Bonus Epilogue #2
I knew it was too much to ask for the kids to just move to the bow and go on their way, pretending there weren’t stowaway kittens in our midst.
“Okay, here’s what we’re going to do. I’m going to open it again, and you can each get one good look. I want to make sure they all seem like they’re nursing okay and that nobody’s in distress. Then we have to let them rest.”
Emerson sidled up next to me. “You can take the vet out of the clinic but you can’t get the vet out of the man.”
I put one arm around her, then eased the lid up again. “Shh. Everyone be quiet and move slowly when you look. No touching.”
As the kids checked out the cat nest, I did a visual check. There were four kittens, and all four were nursing from the short-hair white and gray mother. I didn’t see anything that alarmed me.
“Adorable,” Emerson whispered beside me.
Once I’d closed the lid softly again, the kids grabbed their remaining food and pranced to the front bench seats to finish eating, talking about the kittens.
Emerson stayed back with me. “They look okay?”
I nodded and blew out a breath. “I didn’t see a collar on the mom.”
Her brows went up. “You think she’s a stray?”
“I’m a little worried.”
She pressed her lips together against a grin. “More souls for the Holloways to save, Doctor?”
I growled at her, then nodded to the captain’s and first mate’s seats. “Shall we finish our lunch and try to pretend we don’t have stowaways?”
With a laugh, she sat down with her plate. “It’s killing you not to examine them closer, isn’t it?”
I shook my head. “I don’t want to mess with them unless I need to.”
“We’re going to need to get them out when we get back, aren’t we?”
“They can’t stay on the boat,” I agreed. “In fact, maybe we should head back early and find them a safe place. It can’t be easy on them to ride around on a speeding boat.”
After we finished eating, we broke the news to the kids that tubing would have to wait so we could make a special delivery and get the McNamara cats back where they belonged. They embraced our new transport mission importantly, and I pointed the boat back toward the marina.
Unfortunately, it turned out to be more than a transport mission.
“I haven’t seen her before,” Cade said. “Neither have my brothers or my mom. She isn’t ours.”
“Do one of you want to take them?” I asked.
Emerson was outside with the kids, walking along the docks with them.
Cade leveled a look at me. “My dog would likely eat those babies for an afternoon snack.”
“That’s fair.” I chuckled. I knew Diesel, his Great Dane, well. He was a gentle dog but had toenails the size of those newborn kittens. “I’ll find a home for them.”
When I rejoined my family a few minutes later, I told the kids Cade had given us an extra gift certificate so we could go out another day, when we didn’t need to save a litter of kittens.
I wasn’t sure how they’d take that news, but they were so into the cat rescue that they cheered at having a second day on the lake.
Evelyn asked, “Whose kitty is the mama, Dad?”
With a glance at Emerson, I admitted, “She appears to be a stray. No collar. No one’s seen her before. I’ll have to check her for a chip before we know for sure, but I’d be surprised if she has one.”
“Ooh, can we have the kittens, Dad?” Ruby asked, bouncing up and down. “Pleeease?”
“Yeah, please, Dad?” Xavier pleaded.
“And the mommy?” Skyler said, concerned.
“The mom can’t be separated from her babies,” Evelyn said.
When I looked at Emerson, she was watching me with a subdued but amused expression. She raised her brows as if to ask, What are you going to do?
“Kids, your mother and I need to talk.” I went over to the picnic basket and took out the cookie container. “Each of you take a cookie and go over to that picnic table to eat it.”
Once the kids skipped off with their snacks, I moved closer to Emerson. “We’re a team now,” I said quietly. “This isn’t just my decision.”
She faced me, weaving our fingers together. “Do you want me to save you from yourself here? Or do we want five new mouths to feed?”
I frowned.
“You can say no,” she gently reminded me.
“They’ll need to be fostered for several weeks regardless.”
“Which you’re thinking of doing,” she said, reading me accurately. That or knowing me well.
“I am.”
“And you’re worried the kids will get attached in that time anyway,” she said, grinning.
With a sigh, I said, “You know they would.”
“They would. So you’re thinking we might as well just adopt them now and avert a foster failure.”
Chuckling, I admitted, “I might be. It’s possible you know me too well.”
“It’s possible I know you inside and out, and I love every bit of you.”
“I’m so damn thankful for that,” I said, “and I love you too.” I ran my hands up her arms and gazed into her pretty green eyes. “Would you be okay with it?”
“Adopting the cats? They are adorable, and there’s one kitten for each kid.”
“It’s like fate.”
“The number of kittens and the mother choosing the boat the local veterinarian animal lover rented for the afternoon. We kind of didn’t stand a chance.”
“We kind of didn’t. Kids,” I called out, “start thinking of kitten names.”
The joyful uproar at the picnic table sounded more like twenty people than four. Then it moved as one big, swarming gang of excitement and ended with all four of them circling Emerson and me, hugging us, and cheering.
“We might be crazy,” I said to my wife.
“But it’s a happy, love-filled crazy, and I wouldn’t change a single thing.”
“Neither would I.”