Creatures

She stepped out of the shower five minutes later to see a neat pile of clothes on the counter with a note.

‘Thought you might need these. Take your time. T.’

Karen smiled. That was nice of him. He really was good to her.

She came down to everyone assembled and they had polite chit-chat for the duration of lunch. Karen’s teeth were on edge by the time they decided that they wanted to take one last stroll around the garden before they left. What was their purpose for coming here, she thought If they really had only wanted to see how she was doing, then they could have called. Was a visit really necessary?Karen was not sure what was going on, but it seemed like her family was waiting for something.

“Karen.”

“Yes, mother.”

“Show us the garden again. I thought I saw a rare flower and I want another look at it.”

“Of course mother.”

“Come Lucy.”

“Yes, Ma’am.”

Karen looked back to where her father and Talon were seated and turned to lead her mother back to the flower beds.

“You love him yes?” her mother did not waste any time as they stepped outside.

“Yes, mother.” Karen sighed. There was no use lying.

“He has no family.”

“Is it really that important? He has money.”

“Yes, that is true... and he does handle himself well in society. I have heard about him from some of my friends. He will be a good match for you I think.”

“You have heard about him?”

“Yes, just a few vague things about being rich and sought after by many women. I think he will do. Maybe you will finally be able to quit working and have a fami...” Karen’s mother stopped there. It was a taboo subject between the two of them, as her mother had always wanted Karen to have children whereas she had not been able to and Karen had never told her mother about her miscarriage.

“Thank you, mother.”

As Karen had suspected, her mother changed the subject.

“How about you? Are you making money?”

“Yes, mother.”

“Mmmm.” She stopped to look at some of the flowers.

“At least the gardens are well kept.” She turned and headed back down the path.

“After all that your father and I gave up, having you come here, you think they would have compensated us better.” She commented.

“They compensated you quite well if I remember correctly. You should have no problems with money.”

“True, but you know how it goes. I do not know now if we were given enough to have you taken off our hands. I mean, if we had given your hand in a good marriage think of what we could have had.”

“This is not the 19th-century mother.”

“Still...”

“What do you really want?”

“I just think that we should be given a bit more for what we gave up.”

“How much more?” Karen knew it would come down to this eventually. Her family was not hurting for money. Her mother was too shrewd a businesswoman to mishandle money, but Lucy was another matter and she had a feeling that this was for her.

“After all, we still have to find a match for your sister.”

“How much mother?”

“Oh, I do not know... Only a couple hundred thousand would be perfect for your sister to take into marriage.”

“Are you getting married?” Karen asked, her mother would not bring it up otherwise.

“Yes.” Lucy smiled smugly. “To a doctor.”

“I see. Congratulations. When is the wedding?”

“In another week,” Lucy commented. “We did not think that we would be able to see you, so we did not plan for you to attend.”

“That is all right. I cannot leave right now anyway.” Karen sighed. Her sister had no sense of money and she was always struggling to get out of debt.

“How much is your debt?”

“I do not have any.” Her sister replied. “John has taken care of it all. That is why I would like to pay him back for his generosity.”

“I thought that was why you were marrying him.”

“Of course not. I am marrying him because he has money and power and he will take care of me.”

“I see.”

“Anyway,” Claire interrupted. “It is just a thought since you will not be able to make the wedding.”

“I did not know of the wedding.”

“That is not an excuse. You know it now.”

“I will see.”

“That is not a good enough answer.”

“It is the only answer I can give you. Besides, I have not been officially invited so I am not obligated to provide a gift.” It was always the same. Her sister hit her mother up for money, her mother hit her up for money.

“Oh, Here is your invitation.” Lucy handed an envelope to her. “Just in case you can make it., not that we will be expecting you, but now you can provide me with a gift.”

“Thank you.” Karen took the invitation. So that was that. It seemed that they thought she would be their cash cow still, some things never changed.

“I will be expecting you to do what is right.”

Karen did not reply to her mother’s words.

They arrived back to where the gentlemen were standing and Karen watched as the two men shook hands and James turned towards her.

“I hear you have some congratulations of your own.”

“What?” Claire looked at her daughter.

“Thank you. I see you have approved.” Karen turned towards her mother and sister, dreading their reactions to her next sentence.

“Talon is my partner and fiancee,” Karen told them. “He wanted to ask for father’s permission before announcing it to anyone else.”

Karen watched as her mother and sister stiffened at her words.

“So you let me say that...?”

Karen sighed, here we go...

“Well, if it will make you happy...” Claire gave Karen a stiff hug. “Congratulations.”

She gave her hand to Talon and Lucy followed suit.

“Lucy will be married next weekend,” Karen told Talon.

“Congratulations,” Talon told her. “We will have to try and make it. That is if you will allow me to escort Karen?”

“We would be delighted to have you,” Lucy replied.

“I think we had best be going,” James spoke up. “Did you get to have your chat?” He asked his wife.

“Yes. I can do no more.” She turned back to her daughter. “Goodbye. Let me know if you are coming so I can adjust the schedule and find a place for you to sleep.”

“You do not need to worry. We will contact you if we are coming and we will find sleeping arrangements so that you will not have to be inconvenienced.” Talon spoke up, reading the tension in the air.

“Of course,” Claire responded stiffly.

They said their goodbyes and were soon off, Karen let out a long sigh after they had gone.

“Sorry. They mean well, but...”

“What did your mother want?” Talon had felt Karen’s tension as she strolled the garden with her mother and sister and knew that something was up.

“Money for my sister.”

“How much?”

“I would assume no less than a quarter of a million.”

“Do you have that?”

“Not yet.”

“Why does she want it?” He asked, not surprised at the flow of conversation. Her family was obviously money driven.

“For a wedding present.” Karen went into more detail. No sense in hiding anything from him if he was going to marry into the family. “My sister is not a good manager of money and her soon to be husband must have paid quite a bit to clear her debts, if they are completely cleared that is.”

“I see.” Talon collapsed on the couch and pulled Karen down next to him.

“I could come up with that. I think I have it upstairs right now.”

“What? No, you cannot do that.” Karen just stared at him. Was he serious? Did he really have that much on him?

“Of course I can.”

“It would be a waste of money.”

“It is my money to waste and since your family is not really happy with us, it might help smooth over a few ruffled feelings.”

“What do you mean?” Karen immediately latched on to his words. Something must have gone wrong with her father.

“Your father gave his consent, but only because he could not refuse.”

“I figured as much.” Karen settled down next to him. “They are not on great terms with me, but they do like to have control over my life and had hoped I would marry with a name and money.”

“Let me take care of it.”

“No.”

“But...”

Karen cut him off. “Do not worry about it. I am sure that we will not be able to make the wedding and int he meantime, I will come up with something that will appease them. I always do.”

“I cannot believe he let us come,” Karen grumbled as they stepped off the small jet just outside the small town that her family lived in. She was sure that the entire town would be buzzing about it by tomorrow’s wedding and it would make her sister that more upset that she was taking away from her special day, but she really did not care at the moment.

“I can.” Talon grinned. He was dressed in jeans, t-shirt, and a blazer as the weather was turning cool, Karen in a long skirt and turtleneck. “If we have to fight that skirt will be ruined.”

“I could do with a good fight right now,” Karen growled as they climbed into the waiting car. “I wonder how Evan and Emerald are doing at the house?” Karen asked, trying to take her mind off what was about to happen. “I wonder how the rest of them are doing right now as well?”

“They are fine,” Talon replied, quite aware of what she was doing. “We just talked to them yesterday.”

“I know, but I still worry.”

“So do I.” Talon murmured as he watched Karen head for the waiting car.

Carrie had called to let them know that they would be returning soon. It seemed that she was pregnant and was being pulled off active duty for a while. They were excited about Carrie and Michael. It would fun to have a little one running around the compound. On the flip side, because of it, Talon and Karen would be pulled out into the field more, when their schedule allowed it, to help.

Lily had called shortly after Carrie to say they were fine, but that they would be gone for another couple of months. They had seemed more interested in how Talon and Karen were progressing, then their own situation and when she was told of Carrie’s situation, she squealed like a little girl. She had even offered to make Karen’s wedding gown. Karen shook her head at the thought, she missed them more and more every day.

“Relax. Everyone is happy and healthy and we will have a child around the house soon. Won’t that be fun.”

“Sure.”

“Do you not like children?” Talon asked. He had seen how she had played with them at the orphanage and it made it hard to believe that she did not like kids.

“I love children.”

“Do you want children?” Talon asked softly as Karen pulled up the driveway of her parents home. They were not staying there, thank the good Lord above, but they had decided to stop there first to pay their respects and make sure that everyone knew that they had arrived safely. Not that they would care, but it was a good show for everyone else to see the black sheep of the family up close and personal once in a while.

“Yes,” Karen answered Talon’s question quietly as they entered the house. She did want children, she just did not know if she would be able to have children.

“I see you have finally arrived.” Claire came up and pointed to the coat racks. “Put your coats there and come help.”

“Yes, ma’am. Are we late?” Talon asked, noticing that there was no greeting or touching of any kind between the women.

“No, but I had thought you would arrive earlier. There is so much to do.”

They followed Claire into the house where she gave Talon a very quick tour and introduction to the group that had assembled in her home. As soon as she felt she had been polite enough, she took Karen and immediately put her to work, leaving Talon to fend for himself against the onslaught of looks and questions.

The rest of the day went in a blur as Karen ran too and fro, catering to her sister and the family friends.

Talon watched as she became no better than a servant in her own home and his dissatisfaction with her family grew. They may expect her to be the on top outside of her home, but it was obvious that she was not worthy of affection inside the home.

He had yet to see anyone say welcome home, let alone smile or hug her and he was not even sure that they had touched her. He continued to watch as she handled one crisis after the other and it was late when they finally checked into their hotel rooms.

“Good night,” Karen told him at her door, Not sure what to do now that the time had come.

She had insisted on separate rooms so that her parents would not be embarrassed and Talon had agreed.

They had not had a chance to ‘do it’ in the past week what with finals at school and battling beings and Karen’s stress levels once she had been told that she was coming to this. She had come in late and fallen asleep before anything could happen and he was getting frustrated. How much longer would this go on? Even their first time together seemed to have been cut short. What was a man to do? Now that he had had her, he did not want to go back to using his hand.

He gave her a soft kiss. “Good night hon.” and headed towards his room only to be stopped by her hand on his sleeve.

“I am sorry. Once we get back home...”

He turned back and placed a kiss on her forehead. “I know honey, I can be patient. Just focus on getting through the next two days so we can go home.”

“Are you sure?” Karen wanted to invite him to her room, she was not sure if she could sleep without him, but... it was not appropriate and she did not want the town to talk even more.

“Good night.”

“Good night,” Karen whispered as he headed to his room. She entered her room and crawled into bed. She already missed his warmth, but even with that, she was still too tired to stay awake long.