Bette couldn’t remember how many times Shane had shown up at their
front door over the years with a lost and cold look in her eyes. Bette
would simply let Shane in without a word and go get Tina. At that point
Bette would make herself scarce until she heard the door closed as a
sign of Shane’s departure.

A few times over the years Bette had caught a glimpse of Tina and Shane
during one of their talks. During those times Bette saw another side of
Shane. Shane would be completely curled up in Tina’s embrace sobbing as
Tina soothed her as only a mother could. No one in their small family
knew of the friendship between Shane and Tina. Bette was sure Alice
would have some witty comment about ***** friendships, but the
relationship had always secretly made Bette happy. She knew how much
Shane loved Tina and she also knew Shane was fiercely protective over
her family. It had always made Bette happy to know she could be there
herself take care of her T, Shane wouldn’t let anything happen to her.

 Shane’s harsh whisper snapped Bette out of her wandering thoughts
immediately, “How?” she asked. “How could you do this to her?”
As Bette looked in to Shane’s eyes she immediately felt waves of pain
engulf her again. Bette knew she had hurt Tina, but she had yet to feel
the full ramifications of her actions. Deep in her gut Bette knew she
was about to encounter that pain head on.

“Shane I” Bette attempted to collect her thoughts and say something.

“Don’t. Don’t even ***** try to say it. I thought you loved her. I
thought you would always protect her!” Shane began to shout.

“I do love her! She’s my wife! How could you even think I don’t love
her?” Bette jumped up and challenged Shane, “I hurt her. I know that. I
can’t even begin to explain how sorry I am for that. What I did” Bette
began to cry. “What I did is unforgivableworse than that even. I hate
myself for it every minute of every day, but don’t ever think that I
don’t love my wife. She’s everything to me.”

“Really Bette? Everything? Do you know where I was last night? Sitting
at Alice’s listening to Tina cry herself to sleepAGAIN. You think you
hurt her? You ***** DESTROYED her. Do you have any idea what it’s
like? We can’t get her to eat. We can’t get her to drink. We can’t even
convince her to get out of bed! You love her? You killed her. You took
everything she loved, everything she cherished and you killed it. You
***** killed it.” Shane finished with a whisper. When Shane finished
she felt a second of satisfaction before the regret instantly creeped
into her mind as she looked at Bette.