"Dorothy," Blanche said, "Do you have a minute? We need to talk."

"Sure," Dorothy said, "What's on your mind?"

"Uh-uh," Blanche said, "I want to know what's on yours. Look, I haven't said anything for months now but I'm worried about you. Lately you've been... well not yourself."

"I have a personal issue I'm dealing with," Dorothy said, "I'm sorry. I'll try to be more myself."

"Dorothy come on. Whatever it is that's going on you can tell me. I'm your friend."

"I know. Okay I'll tell you but I warn you it is NOT a happy story."

"Well I didn't assume it was a happy story," Blanche said, "The fact that you can be heard crying at night sometimes makes it obvious that it wasn't a happy story."

"Okay well I didn't only have Kate and Michael," Dorothy said, "I had another child too. My oldest child, Consolata or Connie as we called her-"


"Ma named her," Dorothy said, "It was after a friend of hers who had died and Ma wanted to honor this friend. Anyway when Connie was 13 we had to run out to pick up a few things because Michael was sick. Connie asked if she could watch Kate and Michael and since she was thirteen we thought it would be okay. We hadn't been gone 10 minutes when there was a robbery at the house. Connie told Kate and Michael to be VERY quiet but Michael couldn't be. What Stan and I were told was Michael started coughing terribly. Connie instructed Kate to bring Michael outside into the garage because it was soundproof and they could sneak out through the back. Just as she was about to sneak out the burglar broke into room that Connie was in. He shot my baby. Then he ran out. Connie knew that one of them couldn't get away after the burglar broke in. She was dying by the time that we got home. My oldest baby lived 20 minutes and died in my arms en route to the hospital. She would have been 40 today."

Blanche didn't say a word. She just engulfed Dorothy in a big hug. Sometimes there are no words to say. Sometimes all you can do is let a person know you're there and Blanche knew that was one of those times

Disclaimer: I don't own Golden Girls. This story is dedicated to Love On The Inside who inspired it