Caroline knew that the real showdown with her mum would happen when they were alone. With that in mind, she had organised to go home to have lunch with Celia on the Friday after the storm, giving Alan a few days for targeted homophobia mitigation first.

During the drive from work she had gone through the strategies she'd talked about with Gillian and with her counsellor. She never felt fully prepared for a conversation with her mother about her homophobia. She parked the Jeep and turned off the engine, sitting there for a few moments gathering her thoughts. She sighed and went to meet Celia.

"Hi Mum." She called as she opened the front door.

"Hi Caroline." She could hear the voice in the back garden. Sensible, she thought, of Celia to avoid the radioactive kitchen table for this discussion. She was really tempted to perch on the edge of the table in the garden, as a little reminder for her mum, but thought it might set her mum onto an immediate war footing rather than just giving herself the upper hand. She smiled. It was still tempting. There was always a sneaky joy to wrong-footing her mum when she was being stubborn.

Celia had made their lunch; an array of sandwiches and a brewing pot of tea were on the table. Caroline smiled briefly at her mum.

"Thanks for getting this ready. I'm a bit short of time so, thank you."

"It's nice to finally see you, Caroline." Celia started with the subtle dig about Caroline's absence from the house, which Caroline ignored. Celia poured the tea while Caroline took off her jacket, dropped her bag and sat down.

Caroline put a few sandwiches on her plate, added milk to her tea and waited for her mum to start the conversation. Today was a game of strategy and she was letting her mum make the first move, to show her hand.

"So how long has this been going on?" Celia was on a fact-finding mission. Celia reasoned that if she could find a chink in Caroline's armour, she could exploit it.

"About three months."

"And why didn't you tell me about it?"

Caroline looked at her mum, gauging the level of distress from facial cues and the level of whine in the voice. Okay so far, she thought.

"Gillian and I wanted a bit of time to work out 'us' first. We've known each other for four years, so there were a few things we had to...sort out. Now we have a better idea who we are as a couple. We were going to tell you and Alan soon anyway."

Celia was a bit cynical about that, and it showed on her face. "Really?"

"Well, we knew you were going to find it hard, so we did wonder how to tell you."

"I don't know why. There's no one more broad-minded than me."

A small smile grew on Caroline's face. "Okay." She was trying to keep calm, letting that little self-deception pass. "What else did you want to ask?"

"Why her? Why Gillian?"

"I don't know why. It just happened really. One day we were friends, and the next we were thinking of each other in a different way."

"So it changed, just like that?" Celia was confused as to how that could happen. She couldn't imagine this happening with any of her friends. The thought horrified her.

"Well, we were spending a lot of time together and we grew close, I suppose. We realised we had a lot in common, more than I first thought actually. The point is, I really like her. I love her. Now I can't imagine life without her."

Caroline looked at her mum with open honesty, revealing the truth of those words. Celia was a bit shaken by it. She could see that Caroline was seriously in love with this woman, like she had been with Kate. It hadn't been until she'd seen Caroline's raw grief after Kate's death that Celia really understood just how deeply Caroline loved Kate. Since Monday she'd been thinking it was some sort of sexual thing since Gillian was such a tramp. She hadn't quite taken in that these two might actually be in love, despite their protestations during the storm. This she hadn't expected.

"I want to move in with her. Share a life with her. I don't know how it will work out, but I want to try."

"What about Kate?"

Caroline had been dreading this question. Her face fell, and she looked at her plate, watching the sandwiches drying out in the sun.

"I loved Kate. I married her and I wanted a life with her. I wanted to grow old with her. I imagine that I would still be with her." Caroline looked into the distance, unseeing. "But she died." It took a few moments, but Caroline looked at her mum, her eyes damp with tears. "She's gone, and I deserve to be happy, like you and Alan are happy. I think I've found that with Gillian."

"I'm sorry, love. I know you loved Kate. I'm just worried about you. Gillian isn't the same. She does muck about and you know I've been through that with your dad. It is horrible and I don't want that for you."

Her mum was being much less bitchy than usual. Caroline tilted her head slightly, wondering what was going on. She wondered if that was Celia being protective of her or if Alan had been working hard on her mum this week.

"I know Mum. I'll have to deal with it if it happens, but I don't think it will. It's been months and I've not see any sign of her even thinking about it."

"So you don't know for sure, then." Celia had found the crack she was looking for. If she didn't explore this crack today, she could explore it in the future. Even small tree roots would break up concrete if you gave them enough water and time. She smiled to herself.

"Mum, I really don't think she will. I'm not going to break her confidences, but I do know there were reasons for her...mucking about. I don't think that's going to happen because I won't be triggering that." She stopped, wondering if she'd said too much already. Her mum was always good at getting information out of her, better than anyone else. She'd realised recently that Gillian was getting really good at it too. A smile crept up her face as she thought of the farmer in her tight blue jeans and a favourite checked shirt.

"What do you mean, 'triggering'? What was going on?" Celia was intrigued now.

Caroline kicked herself mentally. She knew she couldn't afford to drift off when dealing with her mother. She brought herself back on track.

"I can't tell you. I will tell you that there was stuff going on that no one knew about and Gillian was reacting to that. I genuinely don't think she will muck about. And really, even if she does, that's between me and Gillian to work out."

"I'm just trying to protect you Caroline."

"I know Mum, but she's not my dad. She really isn't."

Caroline could see Celia wasn't convinced, but she seemed to let it drop for the moment. Caroline took another bite of her sandwich, and a sip of tea, waiting for the next question.

"So why is she gay all of a sudden? I don't understand that. It is bad enough you claiming to be a lesbian but Gillian has..." she waved her hand in the air, "with half of West Yorkshire."

Caroline chuckled. "Yep, probably. Doesn't really matter though, does it? Doesn't mean I love her any less, or that Gillian loves me any less, and that's what counts." Caroline was trying to think of a way to explain it to her mum.

"Think about it like this. When you were 16, you fell in love with Alan. It didn't matter about the other boys who were around at the time, did it, because you just wanted him."

"Not really. I knew then, that I loved him."

"Well, that's the same with us. It doesn't matter who else is about. I just want Gillian. I've fallen in love with her."

Celia really was trying, but she couldn't understand about two women doing that, being that way. Mind you, she couldn't for the life of her get the vision of Caroline on the table out of her head. She liked sex too, but she could never imagine displaying herself like that to Alan. She certainly never had to Kenneth. She didn't know if it was the different times, or if Caroline was a sex fiend. She thought it might be the latter - she was a lesbian, after all - but the thought was very disturbing. How did she give birth to one of those? It must be Kenneth's genes.

"I think you must be more like your father than I considered." Celia was thinking aloud.

"Okay." So we're doing that again, Caroline thought. She sighed, raising one of her eyebrows under her fringe. "Why?"

"Well, you seem to like women, and sex, apparently."

Caroline laughed suddenly, the high-pitched laugh of embarrassment. This was absolutely not the conversation she wanted to have with her mother. Bloody Gillian. Mind racing, Caroline was trying to pull her thoughts together and mount some sort of defence.

"I hadn't considered that." It was starting to crystallise in her mind, the two strands to this. "Well, I guess you're right in some ways, but I don't sleep around, Mum. I've seen what it does to people when their partners cheat; you, me..."

Celia could see that Caroline, in her attempt to pacify, had left her flank open. Celia went on the attack.

"Anyway, I thought you had a type. Kate and Olga were black and Gillian's not." Celia was digging deeper now.

God, am I really discussing this with my mum, Caroline mused. "I admit, I do find some...types very attractive, but it isn't that others are unattractive." Christ almighty. What the hell was she doing.

"So now your type is low-life, trailer-trash is it?" The knives were out now. "I'm disappointed Caroline. I never thought you'd go after John's mucky seconds. You'll be going after Judith next."

Caroline's jaw dropped. "Wow. Just wow." She gripped the edge of the table, her knuckles going white. Her voice was low, full of fury. "That is insulting on so many levels it doesn't deserve a response."

"Well. You shouldn't be together. She's your sister. It's wrong." Celia cuts to the core if it for her, the wrongness of it all.

"We're not related and you know that. Now you're just being cruel. I never thought of you as cruel before." Going for her mum's soft underbelly, Caroline knew just where to target. "Other people have told me you were cruel, but I'd never believed them."

"What people?!"

Repeating her mother's line, Caroline landed the blow that would have her mother spinning in her tracks for days. "Oh, you know, just people."

Celia sat there, mind whirring, trying to work out 'what people'.

Caroline had had almost as much as she could handle today. Time to wrap it up.

"I do have a few things to say before I go." Caroline looked Celia in the eye. Celia sat up a bit straighter, knowing Caroline's rules were being handed down.

"What?" She spoke curtly.

Caroline bit back a blunt reply. She breathed deeply trying to calm herself, her stomach in knots. "Okay. I need you to be polite to Gillian. I mean it. What happened on Monday is gone and done, but it can't happen again."

"No, it certainly can't! I don't want to see that ever again!"

"And secondly, I want you to stop telling me that what we are is wrong. I've found the woman I want to be with, and I want you to accept that."

Celia said nothing. She didn't like these rules at all.

"Thank you." Caroline looked at her watch. She wanted to leave, no matter that she still had time before her next meeting.

"I have to go. I have a meeting with the Chair of the Parents' Association." She stood up and put on her jacket again, all business. "Thank you for lunch."

"Okay."

"Good luck with the house hunting." Caroline kissed her mum briefly on the cheek and turned for the door. "Bye."

"Bye bye."

Caroline made it to the safety of her Jeep. She took off but it was not long after she was out of sight of the house that she pulled over and burst into tears. The effort to keep her emotions in check was huge, and the relief that it was finished was overwhelming. She didn't know whether she wanted to vomit or scream or kill something, so she just cried.

It was ten minutes before she felt more sane. It was only her mother who ever made her feel like this. She freshened up her makeup and looked out at the valley below. She hoped that time would sort it out. It usually did