"Tasha found me in there bleeding and unconscious. She took me to the hospital then moved all my stuff to her apartment. I wouldn’t have been able to leave Julian without her. I vowed then that I would never be able to be with any man so I started dating women. I had dated two women before I found out I was pregnant with Mikah."

"And I assume he wanted you back when he found out?" Bette said.

"Yes but Tasha didn’t let him anywhere near me," Tina said, "Julian was devastated to say the least, he wanted to be with his unborn child. He promised to stop doing drugs and he really did try. It was so horrible to see him in withdrawal, but those were the only moments I ever saw the old Julian. The sweet, kind boy."

"But he couldn’t do it?" Bette asked.

"One day he escaped from Tasha’s apartment," Tina said sadly, "he couldn’t handle the withdrawal so he ran to the nearest friend and took two extra dosages of heroin. By the time he got to the hospital he was already dead."

Bette touched Tina’s arm gently, "I’m so sorry."

"Tasha was more devastated than I was," Tina said, "that was her brother and best friend. I fell out of love with him over time and after he died I knew that I had to protect my child from the things that destroyed him."

"You raised Mikah very well," Bette said encouragingly.

"Yeah you did."

Tina and Bette’s heads swung around and they saw Mikah standing there with tears in her eyes.

"Mikah…" Tina breathed standing up.

"No mom, I needed to know that," Mikah said.

"I’ll leave you two to talk," Bette said, "I’ll set up the sails."

Bette moved away and Mikah sat in her place. Tina sat beside her with a deep sigh, "I don’t want you to remember your father like that."

"Actually I have a better image of him," Mikah said, "I see now that he was a great person, it was the drugs that changed him, the drugs that made him a monster."

"You understand now why I got so scared when you were at that club?" Tina said.

Mikah nodded, "I’ll never do it again."

"I didn’t know if you ready to know the truth, I see now that you are," Tina said.

Mikah grabbed her hand gently then looked over her shoulder at Bette and smiled.

"What?" Tina said with a small smile.

Mikah grinned, "I like her."