"Kit Porter, I am a huge fan of yours," O’Malley stated. "I grew up listening to your songs. My mom always told me I was crazy, but I told her I would meet you one day. Can I have two autographs? One for me and one for my mom?"

"Sure," Kit replied. "What do you want me to sign?"

"Oh, here," O’Malley stated. "Sign these." She handed Kit a couple of pieces of papers. "My name’s Sheila O’Malley and my mom’s name is Carla."

Kit began to autograph one of the pieces of papers and read aloud what she was writing, "To Sheila O’Malley: May the sun shine upon your head and May the good Lord bless and keep you safe. Keep up the good work. Kit Porter" and on the other piece of paper she signed, "To Carla O’Malley, I am a big fan of yours for raising such an upright, outstanding girl. May the good Lord bless and keep you safe in your journeys in life. Kit Porter."

"Thank you so much," stated Sheila. "I’ll frame these when I get a chance. I wish you much success on your opening of The Planet here in New Orleans."

"Thanks," Kit replied. "Look about that, I open in two days and I want my family and friends there, what are we going to do?"

"Well, as Bourbon Street gets wild after dark and with Mary on the loose, we will have to come up with some extra security," Sheila stated. "We don’t want Mary getting to Tina or the kids."

Tina went in the kitchen to get Sheila a plate for her jambalaya and dropped the plate, breaking it to pieces. Bette jumped and ran into the kitchen, where she found Tina crying. She went over to her and put her arms around her, held her tight, and whispered, "I’m not going anywhere. I’ll be here with you and the kids. I’m not going to let that bitch hurt you or those kids ever again."

Alice and Shane came in the room and began picking up the broken glass.  "We’re not going anywhere either.  Remember when we came over that night that Marcus’ girlfriend kept calling you and threatening you?" asked Shane.

"We didn’t leave you then and we aren’t going to leave you now," Alice agreed.

"Thanks guys," Tina stated. "But what happened in my past should not have to affect you guys. I mean, I don’t want anything to happen to you guys, because of my stupidity. Look at what happened to Bette’s hand already."

"Mommy," Angelica said, "what happened to momma’s hand has nothing to do with your stupidity. It has to do with my stupidity. I shouldn’t have jumped into an adult conversation the way I did and I’m sorry all this came about."

"It’s not your fault Angie," Bette stated as she lifted Angelica’s eyes to her own.  "You did what you did out of love towards your mothers.  Anyone that was there would have seen that and what I did was out of love towards my family.  Nobody, and I mean Nobody, better lay another hand on my children!"

"Yeah!  What Bette doesn’t take care of, I will," chided Kit.  "Ain’t that right baby sis?"

"Right," Bette nodded.

"O.K.  So where will you all be sleeping?" asked Sheila.

"The kids will be sleeping in their rooms, the couch pulls out into a queen size hide-a-bed, we have a couple of air mattresses that will fit on the floor, and Bette will be sleeping with me," answered Tina.

Bette turned and looked surprisingly at Tina, but she wasn’t going to complain, because she knew that’s where she wanted to be, next to her wife in bed.

TBC…