Reconnecting the Past and the Present: Chapter 8

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Sarah had spent almost 20 years trying to forget her painful and difficult past. She had overcome so much and had built a successful life, then one day her past comes knocking on her door.

Reconnecting the Past and the Present
Chapter 8

By Rebecca Jane
Copyright© 2017 Rebecca Jane
All Rights Reserved.


Author's Note: Well after a hellacious work week, I finally got time to write some more… This is a semi short chapter, but it has a few more hints, and probably another few questions, which will be resolved very soon… The next chapter will end up covering a lot, I promise. Thank you everyone for reading. ~Rebecca


 
 
Chapter 8
 

Sarah was afraid of what she would find, as she finally made her way back downstairs after getting Larissa and Ally calmed down enough for her to rejoin the adults. Almost twenty five minutes had passed since she had been dragged away by the two small girls. Over the years Dana had shared the same anger as April towards her parents, so World War III was a possibility. Even though she hadn’t heard any commotion from downstairs, a part of her was hoping that Dana had exploded at them, then another part of her was hoping they were getting along. The mixed emotions had Sarah extremely confused, especially the latter of the two. These were the people that had discarded her and had spent the last twenty years seemingly not caring about her, so why was she still kind of hoping that they stuck around…

Walking into the kitchen she had prepared herself to find just Steve and Dana after they had upset her parents enough to leave. Finding her mother preparing the broccoli casserole with Dana sitting in one of the stools by the island was the last thing she had expected.

Glancing up at her, Dana smiled, “So I see that you finally escaped the girls?”

Sarah couldn’t help but giggle, “That’s probably an accurate way to put it, they had to show me all their new stuff as well as things they’ve shown me before. So where’s Steve and Dad?”

Joan started laughing, while Dana grinned and said, “Your Dad was going to go out and help Steve with the grill… When he found out that we were out of charcoal and that Steve was just going to use the gas grill it sparked a small argument… He complained that you couldn’t properly grill ribeyes with gas, or without a proper marinade, so he sort of took over. So he made up something the steaks are sitting in and him and Steve took off to the store for some charcoals…”

Worried that her dad had overstepped being a guest, Sarah asked, “So is Steve mad?”

Dana laughed, “Not at all, he’s getting out of grill duties and just lets him watch and drink more beer. Besides that marinade smells pretty good, I’m looking forward to seeing how they turn out.”

Sarah smiled, “Well Dad always made the best steaks…” Then she trailed off remembering how long it had been since she had eaten any of either of her parents cooking…”

Joan spoke up, “Sarah are you okay?”

Realizing she had gotten lost in her thoughts she looked up at Dana and Joan and tried to smile, “Yeah, I’m okay… I just remembered how I thought I’d never be able to have one of Dad’s steaks again… It just caught me off guard I guess.” Both Joan and Dana gave Sarah some sad smiles, Sarah instead tried to changed the subject, “So what can I do to help out?”

Dana told her that Joan was doing the broccoli casserole and directed Sarah to start on the scalloped potatoes, and shortly Sarah was side by side with her mother as they started preparing the two side dishes. Sarah had just finished slicing the potatoes when Bill and Steve walked in with a large bag of charcoal and were both in a good mood and appeared to be joking around with each other. The boys only stayed in the kitchen long enough for Steve to grab two fresh beers from the fridge and headed outside to ‘start’ the grill.

The preparation had only taken about fifteen minutes and then the girls soon found themselves sitting around the kitchen table, Sarah and her Mom each with a glass of wine with Dana and her green tea looking wistfully at the wine. They had spent that time with small talk, but maybe after her second glass Joan couldn’t help her curiosity.

“Sarah… I hope you don’t mind… Would you mind telling me what… I mean how you… I’m sorry I don’t know how to ask this…”, Joan stumbled.

“You mean how I transitioned?” Sarah asked slightly amused. The mix of emotions were still bothering her, she was both glad her mom was uncomfortable, but also felt some remorse for feeling that way.

Joan nodded, “Yes, I just didn’t want to broach the subject in case you were uncomfortable talking about it.”

The remorse Sarah was feeling intensified, here she was partially enjoying watching her mother squirm, while it appeared Joan was still worrying about upsetting her. She smiled slightly, “I’m okay talking about it… I mean I don’t yell it off the rooftops, but almost everyone in my life knows I used to be a… Well that I was Brian.”

Joan smiled and reached over the table to gently squeeze Sarah’s hand, “I’m just so amazed how well you’ve done… I don’t mean becoming a girl… Well that is amazing, but…” Joan stopped to take a few deep breaths to straighten out her thoughts and to try to keep from looking like a bumbling idiot. “Everything that you’ve done, your job, friends, and yes becoming a girl is amazing… You are a beautiful young lady…”

Slightly blushing from the compliment, Sarah responded, “Thank you… I don’t really know where to start… I mean I quit being Brian that night in the Sorority, legally I was still Brian, but there with the support of the girls I became Sarah pretty much full time. The first few weeks I felt like their grown up Barbie doll…” Sarah couldn’t help but laugh at that memory.

Dana joined in the laughter, “That’s a good way to put it, you were slender enough about half the house were giving you their old clothes that they had quit wearing. The girls who weren’t a close enough size to you even went out and started bringing you a bunch of stuff from their thrift store sprees.”

Giggling Sarah said, “I think by the second month we had to convince them to stop, I had more clothes than most of the other sisters.”

Surprised Sarah had stayed so long at the sorority, “Second month? How long did you stay there?”

Dana took over, “Well at first we kind of had to hide her, being off campus gave us a bit of leeway… None of us wanted to kick Sarah out, but after the third week of her living on the couch of the common room April had started looking for a part time job and a small apartment… Sarah had even offered to forgo school so she could work to support them, which April chewed her out for… It was also that time that one of the professors in the Psychology building agreed to see her pro-bono after April had pled her case…”

Joan just nodded sadly, being reminded of their actions. Softly she said, “So once you got the official diagnosis you were able to stay?”

Sarah squeezed her mothers hand trying to let her know it was okay, “That took a few months of sessions, but no… They had been hiding me out for almost a full month, when they offered me a job… That’s what let me stay there.”

Surprised Joan asked, “What kind of a job?”

Dana replied, “We offered her a position of a live in handyman… Our house was old and constantly needing repairs so we had actually had that in our monthly budget… By the time we got the alumni informed of our intentions, Sarah had actually saved us several hundred dollars in just a few weeks…”

Looking at Sarah, Joan asked, “What were you doing?”

Sarah answered, “Well the first week I was there, the shower drain got plugged… Imagine 18 girls in one house, with most having long hair… That was a normal job for me… Then I replaced a few electrical outlets and switches… I guess growing up with a shop, and auto shop instructor and also a Home Ec teacher paid off…”

Dana took over, “So after the house agreed, we used the repair budget to pay her. While it wasn’t a big room, we even cleaned out a storage room and gave her a bedroom… It wasn’t much, after all the budget was $500 a month, but not bad for a fifteen year old including lodging… Once we found out she could cook, she didn’t even have to chip in for the weekly grocery bill…”

Sarah smiled, “It was better than anything else I could have hoped for… My room wasn’t that big, but definitely cozy. That and you all helped me finish my high school diploma in record time… That and all the help you all gave me on my ACT and SAT’s…”

Joan asked, “So you lived in the sorority the whole time?” Sarah just smiled and nodded. Joan continued, “We were led to believe that a family took you in…”

Glancing over at Dana, Sarah just said, “A family did take me in Mom… Every single Theta became my sister…”

Dana smiled, “You are the best little sister I could have ever hoped for Sarah.”

Joan asked, “So when did you start, I guess actively transitioning?”

Sarah thought for a moment, “Well I didn’t get my diagnosis for like three months, but even though Dr. Summers was seeing me pro bono, I couldn’t get any medicines until after Dana and her mom helped me get emancipated. Even then until I was eighteen the best I could do was blockers to limit the effects of the testosterone… Even with a full academic scholarship, I took a few student loans out, to get a car, and for my meds… I was twenty one when I was able to get my orchiectomy…”

Joan just sadly said, “Oh… You had them removed? I’ve read that some trans people elect to not have… that surgery…”

Wondering why that had upset her mother, Sarahs first thought was one of frustration. She was thinking that her mother was about to disapprove of her being whole, so was a bit snippy when she responded, “Yes I did Mother… I had my final surgery nine years ago also…”

Not understanding how she had upset Sarah, Joan tried to apologize, “Sarah I’m sorry I wasn’t trying to upset you… I just didn’t know… With April gone, and then watching you with Dana’s daughters I just thought…”

Sarah still slightly upset, “What did you think?”

Joan did her best not to cry, the last thing she was trying to do was to anger her daughter anymore than she had already today. “I was thinking of how wonderful of a mother you would be… Please don’t be mad at an old woman still hoping for grandchildren one day…”

Understanding now why her mother was curious did soften her anger a bit, Sarah glanced nervously at Dana not really wanted to go down this line of questioning. Trying not to give away anything she wasn’t ready for her mother to know she said, “Oh… Well if I ever meet someone, or even if I don’t I can still adopt…”

Dana feeling slightly guilty at both Sarah’s and Joan’s frustration, she decided to try to alleviate Joan’s worry and told her, “Before she had that done though, I was able to talk about storing her sperm… So there still might be hope for you…” That caused Sarah to glare at her friend. Grimacing Dana continued, “Besides shes already the Godmother of our girls… They love her just as much as us, even Ben’s girls love her… You’re right though, she will make a great mother one day.”

That had alleviated some of the worry from Joan, even though Sarah was still slightly upset that Dana had volunteered that much information. Before they could change the subject to something else, Steve and Bill came in to get the steaks out of the refrigerator when they noticed the tense expressions on the three ladies.

Steve asked, “Is everything okay in here? Bill was just schooling me on the proper way to cook a steak… Why didn’t you ever tell me I didn’t know what I was doing?”

That caused Sarah to laugh at her friend, “You dork, I tell you that almost every day, its just you never listen…”

Clutching his hand over his heart, he said with as much indignation as he could, “That just hurt young lady… Besides that’s what you say at work, you’ve never said it about my cooking before…”

Giggling at his antics, Sarah said, “Hey free food is free food… I’m going to go upstairs and check on the girls for a bit, I be back down in a few.” She didn’t wait for anyone’s confirmation, she actually needed some time away from all of this. Spending time with her Goddaughters always helped put things into perspective.

Dana knowing she upset Sarah, just looked worriedly at her husband trying to convey her concern. Steve just nodded, then looked at Bill and said, “Hey why don’t you show Joan the back yard a bit, the fresh air might do you some good.”

Bill wanting to talk to his wife to figure out what had happened agreed and gently took her hand as he led her outside.

Steve softly asked his wife, “What the hell happened? I thought things were going pretty good.”

Dana shrugged her shoulders, “I don’t exactly know… There’s so much that neither of them know… I think I told Joan some information that Sarah didn’t want her to know… Joan was worried about having grandkids… So I told her that I had convinced Sarah to have her sperm stored…”

Steve understanding now why Sarah was upset, asked, “Did you tell them everything?”

Dana shook her head, “No I didn’t… But I really want to… They deserve to know the truth…”

Steve sighed, “You’re right, they do… Sarah is not going to be happy with us if we do tell them…”

Dana slightly bowed her head and muttered, “I know… She’s already going to hate me for what April and I did, but it’s some thing I have to do… I’ve wronged all three of them…”

Steve just gently gave his wife a hug as she softly cried on his shoulder, he gently told her, “Look I know Sarah, she’ll forgive you… You both thought you were doing the right thing, she’ll understand that…”

 
 
To be continued.
 

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Comments

OMG

Sara S's picture

Great chapter, great story, can't wait for what comes next! Thank you for a addictive read!

more secrets to come out?

and from the sound of them, not good ones ...

DogSig.png

Another Wonderful Chapter

Becca

Another wonderful chapter and again you leave us looking for the next chapter already.

Most secrets rarely tend to be good ones do they?

SamanthaAnn

I can guess

and hardly wait to read the next chapter. Great cliffhanger.

I see myself

Beoca's picture

Sarah's like me: quick to anger, quick to forgive. Hopefully she won't tear any heads off. This won't be pretty, but it was never going to be.

goddaughters

Might not actually be the 'god-' bit?

First Thought...

...about the upcoming revelation was that at least some of the sperm has already been used and the results are upstairs. But that last exchange between Dana and Steve doesn't really seem to me to fit that.

Eric

[Written before elle jay's comment was posted.]

I’m not too sure

I think you may be half right. But I don’t think it is so much upstairs, as “in the oven” so to speak. April’s final gift to Sarah was setting this up through her, would be my guess.

Becky you really are such a tease!

Sarah is handling what could be an intolerable situation very well. As for her parents you have succeed in creating some sympathy from me for them, but they need to squirm.Actually they needed to go to prison for what they did to Sarah's old self.

Can you tell I'm enjoying the story?

Walking on eggs without breaking any

Jamie Lee's picture

Sarah is still unsure of her parents motives now after 20 years, so it's understandable that she's on edge and has easily taken offense because of some questions from Joan.

Joan isn't trying to upset Sarah just trying to understand how things progressed from Brian to Sarah.

But what secret does Dana have to teller Sarah? A secret which will make Sarah mad?

Others have feelings too.

Oh Dana.

Podracer's picture

What did you do? What did you do!

"Reach for the sun."