With great effort, he knelt beside me, reached out, and stroked one of the kittens with his index finger.
"She really did have the biggest heart," he whispered.
"She did," I said, smiling through the tears. "And it's still here. Somehow."
We kept them all. The mother cat was calm and affectionate, and her kittens grew stronger every day. Baxter watched over them as if it were his full-time job.
"And it's still here. Somehow."
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