"I don’t know what that is but good for you. So you and Anne are going to be okay now?" Tina asked.

"I don’t think I am ready to call her family, but yeah but I think we are going to be cool. As long as we are." Jess said.

"What about Mom?" Tina asked.

"I going to talk to her as soon as she gets home. I know she didn’t do this to hurt me but it still hurt. I don’t know if they made the right decision or not but I do know I can’t change the past and I love my life even with all the crap that is in it. I wouldn’t trade it for anything." Jess said.

"Babe I’m home." Bette called from the kitchen.

"Did you get everything on list?" Tina asked.

"Everything but the broccoli." Bette said.

"But I like Broccoli" Jess said loud enough for Bette to hear her.

There was a brief pause before Bette appeared in the doorway. Bette hadn’t expected for Jess to just show up even though she hoped she would.

"Jess. What are you doing here?" Bette asked.

"Can you come out here with us I want to talk to you?" Jess said.

"Yeah sure just let me put the milk and ice cream up." Bette said. She quickly returned to the kitchen and then came outside where she sat down next to Jess.

"Did you have a good vacation?" Bette asked.

"You know I did, but that’s not what I want to talk to you about. I need you to listen to what I have to say completely before either of you respond. Will you do that?" Jess asked.

"Yes." They both said.

"I know that you nor Anne meant to hurt me with all of this but you did. I felt betrayed and I was furious and scared all the same time. At first I never wanted to speak to you or Anne again but a couple little birdies advised me that probably wasn’t the best thing. You apologized but I haven’t forgiven you. Until now. You are my mom and you thought you were doing the best thing for me. I am not saying that you did or you didn’t but if you hadn’t of made the choice that you did then we wouldn’t have met Mama and I wouldn’t have two little brothers or a baby sister. Even though they can be aggravating sometimes I love them anyway. Maybe its my destiny to have a drama filled life. Maybe it will all mean something in a couple years. I do know that whatever the reason is it will mean that I am a better person because of it." Jess said.

"We all will be." Bette said.

"Good. I am glad you think so because I have something for the both of you." Jess said. She pulled the key to the shed out of her pocket. "Shannon was right I wasn’t ready for you to see them before but I am now. So if you still want to see them you can." Jess said holding the key out on her hand. This time Tina beat Bette to the key.

"Only if you are sure." Tina said. Bette looked a little upset.

"I’m sure. You guys should see them. I don’t know if they will make much sense to you but you should still see them. I am giving you your Christmas gift early. They are yours. You can do what you want with them. You can show them, sell them, burn them. It’s up to you. You should know that the second key on there is a key to a climate controlled storage room that holds the rest of the paintings and drawings." Jess said and stood up.

"You aren’t going to come with us?" Tina asked.

"No. The address is on the back of key chain." Jess said and headed towards the house.

"Will you spend the night?" Bette asked.

"Yeah, and I’ll keep the kids until you get back." Jess said going into the house.

"What do you think?" Tina asked.

"I want to see them. I have been waiting for years to see them." Bette said eagerly.

"Bette that should be the reason we want to see them." Tina said.

"It’s not. Those paintings are going to show us the real Jess. Not the shell she shows the world." Bette said.

"Let’s go then." Tina said standing up.

"Sometimes I try and think back on when we stopped seeing Jess and started seeing the shell she shows everyone." Bette said.

"We can’t think like that. We can only get her to be who she really is." Tina said.