Bette arrived at home and walked into the house. “It’s good to be home”, she thought to herself, as she sat down her bag. While walking into the kitchen, she could hear the sweet babbling sounds of baby Angelica, as Tina was singing her a nursery rhyme song. Tina looked so happy as she was stirring the pot of sauce she had simmering on the stove.

“Mmmmmmm, it smells great in here! Is that what I think it is? Are you making your homemade spaghetti sauce? It’s been ages since we’ve had that”.

Tina turned to her with a big smile, that slowly began to fade. Bette knew what she was thinking, as she had the same thoughts herself. When they were together and very happy, Tina used to love to cook and make special meals for Bette. But that time seemed so far in the past.

Tina thought of how there had been so little time lately that seemed like the old times they used to have together. They had separated and spent many frustrating months apart. Then Tina was pregnant and that took over as the priority in her life. She really missed the life they shared and morned the loss of the one relationship that had been the most significant in hr life. She had been so sad and so hurt and so angry, for so long. Then with the anticipation of the baby coming, she was finally able to find some joy in her life and a sense of peace that she had never known. Tina had been unsure that she would ever have a stable relationship with Bette again, but she knew that the little one she carried inside of her would be the absolute love of her life and that she would soon know a kind of love that she had never experienced before.

The sound of the baby’s giggles brought Tina back to the present moment. She leaned into the playpen and gave Angelica a little tickle and said, “What are you giggling about, you silly girl? Look who’s home. It’s Ma! Can you say Ma”? Tina swept her up into her arms and held her so she could see Bette. She gave Bette a huge sweet toothless grin and babbled something that sounded, amazingly enough, like “Ma”.