Oh! Darling, please believe me
I'll never do you no harm
Believe me when I tell you
I'll never do you no harm

Previously...

“You can’t be something for someone else if you can’t be yourself; you’d be giving them something false and even inadequate.” The odd thing is that he actually felt inauthentic and false when he adopted his other persona, even though it was more who he was than anything he had projected over the course of a lifetime. Caleigh had hidden long enough; whether Lori could accept that remained to be seen. Either way, Caleigh Ann DiBiaso needed to live.

“Calleigh and Lori sitting in a tree….” Patti teased. No one would have blamed her if she held back her support; it would have been easy enough since she already had Cal’s ear, in a way. But she cared too much to sabotage his efforts to rescue his relationship with Lori. And of course, Lori was probably the best friend Patti had other than the young man whose hair she was teasing along with her silly song.

“I wish you wouldn’t use the name….” Cal sighed and his voice trailed off.

“Why not? I think Lori is an absolutely wonderful name.” She stood back and chewed on the rattail of the comb as she assessed her work.

“Calleigh, damn it,,,oh gosh, I’m sorry….but you know what I meant. I haven’t told her yet.” He put his head down in embarrassed shame, his face growing red.

“If you don’t hurry up the girls will be telling her for you,” Patti laughed as her eyes looked at Cal’s chest. Whatever he was taking was working just fine, and he could no more hide what and who he was becoming than he could hide his love away, as the old song went. She stepped closer and wrapped him up in a bear-like hug, her face next to is, but with as sisterly a kiss as she could manage.

“You have to tell her. Both of you deserve that much. And you can’t really turn back the clock.”

“What…what can I say to her? What if she doesn’t love me anymore?”

“You know she’ll always love you, but it’s really what she decides to love and how, right?” Cal nodded slowly; almost reluctant in his agreement. But that’s really what it was coming to, since it was no longer his agreement, but ‘hers.’ Cal had packed those bags a long time ago, but it was only just recently that Calleigh finally arrived at the station. Patti handed her best friend the mirror once again.

“Okay, we’ve done dress rehearsal, kiddo. Now it’s time for opening night,” she teased again as she leaned forward and unbuttoned the top of Calleigh’s newly acquired black silk blouse, revealing a matching onyx on a silver chain along with the newly welcomed ‘girls.’

“You’re going to be shouting ‘change’ even if you don’t say a word; never mind the boot cut jeans and the black ankle length boots to die for. Now’s the time to think about what to say, because like it or not, Lori’s going to meet Calleigh Ann for the first time.” Patti kissed her on the cheek again; it was sister to sister, wasn’t it?

“She’s going to be here in about an hour; she called while you were….” Patti began to chortle as she anticipated her own punch line.

“Changing.” She blurted it out with a snort and Calleigh’s already red complexion darkened to a near magenta.

“I…I’m not ready for this….I’ll call her….maybe tomorrow.” Calleigh fumbled with her purse…even that was a daunting thought, since she’d never really had a purse before even if the bag she normally carried already filled that function. As she grabbed her cell phone, they heard a creaking from the hallway as a the front door opened.

“Did I say in an hour? I meant now.” Patti giggled. She hurried down the hall to greet Lori, who was walking slowly.

“Am I too soon?” Lori stopped just short of entering the kitchen. She went to peek around the corner but thought better of it.

“Oh, geez, no, dear. You’re just in time.” Patti said. She grabbed Lori by the hands and squeezed before pulling her into a tight hug.

“She’s ready as she’ll ever be.” The word ‘she’s’ seemed to echo throughout the apartment and Calleigh shuddered in fear.

“She doesn’t know that I know?” Lori looked at Patti almost askance.

“I figured you needed to tell her that yourself, Lor….okay?”

She smiled, and Lori tilted her head, gazing at Patti’s eyes, noting the tears. It was only then that both girls realized just how much they loved the best friend they shared that sat nervously in the kitchen. And it was only then that they realized just how much they cared about each other; an endearing if odd quality that both anticipated would have disappeared when one moved up from 1A to top spot all by herself. If they could have shared Calleigh they would have, but it wasn’t something that either they or Calleigh could handle.

And of course, both of them held onto the belief that God does indeed open a window when he closes a door. Patti didn’t know when that window was going to open, but she grasped onto that tenaciously as she let Calleigh slip from her heart even as she let go of Lori’s hands. She kissed her second-to-only her best friend and whispered,

“She’s in love with you, honey. I hope you know that?” Patti smiled and walked into the kitchen, leaving Lori alone in the hallway. She grabbed Calleigh once again and kissed her, this time on the lips in a more amorous if fleeting manner.

“I love you more than life itself, but someone loves you more than me, Cal. I want you to know that if I can’t have you, I know that you’ll be in the best hands possible. Goodbye, Cal.” She walked quickly out of the kitchen and grabbed Lori’s right hand as she passed by; squeezing it briefly and letting it go as she walked slowly down the hall. She stopped at the doorway and waved gingerly.

“God bless!” She mouthed silently and then she was gone.

“Cal?” Lori waited; almost as if she was expecting permission to be granted. Calleigh called out softly,

“Yes?” Lori peeked around the corner and saw her best friend sitting there; the person she’d know since all three of them were little kids. And as strange as it seemed, even though the girl sitting in the kitchen chair was brand new in a way, it was as if she’d known the girl instead of the boy all along. The boy who had been a girl all along in the places where it counted the most…the head and the heart…had emerged; almost like the kinds of flowers that actually grow prettier even after starting out wonderful.

“Don’t….please don’t…” The girl in the chair had always been sensitive, even as a boy growing up, and she cried.

“Don’t worry. I’m not going anywhere.” Lori smiled to herself before touching Calleigh’s cheek softly.

“At leastways, not just yet.”

Lori and Cal were married the following spring; just seven days before Calleigh Ann DiBiaso drew her first breath in recovery after her surgery. It was a beautiful ceremony; made all the sweeter by the presence of Patti Frazetta, who stood up for her best friend and twin sister Lori.

When you told me you didn't need me anymore
Well you know I nearly broke down and cried
When you told me you didn't need me anymore
Well you know I nearly broke down and died

Next: Her Majesty...

Oh, Darling!
Words and music by
Paul McCartney
(credited also to
John Lennon
As performed by
Florence and the Machine
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OwgWbG84iXo