After Bette was safely asleep in the guest bedroom, Tina and Alice cleaned up after lunch. Tina was unusually quiet and Alice tried to talk to her several times but every time Tina just uttered short ‘yes’ or ‘no’ answers and continued cleaning in silence.

“Okay Tina, spill it. What is wrong?” Alice finally asked, turning Tina by her shoulders and looking directly to her face. “Your silence is killing me.”

“What do you mean?”

“I saw the way you were looking at Bette all throughout lunch and the rest of the evening and you told me before that you love her…but every time I tried to bring it up you can’t even talk normally to me. So what’s bothering you?”

“I’m not sure what I should do now…with Bette, I mean. I love her and I want to take care of her but I don’t know how to do it.”

“Answer me this, Tina. How do you know that this is a true love?”

“I don’t know, I’m just…I…I don’t know, Al…”

“Okay, let me put it this way. Until recently you were pretty sure that you were straight. You had a boyfriend who turned out to be a total asshole…but this is another story. You saw this woman you claim you love for the first time today…oh, and by the way, the years of staring at her face on a piece of old wood and drooling over it doesn’t count. So, I’m gonna ask you again. How do you know that this is true love?”

“Before I met her I would look at the miniature and caress her face every night and then I would see her coming to me in my dreams. I would close my eyes and all I could see was that lovely face, the way her hair lay down on her shoulders, her mysterious smile and sadness in her eyes. And now, since I’ve met her I can feel her presence in a room even if I can’t see her. I can recognize her scent everywhere now…and today all I wanted to do was to run my fingers through her thick curls and look into her amazing magnetic eyes and touch her lips…”