...he was willing to sell it all to be with Dee. It was just *stuff* after all.

Dee was... different. She was the first woman he’d allowed himself to become friends with. Dee was one of the most beautiful women he’d ever met. But she was much more. She was incredibly smart. Funny. Interesting. Lovable. Colin did love Dee; she was the first woman since his sisters that he loved.
 

Chapter 2

Dina pulled into her parents’ lane. It was over a mile long and lined with ancient oaks that shaded the arriving visitor. Hundreds of acres of corn, soybeans and deep green pasture spread out on either side all the way to the Chesapeake in the distance. Her family were “gentleman farmers,” having worked their ancestral land for generations.

But they didn’t simply rest on their legacy; the Callahans were workers. Mother, Irene Ewing Callahan, was a respected oncologist at Johns Hopkins and Daddy, John T. Callahan III, was a lawyer who sat on the board of a dozen different corporations. Her uncle Robert had a doctorate in agriculture and ran the family farm and local businesses. He and his wife Virginia and their four children lived three miles away on another of the family’s landholdings.

She parked in front of the portico and strolled through the front doors. Her parents weren’t home yet. Usually on Friday evenings in summer they met for a leisurely dinner somewhere on the western side of the bay rather than fight the heavy traffic crossing the bridge. She always felt comfortable and safe in this house. It was the one doubt she retained at the thought of moving in with Colin: leaving her home and her family.

Dina had grown up a tomboy. She spent nearly all her free time with her uncle Bobby and his four boys. Her cousins had treated her as a fifth brother. They played outside all year round, either in their back yards or ranging afield to the shores of the bay or into one of several woods on the family property. It was an idyllic Tom Sawyer-esque childhood made possible by her family’s fantastic wealth and privilege.

But life was not all fun and games for Dina and her cousins. From the earliest age they worked. The children were responsible for caring for the family livestock (the commercial stock was the provence of hired hands). The family grew much of what they ate; their milk, eggs, butter, cheese, beef, pork and chicken came from their own home stock. She had brought in the cows for milking, collected eggs from the small flock of laying hens, tended the goat herd and fed the pigs right alongside her male cousins. Not to mention caring for the horses and family pets.

She loved caring for the animals and learning their lore intimately. She’d been something of a loner at school, being more interested in animals than normal girls’ interests. It wasn’t until she blossomed at thirteen that she achieved any degree of popularity. She’d started summer as a skinny plain tomboy and returned that fall as a stunning, long legged beauty. Suddenly all her male classmates were awkward and tongue tied around her and her female peers either envied her or wanted to hang with her.

Somehow Dina’s looks never went to her head. Even though she’d become one of the cool kids, she still found more pleasure in helping birth a calf than shopping or a makeover. She learned that looks and first impressions were important and affected how people perceived her so she became adept in presenting herself to best advantage. But that was just practicality, like brushing your teeth or trimming your nails, in her mind.

Her uncle Bobby had instilled in her a love of biology that ultimately inspired her field of study in college. Her mother had encouraged her to do something that would help mankind. And her father had assured her that she was the best no matter what, making her strive for nothing short of excellence. She was a product of her large close-knit family relationships and she knew it and loved them all the more for it.

As close as Dina was to her family, Colin was distant from his own. He rarely talked about them. She hinted more than once that she’d like to meet his family but he showed no interest. She’d learned that his mother had disappeared when he was a teen -- probably fleeing some form of abuse, Dina surmised. He had two older sisters, twins, and no brothers. His father was *never* mentioned. It dismayed her that he was so estranged from his family and she’d resolved to do what she could to reunite them. She was so much in love with her own family that she was certain Colin would feel the same if she managed to bring them back together.

She approached the issue like the scientist she was. Each little snippet of information she gleaned was carefully analyzed and duly recorded. Over time she learned he was a first generation immigrant from Ireland and they’d settled somewhere around Boston. But she was unprepared for just how many O’Brien’s lived in the greater Boston area...

Colin sat amidst a pile of junk in his one bedroom apartment. He lived in an old house divided into four apartments in a tiny village that didn’t even have a post office or gas station. He had a roll of stickers and worked at pricing each item for sale. It was amazing how much stuff he’d accumulated over the years.

But he was willing to sell it all to be with Dee. It was just *stuff* after all. He wasn’t the least bit sentimental. Unlike Dee; she was sentimental about everything. She was very attached to her family and she thought everyone should have the same type of relationship with their own family. She’d gently nagged at him to reconnect with his family almost since their first date. But her family were all super successful overachievers -- easy to love.

Not like my old man, may he rot in hell, Colin thought. Good old Seamus O’Brien. Drunken Irishman with a silver tongue. The old bastard couldn’t keep a job to save himself but he was an expert at cadging a drink, ever ready with a joke or some fascinating story. *Everybody* loved Seamus -- even the bill collectors. They were always *so* sorry when they came to repossess the furniture or turn off the electric. No way will I ever trap my family in that kind of life.

Kiera, his mum, was devoted to Seamus. She worked herself like a dog trying to close the gap between starvation and what meager contribution her husband made to the family’s finances. Seamus treated her cooly, even seeming to grow colder as she demonstrated her love for him more ardently. His twin sisters worshipped their father. With his gift of blarney he made each of them feel like the most special girl in the world. On the other hand, Colin’s relationship with his Da was strained at the best of times.

Colin was the baby of the family. Aislinn and Bridget were four years older than him. They had his father’s coloring, the classic Irish freckled redhead. Colin took after his mother, pale skin and coal black hair. He was his mum’s darling and his father’s bane.

When he was young he’d worshipped the twins and lived for their attention. Playing dress-up or Barbies was the highlight of his life. While they were at school he played dollies alone listening in anticipation for the sound of the school bus. He’d put on a hand me down dress and run out the front door to greet them. He thought all their friends were giggling and waving because he was so pretty.

Eventually it was his turn to start school. He was required to wear boy clothes all day. How he hated that! Until one day an older kid on his bus told everyone how he used to dress up to meet the bus. Then he was teased and called a little sissy. He quickly learned how hard life could be. Even his beloved sisters bowed to peer pressure and turned on him. They became his cruelest tormentors. His wonderful world crumbled overnight. From then on he was in a constant struggle to prove his manhood.

His sisters both lorded it over their little brother. He never seemed to have a moment of privacy. There was always an older sister around to boss him or otherwise make him feel small. It got worse when he entered puberty and the twins had a sexy friend over. They’d regale their ravishing friend with stories of how they used to dress him up like a doll or make him the little girl at their tea parties and he’d be left with a flame red face wishing he could sink through the floor.

Mum did all she could to be a buffer between him and his father and sisters. But she was too often absent, working long hours at two jobs just to make ends meet. And the morning of Colin’s thirteenth birthday was the last he ever saw her. After that he was completely at their mercy. His father merely laughed and egged them on whenever his sisters embarrassed him. He was too busy hanging out at his favorite pub to worry over raising a son.

Colin bore it for three years as he grew taller and stronger and the torments grew more inventive and humiliating. By his sixteenth birthday he was bigger than his father but still the girls ruled. They gave him a surprise party attended by his best friend Ben, their very hottest friend Gail, their boyfriends Eddie and Tom, and a guy he’d never met named Butch.

Gail made out with Ben while Colin opened girly wrapped gifts of pink mini skirts, flirty tops, and heels. The piá¨ce de résistance was when Butch wrapped Colin in a hug and told him that he was going to bust “her” cherry. Numbly he allowed Butch to lead him into a bedroom to a chorus of laughing jeers from everyone, including Ben. Once alone together Butch began pawing him and Colin felt helpless. Butch turned to lock the door and Colin dove out the window.

By dawn he was on the first bus headed out of state. He fell asleep and when he woke he got off at the next stop and there began to reinvent himself as a macho male.

When Colin arrived on the Eastern Shore he possessed precisely $378.59 and the clothes on his back. He was a teen runaway but claimed to be older, thanks to his size. He found a job picking produce, doing back breaking work for long hours at little pay. But it was a start. When the season ended he found work at a local garage. Eventually he managed to save enough to pay for diesel mechanics school and got certified. From there he got a better paying job at a large heavy equipment repair and maintenance shop where he’d worked ever since.

He’d spent the past twenty years honing his persona as a macho man. He’d studied marshal arts, learned fencing, become a crack shot and accomplished hunter. He could talk football, baseball and nascar with the best good old boys in his adopted rural home. But he had a dark secret. All those years ago when Butch had taken him in his arms and whispered in his ear Colin had grown rock hard. He found that his greatest turn on was the thought of gender reversal. He was intensely attracted by beautiful women but it was more a form of envy rather than sexual desire.

His sisters, albeit cruel to their baby brother, were both quite pretty and seemed to cruise through life getting their way. They were the apples of their father’s eye and everything seemed so much easier for them. How different his life might have been if he’d been the baby sister rather than the lone boy.

He’d scoured the internet for information on transgenderism. Unfortunately the current science couldn’t help him -- physically he had no hope of ever passing as female. Ironically he was “blessed” with a huge, powerful, all male body and a rugged, handsome manly face. Women routinely flirted shamelessly with him. It was Colin’s misfortune that he desired to *be* them rather than wanting to be *with* them.

Colin dallied with women. Of course he did, what would his persona as a bad-ass macho man be if he weren’t a lady killer. He’d bedded dozens of women over the years. He’d loved them and left them with only a mild sense of guilt. If he’d had a female body he could’ve been friends with them. But that was impossible since he was jealous of what they were born with and his persona dictated a disdain for any form of sensitivity. Until Dee.

Dee was... different. She was the first woman he’d allowed himself to become friends with. Dee was one of the most beautiful women he’d ever met. But she was much more. She was incredibly smart. Funny. Interesting. Lovable. Colin did love Dee; she was the first woman since his sisters that he loved. Marrying her was the perfect solution.

Even though she was “punishing” him by staying home tonight, Dina couldn’t keep her mind off Colin. She hoped he was miserable all alone in his ratty apartment trying to sort out the junk for his precious yard sale.

Dina powered up her laptop and opened the file named “project reunion”. She quickly scanned down the list of names. Many had already been checked off, others had notations indicating previous attempts at contact. The list was updated as she had opportunity. With mentally crossed fingers she dialed the next number...

Colin tagged the last of his possessions and sighed. Done. At last. Now he turned to the final task. He looked at the pile he meant to keep. Ratty furniture, used computer equipment, plus some DVD’s and books, all of it basically worthless. Except for one item.

His most treasured possession was his only reminder of his mum. It was the one thing he felt any sentimentality about: a cameo of her in silhouette carved in pale pink opal on an emerald green jade background and hung on a delicate silver chain. The oval pendant was about an inch on the long axis and the likeness of his mother was exquisitely rendered in very fine and accurate detail.

He had the impression that the necklace was quite valuable which always puzzled him in light of his parents’ poverty. It alone would probably close the gap in the funds he required for the condo’s down payment but selling it was out of the question.

When Colin returned to the empty house after school on his thirteenth birthday the necklace had been on his pillow. As soon as he touched it he knew his mum was gone for good. He couldn’t explain why but he was absolutely certain.

His Da seemed as if he’d been expecting this day. Colin had cried himself to sleep only to be awakened sometime in the night with Seamus standing in his bedroom doorway. Drunk as usual, but rather than his normal jovial gregariousness, tonight Seamus was melancholy.

He said bitterly, “Happy birthday boy.”

Colin feigned sleep and hoped his father would leave. But Seamus began weeping and muttered, “Kiera love, you made your bargain and now ‘tis time to pay the piper. I pray your soul finds peace.” Eventually he closed the door and staggered away but Colin wondered for hours at the meaning of his words before sleep finally found him again.

“Hallo?” a woman’s voice answered.

“Hi, I’m trying to reach A. O’Brien.”

“I’m Aislinn O’Brien. How can I help you?” she spoke with a mixture of Irish lilt and non-rhotic ‘Bahston’ dialect.

“Oh good. Ms O’Brien my name is Dina Callahan. I’d like to ask you about your brother Colin.” Dina had learned that presuming the person was Colin’s relative got better results than asking if they had a family member named such and such.

“Colin? We haven’t heard from him in years. Is he okay? He’s not in any kind of trouble is he?”

“No, no. He’s fine. He’s not in trouble,” Dina quickly reassured her. She smiled, thrilled to have made a breakthrough after weeks of cold calling. With a barely suppressed giggle she added, “Unless being engaged to me counts as trouble...”

Colin left the office and climbed back into his truck. He’d just dropped off a dozen Roosevelt dimes that he’d ordered from the Internet for $33. It was a pain having to pay this way but he couldn’t argue with the price.

Down the next row over from his unit he noticed a strange scene. Curiosity got the best of him and he stopped the truck to get a better look.

Someone had set up one of those blow up pools in front of unit 12-25. It was about three feet deep and sparkled invitingly in the hot summer sun. A short little fellow was floating in the center on an air mattress. He wore a pair of baggy trunks, a CAT ball cap and dark aviators. Sipping on a straw, he noisily drained a frosted glass adorned with a little pink umbrella. Realizing he was empty, he craned his neck and looked around impatiently. His gaze eventually settled on another little man sprawled on a chaise lounge off to one side of the pool.

“Hey Vinnie!” he shouted out in a strong Brooklyn accent.

Vinnie was also dressed in baggy trunks but he sported a fedora pulled low over his face. Hearing his name, he pushed the hat above his eyes and squinted in irritation. “Yo Paulie, whaddaya need?”

“You seen Nick?” Paulie asked.

“He’s inna back, takin’ care a’ da bucks.” With a vague gesture toward the open storage unit Vinnie settled back in his lounge and pulled the hat back over his eyes again.

Paulie drew in a huge lungful of air and bellowed out in a voice impossibly loud coming from one so small. “Yo Nickeeeee! C’mere!”

In a moment a third little man appeared at the entrance to the storage unit. He wore a pair of jeans and a grimy coca cola tee shirt. His head was a halo of white hair complemented by a luxurious snowy beard. He had quite a beer belly that strained the waistline of his jeans. He was red faced and sweating from the effort of carrying a sack slung over his shoulder.

“What?” Nick grumbled, hitching the sack, which had ‘reindeer chow’ stenciled on it, to a more comfortable position on his shoulder.

“I need a refill,” Paulie waved his empty glass at Nick. “ ‘N dis time go heavier ona rum and easier ona coke.”

“Oh frostbite! Youse dudes’re killin’ me. Cantcha even get your own drinks?”

“Nex’ time check out da point spread more careful before you make a bet, Santa.” Vinnie mumbled from under his hat with a little chuckle.

“Awright, awright,” Nick muttered as he bent over to set the sack on the ground. Just then a large antlered animal poked its head out of the gloom of the storage unit and shoved its nose hard into Nick’s rear end sending him sprawling to the ground in a classic face plant.

Paulie and Vinnie cracked up. Paulie laughed so hard he upended his float and got dunked in the water, bubbles breaking the surface as his guffaws continued underwater.

Nick looked over his shoulder with murder in his eyes and snapped, “Dasher! I mighta knowed it wuz you. Goddess damn a practical jokin’ reindeer.”

The reindeer raised its head and trumpeted. Colin could swear it was laughing.

Nick rolled to his feet and glared at the reindeer. “Laugh now. But jus’ wait’ll Christmas eve. I swear I’m gonna steer that sleigh through every snow storm on da radar.”

Dasher lowered his head and nuzzled Nick gently.

“Too late f’r dat suckin’ up crap.” Nick turned to look at Paulie and Vinnie. “An’ dat goes f’r youse two jokers too. Wait’ll dat bag needs re-packin’ f’r da tenth time, youse gonna laugh den.”

“Oh can it Kringle,” Vinnie said from under his cap. “Or we’ll report you to da union rep. ‘Sides, yer jus’ da front guy. Who da youse t’ink come up wit’ dat advertisin’ deal inna first place? Paulie, dat’s who. So quit yer whinin’ over losin’ a sucker bet, shaddup and get da man a refill.”

Bemused, Colin shook his head and drove off to his own unit.

Colin wrestled the beat up old La-Z-boy recliner off the back of his truck. It wasn’t heavy, just awkward to handle. He scooted it back in a corner and stood to survey his new man cave. There was the recliner and a mini-fridge next to it that doubled as an end table with his laptop sitting on it. A bookshelf made of milk crates and planks held a great many novels by Jack Chalker among others, a stack of little known movie DVD’s beside them. On the top shelf sat a used laser printer. A threadbare braided rug provided some relief from the hard concrete floor. A black halogen floor lamp and several milk crates stuffed full of laser printouts completed the cozy picture.

Marrying Dee was the perfect solution. No one would doubt his masculinity with such a gorgeous wife, and he did love her -- he just wasn’t *in* love with her. But a part of him feared he could never be satisfied with a plain vanilla sex life. How could he marry Dina and yet hold on to some part of his fantasies? This weird storage unit setup was the final piece of the puzzle.

“Perfect!” he murmured, satisfied with his efforts. He checked his cell and saw he had a few hours to kill so he happily settled in the recliner. He leafed through various stapled documents, scanning the cover pages. Finally he pulled out a sheaf whose cover page read ‘Cold Hearted’ and sighed contentedly. He levered the chair back to a reclining position and began to re-read one of his all time favorite stories.

Soon one thing led to another and Colin was busy pleasuring himself, his jeans unzipped and the story fallen to the floor. When he was finished he lay limply in the chair and drifted off. In his dreams he was visited by all the forest animals from ‘Bambi’ who fluttered all around whispering to each other.

Ells silently raised the door to unit 11-11. Two chubby bearded men each barely taller than a three year old followed him into the storage unit. They very theatrically tiptoed around but managed to jostle each other as well as bumping into the sparse furnishings. One of them blew a fine particulate from his open palm, diffusing through the air inside the small cube.

“Be quiet you dolts or you’ll wake him,” Ells stage-whispered to his companions.

One of them whispered back, “Relax boss, I just hit him with enough faerie dust to keep a rhino dreaming for hours.”

“Sorry Boss,” the other said. He reached out and smacked his mate on the back of the head, “You heard him, Bruno, stop making so much noise.”

“Me? Who you callin’ noisy, Max? Your shoes are squeaking.”

“Are not!”

“Are too!”

They started chuckling and shoving each other acting like a shrunken version of the three stooges.

“Stop!” Ells’ whisper carried an unexpected note of authority normally absent in his everyday speech.

“Ho! Ellsylwae the Griffin Marshal commands,” Max came to respectful attention, followed quickly by Bruno.

Unprepossessing as he was Ells was actually a legendary Seelie personage; one of the three Grand Marshals of the Army of the Light -- the Griffin Marshal, the Chimera Marshal and the Basilisk Marshal who, along with the Kraken Admiral, were the supreme commanders of the Sidhe in war. He didn’t often assume his mantle of power, but when he did other Fey took notice.

“That’s better lads,” Ells slipped back into his laid back persona. “Can’t be too careful. Wouldn’t do to rouse our boy-o here.”

“Gotcha, we’ll be quiet,” Bruno responded.

“Good, now let’s find out a bit more about our Mr. Colin O’Brien here.”

To be continued...