***

“Dean Porter,” whispered Carolyn, coming in late to a talk by Li Xu, the Director of the Shanghai Art Museum “you missed the Yale alumni breakfast.” 

“Here, sit down,” Bette gestured to the open seat next to her, but turned slightly in her chair and gave full attention to the presenter, effectively blocking any chatting with Carolyn for the hour.

“I’m interested in how Yang Fudong’s interpretation of the post-Clinton era in Chinese-American relations is being viewed in Shanghai,” Bette questioned the distinguished art director in the presentation follow-up.

“Bill or Hillary’s era?” questioned Xu, to the laughter of the crowd.

Carolyn, clearly bored by the conversation, lightly touched Bette on the arm and motioned that she’d be waiting outside of the room.

***

“Bette, is something wrong?” questioned Carolyn.  “I’ve been here for two days and you’ve barely said hello to me.”

“I’m sorry, I’ve been terribly busy,” Bette replied.  “We’ll talk later, okay?” she gave a quick smile and hurried off, leaving Carolyn puzzled and alone.

***

 “Yes, this was a simply fabulous idea, Bette,” said Tina, rolling her eyes after wiping the water from them.

“Do it again, mom!” said Angelica, urging Tina to sink to the bottom of the expansive pool so she could sit on her shoulders again.

“I think your mom has had enough,” said an amused Bette.

 “We are well past ‘had enough’!  I was ready to call it quits after playing tennis and going to the weight room.  I can’t keep up with your routine!” said Tina.

“That’s cause you’re getting old!” taunted Angelica, diving under the water and between Tina’s legs before popping up and immediately doing the same to Bette.

“I’m younger than Mama,” exclaimed Tina.

“She’s in better shape,” Angelica shot back without missing a beat.

Tina playfully jumped on Angelica, pushing her purple latex swim-cap-covered head under the water.

“Truth hurts, mom!” sputtered Angelica.  “We’ll toughen you up!  Every Tuesday, same place, same time.”

Bette stared at Tina and Angelica frolicking in the water and was mesmerized in watching their interactions with each other.  The blatant love they shared brought Bette a feeling of contentment laced with nostalgia.  How many other moments of tenderness, playfulness and love had she missed witnessing?  She tore her eyes away from the pair.  “I’m going to do a few more laps,” she said.  “I’ll meet you in the locker room.”

Angelica jumped out of the pool immediately, only to run to the side and dive back in one last time.  Her diversion gave Tina a chance to surreptitiously watch Bette swim.  Her body was striking.  Her long, lean arms barely made a ripple in the water as her hand curved slightly upward to slice the water rather than enter it with a clumsy splash.  Her legs kicked in a powerful churning motion that seemed effortless, but the current of water it produced and the forward motion that resulted from it proved otherwise.  With one quick motion, Bette reached the end of the pool, executed a flawless flip turn and began heading back to Tina.  Several underwater dolphin kicks brought her almost half the length of the pool before her head reached the surface and her body resumed its rhythmic stroke.

Tina felt Angelica lifting her foot from the floor of the pool.  Sensing that her daughter was about to start another round of games, Tina lifted her up from under the water and announced, “let’s go!”

 TBC