Chapter 12
Chapter Twelve
I t was snowing, the fat flakes really coming down.
Thank God the kids were feeling better. The bug had been hard, but fast, and everyone was busy enjoying the day before Thanksgiving in their own way.
Brooks was lording over the kitchen like a knight with a whisk and a list of to-dos. It was a whirlwind of activity, but he seemed happy, and Lucy, and—oddly enough—Mason, were more than willing to help, and Brooks hadn’t threatened to kill either one of them, so that was a win.
Johnny was at the table, busy with his Legos, and Ricky and Benji were playing some video game in the front room.
Okay, who did that leave?
Coop looked around, counted kid’s heads—Mina.
It was always the littlest one. She just couldn’t stay put.
He rolled his eyes and headed back toward the kitchen where they were preparing stuff for tomorrow’s feast. “Happy Thanksgiving Eve again. Have y’all seen Mina?”
Lucy shook her head. “No.” He got three curious looks. “She’s not with you?”
“No, Lucy, if she was with me, I wouldn’t ask you where she was.” Coop blinked at her. Lord have mercy. “I’m going to go out hunt for her.”
Brooks frowned. “You don’t think that she would actually be outside? It’s snowing.”
“Oh, yeah. I don’t think there’s any question. She would totally go outside.”
“I bet she’s with the kittens.”
He glanced at Mason. “Oh? Which kittens?”
Mason closed his eyes, then opened them wide.
“Uh. Son, don’t lie to me.”
“I’m not lying, I’m just not…that was what I wasn’t supposed to say.”
“Which, obviously you’re incredibly good at…” Lucy rolled her eyes. “Jesus Christ, Mason.”
Oh, for fuck’s sake. “Lucinda Danielle. What the hell is going on?”
Coop had no idea, but obviously there were kittens. So he needed to check out the mama cat and bring in her and the kittens in and get them safe, if necessary, but also he needed to know where these kittens were hiding so he could find his youngest child.
Lucy shrugged. “One of the cats out near the barns, they had babies. We’ve been taking them food and water, watching them. We’re not hurting anything. When we were sick. It just took forever for everybody to feel better, and we were worried, so we’ve been spending more time with them.”
“Okay. Why was this such a big secret?”
Mason looked at Lucy. Lucy looked at Mason. Then they both kind of shrugged. “I guess because we thought you’d be mad.”
“Well, no. If mama cat needs a warm place or if the kittens need help, we’ll do that.
Otherwise, they can be cats. You gotta watch out for the coyotes though.
” And also he would really like to know where Mina was.
“Can you tell me where the cats are so I can make sure your baby sister doesn’t freeze? ”
“Or get trampled. Or—” Brooks was looking a little wild around the edges.
Lucy pointed out the back window. “There in that little barn, the one with all the saddles and stuff.”
“Thank you.” He did not roll his eyes. He did not. “Now, I’m going to make sure everything’s all right, get her in. It’s getting on to where we’re going to have to order our pizza and watch some cartoons and just have our pre-Thanksgiving relax.”
“‘Pre-Thanksgiving, relax’?” Brooks asked.
He nodded. “Yeah, Pizza, cartoons, just chill. Y’all have been cooking all day, and it smells wonderful, and I’m starving. I’m gonna order a bunch of pizza for us, and that way nobody has to cook.”
“You’re a brilliant guy.” Brooks beamed at him, and wasn’t it pretty, that look?
“I know. Just ask me, I’ll tell you.”
He headed out to the barn, stomping on his boots and throwing on the coat first. Sure as shit, there were some little footprints all the way along.
That was one of the neatest things about ranch kids, in his opinion.
One of the scarier things too, sometimes, but they just went outside.
They wandered around. They weren’t scared of being outside because they wanted to be.
He’d heard about this from the foster kids a lot.
It was hard for some of them to simply be able to go outside and play.
Some of them never left the house in all the weeks they were there.
He got to the little barn with the tack room in it, and sure enough, there was not just one little girl sitting there. There were two. And he had the sinking suspicion her dads didn’t know she was gone.
He texted Kase.
I got Nel l
“Hey, girls, what you doing?”
Both little girls glanced up with guilty eyes, Nell and Mina about going pale. “Umm.”
He looked at Mina, held her gaze. “Don’t get in trouble for lying, sweetheart. Tomorrow’s Thanksgiving.”
She took a deep breath. “We were seeing the kitties. They’re really pretty. There’s four of them.”
“Yeah, can I see?”
Mina kind of blinked at him, and then she grinned. “You can! There’s a black and white one, and a yellow one. And a spotted one. And a white one!”
“Yeah?” Lord. Hopefully they were healthy. They were sure loud. “What color is the Mama?”
Nina beamed. “Her’s black.”
“We’ve been feeding her lunch meat.”
“She’s real skinny.”
“Well, lunch meat is a good start, but cat food is a better bet. It has all the stuff they need to make their bodies work.” He looked at the kittens when the girls moved, then sighed with relief.
They looked healthy. Mama cat needed to fatten up, but she was okay.
They could be barn cats. They had the tack room to be warm in, and to get away from the dogs and coyotes…
“I’ll order us up some food for them. But I’ll bring out a can of dog food for mama until then, okay? Now, Nell, you need to go home when your daddy gets here.”
“Okay, Mr. Coop.” Nell looked longingly at the kittens.
“When they’re old enough, we’ll ask your daddies if you can have one, okay?” His phone buzzed, and Kase simply said
on my way
He grinned. Coop would bet, like him and Brooks, Kase and Ryder had no idea Nell had even gone somewhere and was now frantic.
“Come on, ladies. Let’s go wait somewhere warmer for us. We don’t have furry coats.” He would bring some blankets out for the cats, too. They had plenty of old fleece throws. The kids wore them out fast.
“Okay!” They skipped along, each of them holding one of his hands.
He’d ask Brooks to come out with him and have a look at the cats too, in case they needed to move them. He didn’t relish the beagles coming out and finding cats, but it was Suki he worried would hurt them.
Suki was his hunter as well as his herder.
The beagles were lazy buttheads.
Kase pulled up in minutes, and he bundled Nell off to home, then took Mina inside.
“Make sure you feed Mama Kitty, Uncle Coop,” she said.
“Will do.” He went to the kitchen to see Brooks packing up food for the next day. “Hey. Can you come out to the barn for a minute?”
“I can.”
“Sneak a can of dog food. If I get it, the beagles will lose their shit.”
Brooks frowned a little but then nodded. “Okay, sure.”
Coop went to gather blankets, checking on all the kids, who were now cartooning. Brooks met him at the back door, and he had to dodge Thor and Loki anyway, because those two always knew what was what. “Stay, guys. I’ll be back, and we’ll have a cookie.”
They both sat at the word cookie, so he got them one, fed it to them, and then said, “Stay.”
He and Brooks headed to the barn. “Is it bad? The cats?” Brooks asked.
“Nope. I think mama could use more food, but the kittens are fat and sassy, and she looked healthy enough. I just want your second opinion. ”
“Got it.” Brooks grinned at him, and damn, happy was a good look on him.
“Tickled to be back home for Thanksgiving?”
“God yes. It’s one of the things I missed the most. Though I almost bawled when Benji asked if I could make Nora’s stuffing. Thank goodness she used my mom’s recipe.”
“Aw. I’m glad he asked. It took some courage. Every time he asks for something from y’all’s past it does.”
“I know. And I would never abuse that knowledge.”
He glanced at Brooks, admiring the slant of his eyebrows, the serious shape of his mouth. “I think I know that now, buddy.”
They peered at the cats, and Brooks nodded, affirming his thoughts. “They’ll be fine out here. Better than in the house. Here the dogs and kids will have to give them peace.”
“Well, praise Jesus for that. I just wanted to get her some food out here. We’ll get actual cat food come Friday.”
Brooks nodded to him. “Sounds good. Let me get some horse blankets in here for her.”
They got the cats all set up, managing to secure the tack room door, leaving enough room for Mama to get out and Suki not to get in.
Coop looked around the barns, at the repaired doors and clean floors, the way that the wind and wet was kept outside and nodded. “It’s looking good out here. You did a good job.”
Brooks gave him a little half grin, and a vaguely embarrassed little shrug. “Thanks. I appreciate you letting me be a part of something. I’m not sure why you did, but it means a lot.”
He dipped his chin in acknowledgement. “Means something to me that you’re here helping out now. Kids need family. Benji’s fixing to go be a bullfighter, be a man on his own.”
And God knew he was going to need help.
“Why did you say yes to taking the kids, Coop?” The question surprised him, as if Brooks had plucked it out of the air. It occurred to him that this was the oddest place to be having this discussion—in a cold barn that was empty, barring five cats. “They’re a lot, and they weren’t a bit yours.”
Then again, maybe it wasn’t weird. They didn’t have a bunch of kids here to listen to them. They didn’t have a ton of time, one-on-one, for the hard questions.
“I didn’t even think about it,” he admitted. “I just said yes when Benji called. I had room and space and…well, hell, it was the right thing to do.”