Joanne Howard looked at her fiancé's daughter Karen Yuletide and her fiancé Peter Talbot. The fact that he was currently a very tall, muscular, and furry werelion was not lost on her, but there were other things on the lady's mind at the moment.
"Does it hurt?" she asked.
"Whether it is a regular human being joining were society or a teenage were experiencing their first transformation, only during the very first change, to an extent," answered Peter, as he started gathering his clothing.
"How..." Joanne began, wondering exactly what to say.
"There are naturally born weres, like myself, and those that join were society, like Karen wants to as part of her love for me," he said with a smile at the woman in his heart. "All were children start out normally, so to speak, until sometime after their fourteenth birthday," Peter began. "Then it is just a matter of time once they are fully in puberty. After the very first transformation it is as easy as breathing, and one can do so at will with no more difficulty than changing clothes. The general consensus among weres is that it is always quite a rush and reverting back to how you saw me when we first met is like saying goodbye to an old and dear friend you hate to see leave."
"I can agree with that last part. I'm not sure how I'm gonna handle everything with you and Karen going back," admitted Joanne.
"You're stronger than you think," Karen began, as Peter turned his back on the ladies to resume his normal form. "Besides, you have Doctor Alexander and—"
"Is she a werelion too?" Joanne suddenly asked.
"A female would be a werelioness, and no," Karen said truthfully, not revealing her mom's primary physician in Intensive Care was actually a weretigress.
"How many different were species are there?" Joanne wondered.
"A lot," was Karen's brief answer. "But what I was going to say was that we'll be back later this month as originally planned for the Thanksgiving holiday break."*
"Oh. There's just so much going on, even without this revelation..." Joanne began.
"I understand," Karen said, moving closer to give the other woman a comforting hug. "Mom's situation, even without knowing about your engagement until we first met in the waiting room, is a lot for me to take in as well," she admitted. "Even without the were aspect involved I was contemplating, when mom's well enough to do so, maybe at least suggesting the two of you moving to Moon Lake so we'd be closer together."
"I have no idea what we'd do up there, other than being a burden to you," confessed Joanne.
"You and mom would not be any burden to me or Peter," Karen promised her.
"Would I have to become a were? Would she?" Joanne wanted to know.
"Not if you didn't want to," Peter said, as he turned around now normal and fully dressed again. "We don't force anyone to join against their will, but for Karen to become my wife, she would."
"And I do so willingly," Karen added, before kissing Peter on the cheek. "But if one of the two of you do, both of you would have to if you're going to be in a long term relationship. But I must warn you, if you do, mom can't until she's fully recovered from the accident."
"I understand, and don't worry, I'll keep your secrets," promised Joanne. "But we better get going if I'm going to get you to the airport on time for your flight home."
MEANWHILE...
"And that's the situation Mrs. Harper," the cardiologist said. "Give me permission now, and your husband's chances of living are 50/50 at the moment. The longer you delay, the more the odds change against him and if you don't sign the permission form at all, I seriously doubt he'll live much longer in his current condition."
"I know what's at stake doctor, but this is a lot to take in," confessed James Harper Senior's wife Elizabeth. "The only decisions my husband ever let me make in the past only ever concerned household matters."
"Can't I sign?" their oldest son, James Junior asked.
Since they returned to Alabama from Moon Lake in his father's vain attempt to prevent his oldest sister from marrying who she wanted to instead of who he demanded she wed, the oldest son of the Harper clan had been doing his best to balance the last year of college with his own personal life and helping his mother trying to cope with everything. Including a husband on death's door.
"If you have power of attorney, in a heartbeat. Pardon the unintentional pun," said the cardiologist.
"If I do this and he lives, I'll never hear the end of it," Elizabeth said. "But if I don't..." and her voice trailed off.
Not only would she become a widow but, based upon the will James Senior made long ago, all their assets would be liquated and given to their church, leaving her penniless and homeless, although she would no longer have to deal with her controlling husband.
The room was silent for a moment. The cardiologist, not knowing the full back story of the Harper family, couldn't understand what the delay was because he thought the choice to be obvious and clear.
Then Elizabeth said, "Okay. Hand me a pen and that document!"
With a flourish she signed her name at the bottom of the permission slip.
"How soon can you operate?" Elizabeth asked, handing everything back to the cardiologist.
"If there's an operating room open and everyone I need's available, within the hour. Otherwise by tomorrow morning for sure," the doctor replied, looking at the wall clock in his office.
"Then please do so as soon as you can," she pleaded. And may God have mercy on all our souls, Elizabeth Harper silently added.
TO BE CONTINUED...
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*Based upon when this series started on CYOC, it is currently early November 2015 to our cast.—tmw.