PREVIOUSLY:

“Honey, the couple is already here as well, they are waiting to take her home.”
Tina’s face turned red as her tears fell freely down her face, “This is so hard mom…I can’t say goodbye.”
Janet gave her daughter’s arm a little squeeze, “I know baby, I know. But this is the right thing.”
“I know.” Tina managed to get out. She gave the little baby one more gentle hug before her mother had Mrs. Thomson come in. She handed the little girl to her mother, who handed her to the woman.
“Wait!” Tina yelled before the Mrs. Thomas left. She asked her mother to hand her the overnight bag she brought and took out an envelope from the front pocket. “Here…this is for her…give it to the adop—I mean mother…maybe she can give it to her when she’s older.”
Joanne smiled and took the letter, and before Tina knew it she was gone.
Tina curled up on the hospital bed crying. Her mom tired to soother her, stoking her hair. “It will be okay honey.”
“I just…didn’t think it would be so hard to say goodbye.”
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“Bette, Jodi…I have someone here I’d like you to meet.”
Bette got up first, Jodi followed, they both walked over to Joanne. “Meet your daughter.” She gently handed the baby to Bette.
“She’s beautiful.” Bette said in awe, Jodi nodded in agreement.
“What did you decide to name her?” Joanne asked.
“We decided to name her Kristine.” Bette said proudly.

Without You.
Chapter Three: Moving on

Janet was finishing up her shift at the local diner, wiping down the last few tables. Her friend Nancy helped her finish up.
“How’s Tina doing?” Nancy asked.
Janet shrugged. “She’s doing okay I guess. This whole thing has been so hard on her though, but I’m just glad she’s going back to school, so she has something else to focus on.”
“Poor kid, I couldn’t imagine going through that.”
“Yeah…”

——————————————————————————————–
Janet got her keys from her purse and opened the front door to the house. It was quiet. She set down a bag of take out she picked up before leaving work on the counter; and carefully tip-toed through the house and up the stairs to Tina’s room. She walked in to find Tina curled up on her bed.
“Tina sweetie…” Janet gently nudged her awake. “Why don’t you get up and have some dinner.”
“No thanks, I want to sleep.” Tina said groggily.
“Tina you need to eat, and you need to get up, you’ve been sleeping all day.” She pulled her daughter up into a sitting position and put her hands on her shoulders. “I know your having a rough time, but I need you to pull through it, and take care of yourself. It will get easier.”
“How do you know?” Tina asked.
“I just do. Now come on downstairs with me and we’ll have some dinner, okay?”
“Alright. I’ll be down in a few.”
Janet smiled and left Tina’s room. Tina sat down at her vanity table and brushed through her long blonde hair. 
‘vvvvrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr’ She heard her cell phone vibrate in her purse.
It was a text message from Mark: “Meet me outside we need 2 talk.”
Tina took a deep breath; she hadn’t spoken to Mark in months. She changed out of her lounging clothes and into a white tank top and blue denim shorts and flip-flops.
“I’ll be right back mom” she yelled as she left the house.
Mark was leaning against his car and smiled when he saw Tina. “Hey babe.”
“What do you want?” Tina asked confused.
“I wanted to see you…you look great.”
Tina rolled her eyes. “Right.”
“Seriously. Look, I’m leaving for school at the end of the week. I wanted to talk things out before I left.” Mark said as he walked towards Tina.
“There’s nothing to talk about Mark.”
“Of course there is” Mark took Tina’s hand in his, “I want us to start over babe.”
“You what?! You can’t be serious!”
“I am, I think that we can, since that incident we had is over.”
“Incident? THAT’s what your calling it, just that simple huh Mark?”
“What’s the big deal, it’s over Tina, we can move on.” He tried pulling her closer to him but she shoved him away.
“Easy for you! You abandoned me Mark! I was scared and alone, and pregnant with YOUR child! So yes, to me it IS a big deal.” Tina yelled on the verge of tears. “I want you to leave, NOW! I never want to see you again.” Before Mark could say anything else she ran back into her house and locked the door. She leaned against the door, took another deep breath and joined her mother for dinner.