Summary of the previous chapter: Alex again appears as Alethia in the continuing attempts to drive Tonya away from Dana. Bette shares with Tina a song that Alex felt was descriptive of Bette. Tina, Bette and Alex joke around and Bette realizes that she had a lot of ponder about her own guilt.

Tina went off to the kitchen to make dinner. Bette offered to help, but Tina said that she preferred the meal edible. Bette laughed and took a glass of wine with her as she sat by the pool.

Bette realized what a lucky woman she was. She could never have survived if something had happened to Tina while they were split because of Bettes infidelity. Bette shuddered at the thought.

In the mind of Bette Porter, mortality was not a concept to be explored. Bette could not contemplate her own mortality nor could she contemplate that of anyone else whom she loved. Tinas miscarriage had forced the concept of mortality into Bettes mind. This was one of the reasons that she threw herself into work after the miscarriage. Bette couldnt deal with thinking about it. Now, Alex had forced the thought into Bettes mind. This time, Bette knew that it was in her best interest not to avoid it.

Alex used to tell Bette that it was an Irish tradition to have ***** after wakes or even at them. The Irish were quite big into the concept that life goes on. Bette had expressed disdain, but maybe they had a point. Was that what Candace had been? Did Bette have an affair to make herself feel alive in the face of death? As Tina grieved for the son they had lost, had Bette needed to go in search of a ***** to remind herself that she was still living; that life goes on? Did losing their son remind Bette in some unconscious way that she could also lose Tina? Was Bette trying to prove to herself that she could survive without Tina or was she subconsciously trying to drive Tina away so that she could avoid the hurt of Tinas mortality?