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A Working Class Sacrifice
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“Thank you, my friend,” Bette smiled, downing her shot. It stung her throat, and all the internal organs it passed through to get to her stomach. But today, Bette felt undefeated. She might even do another.
“Don’t lo0k now,” Alice said, “but that girl over there is totally eyeing you.”
Bette laughed, not even bothering to catch a glimpse of the woman at hand. “Poor girl, she’s a day too late. I just got married to my job.”
“Yeah, yeah,” Alice chuckled, rolling her eyes. “Well, I hope you at least leave yourself a little room for a mistress.”
“Maybe after the honeymoon,” Bette answered, raising her empty shot glass to the bartender, a silent request for another.
15 Years Earlier
“You can’t make her move,” Bette said, trying to force more authority into her voice than she really possessed. The magnitude of the current situation was slowly sinking through her skin like an injection.
“No,” Mrs. Kennard readily agreed. “But you can.”
“You’re crazy. I won’t do it.” Bette forcibly and adamantly shook her head no.
“Is it really so crazy to want what’s best for my daughter?”
“I’m what’s best for you daughter. I’m the one who loves her,” Bette said, digging her finger into her own chest.
“Bette, you know I care for you. Deeply. I’ve raised you as if you were my own. But we both know you’re not what’s best for her. What can you give her?”
“Love, for one.”
“Oh Bette,” Lois said, a trace of genuine pity in her voice. “Love isn’t enough. The only time it ever seems that way is when you’re young. You’ll see, someday, that it isn’t.”
“I’ve been saving,” Bette said, trying to provide more evidence in her defense.
“And what have you saved? A hundred dollars? A couple hundred?” Mrs. Kennard scoffed. “That won’t even get you one month’s rent! You can’t even take care of yourself, what makes you think you can take care of Tina?”
“I know I can,” Bette whispered. “I know we’ll make it.”
“I’m sure you would,” Lois said. “But barely. Do you really want people always looking at Tina and noticing that maybe she wore the same clothes yesterday? Noticing that she’s awfully skinny and thinking it’s a fashion statement rather than the result of being too broke for dinner?”
Bette started to cry, laying her face into her palms.
“Would you rather her end up working at some run down 24-hour diner like her old lady? With filthy middle-aged men making comments about her ass, and her not being able to do a damn thing about it for fear of losing a tip?”
Lois Kennard stopped talking, her voice becoming strained by emotion. The only sound in the apartment was that of Bette’s quiet sobbing.
“I promised her I’d take her away from here,” Bette choked, smearing the tears across her cheeks with the back of her hand.
“If you let her go, you will be taking her away from here. Don’t you want to keep your promise?” Mrs. Kennard said, driving the stake in. “If you love her, you have to push her away.”
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Crap! That’s just sad. :( Thanks for the post! Regardless how sad it is I still love reading your posts.
God so heartbreaking!! PPVS Thanks Atlas :'(
omg, I am going to die. This is so freaking sad… I’m trusting you now, atlas, to fix everyone’s broken hearts, including mine. thanks for the post, but girl, you are killing me!
I just caught up with this story, I’m really enjoying it.. This chapter was heartbreaking, though. Thanks for posting. PPS :)
ughhh so sad… give me a happy ending!
if I had any tears, I would have cried like a pig…
Poor Bette. This story is so sad but I still love it. PPVS.
That was awfull from Tina’s mother!!! I just … no heartbreaking.
Incredibly sad but also well written
Nope. No spumoni for you until I can read a chapter without crying…OK…I don’t mean that…I’m just upset because I don’t have any tissues handy so I have to wipe my nose on my sleeve…Dayum, the dry-cleaning bill!!!!!!
Heartbreaking…Thanks for posting though. I’ll wait for the next chapter.
Mama Kennard…you are so wrong…don’t do it Bette…..so sad
this post was so sad that I had to comment, what is Tina going to do when she finds out that it was her mother who pushed Bette away? please please please fix my Tibette heart!! Thanks! PPVS! =))
oh my bleeding heeart!
Well written story and fluent transitions between past and present. Happy or sad ending, looking forward to reading more. Thank you for writing.
this is so sad but i totally dig tina’s mom. and you’re writing this particularly well.
2 really really sad chapters. It will get better right. Thank you and you write so very well.
You are killing me,I hate this family.
i can almost feel bette’s heartbreak. her dreams of a future w/ tina is slowly drifting. this is sad. i wonder if tina hated bette for letting her go.
Poor Bette. Tina’s mother is giving her a huge load. It’s not fair to Bette or to Tina. She is underestimating the power of love and giving material possessions a higher value….that’s never gonna make Tina happy.
Just caught up with the chapters. That was a very low blow from Tina’s mother and one hell of a lot of grief on both of them, for the sake of a few dollars that she may or may not get. She really shouldn’t have done that to them. What will Tina think when she finds out her mother had a hand in the demise of her breakup with Bette, forcing her to marry this guy. And what does it say about the guy that basically blackmailing the parents so that he can fulfill his selfish desires for Tina’s hand in a marriage which she doesn’t have a clue about. It stinks to high heaven and I hope Tina tells all of them to go straight to hell when she does find out. Thanks for posting.