"Amber have you been here before?" I asked as Melissa pulled onto the long driveway.

The cute brunette shook her head, "Nope."

We parked next to Carol's jeep and Melissa commented, "So you haven't met Emma's cats and dog yet."

"Not yet, but I'm looking forward to it!" Amber replied with a grin.

It was Saturday and we were visiting my mom and Carol for Thanksgiving. We'd do our big turkey dinner tonight, then the four of us would sleep over, and finally head home some time tomorrow. Then Amber and Susan would do it again on Monday with Amber's family.

I invited Grace as well so she wouldn't be on her own for the long weekend, but she actually had plans. She was driving to her sister's place in Ottawa today, they'd be doing a big dinner tomorrow, then Grace would drive home again on Monday.

With the car parked all four of us climbed out, and we pulled our backpacks out of the trunk. I led the way up to the side of the house, and I could already hear Farah barking as we approached the door.

It opened before I could touch the doorknob, my mom was there with one hand on the dog's collar.

"Farah shush, it's just Mara and her girlfriends!" mom said to the dog. Then she smiled at me, "Hello Mara, Melissa, Susan, Amber. Come on in!"

We all filed in past her and the dog, and when we were inside Sue reached back and closed the door behind us. Then mom let go of Farah and she nearly tackled me in her excitement.

For the next minute or so I was busy giving her pets and scritches and stuff while my girlfriends all greeted my mom. They all took off their coats and stuff, and when Farah had enough love from me she moved on to Melissa for another round of petting and stuff. And while that was all going on, Carol came into view as she emerged from the den.

When Farah finished with Melissa Amber was her next victim, and the small succubus was almost as happy about that as Farah was.

"Hi Carol!" I called and waved when I saw her. Then I looked to my mom again and asked, "So how's everything? Anything new going on?"

Mom replied, "We're doing fine Mara. Looking forward to a nice big thanksgiving dinner with you and your girlfriends. How about you?"

"We're good" I shrugged, and hoped mom wouldn't realize I was hiding something. The last thing I wanted was for her to find out about our cottage plans in a few days. "Things are good I think. I guess you got the turkey in the oven and everything earlier?"

"Yes hon," mom smiled. "You can take over if you want, but I had to get it started this morning or we wouldn't be having dinner till almost midnight."

I grinned, "Let me give Amber a tour of the place, and we'll put our things up in our room and stuff. Then I'll have a look at the turkey."

Carol laughed, "You only just got in the door Mara, you don't have to rush straight to work! Maybe we can have a little visit first?"

"I wasn't going to start working," I protested. "I just wanted to check on things and see how it's going. Then we can visit and catch up and stuff."

Farah was finally satisfied at all the attention she received and we all finished the greetings and stuff, so me and my girlfriends took our packs upstairs while I gave Amber the quick tour. The important stuff upstairs was basically just the bedroom the four of us would share, the guest room that Amber could use if she didn't want to crowd into the queen-size bed with the rest of us, and the upstairs washroom.

Then down on the main floor we finished the quick tour with a look at the dining room and the kitchen, where we all helped ourselves to drinks. Then my girlfriends ended up in the den, while I stayed behind in the kitchen to have a look at the turkey and figure out what else we'd be having along with it.

It only took five or ten minutes for me to get a handle on things for dinner. Mom was really well-organized, she wrote down when the turkey went in the oven and how big it was and all that stuff, and she had lots of stuff in the fridge and pantry so I could do the side dishes and everything.

I finally went to join everyone in the den, then kind of stopped in my tracks just inside the doorway as a big smile settled on my face.

Mom and Carol were in their chairs like usual, Melissa and Susan were sitting together on the sofa. Pumpkin and Spice were perched together on their cushion next to the fireplace, and Amber was laying on the floor with them. She was petting and stroking the two cats, while Farah flopped ontop of Amber's legs and tried to beg for more attention as well.

I finally moved to sit down on the sofa next to Melissa, then asked "You comfy down there Amber?"

"I'm good," she replied without looking. A moment later she gushed, "They're sooo cute! Me and Tracey begged our folks to let us get a kitty when we were younger, but mom always said no."

Melissa grimaced, "Same here. I was always bugging my parents for a dog or a cat or even a guinea pig or something, but they always said no."

Susan commented with a smirk, "Probably because they knew they'd be the ones who ended up taking care of it."

"Yeah that was one of the excuses," Melissa nodded.

Amber continued playing with the cats, but she also gave Farah some more pets as well. "My mom's excuse was she said a cat would destroy her furniture? I guess with claws and stuff."

Mom responded, "Allegedly if you start with a young enough cat, provide plenty of better scratching surfaces, and train them right from the start, they won't go after the furniture. Cats scratch furniture when there aren't any better alternatives, and when they haven't been trained well."

Susan glanced at the side of the sofa where she was sitting and smiled "You must be doing a good job Emma, there aren't any scratch marks over here."

My mom blushed, "They prefer this chair, or one in our bedroom. But at least they're sticking to just those two."

"I think if you're a true pet owner," Carol said, "You're probably going to put up with that sort of thing anyways? If you prioritize your furniture over your fur-babies, you shouldn't have pets in the first place."

"Yeah!" I nodded and raised my drink in agreement.

Mom rolled her eyes and teased, "After raising Mara, I'm used to the random chaos those two cats bring to the house."

That got a laugh out of everyone, while I pouted and sipped my drink.

We all continued talking and joking and stuff, and eventually Amber got up off the floor and joined the rest of us on the sofa. She looked like she really had fun with the critters though, and I almost wondered if she was going to ask Susan about getting a cat or something for our house.

When it was time I left the others in the den while I went back to the kitchen to deal with the turkey and all that. After about fifteen minutes mom joined me to see if I needed any help or whatever.

"I think it's all under control?" I shrugged. "Maybe towards the end when we're trying to get everything done at the last minute I could use a hand? I just got the potatoes started, now I'm getting the squash ready."

Mom smiled, "Ok Mara. If you're sure? You don't have to do all this work yourself hon."

I shook my head, "I like doing it. I still like cooking, and doing big meals like this is a lot of fun."

"All right hon, I'll stop fussing."

She didn't head back to the den though. Instead she topped up her glass and sat down at the kitchen table and just quietly watched. Meanwhile I got the squash ready then put it into the oven alongside the turkey.

When that was done I checked the potatoes, then finally looked over at her and asked "Why are you hiding out in here with me? Is there something wrong?"

"Nothing's wrong," she shook her head. "I want to talk to you though Mara, if you've got a minute?"

"Ok," I got my drink and moved to the table and sat across from her. "What's up? You're sure nothing's wrong?"

Mom smiled "I promise there's nothing wrong. Carol and I have some news, but I wanted you to be the first to know."

I just nodded and waited to hear what she had to say.

She took a deep breath then gave me a slightly nervous smile, like whatever it was she was about to say was either a big deal or was something scary. Or she was worried about how I was going to react or whatever.

After another second or two hesitation, mom quietly announced "Carol and I have decided to get married. I suppose we're officially engaged."

For the next few seconds I had no idea what to do or say or how to respond. Like it took my brain three or four seconds to process what mom just said.

Then next thing I knew I was out of my chair and around the table. I had my arms wrapped tight around mom as I squealed, "EEEEEEEeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee! Oh my gods mom that's awesome! I'm so happy for you!"

She smiled as we hugged, "Thanks hon! I didn't think you'd be upset, but I needed to know you were ok with it."

"I'm more than ok with it!" I insisted. "So when's the wedding? Is it going to be a big fancy thing? Or are you going to keep it casual? Are you going to have a big party? What will you do for the honeymoon? Are you going to go somewhere fancy and exotic?"

"Slow down!" mom responded with a laugh. She finally extracted herself from my tight hug and replied, "There's a lot of things we need to work out yet Mara. Carol and I only just decided to go ahead with this last week, and like I said I wanted to tell you before we did anything else."

I grinned, "Sorry mom! I'm just so excited and happy for you, I couldn't help it!"

She still had a wide smile on her face as well. She got to her feet and asked, "Are you finished up in here for now? We can join the others in the den, and Carol and I will tell your girlfriends the news. Since I know you're not going to be able to keep this to yourself for very long."

It was impossible to pout while I was grinning so much so I nodded, "Yeah! Definitely, I want to be there when you two do the official announcement thing!"

"Ok Mara," mom smiled. "Let's go do it now."

I did my absolute best not to spoil anything as I followed mom back to the den. It was rough though keeping that goofy happy grin off my face. I felt like I was going to burst as I sat down on the sofa with my girlfriends, while mom moved past her chair to stand next to Carol's.

Mom gave her girlfriend a very subtle nodd, I probably wouldn't have noticed if I hadn't been watching them both like a hawk. Carol smiled and got to her feet as well, so the two were standing side by side.

By that point my girlfriends all knew there was something going on. They probably heard me squealing in the kitchen a couple minutes ago, but hopefully none of them would guess.

"Melissa, Susan, Amber," mom said as she looked at them. "Since you're all practically family, we felt you should be among the first to know?"

Carol slipped an arm around my mom's waist and with a wide smile of her own she dropped the bomb. "Emma and I are engaged."

Both cats and the dog nearly hit the ceiling at the combined squeals and shouts and yells as me and my girlfriends all cheered. Within a couple seconds we were all on our feet, hugging and congratulating them and everything. And my girlfriends started asking the same sorts of questions I did, like when and where and all that stuff.

Carol and I exchanged a big hug, and I could feel she was a little awkward or whatever. For a moment I thought it was because of my horns and tail, but that wasn't it. She sounded happy but I could tell she was a bit nervous as she asked, "I hope you don't mind that I'm officially going to become part of your family, Mara?"

I grinned and hugged her tighter, "Of course not! Is it ok if I start calling you mom too?"

"I mean mom too as in also mom or mom as well," I added before she could respond. My grin faltered a bit as my brain wandered while I started to over-clarify what I meant. "I don't mean two as in the number, because I don't want to make it sound like I'm ranking you or whatever. But like, actually I guess to make it less confusing maybe we should come up with specific mom-words for everyone? Like mom-mom, demon-mom, and Carol-mom? Or maybe not Carol-mom because it sounds kind of silly when I say it out loud."

By that point Carol-mom had mostly relaxed, like my excited babbling overcame her awkwardness or whatever and she smiled, "Yes Mara, I'd be honoured if you wanted to call me mom. You don't have to though, you can keep calling me Carol if that's easier."

At the same time I noticed Susan was grimacing slightly as she looked at me, while Melissa face-palmed. And Amber turned away and crouched down to pet Farah and calm her down after all that excitement.

Meanwhile mom was giving me a serious look. She kept her eyes on mine as she asked, "Demon mom?"

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