“Shauna, you seem a bit pre-occupied tonight?” asked Kerry-Ann.

“Mum, it is nothing,” replied Kerry-Ann’s daughter.

“It isn’t nothing. You have sat starting at your homework for the past hour and done exactly nothing. So, come on darling out with it.”

Shauna looked at her mother for several seconds before replying.

“Mum, they are saying on Twitter and WhatsApp that Paula was a man.”

Kerry-Ann had dreaded this day coming. Paula was her wife.

“Anything else?”

“What? Isn’t that enough?”

“Are they saying anything else about us?”

Shauna hesitated before replying,

“It’s all over WhatsApp that you got raped by some man before shacking up with Paula. And the tweets are saying a lot worse. They are saying that I’m a rape-child and that you had it away with so many men that you have no idea who my dad is.”

Kerry-Ann tried not to show any reaction.

“It’s not like that darling.”

“Of course it’s like that. I can’t go to school tomorrow. I’ll be a laughing stock. I’ll have no friends left.”

Kerry-Ann saw the look of hoplessness on her daughters face.

“Why don’t you give up on your homework and we can wait for Paula to get home.”

Kerry-Ann came around the table and hugged her daughter who started sobbing gently.

They held each other until the other love of Kerry-Ann's life, Paula returned home from work.

She took one look at us and knew that something really bad had happened.

Kerry-Ann said to her,
“Darling, it is time that Shauna knows the truth.”

Paula nodded her head to her wife and after giving her a quick kiss and a hug for Shauna she disappeared upstairs. They’d talked about this day many times over the years. Every time they did, they hoped that we’d never have to put their plan into action.
Paula returned a few minutes later carrying a document folder.

“Darling, there are a few things you need to know about Kerry-Ann, me and you.”

“Why? Have you seen what they are saying about us on Twitter? Everyone knows all about us.”

Paula smiled back.

“They will be dealt with in due course. What you need to know is the truth, the whole truth.”

“The truth? No one cares about the truth these days,” cried Shauna.

“That’s as maybe but the three of us are what matter,” Kerry-Ann replied trying to calm her daughter.

Paula sat down at the table and opened the album.

“In the beginning, there was your mother and John, her first boyfriend.”
“He’s the one they are saying knocked you up when you were fifteen,” said Shauna earnestly.

“That’s not true,” replied Kerry-Ann.

Paula took two sheets of paper from the back of the Album.

“This is your birth certificate,” she said giving it to Shauna.

“And this is your Mothers.”

“See darling, I was Nineteen when I gave birth to you,” she said stroking her daughters hair.
“As I was saying, your Mother had this wimp of a boy name John as her first real boyfriend. People could not work out what Kerry-Ann saw in him. He wasn’t good looking, he was not a sportsman, he was a virtual nobody,” said Paula.

“But I loved him and he loved me,” she replied slightly tearfully.

“Is he my father?” asked Shauna.

“Yes he is,” replied Kerry-Ann.

“Where is he? Why did he leave you like that?”

Kerry-Ann looked at Paula and gave her a nod.

“I didn’t leave your Mother. I’ve been here all along.”

Shauna sat upright.

“So it’s true that you are a man!”

“I was once. After you were born, we got married and I became Paula. I’m legally a woman now but you are my daughter and I love you and your Mother with all my heart. Your mother knew about my desire to be a woman from the day we met. She...”

"She has been my rock over the years." added Paula.

Kerry-Ann reached over and took Paula’s hand and squeezed it gently.

“My life is over,” cried Shauna.

“No it isn’t darling,” Paula said trying to comfort her.

“Who started all this? Was it Emily Jones?”

Shauna nodded her head as she tried to wipe away a tear.

“Time to strike back then,” said Paula defiantly.

“What do you mean?”

“Did you know that her father has two families. One here that he sees at weekends and one in Birmingham that he lives with during the week. He has eight children by his other wife and Emily’s Mother is not really married to him. She is a bastard,” said Paula in her Lawyer’s voice.

“Ho… how do you know this?”

“Because my sweetheart, her father’s real wife has filed for divorce. She is using my firm to do the work. She also posted all the gory details on Facebook the other day against our advice I might add. That might be the trigger that what caused Emily to do what she did?”

“Perhaps my darling, you might like to give her a dose of her own medicine?” suggested Kerry-Ann.

Shauna sat still for a moment. Then she looked at the pictures of Kerry-Ann and John in the Album. Over the page there were ones of him wearing his first dress to go out in and lots more besides.

“Are you really my Father?”

“Yes darling I am. It is my name on your birth certificate, or rather John’s. I am so proud to be your father you know. Your Mother is so proud of you as well.”

We both hugged Shauna.

“Besides my darling, you are off to University in a few months. You can leave all those small-minded people behind you and get on with your life. We’ll be moving soon as well now that this has come out.”

“What? Where will you go?”

“Well, darling,” said Paula.

“You are going to York to study. We’ll be close by but not on your doorstep. We sort of thought about moving to the Lancaster area. A lot closer than here. My company has an office there and it won’t be difficult for Kerry-Ann to get a job in a local Hospital. They are always in need of good Nurses. Now that this has all come out it might be prudent to do it sooner rather than later don’t you think?”

“You had all this worked out in advance, didn’t you?”

“Some of it we did but the rest is as they say improvised,” said Paula.

“That’s why we kept talking about this day when we went out for our long walks. We had to have a plan just in case something like this happened.”

“Were you ever going to tell me the truth?” demanded Shauna.

Kerry-Ann nodded to Paula. She removed a large envelope from the album and handed it to Shauna.

“Read what it says on the envelope.”

“To be opened by Shauna one day after she turns 18,” she said repeating the words.

“What’s in here?”

“Well Darling, as it is your birthday next week. I don’t think anyone would mind if you opened it now.”

She tore the envelope open and pulled the contents out. One of the documents was a big chart.

“That’s your complete family tree going back to around 1700,” said Paula as she opened up the chart on the table in front of them.

“See it confirms everything we have told you tonight.”

Then Shauna looked at the other pages.

“What’s this? It is all legal mumbo-jumbo.”

“That document details the legacy that was left to you by your grandparents. There should be enough money to pay your tuition and live quite nicely while you are a student. Once they saw that your mother and I were committed to each other, they made sure that there was money for your education. They didn’t have the opportunity to go to university. We did and thanks to them, so shall you.”

Shauna burst into tears. This time they were tears of joy.

Her parents hugged her.

“There, there darling, knowing the truth wasn’t so bad now was it?” Paula said quietly.

“You are our daughter and we love you to bits no matter what happens.”

A little later, Shauna had recovered enough to say,

“Thank you. You are the best mums in the world.”

Then she got the same steely look on her face that Paula has when going into court and said, “Now I’m going to get my own back. But being the nice person you have brought me up to be, I’m going to give her a chance to recant.”

“And if she won’t?” asked Paula.

“She gets both barrels,” replied Shauna with a determined look on her face.

“That’s our girl!” her parents said in unison.

[The End]