It’s a sad day for the Fontanille family. The last rafter painted, the last nail hammered, Jason and Keva looked out from their porch and breathed easier.

Their beautifully built home near Folsom was finally complete.

It took three long years and much hard work to complete the two-story, erected for the most part with their own hands.

Jackson and Leah Fontanille holds their cat Patches while longing for its littermate Robin Hood to be returned back home. (Staff Photo by Chad Ruiz)

Now with two small children and established careers, Jason as a teacher and Keva as a delivery nurse and the addition of two cats adopted by their children, the Fontanilles were settled. That was in April.

Today, the family is renting a home in Covington.

Their house, complete with a white-railed porch, ivory columns, metal roof and terraced landscaping, stands no more.

What took three years to construct took seven minutes to crumble from fire.

Something went wrong with the stove’s pilot light, Keva said while rummaging through old photos of their home, pained by the memory.

Even with the loss, their spirit remains bright, but since the fire, their family is not complete.

Littermates from the beginning, Robin Hood and Patches became part of the family nearly two years ago when the Fontanille children, Jackson and Leah, picked them out from a litter of kittens.

Luckily, the dynamic duo escaped the fire unscathed and were found several days later on the property.

But when the Fontanilles moved in with Jason’s parents on Church Road off Louisiana Highway 1078 north of Covington while they sorted out their housing situation, because of the unfamiliar territory, the cats wandered off and were lost for several weeks.

The family posted signs around the neighborhood where they were last seen.

Eventually, someone found Patches, but Robin Hood is still on the loose. And that has the Fontanille children longing for their lost colleague.

“I miss Robin,” Keva recalled her son, Jackson, saying.

The family has since moved into their new home in Tchefuncte Estates with Patches, but they’re continuing their search for Robin on Church Road.

“I think someone may have taken him in because he’s such a sweet cat,” Keva said. “We’re even willing to reward the person who finds him.”

“If they only knew a little girl and boy needed him, he would be found and returned,” Keva’s mother, Cynthia Mathews, said.

Robin closely resembles Patches with a solid white stomach and grey-black stripes along his back.

Keva asks anyone who’s seen Robin call her at 373-4363.

“Once we get Robin back, I feel like we’ll be able to move forward with our life again,” she said.

The remnants of the house near Folsom are slated for demolition in the coming days, Keva said, and the family plans to sell the property.