“Doctor, could you please tell me how’s my stepdaughter doing?”

“Well, they are prepping her for surgery,”

“Surgery?”

“Yes, one of the bullets hit a vital vein.  If they don’t stop the bleeding, she can die.”

Henry tried to raise his hands to his face but noticed that they were tied down to the bed.  Right now, he wished he was the one who was dying.  He was already dead on the inside.  Just when he turned his head in shame, his son Mikey walked in.

“Dad, what have you done?”

B&T

“Did you just call out for Angel,” Tina asked Bette.

Bette felt something strong.  A force that was telling her she needed to get back to the states.  That something was wrong with her Angelica.  Bette walked past Tina and grabbed her suitcase.

“Are you going to answer me!?” Tina yelled.

“Tina, I don’t have time to stand here and listen to your poor excuses.  I once fucked up and asked for your forgiveness.  You chose not to.  Not only that, but you also chose to make my life a living hell after that.  I did everything in my power to make it up to you.

“So now, I’ve moved on and don’t need a damn thing from you!  I don’t need your permission to live; I don’t need your permission to see my daughter.  Tina, there’s no need for you in my life.”

“How can you be so cruel, Bette?  We share a daughter together.”

“Tina, how dare you say “share”?  You shared twenty-four years of her life with Henry.  Tina, I was willing to accept your choice of being back with men.  Shit, I was even willing to accept Henry’s homophobic ass, but you up and left!”

“Oh, how we forget about you kidnapping her and bringing Marcus back into the picture.  If he and his wife hadn’t died in that car crash, which almost killed Angelica too, I wouldn’t have seen her anymore.”

“WE wouldn’t have seen her anymore!  Tina, my back was up against the wall.  I had to do whatever it took to get her back.”

“Even putting her life in danger?”

“Tina, I didn’t think Marcus’ wife would have gone that far.”

“Well she did, so it was my turn to protect her, so we moved away.”

“Yeah, Tina–far away from her other mother.  The only person who could relate to her and understand what it’s like growing up biracial.”

“Stop throwing that shit up in my face!  She turned out ok.  So I guess you can say Candace was the only woman who understood you, too, huh?”

“Why do you keep bringing up my dead wife?  Tina, are you jealous?”

“Yes, because you never opened up about her.  You never wanted to talk about the affair.”

“So Tina, do you really want to know?  Do you really want to know why I couldn’t end it with her when you found out?  Why I continued to fuck her?”

Tina swallowed hard.  This was one of many things she needed to know.  But was she truly ready for it now?  Would it even make a difference now?

“Yes!”

TBC