Epilogue

"There he is! There he is! Vicar!" shouted Rosie. She was donned in a brightly pink robe and a sparkly tiara was clinging to her head. "Vicar, over here!"

The vicar finally seemed to notice her and waved from his Proud Anglicans section in Plymouth's Pride in the Park parade. His rainbow-coloured knitted robe flowed behind him and he held a sign that said: "God is love". He waved to the ladies of the Guild.

Kate, with a pink boa around her neck, smiled and waved too. "Looking good, Hillary!" she shouted. "He does look dapper, our vicar" agreed Eileen. She wasn't wearing her regalia, but instead displayed an officially issued pin that showed that she took part in a national workshop entitled: "Inclusiveness: we are all Spokes in the Big Wheel".

She turned around to Queenie who was wearing an apt t-shirt with the text: "I'm a Queenie and my daughter is Gaye". Alagiah was standing next to her, thoughtfully chewing on his rainbow coloured leash. "Come on ladies," said Eileen. "It is time to go to our stand! The parade is about to reach Victoria Park! Let's get busy!"

"I'm staying here. I want to wave at Delilah!" said Rosie. Delilah had somehow lost a bet against a group of bearded and scantily clad men and was now -wheelchair and all - the centerpiece of their float.

"I'm sorry to say it, but I must, Rosie: I don't think that is an image I want to collect in my memory," smiled Eileen. "Come on ladies, there's work to be done!"

She led the other ladies to their stand in the park. It was beautifully decorated by Tash with little flags, ribbons, and lights, but - more importantly - it had an impressive number of home-baked cakes on display as well as a small selection of scented candles, three of Pauline's recent oil paintings and a small but eclectic cheese selection. A banner that said The Diva's Guild of Clatterford - in keeping with this pride's theme - adorned the stand.

Tip and Sal were already busy selling the cakes (for charity of course), although Sal was mostly occupied with trying to keep the ladies away from her friend. She wasn't just a little bit jealous of all the attention that Tip was so effortlessly receiving. Not that she wanted the same kind of attention, mind, but ANY kind of notion that the ladies were aware of her mere existence would have been nice.

"I've been fishing in the wrong waters, I'm telling you!" said Tip. "Oh, shush and cut some carrot cake!" said Sal.

A little further away, Tash was sitting in the grass, creating lei's. A group of young people had gathered around her. "I don't know..." she said. "It's like, my gender and sexuality are fluid. I don't want to put myself in any kind of box, you know? I just want to be myself and love people. Right now, I'm a Spikosexual. That's my husband, over there."

"Lovely hair!" said one of the boys.
"I know right? And he plays guitar. He is, like, perfection. And if he was a woman, I would still be attracted to his soul, you know? That is pride."

"That's deep," said the boy.

"Fertilisation and insemination?!" said Caroline.

"Yes, but have you heard what I actually said? Don't get annoyed about the words, let me explain." Susie placed a calming hand on Caroline's arm, but to no avail.

"They're not cattle, they're people! No," she waved her hand in front of her. "I don't want to hear any more about it. It sounds positively medieval."

Caroline's youngest, engrossed in a mobile video game, looked up and said: "It's GCSE level biology. It's really quite simple."

"I'm not debating the complexity of the involved biological processes. Susie, can you hand me my wine? What I'm saying is that we're living in the new millenium and women's health is still in its prehistoric stages! Fertilization..honestly!"

Susie and Caroline were sitting on a picnic blanket, taking in all the different kinds of families that were surrounding them. Susie's kids and Tash' son had befriended a set of twins who had somehow ended up with 4 parents. And just now Susie had decided to give up explaining this to Caroline. She linked her hand with Caroline's and smiled at her. "I like when you get a little militant," she said.

"Ew," said Freya. She looked up from her phone "Mum, can I go shopping now?...Please!"

"Remember what we've said: in the afternoon we're staying together as a family. In the evening you can go your own way," replied Caroline.

Freya looked at Susie with pleading eyes. Susie shook her head.

An annoyed Freya pointed at her tshirt that read: "My mums are gay but they're still boring...#prideinthepark"
"I'm now actually going to tweet that," she grumbled.

~o0o~

THE END

A/N: If you've managed to read the story all the way to the end: thank you so much for letting me share it with you! I hope you enjoyed it. Reviews are highly appreciated!