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A Mother's Love (fan-fiction)
Volume 3.03
by **Sigh**, with assistance from Angharad
Copyright© 2020 plaintivesigh All Rights Reserved. |
BRIEF SYNOPSIS - or, PREVIOUSLY ON "A MOTHER'S LOVE",
In London, Steve and Mary are young lovers who meet and marry. Though their love is strong, there are complicating factors. Mary has HIV, contracted from a one night stand she had before she met Steve. She's also given birth to their daughter, who is free of HIV but did inherit the same severe intolerance to cow's milk that Steve has. The obvious answer is breastfeeding, but Mary's HIV+ status (not to mention all of the anti-HIV drugs she's on) makes her a poor candidate for that. So ... Steve volunteers for the duty. He takes hormones to grow his breasts and begin lactation.
All goes well, until ... complications!
**Steve's very prominent breasts and his breastfeeding his daughter produce uncomfortable public circumstances; he begins dressing as a woman for work, which eases the discomfort because he passes pretty well. TOO well ...
**Mary comes down with cancer; she leaves Steve and the children to stay with her mother because she feels she's a burden AND because she doesn't like to see her husband becoming more female; she stops HIV treatment and progresses to full-blown AIDS.
**Steve, who goes by Stephanie when dressed as a woman, meets a new Doctor who then talks to Mary and convinces her to restart treatment for both the AIDS and cancer; the AIDS holds in check and her cancer goes into remission!
**BUT on two or three occasions now, the new Dr. (Jonathan Brown) has kissed Stephanie - sending her into totally unexpected and unsettling throes of infatuation! (Mary is unaware of this)
**Despite all of this, Steve and Mary's life returns to some normalcy; in addition to daughter Bekka, the couple now have a young infant son, so Steve's breastfeeding (and time spent as Stephanie) must continue. Mary announces that Steve needs to wean baby Hugh off breast milk - and that Steve should get a bilateral mastectomy ASAP! Problem: the surgeon REFUSES.
Now - **whew** - without any further ado, here is the next part of the story. Stephanie is driving home from the plastic surgeon's office ...
I drove home with a sinking feeling in my tummy. I knew Mary wouldn’t be happy with the news I was bringing. At least I have time to change into my Steve clothes before she gets home, I thought. That eased the gut heaviness somewhat.
The slight respite vanished, though, when I saw Mary’s car in the driveway. I parked, but stayed in my own car as I phoned her.
“Steve! I wasn’t expecting your call. Are you on your way home?”
“Hello Mary. I’m actually parked right outside.”
“Well come in and tell me how things went today!”
“Love – I’m still dressed as Stephanie. I thought you’d be home at your usual time, a little later, so I hoped to change before you arrived. Let me turn into Steve and then I’ll tell you all about it.”
“All right, but hurry please; I’m on the edge of my seat!”
I wasn’t able to rush as fast as I’d hoped, because baby Hugh was overdue for a feeding and my breasts were uncomfortably full. I stayed in the bedroom with the door closed as he suckled me. Then I put him to rest in his bed; as I did so, Mary caught another glimpse of me and grimaced. Then came a quick shower and change, with application of men’s cologne and minimization of breast tissue with the sports bra. Finally, I emerged from the bedroom as Steve.
Mary was quite ebullient. “I finished work early. That soup you made two days ago? I took it out of the icebox and put it to reheat on the stove, so dinner should be ready in half an hour,” smiled Mary. “Now, when did the doctor schedule the surgery?”
“He … refused.”
“Refused? Refused what, exactly?”
“He won’t schedule any mastectomy until I’ve had a psychiatric evaluation. His quote was that he wouldn’t participate in an exercise of self-mutilation.”
“But – but you’re a man! This would return you to manhood!”
“I told him! He knows that, and yet he says he sees me as only an attractive woman.”
Mary’s eyes narrowed, and her lips pursed in vexation. “What did you do?” she hissed.
“Well – I left, and called a psychiatric specialist; but the cost will be quite a strain on this month’s budget – ”
“No. In the surgeon’s office. Did you act as if you didn’t want to give up your jubblies? Why did he use your attractiveness as a reason – were you acting like a tart? What the hell did you say to him?” Mary’s voice was intensifying in volume and venom. “That’s two hundred pounds down the drain, and all that’s been done is this marriage is even closer to tumbling off the cliff!”
I stood bolt still at that. “Our marriage is in trouble? Mary – why?”
“Because I cannot stay wedded to a WOMAN. I married a bloody man, for heaven’s sake! I need a husband, someone who will father our kids; not a wife, a second mother whom I have to compete with for the children’s affection!”
“Darling – this isn’t a competition! And you know very well why I developed breasts; our children’s milk intolerance, and the desire to give them the healthiest meal a baby can have. You were in agreement!”
“I agreed to you developing breasts for the feedings. Not for you living more than half of your waking hours as a woman!”
“But that’s only happened because …” I failed to finish the thought, realizing that any further arguing of this point was likely to make things only more heated.
That night, Mary retired early as I got Hugh and Bekka ready for bed. Hugh was fussy, but a late-night nursing had him near dozing.
As I entered our bed, Mary was positioned on the opposite side, her face turned towards the far wall. I touched her shoulder, but that caused her to pull away more severely; she now lay with her back towards me.
No words were spoken the next morning beyond an “I love you, Mary; have a nice day,” from me as I left for work, dressed yet again as Stephanie; there was no reciprocation.
It had been another difficult day at Adventure Travel. Putting together pricing that would entice customers yet still produce some profit for the agency was becoming increasingly difficult. I sighed as I ran some numbers one more time on my computer.
Something inside me said, check the clock. I did, and gasped.
“Blast it, I lost track of the afternoon – the crèche is about to close!”
I blew through the door of the care centre one minute before closing. “Made it,” I gasped. “Hello, Janis. Are Bekka and Hugh ready for me?”
Instead of responding with her usual polite demeanor, Janis appeared confused. “Stephanie – Mary picked them both up at noon. She told me you knew and just forgot to tell us this morning when you dropped them off.”
I gaped at Janis in disbelief. “What?”
The nursery worker now looked worried. “You … didn’t know about this?”
Panic started to rise in my chest. “Did she say where she was going? How did she appear to you? Why wasn’t I called?”
“She’s on the list of persons allowed to pick up Hugh and Bekka! And she looked her usual self, although maybe a little distracted? I just assumed they were all going back home!”
“Oh God,” I moaned. “Please, please no.”
“Did I do something wrong? Are the children in danger?” Janis was beginning to cry.
“I’m sorry, Janis. You did everything correctly. This is between Mary and me. I’m sure they all are fine,” I said as I trotted towards the exit, tears filling my eyes.
I sat in my car making repeated phone calls to Mary. All attempts went to voicemail. Texting proved equally futile. So I drove home, anxious, hoping against hope that there was a simple, innocuous explanation.
Upon entering, no-one appeared to be home; there was a sealed envelope on the entryway table. “STEVE” was written on the front. It was opened in a flash. It read:
Dear Steve – or really, Stephanie,
I meant what I said when I told you I cannot abide being married to a woman. And that’s how I see you now. The way you carry yourself, your speech, your more reserved nature – you seem more at home in a dress and makeup than you do in slacks and a tie. I need you to deal with this, one way or another. If you go back to being Steve, it needs to happen NOW. We can do the mastectomy later, but living in a woman’s role must stop.
Or, you can remain a false bird. If so, then I will stay apart from you. I’m not saying divorce yet, but it may get to that. I have Bekka and Hugh with me, and we’ll be staying at mother’s house. I am weaning the baby onto soya milk and baby food ‘cold turkey’, so you won’t need to get any of your breast milk to him.
Please make your decision by the end of this week, and let me know. I’m sorry it had to come to this. Mary.
I gripped the letter tight with both hands as I clenched my jaw. Don’t cry. That would prove her right – that I am more woman than man now.
Despite my best efforts, I began to sob quietly.
NOTICE TO READERS:
This is a fan-fiction story continuation of Alys's unfinished story, "A Mother's Love." As I have stated in my blog, Alys has given her permission for this work. This is not meant to alter or detract at all from her superb original story, merely to build upon it and achieve a resolution for these wonderful characters.
The setting of this story is Great Britain, and superstar Big Closet author Angharad graciously consented to help me retain a British "feel" for the narrative and dialogue. She is a godsend/lifesaver. I have now had the privilege of working with multiple stars here to bring my humble little indulgent tales to be published in BC. What a giving, loving community.
If you aren't familiar with Alys's story, I have typed a brief summary to set the stage (see the Brief Synopsis at the top). If you want to read Alys's part of this tale (all chapters are super quick reads and great stories!), then look into:
A Mother's Love by Alys
- A Mother's Love - Prequel
- A Mother's Love - Volume 1 (11 parts)
- A Mother's Love - Volume 3 (2 parts)
To be continued tomorrow.
If you've gotten this far, please leave me a comment! Don't make me reach through the screen and tweak your nose!
Thanks for reading! Hugz - **Sigh**
Comments
I remember bits and pieces of the original
though I never sat down and just read every chapter. I certainly remember the premise and basic characters though, and I'm interested in seeing where you take this.
Melanie E.
Hopefully
it will continue to hold your interest!
Hugz! - **Sigh**
Sighs are the natural language of the heart.
-Thomas Shadwell
It has so far,
Though I feel like the chapters are about 1/3 as long as they should be: I'm just getting into the story again and it's over. :P
Melanie E.
About chapter length
Part of me trying to emulate Alys's original story is keeping her original chapter length. Most of the parts of this original story were between 1K and 2K words, and I have kept that going here. My hope was to keep the flavor of the originals in that way; I also hoped that posting daily would ease any frustration that people might have about short chapter lengths. When I write my own stories, my chapters tend to be usually more around 7K or so. Oh well; hang in there, we're almost halfway through my addition to this tale, and at the end there should be a satisfactory resolution (or at least I hope readers will think so).
Thank you for your comments Rasufelle!
Hugz! - **Sigh**
Sighs are the natural language of the heart.
-Thomas Shadwell
Well done
This reads like Alys' work. Touching storyline, with a very real scenario. Looking forward to the next chapter.
>>> Kay
What a compliment!
To be compared to Alys; Thank you!
Hugz! - **Sigh**
Sighs are the natural language of the heart.
-Thomas Shadwell
One way love?
Steve never gave up on Mary when she ran out on him the first time because of her illness. He even endured that pervert to keep the job, and found another position when he was illegally fired.
Everything he's done was for Mary and Bekka, never himself. And when he gets bad news from the plastic surgeon, all he's done for Mary and their kids goes out the window.
It now would seem it's all really been about Mary. Not them, not working through problems together. Not an understanding by Mary of all the garbage Steve has had to endure to keep their daughter fed.
Running off to her mother isn't going to solve and problems. In fact, it has caused more. Steve may really love Mary but he needs to stop and take a long hard look at his marriage, and who in their family is the one more concerned about the others than themselves.
It's always been Mary's way or nothing. It's time for a reality check for Mary. It's time she look at all that's been done for her without question. It's time she reflect on everything Steve's done and gone through, for her and Bekka.
It's time she grew up and become a responsible adult.
Others have feelings too.