Margaret Daley - A Mother for Cindy

“I’m so tickled you want to give one of my babies a home.” Felicia straightened a stack of magazines on the coffee table. The top one sat at a slight angle from the others. Definitely out of place. “I won’t give my babies away to just anyone. Thankfully Jesse can vouch for you.”

Somehow Felicia managed to cross her legs, the silence from her action indicating a certain degree of grace that Jesse obviously didn’t possess or the fact this woman had had a lot of practice sitting on her plastic covers. Jesse wanted to believe it was the latter.

“Have you ever had a pet before?” Felicia asked, cutting into Jesse’s musing.

“No, but I’m sure we’ll be able to manage,” he answered with all the confidence of a man who was used to running a large company.

“You have to do more than just manage. You have to love your pet.” One of Felicia’s cats curled herself around the woman’s leg, purring. She picked up her pet and buried her face in its fur.

“I can do that,” Cindy chimed in, bouncing several times in her enthusiasm.

The sound reverberating through the room drew Felicia’s look. The “look” would have made anyone freeze, Jesse thought, and she began to reassess her friend’s candidacy for Cindy’s mother. Glancing about, Jesse wondered if Felicia spent every wakened moment cleaning her house. The thought sent a shiver through Jesse. She hated cleaning her house and avoided it whenever possible.

Maybe she was being too harsh in her judgment of Felicia. After all, the woman loved cats and anyone who was an animal lover must have room in her heart for children. Jesse stood. “Why don’t Cindy and I go pick out a kitten while you and Nick work out the details?” Jesse took the little girl’s hand and quickly left the living room. Nick and Felicia needed time alone to get to know each other.

The four kittens were out in the sunroom. One was sleeping on the white ceramic tiled floor, two were prowling and the last one was playing with a piece of gold ribbon. The black kitten with a white mark on its forehead batted the ribbon, chasing it around. Cindy laughed and went over to it. It stopped to check the little girl’s lacy socks, licking her leg. She laughed again and picked up the kitten. Jesse noticed the cat was a male.

“I want this one. What do you think?” Cindy cuddled him to her face. “Oh, she’s so cute.”

“It’s a male.”

“How can you tell?”

Jesse wasn’t prepared to go into the facts of life with Cindy. For a second, nothing came to mind. “He’s made differently,” she blurted out, sweat beading on her upper lip.

“Oh.” Cindy seemed to accept that lame reason, hugging the kitten to her. “Let’s go show Daddy.”

So much for giving Nick and Felicia time to get to know each other. Jesse searched her mind for a delay tactic. “Don’t you want to check out the other kittens to make sure he’s the one?”

Cindy shook her head. “I know.”

Jesse stood for another minute in the middle of the sunroom, before saying, “Then I guess we should show your dad.” Hopefully five minutes was long enough for them to strike up a…friendship. Suddenly the idea of a relationship between Nick and Felicia didn’t seem right and that thought bothered Jesse.

When she and Cindy entered the living room, silence hung in the air, Nick’s expression neutral. Felicia looked as though she were sitting in a dentist’s chair waiting for the drill. Jesse plastered a smile on her face, intending to get the conversation going.

Nick shot to his feet. “We’ll take good care of the kitten. Are you sure you don’t want any money, Miss Winters?”

Miss Winters? Not a good sign.

Felicia straightened, bristling at his suggestion. “No. A good home is all I request, as I told you a few minutes ago, Mr. Blackburn.”

Mr. Blackburn? Definitely not a good sign.

“I’ll take real good care of Oreo,” Cindy said, nuzzling the kitten.

At the door Nick stooped to slip on his shoes while Jesse put hers on then held Oreo so Cindy could buckle her sandals. When Felicia had asked them to take off their shoes before coming into her house, Jesse should have realized the meeting would go downhill from that moment. Nick had started to say something but snapped his jaws closed. That hadn’t stopped Cindy from blurting out the question they had all wanted to know, “Why?”

“Goodness me. You might get some dirt on my carpet,” Felicia had answered.

Well, one good thing came of this visit, Jesse decided as the door closed behind them. Cindy had her kitten. That had to be worth something.

“An interesting woman,” Nick commented as they walked to Jesse’s car. “I’m surprised she has cats in her house. Won’t they track in dirt?”

“Her cats never go out.”

“I see.”

Jesse doubted it. She really needed to try one more time. “Felicia’s very nice and good with animals…well, cats at least.”

“I’m sure she is.”

“She’s the town librarian. Every Saturday she has a story hour for the children. She’s quite good at reading to them. Nate loves to go. Maybe Cindy could go with him next Saturday.”

“I’ll see,” he said as though he wasn’t certain he wanted his daughter within a hundred yards of the neat freak whose house they were standing in front of, not a blade of grass out of place.

Nick finished his last leg lift and pushed to his feet. Sweat drenched him. Taking a towel and wiping his face and neck, he stared out the picture window that faced Jesse’s house. He saw her climb the steps to the deck and enter her kitchen, her movement a graceful extension of her lithe body. With her brown hair cut short and feathered about her face, her large green eyes and ready smile emphasized her pixie look.

He remembered the time he’d seen Jesse right after he’d finished his physical therapy exercises. He couldn’t believe it had only been five days ago. She was all Cindy talked about—besides her kitten and her new friend, Nate. Suddenly he seemed surrounded by Jesse and her family. And the last thing he needed or wanted was another woman in his life. He was still piecing his life back together after his accident and his unhappy marriage to Brenda.

He turned away from the picture window and limped toward the door, determined to accomplish two things this summer: get to know his daughter better and get back to being one hundred percent after the last operation on his leg. For two months he’d promised to devote himself to those two tasks. He could run Blackburn Industries from here for that short amount of time. He would have to leave the everyday affairs of his company to his capable staff, but he already had been doing that since the accident. Cindy needed this. He needed this.

“Daddy! Daddy!” Cindy slid to a halt, tears streaming down her face.

He knelt in front of her, the action intensifying the pain in his leg. He ignored it and clasped his daughter’s arms. “What’s wrong, princess?”

“Oreo’s gone!”

Jesse kneaded the dough, flipped it over and started all over again, shoving her palms into it. She pounded her frustration out on the soon-to-be loaf of bread. Still no one came to mind as a possible candidate for Nick and time was running out. He would only be here seven more weeks. Courting a potential wife didn’t happen overnight. Of course, it would help if he left his house more often. Then she might have a better chance of fixing him up with someone.

Who? That was the problem. She had been so wrong about Tara and Felicia. The third one was the charm. But who?

She placed the dough in a blue ceramic mixing bowl and covered it with a damp cloth. The doorbell chimed. She quickly washed her hands, then hurried to answer it.

The worry on Nick’s face prompted her to ask, “Is something wrong with Cindy?”