“Hello…” The voice was soft, half mumbling.

“Hi Baby. Did I wake you up?”

“Yea…sorry, I must have dozed off. What time is it?”

“It’s 11:00 your time. I wanted to call before it got too late. I should have called earlier, sorry. I couldn’t get the kids to quiet down.”

“No, it’s fine. I’m awake now. How was your day?”

“Good…other than spending the last half hour listening to Dani and Paul argue over what to watch on TV.”

Bette chuckled into the phone, sending vibrations echoing into Tina’s ear. “So, who won the argument?”

“I did. I turned the TV off and sent them all to their rooms to read. Easy, simple…quiet.” Tina laughed, “I love being the Mom.”

“And you do it so well…of course, that’s from our point of view. I wonder how your children are feeling about that right now?”

Tina smiled into the phone, loving her soft, night time talks with Bette. “That’s the great thing about kids, at least my kids. They may be mad at me right now, but in about ten minutes, they will all be so engrossed in whatever they are reading, they will have forgotten about the TV, and tomorrow morning, it will be as if nothing had happened. I don’t know how I got so lucky to have three children who all love to read, but I sure am grateful for it.”

“Well, I imagine your love of reading had something to do with it. The fact that you read to them all the time when they were young.”

Tina sighed. “Yea, maybe. Alex still lets me sit and read with her every once in a while.”

“Baby…not to change the subject, but I have a question for you.”

“What’s up?”

“What would you think of having four more for Thanksgiving, rather than just one?”

“Really?! Oh Bette, that would be great! I can’t believe they all agreed to come.”

“Well, Kit was going to spend it with Ed, but he wants to spend time with his 86 year old mother. I guess she is quite frail and doesn’t like any visitors other than him. So, Kit’s in. Then, I spoke with Leslie, and she said she was up for a trip to Seattle, along as Milaine was coming. She said she didn’t want her to be here all alone…like I would let that happen. Anyway, Nica was Leslie’s only living relative, so we are all she has left, and Baby…Leslie is such an important part of our family, I don’t want her to be by herself here either….Once Milaine heard that Kit and Leslie were both up for it, she agreed. So, what do you think? Is there room at your table for a group of four semi-well behaved New Yorkers?”

“Bette, you know there is, and you know I can’t wait to see Kit after all these years.” Tina stood up and started pacing, unable to contain her excitement over having everyone together. “Oh Baby, this is going to be so great!”

It warmed Bette’s heart that Tina was so open and excited about including Bette’s family in with hers. A big part of her reluctance to leave New York was these three women, so it was very important to her that they be included in family gatherings, like Thanksgiving and Christmas. And even though they hadn’t decided anything for Christmas yet, she was thrilled they would all be together now, and that Bette’s family could finally meet Tina’s children, and vice versa.

“There’s one more thing, Tina.” Bette hesitated, not sure how she really felt about this, or how anyone else would, for that matter. But she knew it was the right thing for their relationship, so she decided to go for it. “I was wondering…Kit and Leslie are going to stay at the Alexis, because I know you can’t accommodate all four of us, but…well, I thought that maybe Milaine and I could stay with you.”

Tina stopped her pacing, her eyes filling with tears. She sat down, not able to keep the tears from falling, or contain the wide grin that was spreading across her face. She didn’t say anything, unable to get anything to come out, other than a small choking sound.

“Tina?” Bette sat straight up. “Baby? What’s wrong?”

Tina wipe her tears and whispered into the phone. “Do you know how happy you just made me?”

“Jesus Tina, you scared me.” Bette blew out a breath of relief. “So, that’s a yes, we can stay?”

“You know you don’t even have to ask. Baby, I know you don’t consider this your home, but…well…just know that I do…which means you’re going to be sharing a bed with me, because not only does Milaine get to have the guest room all to herself, but as my partner, your place is in the master bedroom, with me. I don’t want to have to explain to my children why, if you are moving in with us, you and I aren’t sleeping together. Deal?”

Smiling, now looking forward to the trip more than ever, Bette just sighed. “That was my plan all along T. You didn’t think I was going to share a room with Milaine, just to sneak out, tripping down the hallway to your room every night, did you?”

Tina was laughing now. “Well, I’m never sure with you. But, since you have already met Dan and Kathy, there are no other excuses.”

“Well, except for the fact that we will be sleeping in the same bed that you shared with Dan. But…I am willing to let go of that for now, for the sake of our reputation with your children…Ok, I’m really letting go of it this time, just so I can be close to you. But T…maybe we can at least go casually looking at houses over the weekend. Just to see what’s out there. Ok?”

Tina nodded her head. “That sounds like fun. You know I love looking at houses.” It was Tina’s turn to hesitate. “Thanks Baby. I know how you feel about sleeping here, so thank you. It will be wonderful, you’ll see.”

“I know it will Tina…we’ll be together, our families will be together…how could it not?”


~ ~ ~

“Mom?”

“Yea Honey.”

“So, who all is coming for Thanksgiving again?” Alex had a serious look on her face, concentrating on holding the potato peeler with one hand, and not having the apple she was trying to peel, pop out of her other hand. This was her first year helping out with Thanksgiving dinner, and she was feeling very grown-up, being able to be in the kitchen with her mother and sister.

“Well, there will be us of course, your Dad and Kathy, Bette and her daughter Milaine, and your Aunt Kit and Aunt Leslie.”

“How come I have new aunts?”

“Because, these women are part of Bette’s family…just like Kathy’s brother, Brian is your uncle, Kit and Leslie are your aunts. They are all part of our family now.”

“But you and Bette aren’t married like Dad and Kathy are.”

“No, we are not legally married, but Honey we are still a couple, and we are very much a family.”

“So does that mean that Milaine is my sister?”

“Yes.” Tina looked over at her younger daughter, who was trying so hard to concentrate on what she was doing, while talking at the same time. Tina wondered how she was handling all of these changes, as this was the first time she had said anything since that day camping. Thinking that being in the kitchen together brought about a comforting atmosphere for them, she decided to come out and ask. “How do you feel about that?”

Alex stopped what she was doing and looked over at her Mom. “I don’t know. It’s hard to think of someone I don’t know as my sister.” She lowered her voice to a whisper. “I already have a sister that I really like.” She looked down at her feet, figuring that this was as good a time as any to say what was on her mind. “Why do you want to date a woman anyway?”

Tina walked over and put her arm around her daughter, turning her so they were facing. “Well, to be honest, I don’t have a logical answer for you, except to say that…for me…it’s not about Bette being a woman. It’s about who she is as a person. I fell in love with her…just like I loved your father. It didn’t matter to me whether he was a man, or a woman…I just thought he was so wonderful, I couldn’t help but love him.” Tina took both of Alex’s hands in her own and softly squeezed. “We can’t control who we fall in love with, Honey…and I fell in love with Bette the moment I saw her.” Tina smiled at the memory of walking up to Bette at her gallery, and her body’s physical reaction when Bette had turned around. Wiggling her eyebrows and giving Alex a lopsided grin, she said, “I couldn’t help it…she smiled at me and I was a goner.”

Dani giggled at that. “Everyone’s a goner when they look at Bette, Mom. Did you see the look in Dad’s eyes when he first saw her?” Dani started giggling again. “Goner!”

Tina and Dani both started laughing at that. “I have to admit, she can certainly stop traffic…literally!” Tina quieted her voice, looking at Alex. “But, the reasons I love her are so much more than that. I love her heart, her determination, her intensity, her loyalty, her sense of humor…I love so many things about her.” She brought her hand up and ran her hand through Alex’s hair. “I love her so much, it doesn’t matter to me which gender she is…because in the end, the thing I love about her most…is the way she loves me.”

tbc