Silver Christmas by Helen Scott Taylor Read Free Book Online Page B

scanned in
case there was a digital record of the cat's owner. Although
Jennifer was starting to wonder if someone had abandoned her.
    Her thoughts of the cat fled as the school
door opened and children streamed out, the smallest first, then a
couple of minutes later the older children.
    Jennifer stepped closer to the gate, her
hands in her pockets, watching. When Chloe emerged, chatting with a
girl with short curly hair, Jennifer stood on tiptoe to see over
the heads in front.
    Chloe looked her way, scanning the crowd of
parents, and Jennifer felt ridiculously nervous. Would Chloe be
disappointed Owen hadn't come?
    "Mum!" Chloe's excited shout quieted the
sound of conversation, and all eyes followed Chloe as she dashed
through the other children and threw her arms around Jennifer.
    Jennifer hugged her, blinking back tears,
overwhelmed by the greeting. As they walked to the car, she was
aware of those they passed staring, some whispering together.
    "Is that Chloe's mother?"
    "Is she Owen's wife? Where has she been?"
    "My son works in the Rosemoor dairy, and he
says she just turned up out of the blue."
    Jennifer pretended not to hear and focused on
Chloe as she babbled about the nativity play rehearsal.
    "Miss Harper says I'm a born actress."
    "Does she now. Have you changed your career
plans then?"
    "No. I still want to be a veterinarian like
you." Chloe hugged Jennifer's arm and grinned as she spotted Paddy
with his nose pressed against the side window of the car.
    "Hey, Paddy Paws." Chloe patted the window
where his nose was.
    Jennifer opened the car door and grabbed
Paddy's collar, pushing him back so Chloe could climb in.
    Paddy's tail thumped the seat, and Chloe
giggled as she greeted her dog.
    "Remember to put your seat belt on," Jennifer
said as she climbed in the driver's side. "Your play's at the end
of the week, isn't it?"
    "Friday afternoon and Saturday
afternoon."
    Jennifer had an interview at a zoo about two
hours' drive away on Friday. "I can't make the first performance,
but I'll come on Saturday, if that's okay."
    "That's fine, Mum. You don't have to come
both times."
    It would be nice for Owen to go to the first
performance anyway. Jennifer wanted to give him space with Chloe.
She didn't expect to do everything with them.
    The drive home was only five minutes, and
soon they saw the tall gateposts. They rattled over the cattle
grid, crunched down the gravel drive, and pulled up by the back
door.
    Chloe opened the car's rear door and Paddy
leaped out. She followed, waiting for Jennifer, and they walked to
the back door together.
    "You've been very patient with the kittens. I
think they're old enough for you to hold them now, if you want
to."
    Chloe whooped, dancing around with excitement
as Paddy jumped at her feet. Then she charged inside.
    "Wait for me before you pick them up,"
Jennifer shouted after her.
    She'd never looked forward to seeing someone
pick up a kitten so much in her life before. It was strange how
normal little things took on a whole new meaning when she shared
them with her daughter.
    • • •
    The kittens had become escapologists!
    Owen chuckled as he stood beside Jennifer in
the bathroom, watching Silver Sixpence and two of the other kittens
crawling up and over the edge of the cardboard box bed with their
little needle claws clinging to the blanket.
    "They've only just opened their eyes and
already they're on the move. We'll have to erect a barrier around
them to keep them penned in," he said.
    He and Jennifer were waiting for Chloe to
change out of her school uniform, and it gave him an excuse to
watch the kittens, something he could waste hours doing. Owen had
seen kittens before, of course, but had never watched a litter from
day one and seen how they developed.
    "I know. Nature is an amazing thing. Kittens
aren't particularly precocious young, nothing like foals that are
on their feet shortly after birth and ready to run from a predator,
but they far surpass human babies."
    "Yes.