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“Great. They’re in our meeting room down here.” Jesse led them along a corridor lined with more gorgeous photos and opened a door. “It’s OK, they’re shut in,” he explained as Dad peered in, looking a bit worried. “They aren’t going to make a run for it.”

“Oh, look…” Mum said softly as she went in. “Aren’t they sweet, Darcy?”

But Darcy didn’t say anything. She was too busy watching. Jesse was unlatching a wire crate and three tiny kittens were starting to nose curiously at the door. They climbed and wriggled and stomped all over each other, trying to get out and see what was going on.

“Look at the ginger one!” Will gasped as a ginger kitten launched itself over the top of two tabbies, bouncing on to the floor. It sniffed nosily at Dad’s trainers and then batted one paw at the dangling laces.

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The tabby kittens stumbled out behind the ginger one and gazed thoughtfully up at Mum and Darcy.

“Do they know we want to take one of them home?” Darcy whispered to her mum.

“You’re actually the first family these kittens have met,” Jesse said, “so they probably don’t know what’s going on. We’ve had them for a few weeks, with their mum. We’re planning to rehome her with one of the kittens, and the others either on their own or together.”

“Just one for us!” Dad said anxiously. “We’re not very experienced pet owners. We only want one kitten.”

Darcy closed her mouth firmly. She’d been just about to say that maybe they should have two kittens, but she didn’t want to put Dad off.

“Aren’t there four of them?” she asked Jesse, looking around the room. There were definitely only three kittens out. The two tabbies were still by the crate, watching cautiously, and the ginger one was now trying to climb up Dad’s jeans.

Jesse nodded.“Look…” he murmured, and Darcy crouched down to look inside the wire crate. It was padded with a rumpled fleece blanket and peering out from under the folds was a small, worried-looking tabby and white face.

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The kitten had the pinkest nose that Darcy had ever seen on a cat. It was such a bright pink that it almost looked like it would glow in the dark. The kitten stared back at Darcy with round, yellow-green eyes and then it stepped out from under the folds of the blanket. Now Darcy could see that it looked different to the other two tabbies. They were tabby all over, with grey-brown paws. This kitten was tabby with a neat white shirt front and sparklingly white paws. It had a very cute white chin too, as if it was white with a tabby mask over its eyes and ears.

“Oh, that’s a very sweet kitten,” Mum said and Jesse laughed.

“I know – I love his markings.”

The tabby and white kitten edged slowly out of the crate and then sat down in front of it. He still looked nervous– perhaps he was scared of the room full of people, Darcy thought. Will was so desperate to make Jesse think he was sensible that he hadn’t said a word, but even though they were being quiet, they were still very big compared to a kitten.

The kitten lifted one of his front paws, licked at it and passed it vaguely in the direction of his ears. Darcy had a feeling he wasn’t really trying to wash, it was just giving him something to do, so he could pretend he hadn’t noticed all these people staring at him.

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Now that he was washing, Darcy noticed the underside of his paws– the pads were the same neon-pink as his nose. They stood out brightly against the white fur, like little pink beans.

“He’s gorgeous,” she said, looking hopefully at Mum to see if she felt the same way. Maybe she’d fallen in love with one of the others?

But Mum was looking at the kitten washing too, with the same sort of face that Darcy imagined she was making.“Isn’t he?” she agreed.

“He’s washing hisears,” Will said in a tiny whisper. “He’s so clever!”

Dad sighed.“I take it we’re having this one then?”

“Don’t you like him?” Darcy asked indignantly.

“Um… He’s definitely cute,” Dad admitted. “I’m just not a big cat person.”

“Sorry,” Darcy said to Jesse, hoping this didn’t put him off them.

“It’s OK.” Jesse grinned. “I’m pretty sure this one will win your dad over.”

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They walked back to the car with the kitten in a cat carrier– it had been in the boot of the car the whole time, but Darcy and Will hadn’t known. Mum told them she had been to the pet shop and bought it the same day the shelter had done the home check. She’d bought a cat basket, some food bowls and kitten food too. They were all hidden in the shed in the garden.

“I haven’t got any toys or a collar yet, though. I thought you two would like to help choose those,” she said.

“What will the kitten play with when we get home?” Will asked, frowning.

“Kittens play with everything.” Mum laughed. “You saw that ginger one trying to eat Dad’s shoelaces. They like bits of string, balls of paper. Sunbeams even. Don’t worry, I expect our kitten will be too busy exploring to miss having any toys.”