Chapter 21

It was past eleven in the morning and we were finishing the second pot of coffee in the kitchen before we heard noises from the girls’ room, soon followed by slow footsteps on the stairs.

“Oh shit, I hurt all over,” Naomi groaned as she padded into the kitchen, “who did I fight last night?”

“Nobody honey, you had gin & tonic, that’s what’s wrong with you.”.

“God, does it always do this to you?”

“No, only when you have way too much, have you had a paracetamol honey?”

“Yes, Pixie made me have two.”

“Good, now have a glass of orange juice to get some vitamin C.”

Naomi poured a glass of juice then slid in beside me on the kitchen bench.

“You look super happy this morning mum, did you have a good time after I passed out?”

“We did, it was quite special last night.”

“Shit, I’ve just noticed, you’ve got your engagement ring on again, why?”

“It’s just a placeholder until we get a new one.”

“A new one, oh shit, does that mean...”

“It does...”

“Oh fuck, that’s amazing mum, and dad, oh shit, this has made me so happy. Did you go down on one knee Tom and do it properly.”

“Err, no, I asked, but I was kneeling at the time.”

“Hahaha, classic. Shit, Pixie needs to know this right away...”

And with that she was gone.

“Well, that news cleared her head,” I said.

“She’s wanted you as a dad for so long.”

“You’re not getting married just for Naomi are you?”

“Oh gosh no, I want to get married for us, because I love you, because you’re a thoroughly decent man, and because you make me feel special in ways I didn’t think were possible any more, and because Naomi deserves a dad and a proper family, and so does Pixie.”

“I was going to take the girls to the deer park today, do you want to go ring shopping instead.”

“No sweetheart, it can wait, we have the whole rest of our lives to sort ourselves out, last night I was just claiming what’s mine. You take the girls for a walk, I’ll do the washing then go see Helen.”

“Don’t be upset at Helen...”

“I’m not, I’d actually forgotten I was a bit annoyed at her, no I want to talk to her about decorating.”

“Ah, ok, Helen can get terribly defensive, and I don’t want her falling out with my fiancée...”

“Hahaha, no fear of that...”

Then we heard two lots of steps on stairs.

“Naomi isn’t lying? You’re getting married?”

“Well, yes, not right now though, there’s a lot of stuff to sort out that’s far higher priority, like selling my house and getting you both off to school.”

“You won’t run away and get married while we’re at school...” Pixie said, almost crying at the thought.

“We wouldn’t even dream of doing that. For a start, where would I find two such beautiful bridesmaids?”

Pixie and Naomi ran forwards and Kelly scooped them up in her arms, “we’re a family, from this day forth we will do all important things as a family.”

Kelly motioned me over to join in the group hug, “see, hugs are important, so we do them as a family.”

Later, once we were all dressed, Naomi and Pixie waited by the front door whilst I found the car keys, “aren’t you coming mum?” Naomi asked.

“No honey, I’m doing some housework, then I’m going to see Helen.”

“Oh, you’re not going to tell her off about last night are you?”

“Haha, Tom and I have already had that conversation, I’m not upset about last night. If you’re going to get fall-down drunk, I’d rather it be with Helen than in the park with bottles of cheap cider. Obviously I’d rather you didn’t get drunk at all, but every now and again it’s good to completely let go.”

“So why are you going to see Helen,” Pixie asked, almost a note of panic in her voice, “is it about what we did in the pool, I know we were a bit naughty, I hope she isn’t upset about me touching up her girlfriend.”

“Will you both relax, I’m going to see Helen about decorating, Tom’s planning to convert the loft into offices, and I’d like some of the house to look a bit less, err, masculine.”

The girls relaxed once they were assured they weren’t in trouble, Kelly kissed each of us tenderly as we left the house.

“I was going to suggest we walked to the deer park today, but you two got up so late we’ll have to drive. It’s a nice walk there, you don’t have to follow the roads, there’s some nice foot paths through the woods, it’s about 90 minutes each way.”

“Ahh, so sorry, we really won’t do that again,” Naomi said, her head bowed.

“It’s fine, just don’t make a habit of it, anyway, we can walk there another time.”

At the park we walked through the shop, Elsie was at her post by the door to gardens.

“Good morning Naomi dear, visiting us again?”

“Yes I am Elsie, we had so much fun last week I’ve decided to bring...”

“Well, hello Jean, so nice to see you!”

“Oh wow,” Pixie exclaimed, dashing forwards to hug Elsie, “Aunty Elsie, I didn’t know you worked here or I’d have come sooner. This is my Aunty Elsie, she’s not really my aunty, she lives in the flats and is my best friend there.”

“You look so happy today, you’re really pretty when you smile. How do you know Naomi?”

“Naomi is my girlfriend, I’ve moved out of nan’s, Tom and Kelly are looking after me now, I’m going to school with Naomi in September, it’s a boarding school, I’m so excited.”

“Goodness, that’s a lot of change. Girlfriend you say, I had a girlfriend when I was your age, but society really didn’t accept anything outside a normal man - woman relationship back in those days, so we were driven apart by our families, I lost track of Peggy and never met anyone else who made me quite as happy as she did.”

“That’s so sad Elsie. You had a husband didn’t you?”

“Eric, yes, he was a nice man, but ... ahh, let’s not dwell on the past. I’m so happy for you Jean, you deserve a nice life, it can’t have been good for you being cooped up with Ruth and Mel.”

“Yes, life is a lot happier with Naomi and her family.”

“Excellent. Now, Naomi you’ll be happy to know that mushroom soup you so enjoyed is back today, and there’s a batch of fresh bread rolls just coming out of the oven.”

Pixie hugged Elsie again before we left the shop, “I’m so happy to see you Elsie, if you see my nan, we kind of separated on bad terms you know, so if you see her, can you tell her I’m happy.”

“I will Jean, I’ll make sure she knows you’re happy.”

“Thank you so, so much.”

“Shall we go get the soup before we go and see the deer?” I asked.

“Yes please, I’m really hungry,” Pixie replied.

“You’re always hungry!” Naomi giggled.

“I’m making up for lost time I guess, I think I’ll catch up with y’all eventually.”

“Didn’t you eat well before,” Naomi asked, hugging Pixie as we walked into the restaurant.

“Not as well as I have this week, I think I’m eating more now mostly because I’m having such fun with the new flavours. I had a lot of cheese on toast at home.”

“Ahh, ok. This mushroom soup is heavenly, you’ll love it.”

I ordered three bowls of soup, a pot of tea for myself and two glasses of milk for the girls and took a table by the window so we could watch the deer in the meadow below.

Pixie tasted her soup and her face broke into a huge smile, “this is amazing, I’ve had wild mushroom soup before, but not like this. It makes me want to kiss the chef.”

“Well, I’d wait until you see the chef before you commit to that lovey,” laughed the waitress as she cleared the next table.

“Mmm, well, it’s very nice soup,” Pixie said, suppressing giggles.

“I’ll let him know you like it, I won’t mention the kissing part though, just in case.”

“Thank you.”

As Pixie wiped her bowl clean with the last of her bread roll Naomi pushed her bowl forwards, “I’ve saved you some of mine if you’re still hungry.”

“Oh, sweetie, I’m not that hungry, you can finish yours, but thank you for thinking about me like that.”

Naomi pulled her bowl back and finished her soup, scooping the last of it up with her bread roll.

As I finished the last of my tea Pixie spoke, “I’ve been thinking about what Aunty Elsie said, about her having a girlfriend but society not accepting them, so she had to pretend to be straight, was life really like that, years ago would I not have been allowed to be with Naomi?”

“I’m afraid that’s true, that story of mine you read, that’s not completely made up, it used to happen a lot, and still does, a lot of people are still offended by homosexuality. It was actually illegal in this country for a long time, right up until 1967, and even then it only officially legalised sex between two men over 21, the age wasn’t equalised with heterosexual relationships until 1994, and the legal language that stated two men, so activities involving anything more than two men would be illegal, was only removed in the year 2000.”

“But all that is about men,” Pixie said.

“Well spotted honey, the law never mentioned gay women. Some say this was because in the 19th century, when the Sexual Offences laws were first formalised, Queen Victoria refused to believe women got up to those kind of antics, but it’s more likely to be simply that women were largely irrelevant in society back then, so nobody even considered adding lesbian sex to the law.”

“That makes me so mad,” Pixie replied, “what does it matter to anyone else what we get up to in our own room. As long as everyone involved is happy. Arghhh, I’m fuming.”

“But it’s all ok now, it’s nice and legal these days,” Naomi said, trying to soothe her girlfriend.

“Well yes, but poor Elsie, I wonder what happened to Peggy?”

“We’ll never know honey, but at least we’re ok expressing our love.”

“I’m guessing we won’t be able to at school though.”

“Mmm, we can to a very limited extent. We’ll definitely be able to hold hands, and kiss a bit when the time is right, but full on sexiness will be difficult, especially if we have to share a room with a third girl.”

“Ok, as long as we can be close, I’ll be happy.”

“Then we’ll both be happy.”

“Do we want cake?” I asked, to bring them back before they got carried away.

“Mmm, cake, what do you think Pixie?”

“I don’t think so, not yet. Can we come back later for cake?”

“Definitely,” I said.

“Then I’ll have cake and coffee later, let’s go and see if we can find your friendly deer.”

As we walked past the counter on the way out the waitress called us over, she was standing with a sweaty looking guy in chef’s overalls, he had many tattoos on his hands and face, not someone you’d want to meet down a dark alley, but he could definitely cook.

“Hey girls, you were saying how much you liked the soup, this is Kenny, the chef.”

Pixie walked right up to Kenny, stood on tiptoes and kissed him on the cheek, “thank you,” she said to him, “that soup was life changing.”

Kenny blushed, “err, thank you, I don’t get many people in who thank me that nicely.”

“Well, you deserve it, where did you learn to cook so well?”

“Err, well, I don’t like to say.”

“Oh, it wasn’t one of the local schools.”

“Not exactly, ahh screw it, it was Strangeways, before I went to prison I could barely boil an egg, I learnt my trade there, and when I got out my sister Maria,” he indicated the waitress, “got me this job.”

“Oh great, how long have you been out Kenny?”

“Six months, this is the longest I’ve been out since I left school.”

“My mum has been learning sewing, she makes t-shirts for a fashion house in Manchester, but I don’t think she’ll ever be well enough to be released.”

“Ahh, where is she?”

“She’s at Cygnet, in Bury.”

“Oh, right, the secure unit? My mate Dave was there for a while, he’s back in Strangeways now, they treat people well at Cygnet.”

“I guess, I hate it there, but it’s better than where they dumped her at first.”

“Ashworth?”

“Yeah, how did you know.”

“I guessed, if she’s in the secure unit at Cygnet and not well enough to be released there’s only a few places more secure. From talking to guys inside, there’s places worse than Ashworth.”