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Love’s Recovery
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“I’ve made the decision that I don’t want you around Tina or Angelica anymore.” Bette watched as her mother’s eyes clouded over with unshed tears. “I won’t put them through the pain of getting too close only to have you disappear.”
“Melvin’s gone, Bette, I have no intention of going anywhere.”
“So this is where you tell me it’s all Daddy’s fault?” Bette crossed her arms and cocked her head, challenging her mother.
“Absolutely not,” Maxine said emphatically. “This is where I tell you that I’ve missed you and am so thankful that, although I went about it the wrong way, I got to know your amazing wife and daughter, even if it was brief.”
“I don’t know how to do this.” Bette’s physical actions turned frazzled after not getting the battle she was prepared for. She let her head drop, her hands running through her long hair.
“Do what?”
“Start over. Pretend that you didn’t let me agonize alone during a part of my life when I really could have used someone in my corner. I look back on my life and all the times I needed a mom….”
“You should look back on your childhood and realize that you were given a great deal by Melvin. An education at Yale, the motivation and skills to know what you want and go after it unapologetically.”
“I was drowning after Provocations.”
“Sadly, by your own doing, Lizzie.” Maxine offered the blow as gently as she could. “Nobody could have stopped you from stepping out on Tina. Or from asserting your brilliant eye and passion for Provocations to a conservative board that loved Impressions of Winter. You certainly have never taken the easy road.”
Bette scoffed and rolled her eyes. “Maxine, you don’t get to judge me. Not with the choices you’ve made. Not when you let me drown.”
“And while I understand that you feel that way, I can only hope that, in time, you’ll allow me, to prove to you that I am here to stay and earn your trust back.”
“I don’t honestly know if that’s in the cards, Maxine.”
“How about we discuss it over dinner tomorrow?” Maxine offered a hopeful smile. “You can come to my house and you can lay out the ground rules on a starting point.”
“I really don’t know if that’s such a good idea.”
“I’d love to show you a new piece I am working on,” Maxine continued, trying to appeal to their shared love of art. “Both you and Kit can come so you feel comfortable spending some time with me.”
“I’d have to check with Tina to see if she already planned something for us.” Bette pinched the bridge of her nose to ward off a headache. “I’ll let Kit know either way and she can coordinate something when I’m free. Just know that this is not a family reunion, this is about me drawing some healthy boundaries that you will not cross, Maxine.”
“I’ll take what I can get, Bette.”
Bette waived at Kit as she exited The Planet, truly uncertain if she was making the right decision.
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Hi Gumby,
Welcome back!!! ..
I have reread this story many times and so happy that you are going to finish it!!!
Will read it after i finish work this afternoon.
Thank you so much for coming back!!!
I searched for the previous chapters but couldn’t find them. Is there a way to read them?
https://lesfan.com/fan-fiction/page/2/?sc=Love%27s%20Recovery&story_category=0&story_author=24226&genre=0&rating=0&pairings=0&submit=Search
Go to Search above.
Go to the L word
Go to Gumby as Author and press Search.
All her Stories will come up. This story starts on page 2
Glad that you continue this story, but i think first i need to refresh my memory and reread previous chapters.
Welcome back Gumby!
Five years ago I asked that you come back and finish this! Delighted to see my wish may come true!
Been back and re-read the previous 19 chapters and enjoyed familiarising myself again with the story.
Next Chapter please:-)
SG
If i am honest i find Maxine pushy, she doesn’t give Bette the time to think about what she wants and certainly has no right to tell or judge Bette about that Bette was out of control during the time with Provocations and would step out on Tina.
Maybe if Maxine was there as a mother during that time and Bette had the chance to talk about her feelings and thoughts to her, she wouldn’t have stepped out and make such a mess of her life. You never know what would have happened but in my opinion Maxine is taking the easy road and tries to pressure Bette in having a relationship with her, but she seems to be more interested in a relationship with Tina and Angie.
For now, i don’t trust Maxine and Bette should really take the time to think if she wants a relationship with her and not feeling pressured in that Maxine could be a grandmother to Angie for example. She has to make that choice if she is able to trust Maxine and if she can forgive her.
Great to see you back, Gumby! Just after episode 7 I started to re-read your “Sweet memories” to get over the desperation of hearing Tina say “Carrie asked me to marry her…”. I’ll put that on hold now and start re-reading “Love’s Recovery”.
Thanks for picking up this story again, can’t wait to see how it goes.
After reading all 20 chapters, I find that Bette still has not allow Maxine or anyone else tell her story to her. She is processing that Maxine is back with a list of assumptions which came basically from Melvin who lied to her about the situation as it is. How is it that a man fakes a funeral for a woman who is the mother and step-mother of his daughters? Someone with a lot of resources and contacts for sure.
Most anyone who wants to catch a person in a lie ask them questions and then allows them to talk as freely as they which. Then ask them a follow up question. In a lie, the pieces will not mesh together. Parts of the response will not match other parts. Bette has the ability to detect when someone is not being truthful. Her basic problem is that she has not allowed Maxine to tell her story and then check the details for accuracy. Her entire behavior is based upon her anger and false perception of what the truth is. Tina knows that Bette has this preconceived ideas of what happened but also knows that she will not hear the truth until she is ready.
I would ask myself: What would I do if I were in Bette’s situation? Well for one, I would have a thousand questions as to what happened and why do Maxine abandon me? I wouldn’t be able to leave this woman alone until I had every scrap of information possible. This event had too big an impact on my life not to understand everything about it. Only then would I decide whether there was a future relationship between Maxine and I. I would have to understand the relationship between Melvin and Maxine. Those were the two adults who made the decisions and even though it is possible that Melvin was an innocent party, they fact that he lied and faked a funeral shows a great deception perpetrated on my life and I would want to know why. Only after all those questions were answered would I make a decision as to whether or not Maxine will be in my family’s life or not.
Oh, and the fact that Maxine came to Kit’s aid would have some positive meaning for me. Maxine gave Kit help which I could not (if I were Bette). Kit is my sister whom I love and up until meeting Maxine, my only living relative and making her life reasonable and whole again would have my gratitude.
I really like how Maxine is responding to Bette. Maxine is not being judgemental to Bette but is pointing out events and truths about Bette and her past which seem hurtful. But deep inside, Bette knows they are true. During the Provocations Exhibit, Bette was not in an emotional state of mind to take on the reemergence of a dead mother after having lost a baby, cheating on her spouse, putting together the art project of her career which drew public disdain and having her marriage fall apart, Bette was drinking constantly to the point of non-functioning without having any more issues.
Maxine will never be an instantaneous support figure for Bette. And Maxine and Bette will never be as close as a mother daughter are normally. It will take many months if not years to establish a close relationship if Bette allows it all.
Great story…. lookforward to more