Jackson Steven Kennard nicknamed Jack was two years older than his sister Maggie and four years older than Tina. He was ten when their parents divorced due to Steven Kennard’s infidelity and abusive proclivities. Their mother Priscilla got full custody of the three children, cut all ties with her ex-husband and moved the family from Arizona to Georgia. As they settled into their new lives in Atlanta Priscilla started referring to Jack as the ‘little man of the house’. She also ingrained in him that as the only boy and the eldest it was his responsibility to protect and look out for his younger sisters.

Like most little girls Tina and Maggie worshiped their older brother especially since he was their main male influence. They enjoyed his attentions when they were children but as they grew into adolescents his over-protectiveness became stifling. When it came to dating his interference in their love lives was harder on Maggie since many of her early boyfriends were Jack’s friends first.

Tina sympathized with her sister’s plight not being able to fight the attractions to these boys, but was grateful that the four year age gap between her and Jack’s friends never put her in that predicament. Regardless Tina was never as amenable as Maggie so any of Jack’s attempts at intimidating her boyfriends would have been fruitless. Fortunately by the time Tina was old enough to have serious relationships with the pimply faced boys in high school Jack was already off to college.

Jack stayed in-state and attended the University of Georgia where he earned his bachelor’s degree in business. After graduating college and working in corporate America for a few years Jack at the age of 27 decided to make a drastic career change and joined the Army.

With his education, business experience and mature age, Jack was qualified to enter the military ranks as a commissioned officer but instead joined as an enlisted service member. For the next fifteen years he worked his way up the ranks. Now at age 42 he held the position of Command Sergeant Major. He’d had a stellar career. His family would have been very proud of his many accomplishments had they known about them. As for his personal life, he’d had several close calls and had actually been engaged once or twice but never married nor did he have children.

Bette and Tina’s baby announcement gave Dana the opening she was looking for to have the ‘baby talk’ with Lara but the real impetus was when she went in for a routine mammogram and the test showed some abnormalities in her left breast. The couple’s biggest fear was realized when there was concern that the cancer had returned to attack the healthy breast. Dana tried to come to terms with losing both breasts if a second malignancy was found but she had to wait weeks for the results of the biopsy and the diagnostic tests that would seal her fate.

Having learned from the first go-round when Dana was diagnosed with breast cancer Dana and Lara didn’t keep quiet about this recent turn of events. There was no reason for them to suffer through it alone when they had people who loved and cared for them to lean on. They shared the news with Dana’s parents who were present during the surgery and stood by them every step of the way until they knew the prognosis. Dana and Lara garnered love, and support from family and their dearest friends from across the country who prayed that if there was a recurrence that the tumor would be benign or at least treatable.

Three weeks later, prayers were answered and praises rose to the almighty when Dana got the news that she was still cancer free. The growth wasn’t cancerous. A second surgery was scheduled to completely remove it without harming the breast. The area was treated as a precaution but she’d won another battle in the war of survival against this deadly disease.

Dana and Lara counted their blessings as they experienced a gamut of emotions; relief, thankfulness, joy, uplifting of spirits, and gratefulness. However the scare was sobering. They couldn’t continue to take anything for granted on their life’s journey. They were reminded that it was precious yet precarious as they didn’t know where the next turn would lead. For Dana she’d made it through the battlefield but the threat of a malignant recurrence would always be lurking. More than ever the couple adopted the “live for today because tomorrow is never promised” motto. They would have a full life no matter how long or short their time together might be. The most important thing to them now was getting married and starting their family.

“Hey Al it’s Tina.”

“Hey Tina, what’s up?”

“I’m calling to see how you’re doing? I wanted to make sure that you’re OK.”

“Why wouldn’t I be? I’m fine.”

“I had lunch with Tasha today. Why didn’t you tell us that you and she broke up?”

“I didn’t think anyone would care. You’ve all been treating me like a pariah ever since that thing with Jenny’s book.”

“That’s not true Al. You’re the one that backed away from us. We had a difference of opinion and supported Jenny. That doesn’t mean that we don’t care about what happens to you. So what happened with Tasha?”

“Didn’t she tell you?”

“You know how closed mouth she is. I had to drag it out of her when I asked why you weren’t here with her.”

“Wasn’t it obvious that she’s with Jamie now?”

“It wasn’t obvious until she told me Al. I guess she expected that you would have said something.”

“I’m sorry Tina. I don’t want to talk about another of my failed relationships. How’s Bette doing by the way?”

Tina knew better than to push Alice to talk so she took the hint.

“She’s tired a lot as you might imagine carrying twins, but the babies are doing great.”

“No more complications with Baby B?”

“We’re scheduled for her 20 week ultrasound in two weeks. Dr. Padilla will be checking for any congenital abnormalities but there are no indications that either one’s well-being is endangered. We might even be able to tell if we are having boys or girls or one of each.”

“I still can’t wrap my head around Bette being pregnant and with twins no less.”

“She’s been truly amazing throughout Al. She has this inner glow that’s almost angelic. She’s so beautiful that I find myself just staring at her in wonderment sometimes. I swear you wouldn’t recognize her; she’s so calm and peaceful now. She refuses to get stressed about anything and it certainly helps having her family close by. Maxine and Greg are beside themselves. It’s even more exciting that Greg and Cole’s baby will be born just a few weeks before our two. Maxine and Peggy dote on her making sure she has everything she needs. They’ve really been a tremendous comfort to me as well. It’s so wonderful having grandmother’s around to give maternal advice and of course Bette has Isabella to commiserate with. Bette and I missed out on so much joy with my pregnancies that we’re not missing a moment of sharing this one.”

“I’m sorry Dusty I just can’t stay here any longer pretending that everything is fine. I’ve tried to make this work, but you know as well as I do that this life just isn’t for me. I wasn’t cut out to work on a farm.”

“Helena what the hell are you talking about? You haven’t set foot on the farm since we got here. You’ve made it very clear that you have no interest in farming. I respect that but from the moment we stepped on this island and you realized this wasn’t going to be the posh resort life in paradise that you imagined you’ve been moping around acting like it’s a death sentence. I didn’t come here for a vacation Helena. This is my home. The farm is my family’s business. My brothers need me. We both agreed we wanted to get away from the states and live a simple life. What did you think we’d be doing here?”

“I know Dusty, but I didn’t expect that it would be so all consuming. We hardly spend any time together. We don’t have any fun. I have money and you won’t let me spend it. I’ve had my fill of living as a pauper on some run-down farm.”

“You elitist bitch; look around you. This might not be a mansion on Malibu Beach but it’s a long way from destitute. Maybe we could be doing better but I will work for it. I don’t want your fucking hand-outs, and I will not be gallivanting around living a pretentious lifestyle on your mother’s money. How can you expect me to throw money around frivolously when other people’s livelihood is depending on me keeping the farm from ruin? Maybe that works for a Peabody, but the Lucha’s have pride in our name and our heritage. You see a run-down farm … well I see a future for our children, and a legacy they can be proud to pass on to generations to come. You want to leave? Then go. I won’t stop you. If you think you can find something better out there be my guest, but if memory serves you didn’t do so well the last time you were on your own.”

“I can bloody well take care of myself.”

Maxine Wolff was back in Philadelphia for a few days to finish up some legal business and to close on the sale of the house she and Melvin had bought together and occupied during their marriage. Of course legal ownership of the house had been given over to their daughter after Melvin’s death but Bette had signed a limited power of attorney granting her mother the rights to act as her proxy.
Given her early pregnancy scare and hospitalization Bette didn’t want to risk traveling even the short distance to Philadelphia from New York just to sign some papers on a property she’d only inherited and had no attachment to. Besides that Bette wanted and Tina agreed that all the proceeds from the sale of Melvin Porter’s house should rightly go to Maxine even though her mother argued that she didn’t need or want any monies garnered from Melvin’s estate.

Bette had insisted that the house was just as much Maxine’s property as Melvin’s since the couple had bought it together when they first got married. Although Maxine no longer had any emotional attachment to the house it was a tangible reminder that her dreams of starting a life with her husband and raising a family in their beautiful new home was just one more thing that Melvin had robbed her of. Not wanting to upset her pregnant daughter Maxine finally agreed to become Bette’s proxy and to be the one present for the closing but she’d asserted that she would not keep the funds. The house located in an exclusive Philadelphia suburb had sold for $1.2M dollars the total of which would be put to philanthropic use.

Bette knew that Peter Hartman could have easily handled the sale of the house without her presence as it had been her intent before she learned that her mother was alive but Bette’s reasoning in involving her mother in the closing was to give Maxine closure; if only symbolically on the chapter of her life that she’d shared with Melvin. Bette was also hopeful that having such closure would allow Maxine to fully give into her feelings for Peter to accept his proposal of marriage and to make a future with the man that now captured her heart.