Tina walked back to Bette in the kitchen, “She wants pizza, ‘with peproni’s’.”

“Sounds good, how about half cheese and half with pepperoni?”

“Perfect, I love cheese pizza.”

Bette looked into Tina’s eyes, “I know.”

An hour later the pizza had arrived and the Porter-Kennard family was at the dining room table full heartedly eating and enjoying the food.

“Ang, slow down and don’t take such big bites.  I know I should have cut up her slice.”

“Bette, she’s fine don’t worry about it.  I never cut up her pizza anymore.  She’s three and a half; she can eat pizza without it being cut up.”

“I know she can but I like to think of her as my little girl.”

“She’s still your little girl but its okay for her to be a little more independent.”

“It’s so hard; you know seeing your baby girl growing up in front of your eyes.  I still remember the first time I held her like it was yesterday and not almost four years ago.  You were still in the recovery room after the cesarean section, I remember them coming to me and saying that they had to stabilize you before you could see the baby.  They said something about your blood pressure being too low.  The nurse told me that I could wait in your room until you were out of recovery.  I was just sitting there worrying about you when one of the nurses brought Angelica in to me.  I stood up and looked down into the crib and was amazed at how beautiful she was; she was right there in front of me, our daughter, our miracle baby.  I don’t know how long I stood there but it seemed like a long time; then she started crying, I instinctively reached down to her and picked her up.  And she stopped, T, she just stopped crying.  It was like she knew that I was her mother.  I sat down in the chair and it was amazing, she was there perfect in my arms, the baby we had waited so long for.  I couldn’t believe it; it was like everything was happening all at once, first you say that you want to date me, then you help me with my father, you said you wanted to move back home to have our baby in our home, and then there she was in my arms.”  Bette turned and looked into Tina’s eyes.  “T, thank you.”

“What for Bette?”

“For giving me that little girl sitting next to you, she’s more than anything I could have imagined her to be.”

“Bette, I”

“Mama T, Mama T.”

“Angie, you know what I’ve said about interrupting.”

“No talking while Mama’s talking.”

“That’s right.”  Focusing on Angie.  “Now what do you need baby.”

“I’m done, can I go play now?”

“Yes but wait a minute.”  Tina gets up from the table and gets a wash rag from the kitchen and washes Angie’s face and hands.  “There you go all clean, now go and play.”

“Okay Mama T.”

Tina went back to the table and joined Bette who was looking down at her plate seeming like she didn’t know if she could finish that last piece of pizza on her plate.  “So where were we?”