My maternal grandmother and I had a very close relationship from the moment I was born. My father was beside himself with joy at finally having a son to pass on his name . Mother was just happy that 9 months of being fat and bloated were over. She figured that Dad would finally shut up and quit pestering her about having another child. My sister Angie was two years older and he pretty much ignored her. Grandmother told everyone that I would grow up to be a very special child. Dad came off with some snide remark to the effect of "Just as long as he isn't a sissy". Grandmother reportedly smacked him upside the head and told him that she wouldn't tolerate her grandchildren and her daughter staying with a bigot. He popped off and asked her what she was going to do about it and she replied "You'll find out!

They figured out just what Grandmother meant by me being a special child. I was able to walk and talk a few months before my sister did and I had a very active imagination. The problem for my dad was that imagination did not involve anything remotely boyish. At age two, I was playing with Angela's dolls and wearing her dresses. I told my parents that Angie and I were sisters. Daddy blew his top and told me that I was going to be a boy and act like a man if it was the last thing he did. Mother was either scared or very submissive and never once stood up to him. Dad hated it when Grandmother came to visit because she would stand toe to toe with him and give as good as she got. He just thought women were nothing more than slaves and objects for his pleasure. Grandmother was a very successful businesswoman and it just burned Dad up that she didn't allow a man to call the shots in her life. There were numerous occasions where she would try to talk Mother into leaving and taking us with her. She would always defend Daddy and say that Grandmother didn't understand him. She would always come back with "You're right I don't! I don't understand how I could raise a spineless daughter who won't stand up for herself or her children" Mother would always say "But I love him" Grandmother would be so disgusted that she would leave and only come visit when Daddy wasn't around. This was the pattern up through the beginning of my high school years.

I would go stay with my grandmother and always felt I could tell her anything. I confessed to her that I felt like a girl from my earliest memory. She just gathered me in her arms and told me she loved me no matter what. I always felt safe when I was with her. She would tell me stories about Grandpa when they were young and in love. He had died in a car accident before I was born. She never remarried because she told me that there was no man that could ever hold a candle to him. He always supported her in anything she ever wanted to do and gave her the freedom to accomplish it. She confided that she could never understand why Mother was attracted to such a sexist pig. I told her how he was treating me around the house. I never showed any interest in Football or Wrestling at all. I could never understand why guys would want to line up and want to kill each other. He would walk away muttering under his breath about faggots and sissy's or any other derogatory term. Thankfully, he never harmed me physically. He was well aware that Grandmother would bury him where they would never find his body if he did. I got to the point where I despised being in the same room with him. I always went to my room when he got home and only came out for meals. My feelings of being trapped in a boy's body continued to wear away at me until I stressed out one night and called Grandmother. I told her that I could no longer live like this. She promised that she would call a therapist she knew the next morning. She asked me to put Mother on the line. They talked for several minutes and then Mother hung up.

The next morning, Mother got Daddy's breakfast and handed him his lunch as he went out the door. We both breathed a sigh of relief when we heard him pull out of the garage. Mother told me that I wasn't going to school today because Grandmother was going to call a Dr. Graham that she knew. Angela got up and came into the kitchen dressed for school. Just like me, she avoided direct contact with Daddy whenever possible and only came out when she knew he was gone. We sat down to eat and filled her in on what we were doing for the day. She knew what I was dealing with from a very young age and called me her sister when Daddy wasn't around. Mother would actually speak freely when he wasn't around. We would talk about the things that were going on with me. I asked her how she could put up with Daddy and everything he put her through? She would say that Daddy put a roof over our heads and food on the table. She said that if she left, she didn't know where we would go. Angie and I both knew very well that she was making more excuses. She was just too insecure to stand up and tell him where to go. She made up another excuse about Grandmother holding it over her head if she ever asked for the money to go somewhere else. Angie and I told Grandmother about this and she said it was ridiculous! She just wanted Mother to get the courage to finally leave the bastard.

Mother explained that her marriage to Daddy had been an act of rebellion and that Daddy was a good man in the beginning. She said that Grandpa Albert was a man's man and Daddy just learned by example. Grandma Pearl was a mousy woman who never felt like she was big enough to go against him. Mother laughed at the memory of the time she did see her stand up to him. She had just married Daddy and felt like dropping in for a cup of tea. She came through the kitchen door and found Grandma Pearl with an Iron Skillet in her hand, standing over Grandpa Albert. He had come in drunk from his poker game and started to yell at her for not having his dinner on the table. She knocked him cold. Daddy came in and saw him lying there and then asked her what happened? She told him and he actually told her that she was to blame for not having dinner ready.( I was seething inside after hearing that!). Mother should have gotten a clue after that and figured out that that was her future if she stayed with him but she didn't do anything.

Grandmother arrived and told me that I had an appointment set up for ten this morning. Angie got up from the table, gave each of us a hug and left for school. Grandmother sat down at the table and I got her a cup of coffee. She explained what the doctor wanted to find out when she talked to me. Mother didn't object at all about me going to see her. She did sympathize with me, but she was just afraid to go against Daddy's wishes. Grandmother tried once again to get her to leave, but she still stood up for him. I finally broke out in tears and asked her when she would stand up for me and Angie. She had no answer and just looked at me with sad eyes. Grandmother unloaded on her and told her that it was time she got a backbone. Her face gave away what she was feeling. I could see that she was torn between protecting us and doing what he wanted. I just got up and went to my room to freshen up for the appointment. Grandmother was still talking to Mother and told her she had a choice to make. Mother finally admitted that she was scared about what he would do if they left. Grandmother told her that she would find a place clear across the country for us to go if she would just do the right thing. Grandmother asked her what she would do if she wasn't around to stand up for her grandchildren. Mother told her she shouldn't talk that way. Grandmother told her that it would happen someday whether she wanted it to or not. They both heard me come in and decided to put an end to any further discussion.

We left the house and drove to a glass enclosed office building downtown. Dr. Megan Graham came out and greeted us warmly when we arrived. She chatted with all three of us for a few minutes and then asked Mother and Grandmother to wait in the waiting room. She asked me a series of questions about how I felt and gave me a couple of tests to take. I told her to call me Annabeth. After I got done, she called Mother and Grandmother back in and discussed the results. She said the tests indicated that I identified very strongly as a girl and I expressed a strong desire to transition. Mother explained what the situation was regarding Daddy and told her about the fears that this information will cause her husband to lose his temper. I never thought I would hear Dr. Graham say what she did next. She told Mother that she had an obligation to protect the well being of her children. If she failed to do so, she could lose us. I think it finally started to sink in. We left the office and got home before Daddy got home. Grandmother told me not to worry because everything would be alright. She gave me a hug and kiss and then she left.

Later that night, we got a phone call that would shatter the world as we knew it. Grandmother had suffered a fatal stroke just after arriving home. Mother, Angela and I were complete basket cases. The bastard appeared to be sympathetic, but we knew that he was jumping for joy inside. He would no longer have to put up with Grandmother challenging his authority as the "Man" of the house. I could tell he was already thinking of ways to make our lives even more hellish. He didn't realize that Dr. Graham's words had lit a fire of determination in Mother. We knew it when we looked at her that this was not the same women we had known for so long. Grandmother's death was just the final ingredient to steel her resolve even more. The next few days would be trying for us, but we would get through it together.

We found out just how many lives Grandmother had touched during her visitation and funeral. Hundreds of people came and told stories of all the ways that she had made a difference in their lives. Her attorney came over to us and said that we would have a reading of her Will on Tuesday morning at 9AM. We said we would be there for it. Daddy was walking around with a huge grin on his face. I knew that he would have a surprise coming to him. The fool actually thought he would be getting something from Grandmother's estate. I knew that she had never even thought of allowing him to get one dime of her money. I actually went up to my room and had a long laugh over the idea. Tuesday would be an interesting day indeed!

On the following Tuesday, we gathered in the offices of Finkel , Wright and Lowenstein. Ronald Finkel had been Grandmother's attorney for thirty five years. He sat down and clicked a remote control. A tape began to play and Grandmother's face appeared on the screen. She apologized that we would have to be here for this sad occasion, but things happen. She began to talk about the contents of her estate. I was astonished when she started talking about how much the entire thing was worth. Daddy was smiling when she started talking. His smile disappeared when she had gone through it. Grandmother had left $2.5 million apiece in trust to Angie and I, payable on our twenty first birthdays. She also set up college funds for us. She had more surprises for me. She told me that she had set up a medical expense account for all the things related to my transition including SRS. I was speechless! I just started to cry. She had also given me her house on Cape Cod. It would be rented out until I came of age to take full possession. Angela got the house she bought just next door to the one she gave me. I thought that was really neat! Mother got $5 million, along with the keys to a gorgeous beachfront home in Malibu, California. Daddy was sitting there telling Mother that they could sell it when he got a huge shock! Grandmother went on to say that Mother's share would not be released until an official divorce decree was filed dissolving Mother and Daddy's marriage. Mother turned to him and smiled! She told him that he would be served within the next day. He jumped up and started telling her how it would be. She jumped up, looked him in the eye and told him "Wanna bet? He was stunned that she had the nerve to challenge him. He started to raise his fist at her and then he just stopped. Something in her eyes told him all he needed to know. He deflated like a balloon. Mother then took him to task for all those things he had done to us. After it was over, he looked like someone had whipped him.

Mother took us out to dinner at a five star restaurant and we toasted Grandmother's life and looked forward to our wonderful new beginning. Daddy moved his things out of the house while we were gone. He moved in with Grandma Pearl. She actually called Mother and told her that she had gotten her piece with him when he got there too. She had reminded him of the time when he walked in and saw Grandpa on the floor and what he said to her. He actually admitted he was wrong! She stood there with her mouth open for five minutes before she was able to speak.

Epilogue

Angela, Mother and I were stretched out on the Chaise loungers in front of our home in Malibu just enjoying the view of the ocean and some other great scenery(Wink!) I had just completed my SRS eight weeks before. My hormone regimen had given me a 36-24-36 figure. The names Angela and Annabeth Campbell was well known around our high school. Angela may have been two years older but we were as close as two sisters could be. So much had happened in the four years since Grandmother's death.

Mother got everything she wanted in the divorce. Her attorney was one of the best lawyers in the country and showed no mercy. It seems that Daddy had been having affairs with multiple women in his office and one was even filing a lawsuit against him for harassment. The P.I found so much on him that he was forced to settle quietly. He got half the proceeds from the house and even had to pay one thousand a month in Child Support. He was so disgusted with my transition that he refused to even fight for Visitation rights for either of us. We didn't shed any tears over it. He ended up losing his job a short time later after he got caught hitting on his boss's eighteen year old daughter. He claimed that he didn't know how old she was. Likely story!

We moved out to Malibu and I began to set my transition in motion. It really helps when you can start school in a new place where no one knows your past. I love my new life and wouldn't trade it for anything. It is so fun to have a girl's day out with Angela and Mother. I also have wonderful friends who I can hang out with too. I have decided to go to Harvard and become a Gender Specialist. My sister is going to Rhode Island School of Design to become a Fashion Designer. She has already designed clothes for me and several of our friends. Mother is content to enjoy the life of a single woman, but she occasionally goes out with a colleague of my therapist. He is very good looking and loves to spoil her when they go out. Sometimes, I sit here in my Chaise and I swear I hear Grandmother whisper on the wind. She tells me how proud she is of all of us. I like to think that she passed some of her will in two ways. She gave Mother some of her strength and made sure that her grandaughter had her own chance to be happy. For that I will always be grateful. I love you Grandmother!