13 The New Me

Life at work and at home continued in such the same manner for the next couple of days, I picked up a few potential investments did a bit of day trading, buying in the morning dip and selling out just before closing, the profits were low but my account was slowly building up and I was getting better at spotting opportunities for myself as well as for Sir Charles.

On Thursday morning, Sir Charles told me he had meetings all day, so I just arranged for Chloe to cover for me when I went for ‘an extended late lunch’ to attend my appointment at the clinic.

Mr Rogers. my surgeon, looked surprised when I went into his consulting room, and even more surprised when I stripped off for an examination.

“ I see why you want the implants, you are almost indistinguishable from a natural woman in your general bone and muscle structure and posture, are you sure that you do not have a hormone imbalance problem which is driving your desire to look more like a woman?”

“ As far as I am aware, there is no medical problem. I have always been a lot shorter and slimmer than my friends and colleagues, but there are a wide range of body types, and I never thought anything of it.”

“ If you say that you are a normal healthy young man, why do you want breast implants?”

“ As you can see, I am living and presenting myself as female full- time at he moment. Whilst my breast forms have given me no problem, they do restrict what I can wear and what activities I can take part in, and natural, or at least natural-looking, breasts would give me a lot more options.”

“ Are you intending to go all the way and fully transition to being, to all intents and purposes, fully female?”

“ Not really, at the moment it is not in my plans, which is why I want to avoid hormone treatment if I can, which is why I have opted for implants. I am told that if ever I change my mind that it is not a major job to reverse things.”

“ Obviously implants will stretch the skin on your chest and if the implants are removed there may be some floppy folds of skin left, but they can easily be sorted out. You seem to have thought this out and know what you are doing,I am prepared to operate on you next Friday, as provisionally agreed. I will take some blood and urine samples from you now, for general tests, but I will also check your hormone levels, as I said there may be a problem there. If you want I can also do a bit of body sculpting, some liposuction on your waist will help to emphasise your new breasts. When you come back for the surgery wear something loose, anything fitted may be a bit irritating”

A week later I took a day as leave and returned for my operation to have my saline implants fitted. The consultant had advised that I have them rather than silicone ones, as they would be softer and more natural, and also allowed their size to be adjusted gradually if my skin could not take the extra stretching comfortably in one hit.

“ Good morning Danielle, your blood tests came back ok and you are fine for surgery, Mary, my nurse, will just get you prepared and bring you through to the operating theatre, and we can have a chat afterwards.”

When I came round in a bed, I was a bit confused, but Mary was standing over me, smiling. “Everything went fine, you will be a bit sore, and itchy, where the procedures have been carried out, but please just lie still for a while and keep your hands away from your breasts. Mr Rogers will be in to see you soon.”

“ It all went well Danielle, as you are young your skin is still very supple and has accepted the implants without any problem, and has pulled in quite well where I did the lipo on your waist. Stay here for a couple of hours to make sure that the anaesthetics have worn off, then you are free to got. Take care not to exert yourself, give the scars time to heal before stretching too much, and wear a firm support bra 24/7 for two weeks, until your body gets used to your breasts. After that you can behave just like any woman would. Changing the subject, your blood tests showed significant differences to what I would consider usual, your male hormone levels are at the bottom end of the normal range and your female hormone level is quite high. Everybody has some hormones of the opposite gender, but the differences are more marked in you, which goes some way you explain your small stature and why you have physically adjusted so easily and convincingly to life as a woman. There is no need to do anything about it now, your body seems to be comfortable with it, but if you decide to continue life as a woman, or go back to life as a man, you may need to consider hormone therapy.”

To be safe, I had arranged for Helen to come up to London, pick me up and drive me back to Canterbury, Mr Rogers had recommended that that I did not travel back on my own in case of any reaction to the anaesthetic or the surgery and to avoid the hustle and bustle of crowded Friday afternoon commuter trains. Back at the flat Helen and Carol insisted on seeing Mr Rogers handiwork before allowing me to go to bed to sleep off all the physical and emotional stresses of the day.

Although I had been using the breast forms for some time, the weight and movement of the inserts felt totally different and when I got out of bed in the morning my posture and balance needed to change. However when I looked in the mirror it was all worth it, not just the breasts, but also the way the lipo on my waist emphasised my figure a lot more, and even made my hips look broader, although he had not done anything there.

I had a quiet weekend, Mr Rogers had advised me not to do anything strenuous so as not to stress the stitches under my breasts, so I spent my time reading and watching TV and doing a bit of cooking. Carol was keen to improve her cooking and was happy to work with me doing the more strenuous stuff, blending the cake mix and kneading the bread and such like while I guided her along the way.

Although still feeling not quite my normal self, I had decided that I was fit to go into work on Monday, but left it until a bit later so that the trains into the city would be less crowded and the trip less physically stressful. As advised I wore a support bra rather than the fancier lacy ones I had now been used to wearing, it was not nearly so feminine but it had a job to do and did hold me comfortably, under the chunky wool top that I had chosen to wear.

“ Welcome back Danielle,” said Sir Charles when I arrived, “ I hope you had a good relaxing weekend, we have a busy schedule this week and I will need you to come with me to some of the meetings I will be attending. Giving you plenty warning, I would like you to come with me to an evening reception Friday with some of my colleagues from my investment group and other business associates of theirs, it’s not too formal but you need something a little more glamorous than your usual office wear. Back to business, I have left the names of two companies on your desk, do your normal research on them and be prepared to give a presentation on your thoughts about them.

Carrying out financial analysis of companies Sir Charles and his associates were considering as investments became the major part of my duties and I was glad that Chloe had settled in well to her role as private secretary to Sir Charles, leaving me free to do the things that interested me more. I was being given more freedom and responsibilities by Sir Charles, who was letting me go by myself to see Gareth Makepeace and present the reports. Doing the reports and knowing what companies Charles and Gareth were following up on, allowed me to look after my own investments. Obviously I was only playing with relatively small amounts, a few thousand pounds at a time, but picking up a profit of a few hundred here and there was building up my account quite nicely.

On Thursday, I went shopping for a new dress for the reception I was going to with Sir Charles, I didn't want to leave it until the last minute in case I was having difficulty finding something suitable. It was in the fourth boutique that I visited that I found the perfect outfit, a white halter-neck knee-length cocktail dress along with matching 4” heels and clutch bag, very sophisticated and classic, but showing off my svelte new figure wonderfully. I had toyed with the idea of going to a salon for a makeover on Friday afternoon, but there was not enough time, so after the office officially closed, I spent the next hour in the Ladies rest room refreshing my hair and make-up and getting changed, ready for my night out.

“ You know what Danielle, you are absolutely beautiful, you make me wish I was thirty years younger.”

“ Don’t be silly Sir Charles, you know who I really am underneath all this finery.”

“ Sorry, please forgive me, I sometimes forget, to me you are now Danielle. I didn’t mean what I said in any inappropriate way, it was just a compliment to you, and you have brought back memories of happier times.”

“ That’s fine let’s just forget it, and thank you for the compliment

“As you may know my wife Emily died three years ago and since then, whenever I have needed a ‘plus-one’, my sister Sarah has accompanied me. However she is getting a bit bored with being left alone when I am off talking business and was glad when I told her you were coming with me instead. she said that you should be able to get yourself involved in any of the business chat without feeling out of it. She also said that, as she has heard me talk so much about you, that she would like to meet you. It will be too late when we finish tonight for you to go back to Canterbury on the train alone, I will be saying in my apartment in Chelsea Harbour, Sarah will be there too, you are welcome to stay the night, we have a spare room if you want it.

“ I had arranged a hotel for the night but if you are sure you don’t mind, I would like to come back with you and meet her.”

“ Ok, cancel the hotel, collect your things together, put them in the car and we will head off to the Dorchester for the evening.”

When we arrived at the reception, I had a quick visit to the Ladies to check my appearance before going in with Sir Charles. To say that I made an impact is an understatement, as I was one of the few young unattached women, a lot of his colleagues were like flies around a honey-pot. At first they were attracted by the opportunity to chat to what they saw as a beautiful charming young lady, but they soon realised that I knew what I was talking about, and I made lot of useful contacts for Sir Charles and for Cunningham Investments.

“Good evening Danielle, you are looking gorgeous tonight and you have impressed a lot of people with your business sense.” said a grinning Gareth Makepeace as he gave me a quick peck on the cheek. “If ever you want to change your job, I think there could be a lot of offers coming your way from this crowd of opportunists, but you stick with Charles, he thinks a lot of you.”

“ Thank you kind Sir.” I said with a blush and an exaggerated Victorian show of modesty. “I am happy where I am.”

“ Let me introduce you to my wife, Fiona, she has heard me talk about you, and is dying to meet you.”

Gareth introduced us, and then left us together to chat for a while. After about half an hour, before he came back to take her off to meet someone else, i knew more about Gareth and Sir Charles than I had learned in all the time I had worked with them. Fiona promised that we would have to get together for lunch sometime as she had enjoyed our time together.

At the end of the evening sir Charles took me back to his place in Chelsea and showed me in to meet his sister Sarah and left us to get to know each other.

“ We meet at last, he has never stopped talking about you since you started working for him.”

“What an amazing place you have here, the views over the marina and the Thames are wonderful.”

“ It is Charles’ apartment really for when he is working in the City, but I use it a lot when I am in town. He also has an estate down in Sussex and spends the weekends there. I normally live down there most of the time and look after the estate for him.”

“ That is really good for you, you two must be close.”

“ Well we are both widowed and, apart from my son and his family, we are the only close family each of us has. What you probably do not know is that his wife Emily and daughter Julie, were killed in a car accident three years ago. He had Julie all set up to work with him, and learn the business from him and when it happened it hit him hard. He had always wanted Julie to take over from him, not just because she was his daughter, but because he honestly feels that the financial industry needs more women at the top levels. I think that he now sees you as a replacement for Julie, not in any untoward manner but as a prospect to fill that role that she would have taken.”

“ Oh dear Sarah, I never realised, i hope you don’t think that I am weedling my way into his affections as a bit of a gold-digger.’

“ Not at all, that is not what I meant. I just wanted to let you know why he is taking such an interest in you, it is not for any salacious purposes, so do not worry if he seems to be a bit pushy and over-keen for your company at times.”

“ No need to worry, he has been the perfect gentleman with me.”

“ I know you were expecting to be in a hotel tonight, and not here, so I assume that you have everything you need, but if you have forgotten anything just ask and I will see what I can sort out for you.”

Sir Charles joined us both for a nightcap to round off the evening and we chatted for a while before I made my way to get ready for bed.

After a really sound nights sleep, I dressed for travelling back to Canterbury in a casual skirt, top, and jacket that I had brought, did my make-up and hair , packed my things, and went for breakfast before getting ready to leave.

“ It has been lovely to meet you Danielle, you must come and visit us in Sussex, at Charter Abbey near Battle, do you know it?”

“ I know the area but not the estate. I was brought up in St Leonards which is not far from there, and my Mum still lives there.”

“ You must bring her over when you come, I’m sure she would be delighted to meet Charles and thank him for the opportunities that you have been given.”

“Thank you so much Sarah and thank you Sir Charles.”

“ Keep the ‘Sir Charles’ for the office and business, on social occasions just ‘Charles’ will do. see you on Monday, enjoy your weekend.”

I arrived back in Canterbury, met up with Carol and as it was such a pleasant day, we went into town, walked around and did a bit of shopping. Over coffee in a quaint medieval half-timbered café, I told her all about the evening out, the people I had met, and my pleasant stay with Sir Charles and Sarah back at his gorgeous apartment overlooking the river at Chelsea.

“ That all sounds like great fun, but you need to be more careful, going back to his flat with a man, even one you know, is fraught with danger for a girl. You have been lucky this time, it seems that it was just a kind friendly gesture by Sir Charles, but it could easily have gone wrong. You still have an awful lot to learn about being a girl. By the way. you are now speaking to Helen’s new private secretary, it seems like we are both on an upward path, let’s hope it all continues.”

To be continued.