“Marcus? Oh my god Marcus Allenwood. How are you?”

“Tina Kennard I’m great. How are you? I just saw Bette a few minutes ago and she told me you were here. She was engrossed in a conversation but promised we’d catch up later. It’s really good to see you both.”

“It’s good seeing you as well. Bette’s here mostly for the networking. Peggy Peabody is introducing her to some key people. Do you know Peggy?”

“Of course. Who doesn’t know Peggy? She’s been a wonderful supporter. The Peabody Gallery has done numerous showings of my work, and she also has a few of my pieces in her private collection.”

“That’s wonderful. You must be doing very well.”

“I am. I’ve been very fortunate. You know Bette was one of the first people to believe in me. She gave me a start by showing my work in her gallery. I will always be grateful to her. It was one of the reasons I agreed to help you start your family. So how did that go? I never heard how many children you have. I know Bette wanted a houseful. She always talked about having several children whenever we had conversations about family.”

“We have a daughter Angelica. She’s six. We both wanted at least two maybe three but I had trouble conceiving then Bette and I separated soon after Angelica’s birth. We’ve co-parented her and we’ve remained best friends but we only recently reconciled as life-partners.“

“I’m sorry to hear that Tina but I am happy that you’ve reconciled. Are you thinking of having more children now that you are back together?”

“We do want another child. We’ve talked about it. Although we didn’t lose contact over the years we are building a new relationship as a couple. We want to expand our family but the timing has to right. We’re experiencing a lot of life changes right now. We think it’s best to wait until things settle down a bit.”

“This is going to sound weird. I’m not even sure if I should ask the question or how to ask it but … were you happy with the results of using me as a donor? I mean does Angelica reflect the two of you as you envisioned?”