“Will you still have me?”

Bette smiled back at her, shaking her head, and leaned over to kiss Tina.

Tina met her halfway, smiling, also.  They shared a long, deep, probing kiss. Bette gently cradled Tina’s head in her hands.  Tina followed by snaking her hands around Bette’s neck, fingers playing with the soft curls there.  The music, the chatter of people milling around them, the sound of water splashing from the water show; all slowly faded.

At this moment, it was only the kiss they shared that they were living for.  Nothing else mattered.  They were relieved to be coming out of their individual circles of hell, finding each other, and like Apollo, they were emerging from the depths of the ocean.

Bette felt a tear from Tina mingle with her own tears.  They were going to make it. After almost a year of “wandering in the desert,” that they had each clearly suffered through, they were going to make it.  She was increasingly sure of that.

They simultaneously drew apart as they heard the discrete cough of the waiter who’d come over to check on them.  Noticing their wet cheeks, he smiled kindly, and offered a napkin to Bette, as he saw Tina wipe hers with a handkerchief.  “Mademoiselles…perhaps a café or the’ to finish your lunch?

They nodded, chuckling together, exchanging glances. “Deux café au lait, por favor,” Bette asked, returning the man’s smile warmly.

She turned back to Tina, who was gazing at her with unabashed love.  Her breath caught again, if at all possible, could she be even more beautiful than ever?

“T…you think that bad ol’ self you and Dan are dealing with can scare me off?,” she asked in a light, bantering tone.

“Wait til you hear about the hole in my heart,” she said, self-deprecating.

Tina sat bolt upright.  “What hole?!"

Bette pursed her lips in a half smile, half-frown.

“You’re saying that figuratively, right? I mean… you actually don’t have a hole. A hole. In your heart, right?”

Bette nodded her head.  After a pause, she asked, “So… how about you…will you still have me?  And this hole in my heart?,” she asked lightly, but her voice was shaking.

Tina smiled, and this time brought Bette’s hand to her lips, and kissed her fingers, “You want the same kiss you just gave me, as an answer?,” she asked, huskily.