“Hi, pretty girl. How are you? How was your day?”
Noah joined her, watching intently. “She’s really beautiful. Look how blue her eyes are.” He shifted to a cross-legged position.
“I know. It’s unusual in a cat. Lucy’s a Ragdoll mix. When she lets you pet her, you’ll feel how soft her fur is.”
Lucy came up to Ryleigh and rubbed against her, purring loudly. Ryleigh petted her.
“This is my friend Noah. You and he are going to be good friends.” She smiled at the boy. “Hold out your hand so she can sniff your fingers.”
He did as she said, then giggled as Lucy moved close. She sniffed a few times before rubbing her head against his palm. His eyes widened.
“Does she want me to pet her?” he asked, sounding delighted.
“She does. Go slow and be gentle.”
He lightly stroked the top of her head, then moved down her body. “She’s so soft and I can hear her rumbling with the purring.”
Lucy stepped over his calves and stood in the crook of his legs. She stared at him for a second before standing on her backlegs, putting her front paws on his chest and rubbing her face against his chin.
He laughed with delight as he continued to pet her. “She likes me!”
“She does.” Ryleigh sent a silentthank youto her cat, grateful Lucy was responding so well to Noah. “She’s a friendly girl, although she didn’t like my sister very much.”
“But Jax is great,” Noah said.
“I know. Maybe it’s a chemistry thing.”
She showed Noah how to play with Lucy with the feather toy that dangled from a string. Once they were all tired she and Noah settled on the sofa, Lucy curled up between them. He continued to pet her.
“I’m glad you have her,” he said. “Now you have someone to cuddle with.”
“I do. She’s a very nice companion.” And another heartbeat in the house. “Although she kind of hogs the bed at night.”
Noah grinned. “She’s not that big.”
“You’d be surprised how much room she can take up, but you’re right. The cuddles are nice.”
He surprised her by admitting, “I miss getting hugs from my mom.”
“Oh, sweetie, I didn’t know you’d been thinking about her.”
“Not all the time, just, you know, sometimes.”
“Of course. She’s your mom and you’ll always miss her. She was amazing and loved you so much.”
He looked at her. “I don’t remember everything but I can still hear her voice in my heart.”
“That’s great. You’re going to forget some details but you’ll always remember the love.” She hesitated, not sure what else to say. “You know you can always ask your dad to go through the photo albums with you. Hearing stories about when you were little will help you remember.”
He nodded. “I was really small back then.”
“You were. And your parents were so scared when they brought you home from the hospital.”
“How do you know?”
She grinned. “Because babies are terrifying.”
“Naw-uh. They’re too little to be scary.”
