Joanne Howard did not sleep well that night.
Then again, how well did she sleep since her fiance Monica Yuletide had that horrible accident that put her in the Intensive Care Unit of San Diego General?
She awoke upon the living room couch of the apartment she shares with her lover, her back stiff and sore because Joanne never bothered to pull out the hideaway bed within it.
I have absolutely no idea how her daughter Karen managed to sleep on this thing night after night for all those years when it was just the two of them living here, Joanne mused, sitting upright.
Thinking of her lover's only child from her previous marriage, Joanne turned her head to look at the closed door to the apartment's lone bedroom, where Joanne had been letting Karen sleep with her fiance, Peter Talbot.
Damn life! Joanne silently cursed. Monica doesn't even know about those two yet. Hell, I'm so worried that I might lose her...
Not wanting to give into tears again, Joanne slowly rose and made her way toward the bathroom, which was across from the bedroom.
Although she had no intention of doing so, Joanne could not help overhearing the two of them talk as she drew closer.
"I'm torn," admitted Karen, leaning against Peter.
The fact that he was a werelion, although still within his human form, while she had yet to join were society wasn't mentioned, for they had planned a long weekend together to address that issue when word of her mother's accident reached Karen.
"I want to stay here, yet I know I can't miss too much school," she added.
"Today will be the first time I have ever missed a class in my entire college tenure, but my place is by your side my love," said Peter, holding her closely. "A quick request to my father and he'll call the school on our behalf."
"For you, sure, but that's something I should do for myself."
"As you wish. But whenever we do go back, it will probably be that night for the next day."
"I want to stay at least until we find out about the fluid on Mom's spine later this afternoon."
Peter just simply nodded in agreement.
The couple were silent for a while, then Karen said, "Oh, how I hate this," she cursed, "and poor Joanne."
"I know. She does care deeply for your mother. A person would have to be totally deaf, dumb, and blind to say otherwise," observed Peter, which made the eavesdropping Joanne smile.
"I wish we were all back in Moon Lake and—"
"We have already discussed that," Peter said cautiously, remembering both their previous conversation in the ICU waiting room and his private chat with Doctor Moria Alexander, Monica's attending physician who also happened to be a weretigress.
"I know honey," said Karen, looking deeply at her man. "I wasn't thinking about mom being inducted though."
"You mean Joanne?"
What the fuck does that mean? wondered the lady outside the closed bedroom door.
"It would definitely give her the physical strength she'd need to take care of mom in the months to come and..."
"Again, I would not advise it. Joining is something one must decide on their own, and for the right reasons," advised Peter.
"You mean, like love?" asked Karen, before giving him a quick kiss.
"Yes. Besides, any decision she makes will also affect Monica in the long run, and you know where things stand on that at the moment."
"Yeah," Karen reluctantly agreed, "but this is all so frustrating."
"I know. If our roles were reversed, I could not help worrying about my mother like you do yours," admitted Peter.
"And when do you think—"
"I don't know. As it is, I'm hoping we will not have to delay our marriage plans."
"I never thought of that," confessed Karen. "Valentine's Day isn't that far off when you think of it. Wouldn't it be neat if we had a double ceremony. You and I, Mom and Joanne."
"That I would not mind. Yet I foresee our wedding probably occurring next summer now, with the honeymoon for your welcoming. Besides, regardless of when that part happens, I still do not know how we will explain the difference in your appearance*. Especially since Joanne has seen you as you are now, and not as how you will be."
"I know," said Karen, turning in the bed to lay on her back and stare at the ceiling. "It would have been difficult enough if we had been able to maintain our schedule and came here on Thanksgiving weekend like we originally planned."
"We still would have been surprised by your mother's engagement, let alone need a way to explain your altered appearance to her from the last time she saw you," Peter reminded her.
"That would have been in August, when I moved to Moon Lake," Karen recalled.
Then Peter turned on his side to look at her and said, "You do know that whatever happens, I love you very much and—"
"That is the one thing that is allowing me to keep it together as well as I have so far," said Karen, before turning to hug him.
And outside the bedroom door, Joanne Howard wondered just what was going on and made a vow to look deeper into this Moon Lake, especially if it could somehow help her beloved Monica!
TO BE CONTINUED...
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*When a regular human joins were society, they tend to become taller and more muscular regardless of whether or not they're displaying their fursona, and the women also tend to become more shapely, if you know what I mean.—tmw.