Chapter 61

"Where did Venus go?" asked Bill, looking left and right but not at me.

"Sorry Bill, it's your wedding we're here for not an economic summit," I said embarrassed by my own outburst.

"I asked and you answered so there's no need to apologise and you proved Aarón's point. After an island holiday most go home having given no thought to what they've seen beyond whether they've had a good time. You've been having a good time I think but it hasn't stopped you seeing the obvious problems for those who live here. You might like to think what you would do here with up to a billion pounds to play with!"

"Ok granddad, but I think we'd better rescue Aarón first."

From that point as the evening wound down it seemed natural for Aarón, Bill, Litara and I to make our own little group planning the weekend ahead since comparing dates of birth for Grandpa Joe had confirmed that we were family and Aarón had accepted a wedding invitation from Bill. The next morning Litara and I would be making any necessary last minute dress alterations and the evening was pre-arranged by the wedding organisers as 'hen and stag' sessions. Tomorrow, Saturday afternoon, Aarón would be taking us on a trip to meet his side of the family.

"Ahhhhh…… !" Boats don't have baths but this hotel suite did and next morning I made the most of it. Before going to bed the previous evening Litara and I had done an inspection and zapping session on each other with the 'family' electric tweezers so after my bath all I needed was a session with my epilator to be generally fuzz free for the wedding. Being a typical human being I could enjoy my thick black mane, be grateful that my facial hair wasn't coarse yet frustrated that every single inappropriate hair showed clearly. Some of my best friends are blondes but that doesn't stop me being prejudiced against their fair peach fuzz!

A sensible person would have then gone down to breakfast after that but Litara was only now heading for the bathroom and I couldn't resist trying on my bridesmaid's dress.

"Litara!" In summary I had lost a little weight, not put it on. Except that is, it seemed, in two prominent symmetrical locations! The dress must have been made using my measurements two inches ago! It is undignified for a grown woman to cry over something as silly as a dress not fitting but I did - to be a bridesmaid is a rite of passage and it seemed I was going to miss it by the two inch gap at the top of the zip!

My big sister is a genius at organising repairs and replacements in obscure corners of the world so on being dragged from the bathroom she extricated me from the recalcitrant dress and solved the problem in a flash… !

"Let me get this right," I said between spoonfuls of fruit and yoghurt. "You've lost weight."

"Correct; and if you hadn't been so impatient you wouldn't have found yourself trying to get into the dress that had been taken in for me!"

"True, but this way I get to carry for the rest of my life the humiliating memory of behaving as any other spoilt 12 year old girl would."

"I'll try to remember this moment if I ever think of suggesting that you 'get in touch with your inner child' when you are 50 and boring company. Your inner child is something of an hysterical brat."

I love my big sister dearly but that was when the rest of the family joined us and I got to chat with my great aunt Anna who was Grandpa Malcolm's sister and the 70 year old Matron of Honour. There had never been any question about choosing her for the role and it had been agreed she be called matron rather than maid in remembrance of her late partner Elsie who she had never been able to marry.

"I suppose you'll be wanting to marry now which will put back the right of real women to marry another generation!" Anna and I hadn't met each other since my transition and clearly she had a different view of me than Grandma Tina.

"Maybe not. I think the law was stupid not letting you and Elsie marry so maybe I'll marry another woman then get pregnant. That would force them to bring the laws into the 21st century!"

"Is that possible… ? Nobody said… I thought… ."

"I'll be finding out myself when they operate next week Anna. Physically I'm pretty much a hotchpotch of bits but even if it's not possible, you and I are still family and I hope you won't let stupid laws come between us."

I didn't push my case any further than that as this was a wedding gathering and by the time we were all heading back to the rooms our spirits were light and excited. Leading the group I had taken the key to Grandma's room and was through the door before noticing the man going through the drawer to her dresser.

It wasn't long before I became all too keenly aware of the knife in his hand which he picked up from the dressing table top and held out in front of him as he charged to escape through the door which I was unfortunately blocking. To avoid being stabbed I leapt to my right but couldn't let him rush, knife-brandishing, into my family beyond the doorway so I back-handed the door shut as hard as years of tennis playing allowed and the thief ran straight into the edge of it leading with his face.

Luckily my father was not very far behind me and he Jack and Bill promptly hauled the thief off to reception and an appointment with the police leaving the rest of us to get on with our wedding preparations as though nothing had happened - in fact I'm not sure that Grandma Tina and Anna did know anything had happened.

That is where Aarón found us 2 hours later having plucked Bill from his poolside lounger on the way up. "Time for you to see the big city and meet your new relatives girls," he said rescuing Litara and I from an overdose of wedding instructions. Why is it that when generations mix the youngest present end up being treated like children?

The drive to Bella Vista on the south side of the built up area of Santiago went through places we would have avoided as 'outsiders' but Aarón assured us that it was as safe as most big cities and the apartment block where we finally got out was far from being a slum and the lady that Aarón introduced us to was every inch a grand lady.

"Mama this is Venus and this is Litara Williams who I have told you about and girls this is my mother and your Great Aunt, Gabriela Martinez."

Aunt Gabriela's English was impeccable and through the early afternoon we learnt much more of our family than Mum or Grandpa Joe had ever told us; such as Joe's name when growing up a girl was Jhoka and that there had been another brother Juan…

"Please be careful." she said addressing me. "I think you are like my brother Juan and he died when not much older than you. The doctors said it was a haemorrhage but my parents thought he was really my sister and it was menses which killed him!"