A Birth day

Angus finished his list of ideas for using some of the peach crop, and then he headed to the kitchen to check on his supplies in the fridge, the freezer and the pantry, making a list as he went of things he was going to need. As he was making his list, someone hailed him through the floo.

"I'm here," Angus went over to the floo. "What's up?"

"Oh, good," Kate's voice said. "Robert and I have been talking with Nicky and Zoe. We have been so blessed the last two or three years with so many abundant crops that we have far, far more than we will ever use. And, now that we have the new summer kitchen building, we're going to have, literally, almost no loss at all of crops this year due to spoilage, thanks to your very wise culinary management. So--Robert and Brian and Khaat and I have been talking. The large shop that is next to Sparks in Diagon Alley has gone out of business, and its going to be empty in the next couple weeks. The building owner would love to be out from under it, and they've asked us if we'd like to buy it.

"Khaat isn't particularly interested in expanding Sparks, not as such. It's doing very well as it is. However, we're wondering what your thoughts might be on putting in sort of an indoor farmer's market there. We could sell our seasonal overflow there, maybe hire a small staff to do jams and jellies and other things like that, maybe build a commercial kitchen upstairs to do cakes and cookies and cheeses, butters, and things. Maybe take consignments from other farms in the area of herbs, maybe even organic soaps and lotions and things. I know there are basket makers and weavers and all kinds of homegrown crafts that we could help support other little artists some of their wares too. We're toying with calling it Sparks Farm Market. What do you think?"

"I think it's a great idea," Angus said. "Let me talk it over with Ruby and Marcus and Aria, and I'll get back to you. Off the top of my head, I think it would help us to solve some of the financial issues that we always face with rising energy costs and such."

"That was exactly Robert's mindset too. Okay. You talk about it with the folks there and let me know," Kate said,

"Will do," Angus said, and the floo went dark. He looked at Ruby. "A farmer's market in Diagon Alley. What do you think?"

Ruby heard Angus and watched as he made a list then heard Kate threw the floo. She sat and listened to the idea and smiled . once she was done and Angus asked her what she thought she nodded " would be a great idea, the old farmer we helped could sell his produce threw it , we could sell jams as Kate suggested and fresh baked goods too" she added " I'd love to help in the shop too" she added.

Aria stood up as she saw Marcus walk back in " it dose make fanatical sense, rather than let the excess crops go to waste sell them make extra money then maybe have the girls wok there if they want , once they finish school and earn their own wage other than what they do here." Aria suggested leaning against the wall as she waited for Marcus to finish his security checks.

"Well, let's be honest," Angus said, "There isn't much here, as far as regular work goes, that will interest Anise. Ginger would like working with the animals, but Anise isn't into that. And, the farm market is going to need guys that don't mind heavy work, lifting and hauling boxes of produce in, stocking the shelves, and a lot of things. Frankly, I could see all four of our kids doing well with that. Sam and Victor don't mind the heavy work, and from what I hear, they're good workers, but they would definitely prefer not to have to shovel manure or muck stalls. And, if I recall correctly, that's a three story building. Maybe we can talk Khaat into putting a couple flats up on the third floor,. Maybe our kids would do better living in Diagon Alley up above the farm market and working down in the market. Who knows? I mean, that's obviously not my choice, but it's just a thought.

"Do you know if they're also counting in the excess that's coming from Robert's farm too?" Marcus asked.

"I'm sure they are," Angus said. "And then, there's also all the huge crop success from Colorado. We have some of the highest yields this year from all sorts of new fields and crops there that we didn't have before. If they haven't taken all that into consideration, then there's going to be even more overflow. And, that will yield us wheat, corn, beans, beats, apples, and Colorado is well known for having some of the best beef produced in the states."

"That would surely help the market, wouldn't it? Are the import laws the same for our realm as it is for muggles?" Marcus asked.

"Don't know. Robert might know," Angus said, "but I see no reason why we can't share the wealth. And, if there are people in need, we need to give some of our overflow to them to feed them. Or at least that's my thought."

"I agree, but," Marcus said, coming back in from doing his check, "I've had some experience in hearing the leaders of charities like that. A lot of fresh produce goes unused because a lot of people in need simply don't know how to cook it, especially when so many people think all they need to do is learn how to conjure their food."

"Then we need to consider adding a space to do some cooking classes in the market," Angus said. "You're right about that, though. I saw some young people not long ago in a market who had no idea what a spaghetti squash was or how to prepare it. When I was in culinary school, it was meat and fish that the new students were most frightened of, and I've always thought meat was one of the easiest things to prepare. So, yeah, maybe some cooking classes."

Aria an Ruby both listened a nodded " I agree , I was going to suggest Sam and Victor but wasn't sure it they would take it" Ruby said " but sounds a good plan." she said smiling as she listened further to what he had to say then as Marcus spoke she nodded " oh we could do a soup kitchen too if there was anything left after the cooking classes."

Aria stood and looked to Angus " I'd take some of those" she added and chuckled. " but I do agree that its sad that nobody knows how to correctly prepare spaghetti squash." she added shaking her head but smiled to Marcus " ether way the shop sounds a great idea." she said

"Well, you know, one of the easiest ways to cook a spaghetti squash is to pierce it a couple times to let the steam out and chuck the whole thing in the oven and roast it on a medium heat for 45 minutes or so, depending on how big it is. Then, when it's done, split it in half, scrape out the junk, and then use a fork to fluff it up and add sauce on it. It's way easier than trying to cut that big thing in half when its raw. I actually like it with a savory pumpkin sauce."

"I don't think I've ever had a savory pumpkin sauce," Marcus said. "And I've certainly never had it on a squash. You are going to make that sometime and invite me, right?"

"You're going to be adventurous?"

"Look, you haven't tried to poison me yet or serve me something really weird. I'm not going to eat eel brains or some other stupid thing. No fish bait."

"Probably because I don't want to eat fish bait either," Angus laughed.

"Hey," Robert's voice came through the floo suddenly. "Sorry to interrupt your evening, but you need to be aware of a situation at Jeffrey's."

"What happened?" Marcus asked, immediately thinking of Evelyn.

"Well, I'm not entirely sure yet how it happened, but Evelyn and Suzanne have met, and they do not get along at all. That has been a bad blood thing right from the outset, but, somehow she saw a legal letter that was sent to Switzerland to notify Suzanne of Pearl's death, though I don't know why they'd send her a damned thing. Anyway, Evelyn saw it, and used it to aggravate Suzanne, and Suzanne saw fit to try to kill Evelyn and then break out and dash off."

"What!" Marcus was upset.

"Jeffrey has Evelyn now in his medical unit. He tells me Evelyn suffered some stab wounds but she is going to live. However, we don't know where the hell Suzanne is, except that we know she's not on his grounds anymore," Robert said.

"Marcus and I will go and try to lend a hand. If she comes out of hiding for anyone, she'll come out to come after me...."

"Angus..." Marcus frowned deeply.

"Suzanne now meets the definition of a mass murderer. We cannot let her run loose. I'm still the one she's obsessed with. I don't mind being bait if you try to keep my ass covered," Angus said. "You have a better plan?"]

"Let the Swiss find her?" Marcus asked.

"The Swiss muggles, you mean? No. We can't let muggles die at the hands of a mad witch," Angus said. "One of us will do better than platoons of muggles, and who do you know in the wizarding world that is better trained to handle wild situations than our first stringers? I don't think we need the entire first string--yet. But we might by the time we get a lead on where she is."

"I've already had Owens send a few of Irene's agents to try to get some intel for us," Robert said. "We have some time to consider what we want to do."

Aria listened as Angus told them how to prepare the squash and she chuckled " never had it prepared that way " she added but paused as Roberts voice came threw the floo. Hearing him she looked to Marcus before looking to Angus as Robert continued to explain they still had Evelyn in Switzerland but Sussanne was out and for all intense purposed gunning for Angus.

" she has no magic though , for all intense preposed shes a muggle too" Ruby said looking to Angus " so she can't get here, unless some one more powerful that Robert unbinds her." she said looking to Angus " and if that happens we are more than ready for her." Ruby told him with a smile.

Jack had got a note from Robert explaining about Suzzanne's escape and he sighed " crazy lady on the run" he started to sing Band On The Run making him chuckle as he walked over to the barn and began putting up the animals for the night.

Angus sighed and looked at Marcus.

"You know we're going to end up going, right?" Angus asked Marcus.

"I was hoping we wouldn't," Marcus said.

"Well, I know I'm stating the obvious," Angus said, "but it doesn't take someone better than Robert to unbind her. Aurors have to know that spell at least on a rudimentary level because if they didn't, everyone who was arrested would slip right out and away. And, this isn't just about me. This is about a mass murderer who attempted to kill the mother of your children. We don't know what she's going to want to do, not yet, so we can't predict which direction she's headed. But--we're going, and we both know it."

"Well, let's wait til we have a lead," Marcus said. "Robert will have Irene's team on it, and as soon as we get a lead, we'll go. I'd rather not be traipsing around the mountains in the damned dark."

"Well, yes, there is that," Angus shrugged.

"I'll go lay out our gear, and maybe we can get a little shut eye before Irene gets a lead," Marcus sighed.

"Maybe," Angus said, uncertain.

Ruby looked at Angus worried now as Marcus told her it could be undone by an Auror. " I didn't know that" she said " that changes things a lot." she looked worried to Angus but pulled herself back into work mode taking a deep breath " if you have to go, Aria and I will make sure the babies are safe, if she comes here we'll go to main house" she said and nodded to Marcus when he mentioned laying out his mission wear.

It was now the back door knocked and Ruby looked to see Jack as he knocked again then opened it and walked in looking to Marcus with a serious face " you heard?" he asked as he looked at both men. " do not worry I'll be keeping an eye out and on the duplex " he told him " also told Minos hes got his guards on high alert too." he informed them.

"It does change things," Angus said. He was glad when Jack came in.

"We do know," Marcus said. "She's not just on the loose, She tried to kill my ex wife by stabbing her. Someone told her that Pearl is dead. I don't know what her issue is with that since the rest of the world thought Pearl was already dead. At some point, I'm sure Angus and I will go and try to either corral her or chase her back onto Jeffrey's grounds. Once she's on his turf again, he can lock it down and then his people can find her. but if he can't keep Evelyn safe, I'll have to move her."

"Mate, you're not her guardian. I don't know if you can," Angus said gently. Marcus sighed, feeling like his hands might be tied.

"Legally or not, if her life is in danger from Suzanne, I'll move her," Marcus said. "She's still the mother of four of my kids."

"I'm curious about what Suzanne would be all bent out of shape about in regards to Pearl," Angus said. "Why would that upset her if everyone else believed Pearl was already dead? It makes no sense. I don't want to wake Elwood any more tonight, but I'll ask him in the morning. We'll send you word when we head out so you know that we're going, Jack. I don't want to go and not have anyone know we're gone. I know you'll help look out of them if we go. All we know is that Suzanne found out about Pearl's death, and when she found out, she managed to escape. She is, unquestionably, one of the slipperiest women I've ever run into."

"I think we need to see if there's a money trail we've missed," Marcus said. "How did Pearl afford that castle? We hadn't found any bank accounts. So where's the money?"

"Good thought," Angus said.

Jack looked to Angus and nodded then looked to Marcus as Aria walked over to him. " we'll move her, even if your not a guardian i'm sure Jeffery will understand and have some secure facility some place she could go and get treatment for her injuries." she said hopefully letting know she would stand by him should he chose to try and get Evelyn moved and that she wasn't threatened by his decision to move her.

Ruby looked to Angus as he spoke again this time to Jack who smiled and nodded. " don't worry nobody will know, have to ask though what about Robert, obviously he will know, o are you keeping him out of it too?" he asked looking from Marcus to Angus and back.