Hello David

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Chapter Eight
 

Dion Lansing called Connie’s office in an effort to find out where she was. The friendly assistant informed him Connie was out of the country at the moment but asked if she could pencil him in for an appointment as soon as she got back.

Knowing there was no way he could cross the Atlantic without informing his customer of the added expense he declined.

He had to find out where she was.

“Do you know which country she went to?”

“Oh she went to the States, she is visiting our head office,” the friendly assistant informed him.

Dion made an air punch.

“Oh well, thanks. I’ll wait for her to return. You’ve been so helpful,” he told her.

“You’re welcome sir,” the bubbly secretary said.

It continued to amaze Dion what kind of information a few phone calls could get you if you asked the right questions.

‘Maybe I should have had a career in the CIA or as a burglar,’ Dion thought, not for the first time.

 
 

 

Connie was blissfully unaware that someone was searching high and low for her. Instead she was too busy showing her kid the city where he’d been born. Kellan had so many questions for his Mom like,

“Where were you born Mommy?”

“Oh I was born in California, that’s across the country,”

“Really, you travelled a lot didn’t you?”

“Not really, my parents used to travel before I was born because of Dad’s job,” she told him.

“What was your dad’s job,” Kellan queried.

“He was a pilot in the airforce,”

“Was he a jet pilot?” Kellan asked, “I want to fly jets too,”

Connie smiled at her little boy.

“I really don’t know what he did in the airforce. I know he flew planes before I was born and he was in charge of deploying them later on.”

“Mommy,”

“Yes my darling?”

“Where are your daddy and mommy?”

Connie sighed mentally, it was a question she and her sister always tried to avoid but her son had been asking it repeatedly for months now almost as frequently as the one about his father. Apparently all the kids at school always spent weekends at their grandparents all the time.

“I haven’t seen them since before you were born luv,” she responded.

“Why not?”

“Well they live in America and we live in Britain,”

“Can we visit them?” Kellan asked.

“No,” said Connie abruptly.

“Why not?” Kellan repeated.

Connie took a deep breath, what she was about to say went against everything she had told her child.

“Well they my parents don’t want to see me ever again,” she confessed.

The little boy frowned.

“That’s not nice,” he remarked.

“No its not sweetie, no more questions okay,” she said before ruffling his hair.

“Mommy I will always love you,” said Kellan solemnly.

Connie was touched, “Me too sweetie, it’s us against the world,” she said before kissing him.

“Time for a bath if you want to see the dinosaur exhibit,” she added.

“Yay,” Kellan whooped before rushing to the bathroom.

Connie smiled, wondering how poorer her life would be without this little boy.

 
 

 

Dion called his client to update her on the progress he was making.

“Hello,” said the gruff voice of Jack Richards.

“Hello, I’m looking for Helen Richards,” Dion replied.

“Why, what is it in connection with?”

“Sorry who am I speaking to?”

“Jack Richards, her husband,” said Jack, getting curious.

Dion was aware Mrs Richards hadn’t informed her husband about her search for their child.

“Sir could you please get tell her to contact Mr Lansing, she’s won a sweepstakes competition,” lied Dion his voice cheerful, “she get one year’s supply of hair care products.”

“Oh that’s nice, I’ll get her to call you back. What is the number?”

Dion gave an unlisted number of his that didn’t give the name of his business. It was a security system he had in place for similar situations only they usually involved infidelity. The guilty partner wouldn’t find out about Lansing Security.

“Okay got it, have a nice day,” said the colonel after taking down the number.

Helen would be pleased he thought. She’d seemed a bit down lately.

While he waited for her call Dion decided to do a bit more research. If Connie was in the States he figured she was probably on a work related assignment. He thought it wasn’t a coincidence that the hq of her company was in this city meaning there was a high chance she was around.

Maybe he could talk to her.

He stood up and went downstairs.

The people at her firm were very nice and told him all he wanted to know. He knew which hotel she was in so all he had to do was wait in the lobby for her to show up. He wasn’t disappointed as after a couple of hours she rocked up with a little boy.

They wore big smiles and were walking hand in hand.

He stood up and approached her.

‘Gosh, she’s lovely,’ he thought as he looked her up and down.

She was about five foot seven, her strawberry blonde mane shone in the light with a trim figure that had curves in the right places that seemed to be emphasised by her jeans and sweater. Her green eyes twinkled and brightened her fine features.

She was drop dead gorgeous.

Dion couldn’t believe this woman could ever have been a man.

He doubted she was the right person even as he hailed her,

“Ms Richards, excuse me,”

Connie stopped and looked at the man who was calling her.

He was white, with short brown hair, of average height, slim build and wore non-descript glasses that hid a plain yet chiselled and clean shaven face with an inscrutable expression.

Connie gave him a quizzical stare.

“Yes,” she said smiling

“Hi my name is Dion Lansing, I’m a private investigator,” he said offering his hand.

Her smile faded and Dion felt like someone had switched off the sun.

“What’s the matter?” Connie asked, her expression closed up.

She drew her child closer to her.

“Do you know a Helen Richards?” Dion asked.

He saw the colour drain out of her face. Her eyes narrowed.

“What’s this about?”

“She’s looking for you,” he explained.

Connie blinked back surprise, her face became a canvas of conflicting expressions curiosity versus disdain versus anger.

Anger won out in the end.

“I don’t want to be found Mr Lansing,’’ she said, her voice ice cold.

‘Let’s go,” she said to her son.

Dion wasn’t prepared for this answer and he stood there confused as they walked away. By the time he had recovered his wits, mother and son had already boarded an elevator.

There was no doubt he had found his quarry and she wanted nothing to do with her mother.

He realised that she was still hurting from the rejection by her mother.

 
 

 

“I am returning Mr Lansing’s call,” Helen said on reaching Dion’s voicemail.

Dion picked up the phone.

“Hi Mrs Richards,” he said.

“Hi Mr Lansing, I heard you called,” said Helen, sounding nervous.

“Yes I found your daughter,” said Dion.

He couldn’t refer to Connie as a man

Helen’s heart skipped a beat.

“David’s alive?”

“Yes but he is certainly not David anymore. She is a systems manager at an IT company in England,” Dion began.

“England?” Helen asked confused.

“Yes she has lived there for close to five years now,”

Helen’s realised why Gina had wanted to go there so badly now.

“Gina lives with her no doubt,” Helen said with a sigh.

“I think so,” Dion replied.

Helen was sad her Gina had kept this from her but pleased someone in the family hadn’t rejected Connie.

“DO you have an address?”

“Not yet but there’s something else you should know, Connie is in the US at the moment. I met her today,” Dion said.

“You did?” Helen asked, her heart beating faster at the news, “is she okay? Healthy, does she seem happy?”

Dion felt sorry for her.

“Yes she seems happy enough. She has a son. I think he might be five or six,” Dion said.

Helen gasped.

“A son?”

“Yes,”

“Oh my goodness,” Helen said, shocked and delighted at the same time.

“I am sending you a picture right now,” Dion continued.

Helen glanced at the message.

It was a clear picture of a beautiful strawberry blonde woman in her twenties and a little boy with dark hair. Tears fell from her eyes as she stared at the picture.

“Ma’am I approached her,” Dion said.

“What did she say?” Helen asked, hungry for information.

“I introduced myself and asked if she knew you. She said she didn’t want to be found. I’m sorry,” Dion said.

He was genuinely sorry as he heard the woman sob. It was such a sad state of affairs

 
 

 

“The nerve, hiring a PI to look for me after what she did?” Connie angrily complained to Gina.

“Tell me you’re kidding?”

“I kid you not sis. Why now?”

“You’re her child Connie, she’s a mother. It’s natural,” Gina replied.

“Was it natural to disown me?” Connie snapped.

“No it wasn’t but don’t yell at me,” Gina answered.

“Sorry sis I’m just so upset ya know,” apologised Connie

“I know hon, I can’t imagine how you must be feeling,” Gina responded.

Connie sighed, “It hurts so much that they couldn’t love me for I was and that they threw me out and now they want to find me. That doesn’t fly,” she said.

“What do you want to do?”

“Nothing, they should just keep their distance and I’ll keep mine,” Connie remarked.

Gina wished her sister would forgive her parents but she remembered the girl she had found in that apartment after they had thrown her out. Connie had been wild-eyed and dejected.

It was a minor miracle she had recovered from that in her opinion. It would be hard to forgive her father and mother hurting her . Heck she’d been so angry herself she’d followed her sister out of the country.

“Con, when you get back maybe you should see someone,” Gina suggested.

Connie ran her fingers through her hair.

“Yeah, Kellan asked about them this morning,” she told her baby sister.

“Wow again, what’d you tell him?”

“The truth, that they threw me out and didn’t want to see me again. Do you know what he said afterwards?”

“Yes,” Gina prompted.

“He told me he would always love me,” said Connie, her voice cracking with emotion.

Gina blinked back tears too.

“That’s so sweet. Give him a kiss for me will you.”

Connie regaled her with what they had done earlier in the day, from their trip to the museum to see a dinosaur exhibition to their sightseeing tour around the city as well as the lunch and two ice creams Kellan had asked for.

Gina sighed, then noticed the time.

“I wish I was there,” she told her sister, “I have to go, ‘night,”

“Goodnight Gina, love ya,”

“I love you too girl,” Gina replied before hanging up.

She reflected on her last words. It never ceased to amaze her how much her sibling had changed from when they were kids. She had had no idea David longed to be Connie and was actually a girl like her.

That was why she had been so shocked when she found out what Connie had done.

She’d read up on gender dysphoria after Connie had come out. Looking back she had realised her sibling had been quite different from other boys and let’s face it effeminate. She remembered how the kids had pushed her around just because she was so introverted and they couldn’t get it.

One friend of hers had told her that people thought David was a homo.

“I mean look at him,” she’d said pointing out David’s girly face and gait.

Gina had ended that friendship out of loyalty to her sibling but she hadn’t reached out to David either. She’d had been too self-absorbed to see her sibling's pain and to be honest David had been such a loner.

All that had changed with her unplanned visit years back which had led to her discovering Connie that fateful afternoon. She had seen her sister happy for the first time in her life and realised that David was nothing but an illusion.

She’d talked Connie into telling their parents leading to the disastrous results Connie had predicted. She’d watched Connie get her heart broken by a useless man, get her life back on course and then discover that she was pregnant and had been genetically a girl all along.

Gina had felt cheated on Connie’s behalf, cheated out of an older sister for so long. She had watched her risk her life to have her baby against the doctors and her own advice. She’d seen her stand up to her fear to have a baby.

She’d watched her grieve for her baby’s father before taking a leap and moving to a foreign country in an effort to find peace. Gina had watched her raise Kellan with so much love and care.

They had navigated womanhood together and were as close any sisters you could find. She was in awe of her sister, her best friend and confidante, without a doubt the bravest person she knew.

‘Mom and Dad have no idea what their missing,’ she thought.

To be continued.
 
 

 
To Be Continued...