Tina could not help it, she burst into a fit of giggles as Bette attempted to defend herself… “And why is that too hard to believe?”

“Because mom, for a long time, you never even dated anyone, and after you finally started to, you have never brought anyone home or introduced me to any of them.”

Color began to rise in Bette’s face as Tina continued to stifle her laughter. “Yes, well…it was a long time ago.  Anyways…as I said, Tina and I were together for 8 years before we…ummm…parted ways.”

Tina could see the gloominess overtaking Bette’s eyes.  She felt like she needed to add some substance to what Bette had made of their relationship.  “While we were together, Bette and I had a great relationship.  We were very much in love.  We had a loving family with your aunts, Chrissy.  We had a great life.” Tina gave Bette a small smile.

Bette returned the smile, “Yea, we did have a great life.  We lived right here in this house.”

Up until now, Lizzy had been quietly listening… “Mom, why didn’t you ever tell me that you used to live in California?”

Tina turned to Lizzy, “Honey, it was a very long time ago.  I left…abruptly…and, I just didn’t really want to fall back on it.  I am sorry.”

“Yea…it’s just weird though.”

“I am sorry sweetie…it is complicated, ok?”

“Yea, ok mom…so, what happened?  Why aren’t you a happy family anymore?”

Bette interjected… “Well, let’s just say that things ended…abruptly.”

Tina added absentmindedly… “To say the least…”

“But mom, I don’t understand how you could fall apart when you are trying to have a family.  I mean, what could have been so bad to tear you apart?  I mean, obviously you really loved Tina to be in a relationship with her for 8 years, right?  I mean, I just don’t understand, what happened?  Why didn’t you have a family together?”

“Chrissy honey, that is something that Tina and I are not prepared to tell you guys.”

“But mom, how are we supposed to understand if you don’t tell us everything?”

“Chrissy, this is not up for discussion.  That was one of the terms of this conversation which you and Lizzy agreed to.  So drop it ok?”  Chrissy and Lizzy nodded their heads reluctantly. 

Bette stole a glance at Tina… “Anyways, before things fell apart, Tina and I decided that we wanted to try and have a baby.”

Both girls looked at their mothers questioningly which prompted Tina to continue with the discussion, “Unfortunately, that plan never really materialized and we went our separate ways, but the point we are trying to make is that although we didn’t have any children together, we both still wanted a child.”

“…So…without knowing it, Tina and I both had daughters…you two beautiful girls, and it appears as though we both used the same donor…without knowing it…are you guys following us?”

Both Lizzy and Chrissy looked lost. “What Bette is trying to say is that the same man provided donations to us…ummm… you two beautiful girls have the same father.” Tina got this out and exhaled deeply, waiting for Lizzy and Chrissy to grasp the idea.  Bette and Tina could see the wheels working in their daughters’ minds.

Befuddled, Lizzy asked, “So…what exactly does that mean?”

“Mom, does that mean that we are like…related or something?”

Bette smiled at her daughter… “Chrissy honey, that means that you are like sisters.”

“OH….God…” Was all that Chrissy could get out.  She looked at Lizzy to find that she was equally stunned…Chrissy found the situation completely unbelievable.  Bursting into laughter, she barely gasped out between fits of laughter,  “Lizzy… I think they are full of crap.”

Lizzy, Bette, and Tina joined Chrissy.  Soon, all four of them were rolling around laughing on Chrissy’s bed.  “You know Chrissy, I think you are totally right.  They are most definitely full of it.”

Bette and Tina sat up, it was now clear to them that their daughters did not really believe the information that they had just disclosed.  At first, they thought that they had made their point and their daughters were just reacting to the sheer insanity of the situation, but as the moments passed, they became uneasy fearing that their daughters still did not grasp the entire situation. 

With this in mind, Tina continued… “Lizzy, do you remember when I told you the name of your donor?”

Sitting up again, Lizzy answered her mother, “Yes, I do.”

“Humor me would you, what was his name?”

“Ummm…I think you said his name was Marcus…yea, Marcus Allenwood.” Lizzy said apparently proud with herself for being able to recollect that particular fact.

Before Chrissy could speak, Bette cut in…“And, Chrissy,  what was the name of your donor?”

In a small voice, Chrissy replied, “Marcus Allenwood.”

Chrissy and Lizzy once again turned to each other, but this time, there was no laughter, there were no attempts to stifle giggles or hide the rolling of their eyes.  After these admissions, the situation turned from something completely unbelievable to something real and life altering. 

While still staring at Chrissy, Lizzy asked, “So, Chrissy is my sister?”

Tina answered, “Yes Lizzy.  As you know, you guys have different mothers, but you both do come from the same donor.” She felt like she needed to reiterate the fact just to make sure that the girls finally understood the point. 

Bette was worried, her usually loud daughter had appeared to lose her voice.  Instead of hooting and hollering or kicking and screaming, her daughter was subdued and slowly processing the information she had been presented with… “Chrissy, sweetie are you ok?”

Chrissy blinked, as if awaking herself, “Ok?  Turning to Bette and Tina with her huge Porter smile…. “Ok mom?  This is absolutely brilliant.  I always knew there just had to be something more between me and Lizzy than just being really good friends.  We got a long too easily…there just had to be some other…I don’t know what the word is… connection?…God mom…this is amazing! Turning back to Lizzy… We’re sisters!!!”

“Frackin awesome!”

Chrissy and Lizzy hugged each other, laughing, amazed at the information that their mothers had just shared with them.  After a moments of taking in the news, Chrissy turned to Bette.

“So mom, what exactly does this mean?  I mean, are we going to be a family?”

Bette stole a glance at Tina.  It was obvious that both women were not sure how to answer. “Well, I don’t know.  I mean, you and Lizzy can still hang out all the time and well, she and her mom live just down the street so it isn’t like you will be very far apart from each other.”

“Yea, but now we aren’t just friends anymore, we are sisters.  I think I can safely speak for Lizzy when I say that we want to be a family.  we don’t want to be just friends.”

“Yea, I am with Chrissy, we want a family.” Lizzy said defiantly. 

“Lizzy, Bette and I haven’t really discussed the situation fully.  I mean, we just found out about it ourselves, and we thought it was being respectful to you guys to tell you about it right away.  Since we were courteous enough to tell you that you have a sister, maybe you could be courteous enough to let us think through this situation and come up with a reasonable way to deal with this…ok?”