I was soon entering Jacqui’s office ready for the worst in response to my coming clean to her about falsifying the job acceptance and about me being really Joey not Josie, but hoping that they had found a way to allow me to stay involved with the Ostia project. She was joined by someone I didn’t recognise, but who was introduced to me as Christine Carnegie, the Director of Human Resources for the county.

“Jo, you have presented us with a bit of a dilemma. In most circumstances anyone obtaining employment under false pretences would be summarily dismissed and probably even prosecuted. However, as I said to you earlier, you are the high-profile public image of Ostia, and very successful at it too, and we are keen for you to continue. However, there are a few changes that have to be made for us not to conflict with council policies or employment law. Christine will now explain in more detail, but consider things carefully before you make any commitments.” Jacqui opened the discussion and invited Christine to continue.

“There are two problems Jo, as you are already aware, impersonating your sister to get the job and falsifying legal records, and how to deal with the transgender aspects of your situation.

Dealing with your employment is bureaucratic but not too difficult, fortunately for you, as Jacqui has just said, everyone is keen to keep you on board. Basically the employment contract with Josephine/Josie will be terminated on the basis of her resignation to start a family. Immediately and seamlessly, you in your own right will be taken on as a replacement. However because of your public image you would be taken on as Jo, or any other female name that you would prefer. Changing the name by which you wish to be known is a simple exercise, and doesn’t even need to be legally confirmed by a deed poll declaration. However again because of your high profile it will be best to do this properly and officially.

With regard to your presentation as a female, this is not an unsurmountable problem for us in principle. The council has a pretty tolerant view of diversity and gender issues and has a non-discriminatory policy, but this has to be balanced with meeting legal and cultural expectations. We will require you to change the gender on all your legal documents, driving licence, passport, National Insurance records, and strongly recommend that you change bank accounts too to avoid any possibility of accusations of money laundering. The tax authorities, HMRC, do not allow gender changes to their records at present so they would continue to list you as male, but address any correspondence to you by whichever title you prefer Miss or Ms.

If you wish to be totally formally considered by us and employed as Jo, you will need to be confirmed as having gender dysphoria which can, but does not necessarily have to, lead eventually to gender re-assignment. Depending on your long-term intentions this does not necessarily imply the application of female hormone treatment or any other feminisation processes, but it will help smooth the waters if there are any future difficulties.

You are not the first transgender employee that we have had to deal with and have learned a lot with the previous cases. We will help whichever ways we can, most of the bureaucracy and form-filling can be handled by my department and our legal team, you will not have to get too involved other than a few signatures on forms.

Obviously there is a lot for you to think about, and I don’t expect an answer immediately, but the sooner it is sorted out the better.”

“Wow, that’s an awful lot to think about. I’ll come back to you tomorrow to let you know how I want to proceed, or if I have any more questions. Thank you for being so understanding flexible and helpful.”

“Take your time, there are some big decisions.” Christine said as she left Jacqui and me.

“Well Jo, it’s all down to you now. If you go ahead with this, nobody else will be told of the changes, as far as the staff here and on site are concerned, you will seamlessly continue as before working as Jo. Go and have a chat with Josie and whoever else you trust and let me know how you want to proceed. As a minimum you need to do a name change quickly so that you can sign an employment contract to get you covered by our employee liability insurance, the rest can wait.”

“Thank you for your support Jacqui, I was half expecting to be sacked. Before I go, changing the subject completely, you need to know what has been happening on site today. Remains have been found which are believed to be a major villa, as important as any other in this country, which when fully uncovered could be the star attraction of the site as a tourist attraction. It will be on my vlog today and on Anglia East next week, but I suggest that the County Cultural and Leisure committee need to be made aware as it could involve major expenditure and grant applications to turn it all into a viable visitor centre after all the investigative and academic work is completed. Let me pull my vlog together for you to assess, and if you think it’s appropriate forward it on.”

Putting my personal situation to the back of my mind for the next couple of hours, I edited the vlog and prepared it for posting before showing it to Jacqui.

“Wow Jo, that looks to be a major find, and you have presented it so well and with great enthusiasm, I can’t believe that the ‘powers that be’ can turn down the opportunity to invest in this. This is exactly why we have bent over backwards to keep you here and have overlooked your deceptions. Post the vlog, I’ll pass it on, and we’ll see what sort of reception it gets.”

I didn’t want to disturb Josie’s honeymoon, but needed to talk my personal situation through with someone to get my thoughts straight, the choice was my Mum and Dad, Susie, or Karen and Jen. Mum and Dad I would leave until later after I had a clear idea of what I was intending to do, and chose to ask Karen and Susie to come round for a drink at the house later as there was something I needed to discuss.

Karen arranged for her mother to babysit Marianne, and I arranged for Susie to pick her up.

“Ok Jo, what’’s up that’’s so important that you need us round urgently,” asked Susie, concerned that a disaster was about to happen.

“Before we start Susie, Karen knows all about my past, how you have helped me, so there are no secrets here. Karen stumbled across my past and we had a long discussion about whether my employers needed to know. After talking it through with her and sleeping on it I decided to come clean to Jacqui my boss, and the council have made some suggestions to me.

The most difficult decision is how long I intend to live as Jo for. Initially it was just to see this project at Ostia through to completion, but I am now considering following on and being involved in the setting up and running of the site when it opens to the public. It has been suggested that I can be re-employed as myself and not as Josie, but that I have to have all my documentation changed to show me as female.”

“There should be no problem there for you, you are living full-time as female, you look female, and an attractive one at that, you sound and come across as female, what difference do a few bits of paper make.” Karen smiled as she re-assured me.”

“So far, so good. However it has been suggested that I declare myself officially as transgender and take hormones to alter my body or even have gender reassignment. That is the worrying thing for me. I’m told that I don’t have to do that, but it would make my life easier if I did. I mean, Karen discovered the real me, so, no disrespect to you Karen, anyone seriously investigating my background would soon know the truth. The more I go down the path the less likely it will be that I will be unmasked or criticised.”

“If you do that, is it reversible, if you change your mind and decide that you want to go back to being Joey does it cause problems.” Susie looked concerned as she asked.

“From what I have read on the internet, the answer is no. Even if I went as far as surgery, which is not on my agenda at the moment, there are still procedures that can be carried out to reverse it, with a fair degree of success.”

“In the end Jo, nobody can make that decision for you. You have to decide whether life as a woman is for you long-term, and if you decide that it is, the more complete you become the easier it will be to accept your new life. If you had asked me 10 or more years ago, I would have advised you not to have such silly ideas and that you ought to accept your life as Joey, whatever that would result in, but nowadays attitudes are changing and people are becoming freer to choose their lifestyles.”

“Thanks Susie, but I am still not sure that I want to go all the way.”

“Leave that aside for the minute, if you are going to be employed as Jo, not as your sister, you need to change your name so signing a contract is fully legal, you need to get your driving licence and passport details changed so you can get about and go over to see your parents, and you need to get your NI records changed to preserve rights to benefits and things like that. I know that when I got married, I had to deal with things like that because I took my husband’s name, it wasn’t too difficult. In fact now that we are divorced I am reversing the changes to go back to my maiden name.” Karen tried to reassure me.

“The council have said that they can arrange all that for me Karen, I think I might start off doing that, leaving any long-term medical decisions until I have thought more about it.”

“Right that’s the big decision made, crack open a bottle of wine and we’ll start the fun bit and decide on your new name.”

“I need to keep my public professional name as Jo, so some variation on that would be essential.”

“If you want to make it easy, there is always Joan, Joy, Joyce, and Jocelyn, although they are not particularly fashionable at the moment, how about Joanne, I have always liked that.”

“That sounds good Karen, I like that it has a ring to it, I can’t use my second forename Leslie or it’s female equivalent Lesley as that is Josie’s middle name, I’ve always liked ‘Louise’. Joanne Louise Johnson it is. Let’s drink to that.”

We spent another couple of hours chatting about life in general before the girls set off for home leaving me to contemplate my future officially as Joanne Louise Johnson.

I headed straight to Jacqui’s office in the morning and found her free.

“Well Jo, have you thought things over.”

“Yes, from now on I will be Joanne Louise, but still go by the name of Jo. Unless you need to be involved, I will not use up your time and will deal with Christine myself, and we’ll see how long it takes to get me an employment contract for you and me to sign.”

“I thought that is what you would do, welcome to the Museum and to your new job as the council’s representative at Ostia, Joanne, I look forward to working with you.” she said with a big grin.

By the end of the week my name had been legally altered by a ‘Change of Gender Deed’ and I was now officially employed as Joanne, and applications had been sent off for my NI, driving licence, and passport details to be changed listing me as female. I had opened bank accounts in my new name and was awaiting confirmation and credit cards. To all intents and purposes, apart from a few physical details I was now Joanne Louise Johnson, female, and looking forward to my new life.

Dealing with my employment at Anglia East was a lot simpler than the bureaucratic change of my records at the museum. For tax reasons I was employed on a ‘talent’ contract through a management company that had been set up for me. The tv company paid my management company and how I dealt with it all after that was down to me and my accountant. All that was needed was for them to list me on their records as Joanne Louise Johnson and for me to sign a replacement contract with my new name. Although they only knew me as Jo and I was always down on their records as female, I decided to be honest with them too. They were totally nonplussed about it all, the entertainment industry has always been quite tolerant of unconventional lifestyles, and they even offered to do a feature on my ‘coming-out’, which I declined as I wanted it all to be as low-key as possible.

When Josie and Jack returned from honeymoon a few days later, we met up at our family home.to tell all about what had happened in the last few weeks. After they told me all about their honeymoon in a romantic lodge on a pontoon jutting out into the clear blue and green waters of the Seychelles, I asked how they were getting on with Jack’s mother since their return.

“I’m sorry to have to say this, and I’ve already said this to Jack, but she is a spiteful interfering old bitch, I cannot live in the same house as her. Jack and I are looking for a place of our own, but because he often does work for his father’s company and there is a lot of money tied up in family trusts, the financial situation is quite confused and our lawyers are trying to get Jack’s trusts and accounts out of their control. Until something is sorted we cannot even start to look for somewhere to live and that’s not going to happen overnight, I’ll just have to bite my tongue and keep out of her way until then.”

“Don’t forget that this is your house as well as mine. If you don’t mind me hanging around and occasionally playing gooseberry, why not move back in here until you sort something out. I know that it’s not ideal for you, but at least you will be away from her.”

“Thanks Jo, I think that we would like that.” She said looking over at Jack who smiled and nodded.

“By the way before I forget, here is your driving licence back I don’t need it anymore, I have one of my own now.” I passed over my newly received licence with my new photo and name.

“Joanne Louise Johnson? And it lists you as female.”

“Yes, it’s all official and legal now. Not just the licence but my passport, NI, and all my employment records. You are now officially unemployed, you resigned from the post at the museum to have your baby, and the job was given to Joanne Louise.”

“Oh,” she said looking concerned, “you might have changed your name and got the Museum to accept you, but you haven’t gone as far as another changes yet have you, I mean physically?”

“Good God, no, there is no need for that at present, although sooner or later I may have to think about that.”

“What about Mum and Dad, do they know yet?”

“Not yet, no. It’s something I will have to do face-to-face, it’s not a subject for a phone call. If I arrange to go and see them, can you cover for me on site for a few days like before?”

“It’ll be a pleasure, it will be good to get back to site and see what progress there has been since I have been away enjoying myself. Jack has a bit of catching up to do on his contracts that have been neglected for the last few weeks, so I need to find something to occupy my time.”

A week later I was back at the cottage in Vayrac with Mum and Dad, my new passport being accepted without any question from the border control desk and my driving licence satisfying the car-hire company.

“Good to see you again Jo, to what do we owe this visit, you were here only a few weeks ago. And we saw each other again at the wedding.”

“There have been a few changes since I was last here.” I handed over my passport for them to look at.

“It says Joanne Louise and lists you as female, is this genuine?” Dad passed it back to me

“It is, I am now officially listed as a female, my records have been changed at the museum and I am now employed as Joanne, rather than as Josephine, and Josie now has her passport and driving licence back.”

“Is it all just bureaucracy or are you…you know what I mean…changing gender?” Mum jumped in with the big question.

“That’s it for the time being, although I am getting deeper and deeper into life as Joanne, and there will come a time when I have to decide to commit, one way or the other.”

“I don’t quite understand why you feel the need to go through all this,” said Dad, “but you will always be our child, whether as a son or as a daughter, and we will love you whatever you decide. How long are you here for?”

“Just a few days to give us all a chance to get our thoughts together and to have a stress-free time as a family. While I am here I will give you a hand with the renovations, my clothes and appearance might be different but I can still do all the things I used to be able to help you with.” I offered to Dad. “By the way, I am not sure what Josie has told you, but her and Jack have moved back into the family home with me. Jack’s mother is being a total bitch and Josie just can’t live in the same house as her anymore.”

I can quite believe that, Melanie was totally distant and cold at the wedding. I did try to talk to her but she wasn’t interested in anything and couldn’t wait to get away, she obviously disapproved of the marriage, Josie, and us. I feel sorry for her husband, Jeremy, he seemed alright and we had quite a chat, but when he went back to her, she was obviously giving him an earful about it, and they left a few minutes later without even a goodbye.”

I stayed with them for a long weekend, helping Dad with some of the heavy work and helping mum out too on the domestic front, giving her a break from acting as a builder’s labourer and ‘chief cook and bottle washer ‘. By the time I left they had accepted my new life, even though they had some reservations about what I was doing, and I promised to try to get over more often.

When I arrived home, I found Josie is a hell of a state, upset and crying.

“What’s Sis, have you and Jack had a bust-up?” I tried to console her and put my arm over her shoulder and pulled her head to rest on my chest.

“No, not at all, he’s been brilliant since we moved back in here, but his bitch of a mother is still causing problems and it affects you more than me.”

“Sitting there in despair is not solving anything, tell me what she has done and we’ll work out how to deal with it.”

“She was so angry after the wedding that she hired that private investigator again to try and dig up some dirt on me that she could use to split up Jack and me. He could find nothing bad about me to use, so he started to look into my family and it didn’t take him long to find out about you, at least that you are not who you say you are, I don’t think at the moment that she has linked you to Joey. His mother has now threatened that unless Jack and I split up that she will go public to the newspapers with everything she has found out and ruin your career.”

“What a bitch, what is her problem with you?, Let me have a think about it, but meantime don’t worry. The thing with blackmailers is that once they reveal things they no longer have a hold over you, so she is not going to be in a rush to call the papers.”

Whilst I was now open with my employers, I was still not ready for any bother that a full public outing would generate, and came up with an idea to keep her quiet, until I felt that the time was right. After considering it for a while I called Jim Marshall at Anglia East.

“Hi Jim I need your help. My sister’s mother-in-law has found out about me and is threatening to expose me as a fraud. I need to find out some dirt on her to use to get her to back off. Do you have any contacts with investigative journalists who could do a bit of digging for me, but who could be trusted to do it all off the record and keep it between us?”

“A journalist that could keep something like that off the front pages is a bit of a rarity, but there is someone we use occasionally that has shown that she can be trusted. Leave it with me for a day or so and I’ll see if I can set something up. String the blackmailer along as best you can, tell her that you are thinking about how to give her what she wants.”

After a restless night sleeping fitfully, thinking about what my life would be like if she carried out her threat, I rose early, leaving Josie and Jack still in bed and went off to Ostia to distract myself and immerse myself is what had happened there in the last few days. I was surprised at how much of the villa floor was now exposed, the mosaic tiling was covered with sheeting to stop the sunlight degrading the vivid colours, but a quick look underneath showed extensive scenes from roman mythology which Professor Carter and his academic team had already identified and recorded. Work was progressing well, exposing trenches following the lines of the perimeter walls of the villa, and the more that was exposed the more the scale of the building became apparent and the more significant it looked.

When Josie turned up later, I already had my vlog presentation sorted in my head and it didn’t take long to film the progress and do the commentary. I had just finished editing it all and posted it up when my phone buzzed at me.

“Hi, is that Jo Johnson?”

“Who’s calling please?”

“I’m Sally Walker, Jim Marshall asked me to contact you to see if I could help you with an investigation. I’m a freelance journalist often used by some of the major nationals when they want some research done for stories that they want to maintain a distance between the articles and their staff reporters. Jim has told me that this is off the books, but I am self-employed and not answerable to editors and I owe him a few favours. Can we meet up and you can tell me what you are looking for? Are you free this evening?”

“That sounds fine, I’ll see you in the Somerset Arms, just outside town at 7:30.”

As it was to be another person who was to get know the truth about me, I wanted to leave no doubt in her mind as to how genuine I was as Joanne, and spent a couple of hours cleaning myself up, doing my hair, makeup and nails, and dressing in a formal rose sheath dress and matching red heels to present as feminine an appearance as possible. Feeling like I was walking into the lion’s den I quickly walked into the main reception lounge of the Somerset Arms to see a friendly young woman, about my own age waving me over.

To be continued.