WARNING
This part has some bits that some readers may find disturbing.
[one year after Penny died]

Connie and Bill decided to take some flowers to Penny’s grave on the anniversary of her death. It was a sad time for both of them.

They’d been up at the crack of dawn and out in one of the fields that Harry had turned into a Wildflower Meadow. As they picked the flowers they both heard a Skylark singing above them. Then a Cuckoo called from the small copse at the end of the field. Finally, a Corn Bunting chased them away from its nest. They smiled at each other. It seemed that all was right with the world just for a short time.

With the flowers sorted into two nice bunches, they travelled to Penny’s grave to pay their respects.

Connie tried hard but could not hold back the tears when they stood over the grave. Bill put his arm around her to comfort her. She looked up at him and then despite her watery eyes, she gave him a kiss.

Bill didn’t know what to do. He was about to break off when he thought better of it. This was a moment when Connie needed someone to lean on.

Penny had left instructions for the anniversary of his/her death. The pair were to spend the afternoon at Brighton Races or Epsom or Plumpton or Fontwell if there was no meeting at Brighton. As it happened, there was a meeting at Plumpton so that’s where they headed.

She’d left them each an envelope containing five hundred pounds. They were to enjoy themselves. If they made any money it was to be donated to a local charity. She’d even specified which charity was to get the money. As it was a local Animal Shelter, Connie knew that it would do a lot of good should there be any profit from the day.

The two of them had a lot of fun spending someone else’s money. Despite their enjoyment, and their efforts to not back winners, they’d both made a healthy profit on the afternoon.

The final instruction for the day was that they would go out to dinner in Brighton and afterwards toast his memory while standing on the beach. Once again, Penny had provided funds for the evening.

It was close to 11pm when the two braved the shingle beach and raised a final glass to Penny.

Bill really didn’t want the evening to end. The day that he’d spent with Connie was the first time he’d really felt… felt happy since he’d left London.

“It has been a great day,” said Connie when they started to walk up the beach towards Bill’s Discovery that was parked on Marine Drive.

“It has. It is a shame that it has to end,” he replied.

“Does it?” asked Connie in a soft voice.

“What do you mean?”

“I’d like to meet Simone.”

Bill took a step backwards and promptly fell over onto the shingle.

“Oh! I’m sorry Bill,” said Connie as she held out her hand to help him up.

“No Connie. It was just the surprise of you knowing about me… her… whatever.”

“Harry told me about her a few days after you came down in that Ferrari.”

Then she took hold of his hands.

“I’ve seen you change over the past year but there has always been something not quite right. You were always holding something back. Last week, I was in the middle of a difficult foaling when I remembered Bill talking about Simone.”

“That seems strange?”

Connie laughed.
“You have to think of something nice when you are up to your armpits inside an animal trying to sort of why their offspring has done the twist with their umbilical cord.”

Just then a breeze came in off the sea. Connie visibly shivered.
“Come on lets’ get out of here before you freeze to death,” said Bill.

Connie was not to be defeated no matter how much Bill tried to deflect her. Like Harry, she was a determined person. Once she set her mind on a course of action, there was very little anyone could do to deflect her.

---

In the end, Bill just had to tell his story. He invited Connie over for Dinner. After they’d eaten, he sat Connie down and told her something.
“Connie, I know that Harry told you about Simone but I’m not sure he ever knew all the facts. He knew most of it but it is time for you to hear it from someone who went through it. It is time for you to know everything.”

Bill took a deep breath and began.

“Simone only came about because of my Father. He molested me as a child. In his eyes, I should have been born a girl. When I’d not long started school, Mum started to have real mental problems. These problems lasted for several years. The main thing was that to her having sex was wrong so she wouldn’t have sex with dad. As a result, he turned his attentions to me. He dressed me up as a little girl and … well you can guess the rest.”

“I’m so sorry. You, poor man! You, poor boy.”

“The worst thing was that one of the times that I was dressed as Simone, Harry came to call. He was worried about my mother. He met me and that was the start of his thinking that I was transgendered. I wasn’t trans. I was made to dress like that. It was a sham put on by my parents. That whole experience has made it next to impossible for me to have a long-term relationship with a woman. As soon as I get close, I get visions of him and me.”

Bill visibly shivered.

Connie tried to take hold of his hands but Bill moved them out of the way.

“I’m sorry Connie.”

“Don’t be sorry Bill. I won’t even pretend to understand. But why are you telling me this now?”

Bill picked up his phone. He showed Connie a text message.

“This came from Mum just over a week ago.”

“But it just says ‘ABD’?”

Bill nodded.

“Mum is saying that Dad is dead.”

Connie went cold.

“You mean she’s murdered him?”

“I don’t know. More like thrown him overboard to the sharks. One part of her hated Dad, another adored him and she worshiped the ground he stood on. After a few years, she realised that if she would let him have sex with her, he would leave me alone. She went along with it for years until Dad took early retirement about the same time I was finishing University at the time. About a year later and totally out of the blue, he suggested that they take their boat and sail around the world. Just before they left, Mum told me that he was going to meet with an accident somewhere on their voyage. It was payback for… well everything. The thing was… I believed her until I remembered everything else she’d done to support him when I was a child.”

“Where is she?”

“I have no idea. The last time I spoke with her they were in somewhere called Tuvalu but that was when Harry died. I called them to let them know he was gone.”

“Even though the call was not about me or them, it left a bad taste in my mouth. I never want to speak to her again.”

Connie sat quietly for some time.

“Why? She’s your mother?”

“Yeah and she did nothing to stop Dad from abusing me long after she’d recovered and was intimate with him again. At first, I thought she didn’t know but later I discovered that she was in on the whole thing. Mum is schizoid or bi-polar or something. She has at least three different personalities.”

“But he’s dead now.”

“But it does complicate things.”

“Eh? In what way?”

“She’ll probably want to sell the boat and come home. The problem is that she will have nowhere to live so she’ll want to come here. That’s the normal logical personality side of her. She can be like that for weeks and then something will trigger her to change to one of her other personality.”

Bill took a deep breath.

“I had a one bedroom studio apartment in London just so she could not come into my life again. Here, I have lots of room and I really don’t want her in my life again. She stood by him and did nothing to stop him and fuck her for having a mental illness towards the end, it was clear that she was enjoying it. Then a few days later she’d be all contrite and lovey-dovey but do nothing to stop dad. It was almost as if she was under his spell for most of the time…”

“But you were on the phone with her?”

“She was several thousand miles away and could not hurt me. I kept the call short and to the point. Then I hung up. Out of sight, out of mind. I had a job to do. If I hadn’t had to let them know about Harry then I’d never have made the call. The last thing I want is to have her under my feet all the time. Harry would not have wanted that either.”

Connie took hold of his hand and squeezed it gently.

“I’m sorry for suggesting… you know what.”

Bill smiled.

“Thanks Connie. I want to put that behind me. With my parents away, and being here, I… felt normal and alive. With even the possibility of her coming back… See, it is already fucking up my mind…”

Connie held Bill.

“Why would she come back and persecute you like that?”

Bill stiffened up.

“As I said, she stood by and watched him do his stuff. I didn’t know until later, very much later that she even took photos of it. How else do you think that they funded the trip? By selling them on the internet that’s how! There are thousands if not millions of photos of me wearing a dress and being fucked by my father out there… forever. That’s why I’ve never managed a proper relationship with a woman. The fear of her finding those porno shots of me always put the kybosh on any relationship.”

There was a silence between them that lasted several seconds. Then Connie said through watery eyes,

“I’m so sorry Bill. You know that I’m here for you, don’t you?”

“Thanks Connie.”

A little later, Connie asked.

“Do you have any evidence of what they did to you?”

“Eh? Why?”

“To take to the Police. That’s why.”

“I don’t want that to happen.”

Connie took hold of both of Bills hands and looked him right in the eye.

“And if you don’t do anything? She’ll be in your life forever. Can you live with that?”

Then she added,

“But why would she want to put you through all that again?”

“Because my dear Connie, according to my father, I was a better lover to her husband than she was. He repeated that loudly and often. A woman scorned and all that.”

---

Bill didn’t get much sleep for the next week. Part of him wished that his parents had been killed by Pirates near the Horn of Africa or had perished in a Typhoon in the Indian Ocean.

He went through the motions with the smallholding. He even missed a Farmers Market. Connie tried but failed to get him out of his ‘fug’.
Part of him told him that is was his mother that he was wishing dead. Finally, another part of him said that he should go to the Police and let them deal with his mother.

Then one night or, rather in the hours just before dawn, Bill remembered something that Penny had said to him a few days before she died.
“If they should come back, go and see Roger Fawcett.”

Bill could not for the life of him recall anyone in his family by that name.

Bill tried hard but could not discover who this Roger Fawcett was. Searching on the internet had not revealed anyone by that name. In the end, there was nothing for it but to ask Connie. He took his chance that night and went over to Connie’s house.

Bill tried knocking but got no answer. He knew that she was in as her Vet’s 4x4 was there and here Mazda RX5 was visible in the garage.
In the end, he gave up and walked home none the wiser and sadder that the one person in his life that he felt he could talk to was ignoring him.

---

Connie came to see Bill the following evening.

“I had this vague recollection that you came over yesterday?”

“Yes, I did but I got no reply.”

“I’m sorry if you did but I’d been up for nearly a whole twenty-four hours. I was at a very difficult birth. The calf was upside down and had the umbilical cord wrapped around its neck. In the end, I had to do a caesarean which is not an easy thing for someone on their own. In the end, I came home and crashed out. I was so tired that I didn’t even get undressed!”

“Oh, that’s all right Connie. I guess that is all part of your job. The highs and lows.”

“Did they both survive?”

“Yes, they did but this will be the last calf for this cow. She’s getting on a bit in cow years.”

Then Connie smiled and asked,

“Was there anything special for your visit yesterday?”

“Yes,” replied Bill.

“Do you know anyone named Roger Fawcett?”

She thought for a few seconds.

“The only Fawcett I know used to be the landlord of the ‘Black Swan’. But he was always called Jack.”

Bill’s shoulders visibly sank at the news.

“He still lives over the pub. Why don’t we go over for a pint and we can see if he is in?”

Bill still didn’t seem very keen.

“Is it something to do with your parents?”

He nodded.

“I remembered something Penny said a day or so before she passed away.”

She let him speak.

“She said that if they ever come back I should go and see Roger Fawcett. The only problem is that I don’t know who he is and all my efforts at searching for him have drawn a blank.”

Connie could see that he was troubled. She as she’d done before, took hold of his hand and gently squeezed it.

---

The potential lead at the Black Swan Pub proved a dead end. Out of desperation, Bill went to see the solicitor who had dealt with the estate of Harry/Penny.

Bill was ushered into the office of William Armitage. He hated the atmosphere of the place but Mr Armitage had been an old friend of Harry so it was his choice and he had to go along with it.

“Well, this is a surprise Bill. Are there problems with the Smallholding?”

“No, Mr Armitage, the Smallholding is running fine.”

Bill took a deep breath.

“Do you know a Roger Fawcett?”

The colour drained from the face of Mr Armitage.

“How do you know that name?”

“Harry mentioned the name. It is in relation to my parents. Beyond that I have no idea at all.”

Mr Armitage had gathered his thoughts.

“I am very glad that you came to see me. Harry left instructions for me. In the event of you coming to me with that name I am to turn over a file to you. I have no idea what is in it. If you will please give me a few minutes, I’ll go and get the file from the clients safe.”

Bill just nodded. Finding out about Roger Fawcett shouldn’t have been this easy.

Mr Armitage returned a few minutes later with a large envelope.

He sat down at his desk and opened it. Bill was a little concerned but that subsided when Mr Armitage pulled out another envelope and handed it to Bill.

“Can you sign this receipt please?” asked Mr Armitage.

Bill signed it without thinking.

He went to stand up but Mr Armitage waved him to sit down.

“You wanted to know who Roger Fawcett was and it is beholden of me to tell you.”

Bill sat down and waited.

“Harry and I attended the same Public School, back in the day. One of the others in our year was a boy called Roger Fawcett. He was a shy boy. He would only speak to someone if actually spoken too. Anyway, we all came back from Summer Break full of beans and looking forward to the new year. I say all but Roger was even more withdrawn than ever.”

He looked at Bill with a tear forming in the corner of one eye. Telling the tale was difficult for him.

“When we went to get changed for our first Cross-Country of the new term, Roger refused to undress. The Games Master, a big man by the name of Smart almost ripped Roger’s clothes off. Then he saw the reasons why Roger refused his command. He sent us all off on our run while he took Roger to the Infirmary.”

“When we returned from the five long miles in the rain and mud, there were three Police Cars at the School and an Ambulance. We never saw Roger again but about six months later the Games Master and the Headmaster had to take a few days off. One of the boys heard him talking about going up to London and more importantly giving evidence at the ‘Old Bailey’. Us boys being boys, we naturally wanted to know more so one of us phoned his big brother who was a legal clerk in a Barristers Chambers in London. What we found out shocked us all. Roger had been abused for years and his Father had beaten him when he’d refused to have sex with other men. Our Games Master was giving evidence about how he’d found all the injuries to Roger.”

“About a week later, we read in the paper that ten people had been found guilty of a large number of sex crimes with under age boys. The names of the victims were kept out of the press. That would be harder today with social media and everything.”

“We all expected to see Roger returning to school but shortly before the end of the school year we received the sad news that Roger had killed himself.”

Bill sat there digesting the story.

“Thank you, Mr Armitage. I now understand quite a bit more about the situation. I think I should go home and look at what it in the envelope before doing anything else.”

“Please do that. Harry was a canny man. He paid us a large sum of money oh, three or four years ago for this very event. What I’m trying to say is that he anticipated your visit and appointed us to represent you in any way we can in the future.”

“Eh?” said a surprised Bill.

“I don’t know the details of what is in the envelope but if it is anything like what Roger went through then I am here for you in any way I can help. I’ve made it my life’s work to help people like Roger. Harry helped fund a good few legal actions for which I and the victims will be eternally grateful.”

“Sorry? I am a bit confused.”

“Harry and I made a pact back when we were at school. It didn’t take a genius to realise that Roger had been abused and was not the only one. We decided that we’d help people like Roger to not only get justice in the eyes of the law and beyond. Therapy and everything else. Harry was always a natural at making money so it was perfect for him to go into the city. Once he’d become a trader and I was qualified as a lawyer, we started working abuse cases. In many of them, it was the parents who were doing the abusing so we’d fund the legal work or rather, Harry would fund it and I’d do the legal work. That continued until Harry left the City. When he retired down to Sussex he gave me his final years salary and all his bonus to continue the work.”

Bill was shocked at hearing about this side of Harry. One that he’d had no inkling about before that meeting with Mr Armitage.

“Are you doing that work today?” asked a clearly shocked Bill.

“Not really. I’m sort of semi-retired now.”

Then Mr Armitage smiled.

“But my Daughter is carrying on the crusade. She’s a one-woman firebrand. She has to only flutter her lashes and somehow there is money to fund cases.”

“Harry or Penny as she preferred to be called was quite a person. A genuine human being in my opinion.”

“I’m getting to understand that more every day. He or rather she has rather big shoes to fill.”

Mr Armitage shook his head.

“Harry was a one off, believe me. You don’t have to try to emulate things. He told me many times that people should live their own lives and not do what others expect of them because those others have done that. You aren’t him but I know that he wants you to live your own life and be happy. That’s why he insisted that you run the smallholding for five years. He reckoned that it would take that long to get the city out of your veins and by then you would know where your destiny lay.”

Bill didn’t respond. This visit had answered a few questions but had raised a whole load more.

Bill didn’t open the envelope until later that night. When he did, he was both shocked and surprised at what he’d found. It was shocking to find out that Harry knew exactly what his parents had done and that Harry had done nothing about it. He sat back and thought about it a bit more.

After a bit, he realised that this was Harry all over. Nothing with Harry and his life was simple.

At the bottom of the envelope there was a handwritten note from Harry.

“Bill, if you are reading this then things have come to a head with your parents. I hope that what you find in the package is enough to put them away for a long time for what they did to you. You probably already know about Roger Fawcett so I think you will know why I put this together for you.

I really did try to stop them from doing what they did but to my everlasting shame, I failed miserably. As a result, I decided to put this little cache of evidence together. Then I blackmailed them with it. The end result was that they went off on a trip. If you have this then it means that they are either coming back or are back. Your task, should you choose to accept it, is to go to the Police with this evidence and get them put away for a long time. I told them never to come back here or else. It appears that it is time for the ‘or else’ option. Go sock it to them Bill and take heart, there are some good people out there. I’m sure that you will find someone soon.”

Harry.
PS. Connie is not my biological daughter. I thought she was but a DNA test never lies now does it but by the time we’d found out about it, it was too late. She was already the daughter I never had and I was the only father she’d ever known...”

Bill sat looking at the package and the letter for several more hours.

In the end he just went out for a walk. The peace of the surrounding countryside calmed him down quite a bit.

His wandering took him past Connie’s Cottage. The lights were on downstairs which meant that she was up and around. That usually meant that she’d just got home or was about to go out on a call.

As he walked up the path towards her back door, it opened and Connie emerged. She got a fright when she saw someone but quickly realised it was Bill.

“Bill! What are you doing here at this ungodly time of night?”

“I couldn’t sleep and was out walking when I saw your lights.”

“I’m off on a call. A horse has got itself trapped in a gate.”

On the spur of the moment, Bill said,
“Can I tag along? I promise not to get in the way but I need something to take my mind off things?”

Connie hesitated for a moment.

“Ok. You might come in handy.”

Bill didn’t say much to Connie during their short journey to the other side of the village. Several times, Connie looked at him and saw that he was looking straight ahead and was gripping the door handle really tightly. She wanted to help but knew that it would have to wait. What she didn’t know was how long that wait would be.

The ‘Horse stuck in a gate’ turned out to be a colt that had investigated a walker’s gate and had indeed gotten stuck.

Bill just pitched in and while Connie and the colt’s owner kept the very frightened animal calm, he lifted the gate off its hinges and as soon as the colt realised it was free, it disappeared into the grey light of dawn.

It appeared to be unharmed by the event but Connie said to the owner,

“I’ll be back this afternoon and hopefully by then he’ll have calmed down so that I can give him a full check-over.”

The owner agreed and that was it. All done and dusted for the time being.

Bill replaced the gate and the two of them drove back to Connie’s home.

As she stopped the car outside her home Connie said,

“If you want to talk then great. If you don’t then there is a breakfast that needs cooking. In case you hadn’t noticed, that colt peed all over me so I need to have a shower and get changed…”

“Oh… Sorry Connie. I was miles away.”

He looked at her and sighed.

“Why don’t you get yourself sorted out and come over for breakfast. I have something that you need to see.”

“Is it that bad?” asked Connie who could tell the stress that Bill was under from his voice.

He just nodded.

Despite her smelling of horse urine, she gave him a big hug.

---

Half an hour later, Connie joined Bill in his kitchen.

“That smells good,” she said trying to lighten the atmosphere.

“Thanks,” said Bill.

“I hope it tastes as good as it smells.”

He dished up a plate of Kedgeree for them both. The fish had come from a local trout farm. They’d also smoked it using oak chips from the smallholding so the fish had cost nothing thanks to the wonderful world of bartering.

Connie finished her plate and took it to the sink. She started to run the water for the washing up.

“Leave that for a bit,” said Bill.

Connie sat next to him at the table.

“Is this about your Mother?”

Bill nodded and started to cry. Connie had never seen him like this before. She held him for what seemed an eternity until he stopped.
“There is a folder on the table in the dining room. It explains everything.”

Connie retrieved the folder and sat down at the table next to Bill and went through it.

Her interest soon turned to anger and then revulsion at the images she saw. She knew now why Bill had been in a state ever since he’d found out that his mother could be returning to England.

“You poor thing. How did you get all this?”

“Harry. He collected it and… There is something else you need to see.”

Bill turned over the last page in the folder to reveal the letter from Harry.

Connie read it.

“Did you know about this last thing?”

“Yes, Harry and I had always wondered why I didn’t take after him or my Mother. We had a DNA test done but it didn’t change anything between us. Harry was the only father I’d ever known and I was his only daughter and no sodding DNA was going to stop us being father and daughter.”

Connie changed the subject.

“You parents were really something weren’t they. What are you going to do with this?”

“That’s the problem. I really don’t know. I should go to the police but I really don’t know if they will investigate it or not.”

“Then tell your mother that she is not welcome and remind her of the file that Harry put together.”

Bill shook his head.

“She’ll come back just to spite me. I know that in my bones.”

“Tell her that you have given the Police Harry’s file and if she returns she will be arrested for child abuse and trafficking in child porno. I don’t think she’d fancy a stretch in prison with those convictions.”

Neither of them said anything for a while. Connie just held Bill close to her.

“You are right. I have to take this to the Police. I’ll go back to Harry’s Solicitor. He’ll know the right person to speak to.”

Connie managed a smile. Bill was starting to think clearly again.

“You are not in this on your own you know. Harry basically told me that there could be something like this happening.”

“Thanks Connie. You are a rock you know.”

She squeezed his hand a bit tighter but her face gave the game away. It was obvious to anyone apart from Bill that she wanted a bit more.

She’d avoided them really discussing the bit in the letter from Harry about her not being his biological daughter. She knew that sooner or later they’d have to discuss it.

---

Bill went to see Mr Armitage two days later.
“How can I help you Bill?” asked the Solicitor.

“It is about the contents of the envelope you gave me.”

“Ah! I wondered if that is the case.”

Bill looked down at his hands. He always did that when he was very nervous.

“My parents abused me. The folder contained pictures of that abuse. Some of them were apparently taken by my Mother. There was also a note from Harry telling me that he told my parents never to darken these shores again or else he’d take that evidence to the Police.”

“I wasn’t expecting that.”

“The thing is I think that my Mother will think that now Dad is dead she can come back and all will be forgiven!”

“And you are not willing to forgive her I take it?”

“No, I’m not. Never in a million years.”

“Good. It is good that you are so certain.”

“Thanks. I get the feeling that Harry would have no second thoughts about going to the Police with the evidence. He would not have cared about any publicity.”

“That’s the Harry I knew for so many years all right. He would have gone to the Police and had no qualms about it. After the episode with Roger our attitudes changed. I am surprised that he didn’t go to the Police himself with all the evidence but as it is his brother, I fully understand his reticence. Giving them the ‘get out of town’ option is Harry down to a tee.”

“What do I do now? Do I go to the Police and let her come home or do I just threaten her with that and hope that she realises that the game is up?”

Mr Armitage thought for several seconds.

“If you go to the Police now then it will get out sooner rather than later even if she does not come home. I think that letting her know that the minute she appears back here, the evidence goes to the Police. That’s the ‘or else’ that Harry was on about isn’t it?”

“I think you are right. It is sort of what I had decided but after our previous conversation… Well, I think you know my concerns.”

He looked at Bill and smiled.

“I have to say that you are taking this very well… Considering.”

“Possibly but I had a lot of issues as a child.”

Bill rolled up his shirt sleeves. The scars of old wounds still very visible even after fifteen years.

Mr Armitage didn’t respond apart from a knowing nod of his head.

Bill wasted no time in texting his Mother.

“Do not come home. You are NOT welcome. I have Harry’s pictures of you know what. You are just as guilty as he was. Get lost and stay away or ELSE. I will go to the Police if you come home. Even if you silence me, others know what you did. Keep away!”

Then he went home in a much better frame of mind.

That evening, Connie was eager to know what had happened. Bill simply showed her the text he’d sent to his Mother.

Connie smiled and gave him a big hug.

“Do you think that she will come home?”

“Why would she? There is only a prison cell waiting for her here.”

Connie didn’t leave that him alone that night or for the next week.

---

Nothing more was heard from Bills Mother. After a few months he began to relax and enjoy life again.

Eventually Connie moved in with Bill and after a year or so, she even got to meet Simone on a few special occasions because despite all the
pain of the past, Simone was part of Bill and would always be so.

Despite all this, Bill kept thinking, ‘why on earth could she be in love with someone as damaged as me?’

The arrival of a daughter finally allowed those ‘why would she?’ doubts to disappear from Bill’s mind especially, as that year, the smallholding actually made a small profit despite his efforts to carry on in the tradition of Harry and make a loss.

The End.

{For readers in the USA, we do not have a statute of limitations on criminal offences here in the UK.}