A Mistake To Remember Chapter 2 free porn video

Chapter 2: I awoke slowly, remembering my death. I snapped my eyes open and gasped for breath, a sharp move that made my head spin. "Whoa, Charlie. Take it easy," said a soothing voice, Evalyn's. "What happened? Where am I?" I still lived! And then -- my voice: I sounded like a woman! Surgery? My hand flew to my throat. "What ? what's going on?" "It's nothing to be worried about," she said, her tone all serene and comforting. Her hand settled on my shoulder. "In fact, you'll soon be very pleased. The same thing happened to me a long time ago." ~Pleased?~ I looked down. ~Why would they want to put breast forms back on me?~ Then I realized that I could actually feel them. I felt the woman's nightgown I wore through large nipples that weren't there before. Placing my hands on my breasts, I pressed them inwards -- and felt everything. "What have you done to me? What are these? Breast implants, hormones, voice surgery?" She beamed, still making like the bearer of wonderful news. "I know it's hard to believe, but you're a real woman, Charlie, 100% female. No surgery, no hormones, just advanced science known only to the Mengstroms." "Impossible." I tossed the sheets aside and swung my feet around. The nightgown I wore sunk to a "V" between my legs, filling space where it shouldn't have. I yanked the gown back, expecting a gaff, but there was nothing there except a pair of plain white panties. I still didn't believe it. I pushed myself to my feet and pulled the panties out. It was gone; only a strip of curly blonde hair remained where my parts used to dangle. I thrust my hand inside and reached way down -- I found a slit between my legs! I slipped a couple of fingers between the folds and inside! I snatched my hand out and stared at my fingers, rubbing the slick wetness between them. Hell, someone had even done my nails. My fingers were slim, my feet, smaller; my arms, slender and feminine -- the soft feel of my skin.? "This is not possible!" "Come on," she said, holding out her hand. "There's only one way to prove it to you. You need to look at yourself." I ignored her hand and marched towards the bathroom. Even as I walked towards the mirror, I had a sinking feeling. Evalyn and I were now about the same height; I'd always been a few inches taller. My legs swayed, as if I they extended from a wider platform. My reflection told no lies. I was a woman: the way my hips and legs moved; the shape of my rear.... I slapped my butt with both hands; this was no gel padding, but a real, feeling, soft and expansive woman's derriere. I was pretty -- prettier than the stewardess I'd pretended to be. I'd kept the blonde hair from the Halloween party. I yanked on it, and it was real, longer than before, extending past my shoulders. I'd lost at least thirty pounds, and, save for my hips, I was slimmer everywhere. My eyes were now blue, and my face was recognizable -- barely -- as the old me, but I looked something like a Mengstrom, too. "Why? Why did you do this to me?" She really looked at me then, and, for the first time, I saw doubt. "I thought you would take this better. You were very comfortable being a woman in the bar and at the party." "Let me get this straight, you ... you thought you were doing me a favor?" "We've done you a priceless favor! Listen to me before you say anything else." "Argh! Oh, this better be damned good!" "Listen to me! Thousands of years ago there were more than one species of man. Besides Cro-Magnon and Neanderthal, there was a third, the Elowin, a long-lived species, slow to breed and more advanced in many areas than modern-day humanity. "The Cro-Magnon killed the hapless Neanderthals early on. Instead of competing with the primitive Cro-Magnon, we decided to avoid them, by maintaining our home on an island in the Atlantic. For thousands of years it stayed that way. This all changed around 2,500 BC when a band of explorers arrived at our shores. "We drove them off easily, but our separation was our undoing: they carried diseases with them that devastated us. Our ancestors died by the hundreds of thousands, until only ten thousand were left. That wasn't the end of it. The disease damaged our genes. Afterward, our women could produce only male children. In despair, most of the families, their women slowly dying off, gave up and moved to the different continents to intermingle with the dominant strain of humanity. They eventually died after diluting their genes with humans, so their descendants lost the gift of long life and became indistinguishable from the rest of man. "Others stayed behind and worked on a solution. Hundreds of years later, they found one -- of sorts." "Wait a minute! Hundreds of years? With no women, how --" "How did they stay Elowin? How did they avoid the other Elowins' fate? I told you that the Elowin are a long-lived species. We live for several hundred years. At first, it wasn't easy for those who stayed behind. The Elowin died off slowly. The young men born to the remaining Elowin women had no mates, except when they captured short-lived human females. You are part of the solution. You are a woman with Elowin genes, and you shall live as long as the original Elowin. Along with your change in sex came a change in species. You are like me, like all the Mengstroms, one of the family." "That's?" I shut up. If they could make me a female, then becoming a different species of mankind that lived for centuries was a side trip. "Go on." "You and I are how the Elowin survive. The Elowin turn human men into half-Elowin women like us. You and I still lack the ability to birth Elowin girls because of the bad gene, but we can give birth to Elowin boys. It's a system that has worked for over 4,000 years." "You used to be a man?" "I was born Horatio Turner in Somerset, England in 1805. I moved to the United States with the family in 1830. I'm one of the younger wives." Oh, this was just getting better. "Hold everything! Are you telling me that I'm supposed to be someone's wife?" And with that sickening thought, the memories with Leonard returned like a rush of bile. Leonard had told me I was to be his. What else could it mean besides marriage and squeezing out his children? The son-of-a-bitch had made me want to kiss him, had forced me to suck him off. My stomach flipped a couple of times when I remembered the way he'd tasted. I had to sit down and found the bed. I put my head in my hands to recover, gripping my scalp with sharp painted fingernails. I remembered something else: Leonard had ordered me to forget it; I wasn't supposed to be recalling any of this. Evalyn slid down to my side and put her hand around my shoulder. "You, like me, were carefully selected. Our personalities and character were thoroughly weighed and matched with one of the available men before we were transformed. You shall marry, but, and this may come a shock, you will not mind it a bit. As much as you were selected for him, so was he selected for you. "You're afraid; but this will change," she said, softer. "Your body will change you. It won't be long before you'll be feeling needs and desires like every other woman. Your confusion shall turn to joy. When I was a young man, I used to put on my sister's dresses, and filled my bodice to make me buxom. I kept my hair long and even went into the city that way on occasion, although I had to be very careful in those days. Like you, I felt natural as a woman and in women's clothing -- freer to be myself. It was a short step to adapt to my life in the family." Even through my astonishment, I understood how she could make such a terrible mistake. I had been comfortable in the bar. I had felt comfortable at the party until they started staring. But that was among trusted friends! Didn't she understand that it was just for that one time! Shit. Shit. Shit! "Evalyn, you chose me, didn't you? It was your idea for me to come to the party as a woman.". She bit her lip and nodded. "Yes, Charlie." I glanced up at her, wondering if it was my imagination. Had her voice quavered? Had her eyes widened? She looked terrified, but I couldn't see why -- and then icy fingers played along my spine. What would happen to those who didn't want to follow the plan? They had drugged me, forced me. Was it much of a stretch to make any reluctant woman, one like me, without much of a past, "disappear?" How hard would it be to find another to take my place? Another thought chilled me to the core: this entire conversation was almost certainly being recorded. I had no damn choice at all, and if Evalyn's fear was any guide, if I wanted to live, I'd have to turn this around in a hurry and make it convincing. I fell into Evalyn's arms, feeling the weirdest sensation of my breasts press and mold against hers through the thin nightgown. I held onto her, shivering as if it meant my life. "Thank you for choosing me! I'm sorry for giving you a hard time. I've wanted to be a woman for so long, I didn't dare believe it. I didn't want to be disappointed." I let her see my face and the tears in my eyes. "You were right; it's what I've always wanted. Getting married, though, it's a shock. It's ... it's so soon. I'll definitely have to get used to the idea." The fear drained away from Evalyn's face and a wonderful smile emerged. She even leaked a few tears. "You'll do fine," she said, brushing the hair back from my face. "It's been harder for women during the last fifty years or so, especially in America. In the past, a woman defined herself by her responsibilities as a wife and mother, but women have come to expect more. It won't be what you fear. Look at me. With long life comes great opportunities to advance yourself in innumerable directions and certainly, you shall never want for necessities. I should be jealous, you know. You're prettier than I was when I emerged." I decided I'd heard all I could stand for the moment. "You know what I want to do right now? Take a shower! Are there any clothes to wear when I get out?" She patted my leg and laughed. "Oh, yes, the shower! By all means, but don't take too long in there, if you know what I mean. When you get out, you'll have clothes, of course, and I'll show you the proper way to put on make-up. Charlie, do you mind if we call you Charlene?" I formed a smile, although it was more like gritting my teeth. It was unlikely that the name had come from her. "Why not?" I gave her another hug before walking to the bathroom, where I slipped out of the panties and nightgown, and moved around in front of the mirror, turning and admiring myself in case there were any cameras there. I took a close look at myself this time. I was a genuine blue-eyed blonde. The transformation might have cut off a couple of years. I could have passed for twenty-three or twenty-four, and had the body type that would decorate a beach in a bikini. I turned on the shower as hot as I dared, to steam the room, and then stepped inside the cubicle. I didn't think there were any cameras in the shower stall, but I couldn't be sure, and so, scared as I'd ever been in my life, and as angry, I felt my breasts, running my fingers smoothly over my sensitive nipples, feeling them rise and stiffen in a way that would never have happened had I stayed a man. I stroked female contours that I'd never wanted, and slid my hand into my new sex, finding my clitoris immediately. I teased that feminine nodule with thumb and forefinger, stirring parts that I'd never known to life, and slid my finger up and down between the crease, exploring the woman I had become. For anyone who was watching, I pushed two fingers into my vagina, discovering penetration for the first time, and for anyone who was listening, I made the sounds of an aroused woman coming uncontrollably -- and as the water poured down upon my face I cried, and cried, and cried. Even if I lived for centuries, what sort of life was this? I would be married to an ass hole who thought there was nothing wrong with drugging me and getting me to suck his dick -- as long as I didn't remember it later. If I didn't satisfy him, then would I be killed and replaced by another, or was it possible to simply drug me until I was compliant? What a wonderful future! The more I thought about it the more certain that I was being watched. The Elowin had 4,000 years of experience. I had two advantages if I could stay alive long enough to find out how to use them: It seemed that I had a partial resistance to the drug, and I knew how it tasted. I put my face under the shower head and allowed the water to sweep the tears away. I would play along because I had no other choice. I sobbed, turning it into a laugh. Evalyn had told me that my body would be making some adjustments. She'd known that as Charlie, I hadn't been gay. If she hadn't been bullshitting me, I would make the adjustment, and afterwards, I wouldn't be gay as Charlene. What a damned, controlled life, and there was nothing I could do! I would play the woman they wanted me to be because that was the only way to survive, but that was all. I could never forgive them. And someday, I vowed, they would pay! *** After the shower I blow-dried my hair. I held the towel around my torso in the woman's way, and Evalyn met me as I came out the door. "Oh, my God. That was sooo good," I said. "Ah, I thought you might be enjoying yourself in there," she said with a knowing grin. "Come on, I have some clothes for you - and there's no reason to be shy around me with that towel. Believe me, I have seen it all before." "Yeah, uh, right." ~Hell yes, let's get naked. It's not like you're going to get a hard-on anymore!~ I dropped the towel and pulled on the panties she gave me, and then the bra, struggling with it a little because it was a briefer model than the one I'd worn for my costume. It was weird to feel supported -- to have the need to be supported -- and stranger to look down and see breasts that bobbed and bounced wherever I went. They'd seemed about average size in the mirror, a single point for which I was grateful. "Sit. I'll do your make-up and show you how to do it." Fortunately, I didn't need very much, but I kept staring back at the woman in the make-up mirror. That was my face acquiring blush, liner and lip gloss, accouterments I'd never in my wildest imagination thought I would ever need. Then Evalyn passed me the pencil. ~It all starts with the first step. It's just a skill, something that half the human race needs to know -- so that men will be more attracted to you!~ I waited until I saw cold determination in the eyes of that unknown, pretty face, and went to work. The first line might have been drawn with a dagger, but after a short time, the lines were cleaner, more defined, and some time later, Evalyn paid me a compliment. "Evalyn, what happened to my old identity?" "You died in a traffic accident. Your car ran off an embankment and burned. We took a body from a funeral home that was due to be cremated and placed in your car." "How did the department take my death?" I asked, but really, I had only one person in mind. "There wasn't a dry eye at the funeral. You made some friends before you left." She took my hand, stopping me for a moment. "You know that you can't ever tell them who you are. You understand why?" "I think it's pretty obvious. Any hint that I was still alive, or had been changed, would be a disaster, not only for me but for the family. I'd never say anything." "Absolutely correct. We never talk about the family, and it's a rule we never, ever break. Here, let me show you something." She held up a slinky black article, very light and barely opaque. "Look." I saw it all right. "Is that a little black dress?" "That's right," she said, touching my hand, a form of female empathy, I supposed. "It should fit you perfectly. Oh! You must be excited. I still remember the first dress I wore when I first became a woman. The style in my day was completely different, but I imagine that it must be the same way for you." "I'm speechless. Am I wearing that tonight?" "Yes, at dinner, in about an hour. It's important that you make a good impression." I decided that any sane person in my place would be loaded with questions. "Evalyn! What am I expected to do? Are they going to look at me like I'm a freak? Who's going to be there?" "Don't worry so much. Just be the woman you were in the bar and at the party. It should be easier now since you aren't pretending any more. And you're certainly not a freak!" she said, annoyed with me. "No more than I am! Remember, half of the family started as you did. They'll look at you closely, but that shouldn't worry you. They want to get to know you." "But how many, and who?" "Six, including you. I'll be attending with my husband, Victor. You'll met our hosts, Thaddeus and Yolanda; who own this estate, and Leonard." "Is Leonard the man I'm supposed to marry?" ~As if I didn't know!~ "Well -- yes, but it's too early to worry about such things." "Good. This is all so overwhelming. I need some time to get used to this." "I understand. Come on," she said, handing me the Little Black Dress. "Try it on. It will cheer you up." The silky thing slid down my body like something alive. I adjusted the straps until they lined up then looked down between my ever-present breasts. The dress came to only a few inches below my stuff. I walked around in my bare feet, getting the feel of it. It was so light and sleek that I could barely tell it was there. ~This isn't happening.~ A glance downward revealed soft breasts with cleavage ? cleavage! Past that and I saw a woman's body from an impossible angle over a smooth front and wide hips to smooth legs that went all the way down, and up again to my pussy! ~That's right! You're a babe in an LBD. Relax -- or you're dead meat!~ Evalyn said, "You seem uncomfortable." "I, ah, feel like I'm half naked in this." "It's designed to show you off. Be confident. This is your time in the sun and you look wonderful -- but be careful how you sit, and we have time to practice walking in heels, that is, if you feel you need practice." I put on my best grimace. "Well, maybe a refresher course." *** At first, I tried to make it through dinner by imagining myself back at the bar. There were women around me, only this time, I was really one of them. What irony to be more at ease as a man pretending to be a woman! This time, though, there would be no going back, and there were too many reminders that this ball game lacked balls. My God, how was I supposed to get used to this? My child-bearing hips spread my ass when I sat. It was chill in the room, and without a bra, I could have served as a thermometer. The dress was so short, I was actually sitting on my pussy, separated from the fabric of the seat by what Evalyn had laughing called underwear, mostly a narrow band of lacy satin -- with a patch of cotton to help "it" breathe! Evalyn had me put that on as a final "gift." I was already very pretty, she'd explained, but a woman was at her best when she wore something a tad naughty. Even if no one knew, it was supposed to give me an "edge!" I had an edge, all right, the son-of-a-bitch sitting to my left, Leonard. The slimy one could barely keep his eyes off me. The man had already drugged me, forced me to go down on him, then transformed me to become his wife. What was the abbreviated dress, the skimpy panties, gift wrapping? And yet, I sensed only goodwill from everyone around the dinner table. I was supposed to be a success, and they celebrated me with toasts to my health and happiness. Thadeus declared the dinner an event and welcomed me into this most exclusive family. I couldn't rationalize it. Weren't they aware of how perverted this process was? Even if they weren't aware of what Leonard had done to me, how could they justify drugging people and screwing with their minds? Wouldn't a woman show some sympathy for what I'd been through? But Yolanda was like Evalyn, and the older woman swelled with grandmotherly pride when she looked at Leonard. It was Chewbacca and the Ewoks all over again: it didn't make sense! I had to know more. I was still terrified, but they must have expected me to be nervous. Their questions were sometimes personal, but it wasn't an interrogation. They weren't after me, they wanted me to be at ease. I couldn't relax at all, however, until I realized who I was talking to. My "family" was composed of some of the most interesting people on the planet. Yolanda looked around forty on the normal human scale. She was a handsome woman, with a nose a bit too prominent for modern tastes. She had her hair up in an intricate bun, sophisticated yet practical. Her mind was active, but she tended to flit about from subject to subject, as if they held the same amount of interest -- or if she'd heard it all before. That evening she was in modern garb, calf boots, blouse, and a woolen skirt that I envied because she could sit anyway she liked, but as she related parts of her life, it was easy to imagine her in court dress, her face painted in white lead, beneath a wildly extravagant mound of hair. From my perspective, it had been bare hours since I'd seen her wearing something similar at the Halloween party. Yolanda Mengstrom was born in London during the reign of Queen Anne, well before the United States existed, and just as the mighty Ottoman Empire began its long fall. Fascinated despite the circumstances, I asked her of those early days, when Kings and Queens ruled, lords owned serfs, before electricity, and when wooden ships ruled the oceans. Yolanda spoke six languages well, and had lived in most European countries, including some that didn't exist anymore, and India. For centuries, the family had moved every couple of decades or so, picking up stakes before people noticed that they weren't aging. While she was telling me about the court of Catherine the Great, her husband, perused me, devoting special attention to what hung like soft melons on my chest. I disgraced myself by blushing. Yolanda caught the byplay, and registered amusement. The newest woman, it seemed, was a charming innocent. Had it been rude, or was it harmless teasing? Was it the way men normally looked at a woman's mammaries? I had no perspective! Thaddeus looked about five years older than his wife, and he'd lived in the Elizabethan era. I gave him a truce on his attempts to make friends with my boobs and I began to fantasize what he might have seen, who he had met. I must have been gawking. "Really," Yolanda said, smiling with good humor. "You'll have to stop looking at us like we're on the History Channel." The blood rushed to my cheeks again. "I'm sorry. It's not every day that one meets people who lived what the rest of us have only read about." Yolanda held her hand over her mouth and laughed delicately. "How true, Charlene," she replied, imbuing my new name with a French flavor. "Actually it's refreshing to see a new face, one that hasn't heard these old tales before." About that time, Evalyn caught my eye for the third time that night. I'd been avoiding Leonard, but I'd probably delayed that confrontation as long as I reasonable could. The snake might be easier to stomach if I could get him talking, so I turned his way and said in my new sweet voice, "Leonard, I know very little about you." The bastard was smooth. Most would have said he was around thirty; he was one hundred twenty-eight years old. He had two lifetimes of memories and a hundred years of polish. When I thought of what he'd made me do, my blood sizzled, but he had an easy way about him -- when he wasn't forcing women to go down on him! -- and there were times when I could almost forget what a shit he was. Dinner ended, and the after-dinner coffee and dessert came and went. Thadeus and Yolanda made their excuses and left. Leonard stood and held my chair while I rose. I had an idea what might be coming, and had mentally prepared for it, but it still felt so damn girly when it came. "Would you care to walk the grounds with me, Charlene?" he asked, offering me his hand. "All right," I said. Three months had passed while I was in the pod, and Autumn had turned to Winter. Evalyn loaned me her coat, and Leonard and I walked the asphalt path around the estate, through a corridor of dense trees in the back, dark and mysterious in the moonlight, and then by a heated garden amidst outdoor lights. Stumbling along in heels, I wondered, was this supposed to be romantic? What did he expect from me? He kept the conversation brief and light for the most part. It wasn't too bad if I didn't think about it, and pretended that he was someone else, anyone but the ass hole I was going to have to marry! He addressed me in the old way, as a man might a woman he wished to protect and treasure, an archaic form that he'd probably learned in Philadelphia society, where he'd grown up. It was appropriate way, perhaps, for an age when the roles were strictly defined. Was this the real Leonard? If a woman of his era been on this same walk in my place, would she have been entranced -- or lulled into a false sense of security? I might have been angrier, but beneath his clever phrases and efforts at small talk, I detected nervousness, confusion, and uncertainty. I didn't want to think of him as vulnerable; vulnerability was a human trait. I feared him. I wanted to despise him. We stopped by an alcove a couple of hundred yards from the house. He hadn't touched me the entire time. I wondered if this was it, and he was about to grab for the goods, but he kept his hands at his side. "You're beautiful," he said, making me blush harder than I ever had, for from the look on his face, I was sure the prick had actually meant it. What else could I say? "Thank you, Leonard." "But you aren't attracted to me." I managed a tepid smile. "It's not because you aren't, um, good-looking. Evalyn said something about, 'adjustments'." He turned away, embarrassed. "I'm sorry, of course, it's too early. I shouldn't have mentioned it." Evalyn had told me that I'd soon come to desire men. She'd been vague on the details except to say that I would know when it hit me. I couldn't imagine that happening, thought it had to be at least partly voluntary, so I hadn't quite believed it, but now Leonard seemed to be implying that it was inevitable. I'd have thought that they might be referring to drugs, but that didn't make sense, else why not just do it and get it over with, and what was with Leonard's new-found sense of honor? So, now he's willing to wait until I'm hot and wet before he sticks his dick in me? We started walking again. Thankfully, he stayed quiet for a minute or two while I burned. ~My foot moves to the front, heel toe. My other foot moves to the front, heel toe. It's modern foot binding: it makes it impossible to run away, and, in the meantime, my rounded ass shifts and rolls in a manner that tantalizes the male!~ I couldn't sustain my anger. Leonard, I hated to admit, had been decent since he'd forced me to do him. In fact, he'd been courteous and respectful. It stood at odds with what he'd done. Could it really have been a test of his interest in me, as he'd said at the time, crude and disgusting as it was? If I became a woman and he decided then that that he wasn't attracted to me, wouldn't it have been much better, that he had "tested" me that way? I snorted quietly enough so that he wouldn't hear. Hah! Was I now joining countless millions of women who made excuses for their men? I slowed down, taking it slower as my feet started to hurt. This one I couldn't blame on Leonard. I shouldn't have been wearing heels on a walk of any length. "Come on," he said, pointing to a wooden bench to the side. "Let's sit for a while." At that point I was grateful for small favors. As he waited for me by the bench, the house light showed his body clearly, and his face seemed attractive. It was too subtle to think that I had "turned" in any way: the idea of mating with him still repulsed me. I let it go and sat, crossing my legs. Sighing in relief, I took off the pumps, emancipating my toes. "A penny for your thoughts," he said. I decided that there wasn't any reason not to get this into the open. "I'm supposed to marry you, aren't I?" He exhaled long and slow. "That's correct. You and I were selected as a pair." "Evalyn chose me, but you talked with me too, just before I was 'brought across.' Was I 'made' for you?" "In a way. Personality tests -- part of what you took before you were hired -- showed that we have a lot in common, but I made the final approval. Are you angry about marrying me?" "Not anymore," I lied. "This is what I've always wanted to be, and getting long life is an incredible bonus. Everyone I've met has made feel welcome, and I know how important this is to your family. I do like you, Leonard, and I hope you like me. When the time comes, I'll give this marriage my best effort." ~Barf.~ "I'm glad to hear you say that." He brought me into his arms. I wasn't happy with being grabbed, but I told myself that a hug wasn't gay. ~Not that anything we do from now on could be. Damn it, Leonard, why did you have to force me? I might have forgiven an honest mistake. I might have even liked you.~ I broke the clinch when I felt a push at my stomach. I was willing to let it slide. I knew what I looked like, and could imagine how I felt to him with my breasts, small waist, fine butt and all. When he looked down at me, I understood what it was about his face: I wanted to kiss him. Not so much that it overcame reason, but the urge was unmistakable. Although he made no move to close the gap that separated our lips, it was clear that he wanted to plant one on me. I thought about what was happening in his pants, and the tiniest desire to see him naked, hard and in my mouth. And that ended it right there. ~Damn your drugs and your bull shit! What the fuck have you done to my head?~ "I think I'd like to go inside now, Leonard. It's been a long day," I said, wanting more than anything at that moment to kick him in the balls. "Sure, It's been a long day for both of us," he replied, looking as happy as a man who's found his woman -- or as pleased as a pervert with a latex doll. ***. Evalyn was sitting on my bed when I got back to my room. ~Isn't there any privacy in this friggin' place?~ "Well, how was your 'date'?" she asked. "I still don't want to sleep with anyone with a penis, but other than that, it went fine." "That's good. Is there anything you want to talk about?" I wanted her to get the hell out of my room so I could retreat to the darkness of my own thoughts, but that wouldn't have been in character. "Well?." "Come on, tell me," she urged. I told her about the walk: what we'd said, and so forth, leaving out the residual desires from Leonard's drug-enhanced commands to me on Halloween night. At the end, she clapped her hands in delight. "That's wonderful! I'm shocked that you were so direct to mention marriage so soon, but it seems to have worked out." "How did you approach the subject with your husband?" Her eyes lost focus as she reached for distant memories. "That was many years ago. Arranged marriages were common then. A suitable match of class and wealth was far more important than any concept like love. You married, had children, and kept a proper home, hearth, and bed for your husband. In return, he directed the finances and took whatever steps he deemed necessary to provide for his wife and children. You had your role, he had his, and there was very little overlap or confusion. "When I was transformed, I awoke in a house I didn't recognize. Yolanda was there to explain what happened, much as I did with you. I was overcome with joy," she said, giving me a wry glance that meant "unlike you." "It was as if God had answered my prayers. I met Victor a few days later while I was dressed in my new woman's finery. I served him tea, crumpets, and almond pie I'd made earlier in the drawing room, and behaved a proper lady -- at least as much as I could with a few days instruction. "Imagine it! I wasn't pretending anymore! Here was a man I might marry, who came to call, as he might have to any young woman. My hands shook as I poured the tea, but I did my part. I didn't want him in that way yet, of course, but Victor was dashing and slim, as all the Mengstroms are, and well mannered and attired. Yolanda had sworn to me that I would come to desire him in all ways, and she was right in every particular. "I met him a few times. We didn't have to discuss marriage. I had already decided that when my changes came and if I were agreeable to him, then I would accept. I only feared that he would reject me. It was a minor fear, Yolanda assured me, for I had been vetted beforehand. While on an 'adventure' in London, I'd been identified. After that, agents of the family watched me, and asked my friends questions about my character. Yolanda had chosen me, and I'd had her son's approval." "Victor is Yolanda's son?" "Yes. It's traditional in the family for a mother to choose her son's wife. Ultimately, he must agree with her choice before she is transformed. Leonard is, of course, my son, and someday, you shall choose your son's wife." It was like seeing a vision of another's life, but, incredibly, it might be mine. If I kept going down this road, and if I lived long enough, it would be mine. ~Jesus H. Christ! Babies? Motherhood?~ "Wait a second. If you transformed in 1805 and Leonard is one hundred twenty-eight, you must have waited a long time to have a child." She shook her head. "It's traditional to have a child early in a marriage. The idea is that the sooner family ties bind us together, the better. Leonard is my second son. My first, Lt. Kelly Mengstrom, was killed on September 19, 1864, in the Battle of Winchester, Virginia with the Twelfth Connecticut. After he died, I had Leonard." "I'm sorry, Evalyn." She looked down and away. "It's been almost a hundred and fifty years, but you never forget your children." "Of course not. Was he married?" "He was too young. Men in the family don't marry until they're one hundred. It gives them time to sow their oats before settling down." "I see." "To be honest, I don't believe you do. After a hundred years in the outside, the men come to realize that they can't escape the family and their destiny. If you think about it, you'll understand why. Leonard held out longer than most before realizing this, and has been extraordinarily selective. You are the fourth I found for him, but the first he accepted for transformation. I am extremely pleased with you, and would be delighted to have you as my daughter-in-law," she said. Evalyn brushed my face, a gentle touch. Evalyn's hand on my cheek bespoke a mother's love and hope for her son, but could there have been more? What was a daughter-in-law in this most exclusive of families? To a woman over two hundred years old, I must have seemed incredibly young and inexperienced. This was a family where no mother ever gave birth to a baby girl. When Evalyn chose me, it must have been much like choosing her daughter. For the briefest moment, I felt young and loved. Leonard was a contradiction, but not Evalyn. I had always liked her, and I didn't believe that she would knowingly hurt me. "Thank you. If all goes well, I'll do my best to be a good wife to your son." ~Because I trust you and because I have no choice, but if he tries to screw with my mind again, then all bets are off.~ "I know you will," she said, bringing me into her arms. "Leonard is a good man. You two really were made for each other." "Evalyn, how long did it take for you to 'adjust?'" She pulled back, grinning. "Thinking about that already, are you? I'm not sure I should tell you. Maybe it would be best for it to remain a wonderful surprise." "Yeah? Well I hate surprises. Can't you at least tell me if it's a matter of days, weeks, or months? And how would I know?" "It's weeks, and believe me, you'll know. I have to go now, but I'll see you in the morning." Evalyn left me a lot to think about, and there was something I had to check. A family that had escaped detection for millennia would have tight security. Certainly, they wouldn't give me a chance to go anywhere unsupervised until they could trust me. I took a hand mirror from the bathroom and lay it on the bed, under a fold in the blanket. Leaving the room a few minutes later, I slipped it into my purse as nonchalantly as I could and visited the reading room down the hall. I read for a while, then went to the hall bathroom, which I was reasonably sure hadn't been fixed with cameras because I'd seen Yolanda use it. Once inside the stall, I took off all my clothes and, using the hand mirror and the makeup mirror, checked every part of my body. I saw parts of me I'd never had before in fascinating detail, but that's not what I was after. My body was literally flawless. When I'd awoken, all the scars I'd earned during my years as a boy and man had been smoothed away. Using the small mirror was slow and awkward, but I found what I was looking for, a thin, pink line about an inch long on my lower left cheek, already half faded into the background. It had to be a tracker, maybe dual-purpose with a trigger to release drugs to make me unconscious -- or worse -- with the right signal. I wouldn't be able to run until I could figure out what to do with it, but it also meant that they wouldn't be worrying too much about me. Theoretically, as long as I behaved myself and didn't stray too far, I would be safe.