Chapter 11

(Bonus Moonshadow Bay scene that takes place between Cursed Web and Solstice Web)

“What do you mean, we can’t get a kitten?” Tarvish asked. Disappointment made his voice shake to the point where Rowan turned around to stare at him. The Funtime demon wasn’t having much fun right now, that was for sure.

“I just don’t have the time to take care of one. And I’ve got so many poisonous plants in the greenhouse that I’d be afraid they’d get in there and hurt themselves.” Rowan hated disappointing Tarvish. She was truly fond of him, although she couldn’t exactly use the word love, but she cared for him and she knew how much he loved cats. He didn’t ask for much, and he did his best to help around the house and the land.

“Oh,” Tarvish said. He looked for a moment like he was going to argue, but then shrugged in an offhand way and turned back to his crossword puzzle. He seemed resigned to her decision, but Rowan had the sneaking suspicion that he was going to try again sometime soon.

* * *

Rowan wasout in the yard, deadheading the flowers and turning over the plants. The chill of the autumn afternoon buoyed her up, bracing her as the smell of wood smoke from neighboring houses drifted past. The pungent scent rising from the soil—petrichor—sour and yet comforting, whispered autumn’s days were nearly done and winter was coming in.

She stood back, bracing herself on the pitchfork, as she stared around the garden. Rowan had been alive for a long time, but some days—like today—made her feel young again, in tune with the Earth and Her cycles. Autumn was Rowan’s element, and fire was her power, and both reigned strong in her soul.

It occurred to her it would be fun to make a bonfire in the firepit, and roast hotdogs and marshmallows, and make s’mores. She made a mental note to call January, her granddaughter, and invite her and Killian, and January’s aunt Teran, and a few other close friends to join them. The autumn had been overly busy, and they needed to celebrate now that the curse on January’s family had been lifted.

Rowan stood there, contemplating what to work on next—it was either time to turn over the tomato plants (she had already collected the last of the green ones and wrapped them away to ripen), or she could cut down the cornstalks and shred them into the compost bin. Finally, she sucked in a deep breath of cool, crisp air and was about to tackle the tomatoes when she heard a faint cry coming from beneath a nearby azalea bush. Frowning, she walked over to the sprawling shrub. Once again she heard something—another faint cry. Kneeling, she peered beneath the latticed branches, trying to see what was making the noise.

“Oh, good grief. Just what we need.”

As she reached beneath the bush, her gloved hand brushing away some of the deadwood, the first kitten hesitantly stumbled her way. As she took hold of it, gently bringing the tiny creature out to examine it, she saw that there were three other kittens beneath the azalea, and they all looked shaky and cold.

The one in her hand was a gray tuxedo, and two of the others looked to be silver tabbies. The fourth was what she called a cow kitten—with black and white patches.

The gray tuxi feebly pawed at Rowan, then tried to bury itself against her chest. She could feel its hunger, and its fear. As much as she knew there was no going back, she slid the kitten into her basket of broccoli, and then reached for the others. As soon as she had all four of them, she carried the pitchfork over to the tool rack and secured it, then—cradling the basket—Rowan headed inside.

* * *

The kitchen smelledlike bananas and cinnamon. Tarvish had made banana bread, and he was reading the newspaper on his tablet as Rowan entered the room. Immediately, the kittens set up a loud caterwaul and Tarvish immediately set down his tablet and jumped up.

“I swear,” Rowan said, trying to hide a grin. “You have some magic to make wishes come true, don’t you?”

Tarvish laughed, his baritone echoing through the room. “Where did you find those? And no, I wish I did but I’m no djinn.” He took the basket from her and immediately pulled out his phone. “I’ll call Killian. It’s Saturday and he should be off work today.”

“I found them under the azalea bush. It’s a good thing I was out there because if they were exposed to the elements much longer, I doubt they would have survived. I hope I found them in time.” Even though she didn’t want to deal with a house full of thundering kittens, Rowan was a softhearted woman, deep down. She liked cats, she just didn’t have time to take care of them. “I wonder where their mother is. They seem awfully hungry.”

“I think I know,” Tarvish said softly. “Yesterday afternoon, I found a dead cat out on the road. She’d been hit by a car. I didn’t see any collar or markings, so I buried her. She looked a little thin, so it didn’t occur to me that she might be feeding kittens. But she looked a lot like these silver tabbies.”

“That was probably their mother, poor thing. My intuition says so. You call Killian and watch them while I go find a blanket and a box to tuck them into.” She paused. “And before you ask, if you take care of them—including the cat box and feeding them—we’ll keep them. But they’re all getting spayed and neutered, and you’re going to have to help me catproof the house this weekend. Until then, we’ll keep them in the second bath.”

Tarvish put in a call to Killian, and within the hour both he and January were cooing over the kittens as Killian checked them out. The gray tuxi and the cow cat were boys, the silver tabbies were girls. They were all hungry and a little malnourished, and they had fleas, but they would survive.

Rowan decided they might as well have the bonfire dinner that night, so she called Teran to join them, and then January went grocery shopping while Killian and Tarvish played with the kittens and warmed them up, Rowan stood back and watched over her family.

For so long it’d been just her. Oh, she had her friends and she had the Crystal Cauldron, but until January had returned to Moonshadow Bay, Rowan had led a fairly solitary life.

Now, she had a significant other. While he was rather scary to look at, he was one hell of a lover and a devoted boyfriend. And she had her granddaughter January, and her granddaughter’s fiancé. Rowan had even grown close to Teran, January’s aunt. After well over a hundred years of living in relative solitude, Rowan’s world was expanding. And now that world would be expanding to include four kittens.

Laughing softly, she turned to start kitten proofing the house. And surprisingly, she didn’t mind it one bit.