Adrian took hold of Maxine’s hands and said,

“It is time,” he said softly.

That was all he needed to say. Both Cliff and Maxine knew what he meant in an instant.

The revelation that Adrian’s life was about to change for the worse shocked Maxine right to her core.

Maxine fled to her room and cried her eyes out. It seemed that her world was crumbling around her. First her mother becoming a lesbian and now Adrian. What would be next.

It took her more than a day to get mentally stable enough to even begin to speak to Adrian about the situation. He was very patient and understanding with her. She didn’t or rather couldn’t even begin to grasp the situation he was in. His world was ending and there was nothing he could do about it.

He might have appeared sanguine or even cold about the inevitability of his situation but he’d had years to prepare himself for the day when he would be told, ‘it is time’. That was before Maxine had entered his life and literally turned it upside down. Despite his best efforts what had started out as a purely business arrangement had developed into something a lot more than that. From his protégé to companion to someone he actually loved had just happened and he didn’t want it to end but… within a few short months he’d be unable function properly as a human being.

Maxine came downstairs looking for Adrian. She found him pounding the hell out of some bread dough in the kitchen.

“How long have you been doing that?” she asked quietly.

Adrian almost jumped out of his skin when she spoke.

“Sorry!”

“It’s all right. I’m just happy that you are back in the land of the living.”

“Well? How long?”

“About an hour.”
Then he looked at the clock.
“Nearer two.”

“But I realised that I won’t be able to do this for much longer. I thought…”

Adrian looked a Maxine.

“I know we have talked about this time many, many times. But it was a shock to finally hear that I’m going to start going downhill pretty rapidly now.”

“What if they are wrong? Can’t you get a second opinion?”

Adrian took her hand and squeezed it gently.

“That’s why I went up to Glasgow. I had a load more tests and the results were identical to the ones I had at St George’s two weeks ago.”

“And you never thought to tell me about them?” replied Maxine in a much angrier voice.

“I know and I’m sorry. But I wanted to be doubly sure before telling you. This is going to change your life as much as it is mine you know?”

Maxine knew what he meant. What he didn’t know was that Maxine had severe doubts about her ability to take over running the business from Adrian. She might ‘talk the talk’ but inside, she was winging it more often than not.

---

Now that the inevitable bad news had arrived, it was time for the plans that had been discussed at length for months and months to be put into action.

The following Monday, Adrian, Maxine and Cliff met formally to start the process with a board meeting of the company. Adrian resigned as Chairman and Managing Director and Maxine was elected in his place. This was a mere formality but still a sad day.

Adrian tried to put a brave face on it but his whole-body language said ‘I’m done’.

His general ‘fug’ continued for over a week. It was understandable but his mood transferred to the others especially Maxine.

Eventually, Maxine got a bit fed up with the sullen atmosphere. She had to do something different so she went down to Devon.

---

“Hi,” said Maxine as she walked into the Hotel.

“Oh! Miss Maxine. We were not expecting you for another two weeks?” said the receptionist Sara.

“A bit of a spur of the moment thing. Are Nina and Belinda around?”

“Nina is in her office. Belinda is out dealing with a problem at the Laundry. They mixed up our kitchen staff order… again.”

Maxine smiled. That was one of the things she was glad that she didn’t have to deal with on a daily basis.

“I’ll pop in and see Nina. I’ll be staying the night if my room is available?”

The receptionist, Sara smiled.
“It is but, I’ll send in Housekeeping to give it the once over.”

“Thanks Sara,” said Maxine as she left the reception area.

---

“Come” said a voice from inside the Office.

Maxine opened the door and went inside.

“Maxine! What are you doing here? It isn’t time for a board meeting yet?”

Maxine smiled.

“I needed to get away for a day or so. So, here I am. Why not come to my favourite hotel eh?”

Nina looked at Maxine and said,

“And the real reason?”

Maxine’s attempt at bluffing had failed.

“There is something but I need to tell it to both of you.”

“This sounds serious.”

The look on Maxine’s face told Nina everything she needed to know.

She looked at the clock on her computer screen. It said 16:43.

“Belinda will probably be going straight home when she’s done at the Laundry in Exeter. Why don’t you come over for dinner?”

Maxine thought for a moment.

“That sounds like a good idea. I’ll see you later. Shall we say seven?”

Nina smiled.

“That sounds about right.”

---

Right on the nail of seven, Maxine arrived at Belinda and Nina’s home. As she walked up the path, she realised that it was a real home unlike that gothic monstrosity she lived in. She really wanted a home like the one she grew up in despite it being a small terraced house.

Belinda opened the door just as Maxine was about to ring the bell.

“Perfect timing,” said Belinda as she showed Maxine through to the kitchen-diner at the rear of the property.

“Nina was beginning to worry that her latest creation might be overcooked,” joked Belinda as Nina wiped her brow of perspiration.

The three of them laughed as they sat down to eat.

Belinda and Nina knew Maxine well enough by now to know that when the time was right, she’d tell them whatever it was that had brought her down to Devon that day.

The right time happened to be after they’d finished the excellent dessert that Nina served up.

“Not my doing I’m afraid. Chef created this. He’s trialling it out before it goes on the menu,” said Nina when both Maxine and Belinda commented on the excellence of the dessert.

Maxine sat back and looked at the other two. She took a deep breath.

“I have some bad news. Well news of something that is going to happen in the future.”

No one said anything.

“Adrian is dying.”
“He has this faulty gene that means he is a carrier of Huntington’s Disease. He’s been fighting it but the docs say that it is now progressing quite quickly.”

Both Nina and Belinda came and gave Maxine a big hug.

“Sorry to ask this but how long does he have left?”

Maxine managed a small smile.

“No, you are right to want to know. He thinks about eight months but I think that is a bit optimistic. After five or six, he’ll be bedridden. Then it is the Hospice.”

Then she carried on,
“I am telling all of the people and companies we have a financial interest in personally. I just happened to think of you first.”

“I’ve known that this day would come right from the first time I met Adrian but… It was always in the future.”

Belinda looked at Nina. Neither of them had much of an expression on their faces.
“It this why Adrian handed over his end of our business to you?”

Maxine nodded.
“Yes and No. As you know, I did the original report that led to his approach to you. He thought that this project would be perfect for me as a rookie but it has gone way beyond that. As I’m now MD, of the company nothing formally will change. Hopefully it will be business as usual and just to be sure, I have no intention of pulling out or selling the stake I… sorry we have in this or any other business. I’ll make this promise to you here and now. If I do ever think of selling out then you will have first refusal but I don’t think that is likely in the short or medium term. I rather like it down here so why would I sell up eh?”

“I’m sorry to spring this on you like this but there really isn’t any other way of passing on news like this but in person.”

Belinda took Maxine’s hand and squeezed it gently.

“What about you inheriting the business?”

“Adrian and I will be getting married as soon as we can arrange it. It will be a small ceremony and an even smaller reception. We’ll probably go away for a few days. We have not discussed it yet. Doing that makes it all legal and above board when it comes to taxes and the like. It also keeps his brother and sisters out of the way. They hate what he’d done with his life and only want his money. Nothing really new there then. It is a good job my Sister knows nothing about what I’m really doing with my life. She’d throw a mega wobbly that would be worth an Oscar.”

“What about your transition?” asked Belinda.

Maxine sighed.

“I’m scheduled to have the operation the week after next. This has been booked for several months. The idea was that I’d have it and have three weeks to recover before the next board meeting. Now… I… really don’t know.”

“Is it what you want?” asked Nina.

“It is but the timing…”

“Sucks big time,” said Belinda.

No one disagreed with that.

“You know that you and Adrian are welcome to come down here for your recovery,” said Nina.
“We’ll look after you.”

Maxine smiled.

“Thanks for the kind offer. At the moment, everything is up in the air. I don’t even know if I’m going to have the operation as planned at the moment.”

The three of them spent the rest of the evening talking. Belinda and Nina knew that Maxine needed someone to talk to that could relate to the problems she was facing.

As they watched her drive off into the darkness Nina turned to Belinda and said,
“We should get hitched as well.”

Belinda smiled and kissed Nina long and hard.
“I think so too,” she said when they came up for air.”

---

Maxine left the Hotel well before dawn the following day. She had to see someone before they went to work that day.

“Hi Mum!” said Maxine as she arrived at their family home in Trowbridge.

“Oh, hello darling. I wasn’t expecting you today.”

Then she saw her daughters face.

“Something’s wrong isn’t it?”

Maxine sighed.

“Its Adrian. It is time.”

That’s all she needed to say. In fact, it was all she could say as her mother wrapped her arms around her daughter.
“Oh, you poor thing!”

“You have known that this day would come all the time you’ve known him, haven’t you?”

“I have and that’s what makes it worse. Until now, it was always tomorrow, next month, next year. Now it is here I really don’t know what to do.”

Maxine stayed with her Mother for three days and then went back to Reigate.

---

Adrian had some good news waiting for her when she arrived home.
“Are you doing anything on Thursday?”

“But… that’s the day after tomorrow?”

“Yes? Are you doing anything at three in the afternoon?”

Then Maxine twigged what Adrian was going on about.

“How… how did you manage to get a license?”

“There was a cancellation and I showed the people the letter from my consultant at St Georges. The rest was a formality. I took the liberty of taking your passport and other records. All you need to do is sign in the relevant places and we can get married.”

Maxine glared at Adrian.

“Only?”

“What am I going to wear? What about my hair? Men! Pah!”

“Oh, and I phoned your mother after you had left. She’ll be here tomorrow.”

“You really don’t get it do you?”

Maxine stormed out of the house and headed for the station. She knew exactly where she was going but hoped that she’d get to the shop before it closed for the day.

---

Maxine made it to Wimbledon and the shop of her dressmaker.

“Hello Maxine,” said Emma as she walked in.
“I wasn’t expecting you, today was I?”

“Sorry Emma. I left my phone at home otherwise I would have called.”

“Is my dress finished?”

Emma smiled.

“Ready and waiting for a final fitting.”

“That will have to do. I’m getting hitched the day after tomorrow.”

“You sound like you don’t want to do it? You seemed so up for it on your previous visits?”

“I do but… yes I want to get married but it won’t be a long marriage. The bad news is that Adrian has between six and nine months left to live.”

“You poor thing. Let me put the kettle on and we can go through the alterations I made over a cuppa?”

“That sounds perfect,” replied Maxine.

Maxine left the shop almost two hours later with her wedding dress carefully wrapped up and in a garment bag.
She afforded herself a slight smile. She’d been working with Emma for a while on the wedding dress. Luckily for her, the last set of alterations had been done to Maxine’s satisfaction. It was close to perfection but not quite but it would have to do. There was no time to waste with her wedding less than two days away.

On the return trip to Reigate, Maxine did consider apologising to Adrian for her little strop but decided to leave that one in her handbag for later.

Adrian was very apologetic when Maxine returned home. He almost failed to notice that she was carrying a garment bag. Slowly he twigged what was going on.

“It isn’t perfect but it will do!” exclaimed Maxine.

Adrian started to protest but stopped himself just in time.

---

Maxine’s Mother arrived late the next morning and immediately started to fuss over her daughter.

“Mum!” said Maxine after just over an hour.
“Please stop!”

Her Mother stopped as she was about to say the same thing about how wonderful it is to get married… again.

“I’m getting married to Adrian and there are a lot of things to be done today.”

Then she added,
“Tomorrow morning I’m getting my hair and nails done. You can get yours done at the same time if you want to?”

“Are you saying that my hair is not good enough for you?”

This retort took Maxine slightly by surprise.
“Mum! That’s not what I said at all. If you want to have your hair and nails done then I’m sure that Bea can fit you in alongside me. Once I get back from Horley, there will be just enough time to get dressed before we head off to the Registry Office.”
Her mother stood motionless for several seconds. Slowly, she realised that Maxine had everything under control and it was her that was in a bit of a tizzy.

“Don’t fret Mum. I know what I’m doing.”

Her mother didn’t answer but looked around for something to do. There was nothing out of place, nothing that needed dusting, cleaning or moving half an inch to make the aesthetics look better.

“It is time we went downstairs,” said her Mother after another check of her watch.

Maxine gathered up her skirts and led the way. She’d been practising wearing all those layers for several months and was now fairly proficient at going down the stairs. At first, the heel of her boots kept catching in the hem but she’d persevered and was now pretty efficient at wearing a floor length dress with several layers of petticoats underneath.

Maxine rather liked the look and how it felt to move in the dress. Unbeknown to her Mother or Adrian, she’d ordered several dresses to be made with skirts as long as this one.

---

Their taxi was waiting to take Maxine and her Mother to the Registry Office for the ceremony. Maxine’s mother was still tut-tutting over the height of Maxine heels when they arrived at their destination.

Maxine saw a fairly nervous Adrian waiting on the steps. Cliff was standing at his side. He looked relaxed which pleased Maxine no end.

After carefully getting out of the Taxi and settling her dress, Maxine picked up the front of it and climbed the steps to where Adrian was waiting.

He whispered,
“They are running about ten minutes late.”

“Can we go inside the building? That wind is perishing,” remarked Maxine.

Adrian ushered Maxine and her Mother inside.

After all the rushing around of the past few days, actually getting to say ‘I do’ was remarkably easy for Maxine. After all, she’d dreamed of this moment ever since a week after she’d taken the job with Sally in Chichester. It was then that she realised that her life as a woman was far nicer than that of ‘Tom the loser’.

Her only regret was that Sally could not be there due to previous business commitments. Maxine owed her a lot but she would have loved for her to be there as support for her Mother

Once their marriage was confirmed, the small party adjourned to a pub deep in the Surrey Countryside for a late lunch. Maxine’s dress had caused a good deal of head turning when the party had arrived. She just ignored them after all, she wasn’t showing any cleavage.

The weather was fine so they ended up eating outside. The regular sound of planes flying overhead after taking off from the nearby Gatwick Airport was a reminder that the newlyweds would be on one of those planes within a few short hours.

---

Four and a half hours later, Maxine and Adrian boarded a flight from Gatwick. Their destination for a few days was the island of Phuket. Then it was off to Bangkok and time for Maxine to become the woman that she’d wanted to be for what seemed an age.

Adrian had discussed the taking of this step with Maxine many times since she’d come to work for him in Reigate. Every time she’d shown more determination to take this step than the last until he’d given up asking her about it.

That was until they were on the beach in Phuket.

“Don’t be silly darling,” said Maxine.
“It is what I’ve wanted since the first week I was working down in Chichester. I knew then that my destiny lay in becoming as proper a woman as I could. In three days, that will happen and that is what I want.”

Adrian knew when he was beaten and didn’t raise the subject again.

[to be continued]