It had been one week since the night they heard Angels Cry and both Bette and Tina had done different things to deal with aftermath.

Bette had sat down and after countless drafts (most likely massacring an entire forest in the process); she had finally finished the letter and planned the whole delivery down to a tee. (No pun intended!)

Tina had picked up the phone to call Bette a couple of times but chickened out halfway, luckily Bette didn’t seem to have noticed. Tina thought to herself: “Well if she didn’t even notice my calls, then she either doesn’t care for me anymore or she has something or most likely someone else occupying her time. Stop your fanciful thinking Tina and focus on the wedding!”

The truth was, with each passing day, Tina dreaded her wedding more and more, she began to question her sanity in accepting Henry’s proposal. She knew he was a good lawyer and that he seemed to be deeply in love with her but was he the one she wanted to spend the rest of her life with? Could she face this man day and night, 365 days a year? She wasn’t sure anymore. 

“No use thinking too much, I think Henry will blow a gasket if he finds out I’m having second thoughts, for all his merits, he has a pretty volatile temper. Better focus on something else, ah, let’s see what’s in the mail today.” Tina said aloud to an empty house for Henry was out at work.

She picked up the stack of letters and one thick, medium-sized envelope fell into her lap. It was made of creamy embossed paper and was screaming at her: “Open me!!” It was addressed to her in long looping cursive; Tina’s heart rate sped up for she recognised that writing. It was Bette’s. Almost like a moth drawn to a flame, Tina could not stop her hands from opening the envelope. She took out the letter inside and started to read.

My dearest Tina,

I know you must be in shock that I wrote to you, and I don’t blame you if you want to throw this letter into the bin immediately, but please, just hear me out. I’m so sorry for what I did to us and I want to be able to explain myself to you properly. More importantly, I want a second chance. We never grieved properly for our son Tina, we retreated into our own worlds and dealt with it the best way we could. But we never grieved together, as parents, as a couple. Candace was an escape for me, a tool for removing myself from all the pain, hurt and imperfection that I was feeling. I know my actions must have seemed callous, both to you and to her, but you must know that I was weak, so weak at that point in time. I was struggling to remain strong for you and for our family. You were so upset, how could I upset you more? I’m not making excuses for myself as I know that fundamentally, what I did was wrong. If there is something I have learnt from this, it’s that you are my life, and I will do anything to get you back with me, where you belong. I will never do anything to hurt you ever again.