As a single mom with three kids and no financial support from her husband Pricilla sometimes struggled to make ends meet but though the family didn’t always have everything they wanted they certainly had what they needed. Pricilla worked as a teacher and took odd jobs during the school’s seasonal breaks to make sure she could adequately provide for her children. Whatever she couldn’t buy she made up with unconditional love, affection, and fun.

Pricilla loved nature and planting vegetables in her garden which was a hobby she shared with her youngest daughter. They both loved to get lost in the fantasy world of movies for hours at a time. Pricilla did it to get away from the stresses of life but for Tina it was a developing passion that would influence her career choice later on.

Tina graduated high school in Atlanta and attended UCLA in Los Angeles to pursue her career in the movie industry. After graduation she stayed on and built her life in the movie capital of the world. Her mother died soon after Tina graduated college. She hadn’t seen or spoken to her father since she was a child, He hadn’t even come to her mother’s funeral. Her mother never remarried.

Though fairly close growing up with her two older siblings, Jack and Maggie Tina got involved in her own world once she left for college. Soon the phone calls, emails, and letters were fewer and farther between. After their mother passed away they each went their separate ways and mostly lost touch except for an occasional postcard.

When Tina started dating Bette she came out publicly and to her family. Both siblings shunned her and stopped communicating with her completely. Maggie stayed in Atlanta and became a nurse. Now married with two children she lived in a quiet suburban town. Jack joined the Army, never married and made a lifelong career in the military. He would be a pretty high ranking officer by now or maybe even retired. She didn’t know her father’s whereabouts. Tina missed her relatives but she didn’t regret her choices. Bette, Angie, Kit and her friends were all the family she needed.

Prior to meeting Bette Tina dated men exclusively but those relationships were shallow and mostly based on physical attraction and gratuitous sex. She wasn’t promiscuous but she had admitted to having two abortions in her early twenties which was all the more reason why she wanted to take extra care with her pregnancy once she was ready to start a family. Unfortunately the first pregnancy ended in a miscarriage. Tina was just on the verge of recovery from that tragic event when she was faced with another. Her hopes, promises and dreams for the future came to an abrupt halt when she found out that her wife had broken their sacred vows by committing adultery.

***

Back to the present

After spending so much time talking to and observing Bette and Tina Paul had surmised some fairly accurate insights into what he was dealing with. Through a series of life-altering events the couple had experienced a paradigm shift in their relationship that sent their world into an uncontrolled tailspin. Bette having always held the top dog alpha female position in the marriage was toppled from her pedestal and subjugated into submission by fear, guilt, emotional blackmail and manipulation.

Tina’s alpha tendencies emerged to replace Bette as the new top but her newfound power was corrupted by the passive aggressive inclinations that ruled her behavior coupled with influence from Bette’s nemesis Helena Peabody to take vengeance on her wife.

Bette and Tina had been in a power struggle for almost a year. Now they were cooperating to try to find the perfect equilibrium that would give each of them what they needed to coexist in peace, harmony and hope for joy everlasting.

Paul got up from his sitting position under the tree and saw smoke from the small fires Bette and Tina had made to burn their lists. Now that they’d released themselves from the burdens of self-recriminations they could move on to the next phase; forgiving each other.