“She had an affair Daddy, and when Tina found out it broke up their marriage. Just like how you broke up your marriages by cheating on our mothers.”

“I did what I had to do to ensure my happiness; sometimes it comes at a price.” Melvin said reflectively.

“Yeah, yeah it does and we are all guilty of being selfish with no regard for how we hurt other people.” Kit was thinking of her own affair with a married man who was at this moment on his way home to be with his wife and children in Oregon.

“Well they seemed to have worked things out. I heard her talking to Ms. Kennard on the phone this morning, and she was obviously looking forward to their evening event. I don’t know how you can relate this to what happened in my marriages.”

“It’s complicated between them right now. Tina filed for divorce and is in a new relationship.” Kit didn’t want to get into the details of Bette and Tina’s relationship but she wanted her father to understand that this wasn’t just a superficial dalliance.

“Then I don’t see the point of this conversation. Elizabeth needs to let her go. That is what I had to do when it was over with her mother.”

“It’s far from over Daddy. My little sister is fighting with every fiber of her being to get Tina to forgive her, and to bring her family home. What Bette and Tina have is anything but a ‘fiction of their creation’ as you put it. It’s the real deal Daddy. The pain, the hurt, the betrayal, the broken trust it’s all there, just like in your marriages. You gave up the loves in your life but Bette’s hanging on the hope that their bond is too strong to not be able to fix this and get through it. Your daughter is asking your help to understand how things went so wrong between you and her mother so as not to perpetuate the same mistakes in her own marriage. You dismissing Tina as a non-entity because of their sexual orientation is inhumane. Not taking the time to know this woman and not having her and their children as part of your life is your loss Daddy. She’ll chose Tina over you this time if you can’t move beyond your preconceptions about homosexuality to accept that Tina is the love of her life and demands the same respect you would give her spouse if it was a man. I love Tina dearly and couldn’t see Bette with anyone else; man or woman. They belong together and they complete each other. Bette and I would not have anywhere near the close relationship we share today if it wasn’t for Tina’s influence. She grounds Bette in a way that no one else can.”