Things quietened down for a while, I completed ’Midshipman Armitage’ and sent it off to the publisher friend of Charles, with high expectations of acceptance and publication. I was delighted when a few weeks later I received confirmation that it had been edited, proof-read, and was being printed for publication, with an initial run of 20,000 copies, along with a request for a follow up if possible. I time-travelled forward ten years from the Trafalgar era to the life and times of Henry’s son Arthur at the Battle of Waterloo and planned the outline of the story ‘Colonel Armitage, Hussar’ to which I would add the ‘flesh on the bones’ over the next few months.

My writing career as a novelist was taking off, and there were one or two more tales to tell in the Armitage family saga based on the Boltons but I didn’t want to dwell too much on them and get too near to reality, so started thinking about a new set of characters. Trying to keep to subjects I had some knowledge of I started planning a series based on the rise of the Carter family from their early days as blacksmiths and wheelwrights in the 17th century to modern times as major property developers. The fortunes were to be established by moving into construction in the boom of the enormous growth in the market in the Georgian and Victorian eras, through to being major property developers and members of the local high society clique. The tone of the books would change from the derring-do adventures of Henry and Arthur Armitage to more of a family saga and the interrelationships of the family members as they rose up the social scale. Along with my TV and journalism careers, it was going to be a busy few years for me.

Things were moving slowly on the corruption case, but early decisions were made on the potential charges against Sally, Maggie, Liz, and her sister Judy. No charges were to be proceeded with against Maggie, Liz and Judy, it was considered that their actions were not criminal and that they were the victims of blackmail and coercion, it was up to Cartwright’s whether any civil action would be taken for breaches of confidentiality and fraud. Sally however was a different matter, although she was also the victim of blackmail, the fact that she had coerced Judy, and through her, Liz, meant that she was taken to court and found guilty. However the magistrates took into account the way she was groomed by Ridgeley and she was given a two-year suspended sentence. James and Darren decided not to progress any claims against any of them, and so for them all, the matter was effectively closed.

“Jane, let’s go for a walk there is something we need to discuss, and it would be better if we were on our own.” Lizzie took my hand and led me out into the garden.

“It’s awfully ironic, you have just gone through your first period, and for the first time for ages I have missed mine, I’m pretty sure that I am pregnant. That swan-song of yours before your operation seems to have done the trick.”

I stood speechless, looking at her, before coming to my senses, and almost squeezing her to death in a big hug.

“That’s wonderful darling, are you sure, or is it just wishful thinking?”

“I got one of the home-testing kits and it showed positive, I am going to see the doctor tomorrow to get it confirmed, but I am almost definite. Don’t squeeze me so hard we don’t want to damage junior do we?”

“Rather than telling Mum and your father, let’s keep it to ourselves until after you’ve seen the doctor, we don’t want to build up their hopes of grandchildren just to dash them down if it is a false alarm.”

Two days later we were all sitting down after dinner and decided to announce the good news.

“Mum you have now got your wish for a grandchild, and Charles you now have a line of succession, Lizzie is pregnant with what we hope will be the first of several.”

“I can’t keep up with modern times,” Charles said, “A lesbian and a transexual having a baby together, it is all so confusing, but I am so delighted for you both. Are you allowed to have a glass of champagne to celebrate Lizzie or is that frowned upon?”

“Mum didn’t say anything at first, but came over and gave us both big hugs, wiping the tears from her eyes. “If you two can manage it Jane, it’s about time that Jenny followed suit, you must have a word with her.”

Lizzie decided to have a small glass of champagne to celebrate, promising that it would be the last until the baby was born, and we all sat and talked about how it would change our futures.

“I know that nowadays it is not considered necessary, but do you plan to marry before the baby arrives, or have a civil wedding or anything, call me old-fashioned but it is still the best thing to do?” Mum had a worried tone in her voice as she asked.

“It’s confused because of Jane’s history, but she is legally a woman now, and that means we can’t have a Church of England marriage ceremony. We will have to have a civil ceremony, but that can be low-key with just us and witnesses, followed by a blessing in church, which is allowed, and that can be the ceremonial event with all the guests and all the trimmings. The other thing which is a problem is who to put on the birth certificate as the father of our baby. It needs legal advice but we would like it to be recorded as Jack Carter, as physically at the time, Jane was still a male. That’s what Jane and I would like to do but we need to get it all confirmed.”

“Anyway,” Charles interrupted, “Those are all details, this should be a time of happiness and celebration, let’s not spoil it by getting worried about legalities. I know this is a time when you ladies take over and run the show, but as Nell and I are planning to get married anyway, why not make it a double wedding celebration, that is if you all are happy with the idea. Obviously it will mean rushing our plans, but why not?”

“That’s a lovely idea Charles, it will need to be a lot sooner than we planned, before Lizzie begins to show, but we still have plenty of time to get things organised.” Mum added in agreement, from the look on her face her mind was already in overdrive thinking ahead.

I shrugged my shoulders and squeezed her hand to let Lizzie know that our answer was up to her, she smiled at her father and went over to give him a hug and kiss. “Of course Daddy, that would be wonderful.”

Despite my new physical appearance, my brain was still mostly in male mode and whilst I was really looking forward to getting my relationship with Lizzie formalised, I couldn’t get carried away with all the planning details like Lizzie and Mum and left them to it, joining Charles to discuss the Bolton Centre development.

“Darren was asking me the other night when they could present the proposals to us as they now have the financial backing in place, and would like to get started.”

“As I said before, I would like you to be my representative at meetings, give him a call and arrange it. I have no plans for being away from the estate for the next few weeks. There’s a conference room in the old estate office that can be used for any meetings until they get the site set up .”

Just after breakfast next morning, I had a call from Mike at The Post.
“What are you doing a week on Friday, Jane? We have an invitation, more of a request, to attend the regional ‘Media Awards of the Year’ event. I am booking a table for myself, Julie my sub-editor, you and your guest, presumably Lizzie, along with four of our main shareholders. I understand that TV North are also booking a table, so Graham and Jenny will most likely be going with them. You’ve not been to one of these before, so just so you know the score, it is a formal do, Gentlemen in dinner Jackets and bow ties, Ladies in posh frocks or cocktail dresses. Are you ok with that?”

“I may not have been invited before, but I have seen reports of previous years on Spotlight, of course I’ll be there. You say that it was more of a request than an invitation, does that mean that The Post is up for an award.”

“Actually we are nominated for three, ‘News story of the Year’, ‘Reporter of the Year’, and ‘Newspaper of the Year’, I’ll be happy if we get any one of them, it will be quite a feather in our caps.”

When I managed to find Lizzie and told her the news, she was even more thrilled than I was.

“That’s wonderful for you, the Nomination for ‘Reporter of theYear’ must be for you, all your recent hard work is paying off. Of course we’ll have to go shopping for some dresses.”

“ I was thinking of just wearing my coral prom dress that I wore for the Rotary Ladies Night, it’s sitting there in the wardrobe unused.”

“You still have an awful lot to learn about being a girl Jane, an event like that deserves a new outfit and an appointment at the beauty salon, particularly if your nomination turns into an award and you have to go up for a presentation. Let’s give Jenny a call, and if she is going to be there with Graham, the three of us need to arrange things, two weeks sounds a long time, but it will fly by.”

Alongside my other commitments, TV appearances, reporting for the Post, writing ‘Colonel Armitage, Hussar’, Lizzie and Jenny made sure that I spent a lot of time, probably too much time, looking around for suitable dresses and accessories for the awards ceremony.

Eventually after trying on dozens, I settled on a halter-neck, full-length chiffon dress, white with red trimming on the hem and waist, with matching 4’ heels and clutch bag. Lizzie went for a much more classic black style with sequinned bodice and white piping, split from the ankle to mid-thigh, which I thought was very similar to one she already had in her wardrobe, but she insisted it was nothing like it and the older one would not do. Jenny chose a vivid yellow flowing off-the-shoulder maxi dress which went perfectly with her natural blonde hair.

On the day before the event, the three of us were booked in at Susie’s salon for a full beauty treatment, facials, waxing, hair trimming, nail shaping, and in my case a little bit more touch-up electrolysis on my face, in preparation for the finishing touches to be added the next afternoon. Susie closed her salon on the Friday afternoon as her and her assistant Josie would be full occupied with the three of us.

We were in the salon for the rest of the day, hair washed, tints and streaks added, and styled , a makeover with full evening glamorous look, and nails painted to match the colours of our dresses.

“Wow, girls, you all look gorgeous, don’t forget to tell anyone who asks who did the wonderful job on you, one of these days I must get someone to do a similar job on me. Get yourselves home, get into your glad-rags, you’re going to stun them tonight. We’ll have to get together soon with Babs and Linda and you can tell us all about it.” Susie gushed as she gave us all a hug and waved us goodbye.

Lizzie and I went back to the Manor to change into our outfits for the night, and Lizzie raided the family jewellery box to find something to top off our dresses. She gave me some gorgeous diamond and peal drop earrings and a white choker encrusted with rubies to go with my dress, and some diamond and jet earrings and black pearl necklace for herself. We were probably dressed a bit over the top for an industry event, but I felt like Cinderella going to the ball. Mum wept tears of joy when she saw me and insisted on taking lots of photos of Lizzie and me in all our finery before she allowed us to leave.

After picking up Jenny and Graham, Marshall drove us to the hotel for the event in Charles’ Bentley and when we stepped out and walked into the hotel foyer we drew a lot of attention, admiration from the men and jealous assessment from the women. We saw Mike and Julie waiting for us and they waved over to us to join them.

“ I’ve ordered the wine, so rather than stand in the reception area, let’s go to our table, and I’ll introduce you to the others.”, Mike said, hardly able to take his eyes off the pair of us. Our table towards the font of the room was made up with four of the investors in The Post, three men and one woman, which made for a balanced seating arrangement. Mike made the introductions and they were most impressed when Lizzie was introduced as ‘Lady Elizabeth Bolton’, which was the name on her place-card and the table plan.

“Pleased to meet you Lady Bolton.” said one of the men formally, introducing himself.

“ Oh, for goodness sake this is a social event and I am here as a ‘plus one’, please just call me Lizzie like everyone else does.” She replied with a gracious smile.

The North TV group were on the next table to us, Jenny and Graham, Fizz and her husband Rob, and two of the presentation team and their partners. We said hello and introduced our various guests before sitting down for the meal.

We had an enjoyable meal in pleasant company but I had to admit that my taste buds had been spoiled by Mrs H’s cooking and Marshalls wine selection, but then gave the caterers a bit more credit, it must be difficult getting 160 meals all together at the same time, whilst catering for the growing fashion for vegetarian or vegan options. Soon it was down to the business of the evening, the run through of the nominations and presentation of the awards in the various categories. Most of the categories were already covered before they got to the ones we were interested in.

“Next, ‘News Story of the Year’, the nominations are………….There can only be one choice this year really, the corruption scandal involving council officers and building companies, broken by The Post.” The compere announced. Mike, Julie and I rose and walked up onto the stage, me lifting the hem of my skirt with one hand and Mike supporting me with one hand and Julie with other, to a generous round of applause. “ I am honoured to receive the award on behalf of The Post, but the credit really goes to Jane, it was her undercover investigation that first discovered what was going on.” Mike pointed towards me and started clapping and when it quietened down we returned to our seats, where we were heavily congratulated by all our guests, and a beaming proud Lizzie.

“After that,” continued the compere , “there can only be one winner for ‘Reporter of the Year. Miss Jane Harrison.” Again I walked up onto the stage, getting slightly embarrassed at the plaudits and wolf-whistles that were being directed towards me.

“The award of ‘Newspaper of the year’ was one of the most heavily contested areas, but by a unanimous decision of the Judging panel, it goes to The Post.” The compere greeted us warmly before continuing. “If this keeps going on we’ll have to get Jane a seat up here on the stage to save her climbing the steps each time.”

There was a short break before moving on to the awards for TV and radio. We were joined at our table by Graham Jenny and Fizz who congratulated me heartily, “Mum will be so proud of you Jane, this must all do wonders for your career.” Jenny almost cried as she gave me a big hug.

The ceremony continued going through numerous awards for the various categories before getting to ones for which TV North had been nominated.

Graham and Fizz and the other two presenters were delighted when they were called up for the award, ‘Regional News Programme of the Year.” It was thoroughly deserved, it was always topical and well researched, and presented by a friendly team that their audience could relate to, I was so pleased for them.

‘The Troubleshooter’ series also won them an award for ‘Factual Documentary Series’ and they insisted that I joined them for the presentation, although Graham and I let Fizz receive the award on our behalf, she had done most of the hard work on the various exposés and deserved her moment in the spotlight.

“Now to our final special award of the evening ‘Media Personality of the Year'. For her work on Spotlight and The Troubleshooter for TV North and for her excellent reports in The Post, there can only be one winner, I just hope that she has a shelf big enough for all the awards she has received this evening, please congratulate Miss Jane Harrison. As one, all the guests rose to applaud and cheer me. I was overwhelmed by all the people coming over to me to shake my hand and tears of happiness were forming in my eyes.

The rest of the evening was a blur for me, partly due to the celebration wine that our two tables were drinking, but mainly due to the emotion, but it was soon time to collect our things and all the awards and leave. When the Bentley pulled up, we were surprised to see not just Marshall in the driving seat, but Mum and Charles in the back waiting for us.

“Jenny called to say what a successful night you have had and we just had to see you right away to congratulate you, I am so proud of you.” Mum did actually cry as she gave me a hug.

“Let’s get you all home and we can have our own private celebration. You need to unwind, you are so high with excitement” added Charles.

The next morning I woke up with a very fuzzy head from too much celebration Champagne, but still in very high spirits from my success the previous night. I showered, as much to clear my head and freshen up as to clean myself. Mum was downstairs in the kitchen chatting to Mrs H. having coffee and toast.

“Good morning, I could really do with a coffee, really strong and sweet and just some toast, I don’t think I could face anything else at the moment. When I woke up Lizzie, who hadn’t been drinking much at the event and was therefore a lot fresher than me, had already got out of bed, is she still around?”

“She’s in with Charles,’ said Mum, “a date has been set for William’s trial for a fortnight’s time. From what they have been told he intends to plead not guilty to all the charges, despite witnesses to the rape of Charlotte Maltravers, though there were a lot of witnesses to that, and you and Lizzie saw him trying to rape Jenny. Charles is so disappointed, saying that it’s typical of him, making all those poor girls go to court to relive their experiences. I think that they are going to try to reason with him to plead guilty for the girls’ sakes, but also as a guilty plea could help to get him a lower sentence.”

“Why is it Mum that William always spoils everything and bursts the bubble when things are otherwise going so well, it has really put a dampener for me on this weekend.”

Two weeks later Charles, Mum, and Lizzie went down to London to watch the trial, Jenny went with them as a potential witness in the case of his attempted rape of her. I stayed at the Manor as I had commitments with North TV for another exposé programme and also that I wanted to finish my book ‘Colonel Armitage, Hussar’.

Lizzie phoned me with daily reports of the trial. William was still pleading not guilty, in denial, and was generally being belligerent and arrogant in court, his barrister trying to pick holes in the stories of the various victims and witnesses, including Jenny and Lizzie. At the end of the trial the jury returned after only a half-hour discussion to announce guilty verdicts on all counts. After a short recess to consider the length of sentence to give, theJudge gave him a term of a minimum of fifteen years, which caused him to start screaming with rage and issuing threats before he was roughly manhandled down to the cells awaiting transfer to a category B prison just outside London. As is typical with rapists, particularly serial rapists, he was to be kept in an isolation wing for his own safety, even hardened criminals have their own honour code and rape is only one step above child abuse in their eyes, rough retributive justice commonly takes place.

Charles and Lizzie visited him in the custody cells before his transfer to prison to try to reason with him, but he tried to attack Lizzie before the guards stepped in to restrain him. “ You bloody bitch,” he screamed at her, “you now have everything you always wanted, my inheritance, my house, my land and my title. Don’t think you have seen the last of me, even if I have wait fifteen years, you will eventually get your comeuppance.”

Lizzie was still upset when they returned to the Manor the next day, but between Charles and I we convinced her that his prison term was a minimum and that if he showed no signs of a change of character that he could serve even longer.

Time was marching on, and Lizzie would soon be showing, so She, Mum and I hurried along planning our weddings. It was agreed that a small family group would attend at the Manor for the civil marriage of Lizzie and I, followed by the formal church ceremonies for the wedding of Mum and Charles and the blessing of our marriage, in the local church at the edge of the Bolton Estate. The reception was planned for a large Marquee in the gardens of the Manor with invitations to all our friends and business colleagues along with many of the local dignitaries and Charles’ fellow peers.

The next few weeks were a blur of discussions with caterers and wedding planners and visits to seamstresses for fittings of our custom-designed wedding gowns. It was difficult to coordinate visits so that Lizzie and I did not have sight of the other’s dress, so she went with one of her cousins who was to be a bridesmaid, and Jenny, who was to be my bridesmaid and Mum came with me.

On wedding day, Susie and her team arrived at the crack of dawn to start getting us all, including the bridesmaids, in perfect condition.

After an hour and a half of a makeover and styling my hair into a sophisticated undo with dropped ringlets, I was squeezed into a tight body-shaper, before being laced into my wedding gown. I had decided that of the two of us, Lizzie could take the part of the bride, after all she had been brought up dreaming of this day for years, and could go for the formal really fancy gown. I had gone for a lower-key dress, still formal but not quite as fancy, an ivory flowing full-length gown with lace bodice and shoulders, finished with a short matching wedding veil pined to the back of my hair with a silver comb.

Jenny was flitting between Mum and helping us both get prepared and when she came back and saw me she almost burst into tears.

“Jane, you are looking absolutely gorgeous, when you first told me about your body changing to female, I never imagined that you would turn out so well, I will be proud to walk behind you as your bridesmaid. Mum is just about ready too. She is a lot more restrained than you, as this is her second marriage, but is looking beautiful in her pale blue lace midi dress and layered patchwork fall. I haven’t had the chance to see Lizzie yet, so that will be a surprise for us all. Let me just put the finishing touches to myself and we can then collect Mum and go downstairs.”

We made our way down to the banqueting hall for the civil wedding, where Jenny looking absolutely delightful in her cerise bridesmaid dress stood next to me as my ‘best man’ and bridesmaid all rolled into one. The music started and we all turned to see Lizzie being escorted in on the arm of her father in full military dress uniform. She was a fairy-tale princess, absolutely gorgeous in a pure white silk full wedding dress and veil with a long train trailing behind her, her face lit up with a radiant smile, followed by her two bridesmaids and flower girls. She stood next to me facing each other and our eyes locked, and I knew that my love for her would never wane.

After the registrar had completed the formalities, we all made our way to the church where most of the guests had been waiting expectedly for us. Charles was first to go in with one of his old army colleagues as best man, followed by me, with Susie, now changed into her finery escorting me. Lizzie, on Mum’s arm, followed by Jenny as Mums bridesmaid, and Lizzie’s bridesmaids then processed down the aisle to join us. Relationships and responsibilities were a bit confused from usual wedding ceremonies, but the vicar managed to cope with the confusion of the wedding and the blessing and it all went off without a hitch.

After what seemed like hours of photographs of all the wedding groups Mum, Charles, Lizzie and I were driven back to the marquee on the lawn to line up to greet all the guests, making their way to their tables for the wedding breakfast.

Apart from the few speeches, Charles’ best man telling some ribald stories of Charles’ youth, Jenny letting out some of the secrets of my younger days, and Charles saying how much his life had been changed since Ellen and Jane had arrived on the scene, it was a very informal and enjoyable affair. Charles and Mum, along with Lizzie and me, led the first dance before being joined by many of our guests which continued into late evening before people started drifting away. I spent a lot of time chatting with Susie, Babs Linda, Mike and Julie from The post, Graham and Fizz from TV North, The Cartwrights, and Caroline and Martin who had become good friends, while Lizzie did the same with her and Charles’ guests.

At the end of the evening there was only the immediate family left, and still in all our finery we sat down together to unwind after all the excitement and consider how all our lives had changed in such a short time, before making our ways to our beds for our own private celebrations.

The next day Lizzie and I completed our packing and went off for our honeymoon at a secluded lodge on the end of a pontoon jutting out into the crystal clear blue waters of the Indian Ocean, serviced by a hotel further up the beach, it was a wonderful romantic setting, watching the sun go down over the other islands and the turtles and fish swimming under our lodges, a perfect start to our married life.

However it was too soon time to go back to the realities of life and return to the Manor. Mum and Charles had been having an equally good time, on a smaller scale in a top floor suite of a large clifftop hotel in Cornwall, much more gentile and less adventurous than our honeymoon.

“You’ll be pleased to know, Jane, that the proposals have received planning permission and work has started on the Bolton Centre development, however over the next two years or so you will need to commit to regular meetings with the construction team. When you have time give James and Darren a call to schedule something out. You will not be so pleased to know that the trial of Ridgeley and Edwards for the attempt on your life by driving you off the road starts next week. You have been called as a witness and so will not be able to cover it for The Post, you’d better let Mike know so that he can get someone else up to speed to cover it.”

The trial was relatively short, the forensic evidence, the independent witness and my description of the events, left no doubt in the minds of the Jury and Judge, although they were found guilty of ‘Grievous Bodily Harm with intent’ rather than attempted murder. Amanda Edwards, as the perpetrator of the attack was sentenced to 16 years, and Ridgeley, as an accessory, to 10 years. The judge made it clear that this sentence would also be considered when the fraud trial with which they were also involved came to court.

Starting just over a month later, the trial of the pair of them, along with Hargreaves, eight other council officers or officials, and ten construction company employees was a much more complicated, longer, and drawn out affair, lasting almost 3 months. Most of my time was covering the trial for the Post and TV North, as I was not to be called as a witness I was able to attend as a reporter and was giving nightly reports on Spotlight reviewing the proceedings of the day.

I had a lot of sympathy with the Jury, there was so much information being thrown at them by the prosecution and defence lawyers. The council officials were all claiming that Ridgeley , Edwards, and all the other construction companies’ employees, had groomed them with minor inducements and then blackmailed them into awarding contracts where they had been forced to provide details of other more competitive bids, which could then be undercut or disregarded for minor technical or legal breaches of the tender process. That version was countered by the lawyers for the construction companies who claimed that the council employees and officers had made it plain that unless they were given substantial backhanders there was no chance of them getting the work. Even knowing some of the people involved, I found it difficult to know who to believe, and struggled to unravel the lies, half-truths, and glib deliberately misleading statements by the defence lawyers.

Eventually the trial concluded with all defendants being found guilty to some degree. When the verdicts were announced the judge strongly condemned the web of corruption that had blighted our town and surrounding area, praised the police for the difficult and detailed financial forensic searches they had carried out, and even gave special thanks to me for the original exposé.

At sentencing a week later, Ridgeley and Hargreaves were sent down for 12 years, most of the others for terms between 3 and 10 years, all with severe fines to compensate the council and authorities for losses and additional costs that they had incurred. The Judge made it clear that the sentence for Ridgeley was to be consecutive to the one already imposed for the GBH against me, meaning that he would be locked away for 21 years, unless he got an earlier parole.

The scandal brought down the council after they agreed to new elections, insisted on by the voters who now had no faith in the whole political regime, and the whole department dealing with tendering council projects and approval of planning applications were moved to other duties and completely new teams established. The only ones that came out of it all positively were the Cartwrights. A lot of their competitors had either gone out of business or been stripped of contracts because of the illegal and underhanded actions of their staff, and Darren picked up a lot of new business to help ease the handover of the company from James to him. This allowed him and his company to settle all of the commercial claims they had against their suppliers and sub-contractors for the false invoicing.

I hardly had time after the troubles and stress of the trials when my life was again disrupted by the arrival of Henry Arthur Bolton, a beautiful and healthy baby boy. Most of my other activities were put on hold for a while as I helped Lizzie to care for him, supported by Mum and Charles, who was particularly delighted that the dynasty started by his forebears Henry and Arthur was now secure.

As I cradled our baby in my arms and held him to my breast, I thought back to the changes that had happened to my life in the past year or so. I had gone from being an unremarkable junior reporter on a local newspaper to be a TV personality, an award-winning journalist, a successful novelist, married to my wonderful wife Lizzy, and the father/mother of a future Earl. I wistfully thought back to how it had all started that fateful Halloween when Jenny had persuaded me to go out with her and her friends, dressed as a girl, and how it had all progressed from there to the wonderful life I now had.

The End