Gone was the flamboyant blond in the micro dress with the enormous breasts and the four and one half inch heels. Gone was the slightly overdone dramatic theatrical make up. What remained was a somewhat stately, calm and in control, statuesque beautiful woman.

The husband grinned that warm fuzzy feelings grin as Ellen slid out of the booth and greeted him with a brief kiss on the lips, “Well…this is certainly a different you today. You look absolutely wonderful!”

---

 
Author's Note: I am eternally grateful to Lauran Travis for the superb ideas in the original tale: “The Red Dress”. It is posted on Crystal’s Story Site under Lauran's name. I have the author’s permission to use the original as I wish. Thank you Lauran. I am also blessed with the sharp EDITING eye of Stanman. Many blessings to you both for your support and encouragement. There is no violence or abuse in this tale.
 
4. Hidden Secrets
 
The husband held the car door open for his wife. After helping her into the seat he closed her door and took his place in the driver’s seat. He started the car and moved out into the road and on the way to the pub where they would meet with Ellen. The wife sat in her seat clutching her hands and looking straight ahead.

She was unsettled by the though of meeting in a pub during the day light hours when every little flaw could shout out it’s existence and her chances were greater at being ‘read’.

The pub was located in the ‘arty’ section of town. People were casually walking along browsing at the arts and crafts being exhibited as well as some of the work of the street artists. The husband parked the car and came around to open and assist his wife out. She swung her legs around and, once finding the ground beneath her feet, stood.

“Now remember dear…”

“Yes…”

She smiled at him and took his hand,

“…one foot in front of the other.”

They laughed together as they began walking down the street toward the pub. As they past the various clothing shops, the wife’s eye would wander to the window and see what was being offered.

“Oh my! Look at that black leather skirt.”

“Which one? You can’t mean the one with the lacing completely up the side.”

“Yes. I think it’s so sexy.”

“You can’t wear any under garments with that. They’ll show through the lacings.”

The husband looked at his wife, “I can’t image where all of this new found brazenness is coming from.”

She looked at him and smiled coyly, “Perhaps you bring it out in me.”

They kissed and moved on to the next shop. They finally arrived at the pub. The husband held the door open for his wife and they entered. A hostess came to them and asked where they’d like to be seated. She gave the husband a thorough once over and smiled into his eyes.

“We’re actually meeting a friend here.”

“Oh…”

Her expression changed just a bit and her smile became an almost imperceptibly little bit smaller as she noticed the husband and wife holding hands,

“…Oh! Would her name be Ellen?”

Her smile broadened once again. She did have such lovely eyes which were not wasted on the husband. He smiled back and looked directly into her eyes. One could actually see the slight shiver that ran through her body.

Hs wife nudged him breaking the moment between the two of them. He looked at his wife with a bit of annoyance and turned back to the hostess,

“Yes. Is she already here?”

The hostess nodded and proceeded to lead them toward the rear of the pub to a booth that was on the street side. This afforded them a full view of the street and the people passing by. Ellen was seated and already sipping a mimosa. When she saw them approaching she waved.

They were totally unprepared for what they saw. Gone was the tall flamboyant blond with the enormous boobs and in her place was a tall, very beautiful, pixie haired brunette with the air of a professional. She wore a light gray tailored suit with a wide sweeping skirt that fell to mid calf. Her blouse was a pink silk poet’s shirt that was unbuttoned only enough to give a hint of her cleavage.

Gone was the flamboyant blond in the micro dress with the enormous breasts and the four and one half inch heels. Gone was the slightly overdone dramatic theatrical make up. What remained was a somewhat stately, calm and in control, statuesque beautiful woman.

The husband grinned that warm fuzzy feelings grin as Ellen slid out of the booth and greeted him with a brief kiss on the lips, “Well…this is certainly a different you today. You look absolutely wonderful!”

“Thanks…” Ellen’s gorgeous smile was something that couldn’t be changed by location or costume.

“…and your wife looks so lovely today.”

She then gently grabbed the wife’s arms and kissed her on the lips as well…perhaps lingering a bit more with this kiss.

“I am so happy to see you both. This is rather exciting for me. I really don’t often have the opportunity to do brunch with new friends.”

“I would think that you get to meet many new people at your job.”

“Oh…” Ellen laughed as she bid them to sit. “…that’s not my real job. I do the hostess thing simply to get out and have a little fun. Sweet heart, why don’t I slide in next to you. That way your husband and I get to be next to you.”

The wife looked at her husband, who nodded and smiled, and also, with a wave of his hand, directed her to slide in. Once they were seated, Ellen continued to speak.

“I’m actually a real estate agent and I specialize in housing and business locations in this part of town. You both simply must try the mimosas here. The juice is fresh squeezed and the champagne is quite good.”

She turned in her seat to look directly at the wife, “I can’t believe how gorgeous you look today. You are really quite striking.”

The wife couldn’t look directly at Ellen. She blushed a lovely shade of crimson, looked at her hands, and softly muttered a thank you. Ellen reached up with her and gently lifted, and turned, the wife’s chin until her face was in front of Ellen’s,

“Oh honey…”

Ellen spoke to the wife as if speaking to an overly sensitive child,

“…you must look at me when I speak to you. I could barely hear your voice. And you have such beautiful eyes.”

Ellen arched her brows and smiled at the wife. She then took the wife’s hand in hers, “I promise that I won’t bite…at least very hard…”

The husband laughed as he took his wife’s other hand in his.

“…and I promise I won’t hurt you.”

“This is all very new to my wife and she is a bit shy. But she’ll warm up to you I’m sure.”

Ellen signaled their waiter to bring three more drink to their table. She then covered the wife’s hand with her other.

“They also fashion a delicious salad with diced chicken. The house dressing is wonderful, especially if you like a bit of a sweet balsamic and fruit flavor.”

“That does sound good. And now that she has started to diet, it’ll fit right into our plans.”

The wife looked down and blushed. But now that both of her hands were ‘occupied’, she looked back up into Ellen’s big blue eyes.

“I asked my wife a question before we left home but I never received an answer. Perhaps we could talk about it a bit. I asked her how long had she been looking at the women’s clothing ads in the newspapers. I also suspect that she’s been peeking into the catalogues I receive at home.”

The wife looked at her husband with eyes wide and mouth agape. She was completely stunned and embarrassed. She then looked around to see if anyone had heard what he had said. She turned and looked at Ellen. She had a look on her face that was half embarrassment and half horror.

“Oh honey…there’s nothing to be embarrassed about. Nothing we talk about will ever go beyond the three of us.”

“Listen sweetheart…” The husband furrowed his brows and took on a serious demeanor as he spoke, “I am not asking the question to embarrass you. I am asking so that you can think about the answer. There are times when we all must think about who, and what, we are. I have never pried into your past before. I was satisfied with whatever you were willing to share with me. But now we are embarking on a new phase of our relationship; a more exciting phase that will only bring us closer together.”

The wife looked down as the drinks arrived to the table. She bit at the inside of her cheek as she considered what her husband had said. Although she was never openly forthcoming about her past, this was only because she never felt her past to be all that interesting. She was so overwhelmingly attracted to her mate that everything before him seemed…insignificant.

Ellen reached toward the wife’s face and gently swept a lock of her hair from her eyes to behind her petite ears, then tilted her head and smiled as she spoke.

“It’s okay, sweetheart. I understand that this may be difficult for you…so I’ll start off with my story. Would you like that?”

She spoke so very gently, and her touch was so soothing, that the wife simply nodded her head in ascent.

“Well…where do I begin? Let’s see…I was an only child. Of course right away, that meant that I was spoiled and expected everyone’s attention all the time. My mother absolutely doted on me. And my father was always so very busy with his work that my mother’s attention relieved him of having to spend much time ‘amusing’ me.”

The wife said, "Sounds as if you were a Prima Donna."

“My mom would take me everywhere. I especially loved to go shopping for food or clothes with her; or to the salon. These were magical experiences for me. Just imagine, I was a boy that went to all of these places that were usually reserved for women. I would even go to the ‘Ladies’ with her because she was afraid to leave me alone or with a sales woman and, of course, when I had to go, she would always come with me and I’d use the ‘Ladies’ as well. Everything seemed so very special for women.”

The wife replied, "Well, a lot of moms take their sons to the 'Ladies'."

“I remember the few times I went with my father to get clothes. The show rooms were drab by comparison. The air smelled like…clothes, not filled with the intoxicating aroma of women’s scents. And the ‘Men’s’ room usually smelled like a cake of urinal sanitizer…yuk!”

The wife giggled at that as she remembered that horrid smell.

“Now, when they would want to go out on a Friday or Saturday night, they'd leave me with my mother’s sister who lived in the same neighborhood. There I had a first cousin named ‘Kate’. She was three years older than me and she absolutely adored me. We would play in her room which was filled with dolls and stuffed animals and the things normally found in any young girl’s bedroom.”

The wife looked at Ellen and smiled, "I remember playing house with a boy cousin, but he seldom did anything other than play with his video games. We mostly played those games. Not fun!"

“We would play house all the time. She was, of course, the mama. And I…”

Ellen laughed with warmth as she recalled this time of her life.

“…I was the baby girl. And she would cuddle me and feed me…you know…that sort of thing. Well…we became very close and, needless to say, she began to dress me in her older and smaller clothing.”

The wife smiled, "That's where you found out about being a girl."

“I was immediately struck by the way her clothes felt. The knitted things were a finer knit and therefore softer and not scratchy the way my things tended to be. She even had me put on her panties! That was absolute heaven after being in jockey’s all the time. I was hooked! These were the things I wanted to wear.”

Ellen became very animated as she spoke and the husband and the wife were so taken with her story that he bid her continue.

“Well…fortunately her mother thought little of our games. I'd stay over for long weekends when my parents wanted to get away, and I'd sometimes stay for a week or more. Her mother kind of played along with our game and treated me as if I was a second daughter. It was exquisite! I was in heaven.”

Then Ellen began to cry. After wiping her eyes and being comforted by the husband and the wife, she continued.

“Then she began to develop, as we all do; she in her way and me in mine. The game became difficult to continue. I was catching up to her in height and had already surpassed her in weight. Her clothes were no longer suitable for me to wear.”

“What did you do?” The wife was completely intrigued and involved in the tale.

“We would improvise. She would borrow a piece or two from her mom for under garments; her panties, bra, and pantyhose. She was able to purchase a pair of jeans and a blouse in my size and we would continue the game on a more…”

Ellen placed her chin on her perfectly manicured hands and gazed off in the distance deep in thought.

“…hormonally suitable level? I was twelve and had for several years noticed that some part of me…my dick to be precise…was reacting to what we were doing; the dressing up that is. Well, she was becoming sexually curious about boys, and since she had one at her disposal that she could control, we played a new kind of girl game.”

The wife looked at the husband who blushed.

"Sounds as if you two had a bit of 'fun' exploring each other. “She would rub herself against me, kind of crotch to crotch and she would kiss me…’for practice’ she would say. And one day I had an ‘accident’ in her mother’s better panty girdle. We became quite upset, even considered putting an end to the game. Thankfully, she was as hooked on it as I was and so my experience with panty shields began.”

“But what happened as you both got older?”

The husband was as engrossed with this confession as his wife. Ellen sat back as the waiter came to take their orders. The husband let Ellen order first and then she ordered for the wife; looking at the husband as if asking permission. The husband was actually thrilled with Ellen’s doing so. Then the husband ordered his meal.

“As we got older, we carried our game to new heights. I would begin to wear girl’s jeans and button down blouses around her house, and mine, as well as in school! My hair was long but kept in a pony tail. My ears were pierced and my eye brows were very neatly trimmed back only enough to provide a question to the casual viewer.”

"You must have made a pretty girl back then."

“Most of my class mates thought me gay except I did, from time to time, come to a school event with my cousin, who attended a private school. They would see us being very close and assume that maybe I was bi…or simply cutting edge fashionable. Of course, her mom simply became accustomed to my change of dress and carried on as if I was indeed a normal girl. My parents were a bit confused but by then they were too self absorbed with their own success to pay us much mind.”

"How did you keep from going through a boy's puberty?"

“Of course Ellen and I shared everything, clothes, secrets, sex, gossip, and her birth control pills. I really began to take hormones when I was thirteen. She was seventeen, her mom thought it best that she be protected. Only Ellen was continually losing her pills…so…”

"You got the pills."

And Ellen smiled, “The pills really weren’t heavy duty but they were enough to cause some things to change, and other things not to change. And that was fine with the both of us. But ever since that wonderful time of my life, I have always thought of myself as a girl and transitioned as far as I wanted to go with real hormone therapy and the rest is the result of a few minor surgical procedures.”

“What happened to your cousin?”

“She eventually moved away to college. We always kept in touch writing one another and calling all the time. She graduated and moved to another part of the county and, after a few years, met and married someone exactly like you!”

Ellen laughed as she hugged the wife, kissing her on the cheek. The wife actually had a tear or two in her eyes.

“Don’t rub them honey, you’ll ruin your make up. Here, let me get them,”

Ellen grabbed a tissue from her purse and daubed the tears from the wife’s lower eye lids.

“But you must have been crushed losing someone so close to you to someone else.”

“Oh sweetheart…”

Ellen spoke sweetly to the wife, as if addressing a young child.

“…we could have never really been together in that fashion. She is my first cousin. We are still very close and speak to one another often. We even have lunch every so often. She is still my best, and only, real friend. I’ve never told this story to anyone else.”

The wife sat totally amazed at Ellen’s story. She had never heard anything even remotely similar before,

“Oh my…that was so touching. Well…I suppose that it’s my turn to tell.”

Both the ladies looked at the husband with surprise. He noticed their wide eyed expressions and laughed, “You don’t think you two are the only one’s permitted secrets simply because of your sex, do you? We are also entitled to our secrets.”

“Evidently…”

The wife was truly taken aback by his admission. Ellen was all ears, grinning and leaning in closer as she placed her arm around the wife.

“I suppose it began once I left school and got my first, and only, job. I noticed the way the other new hires were dressing and, of course, I chose to fit in. So, on went the short skirts, stiletto heels, and the slinky tops and so forth. Well, needless to say, I cut quite a lovely figure in the office and I certainly drew a fair share of attention. But, career wise, nothing was happening. I was doing a better than good job and I attended all the right functions and meetings, but nobody was noticing me. I was simply another bright, young, pretty, super secretary.”

The ladies eyes were on the husband as he told his tale. His wife was totally enthralled. She didn’t realize such things occurred, at least not in her experience. And Ellen was definitely all ears. She rested her chin in her palm and smiled as the husband revealed his little secret. His wife was now dying for her husband to continue.

“So what happened? How did you get out from under?”

“I looked for the highest ranking woman in the finance section and made it a point to meet her. And what a meeting it was! I had heard that she often worked out in the wellness center at the university. There were rumors that she liked younger women and what better place to see younger women than at a school gym?”

The husband laughed with a far off look in his eyes. This had occurred some time ago, and he wanted to make sure he told the story properly and truthfully. He looked at his wife and took her hand. He gently kissed it and gazed lovingly into her eyes, “I had just met you at the time. Anyway, I went to the center several days in a row until finally, one day she arrived for a work out. She immediately went to the tread mill and began walking. I went to the one next to her and got on it. I said hello to her and began walking as well.”

“A moment or two passed. I noticed that she looked at me several times as I began to perspire. She said that I looked familiar but she couldn’t quite place me. I told her I worked in finance for the university. She then said; ‘Ah…you work under me.’”

“Well…you know me. I was never one to mince words so I said; ‘Now there’s a thought’. I giggled and continued to walk. She laughed and began to speak to me. She asked if I had heard the rumors about her. I replied that I paid very little attention to rumors and that I was more interested in my job than hanging around the coffee room.

“We continued to talk as we went through several of the exercise stations. Finally, after working out for about two hours, she asked if I had plans for dinner. Of course I had. I was to meet you my love. But I couldn’t refuse the invitation. I had gone through too much trouble trying to get it.”

The wife stared at her husband in shock. She couldn’t believe that she had been rejected for a woman much older simply because her husband was attempting to get ahead at his job.

“You needn’t look at me in that fashion dear. It was only our second date. Anyway, so much as come as a result of that meeting. She took me out to dinner at a fine restaurant and wined and dined me unlike I’d ever been wined and dined.”

“It’s not as though I didn’t know what was coming. After spending a bit of time with her, and gauging from her response to my quips, I knew what was coming…so to speak. Needless to say, she invited me up to her apartment which was on the top floor of a new high rise building downtown.

“Well…that night I learned about the marvelous world of power tools and personal relaxation devices. She really knew how to enchant as well as please and she taught me the same. After numerous rounds of fine wine, fresh sliced fruit, and wanton sex performed with reckless abandon, we both tired.

“As we lay together embracing whilst catching our breath, I related my situation to her and asked for her advice.”

“So what did she say?”

Ellen smiled as she asked, but there was a bit of sadness in her eyes. She looked directly toward the husband when he spoke.

“Well…she said that there was probably nothing wrong with my work or attitude. The problem was with my dress and demeanor. In other words, what I was wearing was fine if I wanted to get laid, but if I really wanted to get somewhere in my job, I had to start dressing more like the boys.

“She told me to start wearing tailored suits, with either skirts below the knee or trousers. No more jewelry or very noticeably strong perfumes. She especially made mention of shoes. They needed to be low heeled and unadorned in any way. She said that I should give up the make up and any hairstyle that fell below my neck. In other words, I had to dress to be less conspicuous as a woman.”

“And did it work?”

“Oh Ellen, you have no idea. The rumors started to spread about me. Of course, I didn’t discourage them. Even after we were married the rumors persisted.”

“And what happened to your…mentor?”

“Well…the other piece of advice she gave me was to disregard all the crap about communicating with fellow workers and superiors. So I did. I found out that my mentor had been seeing a much younger student…so I outted the relationship and now I have her job.”

“What?!”

“My wife says that a lot.”

“Oh my God! You didn’t!”

Ellen was a bit shocked at the coldness of the husband.

“Listen…it was her time to end and mine to begin. It wasn’t personal at all. I kind of liked her actually. But my wife and I came first. She was simply in the way.”

Ellen simply nodded and the husband grinned.

“It’s kind of like that in my business. You do whatever it takes to make the sale…not to imply that I have calluses on my knees or back…but…”

They both laughed. The wife was somewhat put off with Ellen and her husband. Their cavalier attitude toward how they conducted business was totally beyond her comprehension. Though she was an academic and the competition to publish was great, there still was at least a semblance of civility among the staff.

“Okay honey…”

Ellen took the wife’s hand in her hand again.

"Now it’s time to hear your story. That way…we can truly be friends. No more little hidden secrets.”

“I really don’t know where to begin. I mean, I never really thought about it, you know?”

“Well dear, when was the first time you tried on ladies clothes?”

The wife simply blushed and looked down at her hands, now captured by the other two. Then she looked up at her husband with a frightened and questioning look in her eyes.

“Well…” She took at deep breath; and then another one. “…you know my family? Right?”

“Well…you don’t have to rub it in you know.”

“It was my sister’s fault you know.”

The wife paused, took a deep breath yet again, looked around to see if anyone else was listening, and then continued.

“She was always jealous that I could get good grades with seemingly little effort. So, when I did have to study, she would do everything in her power to distract me. Once I would start to study, it would, indeed, take a lot of effort.”

“How old was your sister honey?” Ellen placed her arm around the wife’s shoulder as if to comfort her during this confession.

“She was fourteen and I was around eleven at the time.”

“And what would she do to distract you?”

Her husband was getting impatient, but Ellen knew if she kept asking the questions, sooner or later, and hopefully sooner, the tale would unfold. She ran her fingers through the wife’s hair at the nape of her neck, sending little charges of electricity up ad down her spine. It made the hairs of her neck stand up with excitement.

“Dear Lord that feels so…good? Anyway…where was I? Oh yes! She would sneak up behind me when I was concentrating and put a pair of her panties over my head and pull them down so that my eyes poked out through the legs holes.”

Ellen and the husband giggled as if on cue. The wife blushed crimson. Then the husband spoke,

“Wait a moment dear, something’s not quite right. A sister, any sister, simply doesn’t walk into her brother’s room and pull a pair of her panties over his head! Not just like that! Now why would she pick that particular action as opposed to say…pouring water on your head or something along those lines? Hmmm…?”

“Well…it’s either very weird, very disgusting, or very hot! Maybe even all three!”

“You do have a point there Ellen. Well darling? What’s the real story on this panty thing.”

The husband certainly wasn’t asking for an answer; he was telling his wife to come out with the truth of the matter. Ellen and the husband didn’t think anyone could turn more crimson that the wife earlier; but she did now.

“She caught me going through the laundry bin looking at her panties. I was only curious about, you know, what she wore.”

“Did you sniff them?”

The wife was horrified that her husband could even ask such a thing in front of Ellen and in a public place no less. She grabbed her hands back from her company and covered her face. She felt so ashamed of her actions that fateful day.

“Listen honey, we’ve all done that I’m sure. It’s no big deal. You know what my cousin would do for entertainment?”

The wife looked at Ellen through watery eyes. Ellen reached over with her napkin and daubed the tears from the wife’s eyes.

“She would sit on her bed, or a chair, and call me over on my knees. She’d grab my head and pull me into her pantied crotch. Oh my God! Then she’d pull her skirt over my head and I’d be trapped between her thighs in semi-darkness inhaling her aroma. It was so unbelievably intoxicating! Oh my God…and she wouldn’t let me get close enough to touch her crotch, she simply held my head between her thighs and tortured me with her scent.”

“I think that you two are disgusting! I have never done such a thing in my life!”

Ellen snarled with half her face and rolled her eyes at the husband, “Oh, so you never sniffed boys’ shorts?”

“Sure I have, but that’s different.”

Ellen laughed. But the wife was still somewhat put off by the nature of the discussion.

“Is this what women talk about? Sniffing shorts and the like?”

“No honey. We usually do talk about sex, and fashions, and sex, and how other women are dressed, and sex, and recipes, and sex... It can get a bit catty as you might image. So…did you sniff them?”

“Yes, I did…if you really must know. And she caught me at it. I nearly died I was so embarrassed. I don’t know what was going through my head. I was simply curious, I think.”

Ellen took the wife’s hand and kissed it. Then she held it in her lap, “Then what happened?”

“Well, she became really upset and started yelling at me. She said that what I was so gross. She called me names…you know? I was horrified. I was so afraid she would tell my mom and dad. I promised her I’d do anything she wanted.”

The husband and Ellen looked at each other in shock. The husband hadn’t known the cause of his wife’s sometimes strange behavior, especially regarding the dresses. Ellen couldn’t believe how afraid, even today, the wife seemed to feel about an event that occurred so long ago. But she understood all to well how life changing such events can be, especially at an early age.

“I remember when I was about sixteen. I was dressing every chance I could. I was even wearing panties and panty hose under my regular clothes at school. So…what happened with your sister?”

“Well…”

The wife took a deep breath and looked up toward the ceiling for a moment. It was quite obvious to Ellen and the husband that whatever transpired wasn’t good. The wife had a look of distress on her face.

“…well…for starters, I had to do her homework for a week. It really wasn‘t any big deal and I could certainly live with that. Then I had to clean her room, also for the week. Then…at the end of the week, she wanted to dress me up completely. It was to be on a Saturday when our parents were out. I really wasn’t looking forward to that. I just had a funny feeling about it. But I agreed anyway.”

Ellen took the wife’s arm in hers and drew closer in a conspirator’s pose. Her face was so very close to the wife’s. She was definitely inside the wife’s zone of comfort. Just as the wife was about to continue, another round of mimosas arrived along with their lunch. Once the plates were settled and the waiter off to his next duty, Ellen leaned in again.

“So what happened on Saturday?” Ellen’s eyes were sparkling with excitement and her smile radiated her enthusiasm for a good tale; a private and very personal tale.

The husband had been sitting quietly with his hands folded on the table. He too was listening closely although he wasn’t as cheerful as Ellen. He sensed a bit on drama on the horizon.

“I had done everything she asked; everything! I vacuumed her room and I made her bed, as best I could, and I picked up after her…”

The wife was becoming quite emotional as she rattled off all the little things she had done to please her sister and keep her secret safe.

“Then she had me dress up in some of her older clothing. Panties, pantyhose, a training bra, and this stupid ugly old dress with a lace collar and lace short sleeves. Then she had me put on these stupid Mary Jane shoes. I felt so…I don’t know…I felt so ridiculous standing there in that little girl outfit.

“I thought she would maybe make me wear one of her skirts or a pair of her jeans. You know? Something with a little style? Something not quite so…obvious? I envied some of the fashionable things that she wore.”

The wife paused and took a sip of her drink. A single tear fell from her eye as she tried to compose herself enough to continue with her tale.

Ellen was no longer smiling. The husband looked down at his hands and his lips were suddenly drawn tightly over his teeth as he felt anger build within him.

“Anyway… She combed out my hair and put bows and clips with little animals on them all over my hair. Then she started doing my make up. It was horrible. She gave me these round and very red cheeks and lips. She used blue eye shadow only. She penciled in a dark brow line and she gave me several coatings of mascara.

“When I looked in the mirror, I looked like one of those porcelain faced dolls. I looked positively awful; like a caricature of a little child. She left the room for a moment saying that she thought she heard something downstairs. I stood there looking at myself and tears began rolling down my cheeks.”

The wife again sipped from her drink. With her free hand she lifted her fork, poked around the salad bowl, lost in her thoughts for the moment.

Ellen dabbed at another tear that had fallen from her eye. She shook her head in dismay at what was done to the wife; by her sister no less.

“When she returned to the room, she told me it was nothing; just a cat outside. Then she took my hand and began to lead me out of the room. I was so fearful of leaving it. She told me that we needed to go downstairs and into the kitchen so that we could discuss what I had done and what it meant to her sense of privacy.

“I let her lead me downstairs. As soon as we entered the living room on our way to the kitchen…”

The wife completely broke down into tears. She grabbed her napkin and held in under her lower lashes trying to protect her make up. She silently wept and her body quaked as her emotions poured from her. Her husband slid next to her and hugged her. He tried to calm her by whispering softly into her ear and gently kissing her on cheek and fore head. After a few minutes, the wife continued to speak in a near whisper.

“…and both of my parents were standing there! I was completely frozen and horrified!

Ellen held the wife’s hand and asked her if she wanted to go to the powder room to wash her face and freshen up a bit. She shook her head indicating that she was okay and she continued her tale.

“She said that I had been going into her laundry and trying on her clothes. She made up things just to make it seem worse then it was. My father’s reaction was…normal? He yelled at me and called me a queer. He slapped my face once. I think that was the only time he ever hit me. I was shattered that I had caused him such…pain. Even my sister couldn’t believe he did that. My father never looked at me the same way after that day. He always had a kind of…pained look of disappointment in his eyes. That little bitch changed my life with that single terrible act.”

“I became really afraid of her. I couldn’t trust her anymore. I hated her, and what she had done to me. And my mother…oh God…my mother decided that since I loved to wear girl’s clothes so much, I should continue to dress as a girl for the rest of the weekend. She told my sister that she should take me back upstairs, get me out of that ridiculous outfit, and clothe me in something more suited to my age, and size.

“My sister was more than happy to obey and that’s exactly what she did. She had me take off the dress and shoes, wash off the old make up, and she put me in a mini skirt and belly tee shirt. She redid my make up and my hair and put a pair of her flats on my feet.

“I spent the remainder of the day dressed like that. I had to sit at lunch in the kitchen and bare the horrid stares of my father. My sister…my sister could barely contain her laughter. And my mother reacted as though nothing was different. My name, as you well know, is kind of unisexual so she simply used my real name, but with a different inflection in her voice.”

Ellen and the husband were silent as the wife told her tale. They both looked at her with sympathy and sadness on their faces. The husband especially felt for his love. It’s a small wonder that the relationship between his wife and her family was virtually none existent. Ellen simply bowed and shook her head. Sadness seemed to suddenly permeate her. She began to speak to the wife.

“Something like that happened to me when I was sixteen.”

The husband and wife both looked at her. They were startled by her sudden change in emotion.

“A friend came to visit unexpectedly. I was home alone. Of course, I was dressed at the time. He knew I would be there alone, as I often was on Saturdays. Why is it always Saturdays?”

She laughed as she asked the wife this question.

“Anyway, I quickly defrocked and hid my clothes under my bed. I washed my face quickly, and I thought thoroughly. I put on my jeans and a tee shirt. I quickly put socks over my panty hose and ran downstairs. He was kicking the door and shouting out my name at that point.

“I opened the door and he came in asking ‘where the hell were you and what were the hell were you doing’.”

“I told him the usual; I was…’indisposed at the moment.’ Well…he took one look at me and laughed saying; ‘okay…sure…whatever.’ He then ran straight up the stairs to my room with me closely behind.”

“I don’t kid you when I say that I was out of breathe and terrified as well. I had a few close calls before but never like this. Anyway, the first thing he did was to look all around the bedroom. He even looked in the bathroom. Then he turns to me and asks; ‘So…how look have you been wearing make up?’ “

“Oh…my…God!!! Of course I asked him what he meant. He said that he could see the mascara and a bit of eye liner. He also said he could see the outline of lipstick on my mouth. I thought I would die!

Ellen leaned in closer to the husband and wife as she spoke, “Then he dropped to his knees and reached under my bed. Of course he felt what was there and pulled out the dress, slip and bra. I was finished. I died, I sort of dropped to my knees, hung my head, and began to silently cry. I have never felt so naked and humiliated, or exposed in my life."

“Where was your cousin at the time? I thought you only did your dress up with her.”

Ellen looked at the husband with a sour expression on her face, “Oh…she was away at college.”

There was a bit of sarcasm in her voice, and maybe a bit of bitterness. The husband simply nodded his head.

“Look, I don’t fault her. It was merely that I missed our games, I really, really missed our relationship as confidantes and friends. Anyway, it gets worse. My ‘friend’ then wants to see me all ‘dressed up’ and threatens to tell everyone about me if I don’t do it. So…what was I to do?”

The wife nodded her head knowingly. The husband was all ears leaning in as Ellen’s voice dropped in volume.

“I told him to go fuck himself and that I didn’t care what he did. I told him to get the hell out of my house and I went into the bathroom and slammed the door shut.”

The husband laughed saying ‘good for you’. The wife sat stunned at what Ellen had done.

“That was so very brave of you. That’s what I should have done, or something like it.”

“Oh don’t you dare start that crap honey…”

Ellen sounded almost angry as she spoke to the wife. Ellen took her hand and held it.

“…we do whatever it takes to get through the day. Sometimes things work out and sometimes they don’t. It’s that simple. You can’t undo what’s been done so don’t even go there. I paid my price for what I did and I would do it the same way all over again. I didn’t have much of a social life for the next two years. And of course some of the other kids called me names. But my true friends, and others, didn’t believe him.”

Ellen smiled and giggled. Her eyes brightened as she remembered those days.

“I’ll tell you one thing, it didn’t stop me from wearing panties and hose under my clothes. I did become a bit more cautious about when and where I dressed. I never spoke to that asshole again. Now we’d better eat up before our food gets warm!”

They laughed as they began to eat. The wife glanced every once in a while at Ellen, who smiled back at her.

“I still think you were terribly brave.”

After they finished their dining, with coffee and a bit of lovely apple pie, Ellen graciously picked up the tab. The three of them began to walk back toward the husband’s car. As the trio passed the clothing boutique, the wife once again stopped to look at the leather skirt in the window.

“You know honey…that’s quite a risqué piece. They have a very sheer fuchsia top that really compliments the look. The collar is scalloped and reveals quite bit. Do you like that skirt?”

“Oh dear Lord yes. I think it’s so sexy. But what does one wear beneath it?”

“Well, you either wear hose with a woven in garter belt…I mean panties are definitely out. Or you might wear very shear panty hose, which I find uncomfortable. Or you wear nothing at all!”

Ellen and the husband laughed. Ellen giggled and blushed. The wife turned to look at her husband but it was Ellen who spoke.

“I’ll tell you what…we’ll get you that for graduation. You need to learn a bit more and study very hard.”
 
 
Author's Note: Once again, my gratitude to Stanman for the edit and Lauren Travis for the ideas. They have both been so very encouraging. I also wish to thank you readers for all the very kind comments and suggestions.

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To Be Continued…