The Girls

Julie's news gradually spread round the rest of the family with mixed reactions. Eddie took it upon himself to handle the less than positive responses and kept any unpleasantness away from his daughter. She had explained to him about Freda's reaction and he had suggested that she handled it in the same way as her mother. Things were still tense at work but thankfully Freda appeared to be the only sticking point. The lads had made the typical salacious responses and surprisingly Mack had been the one to get them to tone it down. It was funny how they had all seemed to pick on Julie, yet Vicky had been left pretty much alone. Julie thought it was just because they had known her for so long and she'd never really told them anything about herself before now. She had never been anything particularly special to her workmates; neither interesting nor dull, she was sociable but not a party animal and well known and liked but not especially noteworthy either. Freda's main problem seemed to be Vicky and as much as her old friend was simply ignoring Julie, she had tried to make Vicky's life deliberately difficult. Fortunately most people seemed to be aware of the fractious relationship between them and gave Vicky the benefit of the doubt.

After her initial conversation with her parents, Julie had stayed a while longer to talk it through with Amanda and explain it in her own words before her mother had a chance to over-dramatise the situation. Part of Julie was worried that it would affect her relationship with her nieces and she'd be left in a worse position than when they were living in Hong Kong. Fortunately Amanda was a reasonable and open-minded sort of person and turned out to be incredibly supportive. They had both pondered over what Rob's reaction would be and Julie admitted that she wasn't really that concerned. It wasn't that she didn't care, although she would be sad if he had a major issue with her sexuality, it was more that she no longer felt that she had to compare herself with him and his approval of her lifestyle didn't matter anymore.

Julie tore around her childhood home one Saturday morning and grabbed odds and sods that she needed for the rest of the weekend from different rooms. Everyone was already awake so she wasn't disturbing them but it was still early enough that she hadn't had breakfast yet. She was saving that until she got to Vicky's place. Amanda caught her as she stuffed some clean clothes into her rucksack straight from the washing machine.

"I'm sorry to have to do this to you Julie but would you mind watching the girls for me today? I've just been offered an extra shift this morning and then I've got an appointment with an estate agent this afternoon." Amanda had been searching for a small house for her and the girls since she had arrived back in England a couple of weeks ago and she'd managed to sort out a part time job via her mum but needed to do all the hours she could until she'd sorted out her pay off from Rob.

"I'd love to help Amanda but I've got plans with Vicky today." After seeing Amanda's disappointed face Julie stared off into the distance while she considered something but shook her head as she thought better of it.

"What?" Her sister-in-law had picked up on Julie's indecision.

"I was just wondering…how would yer feel if they spent the day with us? I'm sure Vicky wouldn't mind." Vicky loved kids just as much as Julie did, especially little ones. She just hadn't been able to cope with teenagers since her Tina had been one!

"Oh Julie, you're a life-saver!" Amanda seemed more than relieved and squeezed her sister-in-law in a tight hug.

"Are you sure you don't mind? I'm not going to hide who we are from them." As much as Julie adored her nieces she had really been looking forward to this weekend with Vicky. Although they worked together, they didn't really get any quality time to relax and just simply be with each other. She really could do with a few cuddles too and was reluctant to forego that luxury she so desperately needed.

"Julie, you're their aunt. I don't expect you to hide anything about yourself from them." Amanda didn't want to get into that cycle of outwardly pretending Julie and Vicky were just friends but everyone concerned knew otherwise, including the very people they were trying to 'protect.'

"But what if they ask questions?" Telling her own family and colleagues about her relationship with Vicky was one thing, explaining sexuality to her young nieces was another subject she felt inadequately qualified for.

"Then tell them the truth, just in a way that they'd understand." Perhaps it was something she could get Vicky to do, after all she'd been through it all before with Tina.

"And you're really okay with this?"

"Of course I am! I want my girls to grow up accepting that everyone is different and that it's okay. I want them to respect all people and to feel free to be themselves. What if either of them turned out to be gay too? Or one of their best friends from school? Wouldn't you want them to accept their friend or themselves better than you were able to?" Julie hadn't really considered it like that and it did make some sort of sense. All of this was still very new to her even though deep down she'd known her own sexuality for many years. In fact she probably hadn't been that much older that Rhiannon when her difference had become increasingly apparent, to herself at least. The thought of another child having to go through that uncertainty made Julie feel sad and if she could do something so simple as to be honest with her young nieces then perhaps one of their friends, or they themselves, would have the courage to deal with it much earlier than she did.

"Granny, Granny! Auntie Julie and Auntie Vicky took us to the park and we fed squirrels nuts out of our hands and we made pictures out of leaves and acorns and then had hot chocolate and cake and played games oh and look what I drew!" Rhiannon bounced up and down on the balls of her feet in her excitement as she handed her grandmother a pencil drawing of her day out. It was coloured in with bright, bold colours as opposed to accurate ones and she had gone over the edges on some of the objects. But it wasn't the lurid colouring in that had made Brenda stop in her tracks, it was the fact that besides Rhiannon and Katie and a few blobs with ears that probably represented animals, there were two women holding hands and kissing. The labels above their heads clearly indicated that they with Auntie Julie and 'Auntie' Vicky. Brenda snatched the paper out of Rhiannon's hand and took it to Amanda who was still hanging up their coats in the hallway.

"Have you seen this?" The older woman waved the bit of paper in front of Amanda's face.

"Yes, it's rather good isn't it? Did it all by herself apparently. Katie did one too."

"Have you looked at it properly? Our Julie and that woman?" Amanda could almost see the steam shooting out from her mother-in-law's ears.

"Who, Vicky? Julie's girlfriend? Of course, they both looked after the girls today." Amanda knew exactly what her mother-in-law was getting at but she wanted to her say it out loud so she could see how ridiculous she was being.

"And you're happy about that?!" Amanda realised how difficult it must have been for Julie recently, knowing that her mother was so vehemently against her sexuality and her relationship.

"Yes of course, why wouldn't I be? Vicky's a lovely woman and she and Julie seem so happy together. The girls have had such a wonderful day with them."

"You've met her?" Brenda was infuriated, although Amanda suspected she was also curious but too suborn to admit it.

"I stayed for a brew when I went to pick the girls up."

Amanda had really needed a cup of tea and a chat after her long day and Vicky had been kind enough to invite her to stay for one when she had turned up on her doorstep. The girls had clearly enjoyed themselves immensely and hyperactively showed off what they had been up to in front of their mum. Julie had gone to the kitchen to make the tea, followed by the girls, which left Vicky alone with Amanda to chat.

"Sorry to have messed up your plans for the day. The girls do seem to have had fun though." Amanda sat on Vicky's settee and quickly glanced around at the dressed living room, it had a certain cosy atmosphere about it.

"It's alright, it's been no bother. They're good girls and they make Julie happy." That had been clear even before Vicky had met the girls in the flesh. Julie seemed to get on very well with children in general, but her own family were even more special.

"So do you by the looks of things?" Amanda conspiratorially nudged the older woman and Vicky blushed.

"I hope so, she makes me very happy too." They were interrupted by the girls as they waited right in front of them on the settee to ask a question.

"What is it girls?" Amanda asked her daughters but they addressed their host instead.

"Auntie Vicky, please may we have an orange juice?" Rhiannon asked but Katie stood behind her and nodded her agreement.

"Of course you may." Amanda looked at Vicky in stunned silence once the girls had scurried off back to their aunt in the kitchen. "How did you get them to do that?" Vicky chuckled.

"I thought they came like that? Perhaps it's just a novelty at the moment? They really have been very good today."

"Well however you've managed it you're welcome to babysit anytime!" Amanda looked at Vicky and suddenly realised how that might have sounded. "I mean if you want to, I don't expect…"

"It's fine, I know what you meant. They really were no bother at all. It's actually been nice to have little ones running around again." Vicky meant it sincerely. They'd taken the girls to the park after breakfast and supervised them larking about with the leaves. It was amazing how something so simple had kept them entertained for ages. They then sat down with hot chocolates and fed the squirrels nuts from their hands. Vicky hadn't done anything like that since Tina had been small. They'd collected up some of the leaves and other things to get creative with later and then ventured into a small tea shop to indulge in some cake for a mid-afternoon snack.

"Julie tells me that you have a daughter?"

"Tina, yeah. She's 24 next birthday and has a life of her own." Once she'd been to university she'd more or less flown the nest and had a whole other life away from her mum.

"Do you see her much?"

"Occasionally, once a month or so. She lives in Leeds with her boyfriend so I try to stay well out of it." They were still reasonably close though and Tina would never forget to give her mum the occasional phone call just to check that she was alright.

"Does she know about Julie?"

"Oh yes, I've always been honest with her. They seemed to get on well when they met the other week, but she's not around often so they haven't had much chance to get to know each other properly." The girls came back into the living room carefully balancing their full beakers of orange juice in their hands. Amanda grabbed hold of their drinks as they plonked themselves on the carpet and sat cross-legged ready to receive their drinks back. It meant that Julie wasn't going to be far behind with the tea.

"I'm so glad you've found each other. I've never seen Julie this happy or energised and you seem so well suited. Welcome to the family!" Vicky didn't get a chance to respond as her girlfriend came through to the living room carrying a tray loaded with biscuits, a teapot, some milk and three mugs. At Vicky's wide grin, Julie shrugged her shoulders.

"What?! Yer said we could help ourselves to anything." Vicky and Amanda shared a conspiratorial look and giggled between them. It was the sheer domesticity of the whole thing that had made them giggle. Despite not really understanding, Julie couldn't help but laugh along with them and soon the girls had also joined in with the joviality. Julie and Vicky beamed at each other once the laughter had begun to settle down. Finally there was a ray of sunshine in what had been a difficult couple of weeks for the pair.