Okay. Quick little author's note before I have to go have dinner and get ready for choir. Yay! Another chapter!

Chapter 10

I think the boys were caught off guard when we arrived home that evening. They ran straight to their room to sort out the laundry from their overnight bags and add it to the hamper so that Carlos could get a load of washing on. They hadn't been out of sight more than three seconds before we heard their half panicked, half amazed cries. "She's gone!" they exclaimed without thinking. This was followed by a slightly quieter argument and then Eduardo stuck his head out into the hall, looking straight at us with wide eyes while Carlos continued to undo his boots.

"Is everything alright, sweetie?" I called, manoeuvring past my husband.

His eyes got wider when I came closer and he hastily nodded his head. "We're fine, Mom," he assured me. And he disappeared back into the room he shared with his brother. Their voices rose up again, accompanied by the sounds of them tearing the room apart, apparently looking for their lost kitten. I met Carlos's gaze and we shared a silent chuckle before he started down the hall in socked feet to spy on them.

While he was listening to our children panic and worry, I went to check on the kitten, which we had locked back in the laundry for the day so it didn't somehow destroy the house. After all, it was use to being shut away in a closet most of the time. If we suddenly gave it free range of the house, an epic disaster – bigger than the standards set by me, even – would ensue. I opened the door slowly, careful not to startle the baby. When it was fully open, I rolled myself in a short ways so I could see where she was hiding, but there was no sign of her. And now that I thought about it, the door hadn't been closed properly – why that didn't occur to me when I first started opening it, I had no idea.

"Carlos!" I called urgently. I met him in the hall, mere second later, looking up into his concerned face. "She's not in there," I informed him, then narrowed my eyes suspiciously to add, "The door wasn't closed properly."

Rather than provide an explanation, he travelled his gaze down the hall toward our bedroom. As always, the door was ajar. I knew exactly where his mind was. The kitten had ended up in our bed this morning, so chances were she'd made her way back there after we'd left. I could just picture her curled up on Carlos's pillow, waiting for him to return. He may not be too fond of the kitten, but the kitten as absolutely smitten with him. As it should be, really, I'd never met a female who wasn't enamoured with the man. Thankfully for me, he was entirely too enamoured with me to notice anyone else looking.

"Meet me in the kitchen," he said, and strolled purposefully down the hall.

I knew what that meant. Family Court Martial. I'd gotten myself a drink of water and settled at the kitchen table by the time Carlos returned with the kitten in hand. She seemed absolutely content to be held by the buff man, but he dumped her in my lap. Immediately, she snuggled in and I stroked her eyes idly.

"Boys!" he called sternly.

There was a small crash and then the sounds of hurrying feet as they raced to their father, knowing the dire consequences if they didn't appear in a timely fashion. And they really liked their sweets. They skidded into the room, Mat narrowly missing his brother. Their eyes darted between the both of us, probably trying to work out exactly what this was about. Deciding whether they should fess up about the kitten or keep it under wraps for the time being. I adjusted my hold on the small furry creature in my lap, drawing their attention.

"Toaster!" Edi exclaimed, earning him an elbow in the side from his brother. His eyes widened as he looked up at us. "The toaster looks dirty," he tried to amend.

Carlos took a seat at the table, folding his hands on the surface and eyeballing his sons. "Juanito Matias and Tomas Eduardo Manoso," he started, and I shivered like I always did when he said their full names. "You are being charged with harbouring a fugitive." This was met with blank stares. The boys were only five, they probably had no idea what half that sentence meant. "You've been hiding the kitten in your room," Carlos accused. The boys hung their heads, staring at their socks. "State your case."

"We've been taking real good care of her," Matias started, looking up through the curls that had fallen in his face.

"We give her water at night," Edi added, lifting his head just enough so that his own hair slipped to the side so he could see us.

"And milk in the morning," Mat pointed out.

"We took her our left over dinner," Edi provided.

"And we got a bucket of sand from the sand pit for her to do her poos and wees in," they said together, simultaneously raising their heads, twin expressions of hope spread across their faces. They were clearly impressed with their own thoughtfulness, and it made me wonder how they had thought to provide so carefully for the cat.

Carlos looked between the pair, his blank face in place in order to not give anything away. "When you asked if you could have a pet, what did I say?"

"No," the grumbled, faces falling.

"But you still brought a cat into the house," he prompted.

Silence. I knew Carlos wasn't going to give in and let them know that we were keeping the cat so soon, he'd let them sweat it out a little. So his next move was a complete mystery to me. I watched the boys as they fiddled with the hems of their t-shirts, twisting them up and scrunching them in their hands before smoothing them out and starting again.

I placed a hand on Carlos's thigh to get his attention and gave him a questioning look. He answered with a barely perceptible nod to show that he was nearly done, before turning back to the boys.

"Why did you do it?" I asked them.

Their heads snapped up at my question. They hadn't been expecting to be asked that, but I felt it was important for us to understand their motivations before we sentenced them to a month's worth of floor scrubbing or whatever else we came up with. Mat's eyes darted from my calm, serene face to his father's blank-with-a-hint-of-stern expression, probably wondering if it was wise for him to answer my question. After all, I didn't usually speak during these hearings unless it was absolutely necessary. My presence was more to make sure that he wasn't being too harsh on them. I could handle the small punishments like when they fought etc, but these big court martial things were a little beyond me.

With the hand still resting on his thigh, I squeezed gently, sending him a message to allow the boys to plead their case.

"Proceed," he said mildly.

"She was dumped in a drain," Matias explained immediately.

"In a plastic bag," Eduardo put in.

Carlos narrowed his eyes. "Which was it?" he asked. "A drain or a plastic bag?"

"Both!" they exclaimed in unison.

"She was meowing really loudly and trying to get out, so we rescued her," Eduardo detailed. "Then we put her in Mat's backpack to bring her home."

My heart swelled with pride for my babies that they would risk their father's wrath to help an innocent kitten. Even if it had been the wrong thing to do, and probably dangerous depending on the type of drain they were referring to it was the right thing to do to help the little creature.

"Why didn't you tell us?" my husband asked, and I swear to God, his tone was just a smidgen softer.

Mat looked him directly in the eye, knowing the importance of his next statement. "You said no," he said.

"Sweets," I spoke up once more. "If you'd told Daddy about the kitten you rescued he would have helped you take care of her."

My blue eyes boy moved his solemn gaze to my own face and reiterated, "Dad said no."

A thought popped into my head as I stared into my son's eyes. What if, in their own minds at least, they had told Carlos about it? I turned to face my husband. "When was the most recent time they asked if they could have a pet?" I asked him quietly, but with a sense of urgency as I attempted to piece together the missing puzzle pieces of my theory.

"About a week and a half ago," he replied, looking confused."

"Boys." I spun once more to face them. "When did you save the kitten?"

"Toaster," Edi said.

I blinked rapidly, trying to understand. That wasn't the answer I'd been looking for, or even expecting. It made no sense. "Toaster?" I enquired.

Mat nodded. "It's her name."

"You named the cat Toaster?" Carlos asked before I had a chance to process what they were saying. They nodded enthusiastically, grins spreading across their faces. "Why?"

"Because we love Pop Tarts!" they cried together, bouncing up and down.

I couldn't help but giggle at their cute logic, and noticed that even Carlos was smiling. Looking down at the dozing cat in my lap, I uttered softly, "Toaster?" Her little ears pricked up so I tried again. "Toaster," I called, and this time her eyes blinked open and she stared straight at me. I had to admit, Toaster suited her somehow.

Once we'd all calmed down, Carlos addressed the twins. "Tomas Eduardo and Juanito Matias Manoso, on the charge of bringing an unauthorised kitten into the house, how do you plea?"

Their happy-go-lucky expressions fell from their faces as they replied dutifully, "Guilty."

A short nod from Carlos. "I hereby sentence you to two weeks without X-Box privileges and a lifetime of caring for Toaster, starting right now."

Edi's jaw fell open as he stared at his father. "You mean we can keep her?" he asked, utterly gobsmacked.

"As long as you look after her," he responded. "Now go get your dirty laundry. We'll put a load of washing on then go get some proper kitten food and other things we'll need to make Toaster feel at home."

"Yeah!" they shouted and practically ran from the room – except they couldn't have been running because they were inside and we don't run inside.

When they were out of sight, Carlos shook his head from side to side slowly. "You didn't make them tell you how long they'd had it," I informed him pointedly.

"Didn't need to," he responded, entwining his fingers with mine where they still rested on his thigh. "I got where you were heading with your line of questioning."

"They defied your authority to save a kitten," I pointed out, unable to keep the smile from my face as the kitten in question climbed cautiously onto the arm of my wheelchair and reached a paw out toward Carlos.

"Reminds me of someone else I know," he said, leaning in to kiss my neck before pulling away sharply and looking down at his lap. Toaster had taken the opportunity to leap the short distance to sit on his thigh, looking up at him with big, adorable, expectant eyes. "Don't get used to this," Carlos muttered, reluctantly scratching the kitten's head. I couldn't help but laugh at the unlikely pair.

Don't forget to review. Next chapter I'll probably start solving some crossword clues.