A Birth day

Ruby saw teh others arrive and let Simone take the stroller as they walked slowly ober to the pond by the cottage she was glad they were taking the babies out for a while giving Anguss time to relax. Once at the pond Aria laid out a blanket and set down the basket . Helping sit thgirls down ea giggled as the firstly tried to c butterfly then grab grass from the edge of the blanket but Aria gave them toys to play with.

"you think Angus is having those nightmares again" Ruby asked looking at Aria who shrugged to her.

"Marcus hasn't mentioned it " she said looking to Simone and Tara " besides we're here to admire the great view and take in the summer air before it disappears again " she said taking out the food from the basket " oh Angus has done well with all this food." she said a she then saw Jessie and Chris playing , she saw them wave and she waved back " looks like we're not the only ones out for a picnic today"

Angus and Marcus fought through the first 30 minutes of a chess game, and then there was a knock on the door. Marcus got up and went to the door and found his parents there. He let them in, and, at Angus's suggestion, he showed them around the duplex, ending in the girls' room downstairs where Poppy was. Marcus didn't stay. He left them alone to visit with her. 

While Marcus was busy with his parents, Angus got out two large packages of beef short ribs, trimmed them free of any fat, and then loaded them into his largest dutch oven and put them in the oven on a low heat to braise in a red wine sauce with pearl onions, carrots, and baby potatoes. He decided he would make a four cheese polenta to serve the short ribs over for supper when the ribs were ready. He ordered a couple large baguettes to slice and serve with the short ribs, along with a couple of chocolate silk pies for dessert. Sometimes supper just needed to be easy.

Angus was cleaning up the kitchen when Marcus came back.

"Cooking again?" Marcus asked.

"I thought I'd get a jump on it. Braised short ribs in red wine sauce--enough for a very large army. Got baguettes and chocolate silk pie coming from Lizzie. The only thing I'll need to do is to make a batch of polenta. The rest of it is taken care of," Angus said.

"By the way, Mom and Dad love the house and they are completely taken with the Fae village. They plan on going back to see Minos and the rest of the Fae when they finish with Poppy. Minos and Dad were chattering with each other like they'd know each other for years. They're getting on splendidly already."

"Good."

"And, maybe then, if you'll be alright for a moment, I can take them over to see the house before they head home."

"Certainly. By all means. I think I can avoid setting the house on fire for a few minutes," Angus laughed.

With the babies now playing where they sat and Jessie off in the distance with Chris as they played with a Frisbee she listened to the quiet and the lap of the water on the sides of the pond. Aria cleared up the now empty containers and smiled as she saw Marcus walk with his parents to the cottage " Marcus is showing them the house" she said and Ruby glanced back nodding.

"yep[, its a beautiful cottage" she said as she helped Caprice hold a large rabbit while Amaris held a small fox hiding it in a toy house they had brought. while she talked with Tara and Simone. Pausing in her conversation she chuckled " go on" she said " I know you want to meet them , we'll be fine" she said as Aria stood up and smiled heading over to Marcus and his parents.

" good to see you again" she said smiling as she walked over to them. " Ruby said I could come and say hello " she said to Marcus " I hope you like the cottage Marcus's designer friend is a marvel"

"Hello, Aria," Jonathan said. "I'm sure we'll like it. Marcus has been telling the kids a bit about it, and it sounds like it is certainly going to be more his style than that London penthouse. A penthouse is fine, I suppose, if one has to create an image of being upper class, but that's never been anything that Marcus has wanted for himself. And it has to be better than the house he had with Evelyn."

"Come on, now," Marcus said. "We did what I could afford in those days."

"It was entirely done in what I call Early Bin Dive Decor," Jonathan teased.

"It wasn't that bad," Marcus frowned.

"It certainly was," Jonathan said. "He borrowed from the basements and attics of every friend and relative we had and furnished the rest from yard sales, rummage sales and second hand shops. I don't think there was one new thing in it. You've never seen such a hodgepodge of colors and fabrics in your entire life."

"It was clean, though, and serviceable," Marcus said.

"Whatever happened to all that junk?" Jonathan asked.

"Its in storage," Marcus said.

"You've been paying someone for the last ten or eleven years to keep it?" Claire asked. "Why? You've paid more in storage fees and interest than what that stuff was worth."

"Well, probably so," Marcus said, unlocking the door of the cottage.  He let them inside. "I can't be gone too terribly long. I'm on duty today, but you're welcome to go anywhere you want."

"Lovely kitchen," Claire said. "Nice and big and roomy. The kids will like this. They like hanging out in the kitchen."

Aria smiled to Jonathan and listened to them talk " oh , sometimes you can find nice expensive antiques doing that, and upscaling is so the rage these days" she said " we tried to give each child their own space" she said as they walked in. She heard them talk about the kitchen " this was Marcus idea, its the hearth of the home, that and mostly so I can cook or we can cook together" she said chuckling. Moving to a set of doors she slid them open to reveal the living room with the red plaid furniture and conservatory beyond that where she would sit and read and where an easel was set up.

Ruby chuckled as Aria had left to help show the cottage with Marcus " okay she's happy" she said as Caprice tried to stand up on her own. Once on her wobbly feet she toddled over to Simone and held out her hands making Ruby smile " oh her first steps" she said delighted by them

"That's what the kids told us. They were pretty happy about having rooms of their own at their dad's that they could each decorate as they wanted. Our space above Honeydukes is homey enough, but it isn't big enough that we can give them their own spaces. We're only a three bedroom flat, with the girls in one room and all three boys in the other. Still, we've been comfortable. They've not been able to spend more than a weekend or so with their dad because he hasn't had the space for them. That, and he is in a very select group of people who specialize in what they do, so much so that he is constantly in demand. Changing jobs to work for Robert was one of the best choices he's made because Robert gives him space and time to be active with his kids. They love him to pieces, despite the fact that he can't be there as much as he wants."

"I was sure they were going to be irked with me when I found out a couple years ago that there was yet another Belby."

"You know what?" Claire laughed. "They thought it was wonderful but not for the reason you think. They were far more glad than you know that you had another woman that you were 'active' with."

"What?" Marcus frowned.

"They're not stupid," Jonathan rolled his eyes. "Poppy didn't get here without you taking up with some woman that wasn't their mother. Frankly, it reassured them that if there was some other woman you were having sex with, then it was probably bloody likely that Evelyn wasn't ever going to be in the running again."

"Their minds went there?"

"Certainly did--all four of them," Claire said. "They were desperate for any sign or signal that Evelyn wasn't going to ever get her hands on them again. And now that you and Evelyn are divorced, they are far more relieved than you know."

"I tried to tell them she wasn't going to ever have custody of them again," Marcus frowned. 

"Well, when you were still married to her and wouldn't divorce, it was easy for them to think that it was still a possibility," Claire said. Marcus just shook his head. He led them through from the living room, showed them the rest of the downstairs rooms and then headed upstairs to show them the bedrooms.

Angus checked on Poppy, gave her a dose of pain potion because he believed she needed it, checked on her dressing and changed it because of the normal post-surgical seepage, and made sure she was comfortable. She had dozed back off to sleep when he left her and went back upstairs. When he got back to the living room, he saw his gran standing at the patio doors looking outside towards the orchard of fruit trees he had planted. Angus was glad that Ruby and the women had gone the other way and wasn't going to be able to see Caprice standing at the French doors that looked out over the orchard and the Fae village. When he neared her, she pointed outside at one of the trees.

"What about it?" Angus asked. She didn't move. Just stood pointing. Angus motioned for Minos. Minos flew inside. "My gran keeps pointing at the cherry tree, Minos. The one on the far right, in the second row. Is there something special about it?"

Minos took two of his guards and they flew over to the tree to inspect it, and then they began digging at the base of the tree. Angus sighed. Something else had evidently been buried there. What this time?

Aria listened as Claire spoke about what and how Marcus children spoke about Evelynn and how they were happy he was with her. " I can say this, over my dead body will she ever hurt these kids", physically or emotionally" Aria said to Claire as they moved from the ground floor to the upper ones she smiled as they showed his parents each room and told them how they would let the child decide how they wanted to decorate each room to make it their space and comfortable for them to be in.

Ruby saw Jessie pack up and head back to his cabin with a tired out Chris over his shoulder. She looked at Simone and the boys fishing " they are having fun" she said smiling as she looked to Simone and Tara " I'm glad you both came and that Rosaria's doing well in her recovery with Carlos at her side." she said as she felt the wind pick up a little lifting the corner of the blanket they sat on " hum , maybe we should head back " she said picking up Caprice and placing her into the stroller while Simone did the same for Amari.

Minos came back a few minutes later and he had a piece of jewelry with him. A silver charm of some sort. Angus looked at it. It was a flat silver disc, just a round charm of some sort, and then he looked at the rune on it. The moment he did, a chill ran through him, hard enough that it actually made him shiver for several seconds, and yet, he knew it wasn't cold in the house. He knew, without asking, what this rune meant. He took the charm from Minos.

"Thank you for finding it for me," Angus said quietly, tucking the charm in his jeans pocket. Minos looked at him, and rarely did the Fae king look this serious and this regal. But Angus would not mistake it. Minos meant business. He cautioned Angus with as much seriousness as he could muster against Angus even considering wearing it for a moment.

"I won't," Angus said. "I have no intention of wearing it. I'll get it to Robert when Robert gets home from work this evening. I just don't want anyone else handling it even by mistake. Minos, does this have as much dark energy to it that I think it does?" Minos nodded slowly and seriously. "Thank you." Minos perched himself on Angus's shoulder, determined to stay right with Angus until Marcus returned. Angus turned to looked where his gran had been, and he saw Minos make a gesture in the direction where he had seen his gran but Angus didn't see her anymore. Perhaps the Fae could see things he did not.

Ruby walked with Simone and Tara back to the duplex he frowned and paused looking at the large window " did you see that?" she asked as he thought she saw a figure looking out at them, " hum must have just been Angus" she said and continued to walk towards the home. Entering she smiled to Angus as she walked over to him but the closer she got the more she felt cold and shivered " sorry the AC must be on full blast" she said accioing a jumper for her.

Aria looked at Marcus and smiled to Jonathan and Clair " I'm sorry i have to get back to my job" she said kissing Marcus on his cheek she smiled to the pair and spoke again " its really good to see you again and please feel free to come here at any time" she said before she headed to the duplex walking in she felt like she'd walked into an ice box " okay Angus what did you find?" she asked looking at him.

"AC isn't on," Angus said. "We haven't needed it." He went to the kitchen to check on the big dutch oven full of short ribs. He opened the oven, took the lid off the large pot, stirred it, tasted the red wine sauce, added a pinch of salt, and closed it back in the oven. He heard Aria come in and asked him what he found. 

"What sort of a greeting is that?" Angus asked her, bristling, not liking her tone a bit. "You sound like I planned it. And since when did you become psychic? Minos found a dark arts token in the yard, the same sort he's been finding. No, I'm not going to show it to everyone because I don't want anyone handling it. I'll tell you the same thing I told Minos. I'll turn it over to Robert like I did everything..." He heard Poppy's little bell ring, and he turned and went downstairs, rather feeling glad that she had chosen that moment to want something so he could take a moment to cool his temper.

Marcus's parents left, and Marcus returned to the duplex. When he walked in, he rather felt like he was interrupting something. 

"Did I miss something?" Marcus asked Ruby and Aria.

Poppy only wanted some more of the almond tea. Angus smiled.

"No problem. I'll go make a pot and bring you some when its done," he told her. "Anything else?"

"No, I think that's all I need," she said. He saw a bag on the floor that he hadn't seen before.

"Gran packed some of my things since summer is coming fast, and she doesn't think its likely I'll get home to Hogsmeade before they leave on their trip," Poppy told him. "I sort of thought that's what she'd do. Ginger said she'd help me go through whatever Gran brought to keep what I want here. Then I can pack the rest back in the bag to take it to Dad's whenever I get there. I hope its alright."

"Of course it's alright," he told her. "I'm glad you made friends with them."

"I havent' made a lot of friends at Hogwarts, honestly," she sighed.

"Why not?" he frowned. He didn't understand it. She was a beautiful child, friendly, kind and smart. There wasn't anything he could see that was unlikeable.

"I'm too little," she sighed. "I'm the smallest kid in the whole school, and Dad managed to get me enrolled a couple days before my 11th birthday. As I hear it, they don't usually let kids in who are ten at the start of term. I'm eleven now, but I'm still treated like I'm underage. Frankly, I'm glad I'm not going back til fall."

"Don't let that get to you. Hogwarts has always had its share of uppity kids and bullies. In my day it was the Malfoys."

"Oh, we have some of them too. Nasty. Just plain nasty."

"So that hasn't changed, then."

"'Fraid not. I guess snobbery is in their DNA."

"Pretty much," Angus agreed.

"I'd rather be going to Beauxbatons with your girls, honestly."

"Well, there are probably snobs at Beauxbatons too--French snobs."

"Well, since I don't speak French, I'm probably stuck at Hogwarts," she said.

"You don't have to worry about that until September, so for now, enjoy your summer. I'll go brew your tea."

"Thank you."

"My pleasure," he said.