The Adventures Of Bette Porter And Sissee Gardner Living Happily Ever After (Part 2, Chapter 10)
PART TWO: SANTA CATALINA ISLAND

Chapter 10

Terry stood up when he heard Bette speak. She had just told him that we would like him to be the donor for a child we would like to have. He now knew that Bette had a match and we were trying to find one for me.

“You’d be perfect Terry!” said Bette, coming closer.

He smiled, chuckled with surprise and even faltered as he said, “I don’t know….what to say…..I’m flabbergasted. Who knew you two were planning this.”

“Look at us,” Bette went on with enthusiasm, lifting an open hand toward him and then turning it to herself. “We look like sister and brother. We’ve even been mistaken for that in high places a few times if you remember.”

“Yes, of course I remember but give me a minute to sort this out.” He walked away from his chair and gestured for Bette to take it. She waved it away, preferring to stand. “This has never come up before……..” he added.

“Do you want us to give you some time to think about it?”

He shook his head and walked away, saying, “Let me think.” He walked
across the room and looked out a window into the black side of the sea. He stared and stared, then slowly came back. Then he walked across the room again, stopped, looked out the window and came back. He looked at me and then at Bette and he spoke alternately to both of us. “I’ve got a bunch of nieces and nephews that I can spoil anytime I want and I’m even a godfather to some of them, as well as to a few friend‘s kids, but my lifestyle, the kind of work I do, the traveling, the location shoots, branching out in all kinds of directions at once, my social life, my private one – they’re all reasons why I never considered myself to be the fatherly type. My life is just too self-aggrandizing to ever bring a child into it, and like I told Sissee, “I’ve never committed myself to a relationship with anyone long enough to give children any thought. I’m just way too hedonistic.”