Chapter 16

Later they were in the sauna after a swim.

“Are you sure about changing your name to Temple?”

“I’ve never been more sure about anything.”

“So when are you doing it, after the GCSEs.”

“I could do it today by deed poll, but I’m going to wait until you’re 16, so I thought the Easter holidays.”

“Why wait until I’m 16?”

“Because I’m going to change my name another way.”

Gabbie got off the bench and knelt in front of her friend.

“Lucy, will you do me the honour of marrying me?”

“Oh wow! Really! I don’t know what to say!” Lucy said, genuinely shocked.

“Say yes, please, or I’ll be super embarrassed.”

“Of course, yes, yes, yes, but what about Nessa?”

“I loved her so much, but it’s lust, and she’s a bit rough in bed, did you notice, it’s like she’s wild. I couldn’t spend my life with her.”

“She bruised Steve when she pushed him on the bed, he hasn’t said anything, but I saw the bruise in the morning.”

“It’s you I want to spend my life with Lucy, only you. Will you marry me Lucy, please, so I can have your name?”

“Yes sweetie, yes, yes, yes.”

Lucy hugged her fiancée and they kissed and more until the heat of the sauna and their passion became too much.

Later they cooled off in the pool, “we’ll need our parents’ permission to marry before we’re 18,” Lucy said.

“Oh yes, that could be awkward, does it have to be different parents?”

“I would imagine this is a bit of a legal anomaly.”

“I could ask Diane, you could ask Jerry.”

“It’s not that simple though, they’re not my parents, legally they never have been.”

“Oh shit, yes. I wonder if Paul can help.” Gabbie said.

“It’s worth asking him, or maybe Diane has a good lawyer who can help us.”

Which was perfect timing, because Diane chose that moment to walk in looking for the girls.

“Ahh, there you are, and wearing swimming costumes, how very civilised. Maybe who can help you with what?” Diane asked.

“Oh mum, perfect, we have an important question for you,” Lucy said, “and the answer might be complicated.”

“Ok, will I need to be sitting down?”

“I think we all will, put the kettle on and we’ll come to the kitchen.”

The girls showered and dressed quickly and joined Diane round the kitchen table, she was taking a sip of coffee as they sat down.

“Err, you probably want to put that mug down a sec mum, this might be a shock.”

“You calling me mum is shock enough,” Diane said as she put her coffee down, “what’s wrong?”

“Nothing’s wrong, just the opposite, Gabbie’s ... well ... she’s proposed to me!”

“And...” Diane said warily.

“I said yes obviously.”

“And...”

“Well, for a start I’m only 15, so this will all have to wait, but, because we’re both under 18 we need our parent’s permission. Which on the face of it is you for both of us, but...”

“But ... you don’t have a legal guardian. Damn.”

“Yes.”

“Well, first I have to ask if you are absolutely sure, because this isn’t a surprise, I saw this coming, but not quite so soon.”

Gabbie and Lucy looked at each other, “we’re sure!” they said in unison.

“Right, my answer is yes, you have my permission, so I need to speak to Phil, my lawyer, because I need to adopt you before your birthday, don’t I.”

“Thank you, thank you, thank you mum.” Lucy said.

“I knew right from the start that we should have adopted you when Judy died, but both Jerry’s parents were dead, so we couldn’t get your grandparents’ permission, and he was a rebellious musician then, so we were wary of the law. So we just kind of assumed you were ours and left it at that.”

“I’m sure everything will be fine,” Lucy said.

“It will, one way or another. Are you set on an Easter wedding then, before your GCSEs?”

“As soon as possible, that’s the first holiday after Lucy’s birthday.”

“Won’t it be weird, being the only married girls at school?”

“Probably, but this year has been generally pretty weird,” Gabbie said, “so I’m sure everyone will get over it.”

“True, there’s plenty of other stuff for people to be talking about when the exams are on,” Diane said.

“Talking of exams,” Gabbie said, “I really don’t want to stay at school for A-levels. Not now, I want a complete break to decompress.”

“I can understand that, you could always go to college later if you want to. What about you Lucy?”

“Well, I was kind of hoping Gabbie was going to drop out, because there’s nothing at school that interests me next year. I was thinking of a New Media type of course in a city college.”

“Whatever you want is ok by me as long as you’ve put some thought into it.”

Gabbie filled the machine to make another pot of coffee then she turned to Diane, “I hope I’ve not caused you more problems Diane.”

“You haven’t, definitely not, this is down to a bad decision we made years ago. Like I said, when I saw you two together on Saturday, not in the car park, in the police station, the way Lucy looked at you, the love in her eyes, I knew your feelings for each other run so very deep. You’re going to be together forever. I hoped you’d want to formalise your relationship, but just not quite so soon is all. Now I’m going to phone Phil, then we’re going to Nando’s for birthday tea, then we come back here for a girls night in, I have many bottles of Prosecco in the fridge, and chocolates.”

“Amazing, this is like all my birthdays added together. Why can’t you be older than me, then we could go get married now and make it absolutely the most perfect day ever.”

“We can pretend we’re married, we can go and buy rings now.”

“Hold on right there girls, don’t move,” Diane said, waving her arms excitedly, “I’ll be back in one minute.”

Lucy looked at Gabbie, “you look so happy right now Gabbie, I love your smile so much.”

“You make me happy, and you made me super happy by agreeing to be my wife.”

Gabbie leaned across the table, Diane rushed back in the room as they kissed, she had a small wooden chest in her hands.

“Ok girls, have a dig through this lot, I’m sure there’s something that will fit you both.”

Diane grabbed a tea towel and put it across the table, she opened the box and tipped the contents onto the towel.

“Oh wow,” Lucy said as scores of rings of all sizes and styles tumbled out of the box, “where’s this lot from?”

“Years ago, I was thinking of making jewellery, so I started buying old jewellery from car boot sales and eBay. I was using it to learn about styles, fashions, materials, then I got side-tracked by writing. Dig through, when you find something you like, we can clean it up, I’ve got an ultrasonic jewellery cleaner under the sink.”

They all sifted through the rings, putting anything suitable to one side, and the unsuitable stuff back in the box. Eventually Gabbie found a nice solitaire engagement ring that fit, and a lovely slim wedding band. It took Lucy a little longer to find rings that fit nicely, but she found an almost identical solitaire, and a small man’s wedding band.

“I guess that means you’re going to be my husband,” Gabbie laughed.

“It means nothing of the kind, this will be an equal wife and wife partnership or it’s off.”

“We can get you new matching rings later, these are just for now. Let me find that cleaner and we’ll get rid of the years of grime, bring them up nice and shiny.”

Diane pulled a small plastic box out from under the sink and plugged it in.

“Honey, there’s some soda crystals in the laundry room, can you fetch it please.”

“Where’s the laundry room?” Gabbie asked.

“Oh gosh, I have two honey’s. I keep forgetting, Lucy honey, can you show Gabbie honey where the laundry room is please.”

Lucy took Gabbie upstairs and showed her the room next to the family bathroom, “just dump your dirty clothes in here, mum has a cleaner comes in 3 times a week, she’ll do all the washing, if you need something done urgent everything is easy to use, there’s an iron and ironing board in that cupboard.”

“Brilliant, I was wondering where all my dirty clothes were going, you were dumping them in here.”

“Yep, now it’s your job to clear mine away for the rest of the week.”

Diane was on the phone when they got back downstairs with the washing soda, she put the phone down after a minute.

“That was Ikea, they’re delivering your new bedroom furniture tomorrow afternoon, so we need your room clear before lunchtime. I ordered two wardrobes and matching chests as well, so we’ll get Jerry and Steve to build everything when they get home.”

“I’d like to build them,” Gabbie said.

“Yeah, we’ll build our own stuff, or at least try.”

“Great, let’s get this cleaner started, then I’ll phone Phil, see what he says about our little legal dilemma.”

Diane put her phone on the table and set it to speaker, “when I get through to Phil we need to be quick, no chatting about other stuff, he charges by the minute and sometimes just chats about any old shit to pad the bill.”

“Ok mum, we’ll keep out of it,” Lucy said.

“Archer-Poole Associates, how may I direct your call?”

“Hello, Phil Poole please, it’s Diane Temple.”

“Yes Mrs Temple, he’s free so I’ll put you straight through.”

“Right,” Diane whispered, “as soon as he says hello start your stopwatch.”

“Hello Diane, how are you this fine afternoon?”

“I’m good Phil, now, do you remember Lucy?”

“Yes, yes, wonderful girl, what is she, 12, 13 now?”

“She’s nearly 16.”

“Really, doesn’t time just fly by, I was just talking to...”

“Yes, well, remember how Jerry and I forgot to legally adopt her?”

“Yes, I remember,” he sounded a bit wary.

“Well, this might be about to cause a problem.”

“Oh right, explain please.”

“Well, last week I became legal guardian to Lucy’s best friend, whose mother is about to go to prison for a few years.”

“Yes, I got a copy of the paperwork yesterday, let me see Gabriella Dixon, is that right?”

“She prefers Gabbie, I’m glad you’ve read the file.”

“So this is a totally legal foster arrangement, everything looks fine with the papers. So what’s your problem?”

“Well, Gabbie just proposed to Lucy, they want to marry after Lucy turns 16 in March.”

“Really! This is interesting news, wonderful that girls are feeling comfortable expressing this love for each other, it does raise a couple of dilemmas though, as you are, technically at least, legal guardian to both parties, you have to give them both permission to marry each other.”

“But if the registrar wants proof, I can’t provide it for Lucy.”

“And that’s the second dilemma.”

“Yes, so I guess my question to you is, how quickly can I adopt Lucy, remembering there’s no father on her birth certificate, and the biological grandparents on her mother’s side died before she was born.”

“Right, I can’t talk about this on the phone, can you meet me at, let’s see. 4:30 in the Costa over the road from my office.”

“Err, yes.”

“Great, see you then.”

He cut the call.

“Mmm, very odd, he doesn’t normally cut me off like that.”

“10 minutes 30 seconds, and I definitely don’t like being called Gabriella.”

“Well girls, I’m not sure what he’s got in mind, but if he bills it, that call just cost me £55.”

“What!” Lucy cried.

“He bills phone calls at £300 an hour, that’s £5 per minute or part thereof.”

“Wow, that’s even more expensive than the chat lines on Babestation.”

“How do you even know that?” Diane asked, “oh never mind, I don’t need to know.”

“Can we see how the rings are doing?” Gabbie asked.

“It’ll be a while yet, go get ready to go out, we’ll see Phil on the way to Nando’s. As we’re seeing Phil nothing too sexy or wear a coat to cover up.”

Gabbie and Lucy used their en-suite to have a quick shower. Lucy chose a Ralph Lauren polo shirt in pink with a silver logo, black yoga pants with a pink bunny design along with her new pink Converse.

Gabbie didn’t have many clothes to choose from until they collected her stuff from home, so she picked a silver glitter t-shirt, black jeans and black Vans. She wore her ruby heart necklace, she looked at herself in the mirror.

“It doesn’t look as good without the basque,” she pouted.

“Oh shit, I totally forgot, I bought you some new bras for your birthday. Now, where are they?”

Lucy lifted her suitcase down from the top of her wardrobe, she unzipped it and pulled out a pink paper bag.

“Happy birthday wife-to-be, one of these will help.”

Gabbie opened the bag and pulled out a couple of pink boxes.”

“I think the bigger box is the one you need today.”

Gabbie put the slightly smaller box on the bed and opened the larger one.

“Ohh, pretty tissue paper,” she said as she lifted the lid.

She unrolled the paper and revealed a black and pink push-up bra.

“Oh wow Lucy, you always know the right thing to do.”

“Stand still sweetie, I’ll take your top off without messing your hair.”

Lucy lifted Gabbie’s t-shirt and unhooked her tired old bra, then she took the new one off Gabbie and ripped the tags off with her teeth.

“This is the greatest feat of self-discipline, looking at your boobies in the mirror without giving them a good fondle.”

“Fondle away.”

“I would, but we don’t have time.”

Lucy helped Gabbie into the new bra and adjusted the straps and fastenings.

“How does that look sweetie?”

“Perfect, absolutely perfect. Look, the ruby is back where it belongs.”

Lucy couldn’t help herself, she just had to give Gabbie a good hard cuddle and kiss, then Gabbie put her t-shirt back on and they were ready once again.

Back in the kitchen Diane had just turned off the ultrasonic jewellery cleaner and lifted out the basket, after rinsing them under the hot water tap she dried them with kitchen towels.

“Here you go girls, they look as good as new.”

“So shiny,” Gabbie said, “look at the diamond in your ring Lucy, it’s so pretty.”

Lucy picked up the two smaller rings, she kissed the wedding ring and slid it onto the third finger of Gabbie’s left hand, then she kissed the engagement ring and slid it next to the wedding ring.

Gabbie repeated the process with Lucy’s rings. They held their hands together, “they look so lovely, I never ever thought I’d be this happy Lucy, thank you for being my friend.”

“I’m more than a friend Gabbie.”

“You are, but you were my friend first. You were my first friend, the first person to be nice to me.”

Lucy hugged Gabbie, “please don’t make me cry Gabbie, I don’t want to have to fix my make-up.”

Diane checked her watch, “I hate to interrupt, girls, but we need to get going.”

They dashed out of the house and Diane backed her Mini out of the garage. Gabbie’s small stature was a bonus with the Mini, as she fit just fine into the back seat for the 20-minute drive to meet Phil the solicitor.

They got to the Costa at 4:25 and Diane ordered drinks, including a double espresso for Phil. He arrived at exactly 4:30 and took a seat next to Diane.

“Oh my Lucy, don’t you look wonderful, you were a toddler last time we met, you look so much like your mother. And you must be Gabbie,” he held out his hand for Gabbie’s and shook it, “enchanted. You have such beautiful daughters Diane.”

“Unfortunately neither of them are mine,” she laughed.

“Ahh, well, this is where I come in,” Phil said as he slid a Manila folder over to Diane.

She opened it and pulled out adoption paperwork dated 14 years earlier, a week after Judy’s death.

“What’s this, it looks legit?”

“That’s because it is, and this is where retaining the same lawyer for life pays dividends dear. I drew that up expecting you’d need it, but you never arrived so I filed it.”

“Oh my god Phil, you’re a lifesaver.”

“Sign both copies at the bottom and Lucy is legally your daughter. Use this pen, it’s the same ink as my signatures from the time.”

“Thank you so much Phil.”

“Take the second copy when you go to the registry office or church and no-one will bat an eye.”

“Regarding the fact that my two children want to marry, how’s that going to look.”

“Awkward, but I could see nothing in law to prevent it, I could also see no example of it ever happening, although I’m sure it has and I’ll find some with more searching. I guess we’ll just have to wait and see. Will it be church or registry office?”

“Gabbie,” Diane asked, “church or registry office?”

“Not church.”

“It should be fine, but to be on the safe side, maybe pop round there tomorrow and ask, speak to Bob Davies, he’s the Registrar, I’ve known him for years. for an Easter wedding you’ll need to be booking soon anyway.”

“Phil, you are an absolute star, how much do I owe you?”

“Diane, we never spoke today, the call log has been erased, I’m going to slip this back in your file, and nothing will ever be mentioned again.”

“Thank you.”

Phil drank his double espresso in one, doffed his hat at Gabbie and Lucy and was gone.

“We’ve got 75 minutes before our Nando’s booking, the registry office is only up the road, shall we go now?”

“No time like the present,” Gabbie said.

“Lucky I’ve still got your papers in my glove box Gabbie, let’s go grab them and see if there’s any more legal obstacles in our way.”

Diane slipped Gabbie’s papers in her bag with Lucy’s and they walked to the town hall to see if the Registrar was available.

They had to wait 10 minutes to be seen and were given a marriage guide to read while they waited.

The Registrar was in his late 40’s and looked like he’d had a long day, he perked up though when he saw the family waiting for him. He led them into his office.

“My name is Mr Davies,” he said as Diane and the girls took their seats, “are you looking for a civil partnership?”

“No sir,” Gabbie replied, “we want to get married.”

“Marvellous,” he replied, “simply marvellous.”

“But we have a couple of wrinkles.” Diane said.

“Ok, fire away, I’m sure we can iron them out.”

“Firstly, both girls are under 18.”

“Not a problem with their parent’s permission.”

“Legally, I’m both girls’ mother...”

Mr Davies’ stiffened when he heard this, his jaw dropping slightly, “go on,” he said.

“You see I adopted Lucy 14 years ago when she was a little girl, after her mother, my sister-in-law, died. I became Gabbie’s legal guardian at the weekend when her mother was, well, let’s just say she’s not free to look after Gabbie for the next few years and leave it at that shall we.”

“Ok, an unusual situation, but providing they’re not closely related I don’t see a problem. Do you have evidence of custody?”

Diane pulled Gabbie and Lucy’s papers out of her bag and slid them across the desk, Mr Davies read them closely.

“Right, so you are Lucy’s aunt yes?”

“Yes, her mother was my husband’s younger sister.”

“And you assumed custody when she passed away because Lucy had no other living relatives, is that right?”

“Yes, her grandparents had already passed away, and we don’t know the name of her father, he’s not listed on the birth certificate.”

“And Gabbie, your mother and father?”

“My father is dead, my mother is about to go to prison for his murder.”

“I see,” unflustered by this news, clearly not an unusual occurrence, “so you were given legal custody Mrs Temple.”

“Yes, Lucy and Gabbie have been best friends for a long time, they attend the same school and board together, Gabbie wishes to formalise their relationship and take Lucy’s name.”

“Most same-sex couples keep both names, so Gabbie Dixon-Temple for example.”

“I don’t want to keep my name, I want to forget that name ever existed.”

“Very well, I understand, we treat same-sex unions in exactly the same way as mixed-sex unions, we have always tried to accommodate everyone here.”

“Thank you, sir,” Gabbie said.

“I see Lucy is only 15, we would not be able to marry you until she’s 16 you understand.”

“Oh yes, we understand that,” Gabbie said, “we would like to marry during the Easter holidays, Lucy will be 16 and one month then.”

“So, I see absolutely no problem, we can marry you during April, my assistant Ms Page has the calendar for bookings, she can sort you out, we’ll need to see your birth certificates, and Mrs Temple, you will need to sign next to both Lucy and Gabbie’s signatures.”

“Thank you, sir,” Gabbie said, “this is so important to both of us.”

They left Mr Davies’ office, “That went well, I expected more complications.” Diane said, “we’ll have to come back with your birth certificate Lucy as I don’t have a copy with me.”

Diane checked the envelope with Lucy’s adoption papers, “hang on a sec, brilliant, Phil has included a copy of your birth certificate, that man is an absolute angel. Come on girls, let’s get your wedding booked.”

Diane approached Ms Page’s desk with her daughters.

“Hello again,” Ms Page said brightly, “did Mr Davies answer your questions?”

“He did Ms Page.”

“Please, call me Rebekah.”

“Thank you, Rebekah, we’d like to book a wedding for my daughters.”

Rebekah had been taking a sip of water as Diane spoke and spat it out as she processed what she’d just heard.

“Haha,” Diane said as she helped Rebekah wipe her desk with tissues, “it’s a lot less awkward than it sounds, Lucy here is my adopted daughter, and Gabbie is my foster daughter, they’re not related and met before I was Gabbie’s guardian. I’m her guardian because they’re such close friends.”

“Ok, that’s fine, when would they like to marry?”

“During the Easter holidays please,” Gabbie answered.

“I’m afraid we’re booked up on the three Saturdays during those holidays.”

“That doesn’t matter, a weekday will be fine, won’t it?” Gabbie checked with Lucy and Diane.

“Oh yes, any day in the holidays is fine,” Lucy said as she looked at the calendar on Rebekah’s notice board, “especially this Wednesday, look at the date Gabbie.”

Gabbie was puzzled at first, then she realised the significance and smiled.

“Yes, Wednesday the 8^th is perfect,” Gabbie said, “exactly one year after Lucy and I met on my first day at our school.”

“Isn’t that wonderful,” Rebekah said, “if I could just see Lucy and Gabbie’s birth certificates, as proof they can legally marry in this country, then we can get all the forms filled in.”

With everything sorted and signed Diane handed over her credit card to pay the £57 fee, Gabbie put her hand on top of Diane’s, “I’ll pay,” she said, “it’s me that proposed, so I should pay.”

Diane put her card back in her purse and Gabbie handed her debit card over to Rebekah to process the payment.

Lucy watched the exchange, she was liking this new, more assertive Gabbie very much.

With everything now sorted Diane scooped her girls up and hugged them tightly.

“Well, a week ago I would definitely not have expected to be hugging my two daughters after we’d booked their wedding, this has been a very weird week. It’s always been Lucy’s job to surprise me, so I suppose I can’t expect anything else from the girl she chooses to spend the rest of her life with.”

“Mum,” Lucy started, “I always thought of you as being super stern and strict, you are so different now.”

“I always worried about you Lucy, about you finding out we weren’t your parents, it consumed me. So when we told you, all that broke and I could relax. I want to enjoy being your mum now.”

“Thank you, mum, you are so understanding.”

“Thank you, mum,” Gabbie added, “just thank you, for everything you’ve done these last few days. I’m such an emotional mess right now and you’re being super cool about it all.”

“I’m playing all this by ear honey, they never taught us how to deal with any of this at school, so I’m just rolling with it.”

They hugged again and walked out of the town hall and back to the car.

“Right, off we go to Nando’s for a double celebration, a birthday and engagement party.”

On the way Diane’s phone rang it was Steve, she answered it on the car’s hands free, “oh hey honey, are you and your dad all checked into the hotel? Great, are you sitting down, well sit down and put the phone on speaker so dad can hear, because you will not fucking believe what we’ve just done...”

“Why? What’s happened?” Jerry came on the line, concern in his voice.

“Don’t panic, it’s nothing bad, it’s just the opposite, amazingly good news. Gabbie just proposed to Lucy.”

“What! I leave you for a couple of hours and you’re marrying our daughters off,” Jerry laughed.

“Oh wow, that’s fantastic!” Steve said.

“So we’ve just been to the registry office...” Diane started.

“Hang on, Lucy’s only 15,” Jerry broke in.

“We know, they’ve not got married yet, the big day is in the Easter holidays.”

“Doesn’t Lucy need my permission or something? Oh, shit, she’s not even legally our daughter, who’s going to give their permission?”

“That’s the best part, Phil Poole had prepared the paperwork right after Judy’s death, it was just awaiting a signature, she could have been legally ours all along Jerry.”

“So what did you do?”

“He brought me the paperwork, I signed it and he’s slipped it back in my file, it’s like I signed it 14 years ago.”

“That man is a star, remind me to send him a case of that claret he likes when I get back.”

“Maybe it would be an idea to pop round and see him and add your name to the form.”

“Of course, I’ll pop round to Majestic on the way back tomorrow and take it straight round to him. What are you doing tonight?”

“We’re on our way to Nando’s for a birthday stroke engagement party, then we’re going home to drink lots of Prosecco and eat cakes.”

“Well, we’re going to grab a meal in Manchester, probably Sam’s Chop House, then head out to the match. This hotel is great by the way, we grabbed a drink in Cloud 23, the views across town are amazing. I think I’ll stay here again when I’m in town.”

“I’m glad you like it, I felt daft after I’d booked it, because Gabbie told me her friend Nessa works for Hilton and she could have got me a discount.”

“Maybe next time then, enjoy your party ladies.”

Jerry cut the call just as Diane pulled into Nando’s car park.

“Can we have a best man and a bridesmaid at a registry office wedding?” Gabbie asked as Diane reversed into a parking space.

“I don’t see why not, who will carry the rings and flowers otherwise?” Diane answered.

“I’d like Nessa to be bridesmaid, if she’s ok with that,” Gabbie said.

“And seeing as I’m nominally the guy in this relationship,” Lucy added, “although I’m definitely wearing a fucking wedding dress, I want Steve to be best man.”

“Do you think they’ll let my mum come?”

“Oh, I don’t think so,” Diane said, “but there’s no harm in asking, I’ll phone the police tomorrow.”

“It would be nice if she could be there, it’s a long time since she’s seen me happy.”

Gabbie clambered out of the back of the Mini, “we’ll need a bigger car on the day,” she mused, “I don’t think I could get in and out of that back seat in a big wedding dress.”

They all laughed as Diane locked the car and they walked over to the restaurant.

“I’ll get you a Rolls Royce for the day, a white one with bright red ribbons to match your ruby,” Diane said, then she whispered to Lucy, “is the ruby Gabbie’s now?”

“Yes, it looked so good on her, and she loves it.”

“Good, if it makes her happy, she can keep it.”

“I want a big plate of extra hot with sweet corn and coleslaw,” Gabbie said as they were shown to their table.

“No garlic unless we all have garlic,” Lucy said, “or there’ll be no kissing later.”

“Well, everyone had better have garlic then,” Gabbie said, “or I’ll cry, and it’s illegal to make a girl cry on her birthday.”

“Extra hot with garlic all round then I think...” Diane said.

They were loud and laughed a lot during the meal, lots of boys approached their table then walked quickly away when they saw the girls kissing or holding hands. Neither Lucy nor Gabbie noticed this because they were in their own little world, but each time Diane gave the boys a ‘better luck next time’ smile.

She was proud of her girls being so confident and comfortable with their sexuality, she’d brought Lucy up right, and somehow Gabbie had turned out ok too. She’d noticed just how much confidence Gabbie had gained since the weekend. She wasn’t looking forward to Friday, it would be a trauma for Gabbie, but maybe she was strong enough now to cope better than she did on Saturday, and with Lucy’s calming power, Diane was confident they’d all pull through.

“Can we look at wedding dresses at the weekend?” Gabbie suddenly exclaimed.

“Well, we need to do it soon, and with you being away at school so much we don’t have much time together to organise things like this.”