Besides herself, who would Misty be willing to protect? Ron was her boyfriend & he obviously loved her & gave her a better life, (by some standards, it was pretty good). CC said that he bought Misty a car & TN would take her shopping. If you can overlook the fights, she was pretty spoiled. no school, no job, a car, shopping, plenty of partying an heirloom wedding ring...& if she acted up, Ron would take her back. But how much did MISTY love RON? IDK, but she did get that tattoo, so even after the divorce, there was still something there. In court, it was reported that she mouthed out 'I love you to him'. I kinda thought he was covering for her, & him not mouthing back, meant the jig was up. But she didn't take the deal, so was there a jig? In the letter she supposedly wrote, the things she said about Ron, seemed silly...not like love. I'm not sure. They hadn't been together long, & she was so young...& she didn't have a problem getting with WBG, so some bonds, at least, weren't hard to break. Ok, & here's where my stomach ties up in knots. Would Misty protect Tommy? I remember early in the case, HC talked about how wild & how much worse Misty was than his sons, & how many problems she caused. He also made a point to tell how really hard Misty slept & how she was almost impossible to wake up. (See? His boys were good & Misty slept through it all. She knew nothing). I didn't like that. I also didn't like the way, IMO, HC manipulated Misty. In a call, he said that he & Lisa were gonna have to move, & Misty became very upset, & then he said her brother wanted to know why she hated him...in which she replied, (paraphrased), 'I don't hate my brother. I love my brother', all the while crying. So, IDK, but Misty covering for Tommy, might be more for her parents, & to save what little bit of family they have left. MOO.