"Greetings Ambrose," Dave told his son. "So what's the reason for this surprise visit? You live in California, which means you must have a reason for traveling such a distance, just to visit your old parents. It's not like you can just drop by for a visit."
"I have some news but I would like to tell you and mom together," Ambrose said. "Where is mom?"
"She's out shopping with your Aunt Shonda of course," Dave told Ambrose with a smile.
"I'm surprised she's not at the bakery," Ambrose said.
"Your mother does do other things, though I admit, she usually is at the bakery this time of day," Dave said. "Shonda and her do try to spend at least some time together. Since one of your cousins is watching the antique store and your mother has a good staff in place at the bakery the ladies figured this was a good time to go shopping."
"So what time will they be home?" Ambrose asked trying to sound casual.
"In a hurry to get back to San Diego?" Dave asked with a raised eyebrow.
"I do have a business to run dad," Ambrose said trying to deflect the real reason he had come for a visit at least until his mother and aunt showed up.
"If you are in that much of a hurry, why visit in the first place?" Dave asked Ambrose curiously. "I mean you would've had a hop a shuttle to get here so why waste the money if you're so anxious?"
Ambrose was saved in having to answer when the front door opened and Jazz and Shonda came in laughing about something.
"Welcome home," Dave told his wife kissing her cheek.
"Thank you," Jazz said. "Ambrose what are you doing here?"
"He said he had something to tell both of us but seems rather impatient," Dave said. "He claims he has a business to run so he can't stay long."
Dave's tone alerted Jazz that her husband didn't believe that was the reason their son was so impatient. There had to be a reason Ambrose had come to visit considering that he lived in California and they lived in Alaska right now, where it stayed dark for many more months then most of the rest of the world. Jazz had gotten used to the constant darkness and had just adjusted to it. It didn't mean it hadn't been hard at first to get up at the same time as she usually did to open the bakery, but without the dawn that usually lightened the sky in winter.
"I'll just be on my way if it's something between the three of you," Shonda who had been silent said.
"You might as well stay Aunt Shonda, as they'll tell you anyway," Ambrose told his aunt.
"Well, what is it?" Jazz asked her son patiently, even as she put her packages beside the chair she sat in.
Ambrose caved when his mother gave him her patient look. Basically it meant that I can wait forever until you tell me what the problem is. Then she would remain silent until whoever it was spoke out and that usually didn't take long, as the tension would keep building the longer that Jazz held her silence until whoever it was just burst out with whatever they had to say.
"I just want to tell you together that I met my mate and I didn't want to stay around waiting for you to get home," Ambrose added looking at his mother. "I wanted tell you together though."
"This is wonderful news," Dave said happy for his son. "That's quite a few of our children have found their mates in less than 100 years means they don't have to go through the loneliness I was certainly well familiar with until I met Jazz."
"Yes, it certainly is wonderful news, Ambrose," Shonda told her nephew. "Your uncle will be very happy for you when he learns of it."
"I know he will," Ambrose said. "It's too bad he's not here, as I could've told all four of you together."
"So what's her name?" Dave asked his son.
"Penny," Ambrose answered, "which is short for Penelope. She doesn't ever use Penelope if she can help it though, because like me she gets a lot of comments about how unusual it is, not all of them positive."
"I admit that Penelope is pretty unusual in this century," Jazz offered. "It used to be more common a few centuries ago just not now."
"Just like Ambrose used to be more common," Ambrose commented.
"A lot longer ago then Penelope," Dave said. "You know though, that Ambrose is just a variation of Ambrosius, which was the last name of the family I rescued many centuries ago," Dave told his son.
"I know dad. I just wish there were some decent nicknames for it and you know I've never liked Brose, which is the main one. Yes, I know Amber is a nickname to, that sounds to girlish to me and I'd be laughed at if I told some man that my name is Amber."
All three other adults in the room nodded, because Amber did indeed sound like a female name, which was used almost exclusively as one and only very rarely for boys.
"It's just one of those rare names that don't have any decent nicknames," Shonda sympathized. "My name doesn't have any variations either you know and it's also pretty unusual much like Ambrose. If you think I haven't been looked at strangely when I tell people my name or that nobody has made a few nasty remarks think again. I had to learn to let those people's comments just slide off my back. It's the name my father in particular gave me and since he's gone now I've learned to appreciate it. I even love it now, though I won't say I did when I was a young child or a teenager, but I've grown up and matured since then."
"That's true. Remember, what happened when one of those mean girls back when we were in school made a nasty comment about your unusual name," Jazz asked her friend.
"Yeah, I believe I slapped her silly and she's lucky I didn't punch her and break her nose or a couple of her teeth," Shonda remembered.
"Or use magic on her, which would've been really easy to do since she didn't have any. She didn't even know magic existed, as she was just an ordinary teenager with a bad attitude. One who liked to pick on others," Jazz said. "You could've done something subtle like giving her pimples all over her face that wouldn't go away."
"That would have gotten me in trouble with my parents though, as they likely would've guessed that the pimples were caused by magic, especially if the parents had already taken her to see a doctor and whatever medicine he prescribed hadn't gotten rid of them. If that girls mother or father complained about the daughter's pimples and that the medicine hadn't done any good and my parents heard about it I would've been in deep trouble."
"And slapping this girl didn't get you in trouble?" Dave asked Shonda curiously.
"It did, but it wasn't as bad as it would've been if I had used magic to give her those pimples or in some other way," Shonda told Dave. "While I still got in trouble they understood that I was being picked on and so I responded physically instead of using magic. The punishment wasn't too bad considering, though I didn't think that at the time of course. I thought it was the end of the world and cried in my room."
"Well, I had no idea you were such a brat when you were younger Aunt Shonda," Ambrose teased.
"I was once a child, nephew," Shonda told him seriously, "just like you were. I hadn't learned how to let comments like that pass me by, as that takes time and maturity. I was only about 14 then."
"We were all once young," Dave said and Ambrose nodded, as he knew at one point he has been a bit of a brat too, but that was a long in the past.
"So back to the subject of this Penelope," Jazz said. "When did you meet her? How did you meet her?"
"It's been a few weeks," Ambrose admitted. "As to her how, she contacted my company about putting in a topnotch security system on a business she had just started. Like me, she's all into technology and is very good with electronics, particularly computers. She just started this business recently because she inherited some money from her uncle who died in the last couple of years."
"She sounds quite intelligent," Shonda offered.
"She would need to be since Ambrose himself is very intelligent," Dave said. "Not that all our children aren't intelligent, just not about electronics or technology."
"Yeah you're one of the few that didn't get the baking gene," Jazz agreed. "Not only did you not inherit my bakery magic you have no interest in that area."
"I can at least cook though," Ambrose said. "I don't know if Penny can or not, so I might be doing most of the cooking for us, which I won't mind if that proves true.
"True, he's quite a good chef," Dave agreed. "Ambrose just has different talents then you do that's all," Dave told his wife.
"You have to admit the most of yours and Dave's children got your bakery magic," Shonda said.
"A good percentage did," Jazz agreed. "Not Shawnda though or a few of others."
"It was bound to happen, considering how many children we've had," Dave shrugged. "You always knew that it wasn't a sure thing that any child would inherit your baking magic. I mean both your parents had different talents, so it's no wonder there's some of our children also have different talents."
"True," Jazz agreed.
"I mean several of them got the talent to heal and you told me that runs in your family line," Dave said. "So it was a likely possibility that at least one of our children would end up with that talent and the fact that three of them so far did shouldn't be surprising. One for three different generations."
"It's just like not all my children are telepathic," Shonda said. "Some of them did get that talent, but not even half of them really."
"I'm certainly glad I never got that talent," Ambrose spoke up. "It's the kind of talent that most people would be tempted to use for the wrong reasons."
"True," Shonda agreed.
"Our future children are safe from having such a talent as telepathy doesn't run in our family line," Jazz told Ambrose.
"I know, but someday one of your children might marry another magical who happens to have that talent and then that will no longer be true."
"There's no point of worrying about that now, as it might never happen," Dave said.
"If that does happen someday we'll just have to make sure to train whoever it is to not use their talent wrongly," Jazz said.
The four of them continued chatting for awhile before Ambrose took his leave.
"You let us know how it goes son," Dave told Ambrose.
"Hopefully, we'll soon be welcoming Penelope into the family," Jazz added.
"That's going to be awhile, as we've only been dating a few weeks not more than a couple of months really," Ambrose said.
"I'll tell Aaron. He'll be very happy for you," Shonda told her nephew.
"Just be prepared when I finally do tell her about magic and immortality," Ambrose said
"I'll have a nice decadent dessert ready," Jazz promised. "Just find out what kind of dessert she likes vanilla or chocolate, things with strawberries or raspberries or bananas. Poundcake, chiffon cake, pudding, cookies, donuts, though I admit, that's more Marla's talent than mine. I can make donuts, but they never turn out as good as hers do and I'm not sure what she does differently."
Jazz sounded aggrieved that there was something that she couldn't do as well as her daughter Marla when it came to deserts. "It's why I don't sell donuts in my bakery, as I just don't have Marla's talent with them.
"I will," Ambrose promised.
"Just because you can't do donuts as well as Marla is nothing to sound so upset about sweetie," Dave told her. "Just because there's one thing you're not as good at as any other dessert you can do..."
"I know," Jazz agreed. "I won't say they turn into a disaster when I decide to try to make them, as they turn out pretty good considering just not as good as Marla's."
"That's life," Shonda told her.
"It is," Jazz agreed, even as they showed Ambrose out.
~~~Ambrose and Penelope~~~
"So we've been dating for weeks and I have no idea how many siblings do you have if any," Ambrose told Penelope.
"I suppose we haven't really talked about our families," Penelope agreed. "I guess I'll start. I have four brothers and three sisters and I am the fourth child born."
"That's a lot," Ambrose blinked whistling appreciatively.
"It is," Penelope agreed with a little laugh at Ambrose's astonishment. "I have two brothers and one sister that are older and my parents are dead have been for a long time. My name means Weaver by the way. It goes back to Greek myth where Penelope was married to Odysseus. He was off at war and she had many suitors while he was so in order not to be forced to remarry she insisted that she couldn't choose until she wove a shroud for Odysseus's father and then she unwove her work every night for three years until her husband returned."
"That's really fascinating," Ambrose said.
"It used to be a pretty popular name several hundred years ago just not so much anymore," Penelope admitted. "Like you, it's not that I hate my name. I just hate how people make negative comments about it or tell me it's weird or strange. To me, going by Penny's simply easier and less aggravating. So that's enough about me, what about you, any siblings?"
"I don't have as many as you do as I have three siblings two sisters and a brother," Ambrose said.
Now technically he had many more siblings, as his parents were never going to get to old to have them, but that's what he had grown up with.
"I am the oldest out of all of them," Ambrose added. "My name means immortal by the way, but there's no story behind it as far as I know."
Ambrose considered it ironic that his name meant immortal and he was immortal. Ambrose had often wondered if either of his parents had known what the name meant when they had given it to him after he'd been born. He figured they probably had if his mother had really found his name on one of those baby name sites.
"My name is Greek though and it come from ambrosia, which was supposedly food of the gods," Ambrose added.
"Well, it looks like we both come from large families," Penelope smiled. "So are your parents still alive?"
"They are," Ambrose said. "They live in Alaska actually, moved there a few years ago."
"What an odd place to move, as it's very cold up there," Penelope shivered.
"That's true, but they do get temperatures almost 70 in certain parts of the state depending on what month you go," Ambrose said. "They live in Juneau, which stays somewhat warm starting in May and going into September."
"I always thought winter was bad enough and I'm originally from here in California, but it's much worse in other states I know," Penelope said.
"You're never left California then," Ambrose asked.
"I have, just never to really cold states in winter," Penelope said.
"There are numerous ways to keep warm though and even if you're freezing it's not gonna kill you," Ambrose said.
"I know I just don't like being cold. It might have something to do with living in California all my life, as winters here are pretty mild compared to other places," Penelope said. "So what are your parents names?"
"David and I already told you my mother's name," Ambrose said. "Same question, even though I know your parents are dead."
"Chuck and Alice before they died," Penelope said. "So names of your siblings."
"Marla is my second sibling and she owns a very popular donut shop in Los Angeles," Ambrose said. "She does quite well for herself. Then there is Devlin and finally Brynn."
"Looks like you're the only one that got a really unusual name," Penelope said. "The rest might not be common, but they aren't as strange as Ambrose."
"Believe me, I know it," Ambrose said with a melancholy sigh. "I suppose I'm lucky that they didn't use some other version of my name that would be even stranger then the Greek Ambrose."
"Ambrose is popular in fiction or at least it used to be," Penelope told him. "Quite a few literary characters bear your name."
"Maybe that's where my mother got the idea instead of off one of those baby names sites," Ambrose said. "She does like to read when she has time, though with being a baker she doesn't have a lot of extra time."
"I didn't realize your mother baked professionally," Penelope said.
"She does or did anyway and she was quite popular when she was open, but she's retired and she and my father moved, as I told you to Alaska," Ambrose said.
"I would think if they are retired they would've thought would've moved somewhere warmer like Florida," Penelope said.
"My mother grew up somewhere that got really cold in the winter, so doesn't really mind," Ambrose shrugged. "To each their own. I know Florida is where a lot of retired people go, even in this century, but my parents have some family out that way, which is why they decided on Alaska."
What Ambrose said was true he did have family in that part of the country, but then he had family in most cities in the States and in quite a few cities in Europe.
"It wouldn't be my first choice," Penelope said, thinking it was an odd turn of phrase when Ambrose said even in this century.
The two of them continued to talk, but Ambrose's slip up stayed in the back of her mind and she pondered it, even though she kept up her part of the conversation.
~~~Ambrose and Penelope~~~