"You evidently didn't try hard enough," Peter spoke in a low voice, and doing his best to keep a growling tone from it.
While werelions weren't as openly protective in the way that weretigers were where they would reach the point of taking possession of someone, they could still be protective when it came to pride matters. It was something that had developed with werelions as sort of society that mirrored mundane Lions. The pride's females did the hunting while the pride's males saw to its defense. In Moon Lake, this could be done through conversation and might only require physical exertion if it were a rogue were or a formal challenge for leadership over all of Moon Lake's werelions. It was something that his father and brothers had managed to put a stop to when his father became "King" over Moon Lake's werelion prides, as it essentially stopped the periodic rounds of chaos when lower ranking males challenged the coalition leads in their individual prides and used that as a stepping stone to try and challenge the King.
Leon had told him that these rounds had the potential to get out of hand often did, particularly if the challenges grew to the point where there was real fighting between the two. It was something that became even more problematic when these sorts of issues were separate from the city government. While just about every were-species had their own group and organization, these were often more seen or taken as clubs or private businesses. The leader of the group might be allowed some measure of "control" within the "club's" affairs, but had no official power politically. Leon Talbot had no political power in Moon Lake because he was not on the City Council or in any office of the city's government, which then made it seem rather silly that there had been werelions taking things to the point where hey would fight openly for leadership over the coalition groups and ultimately Moon Lake's werelions as a whole. The only logical conclusion from all of that was that it would only lead to war with the rest of Moon Lake over political control if that sort of cycle continued. And Peter could remember seeing his father chuckle when many of those that had engaged in those duels admitted that they didn't want a war with the rest of Moon Lake and didn't even stop to think that sort of cycle of ambition and challenge might lead to something like that in the future.
But the present situations was not like those old challenges between male werelions in the past. It was dealing with a man that while he might not be monstrously hate-filled, he certainly was inattentive and had hurt Karen emotionally through years of neglect and then wrote it off as "I tried." While Karen wasn't a werelion, yet, he still loved her deeply and she was his fiancé. In that, as far as Peter was concerned she was part of the pride, regardless of her form, and he would defend her honor.
"Come again?" the man turned to look to Peter. He clinched his fists for a moment, but got one look at Peter and backed down.
"I said you didn't try hard enough," Peter repeated.
"And you would be...?" the man asked, "a friend from college or..."
"This is Peter Talbot," Karen said slowly, "he... he is my fiancé."
"Fiancé…" Karen's father said slowly.
"A kind man who will talk with me and be respectful to me," Karen managed as she looked to her father, knowing that she'd have to keep quiet on certain things. Particularly the fact that Peter was a werelion and helped assure her that she was one that he loved when it came to questions over werelion's rather open stances on open marriages and had even managed some real strength and wisdom the previous night. A real part of her was eager to join him, to love him, and live out their lives as man and wife, but she had to admit that he was right, both with not going through with it in the apartment that she'd shared with her mother for years as well as with her worries for her mother. "And has made clear that he won't just run off with someone."
"It was never about that," her father said defensively, though trying to keep his voice down as they stood in the room and noticing Peters narrowed and focused eyes and how closely he stood to Karen.
"Then what WAS it about?!" Karen practically growled back with tears coming down her cheeks and letting years of pent up rage and anger boil out. She'd never had many memories of her father, with his walking out being among the last times she remembered seeing him. His lines at the divorce hearing weren't any better and it was something that proved problematic on various levels. For while her mother had held a decent job, the prices of goods in California in general and southern California in particular were higher than what she'd noticed in Moon Lake, and when anything had gone wrong in the apartment, her mother was ultimately the one who had to pay the repairman. It was something that could be "deducted" out of their rent to the landlord, but that wasn't always easy either. In this the child support payments that her father had sent her mother was about one of the few things that had kept the Yuletide family from being forced out. "Because you can't have loved her... You just walked out on her!"
"I DID love her," her father answered weekly and looked down to his own swollen middle, "I many ways... your mother was the best thing that could have ever happened to me. I was never as svelte as your fiancé, here... but she actually gave me a chance, which I was happy for."
"A chance for what?!" Karen said to her father while looking to him.
"Companionship... someone just to talk to," her father answered, "trucking is not so easy as some might lead you to believe. You have to navigate a great many roads and go places you may not be familiar with. You have to manage a large trailer behind you, and if any thing happens to the trailer or its contents and it can be proved that any and all damages were to some negligence or carelessness on your part... YOU are responsible for it... Or at least the company is, and they can then take it out of my paycheck..."
He sighed and scratched the front of his shirt for a moment before starting to continue.
"I've liked the job... the freedom of the open road and not being tied to one place," her father continued, "but it could also be lonely and there was the part of me that hoped that your mother and I could be partners. She'd ride along and help with some of the navigating and we could talk, sing, and do what we will as we go, without ever having to worry about being pressured to conform to anyone's standard."
"And that excuses walking out on your family?" Peter asked calmly, with one hand softly squeezing Karen's shoulder, hoping to calm her down a bit, "I can understand wanting freedom... but at some point you must also take responsibility. For life doesn't always go to the way we plan it. Deciding to just walk out..."
"I know..." Karen's father held up one hand, a tear sliding down his own cheek, "I know... there are a lot of things that I should have done... smarter things. More polite things. But in the end, I panicked and just left... and said things that I shouldn't have."
Karen watched as she watched the man she'd grown up hating rub his right arm over his eyes and gave a half sniffle as he did so. He then looked to her, raised a hand, as if to reach out to touch her shoulder, but then thought the better of it and pulled it back to his side. A part of her was still angry at the things that she'd remembered and remembered her mother saying about the last times she'd talked with the man directly. A small part of her was a bit puzzled and even sorrowful at the situation. That the man wasn't quite the "monster" she'd long made him out to be.
"A part of me figured that maybe if I tried it... she'd come after me," her father said slowly, "say she'd come with me anywhere. That you'd be home schooled or something like that. But there'd still be the freedom... And then... then that didn't happen. I then got mad that my plan to get her back didn't work and said more things I regret. From there... regrets just seemed to pile up. No other woman would let me look at them, unless I paid to... after all... who'd want chubby trucker like me? That then got me drinking more and that didn't help. I worked and was free... but I was also alone and really had no one I could talk to."
He bit his lip and looked down for a moment before looking up again. For the moment he'd ignored Joanne, figuring the woman was just on his ex-wife's friends. His focus was on his daughter, who'd clearly taken more after her mother than him and had found a young man that seemed quite fit as well as protective of Karen. It was a reminder of the defeats he'd taken in life and the mistakes he'd made to deserve them. It left the air flowing out of him as he had no real way to explain his position. Not in a way that was just or would make him seem better.
"In this, when I started to get older and actually began to feel that having a place to return to between missions would be nice," Karen's father finished as he looked up to Karen, "I'd realized that the parts of it that were the most desirable... were actually you and your mother. The very thing I panicked at in my youth and ran away from. And by the time I realized what a mistake I'd made... it was too late. I'd burned to many bridges... said too many wrong things... I'm sure you hate me, Karen, and you have every right to. I certainly do the right thing by you or your mother. I had everything with your mother and I loved her dearly... but in a moment of irresponsible panic... I ran and lost everything."
"Then why not send a letter? Or come back and apologize?" Karen asked, "I went through Middle School and High School with all sorts of questions on things that I couldn't answer because as far as I knew, my father walked out on me my mother when I was little and said flat out that I wasn't wanted. Paying child support doesn't help with that sort of thing... and half the time you were late on making those payments. Even if things between you and mom had reached a point where she couldn't accept an apology or anything like that... you could have at least been there and provided a family."
"I never said I was a smart man," her father answered, "or the best man in the world. Mentally, financially, and emotionally... I just wasn't ready for you when you were born. And ultimately... I didn't have your mother's courage and determination or drive... or intelligence to marry the two and make it work. I could have kept my marriage with your mother and still drove. I could have arranged that I wouldn't be out of town on major events and your birthday... I could have even offered to take you with me in the summer and show you the country, let you honk the horn. There were a great many things I could have done better. But I was never smart enough to realize that. And in the end, I took the path that was selfish... and if it were to keep your mother, it would depend on her being desperate to keep me that she'd give up anything and rework her schedule to suit me. And when that didn't work, I lost my temper and made things worse. And by the time I realized what I'd truly wanted... I'd lost it. And lost it completely."
He paused to look back to Karen's mother, who lay sleeping with the monitors giving a regular beep to mark her pulse and its strength. For the moment things were calm and stable. A part of him wanted to chuckle but found he couldn't after hearing that a friend from his company had had a fatal heart attack on the road and the one woman he'd ever loved and had even given him the time of day on her own accord had ben the one his friend's truck hit. In this there was nothing that was funny.
"And this I found out as part of some way to get her back," her father spoke, "I'd found her on social media. I'd hoped to find a way to apologize and even find a way back... if there was one. What I ended up finding was a series of comments and quips on how poorly I'd treated her. The difficulties she'd faced. The emotional hardship she'd taken. That she'd changed her name back to her maiden name and changed your name because of what I'd done."
"Because you walked out on us!" Karen accused again.
"And I have no real defense for that," her father answered, "Nothing... and that only reminded me on how stupid I'd been. And it's why I ultimately cowered away from it... I'd done too much to ask for forgiveness." He paused again to look to his former wife. "But that doesn't mean I wanted to see her hurt and like this. She may not forgive me... but trust me... I am sorry. Hopefully... if she ever finds someone... that treats her better than I did. She deserves that." He paused again and looked to Karen. "And Karen... I'm sorry for everything... I tried... but... by the time I realized just how much I'd lost and hadn't done enough... it was to late. I don't expect forgiveness. Just know that I am sorry."
With that, he made his way out, never once saying a word to Joanne as he departed. He left quietly and soon turned down a hallway and vanished from sight, with only Peter still hearing his footsteps. He thought he could hear "failed again" be uttered, but that was about all. As Karen's father left, Karen seem to fall against Peter. He wrapped his arms around her waist to help steady her and keep her from falling, and was successful but her whole body seemed to tremble slightly.
"I'm sorry about that..." Karen managed, "I've..."
"You've had a lot of stress built up over the years," Peter spoke calmly.
"And he didn't necessarily seem that bad," Joanne commented from where she'd gone to check with her fiancé while Peter steadied Karen after the confrontation with her father, "selfish and short sighted in some ways, maybe..."
"And definitely irresponsible," Peter agreed.
Joanne nodded, "but not the malicious sort that would abuse someone or truly seek power over someone. And you hang around in this area for long enough... that sort of thing turns up. In this... he was... not what I'd expected of him."
"That I can agree with," Peter commented with a sigh, "and I am grateful that things didn't get out of hand."