A Valentine’s Day Story

I did not expect to witness a birth on my patio on Valentine’s Day.

And yet.

Baby Girl — the cat I’ve been feeding every single day since last year — decided February 14th was the moment.

If you’ve been around here for a while, you know she’s not technically “my” cat. She’s independent. Outdoor. Slightly mysterious. The kind of girl who accepts food and stays during rainy weather when it’s too wet to roam around and “hunt”.

But we’ve had a history.

A couple of pregnancies that didn’t make it. A few times she disappeared and came back. Since December, when we noticed she was pregnant again, I quietly hoped this time would be different. I didn’t say it out loud too much. I just kept feeding her. Same time. Same place. Every day. I even bought an AirTag so I could track her whereabouts. I learned that she spends her time between my house and another down the street, about 8 houses down. I’m not quite sure what her relationship is with them.

Friday morning she was… vocal. I think that might have been when she started feeling contractions because her cry was different. It wasn’t the usual “Good morning, I’m hungry, can I have breakfast please” cry. I had to go to work that day and I couldn’t stop thinking about her. Brons updated me and thinks she was in the beginning stages of labor. If she left and never came back, that meant she probably decided to birth someplace else. Friday came and went and she was still extremely pregnant.

Then Saturday came. Valentine’s Day morning. She was even more vocal when she came by. Not frantic. Not scared. Just very “Ma’am. Stay nearby.” It was a good day to stay nearby because I was off from my job-job, just making deliveries later for Bar Bae.

Brons was home before he had to work and watched me pacing, hovering, pretending I wasn’t hovering. At one point I looked at him and I was the one that said, “I think today is THE day.” Like I was announcing a royal event.

And then her water broke.

I don’t know why that felt so shocking to witness in real life. I got weirdly excited. Like — oh my gosh this is happening, happening. And when the first kitten came out? I cried. Fully. Cried.

Not sad tears. Just overwhelmed. Because it was tiny and real and alive and she was doing it. After everything.

Brons saw the whole emotional spiral while he was putting on his OGA shirt— me gasping, whispering encouragement like she could understand English, tearing up, narrating everything like a documentary host.

Kitten number two arrives.

He leaves. I stay.

Then Nat comes over — perfectly timed — and she gets to see the third and fourth kittens come into the world. We were both just staring in disbelief. Like, are we really on the patio right now witnessing this?

Four healthy kittens.

And the funniest part?

We had Valentine’s Day charcuterie orders to prepare.

Boards to assemble. Heart-shaped pretzels and macarons to curate. Cheese to slice. Prosciutto to shape into roses.

And it’s like Baby Girl knew. She labored, delivered all four, got them settled and nursing… and then calmly looked at me like, “Okay. You can go make your boards now.”

The timing was honestly impressive but what gets me the most isn’t just the birth. It’s that she chose the patio. My patio.

I’ve been feeding her daily for over a year. Through everything. And when she needed somewhere safe — really safe — she didn’t disappear. She didn’t hide somewhere random.

She stayed here. She cried for me to be around.

She still looks up to make sure I’m nearby.

There’s something so humbling about being trusted in a vulnerable moment — even by a cat who pretends she doesn’t need anyone.

Valentine’s Day gave us four tiny heartbeats, a very emotional patio experience, and a reminder that steady kindness builds something. Even when you don’t realize it.

Also, I can now officially say I cried over a cat giving birth before assembling heart-shaped charcuterie boards.

Life is very on brand lately.

P.S. I would also like it on record that I brought my laptop outside and played “relaxing cat music” during labor. Ambient. Soothing. Spa energy. Brons says I turned the patio into a feline birthing suite. I stand by this decision. If we’re delivering four kittens on Valentine’s Day, we’re doing it with a proper soundtrack.

I hope you had fabulous Valentine’s weekend darlings. Also, thank you to everyone who ordered our charcuterie boards, I hope they all tasted as pretty as they look.

Love,

Honey