Total pages in book: 36
Estimated words: 34680 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 173(@200wpm)___ 139(@250wpm)___ 116(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 34680 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 173(@200wpm)___ 139(@250wpm)___ 116(@300wpm)
Reluctantly, I follow her into the hall.
She closes the kitchen door and turns to me. “You brought a girl home!”
“I, well … Yes.”
She claps, then grips her hands to try and contain her burst of glee. “Okay, this is wonderful. She is sweet as can be. Pretty, too. I had no idea David and Laverne had such good genes. Anyway, doesn’t matter.”
“About the cats–”
“I can handle all that.” She swipes a hand through the air. “I just got you out here because I want to tell you not to screw this up.”
“What?”
“You heard me. That girl is already a breath of fresh air.”
I bristle. “She’s my ward. Mine.”
Mrs. Putnam laughs. “There it is. That’s what I thought.”
She’s knocked me off balance yet again. “Are you having a stroke? What do you mean ‘there it is’?”
“You’ll see.” She opens the kitchen door, apparently dismissing me, and strides back in. “Come on, Griffin. You can have a sandwich too. Unless Vivian wants another one?”
“I’m stuffed. Thank you.” Vivian is petting the mama cat as the kittens snooze in a little furry heap.
“All right. Just give me a list of your favorites, and I’ll be sure to keep your tummy happy.”
“That is so kind. I appreciate it.” Vivian smiles. “No one’s ever cooked for me before.”
“What?” Mrs. Putnam stills. “Never?”
“At boarding school, I just eat whatever they serve in the cafe. And Mom and Dad–they never cooked. Or at least I never saw them do anything like that.”
Mrs. Putnam nods. “David and Laverne were more about having experiences and traveling, I suppose. A quiet evening at home cooking for their family was never in the cards.”
“Right.” The sadness in Vivian’s voice has me walking to her and putting my hand on her shoulder.
“I know today has been a lot. Are you all right?”
She keeps petting the mama cat but looks up at me with teary eyes. When she smiles, it’s a mix of sadness and hope. “No, but I think I will be.”
6
VIVIAN
“The cats have more boxes than I do.” I laugh. It feels nice to laugh. Today is turning out better than I ever possibly thought it could have. As fast as everything is happening, at least it’s keeping me busy.
Griff keeps my mind busy too. Instead of my thoughts drifting to my parents over and over, they are now drifting to him. He’s the puzzle I’m trying to put together. At moments I see the man I’ve heard people describe, and other times he’s not that man at all.
The bedroom Griff has given me for my stay has slowly been filling with boxes all afternoon. He already sent someone back to my parents’ to collect my things. It wasn’t long before anything and everything a cat might need started to appear in my room as well. I’m not sure if that’s all Mrs. Putnam’s doing or his. But every time I turn around, I swear there's another box.
“If there is something you need, make a list and I’ll have it picked up for you,” Mrs. Putnam says without missing a beat. She’s so efficient. Everyone around here is.
I absolutely adore her. Since I stepped into this palatial home, she’s been the sweetest person I’ve ever met in my life. A bit of a fairy godmother really. It’s part of why I think this place is a palace.
I mean, it doesn’t get much better than this house. First, I find kittens, then I get to have Mrs. Putnam. Then there’s the fact that whenever I need something, it magically appears within almost minutes. Those things alone are a dream, but then you have the house itself. Every inch of it is stunning. My bedroom could be an apartment minus a kitchen. My closet alone is bigger than my old dorm room.
There’s even a sitting area with two loveseats and a fireplace. I can already picture myself cuddled up with the kittens there while reading a book.
“Oh, Mrs. Putnam, I think I have more than I’ll ever need.” I ignore my own boxes and go for one of the cat boxes that looks to have some toys in it. Mrs. Putnam is building one of the cat treehouses. I might have requested three of them after I saw how big my bedroom was.
We’ve already put together a gated area where the mama can jump in and out on her own, but the babies will stay safely inside when there is no one around to look out for them. I was worried I could lose one. A silly fear, I’m sure, but when I voiced it to Griff, he told me not to worry my pretty little head, giving my nose a tap with his finger. Then the palace did its thing, and boxes appeared with gates in them for us to put together. This house is made of magic.