LITMIR.BIZ

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did it. He’d teased Max about those spots more than once. Max had gotten back at him with his own teasing. They’d been each other’s greatest opponent as well as best friend.

      Kneeling down, he held out the black-and-white kitten. “Is this little rascal trying to escape?”

      Ruby nodded.

      “Why?”

      “Ruby was—”

      Gabe let his gaze stop Janette’s explanation. “I think Ruby can answer for herself.” Smiling at the child, he said, “Can’t you, Ruby?”

      Nodding, she said, “It ran back in the house.”

      “It did?”

      “Yes, it did,” Janette said. “Ruby put the others on the porch, but—”

      His leveled gaze stopped her again. The child didn’t need her protection, not from him. She, on the other hand, might if she kept interrupting.

      “It doesn’t want to stay on the porch with the others?” he asked Ruby.

      She shook her head and frowned. “No.”

      He could look high and low and never find another little girl as cute as this one. Stroking the kitten’s back, he said, “Maybe because this one likes you.”

      Her smile made his heart tumble as it never had before. At that moment she was the spitting image of Max, and the shot of pain that ripped through Gabe told him just how much he missed his brother. Would forever miss him.

      His throat grew scratchy and thick as he forced his thoughts to remain on Ruby. “Would you like to keep this one with you?” he asked.

      “Yes,” Ruby said, clapping her hands together. “Yes. Yes.”

      “Then here you are.” Handing her the kitten, he helped her get a solid grasp on the tiny, furry body before he glanced across the room at Rosalie, who was grinning. “Would you find a basket for Ruby’s kitten?”

      “Right away,” Rosalie answered. “I have one in the washroom that will work perfectly.”

      “That way it won’t run away while you’re eating,” Gabe said to Ruby. “Afterward, you can take it upstairs to your room.”

      Ruby nodded while clutching the kitten beneath her chin.

      He’d have had to be dead to not feel the glare Janette was giving him as she stood behind Ruby with both hands on her little shoulders. However, he could choose to ignore it.

      “Do I smell apple dumplings?” he asked Ruby.

      “Yes,” she said, with almost as much enthusiasm as she’d used a moment ago.

      “Do you like apple dumplings?”

      She shrugged.

      “You’ve never had them?” he asked, pretending to be surprised.

      Her face grew serious as she shook her head.

      She was adorable, this niece of his, and he was going to enjoy having her around. Not just because she reminded him of Max, or because she was the future of the Triple C, but because she was his family, and it felt good to have family again. Completely ignoring the hold Janette had on Ruby, he scooped the child, kitten and all, into his arms and stood. “You’re going to like them,” he said while walking toward the table. “They are very good.”

      Rosalie set a basket on the floor, complete with a towel already lining the bottom.

      “Let’s put your kitten in the basket while we eat,” Gabe said. “We’ll leave the basket right by your chair, so you can watch the kitten.”

      Ruby agreed with a nod. Once the kitten was settled, mainly because he tossed a small chunk of meat into the basket, he set Ruby on a chair and sat in the one beside her.

      Janette sat on Ruby’s other side, and if the look on her face was anything to go by, he’d say she wasn’t pleased. That didn’t bother him in the least. Neither did her red cheeks. They could be that way because of the poison ivy. Her neck was still red, but her lips were no longer swollen. Her ears weren’t either. Rather than piling her hair up on her head, she’d left it hanging down her back, in long, shiny black waves.

      Gabe pulled his eyes off her.

      “Ruby’s been having a heyday with those kittens,” Rosalie said as she set another pot on the table. “That little black-and-white one took to her straight off, didn’t it, Janette?”

      Janette seemed a bit taken aback but recovered quickly enough. “Yes. The two of them certainly have been inseparable.”

      “Max had a way with animals,” Gabe said. He wasn’t sure if he’d meant to say it aloud or not, but wasn’t disappointed that he’d opened his mouth due to the way Ruby smiled at him.

      “Max is my dada.”

      “I know,” he answered, smiling at her as brightly as she was smiling at him.

      “And you’re my uncle.”

      Her words weren’t clearly spoken, but he understood them. So did his heart. “That’s right. I am.”

      “Uncle Gabe.”

      “That’s me.” He tickled her beneath the chin. “And you are Ruby.” Glancing across the table at Janette, he added, “My niece.”

      * * *

      Janette had been holding her breath so long she was sure her lips had turned blue. Gabe was not only rude, he was as arrogant as he was tall. And smug. So very smug.

      Furthermore, what was he thinking, giving Ruby a kitten? It couldn’t travel with them back to Kansas City, and leaving it would hurt Ruby. Lord knows the child had already lost enough. Gabe should realize that. As her uncle, he should think of her first. Her feelings.

      “Are you not hungry?”

      Unaware the prayer of thanks had ended, Janette lifted her head and was met by his questioning frown. “I was merely stating my own thanks,” she said, flinching inside at her own lie.

      “Well, it must have been a long one, your food is getting cold,” he said.

      Janette lifted her fork and ate, though she wasn’t certain she tasted anything. Ruby had, though. She cleaned her plate not once but twice and then ate an entire apple dumpling. However, the last few bites seemed to wear her completely out.

      “Oh, look at the little darling,” Rosalie said quietly. “She can barely keep her eyes open. Let’s get her up to bed.”

      “Put her in Max’s room,” Gabe said as he stood. “And don’t forget her kitten.”

      Janette had risen from her chair, and as she lifted Ruby into her arms, she said, “Perhaps it would be better if it slept on the porch with the rest of the kittens.”

      “No, I told her she could take it up to her room,” he said.

      “But—”

      “I’d like to speak to you in the parlor as soon as Ruby and her kitten are settled in her room,” he said.

      Carrying the basket and heading to the stairway in the corner, Rosalie said, “This way, Janette.”

      Ruby’s arms were wrapped around Janette’s neck, and though it didn’t hurt, it was uncomfortable only because the skin was so irritated. Gabe’s stance said he expected his orders followed. She would like to defy him, just to make a point, but standing here, arguing, wouldn’t do any of them any good, so without a word, Janette followed Rosalie up the staircase. She would talk with him afterward and thoroughly explain that Ruby could not keep the kitten.

      Though the house was large, the layout was fairly simple and Janette no longer worried about not finding her way, but she was still in awe a bit. Kansas City had several large houses, many of her customers lived

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