Page 22 of All My Broken Dreams

“I am ready to be brought into your secret, Deacon,” she said. “I guess that will make me your accomplice. You said it would give me something to hold over you. Am I going to need it?”

Color rose to his face and his eyes shone. “One day, you might. It’ll put us on an even keel. I know about your weakness. You should know about mine. A thing no one else knows.”

He led the way down a narrow lane that was more like a sidewalk stuck between two buildings. Too narrow to walk together, Robbie had to fall back behind him. His shoulders barely cleared the space.

“It’s a good thing you don’t have claustrophobia,” she quipped.

“No, but a lot of people do. That’s what keeps them safe from discovery.”

Her hair stood up. “Keeps who safe from discovery?”

“These guys.”

Deacon stepped into a tiny square courtyard and pointed to a bundle of fur in the far corner. She heard a thin meow come from the wooden box they were nestled in. Robbie turned to Deacon with delight.

“Kittens? Oh my god, you’re a secret cat lover!”

“Feral cats, but yes, this is my secret. I found the mother hiding out in here a couple of months ago. I didn’t know she was pregnant until these little ones came along.”

Robbie bent over the tiny balls of fluff. The mother stared at her with wide green eyes when she gingerly reached out her hand to stroke her babies.

“You’re going to have to get her fixed or this will happen every cycle. My dad grew up on a farm. You’ll be overrun with cats in no time.”

“My father grew up on a farm too,” he said. “In New Hampshire. I never saw it; only heard about it. He told me stories when I was a kid.”

Deacon hunched down beside her and the mother cat extracted her silky body from her nursing offspring to climb onto his lap. He sat down, cross-legged, on the cobbles to accommodate her. “I started feeding her and when she got fat, I thought it was from overeating. I came last week after work and she was panting and pacing. I was certain she was going to die. And then a kitten plopped out. She did the rest while I ran to the janitor’s closet to get something to make up a bed for her. She’s a funny thing.”

Robbie watched Deacon stroke the cat fondly.

“Why will they fire you if they find out you’ve been feeding a stray cat?”

“Because she’s wild. The powers that be will have her trapped and put down if they find out she’s here. And I’ll get canned for encouraging it.”

“That doesn’t seem fair. What are you supposed to do, let her starve?”

“According to my employer, yes.” He returned the cat to her litter and settled her kittens around her. “There you go. Behave now. I’ll be back tomorrow morning.”

Robbie stood up, shaking her head. “Honestly, I thought your secret was something really horrible–like a bone collection or an illegal drug operation.”

His dark hair crowded his eyes as his brow lifted. “You were not far off. I do run an illegal drug operation.”

“I mean, you surprised me. That’s all.”

They stared at each other for a beat.

Robbie’s breathing changed and she felt warm. Deacon’s expression mirrored how she felt. It was unspoken, but she knew he wanted to kiss her too.

“We should go,” he said gruffly.

“Yes, all right.”

They didn’t move. The cat let out a raspy meow from her box.

Robbie tore her eyes away from him and took in her surroundings. “What is this place anyway? It’s too cramped to be useful for anything.”

Deacon followed her gaze over the courtyard. “It’s a coal chute. Do you see those lighter squares of brickwork on each wall? The coalman would push his cart down that laneway and shovel the coal into each chute for all four buildings. They were bricked over when Locksley Hall moved from heating with coal twenty-five years ago.”

She wrapped her arms around her middle, hugging her body. “I guess we should go, right? Do you think Mrs. Cameron is awake or is it too early to call?”

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