Previously....

Tina made her way through the house to the kitchen where she made some fresh lemonade in case Lizzy and Chrissy would like a drink while Chrissy was visiting.  After having finished that, Tina decided that now would be a great time to start on her garden.  She made her way out the front door to go and get the bag of potting soil that she left in the trunk of her car.  After heaving the bag out of the car and closing the trunk, she picked up the bag.  As she was heading back to the house she heard a small voice behind her…

“Are you Ms. Kennard?”

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Tina smiled at the tentative voice behind her.  Clearly Lizzy’s new friend had arrived.

“Yes I am…She lowered the bag of potting soil to the ground so that she could interact with Chrissy without that particular hindrance.  Once that was deposited safely, she said as she turned… You must be…She looked up at Chrissy… Chrissy…”

Tina was dumbfounded… “Oh…God…”  Tina was amazed by the person before her.  Chrissy was in every way a miniature version of Bette.  She had long skinny legs, a petite torso and a beautiful face darkened with a beautiful mocha hue.  Everything about her screamed Bette.  From her long black locks of hair to her shining Porter smile.  But, it was the eyes that solidified Tina’s assumption in her mind.  Chrissy had Bette’s eyes.  Those deep dark expressive pools that were characteristically Bette.  Tina had never met Chrissy before but she still had the ability to look deep into those eyes. 

In the mere moments that Tina stood there gazing at Chrissy, she was hit with various thoughts… Oh my God…who is this girl?  Is this really Lizzy’s new friend Chrissy?  She looks just like Bette…is that just because I have been thinking about her a lot lately?  Is my mind playing tricks on me?  I don’t know…I mean, she has a similar body build to Bette…well, yes she is shorter and not mature…not developed…but, she definitely has similarities.  And her face, that face looks so familiar to me.  That smile, God that smile looks just like Bette’s…the one that used to make me go weak at the knees, the one that got me to give in to her pleas.  I don’t know… maybe I am going crazy…but then… ok, this is seriously freaky…

Those eyes… no, this is not a coincidence.  Those are clearly Bette’s eyes.  Even though I haven’t seen them personally for 12 years, I could never forget them.  They are so deep, so full of emotion.  I used to always tell Bette that she wore her emotions in her eyes.  I have no doubt this girl is a Porter…but, how? 

Tina’s legs became weak.  She needed to sit down before they gave out on her. She slowly eased down and sat on the bag of potting soil. 

Tears welled up in Tina’s eyes as they searched the face of the beautiful young girl before her.  With a tear finally escaping, Tina smiled lightly, and in a quiet voice, Tina asked… “You’re a Porter…aren’t you?”

Chrissy was taken aback, yes, she had been told that she looked like her mother before, but not by a complete stranger.  Usually, people had to have them standing next to each other to make that sort of decision…“How did you know?”

Tina gave a small laugh…“You look just like your mother.”

Chrissy did not want to show any of her cards without talking with Lizzy first, so she decided to play dumb and see how much information Tina would give her to run with… “You know my mother?”

“I knew her many years ago.”  Tina patted the bag next to her motioning Chrissy to come sit down next to her.  Without hesitating, Chrissy moved to sit next to Tina. 

As she walked over to Tina, she commented…“Oh yea…well, we live just down the street…you should go talk to her.  I am sure she would love to hear from you.”

“Yea…maybe…so, how is she?”

“She is pretty good.  She is at work right now…”

Tina smirked at Chrissy…“Why does that not surprise me?”

Chrissy got a confused look on her face…“What is that supposed to mean?”

Now Tina was confused.  “When I used to know her, she was always at work…she had little time for her friends and family.”

Chrissy’s eyebrows shot up in surprise…“Really?  Maybe we are talking about a different person.  My mom spends very little time at work.  She is only there because she went on this big business trip while I was at camp and now one of her donors is being stupid and needed to see her today….but usually, she has a pretty light schedule.”

Tina was absolutely amazed…“Wow Chrissy…that’s great!... Tina couldn’t help but fish for information on Bette… “So where does she work now?  Does she still work at the CAC?”

“The CAC?  That is a pretty good museum but, no, she has never worked there…at least as long as I can remember.  No, she owns her own gallery…The Porter Gallery…ever heard of it?”

Tina smiled… “Sounds vaguely familiar…”

Chrissy said proudly…“Well, that’s her gallery.  It is amazing.  You should go and see it sometime.”

“Yea…maybe…” For some reason Tina could not give Chrissy a straight answer.  She couldn’t give her an affirmative yes or no to any of her question or comments.  Tina didn’t know what she wanted from Bette.  She didn’t know if she could have a friendship or any sort of relationship with her.  These were just other questions that piled up on Tina’s unanswerable list.

“That’s so crazy that you knew my mom…so did you know my aunts too?”

“Probably...which ones do you have?”

“Well, there is Dana and Alice, then there is Shane and Carmen, Aunt Kit and Uncle Mike and then there is Jane… but she isn’t an aunt I guess…She is my nanny.”

Tina smiled…“Wow, that’s a lot of aunts…I knew a few of them.  Dana, Alice, Shane, and Kit…how are they doing?  I have missed them so much!”

“They are good.  My cousin Charlie is almost 5…he is my Aunt Dana and Aunt Alice’s son…”

“Dana and Alice are together?  Oh my God…that is so crazy!...And Shane…she has a partner?”

Chrissy smiled…she loved her aunts and she loved to talk about them.  She was so engrossed with the conversation that she completely forgot about her mission to figure out about Tina’s relationship with her mother…“Yea, she and Carmen have been together for like 5 years…Carmen is pregnant with their first child.”

“Mommy Shane….crazy….”

Chrissy giggled…She understood exactly what Tina was saying…“Yea, my mom keeps saying that too.”

“Yea, we never thought Shane would settle down…but that’s great news…I am glad that she found someone…ummm…what about your mom…does ummm…she have a partner?”  As Tina said this, she could not suppress the blush rising to her face.  She was embarrassed for fishing for this bit of information but something was pushing her, she just had to know…

“My mom…are you serious?  No, she tries but they never last…She has never introduced a girl to me…”

Tina released a breath she did not realize she was holding… “Oh really….”

“Yea, my Aunt Alice always hints at someone but my mom always makes her shut up before she gets too far…”

Tina knew who Alice was hinting about, but she did not feel comfortable going there with Chrissy so she subtly changed the subject… “Yea, that definitely sounds like Alice…”

“Yea, she always gets on my mom’s nerves…but I know that my mom loves her.  I mean, she would have to in order to still be friends after this long.”

“You’re right…she would most definitely have to really love Alice…I know she does…”

“So…you knew my mom pretty well?”

“Yea…you could say that…”

At this point, Tina heard the loud opening of the front door, and the happy giggle of Lizzy as she spotted Chrissy…