We hadn't planned on giving Amos and Marcella the official thank you for the help they had given us during the election on Christmas day, but the lunch passed fairly well. Marcella and Amos politely ate, though there was some surprise on Amos's part on how large the servings for Molly and I were.
"We need this much," Molly said to him as he stared at the fact that we were essentially using serving trays as plates, "Our size and metabolism would result in malnutrition for us, if we ate the same volume as a human ate."
"Oh, I understand," Amos replied, "It's just a little bit of a surprise, I suppose. We've never seen Officer Wayne eat."
"Don't worry, most of the time his manners are very good," Molly told him.
"Most of the time?" I asked her.
Molly's only response was a snicker. Amos and Marcella ignored the comment and the teasing between us. Eventually, Marcella had a different question to ask.
"So, Officer Wayne has said you two are starting a family," Marcella began, "Do you know for sure... when you have your kittens?"
"Cubs, tigers have cubs," Molly answered, "and we don't know for sure yet. We're hoping to get a reply on a question as to when doctors could confirm that I'm pregnant. If we don't get any response... or if he doesn't know for sure, we'd go by what is the common human time frame for confirming a pregnancy which is about a month after conception."
"We're fairly confident that we were successful though," I added, "the confirmation thing is just to be one hundred percent certain."
"How do you know?" Amos asked me, sounding puzzled, "You can't get pregnant."
"That's right, you and I can not, but just as you detected hints of Molly's mating scent, so could I," I answered, "and that scent has been growing weaker since this morning. My only conclusion to that is that Molly is pregnant and her body no longer needs to produce that scent."
"And even if he doesn't know... instinctively... I feel like we were successful," Molly added and then held my hand, "we just want to make sure."
"Congratulations," Amos said politely, "Sorry about any confusion."
"It's alright," I replied, "A lot of things will be very new for you for awhile."
"So when do you think you'll have your... cubs?" Marcella asked.
"Well... based off a friend of ours who is pregnant, and much further along then I am, if our season was successful," Molly sighed, "I'll probably be giving birth this summer."
"You're friends with other tigers?" Marcella wondered.
"No, these friends a lions, close cousins to tigers but there are still differences," Molly answered, "Lions are social by nature and thus they can tolerate living in a more heavily populated easier then George and I can."
"That's why you live out here?" Amos wondered, "to get away from people?"
"In a way," I answered, "but we also like the closeness with nature that we get here at Bandhavgarh."
Amos and Marcella lowered one of their triangle shaped ears in confusion.
"It's a park in India, like Yellowstone or Glacier in the US," Molly explained, "It's purpose is to help save the Bengal Tiger, and George here, named our cabin for the park... which has also now expanded to the ranch my Uncle runs for us."
"So you get free beef?" Amos asked.
"I suppose we could... but from a ranching point of view, that'd hurt us pretty bad," I gave a chuckle, "outside of deer hunted during the appropriate season, we buy our meat."
"Oh..." Amos nodded, "You two don't find it too cold out here, do you?"
"It can get chilly, but we have enough bulk size and muscle that the cold doesn't bother us too much," I answered.
"My folks told you a long haired breed would be better," Marcella told Amos, "More fur equals more insulation, and thus warmer body..."
"I thought a Snowshoe Cat did do well in winter... I mean... who wears snowshoes in the summer?" Amos asked.
"Alaskans," Marcella joked.
Molly and I traded short glances.
"Okay, I know I blew it with the breed choice," Amos admitted, "but you'll keep me warm, right Marcella?"
"Of course," Marcella answered and put her paw-like hand on Amos's shoulder.
Molly and I listened Amos and Marcella purr to each other and continued eating. The lunch went fairly well. After the last of the meat that had been cooked was consumed, Molly and I moved to clear the table and move things into the kitchen. In the meantime, Amos and Marcella moved to get themselves ready for their return into town.
"Thank you both for the lunch," Amos said to me as we saw them to the door.
"It was the least we could do," I told him, "You helped Molly and I out a lot. We felt we needed to do something like this for you."
"Thank you," Amos replied, came forward and rubbed his head and side against mine. He purred as he did so.
I replied with a low rumble, the closest thing I could make to imitate the house cat vocalization.
"If you guys ever need a babysitter, we'd be more then happy to do so," Marcella volunteered, "though, once NEXT fall starts we'll be going to college..."
"And on with the next chapter of your lives," I nodded, "when our cubs are born and we need someone to watch them... we'll give you two a call."
"Thanks again for the lunch," Marcella said with a smile and went back into the cold with Amos moving with her.
"Their kittens will be cute," Molly commented.
"They aren't even in College, yet," I commented, "starting a family for them should be in the distant future."
"Oh, I agree," Molly nodded, "but I think they'll stick together and will have very cute kittens."
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
The rest of the day went fairly quietly for Molly and I. With the "thank you lunch" for Amos and Marcella over, and the instinctual feelings of success in our mating season, we were able to turn to some of the other things that we had neglected over the course of the Christmas break and over the course of the day so far. Some of that included some Christmas presents that we had received. Molly and I hadn't gotten each other anything, as we were treating a successful mating season as our gifts to each other. Be we did get a couple of boxes from my parents and Frank Rhoer had delivered something for the both of us. With the other things finished for the day, we turned the gifts.
"So, what do you want to start with, George?" Molly asked.
I looked over the small stack of gifts that we had placed under the small artificial tree that I had set up. Part of me was fairly certain what my parents had given us. Given the excitement that my mother had showed, even if Molly and I only got the audio, when we told her that Molly and I were ready to start a family, I figured that their gifts were things that would relate to babies and things like that. The gift from Frank, Meredeth, and Nessie Rhoer, however, was a complete mystery.
Molly and I had given them a couple of things they might like. We gave Frank Rhoer a new jacket that looked very durable and we were able to have personalized. The inscription read: "Uncle Frank. Best Uncle Ever". We gave Nessie and Meredeth a couple of movies that they had told Molly they liked during one of the times they had been talking over the course of the year, since the rift that Beauregard had forced between Molly and I and her Uncle had been fixed.
"I was leaning to the gift your Uncle and Cousins gave us," I commented, "I'm pretty sure my folks got us stuff to prepare for "parenthood". I don't have a clue as to what your Uncle gave us."
"Okay," Molly shrugged and moved to pick up the box.
It was slightly larger then a shoe box, and I sat quiet interest as Molly removed the wrapping paper. Opening the box inside the wrapping paper, Molly looked in and gave a slight "oh". That only made me all the more curious,
"What is it?" I asked.
"It's a photograph of us and Uncle Frank when the official name of the ranch was changed," Molly answered, "and it's on a stand. We can put it by the computer upstairs."
Molly then lifted up a photograph in a stand up frame. The photograph had been taken shortly after Frank Rhoer and his daughters had moved into Michael York's old home. On it, Molly and I stood by one fence post while Frank Rhoer and Meredeth stood on the other. Between us in the photo was a wooden sign that hung between the two fence posts that read: Bandhavgarh Ranch and Preserve. I remembered the day. It was one of those days that Frank Rhoer had insisted we "needed" to be there for, as it was a sort of "changing of the guard" as it were.
"It's a shame we couldn't get Nessie in the photo too," I commented, "Maybe I should have taken the photo. Then you'd have all the Rhoers together."
"It's a nice photo," Molly insisted, "and I'm a Wayne now anyway... and probably a mother to be..."
I nodded and we shared a brief nuzzle. I then placed the photograph on a small end table on the other end of our couch. Molly meanwhile turned and handed me a box that had been sent to us by my father and mother. There was a small card attached to it.
"Your turn, George," Molly urged.
Using a claw as a letter opener, I was able to pull out the card that was inside. I then read the message to Molly.
"Dear Son and Daughter-in-Law," I read, "First Merry Christmas. Hopefully the two of you are well on your way to hearing little paw steps. These are a few things you'll recognize, George, but I believe you will have need of them in the coming years. Love to all, Mom and Dad."
"And we are on our way," Molly gave a smile.
I slowly nodded and moved to unwrapping the gift. The paper was tossed into a pile the the paper that had been around Frank Rhoer's gift. The gift turned out to be a series of children's books. Things that taught the values of sharing, friendship, and other things parents tried to teach their kids. The first book in the stack was a book titled, "A Kid's Book of Animals" with various animals pictured on it.
"It's a bunch of books I had when I was a kid," I said in surprise.
"Really?" Molly wondered and got up to sit on the couch beside me.
We began looking through them.
"I thought they sold all these books when I outgrew them... or donated them to the library," I commented as I looked at one, noticing clearly where I had attempted to sign my name inside it with crayon when I was a youngster.
"Maybe your folks hung onto them for sentimental reasons," Molly commented, "To remember when you were little. And now the books you had will go on to entertain a new generation."
"Maybe," I shrugged, "but what if all our cubs are female? They may not like a lot of my old books."
"Then we can buy books that they'd like," Molly gave a smile, "and since the litter could be as many as four cubs, I'd think there is a good shot that one of them will be male. Of course, that is all up to you."
"Oh sure, bring genetics into it," I teased her back, making Molly giggle.
The last gift from my folks came in a moderate sized box, and to our surprise contained a video-camera along with a short note of its own. On it, my parents mentioned that it would be good for family movies. The camera came with all the appropriate wiring that would allow us to either load it onto the Internet or to play it on our television. It was a nice gift which would have lasting value. If our mating was successful, and Molly was now expecting, the camera would allow us to record the various precious moments that would leave us with lasting memories. Now, all we needed was to wait for the confirmation that Molly was pregnant.