Alex woke up feeling a bit groggy. Sensing it was still early, she sleepily reached over and picked up the book she had been reading the night before, deciding to go and crawl into bed with her Mom, who was always happy to lay in bed and read with her. And that was just the comfort that Alex needed this morning…to curl up with her Mom in her big comfortable bed, and quietly read about her favorite fictional characters, while her brother and sister still slept.

She tiptoed down the hall, gently holding the old, worn book in her hands, trying to be very careful with it, just as her Mom had instructed, when she had given Alex the books and told her they had belonged to Tina’s mother.

Alex didn’t think about knocking on the bedroom door, forgetting for a moment that they had guests, and that her mother wasn’t alone on this particular morning. She slowly opened the door, hearing the sound of running water, but not really allowing it to register, because she saw a familiar lump hidden under all the blankets and soft blue old fashioned bedspread.

She crawled up on the opposite side of the bed, and softly said, “Mom…” Nothing. There was no movement, so she tried again. “Mom…do you think we could read this morning?”

Bette, who had only been half asleep, heard the second attempt by Alex, and slowly pulled the covers from over her head, not wanting to scare the little girl. She was surprised by their unexpected, early morning guest, but at the same time, felt a warm rush of love…of feeling at home.

She couldn’t help but smile as she turned to look at Alex. “Hi Honey. Your Mom is in the shower.”

Alex, who had totally forgotten about their guests, jumped back off the bed, startled by the strange voice (even though it did feel very soft and comforting), and the very dark hair that was making its way out from under the covers. “What! Who are……..oh.” She finally remembered the events of the day before. It was Her, sleeping in her parents bedroom. “Oh…,” she repeated. “Huh…never mind.” She started to walk towards the door, when she heard the soft, low voice again.

“Alex? Honey, your Mom is just in the shower. She wanted to get an early start today, but she will be out in a minute. Why don’t you wait here for her?”

Alex slowly shook her head, raising the book she had been holding, up so Bette could see it. “That’s Ok. Sometimes we read together in the morning,” she whispered.

Bette looked over at the book, and immediately let out a squeal. Alex jumped a little at the surprising sound coming from an adult. “Oh my God, Alex! Trixie Belden! Where did you get that book?” Bette sat up in bed, grinning like a girl who had just opened up her first Barbie doll at Christmas. And even though Alex wasn’t sure yet how she felt about Bette and her Mom, she couldn’t help but smile at the excitement coming from Bette, and her own excitement that someone other than her Mom knew about Trixie Belden. When she had talked to her friends about the books, they had never heard of them, nor had their parents.

Without thinking about what she was doing, Alex started walking back towards the bed. “These were my grandmother’s books. My Mom gave them to me to read, but I have to be careful, cause they are so old.”

Bette patted the bed and pulled back the covers, indicating to Alex to join her in bed. At the same time, she started talking about the books that had been her favorite as a child, hoping that by sharing this commonality with Alex, it would somehow make her more comfortable to be around Bette. “I loved Trixie Belden when I was growing up. I loved all the adventures she got into with Honey…and I always laughed at how much her brothers, Brian and Mart teased her…but then she always proved them wrong in the end, didn’t she?” Bette let out a soft chuckle, trying not to make any indication that she saw Alex crawling into bed with her. “I use to run home from school every day just so I could see what kind of trouble Trixie and Honey were going to get into next.” She turned to Alex. “What about you?”

Alex wasn’t paying attention to what she was doing…didn’t notice that she was now snuggled under the covers with her mother’s girlfriend, instead of her mother. All she knew was that she felt comforted by this woman. She grinned at Bette, her head slightly nodding in agreement with the woman beside her. “I can’t believe you remember their names!”

“Of course I do! I can’t tell you how many times I would read those books, over and over again.”

Alex was totally comfortable now, not thinking anything about the strangeness of the situation. “I love these books, too.” She let out a little girl giggle. “I come home every day to read them, and then when my Mom lets me, I read them with her again.” Alex looked at Bette, obviously thinking about something that confused her. “My Mom says these books were her mom’s, but you aren’t as old as my grandma. Who gave them to you to read?”

Bette smiled, part of her relieved that Alex could differentiate between the differences in age between Bette, and Tina’s mother (I’m not that old…yet!) “Well…actually the books were given to my sister Kit, by her mother. Kit’s about 10 years older than I am, so her mother thought she would like to read them.” Bette smiled and shook her head. “But, Kit had no interest whatsoever in reading. She was much more interested in music and singing. So, years later, when I was around your age, Kit gave them all to me. She was moving out of town and didn’t want to pack them, so I was the lucky one who got them.”

Alex was curious about Bette and her sister having different mothers, and wanted to ask, but swallowed the question instead. “She didn’t like to read?” Alex, who loved to read, and was raised in a home where everyone else loved to read as well, couldn’t understand how anyone wouldn’t want to get lost in the exciting, and wonderful adventures that were possible when reading a book. Sometimes, she had felt more connected to the characters in a book than she did to some of her real-life friends.

Bette smiled at the look on Alex’s face. “I know…I don’t understand it either. Sometimes when I read, I feel like I am right in the book with the characters. Like they are my best friends.”

Alex, just laid there, next to Bette, nodding in understanding. “Me too,” she whispered.

Bette turned her body so she was on her side, facing Alex. “That’s what I use to do with my school work.”

Alex looked at her puzzled. “What do you mean?”

Bette smiled. “Well, whenever I had a book report to write, or I had to write about somebody famous…you know, like how George Washington became our first President…” She rolled her eyes, and then joined Alex in giggling at her own antics. “I would pretend like I was reading a book, and that I was right there in the story…whether it was fighting along side Mr. Washington, or canoeing down a river with Lewis and Clark. I pretended I was right there with them while doing my homework.” Bette stopped for a moment, allowing a serious look to show on her face. Then she lowered her voice to a whisper. “Ok…don’t laugh at me…but, I really liked doing my homework from then on.”

Alex snuggled further into the covers, not understanding it, and part of her still trying to fight it…but she couldn’t help the warmth of the connection she was feeling for Bette. She whispered very softly, feeling like she had just been included in on a big secret. “I won’t laugh….cause I like it too.”

“You do?”

“Yes,” Alex whispered. “Well, except for math. I don’t like math. I just can’t keep track of all those numbers. They confuse me.”

Bette sighed, thinking back to her own difficulties with math when she was Alex’s age. “I know what you mean. I wasn’t to fond of math either. But, you know what use to help me?”

Bette had all of Alex’s attention now. “I use to pretend that each number represented a French fry.”

Alex looked at her like she was crazy. “French fries!”

Bette giggled. “Yes, I don’t know about you, but I use to LOVE French fries. So, if I pretended that each number represented how many fries I had, it made it so much easier when I had to subtract, multiply or divide. Cause, you know…if you’re talking about French fries…I can ALWAYS tell you how many I have left!”

Alex giggled. “I LOVE Almond Joys. Can I use those instead?”

Bette laughed at the enthusiasm coming from Alex. “Absolutely! You can use whatever you want. That’s the best part of pretending…right?”

Before Alex could answer, the door to the master bathroom opened, and Tina came out, along with a cloud of steam. She looked over, surprised to see Alex curled up in bed with Bette, talking about something, that from the looks on their faces, was bringing them both pleasure. “Hey, is there a party going on out here I don’t know about?”

“Hey T. Alex and I were just discussing books and Almond Joys.”

Tina looked perplexed for a moment. “Almond Joys?”

“Mom, did you know that Bette use to read Trixie Belden books when she was my age? And guess what…she still remembers all their names!”

Upon hearing this, Tina silently made a decision, and moved across the room toward the bed as she was talking. “Really? Bette, I didn’t know you read those books when you were younger.” She lifted up the covers on Alex’s side of the bed, gently crawling in beside her, putting her in the middle.

“She did Mom…just like me.” Alex became silent, looking down at the bedspread. “I didn’t mean to wake her up Mom. I just came in to see if you would read with me for a while.”

Even though Alex had been talking to Tina, Bette is the one who responded. “Oh Honey. It’s Ok. You didn’t really wake me up. Your Mother did that when she got up to take a shower. I was just resting when you came in. Don’t worry about that.”

Tina reached over and gently tucked a lock of Alex’s hair behind her ear. “So, did you still want to read a little?”

Alex looked at her Mom and then over at Bette, then back to her Mom. “Yea….if you want to.”

Tina smiled. “How bout if we let Bette read for us. I bet she would love to. It has probably been years since she last read about Trixie and Honey…right Bette?”

Bette’s eyes filled with tears, as she looked across at the woman she loved, and the little girl she hoped would accept her as part of her family. “I would love to T…if it’s Ok with Alex.”

Alex gave Bette a shy smile, her fingers playing with the fringe on the bedspread. “Sure Bette. Here, this is where we left off last time.” She opened the book and pointed to the page, not noticing the shared look of love that was passing between Bette and Tina, above her head. Tina turned on her side and wrapped Alex up in her arms, so they were both facing Bette.

Then, with all three of them feeling loved, and safe under all the covers…Bette’s soft, melodious voice filled the room…”Honey shuddered. “We’re not even going to try to solve this mystery, Trixie Belden,” she said firmly. “If you of all people are scared, I’m going right back to the house and tell Jim everything.”
“I’m not scared,” Trixie said frowning….”

tbc