Wheels and wings 35

Chapter 35

Character List.

Jack Thomas Later AKA Ellie Transvestite/intersexual and keen cyclist.
Amanda Thomas AKA Amie Jack's sister.
Charlotte Dawson Keen girl cyclist and Jack’s soon-to-be girlfriend.
Bob Cycling club captain.
Mr Thomas Weston School games master and keen rugby player.
Billy Davies. Rugby ‘jock’, kind to Jack, he fancies Charlotte.
Marjorie Spencer. Holder of unofficial ‘Prettiest-girl-in-the-school’ title.
Miss Elizabeth Postlethwaite. The English Mistress.
Aunty Olwen Where Jack changes for school and leaves his bike.
Mandy. Olwen’s daughter, Jack’s older cousin.
Mr Griffiths The County solicitor.
Cassandra Charlotte’s maternal grandmother.

Chapter 35.

Doctor Dawson picked up the tab for their coffee and helped Ellie with her coat as they hesitated at the door. The rain was still falling but nothing like as intensely as earlier.

“D’you want to wait until it stops?”

Ellie wagged her head.

“Not likely, I’m dying for you to meet my friends and it’s only next door. The pavement is flagstone so it will be easy in these heels. So long as I don’t get onto those cobbles I’ll be okay. I’m quite used to heels you know.”

“Yes, I’ve already noticed. I have to say you look stunning. What does Charlotte think?”

“How d’you mean?”

“I mean with those legs and that body. You really are an attractive girl. I hope she doesn’t get too jealous of you.”

“Why should she be jealous, she’s got me as her partner, it’ll be others who should be jealous.”

Doctor Dawson chuckled again as he confessed.

“I’ll really have to get my gender appreciation radar properly orientated. I’m still getting my head around all this. Come on, let’s meet your friends before I get into any deeper or hotter water.”

He took her arm and guided her along the pavement for the few yards to the next door up Canal Street. There the bouncers recognised Ellie immediately and therefore welcomed both of them in with a smile.

Even as she walked through the door, Ellie’s friends fell silent as they noticed her beautiful outfit and older companion. Then Phyllis broke the ice by grinning as she spoke for the others.

“Hello darling, not in your cycling lycra tonight? Going somewhere special then?”

Ellie grinned, continued towards the table then kissed Phyllis affectionately on the cheeks.

“No, but I’ve got somebody special who’d like to meet you all.”

She gave them no time to speculate and introduced Doctor Dawson immediately. With a grin she announced:-

“This is Doctor Dawson my future father-in-law ... and, no, he’s not a male admirer so you girls behave.”

As she spoke, Ellie nodded towards the bar and added, “I’ll get us some drinks, we don’t buy rounds, the group gets too big. You talk to the girls.”

Leaving Doctor Dawson with little choice but to take the empty seat that Phyllis had offered, Ellie placed her order then watched in the bar back-mirror as Phyllis wasted no time making the doctor feel welcome.

As the group’s de-facto organiser, Phyllis introduced the dozen or so others then bluntly asked Doctor Dawson.

“So, if you’re Ellie’s future father-in-law who’s the lucky ‘other’?”

Feeling already relaxed, which was something that mildly surprised him, Doctor Dawson found himself answering quite happily.

“My daughter Charlotte and, before you ask, she’s in hospital here at Ellie’s college. It was a cycling accident; she was knocked off her bike by a car.”

This brought a burst of questions about Charlotte’s health and he was able to reassure them she was well on the way to a complete recovery. This lead into a chat about the dangers of cycling which was ongoing as Ellie returned with their drinks.

“Ha,” she grinned at the doctor, “got them onto bikes already have you? Well that’s a first for this crowd. It’s usually LGBT politics, make-up and clothes.”

She turned to the group and added.

“That’s where we met, at the cycling club. Charlotte and I used to cycle together. Her dad is the club doctor and we used to cycle every weekend with the club.”

Another girl squinted inquisitively as her mind ticked.

“So this girl is not from your college then?”

“No,” Ellie grinned, “I suppose you could say we were almost childhood sweethearts.”

This brought a soft ‘aaahhhh’ from the group as they smiled benignly. Then the questions began to fly thick and fast.

“Is there going to be a big wedding? ... Will you also be wearing a wedding gown? ... Where will the wedding be?”, and finally a cautious request about them being invited.

Ellie had already considered this issue but she had not broached it with Charlotte’s father; nor indeed Charlotte. She turned to find him frowning and her heart sank. However she had misinterpreted his expression. He was not frowning censoriously he was just thinking, considering the issues with the rest of Charlotte’s family, her aunts, uncles and cousins, not to mention her matriarchal grandmother Cassandra. After pausing thoughtfully, he picked his words carefully and turned to the group

“I personally have no objections to you attending; you are, after all, Ellie’s friends. We’ll have to run the idea past Charlotte though and see if she’s prepared to confront her family, that is both sides, mine and her mother’s. And before you ask, I do foresee objections. Charlotte’s maternal grandmother is a bit formidable and at least one of her aunts I think would object. Maybe all of them might.”

Another girl asked.

“But surely it’s down to Charlotte and Ellie isn’t it? They’re the brides aren’t they?”

This brought a soft ripple of supportive mirth from the group and even Doctor Dawson smiled.

“Well that’s a novel perspective; the bride’s thing I mean. I think it’s best if we see Charlotte in the morning. If she’s well enough, and I think she is, we’ll discuss it tomorrow. Until then there’s little more to be said; it’s all speculation.”

The group then fell to chatting about many things, mostly about transgenderism, LGBT politics and the forthcoming Pride parade. Doctor Dawson found it an enjoyable evening and returned to his hotel room quite a happy man. Ellie stayed late with her friends and found herself thoroughly enjoying the unexpected night out dancing and indulging her transgenderism in a safe, supportive environment.

~o0o~

The following morning found Doctor Dawson and Ellie chatting amiably to a lively Charlotte who was now impatient to be discharged and move her newfound relationship forward. Naturally the forthcoming marriage was the only topic and the many issues were ironed out slowly as detail was addressed and the fertility issues resolved. The final question about Ellie wearing a bridal gown brought a howl of laughter from Charlotte as she considered the idea. Charlotte had always been something of an off-beat girl and she found herself relishing the shock her grandma would register. She grinned her eager consent.

“Oh yes, please! Two brides at the altar; that would really set Grandma and Aunt Polly’s tongues wagging. Yes, yes, a brilliant idea. Do we wear the same styles?”

Her father smiled.

“The bad luck thing about the groom seeing the wedding dress would be turned on its head wouldn’t it?”

Then his face straightened as he came back to more serious issues, getting Charlotte pregnant. They agreed to meet with the professor doing the research. Ellie had already discussed the issues with the professor previously and he was keen to include a hormone medicated transsexual in his trial group. It offered so many opportunities to research narrowly defined aspects that might otherwise have left some issues unanswered. Additionally, the college already had a huge amount of endocronological information about Ellie.

That afternoon, Ellie and Doctor Dawson took Charlotte shopping in a wheelchair. Naturally, they found themselves visiting bridal shops. Finally they visited Ellie’s cousin Olwen’s beauty salon and she was ecstatic to hear the news. Ellie felt bound to hold her to secrecy.

“Let me tell mummy and Amie when I go home next week. Charlotte and I will break the news to them then.”

Olwen hugged herself as she savoured the secret and they left for an evening meal before Doctor Dawson returned home that night.

By the following week Charlotte was back on her feet though confined to crutches. Both she and Ellie were impatient to start the treatment offered at the research clinic but it was to be another two months before the clinic deemed Charlotte fit and well enough to participate. Those months proved frustrating for the engaged pair but the tiny doses of testosterone substitute drugs carefully administered by the professor helped to improve Ellie’s sperm count enough to deem the project viable. The problem of course was balancing the dosages to avoid Ellie developing any detested male features. This was the added circumstance that so interested the clinic, for the research and treatment was in part, hormonally based. Ellie’s medical training also helped them to assimilate information and she volunteered to work in the clinic pro-bonum once a week to help pay for her treatment.

Four months after having her cycle crash, Charlotte was finally attending the clinic. She was pleasantly surprised that the necessarily invasive procedures to prepare and collect her eggs proved untraumatic and she found herself lying eagerly alongside her partner as they watched the process being advanced.

Several months later, to everybody’s delight, Charlotte became pregnant with twin daughters and the news enabled them to go ahead with their marriage. It was a delighted couple who advised their respective parents of the successful conception.

On Ellie’s side, her mother, sister and assorted aunts and cousins were jubilant with joy but for Charlotte there were still issues with her maternal relatives.

Her maternal grandmother and her aunties had declared that they would not attend such a travesty of a wedding if both the bride and the ‘groom’ wore wedding gowns. Charlotte was bitterly disappointed and their refusal cast a pall over the forthcoming occasion. Ellie had never met Charlotte’s aunties or her grandmother so she had little to add to the persuasive arguments that Charlotte had tried. The upshot of the row was that her grandmother caused a rupture in Charlotte’s extended family dividing the whole tribe into attendees and abstainers.

The grandmother’s feelings were expressed in the following arguments saying that a woman should marry a proper man who can protect and cherish her, not some sterile, effeminate pervert who would attract scorn and derision. Charlotte was angered by her grandmother’s denouncements but Ellie simply tried to ignore the barbs. Despite her stoicism, the grandmother's remarks wounded Ellie but she hid her tears and her wounds well; always ensuring that Charlotte never saw the hurt.

Then an event happened that altered the aunt's whole perspective.

~~ooo000ooo~~