“You never know where life is going to take you.” my mother always used to say, and now it had definitely taken me in a new direction.
My name is Jack Rowland and I run and own JR Investigations, a successful niche private detective agency based in Stratford-upon-Avon. Not for us the usual checking up on wayward marriage partners, or petty crime, we were specialists in investigating corporate fraud nationwide in chains of shops, hotels, professional practices and such like. I was not an office-based administrator but was often the lead investigator out in the field, backed up by my capable team of 20 full-time staff plus contract workers. Because a lot of our work involved placing temporary staff undercover in the target organisations, all of the team were female, as sending someone in as a sales assistant, admin assistant, or hotel domestic very rarely raised suspicion and these roles were usually seen as for females. These roles were considered too junior for senior staff, who were usually the ones carrying out dubious practices, to worry about.
For halloween we always had a themed fancy dress day in the office, when any of the staff not out in the field on investigation would all come to the office in costume, and this year the girls had decided on ‘Jolly Hockey Sticks St Trinian’s school uniform’. I didn’t know how to play this. As the boss would it be demeaning and undermining for me to dress as an overgrown schoolgirl and ruin what was a bit of a macho image, or would it be seen to be standoffish if I did not join in?
What the girls did not know is that, having been brought up with three older sisters I was often included in their dress-up games and, as my Mum did not object, this often meant going out with them to play or going shopping with Mum for clothes for my sisters. This left a deep impression on me, and although as I got older I did not dress as a girl anymore, I often thought about the times wearing my sisters’ clothes.
As is often the case, as the “last in the litter” I was a bit of a runt, I had stopped growing at 5’6” and never really bulked out. Even when I was at university and setting up my business and going through fitness phases at the gym, all the exercise did was make me lose weight and get fitter, I never seemed to build up my muscle mass.
Anyway, i decided that I would go along with the girls and join in as a schoolgirl for the day, but did not tell them as I wanted it to be a surprise. I asked my sister Julie, who was just a year older than me, if she would help me out, and when she had finished laughing she agreed, on condition that she could see any photographs of me with the other girls in the office.
Julie had recently separated from her husband who, although only married 4 years, had started playing the field again and she had thrown him out, so we had the house to ourselves the night before halloween to get me ready.
“ Right, we have two options, either we send you in as obviously a bloke in a dress, unshaven, bare hairy legs, with garish makeup, or we do a proper job and make you look convincingly female, which do you want.”
“The girls always make a big effort with their costumes, bearing in mind that they often have to dress down for their undercover roles, and I think it would be a bit of an insult if I turned up as a caricature, I think it would be better if we did the job properly.”
“ Let’s get started then, we have a lot to do, go up and have a shower and shampoo, and use my scented body-scrub, and shave your legs, arms, chest and pits. I will check you out when you are finished and clean up any bits you have missed. Meanwhile I’ll dig out a few things for you to wear.”
I came out of the bathroom in a towelling robe feeling all tender where I had shaved my body parts, they were not used to being attacked by a razor, Julie sympathised and passed me a tub of moisturiser to take away the tingling, and while I was rubbing it in she showed me my costume for tomorrow.
“I have a costume from a fancy dress party i went to a few years ago that should fit you, and you can borrow one of my wigs, your hair is far too short to do anything with. I’ve also dug out some underwear but we’ll have to sort something out to fill your bra and give you breasts, have you any ideas?”
I didn’t want to admit it to Julie but I occasionally visited transgender web sites and had seen that an easy way, but not perfect, was to use nylon stockings filled with birdseed or rice, apparently they were firm enough to stay in shape and heavy enough to have a realistic jiggle when walking, and told Julie that I had read somewhere that it might work. She came back a few minutes later with a bra and two stockings filled with rice, and made me try them on. They did give a realistic shape and felt heavy enough, but she was not too happy.
“They are ok but I have an idea to make them even better, leave it with me until the morning. we’ll need you up bright and early, we have things to do, get ready for bed and have a good sleep if you can get the thoughts of facing the world tomorrow as a schoolgirl look-alike out of your mind. I have left out one of my pyjama sets on the bed, I assume you did not bring any with you.”
On the bed I found a camisole top and shorts pyjama set, pink with little red hearts all over them, i think Julie was having a laugh at me, but they looked comfortable and they fit me well.
At 7 o’clock, Julie woke me up and I went down for breakfast still wearing the pyjamas.
“Hey, they suit you, you don’t have bad legs now that you have shaved them, you can keep them if you want.”
We only had a light breakfast, muesli followed by a slice of toast and coffee, and Julie started to work on me. She brushed back my hair and pulled on a tight skull cap as a base for the wig, cleaned up my eyebrows and checked that I was still hairless and didn’t need to shave again, and started my makeup.
“Follow what I am doing, you will probably want to touch up bits and pieces throughout the day, and when I am finished I will sort out a make-up bag for you. On top of the basic foundation, she added a little blusher to my cheeks and with an eyebrow pencil added freckles across my nose and cheeks. She emphasised my eyes with two coats of mascara and went quite heavy with the eyeliner, and finished off with a rose-pink lipstick, and matching fingernail polish. She fitted a shoulder-length auburn wig on me, tied at the back in bunches with little butterfly hair bands and I was ready to get dressed
Underwear was a black bra, knickers and suspender belt set, with an extra pair of very tight knickers to keep my pride and joy in place.
“I’ve added to your suggestion for the breasts by soaking the rice in jelly (jell-o) to bind it all together and it has set quite well and wobbles about.” she said as she put them into the bra cups. They fitted quite well and spilled out over the top of the bra, pushing my chest flab into a bit of a shadow cleavage, and as the stockings were flesh coloured they blended in fairly well and would be realistic under a blouse.
The usual St Trinian’s image always included black tights and suspenders rather than tights, and I struggled with the little button clasps, so Julie did them up for me.
The outfit was finished off by a white blouse, unbuttoned to the cleavage, and a short flared black skirt just showing the suspenders and stocking tops. I managed to squeeze into a pair of Julie’s older shoes that had slackened off a bit, with a 2” wedge heel that weren’t too awkward to walk in.
“Ok you need a coat to wear to get to the office and there’s a shoulder bag for you to put your keys, wallet, make up and bits and pieces in and you’re ready to go, I’ll give you a lift in, just in case you get stopped, if you drove yourself I’m sure the police would enjoy making fun of you.”
Thank you so much Julie, I don’t know how i would have managed without you, but please let’s keep this to ourselves, don’t even tell your sisters, you know what gossips they are.
I walked into the office, terrified of the reaction i would get, but once the girls realised who I was and got over the shock, they were amazing. They asked me where I had got my costume, and who had done my makeup and really complimented me on how I looked and blended in with them, and started calling me Jacquie, after all I didn’t look like a Jack today. One of them even gave my breasts a little squeeze see how genuine they felt as well as looked, and I jokingly threatened to report her for sexual harassment. The girls had all joined in the themed dressing-up and all looked very much the same as me, but some of them had tarted themselves up a bit over the top and quite sexily.
Other than the way we were all dressed, the day was fairly routine, as well as field-work investigations there were a lot of background searches carried out in the office and we were kept occupied with those.
At the end of the day, Joanne, my longest serving staff member and number 2, came in to say that she and some of the girls were going down to the local bar for an after-work drink, and, unusually, invited me to join them, normally they didn’t ask as I was seen as the boss and a man and it would spoil their girly chats. However, having worked with them in a skirt and make-up all day, my image had changed and I was seen as one of the girls. We all spent a few minutes, adjusting our costumes, mainly hitching up the skirts a couple of inches, and tidying up our make-up, me included, and headed out.
We caused a stir when we walked into the bar, a dozen or so sexy schoolgirls, and a few jaws dropped at the sight. Word must have got around by jungle telegraph as the bar soon filled up and we were the centre of attention, particularly as sitting in very short skirts, our stocking tops and suspenders were really showing, and the girls were outrageously flirting. That night I realised the effort girls make to look attractive, and how effective it can be, we didn’t have to buy one more drink while we were there.
Eventually it was time to make tracks, and with lots of hugs and cheek kisses we all said goodnight, and I got into a taxi for home. The taxi driver was unusually chatty, commenting on the way I, and the colleagues he had seen, were dressed and that it must be fun working with such a lively group of girls, and that as he worked alone he never had the chance to socialise. I was beginning to get a bit worried that he was chatting me up, but he soon had me safely delivered to my door, and with a good tip and a last look at my legs and skirt, he drove off to his next call.
When I went in, i noticed a parcel had been put through the letter box, Julie has packaged up and dropped off the pyjama set I had worn last night.
“Hi Julie, I got the parcel you left, why did you do that.”
“I told you this morning that the sleep-set suited you and that you could keep it, I never wear it anyway. If you want you can also keep all the rest of the stuff, it’s all spare and it means you don’t have to worry about getting it straight back to me. I know that you always enjoyed dressing up with us when we kids, and last night and this morning you too easily agreed to let me do anything I wanted. I think you might find a use for them, don’t you?”
“ I don’t know what to say, you are right, I did enjoy our games, but haven’t worn girls’ clothes for years until yesterday, if you are sure it’s ok I will keep it all for the moment. Thanks once again for your help today Sis.”
“That’s ok Sis, goodnight and pleasant dreams.”
I took off the outfit and on impulse put on the pyjama set, cleaned off the makeup, and carefully put the wig on an upturned bowl to keep its shape.. I slept well that night with, as Julie had suggested, pleasant dreams centred around attending St Trinian’s and lots of escapades with the other girls.
I dressed in my normal casual clothes and headed into the office. The “Good morning” welcomes were a lot less formal and polite than usual, in fact they were a lot friendlier and more pleasant.
There was a much more easy-going atmosphere in the office that morning, the team-bonding session down at the bar had obviously rubbed off on them all.
Mid-morning Joanne came in to my office, along with coffees and biscuits, for a chat about a couple of our projects. When we had finished you told me that the girls really appreciated the effort I had made yesterday in joining in with the fun and how they now felt much less wary of me as the boss, and if Jacquie ever wanted to make a reappearance, there would be no objections from anyone.
“Oh by the way, you cleaned off all traces of your makeup ok, but you forgot about your nails, the rose pink clashes with your jacket. Everybody noticed it straight away, so you may as well leave it on, or I can get get you some remover pads, but your sister did them so well it would be a shame not to finish today with them as they are.” i chose to clean them off before I forgot again.
The photos from yesterday that the girls had taken on their phones, appeared on my email later in the afternoon, and I was surprised at how difficult it was to pick me out from the others, it was mainly a process of elimination rather than easy recognition. I sent them on to Julie with a covering note “spot the odd one out.”. I left the photos as a screensaver sequence on my computer screen for the afternoon and every now-and-again had a quick look to remind me what I had done.
Just before we closed, one of our good clients, Tom Chapman, the security manager for a major retail clothing chain clients, called in to the office saying he had a problem he wanted to talk through with me. We were going through the usual pleasantries before getting down to business when he saw one of the images on my screen.
“It looks like someone’s had a good time recently, are those the girls in the office, I wish my staff were as attractive as that lot. I don’t see you anywhere, do not not mix with your staff?”
“ Actually, I am on the photos, see if you can spot me.” I said turning the screen so he could have a better look.”
He went through the images three times before giving up. I picked the best close up and zoomed in and turned the screen back to him.
“ I wouldn’t show this to anyone else but I trust you, we’ve worked together for years. The girls picked the theme and I was talked into joining in, please keep this to yourself.”
“Wow, you are quite a looker, I would never have picked you out in a month of Sundays. Actually this may help me in what I came to discuss. We have a problem in one of our stores, It has unusually high sales figures, but very low profitability, I’m sure that there is some sort of fiddle going on, but can’t put my finger on anything in particular.”
“Do you want me to send in one of my girls, as a new sales assistant or trainee manager, staff tend to gossip if they think anything unusual is going on, and we may be able to pick up some clues. It may be best to send someone in as a trainee manager as you are always rotating them around your shops to get experience before giving them a permanent position.”
“That sounds a good idea but, no disrespect to Joanne or any of your other staff, I think it needs someone a bit sharper and more experienced. I would like you to do it yourself.”
“I can do, but women tend to gossip more to other women that to men, are you sure I can’t use one of my more experienced girls.”
“You haven’t quite followed me, i have seen how you look in those photos and would like you to go in as a woman. do you think you can do it.”
“That’s a strange one, it’s one thing getting away with it at a fancy-dress do, but it will be much harder in a real-life day-to-day role. Let me have a think about it and I give you a call and come to see you in a few days.”
When Tom had left I called Joanne into the office, told her what he proposed and asked for her opinion.
“We’ve never been asked to do anything like that before, but they are good clients and pay well and on time. If you are prepared to do it, after seeing you yesterday, I think you might be able to get away with it. I’m disappointed that he does not think that any of us are capable of doing the job, but if we don’t give him what he wants, he’ll start looking elsewhere. If you feel like giving it a try, get your Julie to sort you out as an everyday woman and come in to the office to see what the girls think and get into the role, before you give him your decision.”
“Julie can I come round tonight there is something I need to talk to you about urgently, are you doing anything/”
“By all means, come round, I’m always glad of the company now that I am on my own again. By the way, I love the photos, it looks like you enjoyed yourself.”
I called round and told Julie everything that had happened today, including the girls seeing my fingernails and all the comments about the photos, and about Tom’s visit and his proposal.
“In a way I see it as a challenge, but I am so worried that it might go disastrously wrong. you know me better than anyone, do you think we could make this work.”
“You and I look a lot alike, when we were younger and you went out dressed as a girl, we were often mistaken for twins, I’m sure that looks-wise we could make it work. How did you get on yesterday in the office and down at the bar, did you fit in or did anyone pick you out from your speech and mannerisms as a bloke?”
“No, it went ok, I soon found that I was talking and expressing myself as just another one of the girls, and in the bar I was getting chatted up as much as any of the others.”
“We’ll give it a go, but you will have to be in the role for a few days to see if you are passable and comfortable. Go home and close everything up, get what you need and come and stay with me for a few days.”
When I got back we went through the same routine as the previous time, close shave, shower, moisturiser, nails painted, including toe nails this time, and sat down wearing my pyjama set, for a glass of wine and a chat.
“I don’t think that the wig is suitable for a few days, or even weeks, so I called my hairdresser, she should be here in a few minutes and she’ll see what she can do with your hair, I think it may be long enough to fit extensions. Don’t worry, I’ve known her for years, she can be very discreet, hairdressers hear all sorts of secrets from their clients, and I gave her a rough idea that you are doing this for an investigation.”
As if on cue, the doorbell rang and Julie introduced me to her friend and hairdresser, Carol, who had a good look around me, lifted sections of my hair, and played about with her brushes and comb, and finally agreed with Julie that extensions would work, and that if I went around first thing in the morning she would be able to deal with me as she had had a cancellation. I sent a quick text message to Joanne to say that I would not be in the office tomorrow and would speak to her later in the day.
At 7:30 the next morning, I was in the chair in Carol’s salon, dressed in one of Julie’s jogging suits covered by a salon smock, she had a lot of work to do and wanted to get it all well under way before other customers started to arrive. Before she started on my hair she wanted to get me reasonably presentable as female. She trimmed and shaped my eyebrows, fitted, shaped and painted acrylic nails on my fingers, and covered me in a facial pack before starting on the hair.
For what seemed like the rest of the morning she wove and glued long extensions onto my natural hair, coloured it all a light auburn to be a reasonable match to my natural colouring, and cut, shaped, rolled and set it all to a just-on-the shoulders wave. I was staggered at the big bill for Carol’s work but was very happy with the result. It was all charged to the company anyway, and if everything worked out, the cost would be passed on to Tom Chapman’s account. I got a taxi back to Julie’s and let myself in, as she had an appointment with her divorce lawyer. She had left out a skirt and top for me to put on, with instructions to get dressed, put on some makeup and begin to get used to it all, I already had on the bra, along with my falsies, and panties, under the jogging suit.
When I was dressed I just wandered around the house getting used to the feel of it all, especially the constant movement of my breasts and the sway of the hips resulting from wearing 3” stiletto heels that she had left out for me. I answered a ring of the doorbell to find a courier delivery driver with a parcel for Julie from Amazon, intrigued I signed for it, she hadn’t mentioned expecting a delivery. There’d been no recognition or reaction from the courier, these guys don’t take much notice, they are always in a hurry to meet their tight schedules.
When Julie got back I handed her the parcel but she gave it straight back to me.
“It’s for you actually I ordered something for you last night on next-day-delivery that I think you will need, don’t worry, I charged it to your company credit card. You are looking fantastic, Joanne has done a really good job, and your makeup is pretty good, now we look even more like twins”
I opened the boxing and, after a few seconds wondering, I realised that she had ordered a set of breast forms for me.
“ I got a matching size to mine, you are not much bigger built than I am, so they should be an appropriate fit and they should be a lot more realistic than the home-made ones, they were ok for the fancy dress, but you need something better if you are going to pass scrutiny for a few days or even weeks. Take off your top and bra and lie down and we’ll see how they fit.”
I hadn’t realised exactly what she was doing until I found the breast forms glued to my chest, and she was tidying up around the edges.”Just lie still for a few minutes, until the adhesive fully sets and we can see how they hang.”
When I stood up it was strange sensation, rather than just a weight from the bra onto my shoulders from the home-made falsies, these actually pulled at the skin of my upper chest and felt like an integral part of my body.
“They look fine, and will look and feel even better when they get a bit of support uplift, put your bra back on and you will see what I mean.”
She was right, the bra pushed up the breasts which creased at the edges to help hide the joins. i put my top back on again and was surprised at how it clung to the contours of the breasts looking totally natural
“They should be fine now for as long as you need them. I also got some adhesive solvent to remove them when this is all over, but you have to keep them for now to get used to their feel and movement, and hold your shoulders back or you swinging arms will brush against them. We’ll see how the afternoon goes and if I think you will do, you can give Joanne a ring to get her to come round and give her opinion.”
The rest of the afternoon was a barrage of sit, not like that, keep your knees together and your back straight; stand up again, not like that, rise slowly and balance your body without using your hands as support; walk over here, not like that, put one foot in front of the other; tell me what you are doing, not like that, pitch your voice up a bit and be more expressive, and use your hands and eyes more when you are talking; and lots of other minor faults. I thought that Julie was giving up on me, then she told me it was time to get Joanne to come over.
I answered the door to Joanne and she gave me a welcome kiss on the cheek. “ Hi Julie I haven’t seen you for ages, thank you for helping out to get Jack to come over to our team, where are you hiding him, let me have a look.”
Giggling, Julie came out into the hall. “ I’m not sure if I should be pleased or worried that you mistook Jack for me, but i assume that means that you think Jacquie looks ok”
“I don’t believe it, is that really you Jack, you two look so alike, not identical but definitely like sisters. I think you should come into the office tomorrow and see how you act and behave in with a group of women before we agree anything with Tom, but the signs are definitely looking good.”
“Right, next lesson,.” said Julie, “grab you bag and put on a coat from the hall stand, the three of us are going out for a meal at the inn just down the road.”
“ Good evening Ladies, a table for three is it? There’s a table with a nice view of the river over there by the window, let me take your coats and you can go and sit down, I’ll bring you over the menus and take your drinks order” said the pleasant and polite waitress.
The table was in a great location, we could see lots of activity in the marina and on the river and all the adjacent tables were free so we could chat in private, which was just as well, as the lessons continued.throughout the meal.
“Don’t put your elbows on the table, just rest your forearms; don’t order your normal steak and chips, the Dover sole with boiled potatoes and green beans is better for you; eat smaller portions and chew your food more slowly; the desert portions are too big let’s order one between us; sip your wine more slowly don’t gulp it down like that.” I can honestly say that I could not remember enjoying a meal less.
Before saying goodnight back at Julie’s, Joanne said to give her an hour in the morning for her to tell the girls what was happening, before I turned up at the office. Julie and I cleaned off our makeup and got ready for bed, but instead of my pyjama set she had left out a full length strappy night-dress for me ’to stay in character’. “You might find it more comfortable to sleep on your back until you get used to the breasts” was her final lesson of the day.
With my whole body quivering with anticipation, I went through the door into the office wearing a smart business outfit of a navy knee-length pencil skirt and matching waterfall jacket with a pale turquoise blouse and black 3” stilettos. Apart from the normal “good morning”. there were no comments as I walked through to my office until there was a sudden cheer and shouts of “go get them girl.” and I was surrounded and pelted with questions about how I felt about the proposed project and about joining the ‘fair sex’, but soon routine kicked in and we all just got on with our work.
Late morning Joanne came in to review the comments she had received from the girls, she had told them that rather than saying anything individually, any comments about the way I was behaving should be channelled through her.
“Generally you are doing very well, the girls were astonished when you first walked in and didn’t recognise you at all, if I hadn’t forewarned them they would have stopped you and asked who you had come to see. They have noticed a few minor things but a lot of it is nit-picking. Be more careful with your voice and how you express yourself; look directly at people when you are talking to them, maintain eye contact; don’t slouch at your desk, sit up straight; and the one they have all commented on, get your ears pierced, no woman nowadays would not have had them done. At first there was a lot of chatter about your choice of clothes, hair and make-up and how totally believable you are, but it didn’t take long before they just accepted you as part of the office scene and went about their work. Put on your coat and grab your bag, we’ll go to get your ears pierced and buy some studs and other accessories, then go for lunch, everyone agreed that you are perfectly acceptable to go out in public.”
I insisted on sticking to only one piercing in each lobe, selected some sapphire studs to match my outfit, small gold hoops and some sleeper studs. I added a couple of chain pendant necklaces, we finished our shopping and went into the local bistro for a light salmon salad lunch and a glass of wine.
“Just relax Jacquie and act normal, do not be so tense, no one is looking at you except with admiring glances, get used to being an attractive woman.”
“It’s ok for you to say that, you have had your whole life to learn how to conduct yourself, for me this is like learning to drive, I have to concentrate all the time and worry about what to do next, and question whether I am doing things right, nothing is done just automatically.”
“Honestly you are doing fine. Can you try to soften your voice a little, you don’t have to go high-pitched or falsetto, and try a softer accent, maybe Irish or Highland Scots, not only will it sound pleasanter but it will help with your disguise.”
The rest of the afternoon was very much more of the same, although I now was speaking in my grandmother’s soft Argyll accent, and Joanne was right, it did sound better without being false.
“Ok Jacquie, I think you are almost there, I’ll make an appointment for me to see Tom in two days time, telling him that Jack has been called out to court as a witness on one of our other cases, and you can come with me as a notetaker and second opinion during discussions, do you think that you are ready for this.”
Two days later, after much more coaching and familiarisation, Joanne and Jacquie turned up for their appointment with Tom at his office in Warwick. I explained who we were and the receptionist told us to take a seat and he would be down in a few minutes. Tom greeted Joanne with a quick peck on the cheek, and gave just a token handshake to me as he had never met me as Jacquie, and led us up to his office, offered us a choice of drinks and asked his secretary to bring in some coffee and biscuits for us
“I’m not too pleased that Jack isn’t here, I thought I was going to be dealing with him on this.”
“ You will be dealing with him for the actual investigation, but I am just here to sort out the business side, agree fees etc. Jacquie would you like to give Tom a run-down of our proposal.”
Speaking in a soft Hebridean lilt, I ran through our proposed contract, and we agreed charges, expenses and timescales, which Tom questioned but finally agreed to.
“That seems to be all Ladies, please get Jack to give me a call to talk through the details of the investigation.”
“ No need for that Tom,” I said reverting to my normal voice, “I’m already here. I think I’ve passed my test on presenting myself as a woman, you seemed convinced.”
“ Never, I don’t believe it, you had me completely taken in, even my secretary and our receptionist did not notice anything out of the ordinary and they normally size up female visitors in a few seconds and give me the lowdown before I meet them. I definitely think that this is going to work. To save the bother of anyone questioning all your expenses I will get you a pre-loaded store shopping credit card, presumably you will need several changes of clothes and it will be easier if you buy from us as all the purchases will be written off to our company account at wholesale prices. Get yourself sorted out for a stay for at least two weeks, come and see me on Monday, I’ll get HR to introduce you to the regional manager who will take you in to the store. He and the store staff will just know you as Jacquie, one of our trainee managers.”
On leaving Tom gave both Joanne and I a warm two-handed handshake and a peck on the cheek as he said goodbye. “Sorry Jack, force of habit with attractive ladies, and you have now got me thinking of you as Jacquie.”
“Come on Jacquie, while are in town let’s hit the shopping centre and introduce you to girl-shopping, you have the credit card, let’s see what we can get with it. If you are planning to stay for a couple of weeks at least, you will need quite a lot of clothes and accessories. It has been good of Julie to let you borrow some of her stuff, but it’s not fair on her, you need all your own stuff.”
The basics were quick and easy, bras, knickers, tights, jewellery, toiletries, and accessories, but outer clothes, dresses, skirts, tops, coats and shoes seemed to take forever, there was so much choice, and for every item we bought I must have tried on three or four. Joanne was really enjoying herself, shopping with someone else’s money was a new experience and she was making the most of it. I ended the day with a coat, two jackets, 3 day dresses, one LBD for evenings, four skirts and 6 blouses/shirts/tops. I was well past my shopping attention threshold, when Joanne suggested to my amazement “That will do for now, we’ll see how it goes and what else you need.”
When we got back to Julie’s she insisted on me putting away all the underwear and accessories and modelling the main clothes for her, she was very impressed with Joanne’s taste and eye for detail and there was nothing she could suggest that wasn’t right or didn’t suit me.
“ It’s so good that you have now got a wardrobe of your own, it will be nice to get my clothes back, but obviously you can just keep the underwear and the couple of tops you have used.”
The rest of the week I was in the office as Jacquie continuing my feminisation training and clearing my desk and inbox of other ongoing projects, which were passed on to Joanne to deal with. On Friday, my last day before going undercover, we went for an after-dinner drink, with a few of the younger staff who were having a night on the town, in the same bar where we had been St Trinian’s girls. We were chatting away talking about work, life in general, relationships, celebrities, and I realised I was drinking a lot more than I normally would, wine is so easy to drink and does not fill you up like beer does, and along with the others i was getting quite excitable and noisy. When we had finished that round of drinks, Joanne decided it was time for me and her to leave and let the others make a night of it. Outside the fresh air hit me and I went quite light-headed, but Joanne bundled me into a taxi and took me back to Julie’s.
“That was your final test, we deliberately got you half-drunk, and although you got quite excited and loud, you behaved like any other woman after a few drinks and didn’t let your male side come out at all. Congratulations, welcome to the sisterhood, enjoy your day in the shop on Monday, and keep in touch. Don’t phone Tom with any findings, call me first and I will pass on any messages, it will be less suspicious if anyone overhears you talking to a friend, rather than to the Head of Security.”
I was now as ready as I ever would be for my role as Jacquie, trainee store manager.
To be continued
Monday morning, feeling very smart and professional but very nervous, wearing my new skirt, jacket and heels, and with a light daytime makeup I reported for work., I met up with Tom for a briefing and he then passed me on to his Head of HR for an induction.
“Jacquie, this George Coulson, the area manager covering all the shops in the West Midlands area, he will introduce you to the store management and will be keeping an eye on your training programme.”
“ Hello Jacquie, pleased to meet you, you will be working for three months in our new flagship store in the Bullring Shopping Centre next to Moor Street Rail Station in Birmingham, it is usually very busy and will keep you occupied. I will go in with you today, and as I believe that you are living in Stratford, I suggest that, rather than drive in, it would be easier for you to commute by train in future.”
As it was on a direct line from my office and home in Stratford-upon-Avon, and as the 50 minute train trip was as fast as driving in heavy city traffic, this was a useful suggestion. We went in by train so George could show me the best route to the store, he walked me around the store so I could get a feel for the size and scope of it, and introduced me to the manager that I would be working for. The set up was a lot bigger than I had imagined it was huge multi-floor store, and I thought that it might take me longer than planned to get to know the right people who could give me some ideas.
As a trainee manager I was treated with a bit of wariness by everyone I met, they were all pleasant enough but I felt that there was some barrier there. As a trainee and therefore potential manager, the general staff saw me as a future boss and didn’t want to get too close, and the managers saw me as a possible future rival and didn’t want to pass on their years of experience, and were also wary of me coming in fresh from management training with all the latest ideas and strategies which would change their settled routines.
I spent the first week moving around the various departments, in the warehouse on stock control, on the shop floor working behind the counters, in the finance office dealing with orders and customer accounts, and with the store detectives learning the limits of their power and authority. None of it was in depth or too detailed, just enough to give me a basic insight into how the shop operated. Nothing seemed particularly out of the ordinary and there was no obvious fraud or mismanagement and I had nothing really to report, via Joanne, to Ted. I had been accepted without question as Jacquie, I tried to be friendly with everyone and draw their confidence and was beginning to get treated as just another member of staff. There seemed to be a strict hierarchy amongst the staff and the different grades did not really mix. Even in the staff restaurant/canteen, the general managers and admin staff all sat in the same area, as did the heads of the various departments or buyers, the senior assistants, and the juniors.
Whilst most people used their time in the canteen for relaxation, the buyers always seemed to be in deep earnest conversations, looking around them to make sure nobody was listening. They had quite a lot of authority and ran their departments with a great deal of freedom within the guidelines of the company rule book. I decided that the junior staff did not have the opportunities to abuse the system to the extent that Tom had suggested, and that the finance and general management staff were too remote from the sales floors and stock control to be able to interfere too much.The ordering process, goods received and stock control operations were fully computerised and constantly monitored by Head Office and did not leave too much scope for fraud, so that meant that my time really need to be behind the counters on the shop floor with my main focus being on the buyers. Although purchasing policy and stocking levels were now all centrally controlled at head office, the heads of departments preferred the title of ‘buyers’, harking back to the days in independent stores when their predecessors did actually determine what to purchase and negotiate with suppliers.
I was assigned to the main women’s wear department and quickly got to know the other girls, joining them for tea-breaks and lunch. Along with a lot of general gossip, discreetly and gently I pumped them for information on their buyer, Jane Simpson.
“How do you all get on with Jane, she seems a bit old-school and keeps a distance between herself and the rest of you, but she seems ok.”
“She likes to think she is a cut above us all, always flaunting new clothes and shoes, going on about her days out at the races, fancy restaurants or exotic holidays, and generally living a very comfortable life. She treats us ok but I wouldn’t trust her as far as I could throw her, or say anything that I wouldn’t want repeated.” replied Sue, one of the senior assistants.
“ She stays in her office most of the time and really only comes out to tell us we are doing something wrong or to collect the returns which she takes back to her office for inspection and sorting. Even if we are very busy she won’t help out at the counter, she thinks she is too important for that.” added Sally, one of the juniors.
Even as a buyer, her salary would not have justified her lifestyle. She definitely needed my attention, so I tried to work as near to her as possible to keep an eye on what she did.
Jane did not get too involved with sales, that was the responsibility of her junior staff, but they always had to refer any requests for returns and refunds to her. Like most major retail chains, the shop operated a ‘return in 28 days for a refund if you are not happy for any reason’ policy. Even though there were changing rooms for customers to try items on, most of the returns were because the fit wasn’t right, but many were brought back because the product had defects, marks, or snags. Anything with no problems was returned to the general racks, anything with minor defects went onto the discount sales rack, and anything considered too defective was written off and disposed of.
In the screened-off area that Jane liked to call her office, there were two racks for returns, one for discount sales and one for disposal. Normally the discount rack was quite full and the disposal rack almost empty, but when she was at lunch I inspected the garments on the disposal rack and was surprised to find that that the majority seemed perfect and some of them had quite expensive designer labels, and took a photo on my phone for future reference. At the end of the day I stayed behind on the pretence of catching up with my work and when the others had all gone I inspected the racks again. The bargain rack items were virtually as they had been at lunchtime, but the disposal rack was almost empty, all the good stuff had gone and only the cheaper or badly marked stuff was left. It was the same the next day and the day after and I felt this needed taking to the next level.
“Joanne I need you to do a couple of things for me, please arrange a meeting between the two of us and Tom, and get him to check the staff entrance video cameras to see if Jane Simpson was carrying parcels or large bags when she left at the end of the previous days.”
We arranged to meet on the Saturday evening at a hotel overlooking the river in Stratford. Tom had said that he could not stay for a meal but wanted to talk things through with me. We had arranged that Julie would join Joanne and me for a meal afterwards and make a night of it, so she styled my hair and helped me with a heavier evening makeup, I put on my LBD and heels, and went off in a taxi to collect Joanne, Julie would be joining us later after we had finished our business.
We walked in to the hotel lounge and Tom was sitting in a quiet corner seat where we would not be heard. He already had a bottle of Pouilly-Fumé in an ice bucket and four glasses waiting for us. He rose to greet us and welcomed us both with a hug and a kiss on both cheeks, and then blushed when he remembered who I really was under all this appearance.
“The pair of you are looking gorgeous tonight, you seem to be really getting into the role Jac…quie, you are a natural. I’m sorry that I can’t stay with the pair of you longer. Before you start your report Jacquie, I have checked the videos, Jane Simpson seems to leave most nights with several carrier bags, what is the significance.”
“ I haven’t got the full story yet but I am certain that she has some sort of scam going on where returns are written off, some of them for quite expensive items, and she takes them away with her, Whether she is just taking advantage of the returns for her own benefit, or whether there is a more organised operation I have not yet discovered. Even if it is just her taking stuff for herself, from what I have seen, it could easily add up to many hundreds, if not thousands, of Pounds a week, and the gossip is that she has quite a lavish lifestyle. I also suspect that she is not alone in doing this, if it’s not a bad choice of phrase, she seems ‘as thick as thieves’ with the other buyers. I think you need to check the store accounts for the level of returns and write-offs, you might be surprised. How far do you want me to go with this, do you need evidence to take her to court, or will you want to hush it up and just get enough on her to encourage her to resign?”
“It depends on what we can find in the accounts, but from what you have told me I think it is likely that we will want to prosecute. You’re doing a good job, keep going at it, and give me updates daily via Joanne. Unfortunately I have to go now and I’ll leave you to finish of the wine, enjoy your meal and night out.”
He left us with a quick goodbye hug, but no kiss this time, I gave Julie a call to join us, and while we waited for her taxi to arrive Joanne and I cleared up bits of business in relation to other clients.
“You really are amazing Jac.…quie, I am surprised at how easily you have adapted to life as a woman and fitted in with the girls you are working with, and got them to give you the gossip to point you in the right direction, and you seem to have at least started to unearth what is going on, I can see this leading to a lot more opportunities for us.”
Julie soon joined us and business talk stopped, we were now just three very attractive young ladies enjoying a night out. We had an excellent meal, mainly fish-based rather than heavier meat dishes, which were complemented by another bottle of the very drinkable Pouilly-Fumé. I was beginning to now think automatically as a woman and looking after my figure, although we did finish off with some amazing creme-brûlée, and chocolates with our coffees.
On Saturday nights there was a regular dinner-dance at the hotel and we were soon up on the floor enjoying ourselves. Towards the end of the night the band started playing slower numbers and we were going back to our seats,
“Would you ladies care to have a dance with us, it seems a shame to leave you sitting at your table.” said one of three very well mannered and very good looking young men who suddenly came over to us.
“We’d love to, thank you for asking.” said Julie, before I had a chance to turn them down, much to my dismay as I wasn’t looking forward to intimate dancing with a man, despite how I was dressed and appeared. We finished off the evening with some very slow romantic dances with them. Although I wasn’t getting the same buzz as the girls, I was beginning to enjoy being held tight and feeling another body close to mine, It had been a long time since my last relationship and I had almost forgotten what it was like. It was soon time to go home, although I think that the fellows would have liked the evening to continue, but they were perfect gentlemen, gave us goodnight kisses, helped us on with our coats and saw us into our taxis.
“Thank you for inviting me to join you tonight Jacquie, I really enjoyed it, it’s been a while since I had a good night out, we should do it more often.” Julie said as we sat unwinding at home with a glass of wine.
“ It was my pleasure, you deserved a treat for all the help you’ve given me and letting me stay here. When I next speak to Joanne I’ll see if she fancies doing it again next week.”
“Are you sure that you are alright with this, Jacquie seems to be taking you over, you were enjoying yourself too much dancing at the end of the night with that young man? I know that I
encouraged you into this for your halloween day, but you seem to be taking it quite seriously now.”
“Have no worries Julie, you are right that I am enjoying dressing and being treated as a woman, but I am just making the most of the short time it will last for, and it seems to have been successful business-wise too. I wasn’t keen to have those slow intimate dances but in a way I did enjoy the close contact, even if it was with a man, but I would rather we didn’t get into that situation again. We’ll get the investigation finished and think about it all again, but at the moment i am comfortable being dressed and appearing as Jacquie.”
We had a relaxing day on Sunday and decided to play the part of tourists. Although we had lived in Stratford all our lives, it was many years since we had visited any of the popular sites and so spent the day among the hundreds of mostly day-trippers thronging the town. Wrapped up warm in tweed trousers and jacket with wooly hats holding our hair in place against the chilly breezy autumn day, we wandered around town arm-in-arm, to the RSC theatre, the home of the Royal Shakespeare Company; to Holy Trinity church with Shakespeare’s grave with the unusual epitaph “Good friend for Jesus sake forbeare,
To dig the dust enclosed here.
Blessed be the man that spares these stones,
And cursed be he that moves my bones.”;
We visited what is reputed to be Shakespeare’s birthplace, although there is some doubt if it is the actual property, and went down by the Avon to watch the boats and the swans drift by. The hustle and bustle of the tourist trail was a world away from the pressures and stresses of work, and set me up nicely for the new week.
On Monday I was again in Birmingham, back to keeping an eye on Jane. I had not had any feedback from Tom, but then I expected that it would take him a few days to make any progress.
One of my first customers had selected and tried on a stunning Adrianna Papell full-length evening dress in a sapphire blue satin at £275, which was a good start to the week for me. However I noticed late afternoon that it had been returned and was sitting on Jane’s discount sales rack, which I photographed, and later it had disappeared altogether. It now became clear that this was more than just casual opportunism by Jane, but was part of a much wider scheme, and wanted to talk it through with Joanne.
“I think that friends or colleagues of Jane are buying the more expensive items, returning them, she is writing them off and stealing them and selling them on. Can you keep an eye on eBay, Amazon and Pre-loved and similar sites for anyone selling an Adrianna Papell full-length evening dress in a sapphire blue satin.
She soon called back “You must be psychic, you are right, I’ve seen it on eBay being sold from a site registered in Birmingham. I’ve already arranged for Margie, one of our better operatives, to go to look at it and find out who was selling it and exactly where.”
She deliberately arranged to send someone who she knew the dress would not fit so that she didn’t actually have to buy it after inspecting it. Later the next morning I received photos of the shop, the dress and, included in the background of the picture, the person making the sale. She was remarkably similar to Jane and my guess was that it was her sister,
“ Hi Jacquie, I’ve managed to trace Jane Simpson’s Facebook account and had a good look through it, there are lots of photos of her and her family, and Margie says that the woman selling the dress is definitely her sister”
“Ok Joanne, keep Tom up to date, but ask that he takes no action for the moment, I think that there might be more to come out of all this.”
Now certain of what was being done and that we had Jane under control, I needed to widen the net. At lunchtime I sat as close as I could get to the buyers table, left my phone on voice record on maximum sensitivity, and tried to listen in to their conversation. Later at afternoon tea-break I found a quiet corner to play back my recording, which was actually better than what I had heard personally
“ That was a good idea of yours Jane, We all now have our own versions of dealing with returns, The shop doesn’t pay us what we are worth, and selling on some of the stuff makes up for it.”
“I don’t know why we didn’t think of it sooner, in my cosmetics department it is easy to write off returns of the expensive perfumes as ‘damaged packaging’ or ‘given it as a present, tried it and it doesn’t suit me.’ ”
It appeared that all the other buyers that Jane had lunch with were carrying out similar operations and that they were all in it together, it must have been costing the company a fortune.
I arranged to meet Tom that evening after work at a bar down by the canal basin in Birmingham, and filled him in on what I had found and emailed him the photos and recording for his records.
“I’ve checked the return and write-off figures for that store and they are the highest in the group running into many tens of thousands of Pounds a year, but had been missed because the accountants are more interested in sales figures and stock turnover. Overnight I have arranged to get covert cameras installed in the ‘office’ of each of the buyers you have identified to get a record of them actually removing items and putting them into their bags. I’m very grateful to you for what you have discovered, can you stay on for the rest of the week in case I need anything else.”
I was pleased and proud that I had made the operation a success, but was disappointed that my time as Jacquie would be coming to an end. As the store management and girls I was working with had been told that I was being moved to another store, several of us had a farewell night on the town together, doing the tour of the bars in Broad Street and ending up at Carluccios restaurant in Brindley Place. As we had gone out directly after work most of us were just in our normal working clothes, but we had all cleaned and refreshed our makeup for a more dramatic evening look and got a lot of admiring looks and attempted chat-ups as we went around the town enjoying ourselves. I had only been at the shop for a short time, but I considered myself lucky to have made such good friends, and promised to keep in touch.
The next week Tom came to see me in our office to update me on the progress of his investigations.
“We now have unarguable evidence of what was going on, and Jane and the other buyers have been asked to leave and have been advised that it is likely they will be prosecuted for theft and fraud and face jail sentences. As a result of your findings, in all our stores the policy has been changed so that all returns, not put back on sale, will have to be returned to head office for inspection and possible return to our suppliers, and the buyers will no longer have the discretion to write goods off. Thank you for your time and for a job well done, send me you account and I’ll make sure it is settled in full, and don’t forget the expenses for your transformation into Jacquie”
Jacquie mostly disappeared, at least from the professional point of view, and Jack was again very much in charge of the business. However Jacquie did make a return to the Birmingham store, where the gossip on the jungle telegraph was all about my role and what I had discovered.
“That was pretty clever of you, we had no idea what she was up to, once items disappeared into her office, we were told that it was none of our business what happened to things. We would never have guessed what you were up to, you just fitted in as another of the girls sent to us to get experience before getting on the managerial ladder. If you are in Birmingham give me a call and we’ll all go for a catch-up drink.” Sue told me.
The place had been in turmoil for a few weeks while new managers were put in place, mainly from the senior assistants in the various departments affected. The girls were all happy with Sue as their new buyer, as she treated them with a lot more respect than Jane had, and we agreed to all meet up occasionally to have a catch-up, Jacquie was never going to go away completely again.
As I was now regularly going out socially, shopping, and on trips, with Julie and Joanne as Jacquie, I moved house to a property that was a bit more secluded and where I was able to come and go discreetly without being easily seen by neighbours and it was getting to the stage that more of my life outside work was being spent as Jacquie not Jack. I had my hair trimmed shorter so that it could be brushed and styled to suit me as either Jack or Jacquie, but missed the feel of it brushing my shoulders as I walked.
Although in my personal life, I was now becoming comfortable as Jacquie, in my professional life I was very much still Jack.
“Joanne, I think that a lot of our clients will not be comfortable suddenly having to deal with the new me, I’m concerned that it might affect our business, what do you think.”
I think that as most of our company’s work involves female investigators that should not be an issue after the clients have got over the initial shock. We still have the same team of investigators, the same level of experience and know our clients operational methods and problems.”
I decided that I could trust Tom Chapman enough to discuss it with him, and arranged to meet him at a restaurant near his office, I felt that neutral territory would be better for the discussions we were about to have.
“Hello again Tom, I’m glad to hear that everything has now settled down at the Birmingham store, I have been talking to some of the girls there and they now seem a lot happier and more comfortable at work.”
“You are right, you did a really good job there, appointing you and solving it has been a ‘feather in my cap’. As well as the directors being pleased with the result, I’ve had a lot of compliments about my special undercover investigator, you, and how well you got yourself involved with all the staff. I have been asked if you would be prepared to follow up on another case, not directly working through me but personally for our finance director, I don’t know the details as he is keeping it all quite close to his chest. The only thing is that he has asked for the same investigator as I used in the store, which would mean you becoming Jacquie again, how do you feel about that.”
“In a way that is what I wanted to talk to you about, this may shock you, but please hear me out before you say anything. When I was carrying out the investigation for you, as Jacquie, I became very comfortable in the role, I enjoyed working with the girls and their company when we went out socially, I came to like the feel and style of the clothes and the general femininity of it all. In my personal life I now regularly dress and appear as a woman and I am considering going full-time with it, but I am worried that this may alienate some of my clients. You are the only person I have discussed this with, we’ve known each other for quite some time, and I trust you, please be honest with me even if you want to say something that I may not like, what do you think?”
“You really know how to spring surprises don’t you? Personally I can’t quite understand why you want to do this, I have obviously seen many articles in the newspapers or on TV about transvestites and transsexuals, but have never really grasped why they go down that path, and have never knowingly met anyone like that. However when you were in the shop you were very convincing, you were a natural, and if you decide to go down that path I don’t think you will have any problems being accepted as female. As you know, when you were Jacquie I accepted you and treated you as another woman, it was sometimes hard to remember who you really were. Other than me, nobody in our organisation was aware of your real identity, and nobody questioned me about you, they realise that as Head of Security, I have to keep some of my methods and personnel confidential. As far as our company is concerned there will not be any problems, but I can’t speak for anyone else.”
“ How do you feel personally, will you be comfortable with me working with you and maybe even meeting for the occasional business dinner or drink.”
“ I’ve been there and done that with you already, it might take a bit of getting used to but I am not worried about it.”
“ Ok, thanks for that, I feel a bit happier about it now. If I am going to be involved with another project with you, I may get Joanne to take a higher profile with some other clients, so that they see her as the face of the company, rather than me. Tell me what you do know about this new investigation and where we go from here.”
“I know nothing at all other than there is something serious that needs dealing with. I can arrange for you, as Jacquie, to meet with our CFO, Henry Donaldson, to talk it through, I expect it will be in the next few days, it does seem urgent. I also suggest that you need to become completely natural as Jacquie again, and spend all your time between now and the meeting as a woman, in the office as well as at home, you need to live the part, just as you did before.”
“Thanks for everything Tom, I appreciate it a lot, you could quite easily have walked out in disgust, and threatened never to work with me again. Let me know what the arrangements are with Henry Donaldson.”
That had gone a lot better than I had expected, I had to share my thoughts with someone , so asked Julie and Joanne to come round to the house for dinner that evening. To get in the mood for discussions about a future as Jacquie, I changed into comfortable female clothes to get the house and the meal ready for my visitors. As I would be Jacquie for the immediate future, I fixed on my breast forms as they took me most of the way towards feeling feminine, dressed in a cotton deep-v-neck half-sleeved top, skinny jeans and comfortable shoes, a bit of light makeup, earrings and locket necklace and bracelet, Jacquie was back again.
I took out a side of salmon from the freezer and left it to defrost and acclimatise whilst I tidied up and dusted and cleaned the house, prepared the asparagus, potatoes and tartare sauce to go with the salmon, made some lemon sorbets as a post-meal refresher course, and made a wholemeal bloomer for toast to go with an Ardennes paté starter. With everything for the meal now prepared I was ready to start getting myself ready.
I used hair remover on my arms, legs, chest, and shoulders, showered using a scented body scrub, towelled and powdered myself dry and started on creating Jacquie. My hair was too short to take rollers but long enough for me to style it with a heated brush and tongs, I gave it a light spray just to hold it in place while I got ready, shaped and painted my nails in a deep rose pink, made up my face, slipped into a sleeveless cherry red lace cocktail dress and matching heels, and was ready for my guests.
Joanne and Julie arrived within a few minutes of each other, and I settled them down for a pre-dinner Prosecco.
“ You are looking gorgeous tonight Jacquie, you didn’t say that this was to be a dress-up do, I feel a bid dowdy, is this a special occasion.” asked Joanne.
“ I have an announcement to make, well two announcements and a request actually. Firstly, as you know I have been spending a lot of time as Jacquie, and I have decided that this will now become full-time, Jack will fade into the background. Joanne, this means that I will need you to take a more active role in running the company, as a partner. I know you think that I will be accepted by our clients. however I am worried that there will be some of them that will not be comfortable with me becoming Jacquie, and we either have to drop them or offer them an alternative main contact, and that will be you. As long as you are happy to take on the extra responsibilities, we’ll agree terms and conditions later. Secondly, I have met with Tom Chapman, and not only is he happy to continue to work with me, but his company want me to carry out a major investigation for them, as Jacquie. Julie, where you come in is that for the next few days I need an intense period of readjustment to become completely natural again as Jacquie, can you manage to move in with me for a while and help me.”
“My bit is easy,” said Julie, “I will be delighted to help, I’m glad that you have finally made up your mind to commit, having dual-personalities was not doing you a lot of good mentally. we’ll start right away and I’ll stay the night and go home to collect some things tomorrow.”
“Two things I thought it was about time for you to sort out,” chipped in Joanne,”I’ve been hoping for you to recognise my efforts for the company and look forward to partnering you, and I’m delighted that you are finally going to live as a woman, and I’m sure that the girls in the office will be happy too. It’s an unusual situation, but I’m sure we can all cope and get through it.”
After a group hug, I went off to prepare the meal, leaving the girls to talk about me when i was out of the room. Dinner went really well, all talk of me and the business was banned at the table and we chatted away about all sorts of inconsequentialities like any other group of friends. After finishing off with coffee and cheese & biscuits in the living room, Joanne left for home to prepare to sort the office out for tomorrow, and Julie and I sat talking about the big step I was taking in my life before getting ready for bed.
“When are you going to tell the rest of the family, I know they live at the other ends of the country and we never see them, but we do phone each other and they always ask about you.”
“Keep it between us for the moment, just in case things go wrong, and if I decide to drop all this, I would rather that they didn’t know.”
I was up early the following morning clearing up after our meal, and preparing freezer meals with the left-overs, and Julie soon joined me for breakfast.
“You need to do this properly, particularly if you are going undercover in the next few days. As soon as we can get you booked in you need to get your hair restyled, it is long enough to get a short feminine bob cut, and I would suggest some highlights too, it will help a short style to look more feminine. Whilst your nails look good, I think you need to emphasise your femininity and you should get some acrylics stuck on to give them extra length, and the sooner the better because they will take some getting used to, picking things up, fastening buttons, even using your computer keyboard. I’ll see if I can get you booked in somewhere today. Get yourself dressed in some casual things, I’ll have another look in your wardrobe to check what you have now got and what more you will need and we’ll go shopping
Two hours later we got back home laden with bags, more underwear, a business suit, blouses and tops, a couple of skirts, and, of course, more shoes, and I went off for all my beauty treatments.
i called Joanne at the office to catch up on things, and she told me that she had informed the girls that I was going undercover again, and that I would be coming into work as Jacquie for the foreseeable future, but had not mentioned my decision to change lifestyle. All seemed to be under control so we agreed that I would leave it until the next day to call in.
Julie suggested that I needed to be out in public more, so we went for a walk down by the river and canal marina looking at all the boating activity, chatting to people and enjoying an afternoon out. Julie made sure that when we went into any shops or a cafeteria that I did all the talking or ordering, she was forcing me to improve my voice and intonation and made occasional comments about the way I expressed myself.
The next morning I went into the office, wearing a light casual top and plain A-line skirt, and just looked similar to the other girls. Nobody made any particular comments other than those they would make to anyone else, and I was just treated as one of the other girls in the office.
To be continued
Mid-morning I had a call from Henry Donaldson of UR, asking for a meeting. He did not want me to go to the office as he was trying to keep our arrangement as secret as possible, so we agreed to meet later for lunch at a country hotel near Wellesbourne about 15 minutes away. When I entered the restaurant I recognised him immediately from the description Tom had given me, a distinguished looking silver-haired 60-something, and went over and introduced myself. The waiter took my coat and your drinks order, I hung my bag over the chair, and sat down opposite him
“Good afternoon Ms Rowland, in other circumstances I would say I’m pleased to meet you at last, I’ve heard all about you sorting out that business in Birmingham and am most impressed. However we now have an even bigger problem and I would like you to get involved. If you can sort this one out for us, I assure you that your fees will be the largest you have ever received, but it will involve you full time for a few weeks, do you want to know more.”
“That’s why I am here, and please call me Jacquie, and may I call you Henry? Tom Chapman could not give me any details of what your problem is, just that it is very significant for you, so please start at the beginning, and obviously anything you tell me is confidential.”
“ We are a public company, Universal Retail PLC, listed on the stock exchange as UR, and lately our share price has been very erratic, swinging wildly, based on rumours and opinions on the share chat-lines. This is all part of the share trading game and the market has always responded to these rumours. However nowadays most major share trading is semi-automated with systems detecting trends and automatically buying and selling, and can be lot more volatile than it used to be. We have two problems, the rumours circulating about us are remarkably accurate and somewhere there is a lot of insider information triggering the swings, but the main problem is that our big shareholders, the investment funds, are getting very nervous and are threatening to cut their investment in us. Once the big boys start offloading, confidence goes down the drain, banks won’t release loans, and we will be on a steep spiral to difficult times. We need to find out how and by whom our confidential financial information is being leaked.”
“I am not a financial fraud investigator, and to be honest I am not familiar with stock market trading practices, however nothing you have said has confused me or gone beyond my general knowledge. However if there’s a security breach that is my area of expertise, let me investigate for a couple of weeks and if I’m getting nowhere you can pull the plug, ok? When I sorted out the shop fraud problem for you I was allowed to work undercover in the store and left to see what I could find. I suggest that we need to do something similar with this, have you thought about getting me placed somehow in the main finance office?”
“I have already had the same thought. My chief accountant’s secretary/PA is on holiday for a few weeks from next Monday. You are obviously familiar with general office procedures and dealing with people at a senior level. I assume that, like most people nowadays, you are familiar with computers and general commercial programs and can type, even if not at secretarial speeds, and are more than capable of handling the role. how you go about investigating is your speciality and we’ll leave that totally to you.”
“I assume that there is to be no direct contact between us and that we do not know each other in the office. Our company has a subsidiary trading name, JR Staff Solutions Ltd, that we use for situations such as this, If you employ me as a temporary PA through JRSS, everything will appear above board. If I need to talk I will send you a text with just a time to meet. I think it is best if we are well any from the office and suggest that here is as good a place as any and I will see you here. Obviously the same applies if you need to talk with me.”
“That’s all agreed then Jacquie, I will arrange for you to start on Monday, please arrive at reception and ask for Mr Joseph Cole, and hopefully we can get this sorted before too long, good luck.” He shook my hand , bid me goodbye and left me wondering how I could get to the bottom of serious financial irregularities.”
Back at home, I went online to find share chatlines and what they were saying about Henry’s company. He was right, it was a running story of rumours, opinions, share price forecasts, many of which contradicted each other, but after wading through it all for a couple of hours, I noticed that one of the commentators seemed to judge the market better than the others and always seemed to know when the market price was going to rise or fall, but I didn’t have a way to get past their online nickname to identify them or to check whether they were actually trading in line with their comments.
I spent the rest of the week and weekend reading everything I could about stock market operations in general and UR in particular. Henry was right, their shares fluctuated 5% or more some days, giving the opportunity for big traders to make a lot of money if they timed it right. Most of the big price swings seemed to coincide with major rumours on the chatlines and a lot of the instances seemed to be a week or so before any public announcement of trading figures or sales forecasts on the official UR message boards.
Monday morning as PA to a senior manager, I dressed formally in my plain Navy skirt suit, Crepe-de-Chine full-sleeved blouse, and matching patent block-heel shoes. I turned up early at UR’s headquarters to report reception to be taken to Mr. Cole. I was surprised when he arrived personally, I was expecting that one of the office staff would collect me to take me up to his office. I had pictured a middle-aged, staid, balding, spectacle-wearing, caricature accountant, but was met by a smartly dressed, well-groomed, tanned thirty-something with a pleasant smile and a warm handshake. I’m sure that if any of the girls had been with me that he would have made a very good first impression as he was a most attractive man.
We went up to my new office, which was next door to his, he settled me in, arranged for one of the office girls to organise some coffee, and invited me to sit down for a chat.
“Welcome to UR Jacquie, please call me Joe, unless there is someone else around, when it should be Mr Cole. I have not used anyone from your agency before, but have had strong recommendations for both the company and yourself personally from my colleague Henry Donaldson. It’s unfortunate that Sarah my PA was not able to overlap with you and show you where things are and how we do things around here, so don’t be afraid to ask me, or one of the girls in the office, if you can’t work things out yourself.”
Joe soon went off to a meeting which gave me the chance to have a good look around his office, and I found nothing obviously untoward, no confidential papers lying around, all finance files on the computer were password protected and restricted access, the computer dustbin files were clear and permanently deleted, all financial filing cabinets were locked with no keys lying around, the general level of confidentiality and security seemed high. It was the same in Sarah’s office, nothing was out of place. Whether it was normally like that or whether it was because Sarah had made sure that everything was in order before she went on holiday, I couldn’t tell.
The next two days I spent familiarising myself with who did what in the office, who had access to confidential information while reports were being prepared, who had access into Sarah’s and Joe’s office and generally getting to know the girls in the office. Whilst I had a printer in my office for downloading any work I was doing for Joe, I needed to use the copier in the general office for running off multiple copies and this was a good location, along with the office kitchen to pick up gossip and find out if anyone seemed to be living beyond their means. It seemed that most of the girls lived relatively humdrum lives, but there were two or three that never seemed to be short of money.
There was no significant activity on the share market, just general daily rises and falls that could be expected, and I decided that I needed to provoke some reaction. Following the format and style of previous reports, I drafted a report that gave projections for future sales, and contrary to popular trends with high-street retailers was very bullish about the confident prospects of future stability of the company, watermarked it ‘Draft for comment and discussion, RESTRICTED ACCESS.’ and ’accidentally’ left it in an unlocked drawer in my desk.
The next morning I checked the share price and trading, and when the exchange market opened there was a flurry of buying activity and a major rise in the share price, mainly triggered by a broker in Birmingham making a comment on the chat-lines that “I see a rosy future for UR, I understand that sales figures are expected to go up.” Whilst this made very little difference to what went on in UR it gave me confidence that someone with access to the finance office was picking up and passing on information. I immediately shredded the printed report and deleted the computer file so that nothing could be traced back to me. Throughout the day the share price
drifted back to where it had started, as personal input into dealing took over from the automatic trading systems.
I was getting on very well with Joe and managing to do all he needed from me, and adjusting to life as his PA. We were getting on well personally and after a few days he suggested that we went out to lunch to get to know each other better.”
“Tell me about yourself Jacquie, you seem to be very capable and get on well with everyone, why are you doing temporary work, I’m sure that you could easily get a position as a senior PA in most major companies if you wished.”
“I worked for 7 years as a private secretary/PA for an extremely wealthy American helping him to administer his country estate the other side of Stratford. However he decided to go back to the States and sold off his property, the new owner had their own staff, and that was the end of that chapter in my life. It is a bit of a niche market and I am trying to sort out what I want to do with my life and career. For the last 18 months or so, I have been doing what I am doing now. Whilst it would be nice to be settled with long-term prospects, I am actually enjoying the variety from temporary placements. What about you, have you always worked for UR?”
“I’ve only been with UR for just over 2 years, i came from a similar role in a much smaller company but felt it was time to stretch my career. Henry Donaldson, the CFO, is due for retirement in the next few years and hopefully, if I keep my nose clean , his position should be mine for the asking. What about your personal life are you still unattached?”
“Why is it that attractive charming and capable men like yourself are never asked that question and that they can have a perfectly fulfilling life based around their career, but it is assumed that a woman’s main goal in life is to find a partner. I’m not a raging feminist or anything, but I do get annoyed at that?”
“Sorry about that, I didn’t mean to be patronising, its just that I’m surprised that someone as capable, pleasant and attractive as yourself has managed to escape the clutches us evil men for so long. And you are right, I am fully committed to my career, and apart from my mother, nobody ever asks me when I am going to settle down. Thank you for the ‘attractive and charming’ comment, by the way.”
The conversation returned to more general safer ground and despite our little earlier flurry I found myself quite liking Joe, although he had a way of getting more information from me than I did from him. He appeared to be looking for a long-term career with UR and it seemed unlikely that he would want to jeopardise that by doing anything illegal or unprofessional.
However as Chief Accountant he was privy to a lot of the confidential company information and had to be one of the main suspects for the leaks, he had to be definitely ruled in or out of my investigation. He was due to be away from the office for a couple of days visiting one of our subsidiary companies to carry out a review of their accounts, which would give me the opportunity for a more detailed look in his office and try out my next scheme.
That evening, when I knew that he would not be in the office, I left a copy of a dummy letter supposedly from him to one of our other directors on my desk, detailing a proposal for discussion to merge with one of our rivals which would give us a major market share and potentially greater profits. As expected, the following morning the trading in UR shares went crazy, prompted by the same brokers who had triggered the surge after my last false report. I was now confident that Joe was not responsible and was glad to rule him out.
I phoned the office mid-morning. “Hi Joanne I need to meet up with you for lunch if you are available. can you bring me some very small, discrete, battery-powered video-cameras with bluetooth transmission, and an associated video recorder, I’ll tell you what I am doing when I see you. “
When I walked in she stood up and greeted me with a hug and cheek kiss as she would any other female friend. “ Wow, you are looking good girl, that outfit really suits you, you are settling into your new job like a hand in a glove. You really must keep this up when you get back in the office.”
“Thanks Joanne, I really must get used to accepting compliments gracefully, I am not used to it, girls are brought up with getting told that they are pretty, but boys don’t get anything like that nearly so much. Thanks too for bringing the stuff over for me, I know it has been a bit of a trek for you, but I think I am getting somewhere and the cameras should clear things up. I am certain that someone in checking the offices for any financial information, but I need some proof before I report it.”
Before I left work that evening, I had set up the cameras to cover all areas of my office and Joe’s office, and had hidden the recorder in a stationery store cupboard, left a few bits of general letters and correspondence in the out tray on my desk and left to see what would happen.
The following morning I couldn’t wait to inspect the recordings. After I left there was no activity for an hour or so until the cleaners came in, they did their work and left showing no interest in what was on my desk, other than giving it a dust and polish. However, later one of the night security guards, came into the office, for no apparent reason, briefly went through to Joe’s office, then had a quick look at my desk saw the papers I had left in my tray, smiled and left. Two hours later, on what must have been his scheduled next walk-around, he came in again, lifted the correspondence and left, returning five minutes later, and replaced them, but I noticed that he went away with several papers in his hand, obviously having copied the documents. This time there was nothing significant in the documents and the share price and trading just went on as normal.
I sent Henry Donaldson, a simple text “6:30”, trusting that he would understand. When I arrived, he was waiting for me, greeted me with a soft handshake, ordered me a drink and sat down to discuss what I had discovered.
“One of the night security guards appears to be making intrusive visits into our offices, I don’t know if that is part of his duties, but it seems someone has been taking documents and passing them on to a broker who has then been manipulating the share price by spreading rumours on the chatlines and playing the market in UR shares. I have recording cameras in our offices, I would like to place some in your office as well, can you arrange that.”
“I’ve seen a film and a tv show where cleaners had done something very similar, but thought that it was very unlikely, maybe the media people are not so daft after all. I think it is time to get Tom Chapman fully involved again, send a copy of your videos to my personal email at home, I’ll get Tom to come over to see if he can check our records to identify the guard. Meanwhile I will get him to arrange for my offices to be monitored to see if he goes in there as well. Give me a couple of days, then plant another false report, and we’ll see what reaction we get.”
“ Here’s my gmail address, i don’t use it much so your messages shouldn’t got lost among a load of spam like my other accounts would. You seem to be making a lot of progress, well done.”
Two days later I drafted a memo, watermarked MOST CONFIDENTIAL, from Joe to Henry Donaldson, suggesting that one of our biggest suppliers was about to go insolvent and that we would have problems re-stocking and that our buying policy needed a major review. Copies were left in folders in the in-trays in Joe’s and Henry’s offices, and the cameras reset so that they could be monitored by Tom and his senior team. As expected The security guard came into our office, looked in a drawer that I had left unlocked and slightly open, saw the memo, copied it, and then went to Henry’s office to do the same.
At the end of his shift one of Tom’s team followed the guard to a back-street pub where he had a long discussion before passing on the document to a smart well-dressed man in an expensive business suit. One of the advantages of modern mobile phones is the excellent quality of images from their built-in cameras and clear shots were obtained of the handover of the document and the passing back of a well-padded envelope with the faces of both men clearly identifiable. It was an easy task to go to the broker’s website, see the images of the senior staff and identify the man in the pub.
Tom called in the police fraud squad who raided the broker’s office, took and analysed his computer and were able to clearly link him as the source of the rumours posted on the chat-line.
Using the broker’s computer and identity, Joe posted on the chatline that recent rumours that had been posted had now been found to be incorrect and malicious, and that accurate information could always be found on the UR shareholders web page. Henry Donaldson contacted some of the major shareholders, mainly investment funds, and gave them the bare bones of the fraud, assured them that share trading in UR should now stabilise, and they should let it all settle down before making decisions about future investment actions.
Another job successfully carried out, UR gave JRI a rolling two year exclusive contract to act as security consultants and investigators, but I only agreed on condition that Joanne and my staff would carry out virtually all the work and that I would only normally be involved in an overseeing coordinating role. This was enough to ensure the continued success of our business, and eased worries about any reaction to my decision to live and work as a woman.
Joanne organised a meal out in a private room at one of the top riverside restaurants in Stratford for the girls in the office, as a thank-you for the extra work they had to deal with when I was away Joanne had let them all know about my lifestyle decision so none were surprised when I walked in as a very glamorous thirty-something woman. I had spent half the day in a beauty parlour, getting the full treatment, hair restyled and tinted a light auburn shade with sun-kissed streaks, facials, full body wax, and nails shaped and painted. I had bought a flowing calf-length cocktail dress, paired with matching shoes and clutch bag, and felt on top of the world walking in to meet my staff as Jacquie. Previously they had accepted that I was dressing as a disguise, but now they knew that this was how I would always be.
“ Hello everyone, we are here tonight to socialise but a small bit of business first. As you can see, Jacquie is here to stay now. I hope that you can all accept me as I am now, but if any of you have difficulty accepting it, please come and talk to me or to Joanne. I wouldn’t want to think that I could lose any valued members of the team because of the way I look. That’s all lets’s enjoy the food, drink and company.”
Everyone relaxed and had a good time, many complimented me on my appearance and welcomed me officially to the world of women, and nobody said that they had any problems with how I had chosen to live.
At the end of the evening, they all left to go home, or to do their own thing, leaving Joanne and I
alone.
“You’ve got yourself sorted now Jacquie, the company is doing well, your lifestyle is now established, I am accepted and treated by our clients as a partner, but have you decided what you are going to do with your personal life and relationships. Do you think that, as a woman, you
are comfortable having relationships with men, do you find men sexually attractive, and can you see a long term future with someone?”
“I don’t know Joanne, when I first met Joe Cole I did think that he was extremely good looking and a real charmer, and that he would make a wonderful catch for some lucky girl, but I never considered that could be me, I see him as a good friend, nice to be with, but no more. When I am out with you and Julie, and hear you both making comments on men you see, I can understand what you find attractive in them, but I don’t get the same tingle myself. I still get more of a buzz from looking at attractive women.”
“I may regret this Jacquie, would it shock you if I told you that I am bisexual and have had relationships with both men and women, I have tried not to make it obvious, and nobody other than the people involved has a clue about it. I’ve always had a bit of a thing for you as Jack, and that has not changed, now you are Jacquie, if anything, my feelings have got stronger. I would really like to get to know you better and more intimately. I would like to think that whether we take this further or not that our professional relationship would not be affected.”
“Joanne, at the moment I have no intention of transitioning, and I have no thoughts or intentions of having a relationship with a man, I am still trying to get my head around it all. Just like you, I have always thought of you as more than a business associate. I really care for you too and would love to develop things with you, but let’s take things slowly and see how they work out, you do not seem bothered by my cross-dressing but it will always be there in the background. If you are happy to do that, I would be delighted, come here and give me a hug, it is always a good gentle way to start.”
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
12 months later
“ Come here Mrs Rowland, now the ceremony is over, we can really call each other that. I have never been as happy as I’ve been since we got together, and look forward to a long life with you. We have the best of both worlds, we have our lives together as wife and wife, but in our intimate moments we can also choose to be husband and wife, as the mood takes us. I’m so glad that you have been happy to accept me as I now am, it has been so much easier for me with your love to keep me going. I love you so much.”
“ I love you too. You know that I am happy to be with you in your Jack moments as well as your usual Jacquie times, no matter what, we will always be together.”
“ Jacquie, It’s Tom Chapman, I thought I would let you know that the share fraud case has finally ended in court today, It always seems an awful long time for them to prosecute this sort of case, but tracing and comparing records can be very difficult. The brokers involved have been sent down for a long time, it appears that it wasn’t only UR that they targeted. Anyway, Henry and I are most appreciative, things are a lot more relaxed now, and we would like to celebrate with you and Joanne. Can you arrange something in Stratford for dinner in a couple of days time, and book rooms for Henry and I. You can book rooms for yourselves too if you wish but I know that you live in the town centre and will probably want to just go home.”
“That will be delightful, I look forward to it, I’ll tell Joanne and we’’ll see if we can book the Alveston Manor hotel, I think that you will find it impressive and comfortable.”
“Good evening ladies, you’re looking delightful tonight,” said Henry, turning on the charm, “before we get down to enjoying ourselves and relaxing, I have a bit of business to discuss, if you don’t mind. Jacquie, you and your company have really helped UR over the last year or so and have made us realise that we are very naive and old-fashioned in terms of security and fraud. Tom here is doing an excellent job with the day to day operations and managing policy, but we need more strategic advice at board level.”
“The board have asked Tom to join as an executive director, but between us we consider that we would welcome outside advice too, In the same way that we appoint bankers and financiers from other companies to give us the benefit of their expertise from their other activities, we would like to appoint you as a non-executive director. There would be no day-to-day commitment needed from you and you are free to continue with JRI, we would just need your attendance at regular board meetings, and the associated background reading and preparation of documents, Obviously there would be a generous retainer fee, and a share-allocation package. Please say you agree, we look forward to working more closely with you.”
“I’m flattered and not sure that I deserve it but of course I agree.” I replied , holding back tears of joy. this would set up Joanne and I with a comfortable life.
“Ok, that’s the business finished.for tonight, we’ll tie things up with you later. Let’s enjoy our meal.”
We had a wonderful meal in excellent company, Henry insisted that we had the full three courses, The men both had Ribeye steaks, whereas Joanne and I went a bit lighter with the Hake and the Pork Shoulder, and finished of with the Peach Melba. We had a very enjoyable Veuve Cliquot as a celebration, and a bottle between us of Barolo and a lovely fruity Sancerre to wash it down.
“Thank you so much for a wonderful evening to both of you, and for the offer of a seat on the UR board, you have made me so happy.” I said as we bid goodbye, giving them both a hug and a kiss on the cheek.
It was a calm balmy night so Joanne and i decided to just walk home rather than getting a taxi, I was walking on air anyway. As we approached our house we were suddenly confronted by two balaclava-wearing men pointing knives at us.
“Get into the garden out of sight you bitches, you have caused us a lot of bother and a lot of money, and we aren’t too happy with you, our associates will be locked away for a long time thanks to your meddling, and it’s time you got your comeuppance.”
Although to all appearances I was now fully female, my hormones were still awash with testosterone and I reacted as a man and went for the one nearest me, sent him flying and told Joanne to go get help, but his mate grabbed me from behind and threw me to the ground and started kicking away at me. Joanne’s shouting and screaming alerted neighbours and lights started coming on and a couple of the men came over to help, but the assailants ran away before they could be stopped. The next thing I knew I woke up in bed with Joanne sitting next to me.
“Thank god, you are awake at last, we were really worried about you, you’ve been in hospital sedated for three days now. let me get the doctors in to have a look at you.”
“Ms Rowland, for the sake of convenience that is what we have registered you as, you have had a really bad beating. You have several broken ribs, a dislocated shoulder and a broken leg from where they stamped on you and kicked you, you are on a lot of pain-control medication, but those injuries have been dealt with and will heal with time, along with a lot of minor bruises and cuts.
We were surprised to discover that you are still physically a man despite your outward appearance, but that gives us another problem. Your genital area has been badly damaged by several kicks, and also by being badly cut by a knife attack on you, we think it unlikely that you will ever function properly as a man again, although we could do some reconstruction if you prefer. I have discussed this with your wife here, and we advise, to prevent sepsis setting in, that we remove your genitalia and create what is in effect a female outward appearance. Bearing in mind your lifestyle we advise that this may be the best way to proceed. Obviously you need to think about it and talk it over between you, but you will be here for a while, so there is no hurry. let me know what you want us to do, I’ll leave you on your own now, give the nurses a call if you need anything, and they will get hold of me if I am needed.”
“ Oh Joanne, I am so sorry, you have been talking about trying for a baby, and it looks like that will never happen now.”
“Don’t you worry about that, that is the least of our problems. I haven’t had an opportunity to tell you, and I wanted to make sure before I said anything, but I am certain that I am expecting.” It was a wonderful bit of news that far outweighed the bad news I had just been given and we hugged for a long time until my sore ribs began to ache.
"I've got more good news for you Jacquie, your attackers dropped the knife when they were punching you and left it when they ran off. The police were able to get a DNA match with someone on their records and have them and his partner in custody. They were also able to get them to confess to other crimes. They will face a long prison sentence when their case comes up. So we don't have to worry about them anymore."
I spent the next few weeks in hospital or at home in bed while my physical injuries recovered and passed a lot of the time thinking about whether or not to go ahead with the gender reassignment that the doctor had suggested, before going back to review my situation with the doctor.
“ What happens if I decide that I want to keep my male genitalia, am I likely to get any further complications?
“There is always an option of reconstructive surgery for your penis, but is pot luck whether it will work or not, sometimes the nerves reconnect themselves, sometimes they don’t. In your case because of the extent of the damage I don’t think that will be successful. Again because of the damage, there is always a possibility of sepsis getting into your system from the damaged tissue, which can lead to all sorts of problems.”
“And if I opt for female reconstruction how successful will that be?”
“Externally you will look like any other female, but obviously you will not have the internal organs, it is a routine operation nowadays and almost certain to be a complete success, and as we would be removing most of the damaged tissue, the likelihood of infection is minimal.”
“i’ve already had long and detailed discussions with my wife and we have decided that if you didn’t foresee any problems today to go ahead with the operation. Please make the arrangements.”
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
12 months later
I am sitting nursing our baby daughter Lily, holding her to my now natural breast, now fully recovered from all my injuries and from my gender re-assignment, to all intents and purposes now a complete woman, gazing lovingly over to Joanne who is gently rocking Lily’s twin Sophia.
Our family is complete, we now have a happy and fulfilling life with our family, and are very comfortably off thanks to my role with UR. With a lot of help and baby-sitting from their adoring Auntie Julie, Joanne and I share the roles of mothering the girls and running JRI and all is well with the world.
“You never know where life is going to take you.” my mother always used to say, and she could not have been more correct.
The end