“That’s so horrible!” Tina exclaimed.  “Oh my god, no wonder she reacted the way she did when I hesitated to use Marcus as a donor.  She shut down on me just like she did tonight and I was so wrapped up in myself I didn’t see it.”  Tina sat back and reviewed their discussions about raising a black child and Tina’s concerns that it was too much otherness for one child to bear.  Tina’s head began to spin.  She remembered the day at the restaurant with Henry and his friends when the older couple assumed that Angelica had been adopted and Tina had not corrected them.  Thank God Bette hadn’t been there to see that. 

            “She was really hurt about your reaction to Marcus, Tina.” Kit confirmed.  “She came to see me and we had our first real talk since I came to LA.   She is used to people running out on her.  Her mother and I both left her.  She never talks about it.  When she was a girl and people would ask about her Mom she would just say she was gone.  As she got older she would just walk out of the room when the subject came up.  Just like she did today.  I’m not defending her Tina but I understand why she took Angelica.  There is no way that Bette would allow herself to be separated from her child.  I remember the fierceness in her voice the one time she ever alluded to her mother and she said I would never cheat if I was married and I would never leave my child.”

            They sat in silence for awhile. 

            “I still can’t explain her cheating on you Tina." Kit mused. "It’s just not her.  Bette doesn’t give her heart easily and I’d never seen her cry until you left her and then Melvin and Dana died.  I overheard Melvin once say she never cried when Maxine left and that he was concerned about that. It scared me when I saw her crying after you left.  I was afraid she was going to pull a Marina and try to kill herself.”

            “No.” Tina gasped.  The thought of Bette in that much pain stopped her cold.  “You know I never saw her cry after we lost our son.  I could feel that she was in a lot of pain.  She was so comforting to me.  I wasn’t there for her. She insisted that I go to Palm Springs with the girls just to get away for a few days.  Oh, no.  That’s when she met Candace. Shit! I’ve been so blind Kit. I thought she stopped loving me.”