On the way back home Kathy and Jayne had a long talk about how brave Fiona was, not being afraid of being seen in public anymore. Although the Morrisettes and most of their husbands knew about Jayne, it was not otherwise common knowledge and the conversation. drifted as to whether it was now time for Jayne to be more open about who she really was.

When they arrived home the discussion took a sinister turn as there was an envelope pinned to their door with the words ‘PERVERT TRANNY’ in large capitals written across it,

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Stunned and shocked Jayne grabbed the envelope and they rushed inside, so as not to let any potential culprit who may have been watching see their reaction.

She ripped open the envelope to find a folded typewritten note inside.

“Your dirty little secret is out pervert. How will your neighbours who are not yet aware of what you are doing react and what will they think about those women, and I assume that they are all real women, in your alleged Morris team, who have gone along with your fantasy charade? One of your clients at Alderley Edge posted some details online saying what a wonderful remodelling of their house Irwin Interiors of Mayfield had carried out and how pleasant Jayne was to work with, how will she react when she finds out that her new best friend is actually a man? Will exposing you affect all the lucrative work you have lined up.? Only time will tell, meanwhile I will leave you to sweat it out and lose sleep, and will be in touch again soon.”

Jayne read it twice before passing it over to Kathy.

:I thought that things were all going rather too well, if this gets back to Amanda, Catherine and their friends I can’t see much more work coming from that area, and I don’t want the girls in the dance team to get picked on for going along with my pretence. I don’t know how to deal with this, we don’t even know who has sent the note.”

Let’s deal with things as they arrive, First things first, at the practice tomorrow, you must tell the girls that it will all probably become common knowledge and that they ought to be ready for when anyone has a go at them. Let’s leave your clients alone for the moment and wait for the next step from the person who wrote this.

At the end of the training session, Jayne told the team to stay and sit down as she had something to tell them.

OK girls, it had to happen eventually, somebody, who is anything but a well-wisher, has found out about my past as John and is threatening to make it common knowledge in the village, in the Morris world, and to my clients. I am worried that you all will be faced with abuse for knowingly associating with, in his words, a pervert and tranny. I am sorry if this will cause any of you any problems, and will understand if you no longer want me to lead the team.”

“Jayne, and as far as I am concerned that is who you now are, let me tell you that if anyone bad-mouths me, or starts criticising you, that I will tell them simply and loudly, and probably crudely, that they are an interfering bigot and that I would rather be in your company than theirs.” Laura was the first to react, as she came over to give me a sympathetic hug. One by one they all said and did more or less the same things.

“I really appreciate your support girls, but please do not do anything that you will later regret. Also, you had better tell your husbands and partners, if they don’t already know, because they are likely to be targets of abuse too.”Jayne was having difficulty holding back the tears. “If any of you hear anything or see anyone suspicious loitering near our house, please let me know, I need to find out who is behind this.”

When we arrived back home, Jayne gave a call to Suzi. “Hi Suzi, bad news I’m afraid. Someone has found out about me really being John and is threatening to tell my clients and ruin my business. Have you heard anything yet?”

“Not a thing, if I do hear anything I’ll let you know straight away. That’s awful, why would anybody be that nasty?”

“Somebody obviously has a problem with the way I am living my life. However, it is bound to come out sooner or later, it’s only a matter of time before someone accidentally says the wrong thing to the wrong person, I’m seriously thinking of either giving up with working as Jayne or alternatively being open and honest about it. How do you think Amanda, Caroline and the others will react if they found out the truth about me?”

“Look Jayne, everyone has accepted you as the person you appear to be and that they have made friends with, as well as employing you because of your talents. Obviously they will probably be shocked and maybe initially offended that you have lied to them, but I think that they will get over it. I am sure that any projects that you still have ongoing will not be affected, and probably anything you have been promised will work its way through, but whether or not they will recommend you to anyone new I’m not sure about. Amanda and Caroline were quite accepting of Fiona once they got over the shock and I’ll be surprised if they react badly towards you. Make an excuse to not come to the next get-together and I’ll find a way to sound out their attitudes towards cross-dressers without telling them about you, probably by being open with them all about Jeremy and his times as Fiona.”

“Thanks for that Suzi, you are a true friend. Let me know how you get on.”

Kathy had been listening in and had a worried frown. “What do you want to do, are you going back to being John or are you going to face the world as Jayne, with all the problems that will bring?”

“To be honest I don’t really know. I am personally happy and comfortable living as a woman, but there is a nagging worry about what will happen if it becomes public knowledge. Let’s see if we get any more threatening letters snd see what reaction Suzi gets from my clients and then decide how to react.”

A few days later There was another envelope pushed through the letterbox but by the time Jayne opened the door and looked out, there was nobody to be seen. Jayne ripped open the envelope and hastily scanned the letter inside.

“Are you sleeping well pervert or are you worried that your secret is about to be revealed? You have two days to comply with my demands or everyone will know what a weird person they are living next to or employing.

You are to be open and honest with your clients, and I have now found several more in addition to Amanda Barclay.”
"

After taking note of the contents of the letter, and after a long discussion with Kathy, it was decided that the problem was not going to go away and that the threats would have to be faced down.

“Hi Suzi, it’s got even worse, we’ve had another threatening letter. When you talk to the others about Jeremy/Fiona, unless they rect badly and prove to be bigoted, which I don’t really expect, go ahead and tell them about me. Even if they are accepting there might still be a feeling that I have lied to them and that they cannot trust me to do business with them. I’ll just have to accept that.”

“Are you sure, you might still be able to stop whoever is threatening you in their tracks?”

“I’ve realised that it will come out sooner or later, if not this time, there will be someone else come along.”

“Ok , if that’s what you want. I’m meeting up with the girls tomorrow at Amanda’s, I will let you know how I have got on.”

Mid-afternoon the following day Jayne tentatively answered the phone, after seeing Suzi’s name on the caller display.

“Hi Jayne, what are you doing now, can you come over to Amanda’s? I’ve told them about you and they want to have a discussion with you, but don’t worry, everything will be fine.”

Although Suzi had reassured Jayne that there was nothing to worry about, when she arrived at Amanda’s house her head was full of all the thoughts that she had on the drive over, how they would all react, and how she would have to respond. There was not even time to have second thoughts as the gates were already open and as the car pulled up outside the house, Amanda came rushing out, took her hand, gave her a quick hug, and led her inside.

“Right Jayne, you are among friends here, We’ll talk in a while about how we have all got into this situation, but sit down, have a glass of wine, and we’ll tell you about our plan as to how to deal with this.” Amanda took charge of the discussions while the others just kept sneaking glances towards Jayne, trying to find a chink in her character.

The girls had come up with an idea about how to trace the blackmailer, and after adding a few refinements it was decided that Jayne should call the bluff and see what would happen.

“Ok, let’s put that to bed for the moment, you have a lot to tell us, Suzi obviously knows more than she has said to us. We were stunned when she told us about you, you are just so much a woman it is hard to believe that you aren’t. We’ve all only ever known you as Jayne, and have come to really like you and accept you into our little social circle of friends. As far as we are all concerned, and I speak for everyone here, you are Jayne, and always will be. You obviously need help and that is what friends are for, so if everything works out things can get back to how they were and we can start to enjoy ourselves again. Have another glass of wine while you tell us the full story of how you have become Jayne, and then we can get on with our normal gossip.”

After Jayne had filled in all the details, for the rest of the afternoon she was treated just as she had always been. No further mention was made of her situation, she was just another one of the girls in the group, even getting the usual round of goodbye hugs as they all left.

On the drive home, rather than the worried thoughts she had on the way to Amanda’s, she was in quite a good mood, everything had gone better than expected. There was now no need to worry about losing any projects with Amanda’s friends and their friends and neighbours, they all promised to continue to spread details about her talents and make recommendations to use her.

When she arrived back home, Kathy was waiting for her with a querying look on her face, desperate to know how it had all gone.

“I was almost in tears, they were all so understanding, and even after I had told them everything, they continued to treat me as just another one of the girls in the group. They had even worked out a plan as to how to deal with the blackmail. Give the girls in the dance team a call and let’s make arrangements.”

The next evening they all arrived at the local pub/restaurant in the village, all dressed up in their finery and with full evening make up, obviously out for a celebration. Jayne had made special effort to appear as feminine as possible, with her hair teased into soft curls and wearing a figure-hugging low-cut sleeveless cocktail dress and matching killer heels, there could be no doubt that she was ignoring the threats and was going to continue to present as Jayne.

After the meal their waitress bought in a large birthday cake, with pink candles along with bottles of champagne, and Laura stood up to make a toast. “Jayne, we have all got to love you as you now are, and although it’s not your natural birthday, this will now become the celebration of the birth of your new life, Girls raise your glasses to our new sister, Jayne.“

We knew that it would not be long before the word got around the village on the gossip grapevine, and carried on the celebrations for the rest of the evening.

As expected, when we arrived home with several of the girls to discuss what we had done, there was another note on the door. “You have chose to ignore our warnings and even flaunt yourself in front of the village as the parody of a woman that you have chosen to be. You will now have to face the consequences. Obviously most of your friends and neighbours will already have heard that you have outed yourself tonight and you will now have to face people every time you leave the house with them knowing what a pervert you are. Tomorrow your affluent clients will also know the truth and hopefully your business will collapse and you will no longer be able to continue in your chosen lifestyle. You were warned.”

“Thanks Laura and Mel, that’s what I was hoping for, now go and retrieve the footage recorded from the covert camera in the gatepost.”

Unfortunately although the camera was set on night vision, the person posting the letter was wearing a hoodie and could not be identified, except to say that it was definitely a man and judging from his height and build surprisingly was not who we expected it to be, Jerry Ashton.

It did not tale long for the blackmailer to carry out his threats, the following morning Jayne received calls from Amanda, Caroline and Suzi saying that they had received hate-filled rants on their phones from someone claiming to offer friendly advice to them to avoid further contact with the liar and cheat that they had employed to carry out work on their houses, and that despite appearances under all the finery and concealment Jayne Owen was in fact a man called John. Already prepared, the girls had all feigned shock and horror that they had been cruelty duped and thanked him for letting them know.

“The plan worked, it just needed you to provoke him.” Suzi told her. “Jeremy had arranged through a friend of a friend to put an interface and trace app on all of our phone lines and we have two numbers that originated the calls, Jeremy is now trying to find the matching names and addresses. How is it going over in Mayfield, have you had any reaction yet from your neighbours?”

“I’ve not been out yet, but Kathy was down at the village shop earlier and it’s all been a big non-event so far, no-one mentioned anything to her, people were either being discreet or were just completely unfazed by it all, to be honest I think a lot of people already knew or had had least guessed from seeing me around.”

Two hours later Suzi called again. “We’ve got the names for you, John Cassidy and Jerry Ashton, both in Mayfield, do you know them?”

“Jerry Ashton is the top dog in the Mayfield Morrismen, he has a thing about women not belonging in the Morris world and I embarrassed and humiliated him a few weeks ago when he mouthed off at one of our performances, that is not unexpected. I am surprised though at John Cassidy, he’s Ashton’s no.2, and although he was never particularly friends with me, he has never had a go at me either. Thank Jeremy for me, I’ll let you all know what I am doing about it.”

Jim, the pub landlord, called late evening saying that as Jayne had wished to know when Cassidy next visited, he was now there in the pub drinking himself stupid, looking miserable drowning his worries at the bar. Kathy and I went to have a chat with him and found him silent and morose, well the worse for drink.
.
“What do you want, you have caused me enough troubles today” he turned and barked at them as they approached him.

“John, let’s go out into the beer garden, we need to have a private talk with you, I’m sure that you know what it is about, and to be honest, the fresh air will do you no harm.” Kathy calmly took him by the arm and led him outside.

“Why are you and Ashton hounding me, what have I done to deserve it all?” Jayne stared him in his eyes as she quietly raised the question

“Don’t be having a go at me, I had to deliver those notes, and make those calls, I had no choice but to do what Ashton told me to do, and I didn’t know at the time what was in the notes that I left” He replied after a long pause, looking miserable and worried.

“Why? Are you being blackmailed too, what does Ashton have on you?”

“Nobody knows this, so if I’m honest with you please keep it to yourselves. When I first came to the village after university, I got a young girl from the school where I teach pregnant. She was only sixteen so it wasn’t criminal but as she was in one of my classes it was against professional ethics and it was best to keep it quiet. Her family sold up and moved elsewhere, before it became obvious as to what had happened. One night, having had a few drinks after dance practice, I told Ashton, I needed to unburden my guilt and I thought that he was a friend. Since then he has held it over me, threatening to tell everyone that I am a paedophile, often asking for loans which are never repaid and always asking me to support him for election to being in charge of the various clubs he is a member of. So I am suffering as much as you are, although I don’t think that I would be forgiven and accepted by the villagers as easily as you have been.”

“Ok John, we’ll leave it at that for the moment, while we think what to do about Ashton. You’ve known him a long time, has he any secrets.?”

“Not that I know of, but whenever there is anything on the news and discussions in the pub about military operations he changes the subject, I think that there is something in his military history that he is hiding, it might be worth looking into if you know anyone who has contacts in the Army, MOD, or the British Legion.”

After a few phone Calls Jayne found that Charles, Caroline’s husband was chairman of the local branch of the British Legion and was able to freely access the service records of ex-military personnel. After a quick phone call he agreed to investigate Major Jerry Ashton of the Royal Hussars for her, and a few hours later he called her back and related what he had discovered.

That evening Ashton was surprised when he answered a knock on the door to see Jayne, Kathy and Laura.

“What do you want, you look like Macbeth’s three witches - hubble bubble toil and trouble?”

“I think that you had better invite us in, where are your manners? I’m sure that you will not want your neighbours to hear what I have to say.” Jayne snapped at him as she pushed him aside. “This is not a social call so there is no need to offer us a drink Jerry. Why have you been blackmailing me?”

“I don’t know what you are talking about.”

“Come on Jerry, we have been talking to John Cassidy who has told us everything, including how you have been blackmailing him for a long time. Why have you been doing this to me.”

“Apart from the fact that you are a pervert who is trying to pass himself off as a woman and deserve to be exposed, you and your team the Morrisettes are making a mockery of everything that is traditional about Morris dancing. I want you to give up on all this nonsense and live a life without lies and troublemaking.”

“I’m not the only one living a life of lies am I Jerry? Since I found out that it was you that was blackmailing me, I have been looking into your background, and a good friend has checked your service record. Rather than having been a Major in the Royal Hussars, a war hero with a chestful of medals that you proudly wear at the Remembrance Day parades, you actually served as a corporal in the Catering Corps. The nearest you ever got to active service was ladlling out soup to the real heroes. You have no right to wear those medals, you were never even awarded the General Service Medal or Good Conduct Medal as you were given a dishonourable discharge for molesting a young male recruit in your unit. Is that the real reason that you have a bee in your bonnet about me being transgender, and being loudmouthed about LGBT perverts, is it all to conceal your own inclinations and the reason you delight in dancing in beribboned, flower decorated costumes.”

When Jayne had finished, the blood drained from Ashton’s faced he just sat there with his head in his hands for several minutes before finally looking up with tears in his eyes.

“What do you want, it will ruin my life if you make this common knowledge.”

“You made all sorts of demands as to how I should change my life, well I now have some of my own for you.

You will give up being the bagman for the Mayfield Morrismen and hand over to John Cassidy.

You will stop using the title of Major and will sell, or donate to the appropriate regimental museums, all those medals that you are not entitled to.

You will apologise to John Cassidy for the way you have treated him and involved him in your campaign against me and repay him for any loans you wheedled out of him.

You will sell up and leave Mayfield.

You will sign a full confession of what you have done, which will be lodged with a commissioner for oaths, which will be held confidentially by him until such a time as you chose to go back on these commitments.

Do you agree?”

“You do not give me any choice.”

Three months later Jayne and Cassidy led the combined team of the Morrisettes and the Morrismen on a parade through Mayfield to the village green where they put on a show at the Summer Fair. Since Ashton had resigned and left Mayfield the two teams had worked together happily at several displays, and all the past rivalry had been forgotten. Despite her past life now being common knowledge it had not affected her business and she had a string of projects to keep her and her newly taken-on staff at the renamed ‘Jayne Irwin Interiors’ busy for the foreseeable future. Amanda Caroline, Suzi and Fiona had travelled over for the event and to see their friend Jayne proudly perform in all her feminine finery.

Although it had caused a lot of heartache at the time, Ashton and his scheming had made Jayne face up to how she wished to spend the rest of her life and she had been readily accepted by friends and clients. Every dark cloud has a silver lining.

The end