Although Bette was enjoying this dinner with her family she couldn’t take her mind off of Alicia. Every now and then she would get images of the worst things happening to her. Or how she must look now. Or even what her face looked like when she called out for her help. But just like his father Melito temporarily distracted her every now and again.

Even though Bette was enjoying every bit of time she spent chasing and playing with Melito, Tina could tell that she was battling something and someone in her mind. Every now and then when Melito would give his auntie a break her eyes would be lost on something in the room and would stay until Melito would break into her thoughts again. The only thing she was wondering was how long before Bette broke down and told her what was stealing her mind for the night.

By now Melito was crashing fast and refusing to go down for bed even though as promised Auntie Bette spent most of the night “bathing “ him and reading his favorite books.

“Alright little man you ready for sleepy time yet?”

“But I’m not… sleepy.” he said mid yawn.

“I’m almost positive that you are. But I’ll tell you what I’ll lay down with you and go to sleep and you can follow along when you feel like it, deal?”

“Ok, but you can’t stay. You’re to big.” he said taking a note from Toni.

Just as if he were little again Bette kicked off her shoes and climbed in bed with him. With the bed being made for a small child Bette’s legs were folded outside of the blankets. He instinctively turned towards her and rested his head on her chest. As always it was a steady heartbeat that put him to sleep. Just like back in the day she was lost in his warm, steady breaths on her chest and the feel of his soft curls wrapped around her fingers, even the small twitches he would make but never straying from the heartbeat. This was the only time during the night that she stopped thinking about Alicia and truly put her thoughts to rest.