“Thanks Helena “

Helena sat down and took a strawberry from a bowl of fruit on the table. She looked at Shane

“What are you thanking me for ?”

“For all of this – this is special. I am not used to this amount of luxury “

Helena smiled – it had never occurred to her that Shane’s background meant that this could be a first for her

“it’s a pleasure for me to be with my real friends. The three of you have never wanted to be with me just because of the Peabody money. That means a lot to me – Tina has always been there for me – she’s my best friend and I love seeing her as happy as she is “

“They deserve it after how ill Bette was “

Helena nodded “I have been reading a lot about Bette’s illness and it could have been so bad”

“I know that Tina has said that if James hadn’t feared what he did “

“Lets just say that if James had waited a few more hours we wouldn’t be talking about a wedding – it could have been a memorial service. That would have destroyed Tina. Bette is her first love  – her first real love – the men in her life haven’t meant a fraction of what Tina feels about Bette “

“Its good to see – Helena “

“Yeah ?”

“Do you envy them ?”

“Do you ?”

“God yes – I never thought that two women could be as happy as they are – or as normal. Watching Bette change from someone who picked up as many women as I did – through to the day she admitted to me that she had met someone  – then them going to Hawaii and when they came back Bette had changed – she wasn’t going to go back to the way she had been – I think its amazing “

Helena exhaled “ If we ignore the fact that when they got together I hit the roof because all I knew about Bette was that she was a prowler – a dangerous predator – I did not want my best friend – in her first lesbian relationship to be chewed up and spat out by Bette Porter “