Chapter 20:

Sharon was sitting in the kitchen with Cat, after Rusty went to sleep. She didn't want to talk about Richard with Rusty in the room, but she exchanged meaningful looks with Cat all evening. She waited for Rusty to close the door to his room behind him before she started to talk.

"Catherine…" she started, not sure how to approach the matter.

"It's Cat, mom. Why can't you call me like that? Everyone does," Cat said calmly.

"I called you Catherine after a queen, not Cat after an animal," Sharon explained slowly and Cat rolled her eyes.

"Catherine is too… common," Cat said, but Sharon shook her head. She looked at Cat's hand, which was on the table, and put her own hand on it.

"Cat…" she emphasized her name, "what did you tell your father?"

Cat looked embarrassed. "What did I tell? Nothing special," she said, even though she assumed that her mother probably knew the truth.

"He said you yelled at him for how badly he treated me when we were still together," her voice was quiet. She didn't want Cat to think she was angry with her.

Cat looked at her for a moment without saying a word, obviously considering what to say. "Why didn't you ever say anything?" she asked eventually, "you always let us believe that our dad was the greatest."

"Who told you about it?" Sharon asked calmly, but on the inside she was terrified. She had no idea what Cat knew, and she hoped it was nothing about the rape.

"Grandma. But don't be mad at her!" Cat said quickly when Sharon arched her eyebrows.

"Remind me to rebuke her tomorrow," she muttered angrily. "What did she tell you?"

"She didn't go into details… she just said that dad humiliated you constantly," Cat watched her mother's face for any reaction. She seemed calm, so Cat added in a low voice, "and she said you left him because he hit you."

Sharon sighed in despair. "That's it?" she asked.

"Is there more? My god," Cat said.

"No… nothing really," Sharon hoped she was sounding credible. "Are you still going to live with him?"

"Nope. All of a sudden he doesn't think it was such a good idea, because he's so busy. Or that's what he said, anyway," Cat sounded annoyed. Sharon gave her hand a little squeeze of empathy. "I don't care. I'm used to being disappointed by him," Cat added.

"Honey, I don't mind you staying here, you know that, right?" Sharon asked gently. "I just don't think that the living room can serve as your bedroom for the next nine months." Cat nodded.

"It's less than eight months now. And I just don't wanna go into labor alone," she said quietly.

"Okay, you know what?" Sharon said and got on her feet quickly in a sudden outburst of energy, "tomorrow we'll start looking for an apartment in the vicinity, starting from this street."

Cat smiled. She knew that once her mother got an idea in her mind, nothing could stop her. Sharon was about to say goodnight and go to her room, but Cat stopped her, grabbing her arm. "By the way… I left a few things in my old apartment in San Diego, but I don't want to go there alone."

"We can go on the weekend," Sharon said.

"I have to clear the apartment before noon on Saturday. Maybe I could take Rusty with me on Friday after school. We can pack my things and spend the night in my apartment, and on Saturday I can take him to SeaWorld or something."

"You'd do that?" Sharon asked, surprised.

"Yeah, we kinda bonded over the last few days. He's a smart kid," she smiled.

Sharon returned her a smile and said, "okay… ask him tomorrow and we'll see."

"Actually, I already did," Cat smiled, hoping that her mother wouldn't tell her off for doing it behind her back.

"Catherine…" Sharon said, ignoring the smile.

"He said he'd love to," Cat said quickly, "he sounded pretty excited."

Sharon sighed. She trusted her daughter, yet she couldn't help but worry. She was about to say no, when Flynn's image popped in her mind. It would be the perfect opportunity to spend some time with him. She wanted to ignore the desire to be with him, but it was stronger than her. It felt like a necessity.

"Okay, you can go," she said eventually, feeling somewhat angry with herself, "but you have to call me a lot. And drive safely. And…"

"Great!" Cat got to her feet with a smile. "I'll let him know tomorrow. Goodnight, Mom. Love you!" she said and went to the bathroom before Sharon could reply.

"Love you too…" she muttered and watched Cat closing the door behind her.