It had been three days since Mrs Stone’s surprise visit at the gallery and Bette hadn’t heard another word from her. Kit had called back to tell Bette she knew nothing about a Mrs Stone. Bette had almost completely forgotten about her when James walked into her office just after lunch.

«I’m busy James, what is it ?», Bette asked without even lifting her eyes off the load of paper work in front of her.

«She’s back», was all he said.

Bette took off her glasses and frowned. «Who’s ba…», then it dawned on her who he was talking about. «Fuck, why can’t she just leave me alone ?», she ranted.

«Do you want me to get rid of her ?», James suggested.

Bette sighed heavily as she stood up. «No, I’ll take care of it myself… Thanks James». She walked past him and went looking for Mrs Stone. She found her in the back of the gallery, staring at a new painting Bette had just received the day before.

«Mrs Stone ?», Bette told her.

The woman turned around and smiled at her. «Bette, how nice to see you again… I hope I’m not disturbing you ? I know you must be a pretty busy woman», she said.

«Mrs Stone, look, I don’t know why you keep coming here… I’m not the one you’re looking for», Bette tried to explain very patiently.

«Your father was Melvin Porter, right?», the woman said to a stunned Bette. Ice ran through her veins. «Who are you ?», Bette managed to say.

The woman smiled. «I told you… I’m your mother. Now can we please sit down so I can explain the whole thing?»

Bette knew that listening to her story once and for all would be the best way to get rid of her. She looked at her watch. «I don’t want to do this here… Meet me in an hour and we’ll talk», Bette told her, writing down the address of a small coffee shop on Sunset. Mrs Stone put the paper in her purse and thanked her. «I’ll be there…», she promised before leaving the gallery.

Bette pulled her cell phone from her pocket and called Tina who had the day off. «Baby, she came back…», Bette quickly said as soon as Tina picked up. Tina didn’t have to ask who she was talking about.