When we had recovered from the surprise of seeing Hugo walk in with Mum, we all sat down with a drink , Kelly and I wondering what this was all about.

Hugo was staring at me, obviously carefully considering what he was about to say.

“I can’t believe that you led us on and had us all fooled like that, particularly as you have never done anything like that before. Helen, Stephanie, and the rest of the staff, all just saw you and accepted you as Jayne, it will be awkward and embarrassing explaining your true situation to them. Having said that you do make a delightful, attractive, and pleasant young woman and it was easy for us to be taken in. I was half expecting when I came here tonight to see some trace of Jay still in you, but it is obvious that you are continuing as Jayne and, if I may say so, doing it extremely well.”

I was uncertain whether I had been complimented or reprimanded, but Hugo had a smile on his face and did not look annoyed at me.

“I came up here tonight to get together again with your Mum for a sociable friends night out, we got on so well when she visited you at Burg von Gebäck , but talk soon turned to what you are doing here, what you hope to do, and the problems you have with taking on the lease of another shop. I must admit Jayne I was shocked when Kathy told me why you couldn’t take on the lease yourself, and I see your problem.”

“Sorry about treating you all like that, it just sort of happened by accident and got out of control and seemed to be easier just to go with it. In my time at the Burg I fitted in so well with the other women that it was best to blend in with them all, and with Kelly’s help I felt comfortable as Jayne.”

“If you are going to stay as a girl, and I suggest that will not be a bad thing as you really look the part, you really need to get your legal situation sorted out, you can’t go signing leases and contracts using a false name, which is where I can help with your problem. If you are happy to do so, I will officially take the lease of the other shop, you can rent it from me, at commercial rates I must add, your mother can tell you what the going rates are, and you can set yourself up in business. I want you to understand that I am not doing this just to play the wealthy benefactor, I see a lot of talent in you and expect you to make a big success of your new business. With what you have learned from me and the legalities, business techniques, and financial background that you picked up at university you have all the correct grounding to make a success of this. I want you to prove to me that I have made the right decision.”

“We’ve already inspected the shop and are happy that it can give us everything we need, the only thing holding us back is how to arrange the lease, so that would be wonderful. I’ve already got a detailed business plan that I have been preparing for the bank to see if I can get a loan and it all looks promising Please go ahead and sort it all out, the sooner the better as far as we are concerned.”

“Ok, the other thing is that we are refurbishing the small kitchen at the Burg that we only use for functions, weddings, conferences and suchlike and a lot of the fixtures fittings and equipment are being thrown out. Come and have a look to see if anything is of use for you, you will be doing us a favour taking it off our hands. Now you two go off to your beds, your Mum and I have a lot to talk about before I head back down to Cheltenham.”

The next few weeks were hectic, mornings Kelly and I were up early, did all our baking for the day, and dropped everything off in the shop, before going next door for the afternoon and evening to clear the place of what we didn’t need to keep, and gave it a good clean and redecoration in preparation for the electricians, plumbers and shop fitters to come in to fix all the facilities we needed to get it up and running.

We hired a big van and went down to Cheltenham to see what equipment we could usefully use. I was a bit embarrassed with what I had done and hoped to avoid Helen, Steph, and as many of the staff as possible as I was certain that the truth about me would now be widely known . However I was warmly welcomed, especially by Helen, who greeted me with a big hug “No wonder you were a bit quiet when we were discussing our periods and sex life in the pub that time, you have a lot of catching up to do girl. It all makes no difference to me, you are welcome to come down here to stay anytime and we’ll all go out again.”

We picked out what we needed and it left only minor bits and pieces for us to buy, it saved us an awful lot of money in start-up costs. The kitchen and shop were soon fitted out with all the equipment from the Burg, and we were really proud of what we had done and were looking forward to starting up.

At Hugo’s suggestion rather than name the shop after us, we had named our shop ‘Konditerei’ which is what pastry shops are usually called in Germany and Austria, it was short and catchy and had a bit of an exotic ring to it, and soon everything was set up for us to open up for business.

We had a dummy run to ensure that everything was working and that we were familiar with where everything was. While we were doing that we were inspected by the local trading standards people to make sure that we were complying with all the hygiene and safety requirements, and we were ready to open for business.

As a marketing exercise, I had asked Hugo , as a personality chef who occasionally appeared on TV cookery programmes, to come and officially cut the ribbon at the opening, and had invited the local press and TV station with a promise of a short interview with him.

We had done a lot of food preparation the day before, but still needed to get in early to make sure that we were well stocked up and that the shop was organised and ready for the doors to open. We had taken on two counter assistants. Alison and Sarah, and continuing the Austrian/German theme we all changed into traditional dress, the Wachauer Tracht, a version of the usual Dirndl. a very feminine outfit of cotton blouse , matching patterned tight-fitting bodice, full skirt, and apron. It was not practical for Kelly and I to regularly work in the kitchen wearing the outfit, but Alison and Sarah loved the idea of wearing it every day. The other girls plaited their hair in traditional styles but mine was not really long enough, which was disappointing as I didn’t quite blend in with the others.

It was amazing how many people had turned up, partly because of the appearance of Hugo, but also because in the short time we had been selling the pastries and cakes in Mum’s shop, our reputation had spread.

Hugo in his opening speech.did us proud. “Many of you will know me, or my reputation as a master-chef specialising in continental pastries, but I am sure that in a few years time that Jayne and Kelly will be ranked alongside me. You are lucky to have these young girls opening this shop in your city, they are among the best students I have ever had on my courses, and that includes many experienced professional chefs. Please give them the support that their talent deserves.”

The sample trays we had left for the crowd were soon gone, the shop counters were quickly empty not long after, and it was a bit of a comedown when the last customers finally left. Not only did we completely sell out, but so did Mum’s shop when people spilled over into it.

After a ‘meet and greet’ and autograph signing session, Hugo bid everyone goodbye and went off with Mum for dinner at his hotel, leaving Kelly and I to calm down from the adrenaline rush we had been on all day, and to tidy everything up ready for a start in the morning to a normal working day.

We had expected that there would be a calm after the storm, but that didn’t happen. Lichfield is a tourist town and has a reputation as a stop on the food trail in the Midlands due to the frequent food-themed festivals it holds. We became another draw bringing people into the city following the feature on the regional TV news show, and we struggled to keep up with demand.

“I’ve been thinking.” Kelly said as we were sat watching TV one night, “You are living full time as a girl now, you really should think about getting more realistic breasts. Obviously I enjoy my times in bed with you as Jay, so I don’t think you should do anything too drastic, hormones or implants, but a decent set of breast forms would really make a difference.”

“I suppose that you have already looked into this and have decided what I am going to do.”

“I have, it’s surprising what you can find with Google, but I haven’t ordered anything yet, I wanted to talk to you first.What do you think?”

“Why not, it’s not permanent and it will help me look more natural, let’s give it a try.”

A few days later, the breast forms arrived and Kelly fixed them to my chest with the special adhesive. It was a totally different feel to the enhancers I had been using, the weight and the movement affected my balance for a while, and I was glad of the support that my now necessary bras gave me.

Although not as large and varied as the established ‘German’ markets held in the big cities, like Birmingham York, and Manchester, on the weeks before Christmas, the traditional market in Lichfield was expanded and made a bit more festive by having a German theme. Although we normally did not take part in markets, we decided to take a large stall to display and sell our produce, mainly finger-food that people could eat on-the-go. To add a bit of colour to the event. Kelly, I, Alison, Sarah and some of their friends acting as extra counter assistants, all dressed in colourful dirndls. I was glad that I was now using the breast forms, the blouse and bodice were low cut showing a little bit of cleavage that I now had.

It all worked out well , everything sold out, and there were lots of promises to visit our shop to stock up for Christmas and New Year parties, things were really taking off for us.

Despite having left home and living in London and Southampton, Chloe and Sarah always tried to make it home for Christmas, and I was extremely nervous about them seeing me as Jayne for the first time, even though Mum had told them all about me. In fact their curiosity about me was the main reason why they had both cancelled other plans to come back. I made a special effort and had visited a beauty parlour for the first time, for a full makeover, hair restyled, full body wax, nails and makeup , and was dressed in my scarlet sleeveless cocktail dress, on tenterhooks waiting for them to arrive.

Chloe was the first to reach us, and when I opened the door to her, her jaw dropped and her eyes nearly popped out. She stood in silence for what seemed like an eternity, before throwing her arms around me and almost squeezing the breath from me.

“ OMG Jay, just look at you, you look gorgeous, when Mum told me that you are now living as a girl I was sceptical as to how you would look, but I needn’t have worried. You have to tell me all about what has been happening.”

‘Let’s get your stuff, get you settled in and hopefully by then Sarah will have arrived and I will only have to go through this once. Are you comfortable seeing me like this, I don’t want to embarrass you?”

“You’re joking, there is nothing there to remind me of Jay, I suppose that I had better get used to calling you Jayne now.”

When Sarah arrived, she was a little bit cooler towards me at first but, after a couple of glasses of wine while I told them about why and how I had changed, she soon loosened up and started to treat me as just her baby sister. Over the next few days everything calmed down and by the time they left to return home, they had both just accepted me as Jayne and talked to me as another girl.

Christmas morning we always exchanged small gifts, nothing too fancy and expensive, but enough to show our love for each other, and I was amazed at what they had bought for me, obviously having been primed by Mum.

“ You have always been difficult to buy for as Jay, but now you can share in the perfume and jewellery gifts that we all buy for each other, one of the perks of you now living as a girl.” Chloë grinned as she watched me unwrap her gift. Sarah went one better presenting me with a silk nightie and negligée set.

In the New Year, although still very much biologically male, I soon changed my name legally to Jayne and transferred all my bank accounts and such like. This allowed me to build up a credit rating of my own, so that by the time we needed to take the next step, I was able to deal with all the contracts and leases myself and did not have to rely on Hugo’s generosity.

We took on three pastry chefs and assistants for them, one to run Konditerei, one to run our new shop, Konditerei ll, in Kelly’s home town of Stafford, and one to work with Kelly and me operating a commercial kitchen and company headquarters in an out-of-town industrial unit which allowed us to drastically increase our production. This worked out so well and within a year, as well as our own shops we started to sell through franchises in local shopping villages and farm shops, which were just retail outlets, to keep uptake quality level of our produce all the baking was carried out by us and our staff.

“What do you think Kelly, you get out into the shops more often than I do, are our chefs coping?”

“ In general, yes, they are competent and are turning out decent stuff, but there is not the flair or passion that you and I started out with.”

“ I’ll have a word with Hugo, as he and Mum are now regularly seeing each other, to see if he can do an intensive course for our chefs to bring them up to standard, we are selling premium products at premium prices and need to keep up the quality levels. I’m thinking of opening more shops, I’ve done a lot of sales and income projections and think that it we go one step at a time, this can really grow for us.”

“ Let’s not blow this up too quickly Jayne, we don’t want the bubble to burst.”

“Mum has kept in touch with Pat and Rosie and has had a couple of trips away with them, I was thinking that we could open up in their home city of Chester, maybe not just a shop, but a tea room and cafeteria too. Chester in a tourist destination and there are lots of restaurants and cafeterias, but nothing in our specialist market as far as I am aware. the surrounding areas in Cheshire are home to many exclusive residential areas, like The Wirral, Alderney Edge and Wilmslow, very much ‘footballers’ wives’ country, people who are not afraid to splash out on superior products and go in to Chester for the more exclusive shops. I doubt that Pat and Rosie would want to work full-time in the shop, but we could use them to help run it for us, keep an eye on the staff and the quality of the product, however much they want to get involved. What do you think?”

“That sounds good to me, let’s go up and see if they are interested.”

We went to Chester to meet up with them and after a few pleasantries and a catch-up on what we had been doing recently, we started to explain our proposal.

“The shops we have are all local and to be honest we think that the area is now adequately covered, but we see opportunities to grow in other parts of the country, Chester is not that far away from us and we think it would be a good place to start. If we set it all up would you be interested in keeping an eye on everything for us?”

“We’re always up for a challenge and something new, we are really keen to be involved, not just to keep an eye on things for you, but to help set it up, and do the baking ourselves for a while until the new staff are fully trained up and working to your standards.” Rosie spoke for them both with Pat nodding her agreement.

“ Of course, if you are going to put in so much effort, we have to treat you fairly. Kelly and I will obviously be funding all this and taking the risk, but we are offering each of you 15% stakes in the Chester shop and any profits it makes, does that sound fair?”

Konditerei lll was soon in business. Pat and Rosie, enjoyed working in the kitchen for a while, but once everything was running smoothly they took a back seat and let the shop manager and pâtissière run things day-to-day while they got back to enjoying their hobbies again.

Things settled into a routine and within another year we had shops or franchises in 15 towns and cities across the country, including Lincoln and Oxford with our friends from the course. Laura and Sue were happy to get the benefit of our reputation, marketing and business experience to assist their catering skills and got the same deal that we had offered Pat and Rosie.

Whilst things were definitely progressing on the business front, personal matters were not so good. Although we were both happy as business partners, I was becoming much more feminine and womanly, and had even started taking hormones to help me develop in a more feminine manner, and Kelly started to look for a bit of male company. Eventually she settled down and moved in with Richard, a wonderful lad actually, extremely handsome with an amazing job as CEO and chief developer with a games software company. I was glad for her as I realised the direction my path was leading and knew that in the long term I would not be able to fulfil her needs. This meant that I threw myself into developing the business more and more and I became much more active in trade associations and business groups in the city.

Despite the amount of time I was devoting to these networking groups I was still surprised to receive a letter requesting my attendance at the annual awards ceremony at the local Chamber of Commerce, as I was up for consideration for an award. We booked a table for Kelly, Richard, Mum, Hugo, myself, Roger our Company Secretary, Jenny from Mum’s shop who was now working for Konditerei as Quality Control manager ,and Steve, our Chief Pâtissier and product developer, as I thought that they had all played their part in the success of the company.

“Right Mum, I know that you do not often get the chance to really go to town on yourself, so I have booked you, Kelly, Jenny, and myself in for a full makeover at the beauty parlour, hair, waxing, nails, makeup, and before that we are all going shopping to get decent formal dresses and accessories. We are making a lot of money now and need to have the image to go with it.”

“For years I have toiled away in the deli, making enough to keep us going and to raise you and your sisters but you have really made a success of this, I am so proud of you. My only disappointment is that your personal life has not been as happy. You seemed to be getting on so well with Kelly, and even though you are now to all intents and purposes a woman, I was hoping that she was going to be your lifetime partner.”

“Me too Mum, but I am not going to deny her a normal happy family life, she deserves it.”

The evening of the awards ceremony , all glammed up, we, and our escorts, Hugo, Richard, Roger and Steve, all extremely smart in their tuxedos and with bow ties and cummerbunds colour matched to our dresses, arrived and settled down at our table for our meal.

There were various awards presented, for charitable works, benefits to the community, technical innovation and such like with only one award left to be announced.

“Ladies and gentlemen, our final category is for ‘Local Entrepreneur of the Year’. As you are all aware, our city is now the headquarters of a growing national chain of specialist food shops, and there was no choice for the judging panel other than to select the founders and owners of Konditerei Patisserie, Jayne Newman and Kelly Masters, as joint recipients of this award.”

Whilst we had been advised that we were being considered for an award we had no idea that we had been selected as winners, and were in a bit of a daze as we made our way past the other tables to the dais for the presentation, with congratulations from the other guests ringing in our ears and camera flashes dazzling our eyes.

The rest of the evening was a big celebration for us all and as we left for home everyone paired off into couples, Mum and Hugo, Kelly and Richard, Jenny and Steve who seemed to be enjoying each others company, and Roger and I. Partly due to the euphoria of our success but mainly due to the effects of the celebration champagne, as we said our goodbyes he pulled me towards him, hugged me tight and kissed me on the lips. We were soon in a quite passionate clinch, not a friendly peck on the cheek, but a full-blooded sexually-loaded kiss. I quickly came to my senses, remembered who I was and pulled away.

“Thank you so much for that Roger, but both of us know that it was the drink talking. We are business colleagues, not romantic partners, and have to work together. Let’s see how we feel in the morning when our heads have cleared.”

I lay in bed that night tossing and turning, thinking about what we had done and whether it was a big mistake before falling into a fitful sleep. I may have been living as a woman for almost two years but I still held on to my sexuality and considered that a relationship with a woman was still what I was looking for. In the morning at work we both apologised, decided to let it all be forgotten and went back to our purely professional relationship. I really liked Roger as a friend and colleague but no more than that. I really needed to sort out what I wanted to do with my life.

To be continued.

“ Sit down Jayne, we need to have a chat about a couple of things.” Mum said to me a few days after the award ceremony.

“ Firstly, I am thinking about retiring from running the Deli. You have built up quite an empire with Konditorei Pâtisserie, Would you be happy to take on the shop as well, but keep it as it is, separate from your pâtisserie shops, keep on the staff and the product ranges, I would be sorry to see it go and the girls lose their jobs?”

‘That’s not a problem, I will take it on in my name as the personal owner, rather than include it in the Konditorei Group, that way there will be no pressure to conform to the Konditorei working style.”

“ Good, that’s one less worry for me.”

“Of course, you deserve a break after all these years, you’ve worked hard to keep the family after Dad left you, but it will be a big change for you. Have you any plans on what you will do with your time?”

“ Well for a start, since Chloe and Sarah moved away, I never really get the chance to visit them and spend some time with them and their husbands. I feel that I have been neglecting them a bit.”

“ That sounds good, I could even join you to let them get to know the new me a lot more. Now that Konditerei has grown so much, all my time is spent on corporate administration, I am not needed to do any of the baking or day-to-day running of the company, I have a lot of very competent staff to do all that, so I should be able to be away for a few days at a time without causing too much trouble, Kelly can manage things while I am away. We might even be able to fit in a holiday somewhere together.”

“That leads me to the next thing. Hugo is thinking the same, and is intending to leave the running and management of Burg von Gebäck to Stephanie as Head Chef, and Helen as General Manager. We intend to go travelling together, starting with visiting Vienna for him to show me where he grew up, then the rest of Austria and Germany, maybe going over to Italy too, depending on how it works out. With no ties and responsibilities, we’ll just take life as it comes”

“Depending on how it works out? Could there possibly be more to it than a holiday, is romance in the air?”

“ It’s been a long time for both of us to be on our own, but we are not in the first flush of youthful romance, and are taking it slowly, however you never know here life will lead you, you should know that better than most people.”

“I’m delighted for you, I have always liked Hugo, and he has fully accepted me as Jayne, I would quite fancy him as my stepfather. Get yourself sorted out, leave all the worries about the deli to me, go off and enjoy yourselves.”

“By the way, have you seen the local paper? There is a big feature on you winning your award, with the story of how Konditorei all started when you won that TV competition and there are some lovely photos of us all.”

“They interviewed me a few days ago, but did not send me a preview of their article, I’ll have to have a good look at it to make sure that they kept to what I told them and haven’t dug too deeply into my past.”

There definitely seemed to be romance in the air at the time, Kelly took me out for lunch as she said there was something important that she had to tell me. We made a lot of small talk while we were enjoying our meal and settled down with brandies before she opened up to me with a huge smile.

“Richard proposed to me and I have of course accepted. We will be getting married in 3 months time, I am so happy and so looking forward to it.”

“I’m delighted for you, I have been expecting it. I am ever so pleased for you and wish you every happiness.” I hugged her closely to hide the look of disappointment on my face, it was the final nail in the coffin of any chance that I had of a lifetime relationship with her. We would always remain close friends, but things would never be the same again.

“ Of course, Jayne, I want you to be my Maid of Honour. I know that it is a bit of an unusual situation for you, but as far as the world is concerned you are an attractive pleasant successful young woman, and I will be proud to have you with me supporting me on the big day.”

I was overcome with emotion and tears started to run down my face, partly tears of joy at Kelly’s happiness, but partly as it really sunk in that there was now no future for us together.

“ Thank you so much Kelly, I really appreciate you asking, are you sure that you want me there with you though, what if anyone finds out who I really am and makes a big fuss about it, I don’t want to cause you any embarrassment and spoil your big day?”

“Don’t be silly, Jayne is who you really are, Jay has gone, the sooner you accept that the happier you will be. I will be proud to have you follow me down the aisle.”

The next few months were hectic as I helped Kelly prepare for her wedding, going with her to choose her dress and accessories, organising the venue and catering, and generally helping her as much as she needed.

Kelly was right, through all the preparations I was totally accepted as Jayne by her family, the other bridesmaids and by Richard’s best man Kevin, who would be partnering me during the ceremony and reception. When I was growing up. Chloe and Sarah had often played at and talked about weddings and had later got really excited at the marriages of family and friends, but all that had totally passed me by as Jay. But this time, being in the female circle, it was totally different, I got just as worked up about the whole business, the dresses, flowers, the hen party, as any of the other women. My only regret and disappointment was that in a way I had expected Kelly to be my partner in life as well as in business, but it was not to be.

Previous weddings I had been to as Jay had been no problem for me, no preparations, just get into a pressed suit, polish my shoes and brush my hair and teeth and I was set to go. As Jayne there was a lot more to do to get prepared to present myself at my best on the big day. Kelly had me on a strict diet and insisted that I always wore a body-shaping corset to lose a few inches from my waist and a few pounds, just as she was doing so that she could fit into the ‘one-size- smaller-than-normal wedding dress, and the thing that worried me the most, full laser removal of the very light beard that still tried to break through. Face masks and special moisturisers became routine to get the skin into perfect condition, I had to let my nails grow out a lot longer than normal, in general how I looked and presented myself became a high priority for me.

The weekend before the wedding, I joined her and her friends for the hen party, all of us dressed to the nines in tight short dresses and killer heels, glam makeup, wearing sashes with “ Kelly’s girls’ night out” , starting off respectably in a restaurant but then going on a pub crawl all flirting outrageously with lads and men in the bars. The girls all had a great uninhibited time, but I was a little more reserved. It was my job to make sure that Kelly did not get into any trouble or go too far in her celebrations, but I also needed to keep control of my own emotions, I was afraid to let myself go in case it sent the wrong message to one of the lads. I had never been out on a pre-wedding stag night with the lads as Jay, but I imagined that it would have been a big beer-swilling session, nothing like the exuberant fun out-for-a-good-time session with Kelly and her friends.

The wedding itself was amazing. Kelly had arranged for myself and her other bridesmaids to visit the local beauty parlour for the full treatment, professional makeover, nails, and matching up-do with ringlets hair styles, while she had her own private session in her hotel room.

Back at the hotel wedding venue, I stepped into my bridesmaid’s dress, a peach full-length, tight-waisted and bodiced style, added the new necklace and earring set that Kelly had given me as her gift and went to her room to help her into her dress and add the finishing touches. She looked absolutely gorgeous, a fairy-tale princess and whilst I was delighted for her, I was still full of regret that I had lost her.

I pulled myself together and was proud to walk behind her down the aisle, accept her wedding bouquet, and to be escorted out from the church by Kevin, the best man, after the ceremony. I wondered whether I would ever go through the same thing myself as Jayne, or even as Jay.

Kevin was very attentive during the reception and when Kelly and Richard took to the floor for their ‘ first dance’, after letting them be in the limelight for a while we joined them. At the end of the dance he hugged me close and gave me a passionate kiss. which took me by surprise. I may have been dressed and appearing as a pretty young woman all in her finery, but I was not looking for any kind of relationship with a man. I was worried that he might try to take things further, so kept my distance for the rest of the day until we left as friends after it was all over, with just a quick hug and goodbye kiss.

After the wedding, I threw myself into the business. We had a bit of a pause in expanding into more outlets after Kelly got back from her honeymoon, while Kelly and I took stock of where we were at and what we wanted to achieve. However we were soon back at full speed again and within a year had doubled the number of outlets, most of them franchises and most of them tea shops as well as patisseries. Everything, other than my personal life was running smoothly and successfully.

“Hello, is that Jayne Newman?”

“Who’s calling and what can I do for you?”

“I’m Carol Watson, I’m the producer of “Sunday in the Kitchen” the show you won the competition on to go on the catering course. Your local TV station passed us the details of your story and how successful you have been since then. We would like you to come on the show as our guest chef, chat with Graham, the host, and make up a few tasty treats for us. Are you interested?”

“I’m flattered, of course I would be glad to do it, it will be good publicity for Konditorei.”

“We record live on Sunday morning, would you like us to book you a hotel to save too early a travel start for you? Of course Graham would like to have dinner with you on Saturday night to get to know you, so you can chat on the show like old friends.”

The show went really well, Graham flirted outrageously with me and was delighted with the demonstration and presentation I gave. I soon became a regular on the show, appearing every two or three months, becoming really casual and natural in front of the cameras. I always managed to give credit to Hugo and what he had taught me and how he had encouraged me to start up Konditorei, and it really helped to bring people into the shops, particularly if it was publicised that I would be making an appearance.

This led to appearances on other TV cookery shows, competitions and morning chat shows and I was becoming a bit of a celebrity myself and there was soon talk of offering me my own show. In my personal life I was becoming a bit happier and settled again, to a large extent I had overcome my disappointment that Kelly had got married to someone else. Although she was now married, Kelly remained a very good friend and we often got together out of work-time for meals and nights out.

After a hectic day, discussing our growth plans with the bank, which we did not really complete as Kelly seemed a bit distracted, I was relaxing with a glass of wine when there was a frantic banging on the front door. I opened it to find Kelly in hysterics, blood rolling down her face from cuts on her cheekbones and eyes, bruising already forming, and tears rolling down streaking the blood.

“ What on earth has happened to you, have you had an accident?”

“ It’s no accident, Richard has got a violent streak and he attacked me. I don’t know what to do, i just had to get away from him, I hope you don’t mind me coming to you with my troubles.”

“ Don’t be daft, pf course I don’t mind. I never saw that in him, I know that you have been a bit withdrawn and not your normal bubbly self lately, but i didn’t realise that is why you were a bit dispirited. I find it hard to believe what Richard has done to you, what on earth happened?”

“Nobody truly knows what goes on in a marriage, he was all sweetness and light until we got home after the honeymoon. Then he became very controlling, questioning and criticising everything I was doing, wanting to know where I was going and who with, and has been particularly nasty when I have been going out with you. You know me too well, I’m not a shrinking violet, and wasn’t prepared to take it from him and let him undermine what spirit and confidence I still have left. The last couple of times we’ve argued he has grabbed me, badly bruising my arms, and has punched me and pushed me to the floor shouting and swearing. He is turning into a violent thug.”

“ Why have you not told me before, I could have helped you before it got this bad?”

“ It’s not something you tell anybody, you just have to bite your lip and make the best of what you have. Tonight he just went too far, it started as a silly argument about how much time I was spending at work, and how I was not looking after him and the house properly, and it just grew from there. He really lost it and ended up punching me in the face a few times and throwing me against the kitchen cupboards really hurting my back. I was worried that he was going to go even further, so I hit him over the head with a rolling pin, he fell to the floor, and I rushed over here.”

“Oh, I am so sorry for you, I thought that you were the perfect couple.” I gave her a comforting hug, “Let’s get you cleaned up and have a look to make sure that there is nothing serious. It looks ok to me, you will have a few bruises and will be a bit sore for a while, but I don’t think that there is any serious damage. Do you want to go to the hospital for a check-up to make sure?”

“No, even after what he has done, I can’t do that unless something serious happens to me, they would have to involve the police and the whole thing will just snowball from there.”

Before we did anything I took a few photos to record the state she was in, cleaned off all the blood, applied ice packs to her face and back, and calmed her down. we were sitting chatting about how things had gone downhill since her wedding, and I was taken aback with some of the stories she told me when my phone buzzed.

“ Hi Jayne, is Kelly with you?” Richard calmly asked.

“No, I’ve not seen her since work today. Why do you ask?” I replied, thinking quickly and holding back my anger at him, thinking that it would be best if Kelly was given a bit of time to herself.”

“It’s just that she has not returned home this evening and I’m a bit concerned.”

“OK, sorry I can’t help, I’ll let you know if I hear anything.”

“Thanks anyway, bye.” there was not a trace of anger or anything unusual in his voice, he sounded just his normal pleasant self.

“Did you get the gist of that Kelly. Richard was trying to find you and is concerned that you had not gone home.”

“He is a liar, he is very good at covering up all the arguments we have had. After one of our violent rows we were having dinner out with some friends and he was laughing and joking, not a care in the world as if nothing had happened.”

“Just stay here tonight, sleep on it, and see how you feel in the morning.”

The next morning she rang him, from the office, with me listening on an extension, recording the call.

“Richard It’s me, have you calmed down?”

“Look, things got a bit out of hand last night, come home and we’ll talk about it.”

“A bit out of hand ! You could have broken my back throwing me against the bench like that, and it’s not the first time.”

“If you want another argument, I’lm quite happy to continue on from last night. It was all your fault anyway, throwing back at me about how that pervert partner of yours aways treated you so well, you and that bitch deserve each other.”

“You leave Jayne out of this, this is between you and me.”

That cross-dressing pervert is the cause of all this, you are as bad as she, he, it, or whatever, is.”

“Richard, that is it, I want a divorce, i am not coming back to you, I have had enough, I cannot live any longer with the violent nasty person you have become.”

“Really, how do you think it will go down if I tell everybody the truth about that freak, is that what you want?”

I couldn’t take any more of that, “ Do what you want, I don’t care.” I butted in. “If it means that Kelly doesn’t have to suffer you any more it will be worth it. How do you think it will go down with your friends and associates if I tell them all about how you have treated her, and how she prefers being with a pervert like me rather than a violent monster like you. I may look like a weak woman, but I am twice the man that you are and am more than capable of dealing with anything that comes out about me, I’m not ashamed of who I am.”

“ Rot in hell, the pair of you, I don’t care, I want nothing more to do with either of you” at which point he slammed the phone down.

“ Did you really mean that, you don’t care if the truth about you comes out, you will really be prepared to do that for me?” Kelly asked me with imploring eyes.

“Of course, I have loved you almost from the day we met, but I soon realised that if I chose to live as a woman that sooner or later you would look for someone else. If he causes trouble and tells the world about me, so what? We have made enough money from Konditorei to live comfortably and can go somewhere where nobody knows or cares. As long as we are together I can take anything.”

“ Can I move back in with you, and I don’t mean just until all this blows over. I have had enough of manly men for the present, and I don’t care how you dress and present yourself, you will always be my best friend and more Jayne.”

Within 6 months Kelly’s divorce came through, no mention was made of the violence towards her nor any mention of me, it was all by mutual agreement of marriage breakdown. Kelly and I resumed our personal relationship, and although, because of the hormones I was taking, I now had a much more womanly appearance, I did not go through the final transition, it suited both of us for me to have the last vestiges of my male life remain.

On one of my frequent appearances on the early morning TV chat shows, just before we went on air, the director pulled me aside.

“It’s all over the social media this morning that you are not a natural woman and are in fact transgender. Obviously it’s up to you, but sooner or later one of the scandal sheets is going to have a go at you and what they cannot find out or prove they will make up. You will have seen how well the viewing public responded to one of our presenters coming out as gay a few months ago, because he was open about it the media did not get a chance to really dig up any skeletons. Are you prepared to discuss it this morning or do you want to hope that it will all go away?”

“You are right, it will be less damaging if I am up front about it. Get the presenters to just introduce it and lead onto it gently, I’ll talk about it for a while, but then go back to what I came here to do, talk about pâtisserie and Konditorei. First though can I go back to the dressing room and change from these trousers and top that were suitable for the bakery demonstration, into a feminine dress, I want to emphasise the fact that I’’m as much a woman as any other. I’m sure your wardrobe department can find me something suitable.”

“Good morning everyone, “ the presenter smoothly and comfortably introduced me, “in a few minutes pâtissière and business woman Jayne Newman will demonstrate more of her delicious recipes and chat about her growing business empire Konditerei Pâtisserie, but first she has agreed to talk to us about the breaking news today hat she is transgender and was brought up as a boy.”

“Yes, the rumours are true, until a few years ago i was happy living as Jay, but by accident I started appearing as Jayne and living and working as a woman and became a vey successful one too. As it happened, I don’t think that it would have made a lot of difference to the business if I had stayed as Jay, although I don’t think that my TV career would have grown as much. TV likes a young, attractive if I am allowed to say that about myself, successful woman, particularly for daytime shows which are primarily aimed at stay-at-home women.”

“You have done well to manage to stay under the radar for so long, has it been difficult avoiding anyone discovering your background.”

“ I have never been particularly withdrawn or secretive, I have been on TV shows and at business launches since the start. I am not a flag-waver for transgender rights, I have just been getting on with my life like any other woman, although I have been pushing for the glass ceiling, holding back women from senior business roles, to be broken. There is no reason why women, including transgender women, cannot perform at least as well as men, as has been proven by many other women as well as myself. People are people and have talents and abilities no matter what gender they are or choose to be.”

“ Thank you for being so open and honest Jayne, I’m sure that we will talk about this again, we’ll now switch to the more important reason for you being here today, what are you planning to cook for us this morning?”

It turned out that it was not Richard who had broken the story, as we first thought, but someone that I was at University with, who had fallen on hard times and saw selling the story as a way to get him out of his problem. As it turned out, if anything my exposure actually strengthened the business, most of our major suppliers and corporate customers were more than happy to still deal with me, giving them another box to tick in their equality policy statements.

We were soon being chased to sell out by the big national food companies, and eventually accepted an offer which as well as making us extremely wealthy, also guaranteed that all our outlets and staff would be kept on, and that the quality of the pâtisserie would be kept up. I was still to be the figurehead of the Konditorei chain and continued with occasional TV appearances.

Mum’s original shop, ‘Newman’s Delicatessen’, was not part of the deal. Jennie had been running the business since Mum went off on her travels with Hugo, and I thought that she deserved to be rewarded for all the hard work she had put in. I transferred the business, lock stock and barrel, over to her as a gift to continue to run as she saw fit.

Hugo and Mum decided to stay in Austria and he transferred ownership of Burg von Gebäck over to Kelly and I as he wanted us to make sure that his high standards did not start to slip. Although all the day to day management and operation was carried out by Stephanie and Helen as junior partners, when we could we kept our hands in, preparing the pâtisserie in the kitchen, more as a pleasant enjoyable hobby rather than a job. We happily settled into an apartment at the Burg, it was where it had all started for us and was a delightful place to live.

Mum and Hugo eventually decided to get married, and retired to a delightful lodge next to the Donau-Auen National Park on the banks of the Danube near Vienna. It was only a small wedding gathering in the grounds of their estate, myself, my sisters and their families, and a few close relations of Hugo. They had both been through the ceremonies with extended families and friends at their first weddings and wanted this to be more personal and intimate.

We loved the area where they were living and the history and culinary delights of nearby Vienna and we visited them often and enjoyed the relaxed lifestyle that we were now able to enjoy with them without all the worries and problems of running the business day-to-day.

A year later, Kelly made me the proudest person on earth when she gave birth to our daughter Charlotte Kathleen and our lives were complete. Mum, Hugo, and my sisters with their families all gathered together for the christening in the church next to the Burg and at the end of the day, after everyone else had left, Kelly and I were sitting having a glass of wine with Mum.

“Jayne, do you remember when you told me about winning the competition that you said ‘I think the change will do me good’?” Mum asked with a big satisfied smile. “Little did we realise how much of a change it would be for you and how much good it would do for us all. Entering that competition was one of the best things you have ever done., you definitely won the jackpot”

The end.