Bette took off for the office, taking Angelica for day care. Tina found herself again in the slightly unpleasant situation of being with the woman who the day before she’d kissed and that woman’s long-term partner.

“Do you mind if I ask you some questions?”

“Okay.” Tina could feel herself tensing up.

“It’s about pregnancy, becoming a mother, those sorts of things. I hope they won’t be too personal.”

“Well, I’ll help with what I can remember.” Tina brushed at the crumbs that Angelica had left on her suit. “I think I’ve blocked out some of it as she gets older and I have to deal with new issues.”

“But no regrets?” This from Nikki, who shifted from slouching in her chair to leaning forward, awaiting the reply.

“No.” Tina didn’t really need to say the word as the smile spoke volumes. “Regardless of anything else, Angelica is such a joy to my life.”

“So you’d have another.”

“That’s a different subject.” Tina sipped at her coffee. “Given where I am right now, where Bette is right now, I don’t know how adding more children to the situation would affect things, affect Angelica.”

“Modern parenting,” Helen observed. “But the pregnancy went well?”

Tina shrugged. “I think everything you’ve heard, you’d read about, probably happened. Mood swings. Going through my initial breakup with Bette at the time didn’t help.”

“So you were alone?”

Off Helen’s comment, Tina and Nikki traded a look.

“I was inseminated without Bette’s knowledge, while we were broken up. While we were separated I started seeing another woman.”

“Oh, that would add to the drama,” Helen agreed.

Nikki entered the conversation. “You both wanted the child, though?”

Under the table, Nikki grabbed Helen’s hand and gave it a squeeze. The two shared a small smile.

 “That we agreed on, but we didn’t deal with the other issues. The infidelity for example. Everything that kept us apart.”

“I can’t imagine,” Helen said honestly. “But you were together at her birth.”

“Right. We were together. Maybe for the wrong reasons. Then we’d planned – I’d planned – a home birth.”

“Oh. Natural childbirth.”