Tess picked up the kitten and held him to her chest.
“What’s his name?” Colette asked, voice soft.
“Um…” Tess moved to sit back on the loveseat, kitten still in her arms. “Whirligig, like the toy…. Sir Whirligig, the third. That’s his name.”
“Sir Whirligig the third?”
“Yup.”
“Then who’s Whirligig the first and second?”
Tess paused, then stuck a thumb to her chest, just above Whirligig’s head. “I’m Whirligig the first. You can be second, if you like.”
Colette laughed. “Sure, Tess. I have to say, you manage to surprise me more every day.”
Tess smiled and turned back to Whirligig. She fawned over him for the next half hour, as the last of the presents were handed out, and he relaxed in her lap so quickly it was like they’d known each other for years. When he began to purr, Erin clappe
