As I walked in, all my fears and doubts came to the surface. I wanted to turn around and run away–away from those eyes, all looking at me; especially one pair...

Did I just look like a boy dressed up as a girl and was I kidding myself that these people would help?

I felt like a rabbit in the headlights just waiting to be run over or trampled on.

I didn’t have much time to think as soon as I arrived; the great, fearsome lady spoke.

‘Come here child.’

That was a surprise, she spoke gently to me.

I walked over, conscious of everyone’s eyes on me.

‘So, you are Hannah. Well you look a bit done in girl. Not much meat on yer. Some poor excuse of a man has upset yer, I hear. Not good enough. Needs horsewhipping, not you, him; blast his guts. If I had me Purdey, I’d give him both barrels. Come and sit net ter me and we’ll decide what ter do,’

She was sitting on the most comfortable sofa in the room and I just went over and sat by her. I nearly jumped ten feet when she took my hand and she held it the whole time I was there, which was kind of nice. Just her touch was enough to quench the gut wrenching fears that I had been feeling about being sent back to that animal.

Samantha spoke up.

‘Right, we know why we are here and what has happened to young Hannah...’

She pointed out who was who and they seemed a quite nice set of people; the next few minutes would, hopefully confirm that.

‘Right,’ she continued, let’s get on...’

Then was a clanging noise coming from behind me as if something had dropped and she stopped and frowned.

‘Sarah, fer Gods sake sit down and stop bein’ a pest. Any noise from you and I’ll set Fifi on yer,’ said Lady F sternly

‘Sorry Mummy,’ she mumbled as, with a face as red as a beetroot, she sat down and tried, a bit unsuccessfully, to look angelic.

I wanted to giggle, but I wasn’t sure if that was just nerves.

‘Right,’ said Samantha with a slight grin, ‘erm, where was I, oh yes; well, Hannah has been through hell and back and I think that we need to decide what is in her best interests. For my part, I will not let her go back to the home. However the authorities will have to be told and we need to work out what we tell them and what we can do about helping Hanna; any ideas?’

‘Well the police will need to be told, otherwise they will carry on looking for her,’ said Abby.

‘Legally, we need to cover our bases.’ said Katie, ‘the SS will want get involved, especially the children’s services. Hannah comes under their care...’

‘Well they haven’t helped her much, so far’ said Sarah indignantly.

‘Thank you Sarah, we know what they have and haven’t done and I sort of agree that they could have handle Hannah’s case a lot better, but telling them about their collective deficiencies will not help at this point.’

‘’As you know,’ said Jocasta, ‘David and I are registered as foster parents, so I know the procedure. Over the Christmas period there is only a skeleton staff at children’s services and it would be likely that Hannah would be emergency fostered, but there is, as always, a shortage of suitable placements and she may be put into a emergency or temporary home, until a decision is made, probably sometime in the new year.’

She stopped and thought for a moment and then continued.

‘I think Hannah has been through enough upheaval and the last thing she needs is to be carted off to a lot of strangers, even if a place could be found for her. I think that the most favourable scenario would be that she is placed in foster care until the mess is sorted out and that her best interests lie with her staying here.’

‘Bloody red tape, we didn’t win the war with red tape, we made decisions and stuck to them. mamby-pamby social workers think that they know it all.’ said Lady Fairbairn, and then turning to me she continued, ‘what would you like to do, young Hannah.’

I looked up at the faces around me and then at Samantha and Abby.

‘S...stay with Samantha and Abby?’ I whispered.

There was silence for a moment and Samantha came over and knelt down before me.

‘Why us?’ she said quietly.

‘B...b...because you are kind and nice and I...I can’t explain it.’

She looked at me and smiled then she looked around at Abby, who nodded slightly.

‘We’ll see what we can do.’

She squeezed my shoulder and then stood up.

‘Right we know what Hannah wants and both Abby and I would love to look after her until this is all sorted out. So what is the plan of action?’

‘I’ll ring the police and tell them that Joseph has been found,’ said Katie , ‘They only know her by that name, I will also tell them that there has been an attempted assault by this Mike Parminter; as far as I am concerned, what he did and what he obviously intended to do may form grounds for prosecution. Proving it might be difficult, but at least he would be under investigation by the police and the social services and that will have to do for now.’

Jocasta spoke up.

‘I’ll speak to social services; I have a senior case officers home number, I think that they will allow her to stay where she is at least until the mess is sorted out. If she cuts up rough though, then I am sure that Hannah can notionally stay with me, on paper anyway; although in practice, I will stretch the point and hope no one comes calling and asking for her.’

‘You telling fibs, Jocasta?’ said Abby smiling, ‘and you a vicars wife too!’

‘God moves in mysterious ways...’

The all laughed, but it was a bit over my head, to be honest. As Sarah shrugged her shoulders and made a loopy motion with a finger against the side of her head, I think that she felt the same too.

‘If anyone cuts up rough, let me know and I’ll give ‘em a flee in their ear,’ said Lady F.

More was said for a bit and I sort of zoned out. It was all a bit much for me. I had been through a lot in a short space of time. I shut my eyes for a bit...

‘Hannah,’

I was being shaken gently by the shoulder.

I opened my eyes and realised that I was lying down, with my head on Lady Fairbairn’s lap!

I struggled up.

‘Sorry,’ I said to her, my face getting hot with embarrassment.

‘’No problem– tired, bound ter be.’ She was smiling and it made her look ten years younger.

I rubbed my eyes and looked around.

‘Where is everyone?’

‘Doin’ stuff. Abby is looking after Heather and Gabi...’

‘Gabi?’

‘Yes, their other sprog–nice little thing, I’m her God Mother.’

‘I thought that it was just Samantha, Heather and Abby.’

‘No Gabrielle was born earlier in the year. Wasn’t at church last night ‘cos she had the snuffles and she stayed with her Aunt Dawn overnight. Nice woman, but a bit modern in her dress for my taste.’

Just then Samantha came in.

‘Feeling better?’

‘Yes thanks,’ I replied.

‘Good; right the troops have been mobilised and the phones are humming. Things will be sorted out in two shakes. Now, would you like to come with me?’

I stood up and then on an impulse I bent over and kissed Lady Fairbairn on the cheek.

‘Thank you for being nice,’ I said.

‘Never mind that nonsense. Push orf and get sorted out.’

She said it in a gruff voice, but the smile that played on her lips and the glistening eye told me that her bark was definitely worse than her bite.

Samantha took my hand and that was nice, as she led me through the cottage and up the stairs. She turned right at the end and walked along the corridor until we reached the room at the end. This place was definitely bigger than I thought and I wondered if this place was some sort of TARDIS.

She opened the door and ushered me in. It was a bedroom and sitting on a chair by the window was Doctor Marcia.

‘Hello Hannah.’

‘H...hello.’ I replied.

‘Sam, can you leave us alone for a minute?’

‘Sure. Heather, Marcia wants to ask you a few questions and then I’ll be back. Will you be okay?’

‘Mmm.’ I said, not sure if I would be, but these kind people were trying to help me–I hoped.

With a smile, she left the room and closed the door quietly behind us.

‘Sit on the bed if you like dear.’

I did as I was told and waited.

‘Right love, you know that I’m a doctor?’

I nodded.

‘Well it would help us to know exactly how you feel and although it might hurt a bit, we need to discuss what happened back at the home. Would that be all right?’

I nodded again.

‘Also, I need to give you an examination, would you mind?’

‘W...will it hurt?’ I asked.

She laughed; it was a nice one.

‘No honey, it won’t but would you mind taking all your clothes off? I would normally do this at the surgery, but I think it best to keep all this under wraps at that moment until we get things sorted. It’s lucky I brought my bag. Would you like to have someone else present, Samantha or Abby perhaps?’

‘No, that’s all right.’

‘Okay, when you’re ready, we’ll get started.’

I slowly undressed while the doctor started writing things on a clip board.

‘R...ready,’ I said, trying to cover up my hated boy bits.

‘No need to be shy dear. I have seen more naked people than you have had hot dinners. Let’s get started.’

I won’t go through the details, but she was thorough and a bit uncomfortable at times. Then she took my temperature, blood pressure and half an armful of blood and then she asked me to put on the pink silky dressing gown that had been on the back of the door.

I felt better once I had some clothes on again. I was very conscious of my body and the bits that in particular I didn’t want. I had always been a bit shy and all this attention was doing things to my head.

‘Well you seem to be fairly healthy but underdeveloped. The blood work will help me to find out if there are any issues. The problems you have regarding incontinence needs to be sorted out and I will be referring you to a urology specialist that I know. How many times a day do you wee?’

‘Lots.’ I said ruefully.

‘Right, take this sheet and if you can, log the amount of times you need to go and also how much fluid that you are taking in. have you filled one of these things out before?’

‘No.’

‘You haven’t; weren’t you ever asked to do this?’

‘No, but as I have had several doctors, maybe they didn’t realise.’

‘Sorry love, that doesn’t wash. It isn’t your fault, but it looks like there have been some errors in procedure here. However what they have done should be on your medical records. There are things that can be done to help in a lot of cases. I would like to see your medical notes soon and I will contact your present doctor to see what treatment and surgery was performed first. Enough of that now; come and sit down again so that we can have a chat.’

I sat on the bed again.

‘So Hannah, tell me when you first realised that you were a girl...’

I told her all about my infancy and growing up; how I felt different from other ‘boys’ ; how nobody would listen, including the shrink that I had been sent to see. She frowned when I told her about him and looked quite angry. I also mentioned the fact that I never seemed to fit in with the other kids at the homes that I lived in. The boys thought I was a sissy and the girls, apart from one or two, thought me strange.

Then we moved on to Mike and what he had done.

‘Did he touch you?’ she asked gently.

‘No, not then, but remembering back, he often had his arm around my shoulder when he talked to me or if I was sitting down, my knee. When I passed in the corridor say, he would brush past me rather heavily, I suppose. The thing that made me really frightened was the strange looks that he gave me sometimes.’

‘I see and on that final day, when you were late back and everyone had gone to the cinema?’

‘As I said to Samantha, h...he had me dress in girls clothes to ‘see what I looked like’ they weren’t nice clothes and didn’t suit me. They were what, erm–well, on the TV once, I saw a documentary about erm, prostitution. I shouldn’t have done, but I was being fostered out at the time and the parents were in another room. They had a camera on some street in Birmingham and there were girls there with very short skirts and tops that revealed a lot. That was the type of thing that he wanted me to wear.’

I shuddered at the thought.

‘Go on.’

‘Then the others came back and he told me to change into my normal boys clothes, say nothing about it and that we would have other times when I could show him more about my being a girl. His face couldn’t disguise the...the...’

I broke down then and Marcia came over and gave me a well needed hug.

‘There, there, dear; I had to hear it from you and not second hand. Don’t think about it anymore. I need to write up a report about all this and it’s important that we get the facts down.’

‘Was I naughty to run away and should I have spoken to Laura Parminter about it?’ I sniffed.

She was silent for a moment as, still in a hug, she stroked my hair.

‘You wasn’t naughty, you were a very brave girl. On reflection, it was probably a good idea that you didn’t approach Laura. It’s a sad fact that some couples have the same, erm, interests. It’s rare but possible. No you did the right thing to run away, but it could have gone badly and you were lucky that you came here and not some city where you might meet some nasty people.’

‘I love it here.’ I said.

‘You’re not the only one. This place is magical. Mind you, you can’t keep a secret here. The grapevine is ten times quicker than the internet, Facebook and Twitter combined!

We both giggled at that and I nearly missed the door knock.

‘Come in, ‘called Marcia.

The door opened and there was Samantha with a small suitcase in her hand.

‘All done; I’ll leave you two gals to get organised while I go and see what’s happening with the troops.’

She gave me a peck on the cheek.

‘See you later honey and don’t worry, we are all on your side.’

‘Thank you for...listening.’

‘That’s all right. I’ll send you a bill in the post–joke!’

I smiled; she was a nice lady and not like the stuffy doctors I had seen before.

As the door closed behind Marcia, Samantha came over and sat by me.

‘How are you love?’

‘Okay; Marcia is nice.’

‘She is. She’s a good friend and a great doctor. Right, let’s get things organised. Jocasta’s kids and Sarah have been raiding their closets and have come up with some clothes for you to wear that will keep you going for a few days, until we get to the shops, anyway. First though, you might need another shower. I know I do after a doctor exam. Would you like one?’

‘Yes please.’

‘Okay, across the hall, second on the left. Everything you need is in there. Whilst you are having your shower, I’ll sort the clothes out and see what there is.

‘Thank you.’

‘Don’t keep saying that.’

‘Sorry.’

‘Or that,’ she laughed, ‘it’s a pleasure. Now hop off and I’ll see you in a minute. Oh, there’s a shower hat in the bathroom, use that as you don’t want to get your hair wet again.’

‘Tha...oops, I nearly said it again!’ I giggled.

She laughed and then turned back to the bed.

I had a quick shower. I was quick, because I was dying to see what clothes I could to wear. It was really strange, up to recently, I had no interest in the clothes I was given to wear, mind you, they were boring boys clothes, so that probably explained it! I recalled the pitiful cache of used and grubby clothes that I had hidden in the cellar at the home and I hoped that these ones were a bit nicer.

Soon I felt clean again and once I had dried myself, I put the dressing gown back on and made my way back to the bedroom.

Samantha was there and she was on her mobile. She looked up as I walked in and smiled.

‘OK Mummy we’ll be there. See you later, byee!’

She disconnected and then looked at me.

‘All clean?’

‘Yes, thank you.’

‘Ooh you are polite. Right, there’s a lot of things on the bed. Choose what you want and then get dressed. A late breakfast is being conjured up by Abby as I speak. Smell that yummy bacon? Anyway, we’ll spend the rest of the morning here and then Mummy Dotty has asked the whole gang over to hers. That is, everyone you saw this morning and their partners, etc. ‘

‘Erm, who’s Mummy Dotty?’

‘Oh, Lady Fairbairn, she’s a real sweetie and has sort of unofficially adopted Abbey and me–or is that Abby and I? Anyway, don’t worry, it’s complicated and if I get a spare three years, I’ll explain how things work here. One thing you should know is that everyone knows everything and there are very few secrets in the cove. The place is full of nutty people and that’s why we all love it. Now, I’m going to help Abby while you decide what to wear. We have to go posh later when we go to Mummy’s, but I am sure we can find something nice for you. See you in a minute–hungry?’

‘Yes,’ I said, almost overpowered by everyone’s kindness.

‘Well, get crackin’ then as Mummy would say!’

She smiled and then left me to decide what I should wear.

I sorted through everything and there was quite a lot to choose from. There were all types and colours of blouses, tops, dresses and jeans together with several pairs of shoes which luckily fitted me and I found it hard to choose. I tried on lots and I was in a state knowing what I should wear. I wasn’t experienced at this and it was almost overpowering that these kind people had given these thing to me to wear. I sat on the bed in the end wearing a nice lavender coloured skirt that went just above my knees. I had two tops in my hands and I couldn’t decide what to wear. It was silly, but I was getting upset over it. I wanted to make a good impression, but I wasn’t experienced at this. I hadn’t had the chance to be...

There was a knock at the door.

‘Come in.’ I said in a small voice.

‘There you are. I’m the reinforcements. Sam said that you may have a few probs getting yourself sorted so here I am, Super Style Girl, come to your rescue. I should have a sort of Super Woman type lycra outfit on, but it’s at the cleaners.’

‘Hello Sarah!’

My heart lifted.

‘Right let’s get you sorted. I’ve seen what you are having for breakfast and I want some of it, so we had better hurry before it all goes.’

‘How did you get here, I thought that you had gone?’

‘No I went to see the Gotobed’s, I had some prezzies to deliver. Mummy treats me like a slave you know. I even have to make my own bed and keep my room tidy. She has tons of servants to do that sort of thing, and my idea is that if I do the bed making and room cleaning thing, I’m doing them out of work and they might get the sack or something, but Mummy doesn’t listen to me. Slave labour, that’s what I call it.’

‘Sarah...’

‘Do you know, I was once a chamber maid there? Well, I did say that I would do it cos I didn’t want to be a burden, but she didn’t need to treat me like a slave.’

‘Sarah.’

‘Do you know, I had to get up at eight in the morning and do chores, Eight, that’s like the middle of the night when you’re not at school...’

‘SARAH!’

‘Eh, oh what?’

I was trying not to laugh but she was funny.

‘What do I wear?’

‘Oh, the one on the left as the one on the right clashes with your hair. You’re coming to ours for lunch; that dress on the back of your door will be brill. It looks lovely and I should know it’s one of mine. I’ve grown out of it and you are a bit smaller than me, but it looks well brilliant on and it will suit your colour...’

She didn’t stop to breathe in as she continued talking as I got dressed. She turned her back as I put my undies on, but once I was dressed she fussed with my hair a bit.

‘Nice hair, you need to have an uber salon experience. We’ll go together; Mummy will pay, she’s mega rich like Sam and Abby and likes to spread it about a bit. They have this charity thing going and they look after underprivileged kids...’

‘Like me?’

‘Well yes, I mean no, well I don’t know, all I do know is that when someone is in trouble they like to help them. What I do know is–and I overheard them accidently, when I opened the door quietly and then listened through the crack–that they think that you are a lovely girl and they would love to keep you, as in permanently. Trouble is that adoption is harder to get than almost anything.’

‘Tell me about it.’

‘Oh yes, well you would know about that wouldn’t you. Anyway, they are sweet on you and as long as you don’t go all Goth or teenage angst with them, they would like to keep you as a pet or something.’

‘Are you nuts?’ I asked.

‘So my therapist keeps telling me. Anyway, all done? Let’s go and grab some grub before it’s all gone!’

We went downstairs. My head was full of what she had told me. I didn’t take much notice of what she said about my staying with Samantha and Abby, as I it was obvious that she didn’t know what was really going on. This was real life and fairytale endings like that just didn’t happen to the likes of me. But I was happy just being able to look as I should–a girl and, at last, I was being treated as one.

As we got nearer the kitchen, I could smell bacon and sausages and also baked bread. If I wasn’t hungry before, I was now and my mouth was watering.

‘Hi girls, come and grab a pew; breakfast is ready,’ said Abby as we arrived like a hungry hoard. She had apron on and was wielding a spatula in a dangerous manner.

Around the kitchen table sat Samantha, and in high chairs were Heather and Gabi, who looked happy as they were fed. These were girls after my own heart with a healthy appetite.

Soon we were tucking into a humungous breakfast and the plate was full of goodies. I had two sausages, several rashers of bacon, an egg, two grilled tomatoes and some mushrooms. In addition to that, there were some lovely, freshly baked rolls and a mug of tea.

For once Sarah was silent as she tucked in and I could see that she was enjoying the feast as much as I was. After the little ones were fed, they were taken out of their high chairs and taken out of the room. We were still concentrating on what we were doing and didn’t take much notice though.

Then Samantha came back in carrying Gabi and following her was a teenager, about sixteen or seventeen I would say, who had Heather in her arms. The girls had been changed into pretty little matching pink dresses and looked adorable.

‘Hannah, this is Sophie our live in help, general dogsbody and au pair. She comes from Cornwall, so technically she’s a foreigner and that’s why she’s classed as an au pair.’

‘Gerr on wiv yer Samantha, bain’t foreign, you be the foreign one, comin’ up from the sticks.’

Abby piped up.

‘I’ll translate; she said that Sam is the foreign one as she came originally from London.’

‘Cor, so I did, lord luv a duck,’ said Samantha in such a serious voice, I wondered if that was her normal voice and then everyone started laughing. I was beginning to wonder if I was the only sane one there!

Then there was a totally weird conversation about smuggling Cornish pasties over the border in the dead of night in exchange for some D.S.C.T’s which at first I thought must have been illegal drugs but found out later meant Devon Scone Cream Teas. I knew then that I had come into somewhere that was seriously strange to say the least.

After both Sarah and I had had our fill, we got down from the table and Abby said that we should go out and get some fresh air and maybe make snow angels. By now the snow lay in a thick blanket everywhere. We were given warm coats and wellie boots, all a bit big for us but we weren’t fussed and outside we went.

The cold air struck cold and I should have had some jeans on, but I couldn’t care less as I ran around with Sarah chasing me and then we did the falling back bit and waved our arms and legs about so the impressions we left in the snow were of quite good angels. It was so nice to play like a normal girl with my new friend!

Then we had to have a snowball fight as according to Sarah, it was obligatory and that lasted for ages as we chased each other around the garden, avoiding the occasional cat and just managing to keep from falling into the duck pond. The ducks weren’t too impressed with us and quacked off somewhere out of harm’s way and the cats; they looked at us with disinterest, as if two girls throwing themselves about like that was perfectly normal.

All this activity made us quite warm in the end, but eventually we went back in took off our coats and wellies.

Sam came into the room then and she looked a bit serious.

My heart went thump.

‘The police have phoned and they are sending a car for you. They want you down at the station to make a statement.’

‘Why?’ I asked.

‘Laura Parminter, your house mum has been attacked and is in a coma in hospital and her husband Mike has gone missing. They think that you may have something to do with it.’

Part 5 soon.

Please leave comments and kudo thingies...thanks! ~Sue

If you are enjoying this story, The original Penmarris story - Changes Book 1 is now available on Kindle:

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