Meg Lacey - The Fireman's Christmas

The kids tried to corner the cat beneath a glass patio table, but the wily animal was too clever for them. The cat feinted right, then left, so Eric bumped into Josie, and in the process, the cat dashed into the shrubbery.

As her children started after the animal, Tessa ordered, “Hold it right there, you two! What were you doing in Mrs. Sherbourne’s house? And what was that crash?”

“I wanted to see the kitty,” Josie said. “He was sitting in the window.”

“I saw Josie go in and went after her. That’s when the cat saw the door and made a beeline for outside,” Eric explained.

“And the crash?”

“I bumped this big jar by the door and it fell over,” Josie confessed with a worried look.

“Oh boy,” Tessa breathed. Mrs. Sherbourne is going to freak. Tessa glanced around. “Eric, where is that cat now?”

Eric pointed at the shrubbery. “He went that way.”

“You’d better find that animal before it wanders into traffic or something worse.”

Eric plunged off the terrace into the green bushes, with his sister about to follow. Tessa stopped her. “Oh no, you don’t, young lady. Josie, when we get home, you won’t be allowed to do anything but go straight to your room.”

“Why?” Josie wailed.

“You know why. Didn’t I tell both of you to stay out of Mrs. Sherbourne’s house? You made a huge mistake going inside when I distinctly told you not to.”

Josie opened her mouth to speak just as Eric burst through the wall of clematis and climbing roses that separated the yard from the driveway.

Startled, Tessa lurched around, completely disturbing the plants she had just positioned. “What? Eric, what are you—”

“Grab him, Mom!” Eric pointed to a white blur leaping through the lavender bed.

Before she could move, Eric had followed the errant feline into the flower bed, his feet wreaking havoc as they flattened the delicate lavender blossoms.

“Eric, stop chasing that animal this minute,” Tessa yelled, closing her eyes as they both narrowly missed a collision with a flowering pink azalea.

“You told me to find him,” her son replied, looking wildly around for the cat as he skidded to a stop on the flagstone path.

“Eeeewww! He’s got a poor little mouse.” Josie scurried to head off the cat, which was making for a patch of yellow mums.

Tessa leaped up to run interference, but her move only caused the cat to swerve through the flower bed she had just planted, with Eric and Josie close behind, destruction in their wake. “My flowers!”

“We’ve got him now!” Eric shouted triumphantly…though too soon.

The cat raced for the fishpond. Tessa watched helplessly as her children stopped in time, but the cat misjudged the distance, slipped across the ledge of the pond and plopped into the water. Eric snatched up the furious feline, complete with a wet mouse dangling by the tail from the cat’s mouth.

Tessa glanced at the wet Persian cat, who finally dropped the mouse but now was in a snit, spitting, growling and lashing his tail. “Eric, be careful. He might bite.”

Inspecting the cat, Eric said, “He doesn’t look too happy.”

Tessa propped her hands on her hips. “That’s an understatement. What did you think you were doing, Eric Doherty, chasing that cat around through my flowers?”

“You told me to find him, Mom. Besides, I couldn’t let him eat the mouse.”

“Cats are supposed to eat mice. That’s their job.”

Josie tilted her head. “Did you want the little mouse to die, Mommy?”

“No, of course not, honey. But some laws of nature aren’t meant to be broken. Especially not on someone else’s property, and certainly not when that someone is paying me to landscape her garden.” Tessa studied the cat. “That animal is an absolute mess.”

Eric looked at the bedraggled white cat, his fur now streaked with mud and sopping wet, his tail twitching with temper. “He wouldn’t win any show prizes, would he?”

“Josie, run inside, find a bathroom and grab a towel so we can dry the cat.”

“You told me not to go into the house,” Josie complained.

Tessa exhaled, trying to keep her temper. “Now you can go into the house.”

Josie shook her head as she trudged toward the French doors. “Parents!” A few minutes later Josie emerged with a towel, but she wasn’t alone. Mrs. Sherbourne was right behind her.

When the woman reached the terrace she stopped as if she’d been shot. Her eyes darted right, then left before focusing on the squirming cat in Eric’s arms. “Prince Puff Puff,” she cried, “what have they done to you?” Mrs. Sherbourne rushed to snatch her cat from Eric’s arms. “Oh, my poor poor little man, you look like an alley cat.” She started to hug the animal but then stopped and held him out away from her while Josie threw the towel over her arm. Mrs. Sherbourne wrapped her precious pussycat in the yellow terry cloth before casting her stern eyes on Tessa.

“Mrs. Doherty, what is going on here? Not only is my cat dripping wet, my flower beds a mess, which I did not pay to have happen, I might add, but—” she paused dramatically “—but my Lalique vase is in pieces on the floor. Didn’t I tell you my house is off-limits, especially to children? If you are going to insist on bringing children with you, then I have no choice but—”

Tessa rushed to speak. “No, oh no. It’s just been the past few days until I can make other arrangements.”

Mrs. Sherbourne looked down her nose at her, something Tessa thought was impossible, but the haughty woman had perfected the technique. “See that you do, please, or I’ll have to look for another designer.”

“Don’t worry, Mrs. Sherbourne, I’ll repair the garden. If you tell me the price of the vase I can arrange payments or perhaps free services if that would work?”

Mrs. Sherbourne gave Tessa and her children a frosty glance. “It was a family heirloom given to me by my mother-in-law.”

Tessa felt her heart sink at the news. “Oh…oh, my God, I’m so sorry.”

Mrs. Sherbourne unbent enough to give her a chilly smile. “It’s your good fortune that I have always considered that vase hideous. As for the payment, we’ll discuss it later.”

Tessa stepped forward. “I can give your cat a bath if you’d like.”

“That won’t be necessary. I’ll call my groomer.” Mrs. Sherbourne headed for the house, but looked back over her shoulder. “You’ll have the repairs complete by the end of the day, I trust?”

Tessa nodded. “Absolutely.”

With a wintry smile Mrs. Sherbourne inclined her head and then disappeared inside the house, leaving Tessa to deal with her children.

“Wow, Mom,” Eric breathed. “I thought you were getting fired for a minute there.”

Tessa glared at him and then Josie. “No thanks to you two. Take your sister and go to the van. Get some towels and dry off. I’ll be right there.”

“Mom—” Eric began.

“Right now. And not through the clematis. Go around.” Tessa watched her children trudge through a gap in the hedge, then turned to survey the damage in the garden.

It looked as if a tornado had passed through. Uprooted plants lay drying in the sun beside gouges in the freshly turned topsoil. A whole pile of mulch was scattered over the flagstone walk, and the brick edging she had laid so carefully that afternoon was half out of the ground. Tessa passed a hand over her face, wondering how many of the expensive, imported fish were now floating belly-up. No wonder Mrs. Sherbourne was shocked. She’d been expecting her spacious backyard to be turned into a peaceful santuary, not a war zone.

Tessa glanced at her watch. Noon. If she skipped lunch maybe she could—On cue, her stomach rumbled, followed by an impatient honk from the van out front. Tessa sighed. She couldn’t get any more work done until she took care of her children. And she might as well grab a bite while she was at it. Hopefully, her best friend Rhonda would be free to watch the kids for the rest of the afternoon.