The Cat — Elaine Waldron

Old Egbert Saunders is a proud man who loves his family and can't wait for his new grandson to arrive. Laura, his daughter, is not the only one in labor. Reba, the family cat, is also delivering kittens out in the barn. Egbert doesn't want his twin, five-year-old granddaughters, Neva and Janet, to know Reba is having kittens, for he plans to get rid of them as soon as they all arrive. However, as wise as old Egbert is, he fails to consider the powerful, motherly instincts of a cat.

The Cat is a chilling short story of horror, not a novelette.