“I love it. It’s just that Elsie had the same idea.” Kate smiled. “Oh, what the heck. You never have too many kittens.” She took the kitten from her father and cuddled it.

“Your father has something else to say, too,” Kate’s mother said, giving her husband an elbow in the ribs.

A sheepish smile lit Michael Finn’s face. “I was wrong about Dave. I think he’s okay. He really loves you.” He shrugged. “And maybe if you nag him enough, he’ll get a job someday.”

Kate heard the front door thrown open and turned to see Dave bustle in.

“Look what I’ve got!” he said, holding a bedraggled black kitten aloft.

“My kitten?”

“No. I couldn’t find your kitten, so I went to the animal shelter, and I adopted an orphan. I got there just in time. They were going to gas this poor little tyke.” His mouth dropped open when two more black kittens ran across his feet.

“One’s from Elsie and the other’s from my mom and dad.” Kate smiled. “Everybody loves me.”

Dave put his kitten on the floor to join in the fun. He went to Kate and kissed her tenderly. “I know I sure do.”

Kate looked at him solemnly. She loved her kittens, but she knew nothing was ever going to replace Dave. She was going to hang on to all these wonderful little loving moments, she decided. She was going to remember them when she was old and lonely and unloved. A tear trickled down her cheek.

“PMS,” she told her mother and father. “I’m fine… really.”

Kate and Dave had just finished saying good-bye to Kate’s parents when a taxi pulled up to the curb and Anatole got out. He had another orange-and-lavender fruit basket. Dave met him at the door.

“I ate all your fruit last night,” Anatole explained. “So I thought I should replace it.”

Dave took the basket for Kate. “Thanks, Anatole. That was nice of you.”

Anatole recoiled at the sight of three black kittens bounding down the porch stairs. “It’s a herd of cats!” he said. “Wasn’t one enough? Isn’t there a law against having more than one?” He looked at them more closely. “Where’s the original? The one with the white sock.”

“Lost,” Dave said. “It was missing when we came home last night, and we can’t find it anywhere.”

Anatole seemed puzzled. “You mean it got out of the backyard?”

“What?”

“Didn’t you find my note?”

Dave and Kate answered in unison, “No.”

“The kitten was running around looking frantic, and it occurred to me that it might be needing a cat bathroom, so I put it out back. I made sure the back gates were locked, so it couldn’t get out.”

Dave smacked his forehead with the heel of his hand. “I never thought to look in the backyard.”