..a couple of days later

Bette paced the room. Her left arm was holding Rosie up as she lay against her shoulder and with her right arm she was absentmindedly rubbing Rosies back. Bette watched the rain pouring down the window and worried that Tina wasnt home yet. She reached for the phone but decided at the last minute not to call, the LA drivers were mad in the rain and she didnt want to distract Tina if she was driving.

The water drops were making concentric circles in the pool, ricocheting off the patio and drumming on the roof. Bette turned the radio on then turned it up louder wanting to drown out the noise of the rain. She sang along to the music, snuggled Rosie into her neck and slowly danced around the room.

Now where do you think you Mommy is? she said quietly into Rosies ear. She knew Rosie liked to hear her voice but as soon as shed voiced the words that had been rattling around in her head she immediately started to worry more. It was as if they had somehow become more real.

Bette picked up the photo on the bookshelf. It was a picture of her and Tina; pre-Rosie, pre-the affair. She put the photo back down again. It had given her an idea. Suddenly she wanted to be re-connected with the Tina she once knew. She leant down and retrieved two of the photo albums that Tina had lovingly put together.

She walked through the house, Rosie in one arm, the photo albums under the other. She lay down on the couch, her head and shoulders propped up at one end, and Rosie scrunched up in the crook of her arm. She pulled the first album onto her bent knees and started a monologue for Rosies benefit. She pointed to the first picture

This is your Mommy when I first knew her. Isnt she beautiful, is it any wonder I married her? she looked down at her daughter ..and you Rosie are just as beautiful. You have your Mommys eyes and smile. Were going to have to watch you when you get bigger. You are going to break some hearts. Youll have all the girls..or will it be boys..chasing after you.

Rosie fixated on Bettes face, mesmerized by her voice. She gave a little gummy smile which caused Bettes heart to crumble further. Bette traced Rosies cheek with her finger, leant in and nuzzled Rosies neck causing her to squeal with laughter. Bette smiled; tears of joy in her eyes. She hugged Rosie closer.

After a few minutes, she went back to the album, flipped through a few more pages commenting on pictures of one or both of them. Most were of work events or parties but there were one or two from the occasional holiday theyd managed to squeeze into their power-couple lives. She smiled when she saw a picture of them both, snapped as they sat by the pool in Jamaica. Both had laptops on their knees and were answering emails and messages from their LA lives which theyd never left behind.

Now in this one Rosie your Mommy was laughing because shed just told me wed have lighter tans in the places our laptops were resting. Bette lingered on the picture a little longer wishing shed, or maybe theyd, taken a little more time along the way to appreciate each other and a little less being obsessed with work.

She looked down at Rosie again. Rosie was sighing soft baby sighs as she slept peacefully and Bette whispered Its sad Rosie.. I love your Mommy so much yet I never learnt to balance my work time and my us time. But now youre here..youll remind me, wont you , that Im working so I can enjoy being with my family. She looked at Rosie and made a silent vow to her Im going to make time to do that.

Bette scrunched down a little further on the couch, dropped her knees and closed her eyes for a moment.

And thats were Tina found them when she let herself into the house. Both asleep; Bette stretched out full length, Rosies head on her breast and her arm protectively holding the rest of Rosies body.

Tina smiled and walked over to them. She noticed the open album on Bettes knee and she leant over and picked it up. She glanced briefly at the photo from Jamaica as she closed the album and placed it on the floor. She knelt down beside them. She kissed Rosies cheek and ran her finger across Bettes not meaning to wake her just needing to touch her.

Bettes eyes fluttered open. She reached out her free arm, hugged Tina closer then kissed her Im glad youre home.

Bette wished someone was there to take a picture of this moment. A snapshot she could paste into their album -to look back on, to show Rosie on her wedding day or when she had her first child. But since there was no one who could capture the moment she mentally hit the shutter and let her imagination pull the fragments of the picture together. She carefully placed it in her album of memories.

And when she did that she once again vowed to rebalance her life so there would be more moments like this and less of the power-couple sitting together or alone by the pool.

TBC