Bailey declared, “I swear Angie, your mom is my hero.  Absolutely.”

Angie smiled proudly again, and responded, “Yeah.  She really is something.”

“Anyway,” Angie continued the story, “the agents wanted Bette to continue working with them once they could see how much she’d been able to gather for them, but she demurred and thought that she’d gone as far as she could go in helping them.  They then said she could start the process of claiming monetary rewards that ran to the millions. Several institutions and the governments involved had put the reward up for credible information that would lead to finding this art hoard.  But, to their surprise, Bette said she didn’t want to fully claim the reward.  She thought that if she came forward she’d have to basically disappear, and leave everyone behind, including Tina, because the associates of the criminal network could come to know of her involvement she stepped forward to claim the reward, and go after her.”

“The lead agent, Mike, who went on to become a good friend of theirs, supported Bette’s proposal for an alternative arrangement that would allow Bette to reunite with Tina, and her close friends and Kit, her sister.  Mike said that this would nevertheless involve being relocated, along with Tina, to another city, to ensure they could more effectively hide Bette’s involvement in the case.  In this way, Bette would still be able to obtain some part of the reward as an anonymous tipster, and after some negotiation by Mike on Bette’s behalf, that’s what eventually happened: Bette and Tina were reunited, and they began to build a life together in a new city.”

“What did I tell you?  So romantic… giving up on a huge reward… for love,” Haley sighed again.

Angie frowned, “But all that was quite tough for Tina.  Bette had to leave her behind in Paris without leaving many clues about where she’d disappeared to, and Tina had no certainty at all that she would ever see Bette again, even, after Bette left her in Paris.”

Bailey gasped slightly, “I did not know that Angie!  Wow!”

TJ nodded, “Yeah.  So if you think Bette is admirable.   Well, Tina is …”

Jason cut in, “Bette’s equal, I’d say.”

TJ smiled at him, and responded with quiet pride, “They’re both amazing.”

He and Angie exchanged a smile, but, a moment later they each grimaced slightly.