Part 3

The three of us sat there, stunned. Derek had a big grin on his face and then he took up the explanation.

“We will want you to do the tour in period dress. We know that this is a bit of an imposition, but it would add to the accuracy of the delivery. You may have noticed a lot of pictures taken, late in the tour, today. I don’t think any of you saw what we saw.”

Here, he showed us a picture, on his phone, of me standing next to the Lady D’Aubigny. I didn’t see the point, but both Claudette and Sally hooted with laughter. It was then pointed out that I was the spitting image of a younger version of the portrait.

“What I want you to do, Jesse, is to write out a story as if you were, indeed, the lady in the picture. The brochure will have a picture we take of you, in a similar dress, in front of the portrait. I am thinking something like “Come and hear history come to life at Kedleston Hall.” We’ll try to have similar dresses for the others. As far as the gardening is concerned, I’ll see if I can employ another man to take over, although your work there has been exemplary. Claudette will be the leader of your group, seeing that she has the extra time and knows the ways you can get things done, and Sally, you can be in charge of the costumes. We’ll free up a room for you to use, we do have a few that are empty.”

“I want to help,” put in Lady Curzon. “This sounds like a fun project that could put us solidly on the map of places to visit. I’ll have a talk to my old pals in the media, when we have something to show them. I think they may be interested.”

I recalled that she had been a local newsreader, once, but gave it up when she married. As I sat there, I was thinking of the pictures, and the historic aspects of the people, coupled with the pictures that each one contributed to the collection. Some were so big, it would be silly to try and move any, but they could be mentioned in earlier or later parts of the tour. This was my big break, where I could use all of my training and knowledge to produce something that would make my future CV something to be proud of. Derek then continued.

“I’m going to get in touch with a few of the bigger art groups, to see if they want to take part in a special tour, before we end the season. You may have to repeat today, but I’m sure that will give you a lot more ideas for the future. By the way, Brian has something he wants to say.”

“Thank you, Derek. Yes, I do want to say that I’ve been interested in ways that we can further the success of the Hall. This sounds good, and I’m certain that it will be fantastic. The thing, for me, is making certain that you stay with us for, at least, two seasons beyond this. With that in mind, His Lordship has agreed to partially fund your salary. You will stay as employees of the Trust, but we will put in something to lift your income. To do that, I’ll be putting together simple contracts that list you as Trust employees who are also permanent members of the family household, along the same lines as the servants that work on this side. That will ensure that you will be insured for any accident, over the top of the Trust policy.”

“We will also give you access to us, on this side,” grinned His Lordship. “I know that you won’t overdo it, but I want to be up to date with everything that goes on. Get this right and our door will always be open.”

When the talk petered out, the three of us made our excuses that it had been a very long day, and one of the servants showed us out. We were still dazed as we walked, slowly, back through the house. Claudette stopped dead as we were in the middle of the main hall.

“Do you realise what this means on our records. We are a special group, to make Kedleston famous. Today was tough, but it was our first outing, and the audience was a hard nut to crack. I have to ask something that they didn’t. Are we all in? It will be another two and a half years, minimum, on a salary that will be more than we earn now, but we won’t know how much until we see the papers.”

Sally thought for a moment, and then hugged us both.

“In! Of course, I’m in. This is going to be huge. We may even get on TV. I’m sure that this time next year, you’ll only have to type Kedleston to find thousands of posts. You’re very quiet Jesse, are you happy with it?”

All of a sudden, the size of the situation fell on me, and I started to cry. They both held me as I stood there sobbing.

“I’m -hic – not sure. What they said – hic – has been my dream – hic – but I always dreamed it happening as – hic - Edward Jamison.”

“So,” whispered Claudette in my ear. “What’s the difference, you still get the best gig in town. What’s so bad about doing it in a long dress?”

“But I’m a boy, dammit!”

“We know, we’ve seen you naked, only today. The thing is, you’re standing there, looking like a hot babe in a short dress. You spend a lot of the week being female, and it shows. I bet you wear the bra and panties under your gardening outfit.”

“Who told you, Are there cameras that show me adjusting the strap when it slips?”

They both dissolved into chuckles, and I found that I had to join in. The spell had been broken and I started to think more clearly.

“All right, already. I’m hooked. Who can knock back working with an aristocrat to tell his family history. So, I’ll be found out as a transvestite, called a queer, ridiculed by all and sundry. All my life I thought that my nickname was taken from a cowboy. I just realised that they called me Jessie because they always thought I was one. My mother wasn’t surprised to see a picture of me on my first day, looking like a girl. She never even asked if I had done it before, just assumed that I was comfortable with it. Look, my parents stay up late, what say we go to my house so I can tell them what’s been offered and show them the new me!”

Sally grinned. “I’m up for that. You’d better fix you face first, or else they’ll think you’re transitioning into a racoon.”

Claudette giggled. “I’ll stay here. I wouldn’t fit into the back of your car. I do have domination of the art world to plan, so that’ll last me until I sleep.”

We went back to the rooms, and I phoned my house, telling Mum that I would be popping in in a little while, as I had some news to tell them. Sally helped me fix my face and we got into the MG. Well, it wasn’t quite as easy as that. I needed extra training in how to get into a low sports car in a short dress by sitting and swivelling. Sally said that getting out was the opposite action but didn’t say that it was best done with a strong guy to pull you to your feet.

At my house, we extracted ourselves from the car and I led her in to meet my parents.

“Mum and Dad, this is Sally. We work together at the Hall, and she’s been very helpful.”

“I see that she’s helped you become a woman,” Mum giggled. “I expect that it is one of her dresses that you have on, they look as if they were bought by the same person. I have to say, Jesse, that you look fantastic, a daughter that I always suspected was inside. That early picture of you in the uniform was the beginning, was it?”

“You’re right Mum, they didn’t have any men’s uniforms in my size. It just went from there. Today I did a special tour, in the regulation skirt, and it went very well.”

“What about you, Sally, are you happy with this change?”

“Oh, yes, Mrs Jamison, we could see that she was Jesse, almost from the day she started. She just went with the flow and is now a very important part of the Hall.”

“Oh,” chipped in Dad. “How so?

“Well, the tour we did today featured Jesse talking about the art collection to a bunch of know-it-all London experts. She knocked them dead, and it was a successful first time for this type of tour. What we didn’t realise was that Lord Curzon was watching the whole thing. You tell them, Jesse.”

Mum told us to sit and sent Dad out to make hot chocolate all round. I explained about the offer we had been given once he had returned. Before he returned, though, Mum asked us about our relationship. It was only then that I realised that we did have a relationship. We had seen each other naked, just today. We had kissed, more than once, and we could be vocal, or silent, in each other’s company and it didn’t matter. With this was going through my head, Sally told her that we were very good friends and that she, for one, hoped that it would be for life.

We were still talking when Dawn came home. She immediately pulled out her phone and demanded that I stand so she could take pictures. That became a photo shoot, with me between my parents, with Sally with our arms around each other’s waist, and it became more than enough to bury me. She then proceeded to do just that, sending them out to her friends with the tag of ‘Jesse, she has finally come out, doesn’t she look cute!’ Not more cute pictures of me in the cloud. When I groaned, she scrolled through her phone and showed Sally the pictures of me as Cinderella, and we all had a good laugh.

That done, it was time to go back to the Hall, with Mum telling me that she has to have a shopping trip with me, on my day off, Wednesday. We made a time that I would pick her up. This was all happening so fast. I was overloaded and gave Sally the car keys to drive us back. She had driven it a few times when we were out on our days off. It was a good job I did, as we were pulled over by the police. They wanted to know who we were, and where we were going. They looked at her licence and breathalysed her, while I just sat there and smiled. When they asked who the car belonged to, she told them it was Edward Jamison, her boyfriend, who was at the Hall tonight, while she, and her friend Jesse, had been visiting his parents. They wished us well and let us go.

“Whew, Sally. I don’t know what I would have done if I had to show my licence, they would have probably called for a van to take me off to the asylum.”

“Don’t be silly, this is a new world. There’s lots of girls like you around, even regulars on TV. If you go to some clubs, in the bigger cities, you’ll see hordes of transvestites, shemales or drag queens. You’re not the only one in the world, but you are probably the only one who is a genius, funny, cute, and lovable.”

“Thanks for that, I think. I love you too.”

“That’s good,” she said as she pulled to the side of the road. “Now kiss me and say that.”

So, I did.

Next morning, I was out on the mower, singing as I mowed up and down. I had never been so happy in my life. For the first time, I hadn’t pulled my hair up into the hat, and it flowed down behind me. The hi-vis overalls were unbuttoned enough to see my bra, if you looked closely, and I was wearing make-up. It was a good day to be alive. That afternoon, I went to see Derek, to ask him what the procedure was to put me down as transgender and to make sure that the contracts that were to be signed were in the name of Jesse Jamison.

Tuesday, we had two coach tours, and I did my duty in the skirt and with my new face. Claudette told us that we had two rooms that she had found, next to each other. They had previously been second kitchens, and already had big workbenches and big dining tables. All we had to do was give them a clean. When Sally and I saw them, we pretended to punch her, as a bit of a clean took us all of three weeks, in the evenings. I was the one, though, that had the job of removing all of the spider webs, and their owners.

On the Wednesday, I wore the skirt and top that I had gone to the first dance in. Mum got in, and directed me to Nottingham, where we parked in the city car park, then walked for hours, shopped for hours, drank coffee, ate cake, and laughed a lot. I went back to the Hall with a lot of bags and a closeness to my mother that would have never been possible before I truly became Jesse. I put my shopping away with care. I now had more skirts and tops, a couple of dresses and, thankfully, shoes that fitted properly, up to three-inch heels.

That evening, at dinner, I wore one of the new outfits, along with a pair of new hoops in my ears and was hugged by each and every girl in the crew, Sally being the last one in line, capping it off with a long kiss that brought applause. Claudette took the opportunity to tell the others the whole story about the future ‘special’ tour, and what was in store for the winter break. She then announced that one of the rooms we would be cleaning would be the girls’ retreat, as she had found a store of old armchairs.

Derek chipped in with a TV, something we had been without, using laptops in our rooms to watch. I offered to donate an urn, so we could have hot water, and one of the others said she knew where there was a store with cups and mugs. So, over the next few weeks, the retreat was created, somewhere where we could relax, together, in the evenings. As it was right next door to where we would be organising the tour, it would be inevitable that we would have a stream of visitors, wanting to help.

Lady C sent over a copy of the family tree. We pored over it, with a list of the portraits, and I was able to put together a narrative, telling the story of the family, along with things they had brought into the Hall. Some of the paintings were part of the Trust collection, so had no relevance to the story, so they would be left in place. Some evenings, we would be wandering the rooms we knew so well, working out what needed to be moved. The whole group got involved with this, and, by the end of the season, we had a list for the break, with it being quite doable.

We did another two special tours before the end of the season. One was for a selected group of Trust property managers, augmented by most of the other girls. That was the first one we did in period costume. The three of us were helped into the dresses that Sally had made, with a bit of help. I felt like a proper lady as I floated around the grand rooms. For these tours we didn’t wear our name badges.

The other was really funny. It was a group of students from the University, some I had known while I was there. They were joined by a group of teachers, including a couple of professors that had taught me. The fact that none of them recognised me, with one professor asking Derek where he had found the young lady with the brilliant knowledge, was a bonus. I was now Jesse, and damn proud of it!

When we closed for the season, Derek hosted a meal in the Hall dining room. All of us girls, the gardeners, including my replacement, a very fit young man who had caught the eye of more than one of our group, some Trust people, and the family. It was a lovely meal, with a few kind words on how we had all helped make it a successful summer, after a couple of bad years of lockdowns and lack of crowds.

After that, the uniforms all went off to be properly cleaned and repaired, the jeans and sweaters came out, and we set to work cleaning the place. With scaffolding and a scissor lift in, we swept all the accumulated webs out from the high places and started moving the pictures around. The Rubens came out into the main hall and, by the time we had everything cleaned, it certainly looked different. It was a bit like listening to a CD. You get to know which song comes next, and then you hear it on shuffle, and it all sounds new.

It was then that we set to preparing for the short Christmas Season. While we had the scaffold in place, we added some tinsel around. The biggest job was in the Great Kitchen Restaurant, which was totally made over for the Christmas festivities. The gardeners brought in some Christmas trees, scattered around, and the place was really different. All the while, we had visitors in the grounds, taking part in the Winter Walks, and the Restaurant and shop remained open, now with winter stocks.

At the end of November, we presented our first run-through of the new tour, to an audience of the other girls, the gardeners, the family, staff, and some Trust guys. It went well, as we had done it several times already, in the evenings with no-one around. At the final portrait, I stood next to my likeness, and thanked everyone for listening, the Claudette and Sally joined me. This would be the final part, so that the customers could get pictures of the four of us. Yes, the four, I felt that the Lady D’Aubigny was with us, applauding every snippet that we imparted. We had rehung her portrait so that, when I stood in front, her head and shoulders were visible over my head. We had signed our new contracts, giving us a little more income but a lot more certainty.

The brochure had been printed, with me in the middle and the others on either side. There was even postcards ready to be sold in the shop. Over the whole process, the three of us had become friendly with the restaurant and shop staff, all of them sure that we’ll bring them more customers.

The beginning of December had us all back into full customer mode. The Winter Walks continued, and the house was open over four-day weekends. Starting on the first of December, the Advent trail was open, and the restaurant and shop stayed open. We had Breakfast with Santa, in the restaurant, and us girls acted as waitresses and general security. The hardest was making sure that the children didn’t run off into the hall. It was easier with the Teatime with Santa meals, as most of the children were getting tired by then.

In the middle of the month, we had a choral group one evening, so we acted as usherettes. In all, it was a lovely time. Derek had organised a pre-Christmas Christmas dinner, for us and our families. It was set down for the Saturday of the last weekend before Christmas, and we were to present our tour for them. The invites went out, and my parents replied, listing all three of my sisters and the two husbands, plus two of my younger sisters’ friends. They were to arrive before three, to view the house, have the tour, spend up big in the shop, and then pig out at the dinner.

The other girls were working, looking after our guests as they all arrived. At four, they were gathered at the starting point and the three of us came out in our dresses. I could see my family with phones flashing away. We started the tour and amazed the crowd with our knowledge. Well, we must have done well as I saw only four of them slink off during the event. When we arrived at the last portrait and said thank you, it was a barrage of flashes. I’m sure that my family bought enough postcards to give us a profit on the day.

After being mobbed by our relatives, the three of us went off to change into something suitable for dinner, then came out to help the others as they took turns to change out of the uniforms. By six, we had everyone in the restaurant and sitting down, with all of us girls in party dresses. The gardeners scrubbed up well, and they had a number of relatives with them. There was a general feeling of disappointment among the girls when we saw our fit young man had a wife and child with him.

I was at a table with my family, and answered all the questions from the two sisters that hadn’t seen my new self. One of the husbands was quite nasty, referring to me as ‘he’, until Dad admonished him. The general thought was that the tour we had put on would look good on TV. When the coffees had come around, the Curzon’s came in and he gave a speech about how well we had all done over the year, and how he was looking forward to the next summer season, when the tour they had seen would be a special ‘premium’ event. Before they left, I saw Lady C stop by Claudette, and then Sally, before arriving at our table. She said hello to everyone and congratulated my parents on having such beautiful, and intelligent, daughters. She then asked me to come to the hall on the Monday of the second week of January. She said there would be a bunch of her friends who wanted to film our tour.

I wished her a Merry Christmas and stood to give her a thank you hug for all her help. That took the smirk off my brother-in-law’s face, I can tell you. I could see Dawn about to burst, but Dad tapped his teaspoon on his cup and gave her such a look, she kept quiet. Her two pals were beside themselves, as well. When we finished, our families left us. We had another two days of visitors before the Hall was closed and we could go home for a holiday.

During the previous week, Sally had asked me for some money, saying she had seen something that we could give each other for Christmas. Tuesday morning, I packed up the MG as she packed up her car. She gave me a box, marked ‘Sally’ then we wished each other a Merry Christmas and gave each other the present. They were pendants in a Ying and Yang format, which snapped together, hers was the Ying, while I was Yang. We kissed and then she said that she had used left-over money to buy Claudette a pendant, which turned out to be a smaller, but complete Ying and Yang one, when we had given it to her. We had a group hug, said that we would meet up again in the second week of January, then left the Hall for our holiday.

Marianne Gregory © 2023