This Heart of Mine

Ch. 37: Wrong Ending

Tears kept streaming down Naina's face, as if she were a leaky faucet. In light of all the things that'd happened to her, Queenie's safety had slipped her mind.

The cat mewled softly and slowly nudged Naina with her head. Her fur, the beautiful white fur, had been cut, where it'd matted up, like a patchwork blanket. A long bandage covered the infected wound Kenny had cleaned up early this morning.

He patted her back as she kept sobbing, while holding Queenie as gently as she could. Naina was afraid she'd hurt Queenie more if she hugged her.

"Naina, hon," Kenny said. "It's alright."

"It's—It's not al—alright. I completely for—forgot about her," she blubbered. "I'm such a hor—horrible person."

"You're not," he said firmly, as if scolding her. "You've got a lot on your mind. And I'm guessing the people that should've been looking for her stopped."

Probably. But the tears wouldn't stop coming out.

"Here, go get some rest, freshen up. I'll feed her." He tugged on Naina's elbow a little until she let go of Queenie. The cat, as if understanding Kenny's words, nestled in Kenny's arms and gave Naina a look.

She laughed, while leaking a few tears. Queenie was still the judgmental little thing. "Um, yeah. Sure."

By the time she came out, Queenie was exploring the other areas as best as she could, limping while walking. Again, when she saw Naina, she came to her quickly and nudged Naina's leg.

The bliss that she felt was like eating ice cream on a hot day. Queenie would not leave Naina's side, until the evening, when Ian showed up.

Naina sat in her office, finishing up a few details for some patients coming in that week when she heard a yowl.

Ian cuddled Queenie when Naina walked out, worried that Queenie might've met Burrito or Queso and decided that she didn't like them. His hair, freshly washed and still a little damp, flopped around as he played with the cat.

"She's back!" he exclaimed. The grin on his face resembled a child's in a toy store.

"Yeah, Kenny found her this morning..." She went over the details of the cut Queenie had and what the doc had done.

But she ended her spiel with, "I'm not sure if I want to return her to Lauren or not. Have you heard anything from Dominic?"

Like a light bulb blowing a fuse, his smile disappeared instantly. "Well, I didn't want to tell you, but they've been telling people Queenie died and even had a mock funeral."

"Why didn't you say anything?" Her voice rose and Burrito peeked her head out of Naina's bedroom, as if checking on them.

"What could you have done? You were already stressed about the shit that they were pulling and well...I've been searching for her when I could. I didn't want you worrying about something that was out of your control."

"I wouldn't have worried...that much," she added, just to ease her words.

He gave her a dead stare worthy of an Academy award. "Babe, you know you would."

Grr. Every time he called her babe, something tickled the back of her neck. She couldn't even be upset with him about not mentioning the mock funeral.

Her stupid happy-embarrassed grin spread across her face, like dye in a pool.

He furrowed his eyebrows. "Why're you smiling like that?"

"No, um, particular reason."

He got up and came close to her, poking her on the cheek with Queenie's paw. "Come on. What's going on? Something good happen?"