“Where did you come from, little one?” she asked and leaned down to pick up the cold animal.
Drawing him close, Laura was rewarded with loud purring as the kitten snuggled up against her.
“You are such a little thing.” Laura glanced around the neighborhood, wondering who had lost their pet. “Well, I’ll take you inside and let you warm up. Then I’ll talk to Curtis about finding out where you belong.”
The kitten mewed again, and Laura couldn’t help but laugh. “How can anyone ever be sad around a kitten?” She thought immediately of Will. Oh, wouldn’t it be fun to share this with him?
She made her way into the house and down the hall to his room. “Will?” She called softly from the door just in case he was sleeping.
“Come in,” he answered.
Hiding the kitten under her shawl, she pushed open the door and stepped inside. “I’ve come to show you something.” She closed the door behind her, then made her way to his bed.
“Look what I found.” She unwrapped the shawl and placed the kitten on the bed beside him. “I think he got lost. I’m going to have Curtis check with the neighbors and see if they are missing their pet.”
Will stared at the animal for a moment, then surprised Laura by running his index finger down the back of the baby. “He’s pretty young to be out on his own.”
“I thought so too.” She moved to the door. “Will you please watch him while I go speak to Curtis?” She didn’t wait for an answer but hurried to the kitchen, where she hoped she’d find the young man. The cook had mentioned earlier that she was going to put him to work rearranging the pantry.
“Mrs. Murphy, is Curtis here?”
The stocky woman looked up from where she was rolling pie dough. “He’s in the pantry.”
“Thank you. I need him for a little errand, but he can finish for you first,” Laura said as she moved toward the pantry.
She found Curtis on a ladder placing several jars of preserves on a high shelf. “Curtis, when you’re finished here, I wonder if you would do me a favor.”
“Sure, Miss Evans. What is it?” He climbed down and stopped directly in front of her. “I’m almost done.”
“I found a kitten. He’s with Will right now. Stop by and see him for yourself so you can describe him, but then I want you to go around the neighborhood and see if anyone has lost him. He’s so little—too little to be out in the snow.”
“Sure thing. I’ll go in a few minutes and see what I can find out.”
“Thank you, Curtis.” She glanced around the pantry, but having never seen it before, she couldn’t really say if the young man had done a good job or not. However, she knew his work was generally quite thorough. Surely praise was in order.
“This looks very nice, Curtis. You’ve done a good job.”
“Thanks, Miss Evans. I’ve always been able to organize things. Your pa said he might hire me on down at the store.”
“Well, if you are gifted with organization, I can’t think of a better place to work.” She left him with that. Back in the kitchen, Laura grabbed a saucer. “I wonder if I could have a bit of milk?”
Mrs. Murphy looked at her oddly but fetched the milk and poured a little into the saucer. Laura smiled. “I found a kitten, and I believe he’s hungry.”
“And cold if he’s been outside long.”
“Exactly. Will is warming him up right now.”
Laura made her way back to Will’s room and found him quite entertained as he allowed the kitten to crawl around his face and neck.
“Looks like you two have made friends already. I’ve brought a little milk for him.”
“The way he’s been mewing, I’d say he’s starved.”
Laura brought the milk to the bed and carefully placed it beside Will on top of the quilt. The kitten hurried to the saucer and began to lap at the offering.
“See there, you were right.” Laura gave the animal a little stroke as he continued to lap up the milk. “I asked Curtis to find his owner. Hopefully we can reunite them soon.”
But by late afternoon, they were no closer to finding theanimal’s home. Laura thought it fine and made plans to keep the baby, but Will seemed less enthusiastic.
