“I want you to know that you are always welcome here.” Tina and Milaine were wrapped in each others arms, saying good-bye at the airport. “I mean it Sweetheart. I want you to talk with Bette about coming for the holidays…Thanksgiving, Christmas, or both. You are a part of me…of us now, and I can’t wait for my children to spend time with you. I have no doubts that Dani is going to love having an older sister.” Tina kissed Milaine on the cheek. “I know you will be busy with school and your friends, but please tell me you will at least think about it.”

Milaine was overwhelmed by what Tina was offering her, and after knowing her for only four days! Her happiness was more than apparent as her eyes fill with tears. “Oh Tina, you have been so wonderful to me…to MaBe.” She looked down for just a second and then looked back up. “But, I am not sure about the holidays. I would love to meet your family, but I also want to be able to share them with Aunt Leslie and Aunt Kit.”

Tina looked at Bette, and without waiting for an answer said, “I understand, but maybe we can have you all out at some point, all of us together. You know I can’t wait to see Kit again.”

Bette reached up and laid a hand on both women’s shoulders. “It’s time Baby. You need to get in line to go through security.”

Tina and Milaine gave each other one more hug before Milaine turned to Bette, who wrapped her up in her own arms. “Ok, I will see you on Tuesday night, but call me when you get home tonight. You know how I worry.” Bette released her hold on her daughter, and reached up cupping her cheek in her hand. “I’m so glad you came.”

“Me too MaBe. Seeing you with Tina…well,” Milaine looked away for a moment, as a touch of sadness invaded her eyes. “Well, it has helped me to move forward a little bit. Seeing the love you two share…” She blew out a big breath. “Life goes on, doesn’t it?”

Bette wrapped Milaine back up in her arms. “Yes, it does Baby…but that doesn’t mean that we can’t remember and love those in our past. And you and I are so lucky to have had Nica as a part of our past, and that we have so much of her love to remember, and to carry with us into our future. But, Leslie was right the other night when she told me that Nica would kick my ***** if I held myself back from loving again because of her memory.” Bette let out a soft chuckle. “And you know I don’t want your mother coming back from the beyond to kick my *****! So, I’m going to take Leslie’s advice and follow my heart.”

Milaine leaned into her mother and whispered close to her ear. “She’s the one MaBe. Tina…she’s the one for you…she’s the one who’s going to help us to be whole again…isn’t she?”

Bette’s eyes filled with tears, her love for her daughter expanding with every breath. She whispered back, “Yes…she’s the one…”

“Good, I want her to be.” With that, Milaine kissed her mother, softly said good-bye to Tina, and turned to go catch her plane home.

Tina reached over and put her arm around Bette’s waist, as they watched Milaine walk away. “Come on MaBe…we have three days left before we have to come back here and repeat this scene.

Bette nodded her head, smiling at Tina’s use of her nickname. “Let’s not talk about that yet, Ok?”

“Ok…what would you like to do the rest of the day?”

Bette was silent for a moment, lost in thought. “It’s so beautiful outside. Do you think we could go for a walk? Maybe talk about a couple of things…like the holidays…or, I don’t know…our entire future or something.”

Tina laughed. “God Bette, one thing that hasn’t changed about you, is your intensity. But don’t worry…you intensity was, and is, one of your traits that turns me on the most.”

Bette smiled at Tina, not sure if she was being truthful, or was just being nice. “Really…my intensity turns you on?”

“Absolutely Baby. From the first moment. When you turned around that first night at your gallery, and Eric introduced us…I felt like you were looking right through me.” Tina laughed at the memory. “Your beams were turned on high, and Baby…I was blinded by the light!” They both smiled at that. “Bette, I have always loved it that I can look into your eyes and see what you are feeling. I think you used to close them off to most people, only let them see so much…but with me, you always had them wide open. That made me feel so special…so loved. Well, at least until the last year…then we both shut down.” Tina shook her head. “But, I don’t want to go there today…I don’t want to talk about our past…only about our future.”

The two women pulled into the parking lot next to a smaller size lake. Bette smiled over at Tina. “This is nice, where are we?”

“We’re at Greenlake. There is a walking path around the lake. It’s nice here, I think you’ll like it. Maybe after we walk around it, we can go across the street to Spuds for some fish and chips.”

“God Tina, I need to walk around this lake a few times in order to make up for all the food I have eaten on this trip! How on earth do you stay so thin?”

Tina smiled at the compliment. “I still go to the gym two or three times a week, while the kids are in school. I mean, I’m not as serious about it as you are, but I try to at least maintain my weight.”



Now that the two women had started walking around the lake, neither one was saying anything, both deep in thought. Finally Tina decided that if they were going to start this conversation that they had come here to have, that it was going to be up to her to begin…the question was, where?

“So…New York…Seattle…you…me…what do you think?”

Bette just looked out at the water, noticing the ducks floating around. She shook her head, silently thinking that she was very much like a duck…on the top of the water they looked so beautiful, so calm and serene…just floating through life, enjoying the scenery…but what the casual observer didn’t realized was that underneath the water, their little webbed feet were paddling around and around, in constant motion.

“I don’t know Tina. I honestly don’t. I mean, my first instinct is to gather you and your children up, and move you all to New York, so that I could still be close to my gallery. But, I know that is unreasonable, and out of the question, because they need to be close to their father. Which means I have to leave everything behind and…” Bette stopped walking, just staring at Tina. “I don’t know Tina…” Bette started walking again, her head down, looking at the sidewalk as they continued.

“I know this question is out of left field…but, do you ever miss working for a museum?”

Bette snorted. “God no! Tina, I would never go back to running a museum again. I love my galleries. I love picking out the artwork…the freedom I have. I could never go back to working for a board of directors, who are really only looking for their own personal sycophant.” She took a deep breath and smiled. “Fortunately, I don’t have to worry about that any more. Financially I am able to make my own choices.” She looked over at Tina. “Where did that question come from?”

“I don’t know. I’m just trying to figure out how we are going to make this work…just wondering what the options are, I guess.”

Bette reached out and took hold of Tina’s hand. “Well, just know that whatever we decide, money won’t have to be a motivating factor.” She squeezed Tina’s hand and softly added, “Between the galleries and the money Nica left me…well, I…we, don’t have to worry about that. But, to be honest T, money matters are not what I am worried about.”

“What are you worried about the most?”

Bette stopped walking and turned to face Tina. She took both of her hands, hesitating for a moment, not knowing quite how to say what she was feeling. “What I am worried about the most, is that if you and I want to live together, that it is going to be up to me to make all the compromises. I will be the one that will have to leave my home, my family…leave my beautiful gallery. I will be the one who will have to move to a city, that even though it is beautiful and obviously vibrant, is not really a city that I have ever wanted to live in.” Bette let out a big breath. “That is what I worry about the most.”

Tina didn’t know what to say…now realizing, that up until this moment, she had convinced herself that everything would be fine, because of the incredible amount of love they shared. Now understanding that there was so much more…’God, I really am asking Bette to leave everything for me’…she did the only thing she could at that moment…she stood there, looking into the eyes of the woman she wanted to wake up next to every day for the rest of her life…and she cried.