Dot and Sam 46

Josephine MacDonald The town and county archivist.
Richard Drummond Town planning inspector
Robert Vincent. Junior planning inspector.
Georgina. (Georgie) Homeless Transgender girl previously known as George.
Bobby Gay boy on the school bus.
Marty Girl on the school bus. (She becomes Georgie’s best friend, lover, and wife)
Jack. Marty’s twin brother (Keen runner).
Trevor Aitkins, Georgie’s Biological father.
Lucinda Aitkins Georgie’s biological mother
Terence Georgie’s step-dad
Peter Terence’s homophobic son.
Allison Old friend of Trevor & Retired Solicitor
Jessica Merlot The town’ and county archaeologist.
Fred Allison’s husband
Elizabeth Aitkins (Beth) Georgie’s younger biological
sister
Jonathon Aitkins (Johnny) Georgie’s younger biological brother.
Rosie the Rivetter Terf Gang Leader on campus.
Peggy Marty’s mother
Abigail, (Abbie) Marty’s younger sister.
Andrea Marty’s second (youngest) sister.
Gemma Beth’s stepsister.
Beryl Beth’s second stepsister.

Chapter 46
While Georgie and Marty enjoyed the last full week of the school hols with Beth and Johhny, the weekend soon arrived, and Lucy turned up to stay with Allison and Fred at the dockside cottage.

As soon as she had placed her luggage in Allison’s guest bedroom, she invited them to go and share lunch at ‘The Harbour Light’ on her dollar.

“Very well,” Allison agreed, “but I don’t think any of the children are home. I saw them going for a walk earlier and sometimes they don’t get back until dusk if they’re watching the tides.”

“I see Trevor’s car is there.” Lucy observed.

Allison shrugged and soon they were crossing the dock gate to the pub.

In the bar, they met Trevor going through some harbour statistics and accounts with Dot, so Sam led them through to the stable restaurant and made them comfortable while they ordered lunch.

“Can you ask Trevor to join us please,” Lucy asked.

“I’ll ask but he’ll be a while,” Sam explained, “they’re doing the quarterly returns for the dock and the museum.”

“Okay, just ask him to join us when they’re through.” Lucy requested.

“Okay,” Sam replied as she took the order and stepped through into the bar.

“He’ll be about half an hour,” Sam explained when she returned to lay up their table.

As Sam returned to the kitchen, Lucy turned to Allison.

“He doesn’t seem keen to see us.”

“They’re busy, you saw the stack of receipts they had. It usually takes them an hour or two.” Allison explained.

Lucy frowned irritably then asked Allison.
Any news on these babies she’s having?”

“Everything’s going normally, they’re due in the new year, end of January I believe. One of each.”

Eventually, as the foursome were starting their desserts Trevor appeared and spoke briefly about their children Georgie, Marty, Beth and Johhny.

“They’ll be back along the estuary at five-ish, that’s when the tide allows.”

“It’ll be getting dark at six. Isn’t it dangerous then?” Lucy observed.

“That’s why they chose today.” Trevor finished, “Georgie knows the estuary well. She knows where some otters have been building a holt and the tide will be right to see them just before dusk. They hope to see the babies because Georgie’s friend the river warden has told them where they play.”

Lucy frowned slightly with concern.

“Is it safe to cross the estuary when dark is falling?”

“I suggest you don’t express any of your safety concerns to Georgie, she might not take kindly.”

“Why!” Lucy almost snapped.

Trevor gave her an ‘old’ look and turned to sip his beer as the four dug into their desserts. Lucy fell silent as she reflected.

‘If she had been a bit more concerned about George’s safety when Terry was being abusive to her transgendered son, then perhaps her child might not have run away.’

Lucy remained silent while the others finished their desserts then sha tentatively accompanied them to the sofas by the Inglenook fireplace. With the afternoon still young, they decided to go into town to do some shopping and return to ‘The Harbour Light’ at five-ish.

Eventually, they returned late to the pub at six and had settled again by the inglenook fireplace. Then, the pub started to fill up in anticipation of the Friday Night drag show. Lucy was glad she had stayed with her friends Allison and Fred because it secured her seat by the fireplace and that gave her an excellent view of the stage.

At seven, it was quite dark, and Lucy felt forced to ask Trevor if he had heard from George.

“You mean Georgie, don’t you?” Trevor replied. “Can you still not remember?”

Lucy pursed her lips irritably.

“All right then, Georgie. Have you still not heard from them?”

“No, I’ll ask Dot.”

However, even as Trevor was getting up to speak to Dot behind the bar, the front door opened, and four happy, muddy walkers trudged in. Dot looked across the bar and was about to order them to shed their boots, but Georgie and Marty’s training had already clicked in and the four stopped inside the porch to disrobe.

Once free of their muddy boots and kagouls, Dot allowed them upstairs to change, while Billy the doorman kindly removed the mud splattered overclothing to the cloakroom cum utility room that was destined to become a dedicated changing room for Sam’s drag shows.

When the four returned Lucy was a little peeved to see them dressed for work, but the pub was still fairly quiet so the four joined Trevor on his side of the inglenook fireside circle. Lucy glanced across and frowned at the clear demonstration of favouritism that all four had shown Trevor.
She had hoped to somehow break a little of the ice between her and Georgie, but her child had clearly demonstrated that the gulf still remained. Fortunately, Fred, Allison’s husband, had sensed the tension and started the conversation by asking about the otters. This immediately led to discussions about the baby otter cubs and inevitably, the conversation about babies led to Marty’s babies.

Lucy already knew that she was persona-non-grata with regards to Georgie’s ‘yet-to-be-born’ children, so she was grateful that Trevor had the wit to ask tactfully what the progress was with the babies.

Marty and Georgie had still not revealed that she was expecting a third baby through the female egg splitting, so everybody was still anticipating twins. Marty and Georgie wanted it that way until the birth, Even Dot and Sam were not privy to the surprise.

However, despite the fact that Georgie did not exchange one word with Lucy all night, at least she learned of the pregnancy’s progress by just listening to the others. That night as she slept in Allison’s cottage, Lucy wept for the hurt she had caused her transgender child.

For a woman obsessed with children and grandchildren, not having a shared input into her first grandchildren’s arrival was the biggest hurt of all.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The situation between Georgie and her bio-mother Lucy continued all through Marty’s pregnancy; not least because not communicating with Lucy, served Georgie and Marty’s wish to keep the triplets a secret. However, as the Michaelmas term’s end approached it became apparent Marty was finding the last trimester heavy going.

At the end she was virtually bench-bound and simply sat on a raised chair while a temporary lab assistant set up the experiments when needed. This young man was a graduate physics student doing his ‘teacher, training course. Marty was exhausted when the end-of-term exams were completed, and she virtually shut down after the marking was completed.

At ‘The Harbour Light’ Marty’s hugely distorted bump caused concern amongst her family but the myth of there being only twins still served to divert questions about her size. Even Marty’s well experienced mother Peggy, was still under the illusion that ‘it-was-twins,’ and she never once thought to ask to see the natal scans.

Inevitably, the day arrived a week early when Marty went into early-morning labour and Georgie drove her to the hospital. As they arrived at the maternity section, Marty was relieved to see her regular team of doctors waiting ready to quickly whisk her up to the delivery suite. There, as she lay on the bed, she was already needing to push with labour pains.

The sun was ‘past- the-yardarm’ when Marty eventually delivered the third child and Peggy was finally allowed to visit both parents in the maternity ward.
Marty was asleep so Peggy was denied the delight of joyously embracing her daughter, instead, she kissed her sleeping daughter on the forehead, then hugged Georgie before she turned to inspect the twins. In her excitement upon entry to the ward, she had initially not realised that there were three cribs aligned between the bed and the opposite wall. It was only as she turned to inspect them that she almost fell backwards as she gasped and grabbed Georgie’s hand.

“There’s three!” She almost shrieked.

“Your maths is good.” Georgie grinned ecstatically as his eyes fell upon the waking Marty.

“Mmmph, hullo mum,” Marty mumbled sleepily as she stirred.

“Oh my God! Why didn’t tell us?”

“Surprise, surprise!” Marty squeaked feebly as she reached out to receive her rightful hug.

For several moments, Peggy remained stupidly dumb with her arms wrapped tight around Marty before she recovered enough to go and inspect the trio.
“A grand-son and two grand-daughters!” Peggy exclaimed as she gently fingered the baby’s bonnets.

“Yes,” Marty explained, “the daughters are identical twins, their egg split during the germinal stage.”

Peggy’s stupid grin then dissolved into tears of delight as she once again, reached to hug her daughter. Eventually she released her embrace and asked.

“Can I hold them?”

“Of course you can, take your pick.”

Peggy paused momentarily as she turned sheepishly to Marty.

“Which one, I don’t want you to think I’ve got a favourite.”

Marty snorted with amusement. “Oh, for heaven’s sake Nan. Just grab the nearest.”

“Nan! Nan! Me, a nan; a grandma no less.” She grinned as she reached into a crib. And asked. “Any thoughts on names?”

Marty and Georgie grinned at each other as they faced Peggy.

“Ooh lots. Where to start we wonder.”

Peggy’s grin faded slightly with concern.

“I hope you’re going to be sensible.”

“Don’t worry Nan, we’ve already chosen.” Georgie let her words hang as she savoured the impatient frown clouding Peggy’s countenance.

“Well?! Stop messing with me.”

“Don’t be impatient mummy,” Marty gently scolded her mum. “When all the interested parties are here, we’ll reveal all.”

“Tsk!” Peggy tutted, “You’re playing with me now!”

“Not really, it’s only right that everybody gets a fair crack of the whip!” Georgie countered. “You’re just going to have to be patient!”

“So, when will that be?” Peggy sighed.

“Saturday morning when everybody’s able to come.”
“Who do you mean by everybody?” Marty pressed.

“Immediate family, blood and adoptive.” Georgie announced softly.

“D’you mean Lucy and co as well.” Marty queried concernedly.

“Warts an’ all.” Marty replied somewhat overemphatically.

Surprised, Peggy turned to Georgie and asked.

“Are you okay with this?”

“My beef with Lucy is not the grand-children’s beef.” Georgie explained. “Marty want’s her children to have all the grand’s that they’re entitled to. Who am I to disallow that?”

“That’s a change of tune, isn’t it?” Peggy continued.

Georgie shrugged resignedly before admitting.

“I can’t forgive her, but if I maintain ‘no-contact’ with my egg-donor there’s no knowing where that will lead with Beth and Johnny. I’ll just hang back and see where it leads.”

“Does Lucy know about the triplets?”

“No. Not to my knowledge, she can find out on Saturday morning, if she chooses to come.”

“You will be telling her though, - about Saturday.”

“I will let her know to come,” Marty interjected. “Probably on Thursday or Friday.”

“She won’t be pleased to learn she’s second fiddle.” Peggy advised. “You know, what with us and Dot and Sam all knowing.”

“If she want’s full family privileges, she’ll have to earn them. She split my family every which way, so she’ll have to work at repairing the breaches.”

At this juncture the paediatrician returned first to confirm that all three babies were healthy though slightly underweight, then she wanted to run some extra tests. To this end she was accompanied
By another doctor who was involved in a series of tests concerning multiple births.

She asked a series of questions to confirm that there had been no hormonal fertility treatments and Marty looked slightly askance,

“Both babies were in vitro implanted, but the eggs and sperm were our own; produced naturally, though Georgie’s sperm was frozen.
I’m a twin though, I’ve got a brother, Jack. The girls of course divided at the germinal stage. They’re identical.

“That’s interesting,” the researcher observed, “would you like to join my research group. It’s mostly a genetic program with occasional follow-ups through their childhood years?”

Marty glanced questioningly at Georgie who shrugged as she nodded slightly.

“I can’t see any harm, I’m all for science.”

The researcher smiled appreciatively and left to return with a trolley carrying blood sampling kits.

As Peggy, Georgie and Marty were each now ‘playing’ with the new-borns Trevor finally appeared at the door to the ward after having hurried back from town on being told of Marty’s labour.
Naturally, he rushed to his favourite daughter-in-law and hugged her even as he realised there were three babies.

“What the!” He gasped as he stared uncomprehendingly.

“Yes dad, triplets and all ours!” Georgie almost crowed victoriously.

“But! I thought twins, I-“

“Surprise, surprise!” Marty cackled with delight, “which one d’ you want to hold first?”

“But I only bought two baby-cups: boy and girl, what’s the third.”

“We’ve got another grand daughter Trev!” Betty declared joyously as she handed the third bundle to him.
Trevor sat on the bed as he recovered from the surprise, then the questions flew like wild-fire as everybody started talking at once. It was Georgie who brought some order as she declared.

“We’ve decided on names but not until Saturday when we gather at the Harbour light.”

“I hope they’re sensible.” Trevor ventured.

“Don’t worry dad, they are.” Georgie assured them, “now if you don’t mind, Marty and I wish to feed them. Can you leave us in peace for an hour or so.”

“I want to see you feeding them,” Peggy declared. “That’s a grandmother’s right.”

“Yeah, well if you do, prepare for a surprise,” Georgie cautioned as she started to unbutton, her bra.

Trevor’s eyes widened as he finally realised.

“Wha-a! Are you going to feed them as well?”

Marty and Georgie chuckled together as they simultaneously prepared for action while Trevor turned away with slight embarrassment. Even Peggy was taken aback as she squeaked questioningly.

“You’ve got milk?”

“You bet!” Georgie grinned as she latched her son onto her breast,

Both Trevor and Peggy just gaped with amazement as Marty followed suit after pressing the feeding clock with three dials.

“This will help us to keep track.” Marty beamed. “We won’t stick rigidly to a timetable, but it helps us keep track.

Both Trevor and Peggy just wagged their heads with delight as they lost their embarrassment and stared at their daughters.

“Who’d have thunk it?” Peggy chuckled.

“Not me, that’s for sure,” Trevor concurred. “I need a cup of tea!”

“Go and see the nurses,” Marty explained. “They’ve got their own little night-watch kitchen come pantry by their nursing station. All you have to do is share with the costs. You know, milk and sugar and stuff.”
“Of course!” Trevor hastened to agree as he took the opportunity to recover his composure amidst all the flesh.
Marty, Georgie and Peggy grinned as they watched him scuttle away.

“Poor dear,” Peggy chuckled, “he’ll soon get used to it.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~