18 Twists and Turns

I woke the next morning, once again feeling the warmth of a body snuggled into my back, and with Carol’s arm around my waist, only this time I was not surprised , alarmed or concerned. Our intense kiss the previous night had developed into a night of passion and all the pent up emotions and frustrations of both of us were released as we slowly and gently made love, the sisterly friendship between us was now on a different level. I slowly turned around to see a smiling Carol, gave her a hug and a quick kiss and got out of bed to make a coffee to fully wake us up.

We stayed in bed for another hour, repeating the exertions of last night, before getting up to face the day and the realities of our new relationship.

Despite the return of some of my masculinity, I was still living as Dani and prepared myself as what was now usual, full makeup, styling my hair and putting on a clean top and skirt, and made breakfast for both of us.

“ I don’t know what happened to trigger all that off last night,” said Carol as we sat with our coffee. “After my panic attack with Jamie, you were so calming and understanding and I just felt at ease and comfortable with you.”

“ Don’t worry, I think that I was ready for it all too. We get on so well together that it was bound to happen sooner or later, let’s not look back, let’s just plan for the future together. I just hope that you don’t think that I took advantage of you being in an emotional state.”

“ Don’t be daft it was me that made all the running remember, I needed the release from my bad memories.”

Over the next few months, other than the facts that I dressed as a girl and had breasts, our friendship grew into a fairly normal partner relationship. Carol become much more at ease when we were making love and the traumas of her past were totally forgotten, or at least locked away in the back of her mind.

At work the way Sir Charles and I treated each other had also changed. Whilst he was still professionally my boss, there was a much closer personal relationship between us developing into him having an almost paternal interest in me. He encouraged me to take greater risks, following my instincts more rather than just relying on factual assessments. and I was becoming much more comfortable in the world of high finance.

“Dani, Can you book a table for two for lunch at the ‘Galvin La Chapelle’?”

“ You must really be out to impress someone, that is Michelin starred and I have heard that it is delightful and the food is amazing.

“I’m glad you approve as you are coming with me, there are a couple of things I need to talk to you about, Chloe can look after the office for a couple of hours. She knows how to get in touch if anything urgent comes up.”

Over lunch and wine, we generally chatted about Charter Abbey and office politics and I got the impression that he was holding back and seemed a bit on edge, but sitting with an after-dinner brandy he opened up.

“There a few things we need to discuss, in a way they are interrelated but cover totally different scenarios.

For the past 30-odd years I have worked in the highly-charged atmosphere of the world of finance and now feel that it is time that I eased off and took a back seat, over the next two years I want to gradually withdraw from day-to-day involvement in the business. However my finances are very complicated and I can’t just walk away from them. I need somebody I can trust, both personally and with business acumen, to take over and look after things for me.

In relation to my personal investments I have set up a holding company, Montgomery Dependents Trust, to manage them for me and am looking for a CEO to run it and make sure that I can live in comfort for the rest of my life and tat my family will be well looks after when I am gone. The job is yours if you want it, do you think that you could handle it?”

I almost choked on my brandy and couldn’t speak for few moments. “That is a bit of a shock, I was not expecting that. Although I have hoped to have a successful career this has come very early for me, you have barely known me less than 12 months. Are you sure that I have the experience and expertise that is needed.”

“ In that short time, you have proved yourself more than capable, and I will still be looking over your shoulder as it is my money you will be managing, I have no worries on that score.

Secondly, Cunningham Investments will need both a Chairman to look after the shareholders interests, ie my interests as I am the principal shareholder, and a CEO to run the company on a day-to-day basis. I have discussed this with Gareth Makepeace who has agreed to take on the role of Non-executive Chairman, but he has one condition, he wants to appoint his choice as CEO. No need to look too disappointed, because he has chosen you. We also considered appointing Sarah’s son, David, keeping it all within the close family, but Gareth much preferred you, and besides, David and his family are settled in New York.”

I was still almost speechless with the surprise of it all, but managed to croak “I’ll be delighted, but let’s talk a bit more about it later, after I have had time to take it all in.”

“That’s the business side of things, but there are also a few personal discussions we need to have too. Your Mum and I have been spending a lot of time together and are getting on really well. I feel like an awkward teenager here, but do you think that she would be interested in developing our relationship further and maybe get married. Of course that would make you my step-daughter, and effectively you and Liz would become my new family. Obviously I will have to change my will, as the only living relatives David and Sarah were due to inherit everything, but obviously I will now have to make provision for your Mum, Elizabeth, and you. What do you think?”

“ Wow, you certainly know how to drop bombshells on people. It all seems to be too good to be true. I am flattered at the business opportunities and delighted for you and Mum, but need a bit of time for it all to sink in. I suggest that you wait a bit longer before you make any announcements just in case you have any second thoughts. I’m sure that Mum will be delighted to ‘develop your relationship further”, but please try to approach her in a less formal business manner, be the old charmer that I know you can be.

Since it seems to be the day for making announcements, Carol and I are no longer just sharing a flat, we are now in a relationship and will probably be life partners too.”

”i’m confused, does that mean that you are going revert to being male?”

“ No rush for that, we are happy as we are. I made a commitment to you to work as Danielle for two years and I will stick to that. At the end of that, I will decide what I am going to do that will work well for Carol and and will also be acceptable to you and Cunningham Investments.”

“ Far be it from me to give you advice, but you do seem settled as Dani, are accepted by everybody, and are making a successful career, why change?”

“ As I said when I started working with you, I never had any inclinations to dress or act as, or pretend to be, a girl, but it is a role that I have slowly developed into. I am comfortable just jogging along as I am for the moment, and there are times when I really enjoy this life, but there are other times when I wonder if I am doing the right thing. Before my intimate relationship with Carol started I never questioned what I have been doing, but since then I have been thinking about whether this is how I want to spend the rest of my life.”

“ What does Carol think. She must be as confused as you are. you need to sit down with her and talk it through properly. Whatever you decide to do, it makes no difference to the offers I have just made, the positions are still yours for the taking.”

“ Thanks for everything Charles, I’ll have a long think about everything you have said today and talk it over with Carol and I’ll let you know soon. Meantime, you need to go and have a proper chat with Mum.”

For the rest of the day and on the train journey home, my mind was in turmoil, I had really just been taking each day at a time, but I was now in a position where I had to make long-term decisions .

“ Carol, we need to have a serious talk. Charles has offered me some unbelievable opportunities that will ensure that you and I will live comfortably for the rest of our lives, but I’m sure that he would prefer me to stay as Danielle to carry them out. What do you think about me committing to continue living as a woman, could you live with it? If you would prefer me to go back to being Daniel, that is fine, and we will just have to face up to any consequences.”

“ Look Dani, I didn’t know you all that well as Daniel, you were just one of my work colleagues, but I have really got to know and like you as Danielle, to me that is who I see when I think of you. At times it is better to have you as my girl friend that I can talk to about my problems, at other times I prefer your manly moral strength. I am happy for you to just continue as you are, but if you prefer to go back to being Daniel, I will still love you and want to be with you, I think that all my demons about being with a man have now gone. I am not sure that I would want you to go all the way to being physically female though, I have grown to look forward to our times in bed. Tell me about the offers Charles has made to you.”

A few days later I was in a meeting with Sir Charles, having agreed to accept his amazing offers of CEO of Montgomery Dependents Trust and Cunningham investments, talking through how we would actually set things u , when we were interrupted by Chloe coming in to the office.

“ There is a Jack Mitchell, who says that he is from ‘The Square Mile’ wanting to see you both. He does not have an appointment and won’t tell me what it is about, but insists that if you give him a few minutes that you will think it worthwhile. Will you see him or should I tell him that it is not convenient?”

“ Give us a couple of minutes then show him in Chloe, but if I don’t call you within five minutes, get security to come up and show him out.”

“ What is ‘The Square Mile' Sir Charles.”

“ It is a networking news sheet that is distributed around the financial services community, telling us all who is on the up and who is on the way out. In reality it is not much better than a gossip magazine, but I would like to hear what he has to say.

Mr Mitchell, you have interrupted an important meeting, quickly tell me what this is all about.”

“ Thank you Sir Charles and Danielle. I have been hearing a lot of good reports of how well Danielle has been doing in her time with you and have done a quick investigation into her background, with a view to writing a short article about her as a rising star in the financial services industry. However I have discovered that she is not all she seems to be, as I am sure you understand. I would still like to write the piece but want to put a different slant on it.”

“ Chloe, hold that call I asked you to make.” Sir Charles barked into the phone.

Realising that I was deeply embarrassed and at a loss for words, Sir Charles took control of our side of the discussion

“ What do you mean?” He asked calmly but warily.

“ The article was going to be the normal background and achievements type of thing, but now there is a much bigger story. Rather than just exposing Danielle for what she really is, I would like to write it in a positive way to stress the inclusive and forward thinking attitude of Cunninghams towards diversity in the workplace. “

“ Is there any way you can drop this, it will be deeply embarrassing for Danielle.”

“ I could, I am not threatening you or trying to blackmail you or anything like that. However I think it is a story that should be told. There are too many criticisms of our industry and the mysogynistic laddish culture that abounds, slowly women and racial minorities are at least knocking on the glass ceiling if not breaking through it and I think the same progress needs to be made for transgender people of all shades of the spectrum.”

“ Hold on there.” I interrupted. “ I am not a flag-waver for the TG community, this is just a personal private issue for me, I don’t want to be seen as a Joan-of-Arc figure leading the battle for TG rights, I just want to be me and get on with my life.”

“ It is up to you. If you agree I promise that the tone of the article will be very sympathetic and supportive and that you will have a veto on any aspect that you think is too intrusive.”

“And if we don’t agree?” Sir Charles jumped in quickly.

“ There will just be a short paragraph about how Danielle is making an impact in the industry and how she as a woman she is ploughing a furrow for others to follow, there will be no direct reference to her lifestyle issues.”

“ Thank you for not acting like a lot of your profession Mr Mitchell and threatening lurid exposés. I am sure that Danielle would like to think about how it impacts on her personal life, and I need to speak to my executive colleagues to agree what Cunningham’s attitude will officially be. We will let you know within a few days.”

To be continued.