Mothers and Daughters

S2 E22: For Beth, today's case sparks a poignant memory that will remind her of the redemptive power a second chance can have, and how it changed her life. The morning begins in the usual way,  Beth  is busy readying her brood for another day. Between  serving the younger kids their breakfast and assigning Cecily her morning chores Beth talks about the motherhood.  Her concern of late is with Cecily, who is moving into her teen years. Beth wants to help her daughter avoid the mistakes that she made as a young woman.  Ehen Beth arrives at the office she finds Dog on the phone. He's talking with the mother of twenty-five year old Rachel, and grandmother  to Rachel's nine year old daughter. The mom tells Dog that she bailed Rachel out of jail on the condition that Rachel conform to a strict regimen that includes AA meetings and a curfew, but that Rachel is not keeping with the program.  And now the mom has made the painful decision to revoke her bond and send her daughter back to jail. Ironically Rachel is lured out of the house by Duane Lee posing as a delivery man with a bouquet of flowers for Mother's Day. As they drive to jail Beth tries to reach out to  the young woman by telling Rachel her  own story of youthful run-ins with the law.  And Dog sees a mirror image of Beth in her early days in Rachel.  After escorting Rachel to jail, Beth goes to pick-up Cecily from her horseback riding lesson. As she drives Beth reflects on how blessed she is to have  Cecily and the other kids. For Beth, Cecily, Bonnie, and Gary are more then just her children, they are her second chance to be a good mother and to heal a painful wound. She then tells the difficult story of how as a young woman she made the heartbreaking decision to put her first child up for adoption. It was that terrible loss that caused Beth to turn her life around.  Beth's hope is that Rachel will use her loses of freedom today as the motivation to change her life.