Chapter 23

Three Years Later

Tina picked up her purse and clutched the small box to her
chest. It was hard to believe that this was the last time she would ever walk
out of here at the end of the day. Today was been the final one…she was
officially retired. She had always thought this would be a day of mixed
emotions for her, sadness for a part of her life coming to an end, happiness to
finally have the time and energy to enjoy life at a slower pace.

But the one thing she had never counted on was Bette Porter
and now this was the third happiest day in her life thanks to her wife. Bette
had come back into her life and Tina had welcomed her like a cool summer breeze.
One year into their relationship Bette retired true to their dream she had
bought a house on the beach in Marina Del Ray and soon that’s were they would
spend all their days together.

Tina continued to work toward retirement. At night she came
home to a clean house and a home cooked meal. Bette tried to lighten the load
for her and Tina let her. It was nice having someone take care of her for a
change.

By the end of their second year Bette proposed and Tina
accepted. Her family was so happy for them. But Bette was insistent that once
they were married she wanted to travel. Tina explained that the main reason she
wanted to keep working was to help with the cost of Angie’s education but Bette
was so persuasive that Tina bought some time and was able to retire a whole two
years early. When she told Angie what their plans for the future consisted of
she stressed not to worry about the cost of her education.

Two weeks later Bette deposited a total of $50,000 into an
account for Angie and Maggie to complete their degrees. Both of them were so
close to completion and had worked so hard to reach their dreams.  Both of them had been head hunted before even
graduating. Angie by an aeronautics research firm and Maggie by a design firm
and both companies were based in California.

Although Tina’s attacker was never arrested she was able to
put it all behind her because Bette always had a way of making her feel so safe
and loved. Bette came out of her shell of self imposed exile a little more each
day. Soon she was the picture of confidence and charm that Tina had known years
ago. The beating Tina had sustained was terrible but both women would agree it
was the catalyst to reuniting them so quickly and for that they were grateful.
They had traversed a long hard road sometimes together and sometimes separately
but had reached the end united and so very much in love. Life was good better
than either of them dreamed it ever could be even on the best day so long ago.

The End