Book 5 Chapter 7

The first day of the rest of her life

Julia had found for herself a rather nice single-bedded flat in Kennington, with its own bathroom and a kitchen/diner. It was on the top floor of a large early Victorian terraced house, which had been divided up into separate apartments. It was situated in a fairly quiet back not far away from the Park. It was a cosmopolitan neighbourhood. The rent was somewhat more than Denise might have afforded, but her sister had been working ever since she left University and had now found herself a much better-paid job, so she would be able to manage.

With the benefit of text messaging, Denise and Samantha were able to arrive at the new flat, together with their house warming present and some coffee and sandwiches, just as the van with John and Julia was pulling up. They all went inside and were briefly shown around by Julia. They had some lunch together before starting to unload the van. Fortunately John was able to manage the relatively few heavy boxes. The remainder were just a little awkward to negotiate up the stairs to her flat. Denise rarely wore trousers out of choice these days, but was pleased that she had chosen her jeans and an old t-shirt on this occasion.

By 3.30pm all of Julia’s belongings were safely inside the flat and so John left them to return the van to the hire company. The three girls began the task of unpacking the boxes and transferring their contents to the wardrobe, chests of drawers, cupboards and bookshelves.

‘That was very good of my cousin to offer to drive you and your belongings from Norwich,’ said Samantha to Julia.

‘Yes, particularly as I had only met him on a couple of occasions before,’ she replied. ‘I assumed he was trying to get back into my sister’s good books.’

‘We never had a row, but just agreed to part, as I will have other things to contend with over the next few months,’ said Denise.

‘OK, but as soon as I get my kitchen straight I will invite him round for a meal, to thank him for his trouble. Perhaps you two would like to come as well. I hardly know anyone else in London as yet.’

‘That will soon change once you begin work next week. You will soon have plenty of posh friends and won’t want to bother with your little sister,’ interposed Denise.

‘Now you know that is not true, I am very proud to have a sister, particularly one as nice as you. I just wish I’d had one a few years earlier rather than a moody and obnoxious little brother,’ she said giving Denise a hug.

‘Julia we are planning a ‘Girls Night Out’, on Tuesday evening if you can make it. Your sister will be having a small celebration, and it will give you the opportunity of meeting some of her friends and workmates,’ said Samantha.

‘I’ll be starting my new job on Tuesday, but I don’t imagine they will expect me to work late on my first day. But what is the celebration for Denise?’

‘I am having my testicles removed, as it transpires they are serving no useful purpose. I will also be starting to take my female hormones,’ she replied.

‘So it really will be the point of no return for you,’ said Julia.

‘No, not really, that was some time ago. This is just one more inevitable stage on a journey that I have to take, to make my body correspond with how I feel.’

‘In that case, I will be happy to come along and wish you well, but I doubt whether the Greetings Card manufacturers have got round to covering either of those celebrations as yet.’

By the time John arrived back it was after 5.30pm and much of the unpacking had been done. So the four agreed to go out and explore the surrounding area to find somewhere suitable to eat.

Denise spent most of the following day helping her sister to get settled in to her new flat and also exploring the nearby Sunday market, down the Walworth Road. They came back laden with West Indian food for her store cupboard, as Julia was an adventurous cook. Afterwards, Denise returned to her flat to catch up with her share of the housework, as she had tended to let things slide a little recently and did not wish to be seen to take advantage of Samantha’s good nature.

The Monday was a Bank Holiday and John had offered to drive Julia around London to help her get her bearings and see some of the sights. Samantha was spending the day with her sister and her husband. Denise spent the day at her work putting in some extra hours on the computer system so that she would be able to take the following morning off, in order to go to the clinic. Afterwards, she made her way to have dinner with Alison and Sue, as promised. Alison was busy cooking their meal. Sue had not yet arrived back, having been to visit her parents for the weekend together with her boyfriend.

‘By the way there will be four of us eating tonight. Sue will be bringing her new guy to be introduced’, said Alison.

‘Have you not met him yet?’ asked Denise.

‘No, she has been rather coy about him but I do get the impression she is quite keen.’

‘In that case, may I give this prescription to you now before they arrive?” said Denise handing it over to her.

Alison read through it quickly.

‘There should be no problem with this,’ said Alison. ‘I will be able to you have a three months supply of the tablets and gel tomorrow.’

‘When shall I call round to collect them?’

‘I understand from your housemate that your colleagues and friends are having a celebratory drink after work tomorrow evening, and have invited me to come along as well. Do you know who is likely to be there?’ asked Alison.

‘Samantha specified that it should be ‘ladies only’, so it will be those from the office who can make it, my sister, and I hope yourself as well,’ answered Denise. ‘You have met Jane and Samantha already when we went out for my birthday last month, and then of course there will be myself, and Sue, if we can prise her away from her new boyfriend for one night.’

‘Alright I’ll come too, and I will bring your tablets with me, if you want,’ said Alison.

‘Yes please. I’ll then be able to celebrate taking my first ever oestrogen pill as well as having my nuts removed.’

‘If you want, you can have one or two of my birth control pills in the meanwhile, they are virtually the same thing, and I have no further use for them.’

‘No, I had better stick with what the Doctor has prescribed,’ said Denise. ‘But why are you no longer taking the pill?’

‘I have been taking it for quite a few years now and feel my body needs a break. I think it is now the turn of my boyfriend to worry about contraception.’

Sue arrived at that point, followed by a tall fair-haired man in his early thirties, who looked a little awkward.

‘Hello everybody, I should like to introduce you to my fiancé,” she said cheerily as she entered...” Rich, this is Alison my flatmate and Denise my colleague from work.”

They were both blushing but also looked very pleased with themselves.

Alison looked genuinely surprised, but also pleased.

‘Well congratulations to both of you! That is brilliant news!’ she said hugging her flatmate and then proceeding to kiss the newcomer on the cheek.

Denise followed suit, only a little more diffidently. She still lacked some of Alison’s self-confidence, particularly when it came to dealing with young men.

Rich blushed even more than before and muttered his thanks for the congratulations. Sue looked truly happy.

‘You really are a dark horse Sue. When did all this happen? Why didn’t you tell us before?’ asked Denise.

‘Rich only proposed to me on Friday night. I accepted, and we went out and bought the ring the next morning, before either of us could change our minds,’ she said, showing off a diamond the engagement ring on her finger.

‘Alison and Denise both cooed over it and told her how lovely it looked.

Rich suggested that he might go out and get a bottle of champagne to celebrate, and the others agreed that it would be a good idea. Whilst he was gone Denise and Alison continued to question Sue about her plans.

‘So when is the big day?’ asked Denise.

‘No specific plans as yet, but when the time comes I hope you will both be my bridesmaid, and also Samantha as well.’

‘I would love to be your bridesmaid Sue and am sure that Samantha would as well. After all we have done it before,’ said Denise laughing.

‘I may have to be a matron of honour rather than a bridesmaid, as I think I may be pregnant,’ announced Alison.

‘Have you missed a period?’ asked Sue sounding surprised.

‘Two, and have also had a positive pregnancy test. I was going to tell you all about it tonight, but you have upstaged me with your news.’

‘So how did that happen?’ asked Sue

Alison shrugged her shoulders.

‘I decided to stop taking ‘the pill and I am sure you can imagine the rest without me going in to details. I have been thinking about settling down and taking the plunge myself recently.

‘So has Geoff asked you to marry him then?’ asked Sue.

‘Yes, but I at the time I avoided giving him a straight answer. However, I suspect the time has now come for me to settle down as well.’

‘So it would appear that double congratulations are in order,’ said Denise.

‘I suppose so, but it also means that I had better not drink any of that champagne when it comes.’

“Sue, am I allowed to tell Samantha your news when I go home tonight or will you be making a formal announcement at work tomorrow?’

‘Would you mind if I told everyone my news during your celebration?’ she asked.

‘No, of course not, it will be a great opportunity for everyone to celebrate the good news,’ replied Denise. ‘However, you had better bring Rich into work pretty soon afterwards for everyone to meet him.’

The ‘Girls Night Out’ was held in the same club in Covent Garden where Denise and Samantha had first met during the previous May, but this time there was no floor show. The group merely occupied a table in one corner of an otherwise crowded club. All five of their colleagues were able to attend, plus Alison and Julia. It turned out to be a much more wide-ranging celebration than was first envisaged, and there were many opportunities to toast different members present. Denise bought the first round of drinks, and related the details of her procedure earlier that day, which in the event turned out to be quite painless and rather uneventful. She also explained to her friends the timetable for the rest of her transition. Denise then took her first oestrogen tablet whilst her friends offered their good wishes for her future.

Then Sue announced her good news, and showed off her engagement ring for everyone to see, and provided a glass sparkling wine all round, except of course for Alison and Jane who were both lamenting the fact that they could only drink orange juice. All her workmates were delighted with the new, although there was also a little sadness when she announced that she hoped to go into business as a freelance photographer with her boyfriend.

Alison was also congratulated about her good news, which she had conveyed to her boyfriend earlier that day. Somewhat to her relief, he had been delighted with the prospect of being a father, and had proposed marriage for a second time. She did not feel she could accept him and then go out with her girl friends that night, so she had promised to let him know her answer the following day, but had intimated that she would be accepting him. In the meanwhile she spent much of the evening comparing notes and symptoms with Jane, whose baby was now beginning to show, and could be felt moving in the womb.

Good wishes were also offered to Julia for her new job and new flat, and also to Samantha, who would be shortly returning to University, to begin a new life. Finally, Helen announced the highly encouraging results from the first complete month that her company since they had launched the new website and operated the new ordering system, and bought yet another round of drinks.

‘Tomorrow will be the 1 September,’ commented Samantha to Denise. ‘This has been quite an eventful summer, one way or another.’

‘Yes, you are right. An awful lot has happened to both of us since we were last here’ said Denise, ‘it has been a real summer of changes.’

‘And it all started just because my sister did not want to leave you out of her hen-night.’

‘Thank you, I am very glad she didn’t, and I am very glad that you both bullied me into becoming her bridesmaid,’ she replied.