Christmas on 4th Street (Fool's Gold #12.5)(46)

He raised the tarp over the wood and Noelle saw a mother cat had tried to make a bed by the vent from the cabin. She would guess that was the warmest place she could find. Four little kittens were huddled up against her, mewing as if they were uncomfortable.

The mama cat was small and thin, with big eyes. Her coat wasn’t very long and seemed to have some tabby mixed in. She watched Noelle warily, no doubt afraid of what would happen next.

Noelle dropped to her knees, ignoring the cold and soaking snow, and pulled her gloves off her hand.

“Hey, pretty girl,” she murmured, holding out her fingers to the mother cat. “It’s okay. Are you lost? Do you live out here by yourself? Because it’s really cold. I think you should come in with us.”

The cat stared at her for a long time before finally sniffing her fingers. The action told Noelle she had to have belonged to someone at some time. Wouldn’t a feral cat simply take off?

“Go inside,” she told Gabriel in a low voice. “Back up slowly so you don’t startle her. Look for canned meat. There’s probably tuna. Open the can, then bring it to me.”

Noelle stayed where she was, speaking softly, offering reassurance. He returned with an open can. She took it from him and scooped up a little with her fingers, then held it out to the mother cat.

She gulped the tuna flakes in a single bite, then stood and meowed. Noelle saw she was horribly thin and obviously exhausted.

“What happened to you?” she asked, then stood. “Come on, sweet girl. Let’s get you and your babies inside.”

She held out the can so the cat could sniff it, then dropped a little on the snow. The cat ate it and took a step toward her. They repeated the procedure a few times, then the cat retreated to stay by her babies.

“Get a towel,” Noelle told Gabriel.

He raced back inside and returned with a hand towel. Noelle put it on the snow and reached for the cat’s first kitten. The mother watched her intently but didn’t try to stop her. Noelle collected all four tiny kittens on the towel and started toward the house.

“Get the tuna,” she said as the mother cat followed her inside.

It didn’t take long to create a bed for the mother cat and her babies. They placed it close to a vent so she would be warm. While Gabriel poured her a bowl of water, Noelle dumped the tuna onto a dish and fed her. The mother cat inhaled her meal, then returned to her babies and began to wash them. By the time Noelle had struggled out of her clothes and was wrapped in her blanket again, mother and kittens were sound asleep.

Gabriel returned with the wood he’d gone looking for in the first place. He put it by the fireplace, then slipped out of his jacket and removed his boots.

“How old do you think they are?” she asked in a soft voice.

“A couple of weeks. They have their eyes open, but they’re still blind.”

“You know a lot about cats.”

“My ex had a couple. One got pregnant, so I heard all about the process.”

He sat on the sofa and angled toward her. Noelle watched the cats sleeping. “Did you get in touch with Melissa?” she asked.

“I did. I told her we were going to stay put until it stopped snowing. She was fine with locking up the store. She said the roads into town are temporarily closed, so no one is getting in or out.”

“It’s a real snowstorm.”

“Does that make you happy?” he asked.

She nodded. “We’re warm and safe and we now have a cat with kittens.” She glanced at the sleeping family. “It’s so cold out there. I don’t know how she survived this long.”

“Look at how thin she is. I doubt she’s been eating. She probably wouldn’t have made it much longer.”

Noelle didn’t want to think about that, but knew he was right. “If we hadn’t come along,” she began.

Gabriel took her hand in his. “See? Your tree obsession served a purpose.”

She nodded. “We’re her Christmas miracle. And don’t tell me it’s not Christmas yet.”

“I wouldn’t dare.”

Chapter 10

Noelle woke up to total darkness and a sense of warmth and safety. It took her a second to realize where she was and why there was an arm around her waist. As she blinked, her mind filled in the blanks. The search for the tree. The tree-snow attack, the cabin and the mother cat and her kittens.

She and Gabriel had spent a quiet evening reading and listening to the radio. Power had lasted until nearly nine, then it had gone out. He’d started a fire and they’d used the battery-operated lanterns sparingly. Their only rough spot had been when they’d let the mother cat out to use the restroom. For ten anxious minutes, they’d waited for her to come back and discussed what they would do if she didn’t. But she’d appeared on the doorstep and meowed to get in.

Now Noelle wondered what time it was and how long she’d been asleep. She’d planned to make a move and think about seducing Gideon, only exhaustion had overcome her before she could figure out how best to be seductive. She’d been asleep long before he joined her in the bed.

He was pressed up against her, his arm around her waist. In a perfect world she would roll over and do something suggestive. Unfortunately, there was a whole list of things that got in the way. For one, she wasn’t sure what he would find sexy. For another, she really had to pee, and rounding up the issues was the fact that she needed to brush her teeth before kissing anyone.