Bette took off her glasses, rubbed her tried eyes
and placed her book on the side table, concentration eluded her in the
quietness of their backyard. Angie had gone to bed without complaint and fallen
asleep before the end of her bedtime story. She’d asked three times that
evening when her momma T was coming back from vacation. ‘Soon’ was the only
response Bette offered, three weeks would be an eternity to a child of Angie’s
age. In the end, it wasn’t much of a struggle to get Tina to agree to the
residential program. Bette had made an appeal to Tina’s memories of their life
before the siege and it had paid off. The contrast between how life had been
and how it was today was vivid enough that it appeared even Tina was able to
comprehend how much had been lost.

By the end of the following day, Tina was all
checked in and Bette was headed back down the Pacific Coast Highway. A gnawing
uncertainty settled in her stomach as she headed back to Los Angeles and
nothing had shifted it over the course of the last week.

The program mandated that Tina could have no
contact with anyone outside the center and no visitors until the end of the
third week. Bette wondered if Tina found the lack of contact as hard as she
did, she hoped not. The unknown loomed large, Bette tried to convince herself
that this four week program was the answer but her doubts lingered. If Tina
didn’t improve, what then? One step at a time she reminded herself. She had to
give Tina time, space and the means with which to put herself back together.
Once Tina was mentally and emotionally stable, they could work on any
collateral damage that had been done to their relationship.

Then there was Angie, the most vulnerable of them
all. The toddler’s capacity to forgive and forget her mother’s angry outbursts had
surprised Bette. Angie displayed no negative emotions towards her birth mother,
there was only love and longing to see her parent.  Tina had been whisked away to Canyon Lodge
while Angie was still staying with Kit, there had been no chance for goodbyes.

“Hey”

Bette squinted into the night as Shane emerged
from the darkness.

“Hey yourself” Bette replied with a tired smile,“how are you?”