run that fast" she said while giving Amari her final spoon of rice and sauce. Picking up her plate and Amari's bowl she took them to the kitchen and placed them in the washer. " the boys didn't look to bad just a bit wet." she said as she saw the rain start to fall against the windows a little harder.

"I'm sure the boys will survive," Angus said. "Besides, by the smell of their room. they could use a rinse. I need to put a cleaning spell on that room and find out what died in there recently."

"You probably don't want to know," Marcus said.

"Well, you're probably right, but they aren't doing it, and I don't think Ruby should do it. So I'll do it--after I talk to them tonight."

"Sounds like you're going to give them a warning," Marcus said.

"Just one," Angus said. "And that's all they get. I don't want them thinking I'm going to repeat myself."

"Did you ever repeat yourself?" 

"Um...Did I? I don't know. I doubt it. I tend not to. I tend to explain the rules, then warn them once and then go direct to consequence."

"Did you learn that from Edward?"

"No. I'm just not patient enough to tell them 45 times what I need them to do," Angus laughed. "Alright. Enough leisure time. I need to make the steak sauce for tonight."

"You're making your own steak sauce?"

"Yeah, and a rub for it. And as soon as the steak comes, I'll get the rub on it so it can get down into the meat before I grill it," Angus said. "I think I'll do baked potatoes on the grill."

"You mean jacket potatoes?"

"Yeah. Sorry. That's what I mean. I'll wrap them in foil and cook them on the grill. I should do a vegetable too, I suppose. Maybe I'll do some stuffed portabellos. I could stuff them with deviled crab. What do you think?"

Ruby chuckled at Marcus and Angus " oh I do not want to set foot n that room, like you said I don't know what I will find nor do I want to" she said chuckling still " I'm sure Jack will send them home once they dry off a bit or he'll have them work in the barn first" She wiped Caprices face clean and picked her up moving to place her into the playpen. once in she sat down and opened her book as she heard another rumble from out side " sounds a really bad one, did the paper say how long this would last?" she asked then heard Angus mention the steak sauce and get baked potatoes mixed up with jacket potatoes.

Aria looked at Marcus " that normal?" she asked him as Fin ran in threw the open back door that Aria had left open in case the boys returned early with the storm intensifying outside.

"Is what normal?" Marcus asked her. "Teen boys having a bedroom full of nuclear waste? Yes. Jacket potatoes vs. Baked potatoes?"

"Same thing," Angus said. "We call them jacket potatoes, and one of my American culinary instructors called them baked potatoes. Same thing. Or storms with a lot of thunder and lightening? In this part of the country, sometimes. We don't get bad ones very often, but we do get them from time to time." He looked at the sky. "No sign of letting up yet but we have several hours yet before the girls will finish their school work for the day. I'm not worried yet."

"You get shut outside, Boy?" Marcus asked. He picked up a towel and went over and towel dried Finn and wiped off his muddy feet, who did seem to appreciate it. Finn went over and laid in front of the fireplace. 

"Not gonna help you much, Boy. The fire isn't burning," Angus told him.

Aria chuckled and nodded " um all of the above?" she said and chuckled seeing Marcus dry Finn "that's good to know and I'll get the fire going" she added walking over and placed several logs in the fireplace them lit it making sure it was taken before she stepped back and placed the screen in front of it " there you go, now you'll dry off and warm up, i think we all will" she said placing the poker back where she had taken it from.

Ruby picked up Amari and placed her too in the play pen so she could play with Caprice with her toys. " can I ask what was it you got for the girls?" she asked " I noticed the two boxes with the delivery." she asked smiling knowing from Angus it would be something personal to both girls from him.

"Oh. Sure. Sorry," Angus said. "I bought Anise a pendant. It's a gold wand set with a few tiny diamonds. I didn't want it to be so expensive that she would be afraid to wear it. And when I was shopping a few weeks back, I saw they had a pendant that was actually a piece of lace that had been turned to gold. So, because I saw they could do that, I came home, got a little tiny piece of lace from Ginger's lace making, took it to them and had then change it to gold. It's taken them some time to do it, and, to be honest, I rather forgot they were working on it until I wanted something for Anise. So, this seems to be as good a time as any to pick Ginger's pendant up too."

"Oh, yeah. I forgot about that entirely," Marcus said. "Did it turn out well?"

"I haven't opened them to see. The boxes are already gift wrapped so I didn't want to buggar up the wrapping paper," Angus said.

"You have a valid point," Marcus said. "I wouldn't want to undo that either."

"The way I see it, there's only going to be just a couple more gift giving occasions that we can give them pieces that will mean something to them because then that task will largely be up to Sam and Victor to do for them," Angus said.

"I certainly hope not," Marcus frowned. "I think a child's parent should always feel free to give them a thoughtful gift, whether your child is an adult or not, married or no," Marcus said. "I still get some great gifts from my parents. this past Christmas is a good example. They got me a pair of great Edwardian diamond cufflinks. They're actually pretty subtle, so they're a good pair pair to wear as an alternative to some of the more formal pairs I have."

"I suppose you have a point," Angus said, as he heard a loud bang on the front porch. He was going to get up, but Marcus motioned to him to stay where he was. Marcus went to the porch and looked out. Then he opened the door and brought in a large crate. 

"Your grocery order," Marcus said. "Delivery boy was apparently either clumsy or just irked at coming out in the storm."

"Oh. Thanks. I'll get to work on the steaks," Angus said, getting up and coming to the kitchen. "I need to get the steak rub on them and get them into the fridge to marinate."

Ruby heard Angus talk of the sets he had got Anise and Ginger and smiled , she heard Marcus too and nodded " I'm in agreement with Marcus , they will always want their parents be they baby or adult" she said then paused hearing the thump from the porch. She stood with Angus but when Marcus said it was the delivery Aria stood and walked to the porch with him.

"I'll help you with it " Aria said and levitated the box moving it to the kitchen and opening it for Angus " those look good" she said seeing how the steaks looked inside the box. Ruby chuckled and walked over to it and looked in.

"Angus only shoes the best" she said smiling as she retched in and took one placing it on the side ready for him to start the rub..

Angus made up the rub, and then he trimmed the steaks well and massaged the rub into the steaks before putting the meat in the fridge to marinate. Then he finished making an original recipe steak sauce that would be zippy and tangy and would let the flavor of the charcoal grilled meat shine through. He got a number of potatoes, scrubbed them, docked them, and wrapped them in foil to prepare them for the grill. He prepared a loaf of French bread to become a loaf of hot savory garlic bread. He cut the loaf into thick slices, and made a spread of butter, finely chopped parsley, soft nutty roasted garlic, and salt. Then he spread each slice with his compound garlic butter and wrapped the loaf in foil to put it on the grill to cook.  

That left the mushrooms. He washed the portabellos, broke off the stems and scooped out the gills. He made a beautiful deviled crab filling and set the crab filling back in the fridge to wait until he had grilled the stem sides of the mushrooms first. Then he would remove the mushroom caps, fill them and put them back on the grill to finish cooking. 

That would leave the salad, and he wanted to make some fresh lemonade. He had an assortment of mixed greens, so he started to work prepping them for a somewhat untraditional Caesar salad.

Ari stood and watched as Angus worked his magic in the kitchen , she watched him sort the mushrooms and fill them with the crab filling then put them into the fridge before moving on. " I'm getting ideas for when we move to the cottage" she said to Angus " it all looks good" she added smiling as she looked at Marcus .

Ruby saw Caprice with Amari giggling together and chuckled too. " I know daddy's, doing supper" she said and looked over to him " need me to do anything?" she asked knowing many hands make light work, especially when prepping things for a BBQ.