The Year the Cat Saved Christmas - a novella Read Online Free Page A

that the house and
the gutters and the siding were his. His house. His home. The one
place on earth where he would always belong.
    When he was a little boy, he'd dreamed about
the house he would own when he grew up. He spent hours lying on
whatever bed his current foster family provided, imagining the
house from the basement up. He knew every detail of the foundation,
every bend and twist of pipe. He knew what kind of insulation the
walls would have, the kind of wiring he'd run. It would be two
stories high with wide windows and a front porch where kids could
while away a summer afternoon. It would be the kind of house those
same kids came back to long after they were grown, a welcoming
house that greeted you with open arms and pulled you inside.
    One day he'd meet the right girl and his
heart would burst open like a piñata, spilling gold coins and
diamonds at her feet. He would sweep her up into his arms and carry
her away to the house of his dreams, where they would have six
children and live happily ever after.
    That's exactly how he'd felt when he met Jill
Aylesworth thirteen years ago today.
    He glanced at his watch. Almost to the hour.
The irony of the situation wasn't lost on him.
    "It's now or never," he told himself as he
shut off the ignition. Sitting out there staring at the house
wasn't going to change things. She either wanted to get back with
him or she didn't and the only way to find out was to get his sorry
butt out of that car and knock on the front door.
    He tried to ignore the big yellow FOR SALE
sign stuck in the snowy front yard, but it wasn't easy. The house
he'd dreamed about wasn't for sale.
    "David! Oh thank God, you're here!" As always
the sight of her stole his breath away. Her coppery hair was pinned
atop her head in a tumble of curls and she wore jeans and a
sweatshirt. No makeup. A smudge of dirt on her cheek. She was still
the most beautiful woman he'd ever known.
    His spirits soared but he couldn't let her
see that. "Denise gave me your message," he said. He paused a
second, waiting for her to throw herself into his arms. "Are the
kids okay?"
    "They're fine." She seemed distracted.
    "Where are they?"
    "Phyllis took them to Quakerbridge to see
Santa so I could deal with the movers."
    She was staring over his shoulder,
practically looking right through him. That didn't bode well for a
Hollywood-style reconciliation.
    "Uh, Jill, it's snowing out here. Mind if I
come in?" It's Christmas Eve, Jilly. Don't you remember what
that used to mean to us?
    Her cheeks reddened and she motioned him into
the foyer.
    "So what's wrong?" he asked as he shook snow
from his hair. "Did I forget to sign something?"
    "It's Sebastian," she said, her chin
trembling. "He's gone."
    "Gone?" He glanced toward the living room,
expecting to see Sebastian sprawled on the rug in front of the
fireplace. There was no rug and no Sebastian. "Are you sure?"
    "He weighs twenty-two pounds," she said, her
tears shifting quickly to anger. "He's pretty hard to miss."
    Every now and then he was reminded she wasn't
a redhead for nothing
    "You know how he likes to hide in Tori's
room. Maybe--"
    She shook her head.
    "What about the basement? That place under
the stairs where we used to keep the Christmas decorations."
    "Sebastian's gone, David, and if we don't
find him before the kids get back--" She turned her head and he saw
her do something to her eyes with a tissue.
    In the old days he would have pulled her into
his arms and kissed away her tears. He hated standing there,
helpless to comfort her, but he no longer had the right. She'd made
that perfectly clear when she filed for divorce.
    "This isn't the first time he's taken off
like this," he pointed out after her tears subsided. "In the old
days, he was gone more than he was here. You know he always comes
back home."
    Home .
    "I know," she managed, "but the kids and I
are spending tonight at my sister's Patsy's house in Philadelphia.
Unless Sebastian knows about Amtrak, he'll never