Tina smiled. She had never seen her grandfather so keen. Bette had not only won him over, she had bewitched him. The blonde gazed at Bette with amazement, with profound admiration, with gratitude, with fondness, with… She fought to hush up the fateful word, but deep inside she knew the fight was already lost.
 

"Not only do you know the wine, my dear…" The old man continued, "You can also feel it… You hear its unique history… By the way, where do you come from, Bette?" He suddenly asked.
 

The brunette gave a soft smile and answered simply.
 

"I don’t know."
 

Tina looked at her surprised,
 

"You don’t know?"
 

Bette turned to her,
 

"No… I don’t. I was an abandoned child. I was found one day on the third step of a small chapel in Ashford, in the State of Washington… In a small basket, with just a name pinned to the blanket… ‘Elizabeth’."
 

Everyone was listening to her with rapt attention. Even the old Katel who, coming from her kitchen, had stopped in her tracks when she had heard the words ‘abandoned child’.
 

Boring her eyes into the beautiful hazel ones she was now addicted to, Bette continued with her story.
 

"I spent the first months of my life in a foundling hospital in Seattle. Then I was placed in a foster care run by a catholic priest… Oh it wasn’t great, but to be honest it could have been so much worse. You hear those stories…" Bette said shaking her head, "And that’s where I met Kit…"
 

"Kit?…" Tina asked, hanged on Bette’s every word.
 

Bette smiled,

"Kit Porter was a young volunteer who shared her time between her two passions. Singing, and volunteering with charity organizations. For years, she came to visit the foster care. We spent a lot of time together and became very close. A few years later, she decided to adopt me. Of course, because of her young age and her marital status, it was a long and hard struggle. She was dismissed many times, but she never gave up… Finally, and thanks mainly to the foster care’s director, Father Melvin, who interceded in her favor, I officially became Bette Porter. I was 12 at the time and she was only 24, so she was more like a big sister than a mother, but it didn’t matter… She took care of me and became the family I had been deprived of. She was always there and supported me no matter what. Later on, she helped me get a scolarship and I was able to pursue my studies in College…"
 

Bette paused, looking down, clearly overcome by her emotions.
 

"She, huh… She’s my only family and I owe her so much. I can’t imagine what would have happened to me if it wasn’t for her… And she is the reason I am who I wanted to be…"
 

The brunette looked up again and declared grinning,
 

"I was very lucky!"
 

Then she added with a shy smile, "When I travel, I sometimes look at a scenery and wonder if maybe this is the place I come from… If maybe this is the place I should call home…"
 

Katel brought her hand to her chest, tears in her eyes.
 

"Poor child…"
 

"My poor Katel, you’re going to let those crepes turn cold if you continue to gape like that." Tina’s grandfather scolded, deeply moved by Bette’s story and wanting to divert the oppressive attention away from her.
 

As the old maid started to serve them, groaning something in Alsacian, Bette and Tina kept staring at one another. Bette’s tale had touched Tina to the core and all of her being was hurting for the little girl who never knew who her parents were, never knew what to call home. A child who deserved so much more love in her life… She thought about the amazing woman who had entered Bette’s life and finally given her a home. Her heart went out to her hoping that one day, she would be able to thank her for loving and taking care of the woman that affected her so deeply.
 

Noticing Tina’s faraway look, Bette caught her eyes and gave her the warmest smile the blonde had ever been granted in her life. The brunette’s soulful eyes told her not to be sad and that indeed things had been alright. Her eyes also told her something else that she knew was reflected in hers, and all she could do was smile back and revel into their silent communication. 
 

Tina knew she had fallen long ago under the spell of Bette Porter, and she wasn’t sure that she ever wanted that spell to be broken…
 
 

TBC…