One Summer In Maine

by Mardee Louise Prynne

  

PART SIX

Another Lesson

 

The morning was bright and warm as the thick morning mists swirled up from the saturated ground. Broken branches littered the roads as crews worked to restore electric power and phone service.

Claire looked as fresh and as bright as the morning when Matt saw her turning the corner on the campus. She strode purposefully toward him. Her smile told him she was really glad to see him but there was something wistfully sad in her green eyes. She wore a scoop neck tee that showed her body with its graceful neck to tasteful advantage. Her wrap around skirt was a shawl whose fringed edge drew attention to her knees. Matt feared how easy it would be for him to fall totally in love with this inaccessible woman made all the more desirable for her inaccessibility.

Matt was taken aback when she stood on tiptoe to kiss him by way of greeting and avoided his cheek, instead opting for a kiss on the lips! She took his hand, pressed it lightly but didn't release it as they walked into the almost empty faculty dining room.

Breakfast had to be gotten self-service in the general cafeteria. Claire opted for oatmeal, a pear, orange juice and herbal tea. Matt took the same substituting coffee for the tea. They returned to the faculty dining room where Claire reached across the table and rested her fingers on Matt's wrist.

She smiled at him, an embarrassed smile as she began to talk. "I'm glad you're here. I don't mean just here at this minute...I mean...you know what I mean. I hope you do anyway.

"You're going to think I'm catty as hell." She giggled. "Everyone thinks I look like a cat, that I move like a cat. That isn't the kind of catty I mean...I mean bitchy. No let's talk about that later.

"Terri isn't here to talk to so you're elected. Matt, I'm terrified. Noelle isn't well...physically. She, he doesn't know...doesn't even want to know how serious it might be. Stupid ostrich burying his head in the sand. They want him to go some place in Boston, a place called the Lahey Clinic. The specialist in Portland is sure it's pancreatic cancer."

Matt took her by the hand and wiped the tears from her cheeks. He led her to his office.

"I'm all right, really. I've been taking care of Noel since were both the rejects, the weirdoes in our neighborhood and in our family. They assure me it'll be quick. I'm going to miss taking care of her, him."

"You can say her. She came out to me after the dance rehearsal."

There was a long pause as Claire wrapped her arms around her knees, her feet on the seat of the chair. Despite the weight of what she had told him, Matt was well aware of her pastel blue panties that she made no move to conceal.

She looked at him through teary eyes. She smiled as her eyes brightened.

"I'm okay....Really...It's just so hard for me to bitchy but here goes.

"Matt, I knew Noelle wanted you. I just feel I have to warn you. That innocently playful style she has is her version of Genie Dee's nastiness. She attracts guys, teases them, gets them to want her and then gets them to despise themselves for being attracted to a girl with a cock. She got scared because you seemed cool with the whole thing.

"I just felt you were too good to let her hurt you, especially since you weren't taken aback by the whole idea...kind of meant you might really like someone like Noelle, care for her. I was going to warn you, save you. Chalk it up to envy, whatever.

"Now that she's dying, why don't you give her the sex she's always avoided at the last minute?... What the hell am I saying?"

She got up, leaned over Matt's chair and kissed him; it was a long deep kiss.

They parted just as the door opened. Georgie stood in the doorway looking somewhat abashed. "I'm sorry to disturb your...conference. I just wanted to thank you for last night."

Matt was flustered and turned to speak to Claire. "Matt, don't even think about having to explain. You probably called to see if she was safe. And I thought I was being bitchy."

She took Matt's hand in hers and placed it over her breast. Then she kissed him. Claire backed away from the desk taking Matt with her. She leaned back against the door closing it as she did. She remained leaning against the door as she continued to explore Matt's mouth with her tongue. Her leg was extended as she pulled herself of the ground wrapping both legs around Matt. The kiss continued as Matt responded by moving his tongue over hers, by tickling her palate. A sound that was neither a whimper nor a moan but more expressive than both came from Claire as her tongue found its way to Matt's ear. He inhaled audibly.

"Oh, God! What are we doing?" Claire was almost panicked. "Matt, this is so unfair..." She slid to the floor and sat with her knees drawn up, her feet parted, her shawl wrap skirt in total disarray. Matt was awed by the anguished expression that had suddenly distorted Claire's features.

She was suddenly on her knees running her fingers through her hair. Her powerful legs lifted her to a standing position as she undid her skirt and completely retied it. The momentary frontal exposure had a intense effect on Matt despite the fact that her panties were ordinary cotton briefs, the sort one sees at any discount chain. In that instant Matt realized that it was this unique combination of exotic and ordinary, of animal grace and cultural sophistication that made Claire unique and so desirable. His eye fell on the beaded rainbow motif bracelet that Claire always wore. It clearly announced that this is a gay woman, and, despite this momentary aberration, it screamed "I'm unattainable to you, Matt."

"I'm okay now. Please let me come back later and I'll explain what I said. And I promise to behave."

Matt put his hand under her chin, tilted her face toward him and kissed her on the forehead. "You don't have to explain anything you don't want to explain. See you around eleven thirty."

Matt closed the door behind her. He returned to his desk and began working on his lecture notes. He wondered what was "so unfair" as to upset Claire as intensely as it did.

 

It was a productive morning. Lots of writing done and edited. In between writing, Matt interviewed a few students who wanted permission to register late for his classes or to simply sit in for no credit. He realized he had an instant among the Bardwin matircs and the summer students. If he could kep them interested and get some to register for advanced classes in the fall or spring semester he would have made a place for himself on the Bardwin faculty.

Matt glanced at the clock on the bookcase. It was almost eleven-fifteen, Claire would be there before he knew it. He went to check his mail box. Georgie Tournet became very absorbed in her typing as soon as he came into view.

"Georgie, I tried to reach you again last night but the phone lines were down."

"I'm sure you did."

"Then what are you so angry at?"

He sat down on the chair alongside her desk.

"Matt, it's just that you are so...so worldy and so cultured...why would you even have that hippie tramp in your office, let alone tolerate what she did to you?"

Matt shook his head in disbelief. This desperate woman who feared her husband had the temerity to judge Claire.

"Georgie, I do want to talk to you about this. This is neither the time nor the place. I'll try to set something up before you leave."

She stared at the keyboard of her typewriter as her nostrils twitched in anger. "Oh, Matt. I've no right to say any of the things I just said..."

"Well, you said them. We'll talk later." He returned to his office. A few minutes later his phone buzzed.

"That girl is here again. I'll show her in."

Georgie showed Claire to Matt's office and left the door ajar.

"What's her problem?" asked Claire as Matt closed the door.

"She really does have some serious things on her mind. Leave her be."

They kissed lightly on the lips.

"Matt, I feel awful for Noelle. She can't admit that she's seriously ill. Insists it's just a virus she can't kick.

"She's absolutely daffy over you. Swears this one is different. She's done that before. Been doing it since we were in grammar school. At least she's safe with you. Even in grammar school and high school, when she was in guy mode almost all the time, she made moves on guys who beat the shit out of her. I saved her cute little butt lots of times.

"But even when a guy takes an interest in her when she's being herself, and 'her' is the real Noelle, she finds reasons why it can't work. She really panics under it all. The guys feel like hell afterwards 'cause they feel she deliberately deceived them. They hate themselves for their queer behavior. Everyone gets hurt....Sad really.

"That's been going on so long I'm used it...almost accept it...almost but not quite. I hate to see her in pain like that...."

"Why did you suddenly feel so awful this morning if you've almost accepted her destructive pattern?"

"Matt, you really don't see it, do you?"

There was a sudden commotion down the hall. Furniture was being thrown against the wall as a man shouted in what sounded like Canadian French. The panicked screams of a woman in the same language. It was already after twelve on a July afternoon. The offices were almost entirely deserted during lunchtime.

Matt raced down the hall with Claire close on his heels. The scene in the secretarial room was totally inconsistent with any that one would expect in this pristine college town so far from the violent streets of any big city. A broad shouldered, barrel chested man was shaking Georgie by her blouse which ripped under the intensity of his rage. She fell to the floor under the force of a backhand slap from her attacker. She curled up in fetal position as he kicked her.

"Shameless bitch," he bellowed in Canadian French. "You lie there uncovered..."

Matt spun him around and punched him squarely in the face. The man reeled back as blood spurted from his nose.

"Call the cops," Matt shouted to Claire.

"No, not yet!... Matt, watch it."

Georgie leapt at Matt, screaming as she pounded at Matt's back. "No! Don't you dare hurt him...I love him!"

As Matt pushed Georgie away from him, the man opened a large clasp knife and came at Matt. Claire grabbed the man's arm and started pushing his arm over his shoulder. As he resisted by pushing forward against her arm, Claire reversed the pressure and, taking advantage of the man's momentum, slammed his wrist against the edge of the desk. He screamed as he dropped the knife. Claire caught his injured wrist in her hands and twisted. The man bellowed in pain. He was panicked and helpless under the onslaught of this slight cat of a girl! In a desperate attempt to escape from the chaos he himself had created, Georgie's estranged husband tried for the exit. Claire pulled his shoulder down as she drove her knee into his ribs. The man staggered, vainly trying to regain his balance. Twice more Claire drove her knee into the man's ribs. He fell to his knees as his body slumped forward.

"Please, please. No more. No more. I love him, I love him." Georgie dissolved into tears at the sight of her thoroughly beaten and humiliated abuser.

"I guess I can call the police now," smiled Claire.

"I guess so. Wow! You're impressive. I can see how you might have saved Noelle from beatings."

"You see a lot but you don't see what I want you to see more than anything else."

It was well into the afternoon hours by the time the police left. Matt had broken Tournet's nose. Claire had severely bruised several of his ribs. Georgie was distraught and had to be driven home by the police after insisting she would not file a complaint against the man she loved, the man who had come to harm her.

 

Matt and Claire weren't sure if they were ready for a late lunch or for an early dinner.

"How about the pub? I need a drink."

"Can we go somewhere else? I'm kind of upset by that pompous hypocrite, Georgie Tournet. Is she waiting until he kills her before she wakes up?"

"I understand you're feelings. My mom behaved like that for a long time."

"Oh, I am sorry, Matt. Didn't mean to touch a nerve."

"No sweat. But what has that got to do with not wanting to go to the pub?"

"Taylor. I just can't deal with her coming on to me all the time."

"I'm pretty sure it's not her looks or body that turns you off.

"Come to think of it , Noel made a point of telling me that you and Taylor were an 'item.' I don't get it. "

"Really, Matt. My sweetie cousin that everyone is so charmed by was being a total bitch by trying to make you believe that I'm in some sort of relationship with Taylor."

"But why would she think she has to do that?"

"Matt, you really, really don't get it, do you?"

"How about enlightening me?"

She dropped her hand to her side and pressed Matt's hand in her own. The twinkle in her eyes and in her relaxed smile scattered the tension and the awfulness of the midday episode.

Matt started to withdraw his hand but Claire pressed it more firmly. She guided his hand to her mouth, kissed it and slid her arm around his waist as they walked through the parking lot.

 

"Well, I've been here a week and I've already added two more to the ever-growing list of my last great loves. Sort of. I can't see Genie as a great love but she might have been and this stuff with Noelle is just too weird," Matt mused silently as he eased the classic Jag from the parking space.

"A penny for your thoughts," interrupted Claire as she curled her legs under her tush on the passenger seat.

"Just wondering where to go for lunch. Suggestions?"

"If you're in the mood for Chinese, I could pickup my paycheck."

"Sure. I was hoping to take you something more upscale considering your help this afternoon."

"I hope there would be other, more enduring reasons you would want to be in nicer places with me. Let's both promise that we'll do something really special like that very soon.."

 

PART SIX

Confessions Over Lunch

 

The Chinese restaurant was almost deserted except for a few summer people who had probably gotten lost on the way to Bardwin. A family with a girl who looked like she was entering her senior year of high school took a large table in the center of the room. They had just arrived to scout out Bardwin as a possible school for their daughter's college education.

Claire waved to the owner as she steered Matt to a quiet booth in a rear corner. A woman went to the cash register, took out and envelope and brought it to Claire. "Thanks," said Claire as she studied the check and put into her leather shoulder bag.

A waitress dropped two menus on the table. "Hi Claire. Aren't you going to introduce me to your friend." The sturdy but not unattractive young woman was local by her accent. "Here tell there's a waitress opening at the pub now that Genie's really gone. I'm pretty sure your not going to want to spend all that time with Taylor. Can't see what it is about her that you don't like. If Noelle's not interested, I may ask for it when the boss gets back."

"Sure. Go for it."

Matt started adding up the facts. "Don't tell me Terri Cohen is the 'boss.' She owns the Pub?"

"Okay I won't but she does."

"I'll be dipped," said Matt. He was staring at the potential applicant as she ate with her family. Her chunky thighs were attractive in a sensual, artless way. Claire's eye followed Matt's gaze. "Mmm, juicy, isn't she?" Matt nodded assent and wondered at Claire's reaction to the sensual thighs of the eighteen year old seated across the room from them. He was certain there was a chemistry between him and Claire, equally certain that Claire felt it too despite the constant reminders that she was a lesbian. He felt Claire's foot on his thigh and turned to face her. Her eyes twinkled with spontaneous warmth Matt hoped was meant for him. "Don't frown. You're so much cuter when you smile." She tilted her head and winked as she spoke.

"I guess you've known Terri, Dr. Cohen for a while."

"Quite a long while. We were thirteen when we met. I was the guy from the wrong kind of family, the greaser.

"I was somehow drawn to art and music, ballet. The kids in our high school who were into that stuff, who had been exposed to 'culture' treated me like a pariah. Oddly enough, Terri and I hit it off. She was my advocate, my salvation...What a class act she is, even then."

They sipped a bottle of Riesling as they ordered. Hot & sour soup for openers.

About ten minutes later, Matt finished his encapsulated biography. "Well, that's how I came to be here." He hadn't told her about Randi. He wasn't sure why. Claire reached across the table and rested her hand on his. "You're so beautiful. What was wrong with those women that they couldn't cherish you?"

"There was someone I haven't told you about. Remember when I was playing bass in college? I had an affair with a jazz pianist named Randi. Randi was a full time trannie. I'm sure now that they felt they couldn't compete against someone like that..."

Claire leaned back and smiled a very serious smile. "Silly twits." She smiled a wry, enigmatic smile.

"Why silly?"

"They were silly not to even try to compete against her for you. I could compete against that." She was definite about this as her smile conveyed absolute confidence. "That is if the person I competed for understood me."

She unconsciously played with the rainbow beads on her wrist. Perhaps not unconsciously, perhaps a deliberate move to call attention to her orientation. Is she playing head games with me or trying to turn me on? She could turn me on any time. But why?" Mat wondered to himself.

"How did you land in Bardwin? You don't sound like your from 'around heah' as the locals say."

Their conversation was interrupted by the waitress who served them a bowl of sesame noodles. Claire took advantage of the lull to shift position. She now sat wedged in the corner where the back of the booth met the wall with her feet resting on the seat. The modest act of rearranging her skirt to cover her knees was as sensual to Matt as if she had slowly removed the skirt. Well, not quite but the effect was there.

"We came up here for the summer we finished high school. It was really Noel's doing. My mom asked me to go up with him. He had been emotionally hurt a number of times...even as a little kid. His father really worked him over emotionally. His mother was pretty inconsistent. He ended up staying with my mom and me most of the time.

"There was a lot of stuff I could do that he wanted to learn to do so we hit it off. He began music and dance lessons with my mom. Noel was happy as Noelle and we were cool with that. But for whatever reasons, she fears a close relationship. Draws near and then panics, pushes people away. Something like Genie Dee but their techniques for pushing people away are different."

"Sounds like you did a lot more than simply protect Noel from bullies."

"Guess so. Sort of became my life's purpose; keeping Noelle tethered to reality. Would have been fine if he became Noelle full time."

Claire paused and sipped her wine and stared straight ahead as if she were looking at the past.

"Tell me about you." Matt looked into Claire's eyes admitting to himself that her beautiful green eyes were deep enough to fall into and drown in emotion.

"Not much to tell. We each found a place for up here."

"I see that but someone as complex, as many faceted as you didn't just happen."

"No. My parents were never married. I have my mom's maiden name. Noelle's dad was her brother.

"I guess you mean when I was a kid. Mom had been a professional dancer. Had a dance school in Swampscott, near Boston. We lived over the studio. When I was little I wanted to dance en pointe, on toe. Used my older sister's things. I was always the oddball, even then.

"I'm rambling. I promise to let you in on everything in time. The key point is that when my sister was killed by a car, my mom had a really bizarre episode. She kept thinking I was my sister, so I had to pretend to be my sister to keep my mom from going off the deep end. By the time mom was all right, I wasn't sure if I had become Clarissa or if I were still me. So here I am."

"And if Noelle hadn't needed you here? What then?"

"I might have become a fully matriculated student at Bardwin...Gone back to Boston to try to define what I am. Now I have to decide or let circumstances decide what will happen. Noelle's very ill."

Claire's impish smile returned slowly as she moved her foot to Matt's thigh. She pressed her foot against his crotch and giggled. She turned serious as she raised her glass.

"A toast, Matt. To our special evening. Soon, I hope."

"Soon. I promise."

Matt wondered why a beautiful child, as Claire must have been, would have been an 'oddball' for wanting to dance en pointe. The enchanting and perceptive Claire was right; he just didn't get it. But what was it he didn't get?

 

The main dishes were served. The conversation became less personal, more practical, more mundane.

"One of us has got to get in touch with Dr, Cohen. This pompous ass, I guess you would prefer I call her Ms. Tournet, will get herself killed if she stays around here. "

"I'll call her tonight or tomorrow." Matt knew that Claire was right.

"Tonight. Even now may be too late."

"We'll stop at the office after we're done. I'll call from there."

 

PART SEVEN

Making The Best of Bad News

 

The following week Matt drove Claire and Noel to Portland where they caught a small shuttle plane to Boston. They spent two nights there while the Lahey Clinic lived up to its reputation. Noel was prodded, poked, pinched and jabbed. They confirmed the diagnosis of pancreatic cancer.

Claire knew there was a big problem when the physician in charge discreetly invited her to meet with him in his consulting room. "There are few symptoms until it's very far gone."

"Please say what you mean, Doctor," interrupted Claire. "I'm neither a child nor feeble-minded. What you mean to tell mean is that Noel's cancer has progressed too far for treatment to be of any value."

"Yes..., not quite. There are some experimental techniques..."

"Do you have any data on those techniques?"

"No."

"Then I'll simply ask you that you prescribe things to palliate her suffering."

"You did say 'her'? Why did you say that?"

"Never mind why. Just be gentle to my cousin and keep her pain to a minimum. There's no way in hell that you're going to use my cousin as a guinea pig!"

Claire stood up and extended her hand to the physician who was overwhelmed by the assertiveness of this innocuous seeming girl.

The cousins drove the rental car to the North Shore area. A stroll through Swampscott brought back too many memories of childhoods that were at once pleasant and painful. They resumed their drive, passing through Marblehead and Salem and then out onto Cape Ann, finally stopping in Rockport.

The seafood house was emptying out by the time they were seated. Noel spoke first. "How long? And don't lie to me. I know it's not really long at all.

"Don't answer. Your eyes have already answered for you. I'm going to ask one more thing from you. You've been so good for me. Help me do what I should have done when we first came up here."

Claire nodded even before Noel asked. "I'll help you become Noelle full time."

"Thanks. Let's do it right now!"

Noelle fussed with her hair as she studied the menu. Using her fingers as a comb, she had styled it to look like Leslie Caron's. She opened Claire's pocketbook and removed the little zipper case with her makeup. Noelle's fingers undid the buttons of her polo shirt then turned the collar up. No one thought anything of the slender gamine who walked into the ladies room to freshen her makeup.

Noelle was absolutely radiant as heads turned to follow the seductive sprite back to her table. She had put her sunglasses on, more as a prop than to shade her eyes. A pause as she stood in the doorway of the ladies room. She took off the sunglasses, chewed the end of the ear piece as she surveyed the room. Conversation paused around the room as women as well as men were dumbstruck by the innocent beauty of this sylph.

"Chalk one up for girl power!" smiled Claire as Noelle sat languidly with her elbow draped on the back of her chair. Noelle chewed of her sunglasses frame as she made eye contact with a fortyish man whose companion seemed a classic example of the ice cold post deb. "As the man once said, 'You ain't seen nothing yet,' my dear cousin!"

Noelle leaned crossed her legs as she eyed the man from head to foot much to his companions chagrin. "This would be deadly if I were wearing a skirt," whispered Noelle as she recrossed her legs and placed her elbow on her knee. She gave the man a half smile as she rested her chin on her hand. The man tried hard not to smile. Noelle rewarded him with a wink.

"Behave yourself," ordered Claire.

"I am behaving. Doing him a very good deed. When Miss Iceblood realizes her man is alive and just might be attractive to real women, she'll start warming up to him."

"Oh yes," giggled Claire. "A real girl scout, my newly reborn cousin is."

"Real scout, may be. But don't anyone bet on the real girl part although I've got them fooled...and I haven't even changed clothing yet!" Noelle had a triumphant smile on her face as she whispered this across the table to Claire.

 

Lo and behold, Noelle's good deed bore instant results! Miss Iceblood took her companion's hand in hers, pressed the fingertips of her other hand to her lips and touched them to his! "God, that's so good," he said to her. It's been years since you've done that."

"Decades really, darling. Let's go back to the hotel as soon as we're done."

Noelle stuck her tongue out at Claire. "Told you so!"

 

They walked along the beach before they headed back to Boston. "Claire, can we go shopping before we go home?"

"Sure, love. I'll call Matt and tell him not to expect us for another couple of days."

"Call him now before we become too serious and responsible to spend a couple of days on a shopping spree."

They stood at a public phone near the fisherman statue. "Collect call to the home of Dr. Terri Cohen in Bardwin, Maine...Thank you operator. My name is Claire Lassitter....Sorry Noelle. Line's busy."

Stops at almost every available phone yielded the same results. Noelle was beginning to get pouty. "Christ, Claire! I've wanted this since as long as I can remember and now I'm finally able to do it...He has the phone off the hook, I swear."

"Listen, lovey, and calm down. We'll get to him. Just let's get back to Boston

we'll call from the hotel."

Noelle flung herself into the passenger seat of the rental car, folded her arms, and went into a total snit. Anyone seeing her like that would think she was in need of an emergency dose of Midol. "No fair...You promised."

"Oh shut up and stop being a twit. You're being such a perfectly snotty twit that I love it!" Claire could no longer restrain herself and burst out laughing.

"No fair laughing at me." Noelle burst into a self-satisfied giggle.

 

 

"Operator, this is an important call. Could you please check the line to see if it's in use?...It is in use. Well thank you. No need to break in. We'll try again in a few minutes."

"Claire, do something. I need tons of stuff. Oh, Jesus...Why do you suppose he's on the phone so long? That loony Genie must have gotten hold of him again. Or..."

"Just calm down. Genie Dee is out of the picture. You've nothing to fear from her. In any event Matt isn't supposed to meet us until the afternoon so we can phone him in the early AM if need be."

 

The phone remained busy as Terri and Matt continued their conversation.

"Really didn't think Noelle would come out to you like she did. She's always been terrified of showing herself to someone she might really care about. So afraid of closeness. Poor kid's been so hurt. Made her own worst enemy.

"Claire's a different story though. I promised her I wouldn't say too much to you about her. You'll catch on to what she's really all about sooner or later. Don't mean that in any negative way. Pretty sure you're going to like what you learn about her."

"Problem is I'm in conflict now between Noelle who's so uptight about closeness and Claire with her gay symbols all over the place. I could really be attracted to her but she's so damned inaccessible."

But, Matt my love, you've always been drawn to the odd relationship even if you can't have it, even if you're going to get hurt. Why not go for her?"

"Because, I'm afraid of hurting Noelle who's...Damn, I can't say it."

"Then don't say it right now. Apropos of Noelle...Matt, you remember David Lewis from school. He's pretty well established at NYU-Bellevue Medical Center in New York They're going to send him the results of Noelle's tests. He'll take it from there.

"Now Georgie has got to get away from Bardwin. That vicious husband of her will kill her and her kids if she stays there. We have a place for her here on the Cape...Now write down all the details to be taken care of...Sara Ann, just be patient...Did you hear her, Matt? We've been on the phone for an hour. Can you believe that?"

"Seventy minutes by my count."

"Just like high school. Matt, I just love talking to you...can't wait to be with you. If I were straight there would have been only one last great love in both our lives. "

"But you're not straight."

"I know, Matt. But I wish I could be... for you and for nobody else."

"This is our cue to hang up before we get too sloppy and sentimental."

"I know. Matt, I do love you and I do care about you...Always have."

"Yes. I don't know where I would have ended up if you hadn't befriended me back then. Thanks for being there then and for being there for me ever since."

"You're making me cry. I'll speak to you in a few days. Love you, Matt. Sort of." Her laugh sounded like it was being forced through tears of caring and of affection. Matt knew her that one of Terri's major weaknesses was her inability to stop taking care of every human being who might need someone.

 

The phone rang almost as soon as Matt hung up. He wondered who could be calling at that hour.

"Collect call. Sure I'll accept the charges from her...Claire? Is everything under control down there?...Sure, I'll pick you up any day. Doesn't have to be tomorrow...I'll bet she'll be spectacular as a full time girl. Great. Now get some sleep. Noelle wants to thank me. Put her on...No problem for me, Noelle...Glad that you want to look beautiful for me...Love you too...Oh, you mean serious grown up 'I love you!...Fine. I'm not making fun of you...Let me say good night to Claire..."

 

The cousins lay on the twin beds in the darkened hotel room. Noelle was excited about the choice she had made to become a full time trannie for whatever time remained to her.

"Claire, you up?"

"I'm up but we really should go to sleep. Big day tomorrow."

"I know. Kind of scary. I guess I have to decide what kind of girl I'm going to be. Nothing too preppie, nothing too slutty. I guess it's kind of fun to wear sexy underthings when you're dressed like you're uptight white."

"Uh-huh."

"Will Matt like me?"

"You can bet on that. He is going to be even more in love with you than he is now." Claire bit her lip to keep from crying out, from confessing to Noelle that she herself wanted Matt as she had never wanted any guy before.

 

PART EIGHT

A New Day Dawns

 

Matt canceled all his appointments for that day. He went jogging at sunup, showered, dressed, and started out for the Portland.

"Shit," he exclaimed as the phone rang.

"Listen, Georgie. This is serious, deadly serious. Sure, so your boy finishes high school here and in the meanwhile your ex kills you and maybe the kids. Just get going. You're still young and with your looks and abilities you can begin a new life elsewhere."

He was rapidly losing what little patience he had left for Georgina Tournet. He was going to be late meeting the girls at the airport. Matt smiled when he realized he was now thinking of the 'girls.'

 

Noelle and Claire were walking along the airport concourse to meet him as he arrived. He easily recognized Claire but Noelle was an entirely different person. She dropped her bag and ran to Matt, threw her arms around his neck and kissed every part of his face in between declaring how great she felt and how happy she was to see him. Her contagious enthusiasm easily infected Matt who wrapped his arms as around her waist and spun around so that her feet left the floor

Noelle broke free of their hug, smoothed her loose fitting skirt and stepped back from Matt keeping his hand in hers. She tilted her round straw hat to a more flattering angle and smiled. "Do you like it? I mean my new look."

Matt was completely taken off guard by the effect of the decorous outfit. He hadn't had any clear expectation of what the new, full time Noelle would be like but this was astounding beyond anything he could have dreamed of. He nodded. "Like it? I love it."

Noelle stepped forward and stood on tiptoe as she kissed Matt on the lips. It was a moist lingering kiss with just the tips of their tongues touching for an instant. he stepped back as he realized that this was a much too warm greeting for a man his age to be giving to a girl who, to all observers, could be no more than eighteen if that old.

"Spoilsport," said Noelle softly.

"Really! Just let me see how you've changed."

Noelle wore a dark blue loose fitting skirt with a matching waist length jacket over a white blouse primly buttoned to the neck. Her hair was nicely styled. Her newly pierced ears sported tiny amber studs. Taupe stockings and black flat heeled, ballet slipper styled shoes emphasized the young innocent look she carried so well. A round straw hat with a turned up brim framed her features which en femme took on a marked resemblance to Claire's despite Noelle's darker complexion and hair. No one would believe that this teen lovely was a thirty year old male. "Formidable!," Matt said in French.

"Matt, French sounds so sexy. Do you like French culture?...And if you think what you see is whatever you said, just wait until you see what I'm wearing underneath."

Noelle grabbed Matt's hand as they started toward the luggage carousel. Claire was left to follow in their wake.

 

Matt opened the trunk of the Jag. Before the suitcases were loaded, Noelle opened the passenger side door. She threw her pocket book on the front passenger seat, tilted the seat forward and held the door so Claire would have to get into the back seat. and held. "Bitch!" whispered Claire as she stepped in the car stepping on Noelle's toe as she did so. Noelle shoved Claire under her butt as she stepped into the car spilling her in disarray on the back seat. Even as she did so she realized that it was a strategic error to allow Matt to see Claire's shapely legs all the way to her panties and then some.

The car left the airport and headed north. Noelle slipped of her shoes and rested her feet on the dashboard. Her skirt slid along her thighs to reveal the dark tops of her stockings. She fussed with the garter clips although there was no reason to do so; no reason other than to tantalize Matt who was finding to more and more difficult to concentrate on the road.

They decided to get some lunch when they were about halfway to Bardwin Having opted for a hamlet on the shore, Claire leaned over the seat giving directions which were occasionally punctuated by a tug at Noelle's earlobe still sore from the piercing. A tug at her hair was substituted when Noelle complained vociferously to Matt that Claire was trying to give her an infection. Noelle got even by kissing Matt as they stopped at the one light near the town.

"You need a spanking," he said to Noelle.

"What ever floats your boat. Kinky is good too."

"You're an incorrigible imp."

"Why don't you scold her," Noelle suggested tilting her head toward Claire. "She started it."

"Did not."

"Did so."

"Damn, you two are behaving like kids."

Noelle pressed his hand as Claire blew in his ear from the back.

"Turns you on, doesn't it," teased Noelle.

"Wait until you see us in our school uniforms," said Claire provocatively

Matt felt himself blush. He had always been turned by school uniforms especially when worn with white cotton panties. Maybe they were serious about the uniforms!

 

Fish sandwiches washed down with beer for Matt and Claire. Noelle had to be content with soda since there was no way she could prove she was old enough to be served without outing herself and this was certainly not a place to do that.

Matt excused himself to use the washroom as soon as the waitress took the order. Noelle looked pleadingly at Claire as her eyes filled with tears. "I know I've been bitchy ever since Matt met us in Portland. You deserve him and you two guys can be happy together...but I want him. I'm being a shit to you, I know and you deserve better from me.

"Claire, I know I could find someone else, someone meaningful but I don't have any time. You've been my protector for so long and through so much...You know this is the last thing I can ever ask you for...Please."

"I'll step aside."

 

Matt returned to find the cousins dabbing at their eyes with tissues. "Allergies," they said in unison as they answered the unasked question.

"Matt, be a love and drop me downtown when we get to Bardwin. I've some things to pick up at the pharmacy."

Noelle mouthed 'thank you" to Claire.

 

Matt parked the car near the pharmacy. As the cousins slid out, Claire tapped his wrist and tilted her head for him to follow her. They went to the pharmacy while Noelle went to the newsstand to get some magazines appropriate to her new persona.

"Matt, please for me...This is so hard for me to ask. But please, as a favor to me, be wonderful to Noelle. Romance her, love her for as long as she has left." Claire sniffled. "Damn these allergies. I know it will be easy for you. She's special and you know how to love girls like her."

"Almost easy," Matt answered. "It would be all so very easy but there's somebody else I want to care about and take care of... I'll never be able to show her how wonderful she is... Know who that is?"

"Matt, don't make this any harder for both of us. And that other person probably knows how you feel. And she's not what you think she is. But all that's for later."

They paused as they paid for their purchases. Claire pulled Matt out the back door. "Damned allergies," she repeated and burst into tears.

Matt pressed Claire's head to his chest and kissed her hair. She looked up at him and dabbed the tears from his cheeks with a tissue. "Matt, promise me that you're not going to give up on that other girl."

 

PART NINE

Romancing Noelle

 

Noelle looked absolutely smug in her own perky way. She leaned against the rear fender of the Jag holding her hat to keep the breeze from blowing it off. A few eligible summer people walked by and noticed her. She removed her sunglasses and

discomfited them by eyeing them from head to toe.

"Matt, you look too serious for such a glorious afternoon. Let's not go home."

"I've a better idea. You come to Terri's with me and I'll cook you dinner."

"I'm famished. How about barbecuing a steak? I'll see to dessert."

"You're on."

 

Matt opened a bottle of cabernet to go with the steak as Noelle began preparations for a dessert soufflé. The late afternoon sun was strong as they sat on the deck. They fell into the depths of each other's eyes as they toasted the new beginning.

"You're so beautiful," they both said in almost perfect unison. Noelle had doffed her jacket and managed to see that the top three buttons of her blouse became undone. She leaned forward, rested her hand on Matt's knee and made sure her blouse gapped enough to draw Matt's attention to the lace top of her chemise and the pretty bra it didn't quite conceal.

Noelle stood over Matt's thighs her tummy pressed against his chest. She put her palms to the sides of his face, tilted his face, and slid to sitting position on Matt's lap. They kissed tenderly at first, the passionately. Noelle pulled away and licked Matt's eyelids, his ears. A thousand tender kisses on his face, on his neck, on the palms of his hands. His erection pressed against the passionate trannie's bottom. "We have to finish dinner or we'll never get to eat...any food."

It was as if they had to keep touching somehow to reassure themselves that the moment was real and not some sort of real seeming dream or fantasy that one experiences between waking and sleeping.

"Dessert will wait ," said Noelle definitively as they put the dinner plates in the dishwasher. She drew Matt's golf shirt over his head and ran her finger tips around his nipples. Matt lifted her in his arms and carried her to his room.

He sat on the edge of the bed. Noelle against straddled his thighs. He wrapped his arms around her thighs feeling the warmth of her skin above the tops of her stockings. She stepped back, freed her self from her skirt and blouse. She twirled showing off the antique lace chemise. She eased Matt to his feet, undid his trousers. He stepped out of them as Noelle slid the straps of the chemise from her shoulders.

Matt's breath caught in his chest, his heart leapt to his mouth. Noelle was stunning! Her ivory panties covered a wide garter belt that had a cinching, girdling effect. The taupe stocking were taught, smooth under the pressure of the sleek elastic garters. The padded bra pushed Noelle's tiny tits into perfect spheres so tempting above the lace edging. Noelle giggled as she fussed with the hooks of the bra which failed to open. She turned her back to Matt who undid the hooks.

Noelle shivers as Matt kissed he way down her spine to the waistband of her ivory silk panties. She pushed his hands away. "Not yet, not yet. I want this to go on, to go on forever, to never end." She hooked her thumbs under the hems at the leg openings of her panties and adjusted them over her tush. Matt kissed the top of the cleft through the smooth, warm fabric.

Noelle turned to him and guided his hungry mouth to her already hard nipples. She quivered, moaned as he swirled his tongue over her breasts gradually coming to her nipples which kissed gently before sucking them. Noelle wailed as Matt kissed her navel, cupped his cheeks in his hands. She pushed Matt onto his back and knelt over him on the bed.

"Ready?" asked Noelle with ingenuous smile. Matt nodded as Noelle slid her panties down over her hips. Her cock sprang from between her legs. Matt took the shaft in his hand as he kissed the tip. Noelle fell back onto the bed as she kicked her panties to the floor. Matt knelt over her and kissed her. With surprising strength and speed, Noelle reversed their positions. She lay on top of Matt as she probed his mouth with her tongue while her hand pushed his bikini pants form his cock.

Now Noelle knelt over Matt as she took his cockhead in mouth. Matt writhed in ecstasy as she kissed the sensitive places between his balls and his hole. Again, she mouthed his cock, this time swallowing the whole shaft. Matt screamed as he exploded into Noelle.

He recovered slowly as Noelle, reclining on her elbow, lounged over him. She gently ran her fingers over his skin. Now Matt leaned over her and turned his attention to Noelle's cock. Her taste was exquisite! Now it was Matt's turn to want the night to last forever. He felt a throbbing in Noelle's cock that signaled she would soon cum. "No, no," whimpered Matt. "I want you stay hard in my mouth." Noelle's back arched as she pumped spurt after spurt of hot cum into Matt's willing mouth.

They fell asleep with Noelle's tush spooned against Matt's belly, his draped over her waist. Noelle stirred, sat on the edge of the bed, kissed her finger tips and touched them to Matt's lips. She turned a chair toward the side of the bed. Matt opened one eye as Noelle unsnapped the back garter of her stocking, extended her leg into the air, undid the front garter, and rolled the stocking to her foot. "Are you trying to start me all over against?" smiled Matt as Noelle removed her other stocking.

"Dessert time," announced Noelle as she pulled one of Matt's dress shirts from the closet. Don't have a robe handy. This will have to do." She folded the sleeves to the middle of her arms. Bending at the waist in a way that exposed her panty covered tush, Noelle opened her suitcase on the floor, took a pair of black patent pumps and stepped into them. The effect on her perfectly tapering ankles was almost like 'gilding the lily.'

Matt reached out from the bed and caught hold of the shirt tail. "My dessert is right here," he laughed as he pulled Noelle toward him. She turned to Matt, caught his arm and pulled him to the floor. Noelle called over her shoulder as she bolted from the room, "The soufflé...and rinse your mouth. Your breath is like an old wine bottle."

After a liberal dose of Listerine, Matt caught up to Noelle as she was putting the soufflé into the oven. catching her from behind, he wrapped his arms around her waist and lifted her from the floor as she spun giddily around. She screeched like a delighted child.

As Matt put her down she turned to face him. She folded her arms around his neck and kissed him. "Matt, I can't do this...Just hold me. Why did it take so long for us to meet? You've let me become who I always needed to be and now there's no time left for anything except for me to leave you...."

"I know about your illness. Whatever time there is will be for Noelle..."

He caught her under her arms as she slid to the floor. She had simply collapsed from exhaustion. Even this romantic interlude was too much for her already compromised body.

Matt kissed her softly as she laid her body on his bed, slipped off her heels, and covered her with the sheet and blanket. He called Claire who assured him it was too soon for a major crisis but that these episodes of weakness and exhaustion would become more frequent. They decided that Claire would move in with Noelle in her apartment and that Noelle could spend occasional nights with Matt.

Matt hung up the phone, stared at it and picked it up.

"Terri, Matt here. Noelle is just too, too great en femme. We had great oral sex, then she collapsed. I feel like a shit, like I'm taking advantage of her."

"No, Matt. You are smoothing out her last days, letting live out her dreams. She would have been totally unfulfilled if she didn't have one affair en femme. You're so caring that you're perfect for her.

"When are you going to wake up to the fact that you're string of last great loves always end badly because they're real girls? You do so much better with trannie's."

"Then why do I keep obsessing over Claire Lassitter?"

"You still don't get it, do you?"

"Get what? Why do you and Claire keep saying that?"

"Because it's true."

"Tell me!"

"Don't get your underwear in a knot. Claire will enlighten you soon enough."

 

PART TEN

Matt Wakes Up

 

The sun rises early during the Maine summer. The light was streaming through the open shades as the phone jarred me awake. Never good news at that hour.

"Matt?"

"Yes. Claire. I think I know..."

"It's over. Noelle died about twenty minutes ago."

On reflection, I realized that the news wasn't really so bad. Noelle was out of pain and safe from the barbs of the smug hypocrites who withdrew their children from the dance program when they met the real Noelle.

 

Incredible, the amount of paper work we dealt with at the melancholy time. The unpretentious locals were more understanding and cared more for Noelle's memory than did the bourgeois summer people. Claire and I felt good about that.

 

It was early August and another bright sunrise as the small sea plane took off from the Greenville end of Moosehead Lake. Claire sat next to the pilot with Terri and me in the passenger seats. The mists on the lake burned away quickly as the full orb of the sun cleared the mountains to the east. The pilot banked right and headed toward Machias and the open sea.

Claire started to open the lid of the urn. I reached forward and dropped the flap of the passenger window. I spontaneously mouthed The Lord's Prayer. Terri and Claire joined me as the plane skimmed the surface. Claire held the urn out the window and tilted it backwards. Noelle's ashes floated down over the smooth surface of the Atlantic.

Claire released the bronze urn and crossed herself. "In my father's house there are many rooms." She smiled. Her hand dropped between the seat and the door. I took it in my own and squeezed. Terri patted my thigh to get my attention. She touched her thumb and forefinger tips together to form a circle and extended the three remaining fingers. She clearly approved...but of what?

 

Claire held my hand tightly as we walked back to the parking area. Terri insisted on paying the pilot. Sara Ann waved from the car. It was all so normal. "I sense something so right between you and Claire," Sara Ann whispered to me as we walked to a restaurant. "Yeah, sure," I thought to myself. "We both loved Noelle and that may be the end of it," I said aloud. "I doubt that," said Sara Ann as she smiled encouragingly. Lunch over, we headed south past Bangor and on to Bardwin.

We dropped Terri and Sara Ann at the house and drove to the apartment that had been Claire's and Noelle's. Claire started a pot of coffee. The small kitchen table was covered with file folders, enevelopes of photos and albums.

"Looks like we both need a place to stay once I sort out Noelle's papers. It would be a waste to throw away her wardrobe. All so new.

"I can't stay here...Oh, not because I'm superstitious about living in house where someone died. Too far from town for me to be able to function dsy to day."

"I guess I need a place too. Terri and Sara Ann will want their privacy."

"We could stay here together...at until I sort out this stuff."

"You don't mind?"

"Mind! God, no!...Why would I ever mind being with you?" She blushed and paused. "I mean you were so good to Noelle."

The grammar school yearbook caught my eye. The name stamped on the cover was "Clarence Lassitter." I was certain that Claire mentioned a sister and no other siblings.

"But you gave up what you wanted to allow Noelle to live out her dream."

"Matt, I didn't give it up. I know I risked losing what I know I wanted and still want." She looked down at the floor for an instant and then looked at me. "Give me a chance. I can't lose two people so special to me in one summer."

She stepped toward me with an open pleading look on her beautiful face. The phone interrupted what could have been a great scene and the beginning of the next act in the succession of last great loves of Matt Loren.

I hung up a few minutes later. "Georgina Tournet is dead. Her husband forced her off the road. His car overturned, but he was unhurt and made off into the woods."

"What about her kids?"

"Daughter was in the car with her. They don't know if she'll be okay. Her son wasn't with them."

The next morning we went to the office and started boxing up the contents of Georgie's desk. We were surprised to find a very old photo album in the bottom drawer. There were photos a very young Georgie holding a little girl in a pretty party dress. We discovered, as we went through the papers, that Georgie's son was born out of wedlock before she met her killer. A diary showed that she indulged the boy's wish to live as a girl. When she fell in love with the man who would eventually kill her the idyll with her son ended as her husband tried to make a man of him. His pervasive homophobia led him to oppose Georgie's working for Terri lest Terri pollute his wife and daughter.

 

We realized Georgie's son was at risk from his stepfather and raced to the hospital where his sister was in recovery following surgery and where his mother's body waited until all the red tape concerning violent death had been dealt with.

There was no trouble picking him out. He was a slender carbon copy of Georgie. He wore a yellow tank top and dark blue short shorts. Thin cotton anklets rather than crew socks were folded above his Keds style sneakers. His shoulder length hair, shiny from brushing, would have been the envy of most real girls.

Claire approached the boy. I saw him face her and smile through his tenseness. The boy nodded and allowed Claire to guide him toward me. "Louis, this is Matt Loren."

Louis took my hand and held it between his. "Thank you for all you did to save my mother. I should like to thank Dr. Cohen.

"My poor mother and her misplaced sense of loyalty. I'm sure that I'm next on that bastard's hit list. He blamed me for everything that went wrong."

Claire spoke softly. "We'll get you away from here until it's safe, until he's caught and arrested."

A determined look came across the boy's soft, fine features. "He'll not drive me away from her. I'll see him dead before I leave."

"Nothing to be accomplished here. Why don't you come with us?"

"Yes," he agreed wearily.

As Louis climbed into the back seat of the Jag I noticed he carried what might have been a fanny pack or a small canvas shoulder pocketbook. He opened it as we drove off and removed a brush and what turned out to be a barrette. He brushed his hair back and pulled it into a wide pony tail as he fastened it in place with the barrette. He fought back the tears. "For my mother. She loved to see me this way, as a girl."

"Are you thinking what I'm thinking?" asked Claire in a conspiratorial whisper.

"Yes. I think we found a use for Noelle's wardrobe."

 

PART ELEVEN

Hiding In Plain Sight

 

Louis broke down and sobbed inconsolably in the back of the car. Matt and Claire took him to Noelle's place where Claire stuck him in a cold shower and tucked him in bed. The emotionally exhausted boy slept through the rest of the day and into the next morning. Matt had a lecture to give later in the morning and wanted to speak with Terri in the office before that.

As Terri and Matt discussed Bardwin and finding a place for Louis, Claire sat on the edge of the guest room bed brushing Louis's hair.

"I'm okay now. Really. I know what I have to do."

"You have to listen to me and put aside any thought of revenge. Getting yourself locked up won't make you feel better in the long run."

"I like you're idea. He'll never think of stalking me as a girl. I think mommy gave me the name Louis because it was so close to Louise."

"Hi Louise," was Claire's warm comment. She took a pack of cotton panties, tore it open and handed a pink pair to Louise who slipped them on.

"I know you'll love the clothes Noelle had but you deserve your own underthings."

Next was an under vest with lace edging on the shoulder straps. Louise smiled at her reflection in full length mirror as she pinched her nipples to make them protrude against the thin ribbed cotton of the vest. "God, I look so gawky...like I'm twelve! Even my baby sister has more than me."

"You've given me a great idea! You're going to be a young teen until that man is caught."

"Think it'll work?"

"Sure. You're not that tall. A lot of Noelle's stuff is a school girl look. With a lightly padded training bra, you can be a perfect fourteen year old..."

"What's wrong?"

"We have to come up with a story to explain why you're here."

 

A few days later Claire, Matt, and Louise drove to the shore where a lobster boat took them out to sea. Louise wept as she scattered her mother's ashes over the sea.

 

The word in town was that Terri Cohen's niece was visiting. Some people even swore they could see the family resemblance. Amazing, the power of suggestion.

Claire took Louise to Portland where they shopped for underthings. Louise was as excited as a kid on Christmas morning.

"I can't wait until we get back home so I can show Matt all my pretty new things."

"Whoa girl!" Claire spoke sharply and firmly. "You're supposed to be a young lady. You just don't going showing off your intimate finery to a man. Besides, Terri will be home for a few days so you had better stay with her to keep from blowing our cover story."

Matt greeted them at the apartment. "Got all those new grownup intimates?" he asked Louise teasingly.

"See for yourself," she said as she flipped the back of her skirt over her waist and pointed her bottom at Matt as she stuck her tongue out at Claire.

 

Claire helped Louise pack a bag for the few days that she would be staying with Terri and Sara Ann. Louise was to stay in what had been Matt's room.

Claire and Mat were disturbed to see a police car slow down as it drove past Terri's. That could only mean they were watching her house due to some actual or implied threat from Tournet. Terri assured them that she and Sara Ann could handle any problems from that quarter.

 

The evening sky was clear. A full moon was almost too bright as Louise went up to bed in 'Aunt' Terri's house. The river was unusually high and ran rapidly due to the thunder storms earlier in the day. Terri and Sara Ann said goodnight as Louise sat in bed reading 'Seventeen' magazine. "If I'm a girl, I'm a girl all the way," she said as Terri and Sara Ann blew her a kiss from the doorway.

Louise dozed lightly with the magazine on her lap when she heard the sound of something or someone striding through the nearby woods. "A person," she thought "too many pauses for it to be an animal." She craned her neck to see over the window sill. The shadowy form of a man stood at the edge of the woods. The man hesitated as the sound of the police cruiser approached and faded away. The man moved toward the house.

Louise murmured a prayer to a goddess. She had long ago abandoned Christianity after seeing what little her mother's Christian faith had brought her and how her church always told her it was her duty to stay with her husband.

"Thank you Lady Astarte, Lady Isis for delivering him into my avenging hands." She rolled off the bed to the floor. "He'll use this open window to get in the house.. No way he knows I'm here," Louise thought as she planned the fate of her mother's murderer.

Tournet stood on the rail of the rear deck and pulled himself onto the narrow roof that shaded part of the deck. Louise stood to the side of the window. Tournet leaned one hand against the window frame and placed his other hand on the window sill as he started to bridge the gap between the edge of the deck roof and the window to what he believed was a vacant bedroom. As soon as his weight was resting on his hands Louise slammed the window down on his fingers. He screamed as his fingers broke and he fell to the ground.

Louise ran down the back stairs and out the back door where she accosted the stunned man. Dazed and in pain, he struggled to his feet as Louise drove her knee into his face. His nose, recently broken in his fight with Claire and Matt. gave way under the force of Louis's knee. Her finger nails caught his face as she fell on him like a fury.

The furious trannie was not out of control; every move she made, every blow she struck was deliberate. She got to her feet and caught Tournet by his ears as she pulled him to a kneeling position. Again, the sound of crumbling bone as her knee caught the side of his face.

Sara Ann and Terri, awakened by Tournet's scream as the window was slammed on his hand, had rushed outside to save Louise from whatever had attacked. They were dumbfounded at the sight of the hulking Tournet being destroyed by the slender Louise who looked so vulnerable in a short nightgown with her pink cotton panties visible as she worked over the man who killed her mother.

"Louise, Louise!" Terri shouted as she wrapped her arms around Louise. "You'll kill him."

"My intent exactly," snarled Louise as she broke free of Terri's restraint. "But first he's got to see who's doing this to his worthless, sorry ass!" She launched a kick which caught the defeated and humiliated Tournet in the throat. He gagged and puked as he looked at Louise. A light wind blew the clouds from the moon allowing the panic stricken Tournet to see Louise. She bent forward as she held his hair and slapped his face.

Louise buried her hands in her face and wept openly. Tournet saw his opportunity to escape and staggered toward the woods. Louise saw him, ran toward him and threw her full weight against the back of his knees. Tournet collapsed, tried to rise and fell down the embankment into the swollen river.

The young police officer who had driven to the back of the house to investigate why all the lights had come on witnessed Tournet's last minutes. "Miss, you just did the people of this area a great service. He was no damned good from the get go. I'm going to write up the report that he slipped into the river while trying to escape after having awakened the household.

"You must be Dr. Cohen's niece. I'll need a statement from all of you."

Sara Ann made some coffee as they all sat in the kitchen.

"Damn, I know you! High school, right?" The police officer grinned at having recognized Louise as Louis. "God, you look so great! The change is perfect. No wonder I had a crush on you when we were in high school." He blushed at his spontaneous confession. "

Louise smiled sheepishly. "Louise. I'm Louise now."

"You two know each other?" asked Terri incredulously.

"Yes, Ma'am," offered the officer. "I was a couple of years ahead of him...of her in school. I had a crush on her. I might've done something about it but Tournet would have beaten her to death then and there if we got a queer thing started. Anyhow, I'll make sure that no one knows about the change."

The report was done, the details phoned in.

"Thanks, Bob, for everything." Louise looked into the police officer's eyes. "I haven't forgotten that you protected me when I was jumped by some guys who wanted to beat up on the sissy faggot."

"Can I call you? I'd like to pick up where we left off back in school. No peer pressure this time. Okay?"

Louise looked up at Rob, stood on tip toe and kissed his lips.

"I guess that means it's okay to call you."

"Please do call, silly. Just so much lost time to make up." Louise opened her mouth as her lips met Rob's. His big gentle hands covered her pantied tush as he lifted her to him.

Louise's new persona was the right one. She knew it and Rob knew it.

 

PART TWELVE

Sorting It Out

 

Matt found a rental house between the campus and downtown. He couldn't take possession until after Labor Day when the summer renters went home. Since Terri and Sara Ann were going back to the Cape so Sara could continue work on her thesis it was decided that Matt would remain in Terri's house. Louise moved into Terri's house as well. Matt felt treated her as he would a favorite niece. Although she felt his supervision was a little strict, she conformed to his limit setting. To her, it was a new experience being supervised and structured by an affectionate, gentle, and genuinely caring man.

Claire continued to live in town for the convenience of being close to her job and to the cafe where she liked to hang out. Matt fell into the habit of eating as many meals at the cafe as he possibly could. He would often come to the cafe late on Fridays to listen to the folk music and to meet Claire when she finished work in the Chinese place.

 

Louise, occasionally at first but more regularly as the couple became comfortable in public, would enjoy the cafe in the company of Rob, her police officer. There was some irony that Rob turned out to be the only one of Louis's high school acquaintances who recognized her. Veronique, Georgie's younger child and Louis's half sister, was in rehab near Boston. There would be complications regarding guardianship but those concerns would have to wait. There was still the problem of Louis's last year of high school. She still had to graduate and to decide what to do about further education.

Rob drove Louise down to the Boston area to visit Veronique who would soon be getting out of rehab. Matt insisted that they call to let him know they arrived safely. Rob, to convince Matt that his intentions were honorable, told him that he planned to surprise Louise by shopping for an engagement ring. Rob knew he and Louise couldn't marry in any traditional sense but he had heard of something called a commitment ceremony which gay couples used in place of a religious or civil wedding.

Louise and Bob shared a bed for the first time that night. Their love making was slow and tender. It was a night of revelation and discovery for the pair. They exulted in the honest recognition of their feelings for each other. They basked in the warmth of their love after climaxing more times and with more kinds of intensity than they had ever dreamed in their most vivid fantasies. Louise rested her head on Bob's muscular chest as he stroked her hair kissing her forehead as he did so.
"I love you so much."

"Not scared 'cause I'm not a real girl?"

"I would kill for you. I just feel lucky that I was given another chance."

"Huh?"

"When we were in school, when I first saw you. I wasn't sure whether you were a boy or a girl but you were so sensationally cute that it didn't matter. I was afraid to tell you how I felt about you, scared you'd laugh at me."

"Know what? I thought you were the best looking, nicest guy ever, ever. I cried myself to sleep because there was no way I could get you to pay attention to me in the way I needed you to...the way I still need you." As she spoke, Louise covered Rob's face with kisses before finally covering his waiting lips with her open mouth.

 

Matt was amused when he and Claire got a note asking them to witness their commitment ceremony which would be augmented by a Wiccan rite of union. Terri suggested that Louise might want to come along with Rob, especially since she, when she was still Louis, had rejected traditional male oriented religion in favor of Wicca.

He phoned Terri to accept and offer his congratulations.

"Terri?...Matt here...Congratulations...What is it you say in Yiddish, mazel tov?... We're all coming to the Cape for the commitment ceremony and we want to do a reception for you when the fall semester starts...Say, how did you know Louise had gotten into the Wiccan thing?...You were her instructor! I'll be dipped."

 

The drive out to Provincetown seemed interminable for the foursome. They burst into cheers when they reached Hyannis but became restless again when, at Chatham, they checked a road map and realized just how long Cape Cod is.

They found the picturesque guest house Terri had reserved for her guests just outside Provincetown. Terri smiled sheepishly as she took Matt and Claire aside and explained, through some mix up in communication the two of them would have to share a room with only one bed. Matt felt awkward about having to share a bed with the beautiful Claire whose gay rainbow bracelet constantly reminded him that the gg he wanted so badly was gay and therefore inaccessible. He failed to see the conspiratorial winks Terri and Claire exchanged.

The sun was setting as the guests enjoyed wine and cheese in the grove behind the guest house where the ceremony was to take place. Matt had dressed and left the room to allow Claire some privacy and to avoid the frustration that would come with being turned on by watching Claire dress.

She was more beautiful, more graceful than ever as she walked down the stairs of the wrap around porch. A green crushed velvet slip dress was the perfect complement to her skin tone, her hair, and her cat eyes. Claire held Matt's arm as they watched the sunset over Cape Cod Bay. She shivered as she leaned against him. "Be a love and get my shawl from the room."

Matt stood behind Claire as he wrapped the shawl around her soft shoulders. The scent of her hair mingled with salt air and with the bayberry smell. "You smell so delicious," he whispered into her ear. She turned her face toward his and kissed his lips. He felt lost, awkward in his desire to love this beguiling vamp.

Claire ran her finger tips over his smoothly shaven face. "Mmm, soo yummy smooth." She placed her fingers against his lips for him to kiss. "To be continued. Time now to mingle with the other guests.

Claire stood behind Matt as they moved along the post ceremony buffet line. As she hugged him from the rear her hand caressed her hand slipped low and brushed over his cock. He turned to her. She ran her tongue over her teeth as she smiled at him.

 

Claire took Matt's hand and led him to their room. She clicked off the light as she bolted the door. "Modesty,' she said simply but with teasing, provocative tone.

Matt stripped off his shirt, shoes, socks, and trousers. Claire stood near the curtained window. "Damned zipper's stuck. Be a love and help me."

He stood behind her and pulled the zipper down. Her fingers skimmed the front of his stretch nylon bikini briefs as she lowered the dress to her ankles. She stepped forward and raised the shade bathing the room in the intense white light of the full moon.

Matt's heart was in his throat as he scanned the beautiful girl. Her low cut, black bra failed to completely cover the upper part of her pink aureoles. She still wore the strappy, high heeled sandals that emphasized her high arched, perfect feet with their slim tapering ankles. The lacy garter belt disappeared under high cut black panties. He could sense the warmth of her smooth thighs, so fair above their black tops of her stockings.

She put her arms around his neck, kissed him deeply as she slipped his bikini pants down to free his cock. Her long. slender fingers enveloped his hardening cock.

Matt was overwhelmed in sea of desire and of confusion as Claire turned her tush to him and wiggled her panties down. They fell to her ankles. She stepped out of them as she turned to Matt. Her cock was already rising!

In that instant Matt understood everything. Claire was a gay man, a trannie who would, over the years, prove to be the one great love that would last. He lifted Claire to the bed and took her cock in his mouth. "Fuck me," she moaned. He did.

 

Claire and Matt held hands as they came to breakfast, the last couple to come to the table in the dining room of the guest house. Claire announced proudly , "He finally figured it out!"

 

Mardee Louise Prynne

  

  

  

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