I’m Aillia Manning, or at least I am now since I married Flahwen yesterday. You’d think Flahwen would be the one all the girls lusted over. He’s six foot two with big frame, handsome and has a good sense of humour with a smile that melts the heart right out of you. His deep blue eyes and dark brunet hair that doesn’t quite reach his collar makes my heart race. He’s easy to get on with and having sisters is very understanding of all the problems that beset a girl through all phases of her life and he’s clever. Like me he’s twenty five now, and he’s a rapidly rising middle rank chemist in research and development for Langley and Widows, a prestigious pharmaceutical company. I nearly fainted when he told me how much he earnt. But most women have never wanted anything to do with him, because there’s something not quite safe about him. Even the girls when we were at school were nervous when he was around.

By contrast I’m five foot five in bare feet and rather petite. Mum says I should be grateful because my bum will never be reaching for the pavement with my boobs following closely behind my behind! She likes playing with words. I have blonde hair, but I’m no bimbo. I get irritated by people using blonde as a synonym for stupid. I studied librarianship at Aberystwyth, currently work as a junior librarian at the local university library and am studying for a Masters in librarianship specialising in scientific publications.

I always liked Flahwen, mostly because of his sense of humour, and that edge to him that made others nervous made me feel protected and safe. He had a terrible home life and yet still managed to laugh at himself, despite the crap he put up with from his parents and three sisters and two brothers because he wouldn't join their church and become a religious bigot like them. We’ve been living in a rented flat for six months and are looking for a house to buy. We reckon we can afford the mortgage on a four bedroomed detached house with a big garden if it’s not too close to the city and needs a bit doing to it.

Flahwen’s not bad with tools and my twin brother Otto, yes we’ve both got palindromic names cos like I told you Mum’s a word freak, has said he’ll help if we’ll put him up while he does. I think the truth is he wants to leave home but doesn’t want to do it in one go. He has a girl friend he's trying to get rid of, and moving would mean no unpleasant scenes which he hates. He’s always had a girl friend, but they have never lasted more than two or three months, because they get too serious too quickly and scare the living daylights out of him. Mum says I should help him find a decent girl. I agree, but not till I’ve talked to Otto. We’re very close and though we’ve always helped each other with relationships, like me he won’t appreciate anything being done or said behind his back.

Otto’s a cabinet maker with his own workshop, but he’s good with just about any kind of job that requires that kind of knowledge and hand skills. He got a load of grief at school because he’s as clever as I am, but he wanted a different kind of life. Now he’s happy, earning more than Flahwen and I put together, which is why the girls chase and frighten him. Flahwen and Otto get on well and both accept how important the other is in my life.

We bought our house and moved in last week. It’s six bedrooms set in an enormous garden, read field, is ten miles further out from the city than we’d planned on and needs some serious work doing to it. Otto says we can re-roof it in stages and live in it in the meantime. The rest he says can be done as and when we have the time and the money.

I talked to Otto about women, and it was as I suspected, he’s terrified of just being seen as a credit card. I told him that if he told women he lived with his sister, and made out he did it from financial necessity that would probably help especially since he drove a white van for moving furniture rather than a Porsche. He’s now seeing Anthea, a student nurse, who’s far more impressed by him roofing our house than she is by anything else about him. She wants him to spend his time with her rather than spend his money on her. I like her.

Flahwen and I have reached a decision, since he can’t father children, and friends who have adopted have told us horror stories concerning the intrusive questioning and hoops social workers made them jump through, we’re going to do it the natural way, so we need a sperm donor. Flahwen said it was obvious, it had to be Otto. I wasn’t sure, and said we’d we’d need to look it all up as to how to go about it. Flahwen said I was being silly since Otto and I between us had all the necessary equipment and knew exactly how to use it!

I was stunned, but agreed to talk to Otto whose reaction was predictable. “You are joking, Sis! You and Flahwen want me to make love with you till you are pregnant?”

“Yes, but we want a family, not just one. Four we thought, but we may get twins. They do run in the family. You’ve always helped me out before, Otto, specially when men were involved.”

“Ok. And I reckon I still owe you for what you did for me when I wanted to apprentice rather than go to university. Ok, but I’m not doing it with out telling Anthea first. If she dumps me too bad, but I’m not risking ending up married to her without her knowing first. Non negotiable, Sis. Ok?”

“Yeah. You reckon Anthea could be the one then, Otto?”

“I hope so, Aillia. So I have to tell her.”

I’m pregnant. Otto is engaged and Anthea is going to be a godmother. Mum’s openly thrilled about being a grandmother, and dad’s trying hard not to be openly so about becoming a grandfather. Neither has asked how I got pregnant. I suspect they know but have decided the matter is best left undiscussed. Flahwen hasn’t told any of his family and said he isn’t going to.

Mum said to him the other day, “You know if you spell your name backwards, Flahwen, it reads newhalf.”

Flahwen was beside himself laughing, “I wondered how long it would take you, Mum. When I was still hurt and angry about how I’d been treated at home, before I summoned the courage to ask Aillia out, I suppose I over reacted a bit. Now Aillia’s family, all of you, are my family because you accept me as a member of the family, it’s just an amusing play on words that you in particular should enjoy.

“Newhalf is a Japanese slang term for a pre-op or non-op male to female transsexual. When I chose a new name I turned it round and chose Manning as a surname. I was amused that Flahwen Manning so perfectly fitted a female to male transsexual.”