For that evening was the start of a beautiful friendship and the addition to my
family of these two beautiful women and their daughter. There has been tears
and hardships along the way of the last few months but our lives are fuller and
richer for having had the chance to know and love them, to have been able to
help them to get to where they are today and to have received their love and
support in return even at times when what they had left to give was limited.

            So I stand here today asked by my friend and sister to be a best man as it were
and say a few words to you all on the day of her wedding and so I say this when
you look at them and take in the day and the love they share always keep that
word in your mind, and raise your glasses in toast to these amazing, resilient
and wonderful women as I say wow you guys"

So unlike Bette but so fitting a great speech in its simplicity I nodded my head
to her and rose from my seat to toast as a cheer of wow rose from the crowd.

———————————————————–Tina—————————————————

Bette had not let anyone see her speech but I know she had been nervous which was
unlike her, I know now it was due to the nature of the speech she had written,
personal, simple, straight forward and really meant not so much for the
audience but for her friend who had asked her to speak, who had somehow gotten
under her skin so fully and completely that she was truly considered sister.

As I listened I realized her nerves were unfounded it had been perfect for the
occasion and I once again marvelled at the relationship Andy and Bette shared.
I held no jealousy and was just coming to realize that they loved each other
totally and loyally as the sisters that they had not had around for parts of
their lives when they may have been needed the most. Even though they had them
back now a void had been filled by the friendship that had started the day of
that BBQ and I would be as Bette was forever grateful for that. As I glanced at
Bette smiling and reassuring before I rose to take my turn I knew she was not
the only one who gained a sister that day.