Chapter 30

Kitty had to admit that Sarah´s food was some of the best she had ever tasted. And that was very obvious, apparently...at least to Amelia.

"Kitty, do mind your manners. We are guests," Amelia chided her friend as Kitty leaned over the table to take her third portion of roast. Kitty simply stuck out her tongue at her impudently. Amelia sighed wearily, and turned to Sarah. "Usually, she actually does display exquisite manners, but it appears that she seems to be having a bit of relapse to her old ways..."

Sarah just smiled to allay Amelia's embarrassment. "Oh, that´s nothing to worry about, Amelia. I just consider Kitty's hearty appetite to simply mean she appreciates my cooking is all."

"Ha! Like this food, she says," Kitty said around a big mouthful of mashed potatoes and gravy, in apparent disbelief. "Sarah...I love your food!"

"Eat up then, Ms. Petro...there´s always more," Sarah replied kindly.

Kitty's response to Sarah's graciousness was to just eat faster...oh, while taking gulps of her purp juice from the glass she held in her tail.

"Charming girl, isn't she?" Amelia muttered to Delbert, shaking her head while continued to eat her own meal. Delbert smiled indulgently at Kitty, then adoringly over at the unsuspecting Amelia.

When lunch was finally over---after Kitty personally demolished the better part of an entire apple pie---Kitty decided to make up a bit for her, er, overenthusiasm, by staying to help Sarah clean up the dishes. Well, to be truthful, actually Kitty only snapped her fingers, instantly transforming the dirty lunch dishes to pristine stacks of sparkling china, silver, and stemware. The remainder of the time, she and Sarah had a little talk between themselves.

"So, Kitty...what do you think of Montressor so far?" Sarah asked, sighing as she took a seat at the small table in the kitchen.

"Well, I don´t know just yet," Kitty mused, taking the seat across from Sarah. "You see...I've only seen the spaceport, the hospital, and...oh, and the landscape along the way from the hospital to here. But, so far, it does look like a place I might like to stay at. Calm, peaceful atmosphere all around...not a bad thing, really."

"Good," Sarah said, nodding, quite pleased.

Kitty smiled. "Sarah, are you thinking that because you want to play matchmaker between Amelia and Delbert by chance?"

Sarah looked away a moment. "Well, Delbert has been a bachelor for far too long in my opinion," Sarah opinied.

Kitty smiled. "You think that because you're such a good friend to him."

Sarah blushed at that. "Well, he's been helping me out for a good long time, Kitty. I figure that it´s about time I do the same for him this time."

Kitty smiled in understanding. Sarah was a kindhearted soul. Having her as a new friend was something Kitty would appreciate wery much. "Well, as a matter of fact, I couldn't agree more with you," she said. "But, truth be know, those two know that already, they're just frightened is all," Kitty said. "They're both deathly afarid to admit it."

Surprisingly enough to Kitty, just as she said that, a mental image of a certain blond felinid fellow flashed before her mind. She shook her head to clear that particular image away. No, she told herself mentally, Alex´s just a friend...that's all.

"Well, Sarah...shall we rejoin the others?" Kitty asked, more to take her mind of things than anything else.

"Yes, let's," Sarah answered and they both got up and headed back for the living room. As they were about to step in, both Sarah and Kitty stood dumbfounded as they witnessed Delbert kissing Amelia...or was it Amelia kissing Delbert? Kitty didn't know...and frankly, didn't care.

"Well, it's about bloody time, Doctor," Kitty teased, shaking her head and rolling her eyes. She crossed her arms.

"Just you hush, you wretch," Amelia snapped, taking her hand from behind Delbert's neck to flash her a rather rude hand gesture. Apparently, living with Kitty had managed to rub some of the polish off of Amelia's normally impeccable manners.

Kitty blinked in surprise. Then she grinned, shrugging her shoulders while saying, "Nice. About time she lost some of her prim and proper manners, really. Took her long enough." Kitty laughed softly, seeing the look of shock on Sarah's face. She then headed back upstairs, telling Sarah that she was going to bed to take herself a refreshing nap. As she slipped from sight, Amelia finally released Delbert, who was breathing a bit heavy, and was rather red in the face. Amelia laid her slender hand against Delbert's cheek, and just smiled, looking adoringly into his brown eyes.

"It's about time, Delbert Doppler," Sarah whispered with a certain smug satisfaction. She waited for the two to compose themselves, then headed into the room, heading over towards Amelia. "Congratulations, Captain. Our Delbert really is a rather nice fellow."

"That is something I'm coming to know myself, Sarah," Amelia replied.

"So...just to be social, you two, what just happened here?" Sarah asked eagerly, yet politely.

"Well, Sarah, it all began with that painting of Kitty's...you know the one?" Delbert started, then faltered, clearing his throat and running a finger under his collar.

"Yes, well, after you two left after lunch, Delbert here shocked me by asking me if I had feelings for him, one's like that wretch Kitty so thoughtfully portrayed for all and sundry," Amelia said, then blushed like a teenage school girl. Amelia composed herself, then continued. "You see...Kitty has been trying to convince me for what seems ages that I was in love with him...Delbert, that is." Amelia now cleared her throat, and smiled when Delbert laid his big hand comfortingly over her own smaller one. She then worked up the nerve to continue. "But the thing of it was the fact that I was convinced that well, he didn't fell the same way about me."

Delbert chose the moment to lift Amelia's hand to his lips and lightly kiss the back of it. Amelia became all flustered temporarily, her thoughts jumbled. She blinked rapidly a few times, then managed to shakily continue on. "So, when I finally figured out that we both felt the same way about each other...well, as you saw, the moment sort of took over," she confessed, turning to smile at Delbert.

"Thank you for telling me," Sarah said.

That was the precise moment that Jim came bustling inside, his cheeks glowing, his blue eyes lighting up at seeing his mother and his friends. "So, folks...anything interesting happen while I've been gone?" he asked, quite innocently.

Amelia looked to Delbert, then the both of them looked over to Sarah, who began to laugh, soon to be joined by both Amelia's and Delbert's chuckles.

Jim gave them the irritated look all teenagers give their elders. "What? What did I say?"

Sarah convulsed in a flurry of giggling, annoying her son all the more.

"Fine, be that way then!" Jim declared, turning and stomping from the room in a huff.

The three adults howled with laughter.