“Might I ask where they came from?” I turned my attention back to Elizabeth.
“The cat rescue.”
“Is that an actual rescue, or a Catherine rescue?” The last time anyone in the Hastings family claimed a rescue, it was her sister and Gabi’s Aunt Cat—she’d procured herself a dog she’d “found,” who she’d actually rescued from a shelter.
So she said.
Personally, I still doubted that a little bit.
“An actual rescue,” Elizabeth continued. “Alexander has yet to discover them.”
“Three is a little excessive, no?”
“One can never have too many cats.”
Given that the housekeepers would be the ones scooping their shit out the litter boxes, one had to question the truth in that statement.
“And how exactly do you expect Alex to respond to the fact there are three cats in the house?” I raised my eyebrows, and there was a sinking feeling in my stomach that said this was the real reason she’d called me to the library.
“Yes, Mother. I, too, find myself incredibly interested in your answer to that.”
Oops.
It didn’t matter now, evidently.
We were about to find out.
Elizabeth shot daggers at me and stood, pushing the other two cats from her lap. “Did you call him here?”
Uh-oh.
I was in a lot of trouble.
“Mother, you have three cats. Out of nowhere. Do not blame this on Adelaide,” Alex said, drawing level with me. “What are you doing with three cats?”
Elizabeth glared in my direction. “I asked you to speak with me, not him!”
I wrapped my arms around myself. Discomfort crept across my arms in the form of goosebumps that were anything but pleasurable, and all I wanted was to dive beneath the nearest blanket and hide for a week.
Alex stepped in front of me. “I have an exceptional amount of respect for you, Ma, but you will not make our guest uncomfortable. You will, however, explain to me why you’ve brought three cats into the house without discussion!”
“This is my house, too!”
“You are not the only one living in it! What if a member of staff has an allergy? Have you thought of that? Not to mention Oly has been asking for one for bloody months and I told her no, something you knew!”
“Well, then I get grandma points!”
“No, you most certainly do not! I told her no, until such a time she can prove herself responsible enough to do everything taking care of a cat entails, and you’ve gone behind my back!”
My vision blurred as she shot back a retort, and my heartbeat pounded in my ears. It was a devastatingly loud thud, and my entire body vibrated with it. Their argument was muted and humming with uncertainty as far as my mind was concerned, and I rubbed my hands over my face in the hope it would help clear something inside me.
“Stop it!”
They both froze and turned to look at me, and a flash of shock crossed Elizabeth’s expression.
I threw out my hands and looked at both of them. “Just, please. Stop arguing for five minutes.”
Neither moved nor said a word, so I took that as my cue.
“Yes, Elizabeth, I did ask Alex to come. You cornered me outside my room with a newspaper showing a photo of us and I assumed you wanted a conversation about that, not… three cats,” I finished on a slightly weaker note than I’d started and eyed the black cat who was currently surveying me with immense displeasure.
Maybe.
I wasn’t sure.
Cats rarely looked impressed.
“And the fighting is just insane,” I said after a moment. “How are you going to explain it to Olympia if she catches you? I don’t know what issue you have with each other right now, nor is it any of my business, but for goodness’ sake. If you must fight, there’s a few hundred acres out there for you to do it where nobody else has to listen to you.” I passed my gaze between them both.
“Are you done?” Alex asked, amusement tinging his tone.
“I am not,” I continued. “Alex, I am incredibly sorry I disturbed you for a conversation in which your mother was apparently going to wrangle me into helping her hide the cats. Elizabeth, if that was your intention, I do not appreciate it.”
Alex turned his attention to his mother. “Was it?”
Elizabeth shifted her weight from one foot to the other and scooped the tortoise-shell cat up from the sofa. “Perhaps.”
He pinched the bridge of his nose and briefly closed his eyes. “How on Earth did you expect to hide three bloody cats?”
“I don’t know. Why do you think I was going to ask Adelaide? If I knew, I obviously wasn’t going to bring her into it.”
“Why do you think I’d know? I can’t even hide Christmas presents,” I said. “I’m the person who goes shopping and then tells everyone I’ve bought them a present before promptly offering to tell them what it is! If I can’t hide a candle from my mother, I sure as heck can’t hide three cats.”