We had been shopping for about an hour when I heard a voice that I recognized. Mom and I each had bags that contained various pieces of my new wardrobe, and I was holding on to her hand.

“Mom!” Mom squeezed my hand and we both ignored the voice that we recognized as belonging to Rachel. “Mom, Wait up.” Rachel must have ran to catch up to us. By now we had people looking at us.

“Oh, Hi Rachel.” Mom said. “What are you doing here?”

“Lizzy’s mom thought we needed to burn off some energy, so she brought us here.” Rachel said. She glanced at me. “Mom, who’s that little girl?” It took everything in me to not respond to Rachel calling me little.

“Rachel, I’d like you to meet Emma.” Mom said to Rachel. Rachel had on a pair of denim shorts and a pink camisole. Rachel looked me up and down.

“Hi Emma.” Rachel said, with a smile. I had obviously passed muster with her and she thought I was a girl.

‘Gee wiz,’ I thought ‘Does everyone think I’m a girl.’

“Hi Rachel.” I said. Rachel turned to their mother.

“Mom, who is she? She looks like Justin.” By now Lizzy and her mom had caught up to Rachel.

“Hi Sharon.” Lizzy’s mom said to mom. Now I had Rachel and Lizzy giving me a once over. For some reason I started to get scared and moved behind mom.

“Hello Rebecca.” Mom said. She glanced around. “Let’s go back to our house so we can discuss this… I wasn’t going to tell Rachel yet, but it may be time.”

“Tell me what?” Rachel asked.

“You’ll find out soon enough.” Mom said, leading us out side. Mom, Rachel and I got into Mom’s car, and we watched as Lizzy and her mom, Rebecca got into their car which happened to be parked four spaces away. Mom backed out and drove toward the house. I looked behind us and saw that Rebecca and Lizzy were in their car following us. It looked like they were having an animated discussion. Mom backed the car in the driveway, and Rebecca pulled in, shut off her engine and got out of her car. The five of us walked into the kitchen where mom started a pot of tea. Mom looked at Rachel, Lizzy and I. “Girls, go sit in the living room, and wait for us, and please no asking Emma questions.” The three of us nodded and headed into the living room. The children sat on the couch which would hold three adults, and Mom and Rebecca sat on the love seat which seated two.

“Ok, Everyone has been wondering who Emma is. Emma is, well, Emma.” I blinked a few times. This wasn’t what I expected to happen.

“Huh?” I heard Rachel say. Being two years younger than me, I didn’t expect her to get what Mom said, never mind the fact that I didn’t understand it.

“Rachel, Emma is your sister. She is going to need our love and support for some time to come if my guess is correct.” Mom said. Rachel’s jaw dropped and she looked at me.

“Wait, Emma is Justin?” She said.

“Yes, When I got pregnant with Justin, I was majoring in Computer Sciences with a minor in psychology. I was actually thinking about switching that around when I learned that I was pregnant. One thing led to another and I ended up leaving school to raise your brother. When I left school we had just finished studying about a diagnosis called Gender Identity Disorder.” This got the three children looking at each other. “I’ve been noticing signs in Justin that have had me pouring over my notes and doing some research on my own. Emma, you have an appointment on Tuesday.” Rachel reached over and hugged me, a little tighter than I would have liked, but it was still a hug, something that Justin rarely got from Rachel.

“Mom, how long is Emma going to stay with us?”

“As long as she needs to. Rachel, you thought that Justin had been getting into your things for a while now, right?” Mom asked. Rachel and I both blushed.

“Yes, Mom.” Rachel said.

“So this has been going on for a while then. Emma, come here.” I got up and walked over to where mom was sitting on the love seat and sat on her lap where her right hand was resting. I curled up into my mother like I always did. I couldn’t believe that Mom had just told Rachel and Lizzy about Emma. I laid my head on mom’s shoulder and started sobbing. Mom stroked my hair and I calmed down. Rachel and Lizzy were looking at me, but not with hatred in their eyes, they were full of compassion.

“Emma, what do you think about sticking around for a little bit?” I lifted my head from Mom’s shoulder and looked at her.