My apologies to those of you that have been patiently waiting for the further chapters of ‘All For A Story’. This has been a difficult year for me medically and personally, and writing has not been a priority. However things are now almost back on an even keel.
I hope that you can, and will, pick up on the story again, but I have to admit that even I had to re-visit some of the previous chapters to get my mind back into the story.
Best wishes
Gill x

The suggestion from DC Cummings that there may be others out for revenge on me for exposing the widespread corruption at the council from construction companies seeking major contracts gave me cause for concern. I could easily hide away at Bolton Manor until things calmed down, but that would be letting criminals rule my life. The alternative was to take them on.

Instead of taking me back to the Manor, I asked PC Galton to drop me off at The Post, where I went straight in to see Mike.

“Hi Jane sit down and I’ll arrange for some coffee. I heard that you have been in the wars, are you feeling any better now?”

“My shoulder is still stiff, and my ribs strapped up, but most of the cuts and bruises are fading. I’ve just been to see the police, they have someone in custody for driving me off the road, and there is a witness who will testify that it was deliberate, not just awful aggressive driving, so the charge is likely to be attempted murder. They suggested to me that there may be others out there looking for revenge on me. With your help I want to push a lot of the other companies possibly involved to come off the fence either publicly or privately to say that they have no personal grudge with me.”

“What do you want from me?”

“I want you to run a story, I’ll write it, telling about my accident and the injuries I have suffered as an attack on the free press by a company that I have exposed as corrupt, and my fears that there are others likely to attack me. I’ll name the other companies which are under investigation, and we can then follow up with direct questions to all of them.”

“That’s not going to do a lot, they’ll just deny everything.”

“Very true, but it will make them realise that I am not taking this lying down and that if anything else happens to me the spotlight will turn on to them in detail.”

“The police will not be too happy at you naming names before they have charged anyone else.”

“We’ll just quote your unnamed source at police headquarters as supplying the names of those under further investigation.”

“Ok, get on with it, but I insist that we put it in front of our lawyers before we publish anything.”

The rest of the day, I wrote, rewrote, and added to the article until finally I had enough for a full front-page story. Mike did a bit of editing where he felt I had gone a bit over the top, passed it on to our legal team, who gave it the ok, and the presses were all set up for running in the next day’s early edition. Feeling a lot more confident, now that I was more in control, I phoned Jenny to ask her to pick me up to take me back to the Manor. While waiting for her to collect me, I phoned Marshall to let him and Mrs.H know that there would be an extra place for dinner.

Rather than sending Marshall out to greet us, we found Mum and Charles at the front door waiting for us.

“Hello again Jenny, I’m glad you are able to join us for dinner, and if you wish you are more than welcome to stay the night, I’m sure that you, your mum, and Jane, have a lot to talk about.” Charles cheerily welcomed us, turning to smile at Mum.

Over dinner I updated them all on the events of my day, the discussions at the police station, my article in tomorrows paper, and how I was determined to get on with my life without worrying about any of the people I’d upset.

“I need to tell you both,” Jenny looked at Mum and I. “I bumped into Dad today in town. He’s still very angry with you Mum, but he would like to meet with Jane, or Jack as he insisted the name was. I said that I would let you know, but it was up to you what you wanted to do about it.”

“I told you earlier that I am determined to face my demons, and that includes him, I’ll meet with him, we need to sort this out one way or the other.”

I made a couple of phone calls and then arranged to meet him the next day by the lake in the park, a public area where I would feel safer with him.

He was there before me, and was totally surprised when I approached and sat next to him.

“Hi Dad.”

“Hello Jack, it’s been a while and a lot has happened since.”

“Please call me Jane, everybody else does now.”

“ I can’t, you’ll always be Jack to me. I don’t know what’s driven you to turn out like this, but whatever other people think, I am not happy with how you are choosing to live.”

“At first it was a choice to go undercover to get a story but, as I am sure Jenny told you, it is no longer a simple choice, there are serious medical issues that need resolving.”

“That’s a load of bull, you’ve gone in this direction in your life willingly, it’s your choice, led on by Jenny and your mother, but don’t expect me to take any of the blame for it.”

“Just hold on a minute. It’s your genes and Mum’s genes that defined me, made me what I am, for better or for worse. There is obviously something passed down from you or Mum or a combination of both of you that didn’t work out right, I’m blameless in all this, you are the one who should feel guilty about how I have turned out.” I shouted back at him, becoming more and more angry.

His face turned red, looking like he was about to explode, he slapped my face hard, grabbed my shoulders and started to shake me. “You cheeky little pervert,” he screamed, ”you make me ashamed to be your father, I want nothing more to do with you.”

“Fine by me, it must make a change to be abusing me rather than Mum, she has put up with your temper for years, she might take it but I certainly won’t.”

That incensed him even more and he hit me again, on my already sore ribs which caused a sharp stab of pain, and was about to go again when his arm was grabbed from behind and he turned to find PC Galton who had been hiding in nearby bushes. “That’s enough, I think that you had better come with me sir, you are under arrest for common assault. Jane, please ask you colleague out in the boat on the lake to send me the photos he has been taking to use as evidence in our prosecution.”

Dad, still incensed with me, lashed out at PC Galton, hitting him in his stomach and winding him, freed himself and fled. When he got his breath back the PC was immediately on his walkie-talkie, advising colleagues to cover the few exits from the park in that direction and five minutes later we heard that he had been caught again. Now as well as the charge against him for hitting me, he faced the more serious offences of assaulting a police officer and resisting arrest.

Simon, one of the photographers at The Post rowed ashore and showed me the photos he had taken. He had zoomed right in to us and they clearly showed the anger on my father’s face and what he had done to me.

“Some good shots there Simon, it’s a shame that we won’t be using them in The Post, this is not a story that I will be running. Please sent them on to PC Galton and then hide them away somewhere in your archives.”

“I’ve recorded what he said to you on the open phone line to me and put a copy on your mailbox if you need to use it in any civil action against him, and have kept a copy as backup evidence.”

Thanks for your help and stopping him inflicting any more damage on me, Harvey.” I thanked the young policeman before setting off, first to see Jenny to let her see and hear what had happened and then back to The Manor to go through it again with Mum.

Charles, Mum and I were in the orangery relaxing with tea and cakes as I told them about my meeting with my father, showed them the photos and played the recording.

“He Sounds like a total idiot, and a violent one at that, I don’t know how you managed to put up with him for so long Nell, you deserve better than that.” I noticed that Charles was now using the familiar version of Mum’s name, he had always used Ellen up until then.

“He was ok most of the time, but every now and then something would trigger things off and he could be quite nasty, lots of name-calling and insults but very rarely did it turn violent, I was surprised at how he turned on you today Jane.”

“My dear Nell, after today he is going to be even angrier and upset, I suggest that you stay here until you feel it’s safe to go back home, and that goes for you too Jane.”

“Thank you so much Charles that’s very kind of you, let’s see how it goes, but I have a condition. We are all creating a lot of extra work for Mrs.H, I insist that you let me help her out to give her more time to relax without having to worry about things to be done for us. I have never been one for sitting around idly all day and like to keep myself busy and would prefer to make myself useful.”

Charles gave her a look as if to say that he was surprised and that it was not the done thing to mix with the staff too much, but kept his thoughts to himself, merely replying “fine by me, my dear, if that’s what you want to do.”

I later heard that after the morning copy of The Post hit the streets, the phone to Mike’s office was red hot with calls from people we had named, their lawyers, and the police, all complaining about allegations being made public while investigations were still taking place. Later in the day, after the initial shockwave had subsided, there were more calls from some of the companies asking for the opportunity to put their side of the story, which Mike agreed to before calling me to come in the office the following day to follow up on his conversations.

I was very busy for the next few days pulling it all together .Some of the companies were very belligerent denying the allegations and insisting on an apology, but after learning that their actions had been told to the police by John Chisholm most of them calmed down and tried to draw a picture of being drawn into it all by corrupt officials who threatened to to put a block on their projects unless palms were greased. Others admitted their involvement but tried to mitigate it by naming not only the council officers, but some of the local politicians and members of the council too, not just in our town but also others in the surrounding counties. To try to smooth everything with the police, all the information we gathered was passed to them to investigate and for the next few days our reports in The Post were very non-specific to give them time to interview people before we published more of our findings.

I was glad when the weekend arrived, a chance to unwind after all the turmoil and pressure of the last few days. We were sitting having a relaxing glass of wine when Lizzie came bounding in, back from her trip to London, in a state of high excitement.

“Calm down Lizzie, have a drink and tell us what has got you so excited.” Her father told her as he gave her a welcoming hug.”

“Not yet, I want to think about what I am going to say, you all go first and tell me what’s been happening here, I’ll go later.”

“I don’t know where to start, there has been so much gone on.” I told her about the police charging Amanda Edwards with running me off the road as attempted murder, about meeting my father and him assaulting and insulting me leading to his arrest, and about all the latest developments regarding the corruption scandal.

“Wow, you have been busy, it’s a bit like a re-run of All The President’s Men, you’re peeling back the layers one by one.”

“It’ has all happened a lot nearer to home than that,” Charles added. “You young ladies will not remember this story but In the 1960s and early 1970s there was a major council corruption scandal up in the North East of England. T Dan Smith, the leader of Newcastle City Council and a general Mr. Fix-it on the wide scale development going on up there at the time was too closely tied up with a major Architect/Developer, John Poulson, and they spread a web of corruption throughout the region,. It led to their imprisonment and the bringing down of many local councillors and even a government cabinet minister. Jane’s case has a lot of similarities, but I think that the Poulson Affair, as it was known, was on a much larger scale.”

“Anyway, what’s your news that has got you in such a tizzy?” he asked Lizzie.

“As you know, I had a meeting with the Heralds at the College of Arms and they confirmed that the records show that as long as you prove that William is not your son, that your titles, will pass on to me.”

“That’s wonderful news Lizzie, I’m so glad for you, and happy that our lineage will be secure in your safe hands.”

“I’ll make you even more glad. As a side issue they told me that when the Earldom was taken from your great-uncle, it was not totally withdrawn from the family, but just from him, just suspended, in their words, ‘Until such time as there is a fit-and-proper heir in place worthy of the honours, rights and privileges associated with such high office.’ They looked up your heritage, how you have conducted the duties asked of you, and your success in the City and they confirmed, again in their words, ‘They will petition the Lord Chancellor, her Majesty and Parliament on your behalf to have the Earldom re-instated to you.’, which is their bureaucratic speak for it’s almost certainly going to happen. All-in-all a good days work, don’t you think? It may take a while to be made official, but I think that you should get Marshall to find the ermine-trimmed ceremonial robes and get them fit for use again, but first crack open a bottle or two of the finest champagne you have in the cellar.”

I was surprised to see the normally reserved stiff-upper-lipped Charles shed tears of happiness as he hugged his daughter. Afterwards Mum and the girls went off to get ready for dinner while I gave Charles a briefing on what I had found in the family archives about his great-uncle.

“ I know all about that story Jane, my mother gave me all the gory details when I was old enough to understand, but it is something that the family don’t shout about. That reminds me Jane, something I noticed on the recording of your talk with your father. Why did he call you Jack and what dd he mean calling you a pervert?”

I flushed with embarrassment, as much from hiding the truth from him as to my situation, and blushingly told him the story from when I was first asked to help by Darren, how it had just grown from there until eventually my discovery that I was intersex. I also told him that myAunt was rely my Mum and Jenny my sister.

“Hmm.” he said drawing me closer into a hug, “Who am I to condemn you, given the family history of great-uncle Charles, but at least you have a bloody good excuse for it all. As far as I am concerned I see you as an attractive and confident young lady, you are, and to me always will be, Jane, if you ever turn up here as Jack I will be most disappointed.”

“I apologise for misleading you all this time, but I was digging a hole for myself and kept getting deeper and deeper into it.”

“Think nothing of it, totally understandable in the circumstances, I suppose. I assume Lizzie is aware, I’m not blind, I know that you two have been getting awfully close lately.”

“She’s known everything since the night William assaulted Jenny and is quite comfortable with it.”

“Now go and get changed for dinner, the other ladies are well ahead of you, wear something nice, I am celebrating tonight.”

The evening was enjoyed by all, Mrs.H did us proud with a glorious meal and Marshall raided the wine cellar for some excellent vintage reserves. The news for Charles and Lizzie put everyone in a good mood.

“As was becoming normal when she was at home, Lizzie and I got together later for a bit of ‘us time’, but we were now using her room, it was more discreet than mine, which was sandwiched between Mum ’s and Jenny’s.

As we lay there afterwards, I told her that her father now knew all about me.

“Poor Daddy, first it was the despicable behaviour of William, followed by me coming out to him, then your accident, which really hit him hard, the shock of being told that he will probably soon be an earl, and now discovering that his favourite protégée girl is actually a boy. I’m not sure how many more shocks he can take, He is the typical phlegmatic Englishman, stiff upper lip and all that, it’s hard to tell what he is actually feeling and thinking. I think we need to treat him gently and calmly for the present, no more sudden surprises. Maybe we ought to cool our relationship for a while.”

“That would be a shame, I’m fairly sure he knows all about us already, but if that’s how you want to play it, how about a swan song first?”

I was up early the next morning to get back to my own room when I saw Mum leave Charles’ room to go back to her own too. Neither of us really wanted to explain anything so we just gave each other silly grins and a big hug and, blushing, went back to our rooms.

Later, after breakfast, Mum and I went for a walk in the gardens and found a seat down by the river.

“Tell me it’s none of my business if you wish, but are you and Charles now in some sort of relationship or was last night just a one-off in the heat of the moment after the evening’s excitement?”

“Let’s just say that it was not the first time. Life is complicated at the moment, the situation with your father needs sorting out. The last thing I want is any scandal with Charles being named in a divorce case. Apart from anything else I wouldn’t like to ruin his chances of getting his earldom back because of a scandal. Anyway what about you and Lizzie, I’ve heard you padding about in the corridor going back to your room a few mornings, is it getting serious with you two?”

‘As you said, life is complicated. I need to get my gender confusion issue sorted out before anything else, although Lizzie says she will be happy with me whichever way it turns out.”

“Have you decided yet what you are going to do, have you any more appointments with Ms Stewart?”

“Unless something medical interferes with my plans, I will probably stay as Jane, I am comfortable as a woman, I am enjoying a rich and fulfilling life, and am probably the happiest and most successful that I’ve been for years. Would that be a problem for you, could you live with the loss of Jack?”

“In some ways yes I would have preferred that none of this ever happened, but it has and it’s no use trying to fight it. I’m your mother, if you are happy, I’m happy.”

“You know what Mum, I’ve been surprised at how easily you have all taken it. You, Jenny, Lizzie , Charles, Jenny’s friends and even Caroline who I have only known for a few weeks, have all been wonderful and just accepted it as if it’s an everyday occurrence. Come on let’s get back to the others before I start crying.”

Now everything was out in the open and there was no need for pussyfooting about regarding our relationships, I decided that I needed to help Jenny get into the same boat as the rest of us and had better come up with a plan about what I could do to kickstart a relationship for her.

Monday morning Lizzie went back to London, and before I became too engrossed in my research in the archive room, I left for The Post’s offices leaving Mum and Charles to develop their relationship.

“Your story last week went down really well with the police, it seemed to have flushed out a much bigger web of bribery and corruption than they had anticipated. They have increased the numbers on the investigative team and said to pass on their thanks for breaking the story.”

“Keep me informed if anything happens on the corruption front, otherwise I’ll get on with my work at Bolton Manor on the family history.”

While I was in town I decided to give Graham at North TV a call to see if we could meet up to discuss his suggestion that I agree to do more exposé stories for them and arranged to meet in a local pub for lunch, nothing exotic or expensive just basic bar food. When I arrived he was already seated at a table, but rose to give me a hug and a friendly welcome kiss.

“It’s good to see you again Jane, I’m glad that you are considering my offer. I remembered that you quite liked the New Zealand Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc last time, so I’ve ordered a bottle, unless you prefer something else. It should go with most things on the menu and dailies board, so take your pick.”

“Thanks Mike, the wine will do fine. I‘ve thought about doing more programmes with you and am very interested, if the offer is still on the table. However I am a bit busy at the moment, and don’t have the time to build the stories myself, but if you are happy for your researchers to do all the donkey work, I can finish the scripts off to suit my style and personality and present the story. Later, when things have calmed down, I would like to build the stories myself, if that’s ok.”

“To be honest, that’s what I expected you to say and totally agree with that approach, when the corruption scandal is wrapped up you should have a lot more freedom to put in much more time.with us.”

“Ok, if you want to run an update on the council corruption, The Post is doing follow-ups regularly and I can talk to your researchers to fill in the missing gaps. If you have another story you want to have a go at first, that’s fine too.”

“Actually we are already working on an exposé on abuse at a local church children’s home, and that will probably be the first we go for. The corruption scandal is in a bit of a a lull at the moment while the police are continuing their investigation, but I would like to do an interview with you about the attempt on your life and the assault on press free-speech. The weekends are usually a bit quiet apart from the sports news, can you come in tomorrow to talk to my researchers so they can pull a script together, and on Saturday morning we’ll record the interview.”

“That sounds good. Can I ask a favour? My cousin and Auntie were so excited and impressed with the last programme, can I bring them with me so that they can see how it is all pulled together.”

“ Of course you can, one of the team can look after them when you are busy and explain everything that is going on, and afterwards we can all go out for a drink and something to eat.”

“They’ll really enjoy that, I’ll sort it out with them and confirm it back to you tomorrow.”

Back at the Manor, I took Mum and Jenny into the orangery for a family chat. “I’ve been to see North TV again and have agreed to front some more programmes with them and I’m going in to record an interview on Saturday.”

Jenny could hardly contain herself. “That’s brilliant I’m so jealous, wait till I tell the girls.”

“You haven’t heard the best bit yet Jen, would you like to come in with me and watch the show being recorded.That includes you too Mum, and Graham the director will take us all out for a drink and something to eat afterwards.”

“Wow Jane, is Graham that the gorgeous hunk you told us about before? Just try and stop me, Mum you just have to come too.” She was beaming like The Cheshire Cat, and flushed with excitement, I hadn’t seen her like this for a few years since I went with her and the girls to a concert by her favourite boy-band at the time.

“If it’s all agreed I am going to the studio tomorrow to have a preliminary chat, I’ll let Graham know and he can make the arrangements.”

I arrived at the studios mid-morning and was introduced to Fiona, the researcher that I would be working with in future, to run through the the story of my accident and the previous scary tailgating incidents and who was responsible. It was really only to be a short news bulletin filler and an intro to my future involvement with North TV, but the question and answer session with Fizz, as she liked to be called, stretched out for a couple of hours.

“I hope you don’t mind me asking, but did anyone take photos of you with your injuries and cuts and bruises, It always adds a bit of drama to a story.”

“Sure Fizz, the police took a lot of photos of me, and the damage to my car and the hedge I crashed into, I’ll email a selection over to you and you can pick the ones that you think suit your storyline best.”

Fizz did a good job preparing the script and when we all turned up on Saturday morning Fizz Graham and the crew were ready and waiting for us. Mum was fascinated by the amount of technical gear and size of the crew that were needed for a short interview, but Jenny was more fascinated by Graham, she could hardly take her eyes off him, and he really turned the charm on for her. That was the reaction I was hoping for, Mum seemed to be getting on well with Charles, and Lizzie and I were going strong, I was worried that Jenny would start to feel a bit of a spare part, but I had high hopes for Jenny and Graham.
The interview went without any major hitches after a couple of rehearsals, I had to alter very little of what Fizz had prepared, she had captured my way of expressing myself quite well and I was looking forward to working with her again on the next show. It was still only early afternoon and Graham said that they would try to get it ready for broadcast that evening, but if not it would be Sunday,

Afterwards, as promised, Graham took the three of us to a local hotel for an afternoon cream tea of cakes, sandwiches, cold meat, and a bottle of Prosecco. I had forewarned Mum to make sure that Jenny and Graham sat next to each other, and that it didn’t really matter which one of us sat next to Jenny, as her and Graham seemed to be deep in a conversation of their own.

As we left, Graham gave Mum a light hug and commended her on bringing up two delightful, beautiful daughters, gave me a longer hug, and Jenny an even longer one with a kiss on the cheek.

Jenny was bubbly and full of life on the drive home and couldn’t stop talking about Graham.
“Are you seeing him again Jen?” I asked her, knowing what the answer would be.”

“He asked me to go out for a drink with him later in the week, just wait until I tell Babs and the others they’ll be made up for me, it’s a while since I’ve been out with anybody.”

“You set that up deliberately, didn’t you Jane, he seems a nice fellow, let’s hope he doesn’t mess her about.” Mum asked me with a twinkle in her eye when we were sitting later in the orangery.

“You never know Mum, we could all be heading for a triple wedding next year.” which caused a fit of giggles from both of us.

To be continued.