Whatever Next? Chapter 32 by Angharad Copyright© 2022 Angharad

(title picture Andrea Piacquadio)

“Can we actually believe him?” said Jenny phoning from Belgium.

“I have no idea, he sounded sincere but he’s a convicted criminal with at least one death on his conscience.” Dave was there when Meadows agreed to plead guilty.

“Quite, so it could go to trial and Gaby could be called?”

“That depends on what he does. He tried to scare her then thanked her for saving his life.”

“What d’you mean, tried to scare her?”

“He lunged as if to grab her when she took a step towards him.”

“Oh God.”

“She was just out of his reach and she didn’t so much as blink, telling him he didn’t scare her. I don’t know about her but I was bloody scared for her.”

“She’s a bit of a one-off, isn’t she? Nerves of steel, no wonder she’s so good at racing, a lot of it is about holding your nerve.”

“I saw the video of the race at Bryanston, she stole that from two boys much bigger than she was, just sneaked between them and shot away.”

“I haven’t seen that yet—perhaps you could get a copy and send it over, I’m sure George and the girls would love to see it.”

“I’ll speak to the boys at the bike shop. See if I can get a copy.”

“Thanks, darling. Well, there’s one thing you can always say about life with Gaby or Drew—it’s never boring.”

“That’s true.”

“I’ve got to go, the meeting is about to start and then we’ve got a training ride. George is a real slave driver.”

“I’ll tell her you phoned, she’s out on her new bike, the one she won—it’s a nice bit of kit.”

“Tell her I look forward to riding with her in a month or so's time.” Jenny rang off and Dave glanced at the clock. Gaby had been out for nearly two hours, she should be back any time now. They all felt as if a weight had been lifted from their shoulders. With Meadows in custody and with a broken hip, even he shouldn’t be able to escape plus he’d given his word he’d leave her in peace. But how much was his word worth—probably not even the breath he said it with?

Dave was returning home the next day, builders to supervise and so on, not forgetting he actually had a job as well, and quite a good one at the timber yard.

Effectively, he ran the place, his boss dealing mainly with the marketing side of things, so Dave did everything else from supervising the saw-mill to overseeing the over-the-counter sales, both of which were profiting under his care. He hoped for a reflection of this in his Christmas bonus.

A little later Gaby swept in walking straight to the kitchen and drinking a glass of water straight from the tap. She looked a little flushed.

“Everything okay?” asked Dave.

“Ooh, you made me jump,” she said starting a little.

“Not surprised after several months of having someone trying to kill you or threatening to. How did the ride go?”

“Brill, I love this new bike.”

“Harry manage to stay with you?”

“Some of the time—I let him catch up with me now and again or he loses interest.”

“Seeing as he only got into cycling because of you, I’m not surprised.” He paused for a moment and she knew what he was going to say. “Look, I’m going back tomorrow and they reckon the house could be habitable in about a month’s time, that would coincide with the end of term.”

“You want me to come home?”

“Yes—I’d have thought you’d want to as well.”

“Be nice to see the house again.”

“And all your friends?”

“Yeah, I s’pose though I’ve like made some new friends down here, so have Maddy and Jules.”

At the mention of his sister’s name, he visibly winced. He knew that separating her from John was going to almost require surgical intervention. It was her first great romance and she was giving it her all. Mind you, Gaby seemed to spend increasing time tongue-wrestling with Harry.

“You seem to have got on quite well with Harry.”

“Harry, yeah, I like him.”

“I think we’ve all noticed, but at least he’s stopped sending you flowers twice a week.”

Gaby went a lovely rose colour and Dave enjoyed gently teasing her. “Yeah, for a boy, he’s okay.”

“He’s certainly gone on you, girl.”

“Yeah, well some of us have it and some of us don’t.” Just then Maddy walked in.

“Hi, Gabs.”

“See what I mean,” said Gaby with Maddy giving her a very strange look.

“What’s that supposed to mean?” she said sharply.

“Gaby was just saying she thought you’d walk in in a moment, and she was spot on.” Dave lied but he thought the United Nations would approve rather than have two warring cousins.

“Oh right. Consult yer crystal balls did ya?”

Gaby decided to ignore the remark rather than precipitate an argument.

“I was just telling Gaby that the house should begin to be habitable within a month.”

“Oh, that’s gotta be good, Uncle Dave; so we looking to be home for Christmas?”

“That’s the sort of schedule I had in mind.”

“That sound good to you, Gabs?” Maddy seemed excited.

“Yes an’ no.”

“What? I’d ha’ thought you’d like to be sleepin’ in your own bed—or would you prefer Harry’s?” she jibed.

“Very funny not. Harry an’ me are just good friends.”

Maddy smirked, “Yeah, course you are, that’s all, good friends who like a grope in the long grass.”

Gaby was scarlet now, “So? Jealous are we?”

“Girls—please,” Dave appealed to the two of them to stop the backbiting. “Why did you say yes or no to coming home?”

“Only Meadows being under lock and key has changed, the rest of the reason hasn’t has it.”

“You mean the physical changes?”

Gaby rolled her eyes heavenwards. “Well, yes—that’s like why we came down here again—or can’t you remember that far back?”

“There’s no need to get cheeky, young woman. Of course, I remember, it’s not every day my son turns into my daughter.”

“Innit, I thought it was,” Maddy dropped as she went upstairs to her room.

“Some days she gets on my tits,” said Gaby and Dave didn’t know whether to laugh or cry, but it certainly seemed the two teens were squabbling like two sisters, perhaps through spending long periods together.

Trying to bring things back to the topic he thought they were discussing, moving back home, he asked, “So you don’t want to come home?”

“Whether I want to or not is irrelevant, I can’t. If I go home looking like this, they’ll murder me.”

“I think we might well have to cope with that at some point. You could always change schools and so on.”

“They’re still gonna know it’s me, Drew Bond, gone girly.”

“So what d’you propose instead?”

“Goin’ to Germany with Mum. I mean they all thought I was a girl over there anyway.”

“But she isn’t there half the time and you could hardly look after yourself now, could you?”

“Why not? I was almost doing that at home.”

“Oh, come off it, Gaby, you helped a bit but that’s a far cry from keeping house for yourself, besides I’m sure there are minimum ages for that both here and in Germany and I suggest you’re too young for both.”

“Okay, I’ll move in with Harry.”

Dave nearly choked. “While Harry might be happy with the idea, I doubt his parents would be.”

“It’s hardly like I could get pregnant, is it?”

“Probably not, but until we have all the tests and things done, who knows?”

“You really think I could have girly bits? Ovaries and things?”

“I doubt it but until we look, we won’t know will we?”

“Okay, take me up the hospital and ask them.”

“I don’t think it’s quite as simple as that, you’d need appointments and other things, it might be better to wait until we get home and get our own doctor to organise it. He’ll be more familiar with your history and so on.”

“Doubt it, I was a boy when I last saw him, didn’t have these then,” she hefted her breasts at Dave who blushed, she had a point.

“So what d’you want to do? See a doctor here?”

“Why not, then if I’m really weird we can leave afterwards.”

Dave opened his arms, “You’re not weird,” he said and she leant into him, snuggling against his body, where once again she felt safe.

“No, all boys grow tits and big bums,” she mumbled from somewhere down his chest where she clamped her face.

“Okay, we’ll do it down here but one of us, your mother or I need to be with you because it’s too much responsibility to put on Carol.”

“How’s that, it’s only finding out why I’m turning into a girl, not what to do about it?” Gaby seemed to have recovered from her self-doubt.

“True, but even so it will have implications.”

“Yeah, for me.”

“And for us too, girl. You’ll need our support won’t you?”

“Yeah, someone’ll have to buy my new dresses an’ shoes...”

Dave ignored the deliberate wind up. He hugged her tightly; their house needed to be made habitable, it was where they lived—his castle on his territory. Once they got back there, he’d defend it and his family against all comers. He badly wanted to be back there before they grasped the nettle of whether he now had two daughters or whether his son was once again going to try and emerge.

Jenny never spoke a truer word than when she said that life with Gaby was never boring. But just how interesting it was going to get, he wasn’t sure nor was he sure he’d be able to cope with it. But for everyone’s concern, he’d give it his best shot. That was all he could do. He held his younger daughter who seemed in no hurry to disentangle herself from him. He leant his face onto the top of her head and kissed her. Whatever was coming he’d help her as much as he could—after all she was only turning into a young woman, wasn’t she? Then with Gaby it was rarely that straightforward was it? Talk about being bowled a googly, with her anything could happen and did; but they’d survive whatever happened. Yeah, together the family was unbeatable—yeah, bring it on...”

The doorbell rang and Carol answered it. “Uh Dave, there’s a policeman at the door.”

Reluctantly he released his younger child and walked with Carol asking, “Whatever next?”