“As much as I appreciate all the people in Bette’s life who replaced me for the times that I was away, but I am still her mother.” She pressed her hands to her chest, “I know that I made a mistake by leaving my daughter all alone and I know that I have a lot of work to do in order to repair anything that may be left of the relationship that I had with her.  And no amount of money that you have can change the fact that you are not her mother, no matter how much you’d love to take my place”

Helena could hear Maxine and turned, “Excuse me?  Your place?  You never had a place.  You ruined your chance the moment you walked out on an innocent 9-year-old girl.  How dare you accuse my mother of taking a spot that didn’t even belong to you?  And as far as you having a lot of work to do, you’re damn right you do.  You have no idea the consequences that you’re absence have left.  Do you know how hard it was for me to get Bette to open up to me?” Helena turned and looked at Bette, “I blame you for making me struggle for the heart of the most important woman in my life.” She turned back to Maxine, “So, before you come swanning in here, toting your self-righteousness and your entitlement, think about why Bette has never searched for you; think about what you’ve done.” Helena turned back to Bette, “I want to go home.”  She planted her hands on her hips, those blue eyes piercing straight through Bette in a way that told her that if she didn’t take Helena home now there would be hell to pay later.

“Okay.”

Helena leaned in and kissed her mother’s cheek and did the same to Kit, “Goodnight.”  She took Bette’s hand and pulled her toward the door, not allowing her the courtesy of kissing anyone goodnight.  Bette managed to wave them goodbye.

“Luke stopped them momentarily and pulled Helena to the side, “If you get a chance, I’d like to talk to you in private.”

Helena just nodded.

**

“The nerve of that woman!” Helena shouted as she tossed her purse at Bette’s couch, “Explain to me, explain to me how someone thinks they deserve some type of sympathy when they obviously don’t deserve anything.”

“I don’t know.” Bette said softly.  She didn’t know exactly how to answer Helena’s questions, especially since she’d been ranting since they were in the car, “I don’t know, Helena.  I just…my fear is that if I let her get to close to me, she’ll leave again.”

“You don’t let her get that close.  End of story.” Helena leaned in to Bette, kissing her softly.

**

“The problem is, Maxine, nobody knows your motives.” Kit started.  She sat at the table with Peggy, Maxine, and Luke.  Luke was only played oblivious to the situation as surfed the net on his cell phone, looking for any information he could find on Maxine.  Though originally, he wanted to pursue Bette to spite Helena, he realized the hurt Maxine had caused the relationship from the beginning and wanted to take care of his sister, maybe in an attempt to mend their relationship, “You show up when my baby sis is making something of herself, but you were nowhere to be found whenever Bette struggled.”

“I honestly have nothing to prove to either of you.  The only person I need to prove anything to is my daughter.”

Luke passed his phone to Peggy and showing her some of what he found.

“Well,” Peggy started, “if you’re intentions are pure and are not malicious in anyway, can you explain your recent release from the Pennsylvania State Penitentiary in Muncy.”