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It was almost inevitable that this would happen. As Anne examined what she assumed was a dead spider picked up from her bedroom floor, it quickly became apparent that it was not some hapless arachnid but, instead, a false eyelash unwittingly trampled underfoot. Knowing that her own false eyelash wearing days were long over, she started searching the room to see what she could find. Anne, or Professor Anne Williams to give her her full title, was well used to looking for the seemingly invisible. As head of the faculty of forensic science at the local university, she was well known as a leading expert in the field and was frequently called as an expert witness in high profile trials at the local crown court. Looking for clues of her husband's infidelity in her bedroom would not, therefore, be a problem. Five minutes later, she had what she needed. Apart from the eyelash, she had discovered what appeared to be four very long platinum blonde hairs and a small red stain, which appeared to be lipstick, on one of the pillows. The untrained eye would probably have overlooked them but Anne now had all the evidence of her husband's extramarital affair she needed to confront him when he returned home from work. At around 6:00pm, Richard returned from work. As a middle ranking IT manager in a local financial services organisation, he had not enjoyed the same career success that his wife had but their combined salary was sufficient to enjoy a comfortable lifestyle on an exclusive gated development of six executive homes. He and Anne had originally started out as equals but, as Anne's success started to accelerate, there was an increasing gulf between them, particularly as, after 25 years of marriage, any pretence of love had been dropped and Anne was taking every opportunity to point out his inadequacies and, not to put too fine a point on it, he was now well and truly worn down. As he entered the house, he heard the ominous tones of Anne's voice summoning him upstairs. He duly complied and, as he entered the bedroom, could see that Anne was far from happy. "A false eyelash, platinum blonde hairs and a lipstick stain on the pillow. What have you been up to?" "I can explain." "Well I hope she was good in bed and lives locally because, this time, we're finished and you'll be needing somewhere to stay tonight." Anne's threats and put-downs to Richard were nothing new. Usually centred on his lack of progress at work - "get a promotion or we're finished" failure to do chores that she considered beneath her - "if you can't keep the house tidy, find somewhere else to live because I don't want to live in this mess," or when, in her eyes, he had failed to give her the attention she deserved - "I may as well go and find someone else who values me as you obviously don't." Richard went a dark shade of scarlet. "No, it's not like that." "Well how do you explain this if you're not bringing some tart into my bed?" Richard could tell that this was far from an empty threat. He didn't know how Anne would react to the truth but he knew that, if he kept quiet, he'd be out and fare badly in the resulting divorce. The game was up so silently, he left the room and pulled down the loft ladder. A minute later, Richard was back with a suitcase. Silently, he opened it and emptied the contents onto the bed. "I'm sorry, they're mine," he confessed as Anne went through his small but exotic collection of female attire - a French maid's outfit, what looked like a nurse's uniform with a very short skirt and a couple of skimpy dresses which would have looked more at home on prostitutes. Various items of underwear including thongs, bras, garter belts and stockings and a pair of unfeasibly high platform sandals. At the bottom of the case was a plastic bag with various makeup items to complete the collection. And, of course the platinum blonde wig. Anne's jaw dropped. "So this is how you spend your evenings when I'm away." "Yes," mumbled Richard, is head bowed and facing the floor in shame "I don't know what to think but, if this is how you want to live your life, take your girly things and go to the spare bedroom because that's where you'll be sleeping from now on." Richard hurriedly put the things back into the case and took them to the spare room, returning a minute or so later to take his clothes from the wardrobe. Things, to say the least, weren't good but at least she hadn't thrown him out. Although now in his late 40s, Richard's crossdressing had started at an early age. Initially, he'd tried on his mother's clothing but this had stopped when he outgrew them. He resumed after leaving home but, after falling in love with Anne, he no longer had the urge to dress and assumed that he'd been "cured." Unfortunately, as the marriage slowly deteriorated and the threats and put-downs intensified, the urges returned and Richard found the brief respite given by a dressing session when Anne was away a calming influence on his life. Of course, when he resumed his crossdressing, he did not feel able to tell Anne as she was the unwitting driving force behind his activities. For the rest of the week, there was a frosty atmosphere in the Williams household. Richard would have preferred her to say something so that they could at least discuss it more but knew that this of all things, was not a conversation he could initiate himself. Finally, after finishing dinner on the following Saturday evening, Anne broke her silence. "So, if I am ever to understand this 'hobby' of yours, I need to see what you find so interesting about it. Go upstairs and put that French maid's outfit on and let me see what you look like." "But, but..." Richard tried to protest but it was pointless. "No buts. If you don't want to share this with me, find somewhere else to live. And I want to see the whole effect and make sure you take as much care with your makeup as I'm sure you do when I'm not around." Richard went upstairs to start his transformation, hoping that it would help bring Anne round to the idea of him dressing from time to time. How wrong he was. After about 45 minutes Anne went upstairs to see how Richard was getting on and was pleased to see that he was in the final stages of applying his makeup. She went downstairs and turned the outside light on before opening the front door. A minute or two later, the couples from the five other houses in the road were quietly making their way over, intrigued to find out the surprise that Anne said she had for them. All they needed to do was to come over when they saw the light on and go into the house without making a noise. They knew that Richard's birthday had been a couple of days earlier so presumed it was a surprise party for him. Anne went upstairs again, just as Richard was getting up. Whilst he'd made a decent attempt at his makeup, in his maid's costume and platinum blonde wig, there was no disguising the fact that this was a guy dressed up as if to go to a fancy dress party. "Come downstairs to the lounge so that I can get a proper look at you," she commanded. She turned and returned downstairs followed a short time later by Richard, walking as fast as he could in his "stripper" heels. "Ladies and gentlemen, please let me present my new maid, Rose. Come on Rose, don't be shy and serve the drinks to everyone." Richard was mortified. How could Anne have been so cruel? He understood that the discovery of his secret crossdressing had been a shock to her and, despite everything, he should have been more honest with her but to humiliate him in this way was beyond understanding. As everyone burst out laughing, he wished the ground could have swallowed him up but with Anne's voice ringing in his ear, he had no option other than to obey. "Rose," she said firmly, "I asked you to get everyone a drink. I've told you before that, if you can't do your job properly, you'll have to find somewhere else to stay." And so Richard complied, his hand shaking as he poured each glass of wine in turn and receiving comments such as, "Oh, she's so pretty, where did you find her," from the ladies and, "Don't worry darling, if she sacks you, you can come and work for me," from the men. Finally, he got round to Emma and Ben, the newest couple on the development who'd moved in a few months before. As Richard passed them their drinks, Emma just looked at him and smiled as she thanked him. However, as he turned away, he felt Ben's hand smack him hard on the bottom. "Nice firm ass Rose, I bet it's seen some action." Richard was mortified but, thanks to Anne's continual veiled threats, he had no option other than to continue acting as the maid all evening. Fortunately, most of the teasing quickly subsided although Ben still seemed to think it was funny to make flirtatious remarks to him and Anne just carried on ordering her "maid" around. Finally, at 10:00pm, the last couple left and Richard's ordeal was over. Without saying a word to Anne, Richard went up to his room, closed the door and cried. His humiliation was now complete and how could he ever show his face to the neighbours again? Was the occasional dressing up session really worth what he had gone through tonight? As he finally drifted off to sleep, the only saving grace was that Anne was leaving early in the morning for a trip to Stockholm for the International Symposium on Forensic Science. At least he wouldn't have to see her till the following weekend although he knew that he wouldn't feel much like dressing while she was gone. ------ The following morning, he was woken by the door slamming shut followed by the sound of Anne's car driving away. The coast was clear so he got up and got his breakfast, not that he felt like eating much. He'd just finished when he heard the doorbell ring. Not in the mood for visitors, he ignored it but it rang again with the door being banged for good measure. Realising that his visitor wasn't going to go away, he opened the door and saw Emma standing there. "Hi Richard, I just came to check that you're OK. Can I come in please?" Richard took her into the kitchen and poured her a coffee. Emma spoke, "Richard, first of all, I wanted to apologise for Ben's behaviour last night. What he did was absolutely appalling and I was ashamed to be with him." Richard relaxed a little. "It's OK, it was no worse than I was getting from anyone else." "No, Richard. The way that Anne tricked you was bad enough but for everyone to join in with your humiliation was unacceptable. I hoped Ben was above that sort of thing but apparently not." Richard smiled and thanked Emma for being so kind - he'd not forgotten that she'd not joined in with the others when they were making fun of him the previous evening. Emma continued, "I guess from Anne's reaction that you haven't been able to talk to her about this so would you like to talk to me? This is all a bit new for me and I won't have all of the answers but I'll be a sympathetic ear and I won't tell a soul." So Richard told her everything, from his earliest memories of trying on his mother's clothes to being found out by Anne. When he'd finished, Emma started asking questions. "Why do you think you do it?" "To be honest, I don't know. It's not a sexual thing and it just feels calming when I'm dressed." "Do you want to be a woman?" "I'd be lying if I said it had never crossed my mind but to give you an honest answer, at the present time the answer is no. I'm happy as a guy and, to tell the truth, I wish this would go away but it never does. I sometimes think that I've managed to overcome it and then 'bam' - the tensions build and I'm back in the heels again." "Please feel free to refuse if you don't feel comfortable doing this but I'd like to see your things. Would you like to show them to me?" Richard was touched at Emma's kindness. She'd not been judgemental but had just listened while he talked. Why couldn't Anne have tried to understand him instead of humiliating him? He went upstairs and brought his suitcase down. They went into the lounge and, placing it on the coffee table, he opened it up. "Wow," gasped Emma as she went through the contents, "you've got quite an exotic collection here. Not the sort of stuff you'd wear to church is it?!" Richard blushed. "I know. I look longingly at the clothes in the normal shops but I've never been brave enough to go in and buy them in case someone sees me. I can get this stuff in the party shop and everyone just assumes it's for a stag night. It does the job and it's not as if I'll ever be going out in it." Emma thought for a moment. "Look, it's Sunday today. The shops will be open in a couple of hours so why don't I take you shopping for some more appropriate things?" "That would be really nice but what if someone I know sees me?" "They'll probably assume we're having an affair," laughed Emma, "but we can go further away if that worries you. There'll be more choice in the shopping centre anyway." "And what about Ben?" "Well he and I aren't speaking after last night but, anyway, he's got a week off and gone to see his parents up north. So is it a date, then?" ------ At 10:30, Richard saw Emma leave the house so he locked up and joined her in her car. 30 minutes later, they were parked at the large shopping centre and got to the front doors just as it opened. They made their way to the large department store at the far end and were soon in the ladies department. "So, who do you want to be?" asked Emma, "the power dressing professional woman? The mum at the school gates? The hippy chick? What's it to be?" Richard was bewildered. He'd never thought about it before. "I don't know," he stuttered. "Not to worry, let's wander round and look at the mannequins and tell me when you see something you like." They wandered round for about five minutes before Richard suddenly exclaimed - "Her!" Emma looked at the mannequin which was dressed in a mid-length dark coat over a yellow cowl-neck sweater teamed with black skirt a couple of inches above the knee and a pair of mid-heeled ankle boots and black opaque tights. "That's a bit different to the stuff you showed me earlier," Emma giggled, a little surprised. "I know. It's just that if I'm out and walk past a woman dressed like this, I really envy her. I love the dresses and high heels but, they always seem to be an unattainable fantasy. I can really imagine myself being out and about and feeling very feminine in this outfit." So, five minutes later and with Emma's help in gathering the various items, they were walking out of the department with two large carrier bags. The lingerie department was next for some more practical items of underwear than Richard had in his collection followed by cosmetics where Emma chose a range of suitable makeup items for him. They were about to leave the store when Emma exclaimed, "Oh, I nearly forgot, you need a better wig. I think they sell them downstairs." They went back into the store and Emma picked out a dark blonde mid length one with gentle curls that she felt would give Richard a more feminine appearance than the platinum blonde affair he had worn the previous evening. "Is that everything, shall we go?" asked Richard. "I think so but I've had an idea. Wait here for a minute with the bags." Richard did as he was asked and saw Emma talking to the wig assistant, a woman in her late 50s. After a couple of minutes Emma returned. "Come with me." Puzzled, Richard followed her past the assistant who pointed to the door saying "staff only." Emma walked through and Richard followed her into a store room. "What are we doing here?" "We or to be more precise, you, are getting changed." "But what if someone sees me?" Richard's old concerns had surfaced once again. "Most people will just see two women out together but if someone does realise that you're a guy, so what? This is the twenty first century and prejudices about this sort of thing are fast disappearing. Anyway, there are plenty of people here so you'll be quite safe." Richard could see the logic so whilst Emma looked the other way, he undressed and put on the new clothes. "Nice choice of outfit," commented Emma approvingly. "Now sit down while I do your makeup." Emma went for a day look. Nothing over the top, just the usual combinations of foundation, eyes, a bit of blusher on the cheeks and lipstick. When she'd finished, she reached into the bag and removed the wig. After shaking it, she carefully placed it over Richard's own hair, tucking in any errant wisps as she did. After a final check and a couple of adjustments, she told Richard she had finished and said he could check himself in the mirror by the door. He walked over to the mirror and took a look at himself. It was not a seismic transformation and anyone who knew him would not have been fooled. However, Emma had skilfully managed to soften his masculine features and most people would only see a couple of women out together. "All you need to do is to relax," Emma reassured him "feel comfortable in what you're wearing, act confidently and you won't draw attention to yourself. Women come in all shapes and sizes and I can honestly say that I wouldn't give you a second glance if I saw you in the street other than to admire your outfit. Now I'm getting hungry so let's go and get some lunch." "Good idea," agreed Richard. "Oh, one more thing. I can't call you Richard now. Have you chosen a female name for yourself?" "I've never given it any thought. I'm not sure but definitely not Rose!" "Rachel is a nice name. What do you think?" "It's a lovely name and not too far from my male name." "That's settled then so come on, Rachel, let's go and have some fun," she declared and after gathering up his things, they left the room and walked back through the wig department. The assistant smiled and nodded her approval as the two of them made their way to the food hall for lunch. Emma was right, no one gave them a second glance as they walked through the various shops in the centre or as they sat and ate their lunch. Finally, they decided to head home and, as it was winter and starting to get dark. "Rachel?" "Yes?" "Do you want to change before we go home or are you happy to stay like this?" Richard thought for a moment. "I'm so happy like this that I don't want it to end and, anyway, it'll be dark when we get back so no-one should see me." And so Rachel and Emma set off on the journey back to their houses. When they arrived home, Emma pulled up outside Richard's house to reduce the risk of anyone seeing him in his new clothes. He turned to Emma. "How can I ever thank you, it's been such a wonderful day?" "Seeing you happy again after what happened last night will do me just fine," replied Emma and after hugging each other, Richard thanked her again. "Look, while Ben's away, I can come over and help you learn your makeup skills if you like," suggested Emma. "I'd like that, thank you said Richard and maybe I can give you dinner in return?" "Wonderful - is 7:00 tomorrow OK with you?" Richard said it was and, with a final goodbye, ran into his house, hoping that no-one had seen him. ------ Every night that week, Emma came over to coach Richard on makeup skills and, by the end of the week, he was getting quite good. Thanks to Emma's tutelage, whilst he knew that he would never be mistaken for a real woman at close range, he understood how to use contouring and other tricks to soften his features. She was also surprised to see him answer the door in a new outfit on Wednesday." "I saw it in a shop window and decided I had to have it," Richard explained as Emma complimented him. As promised, every night Richard cooked Emma's dinner and, as they sat and ate, discussed a wide range of things from places they'd visited, films they'd seen and things they planned to do. Predictably, they also talked a lot about Anne and why Richard put up with so much from her. Saturday came all too soon and Richard's heart sank as he heard Anne's car on the drive. As she entered the house, it was obvious that she was determined to continue giving Richard a hard time over the cross dressing so, in the end, he gave up trying to reason with her and settled down to watch the television. As he looked over to Emma's house and saw Ben's car back in the drive, he was sad to think that there'd be no more makeup lessons and dinner with Emma, at least until both of their spouses were away at the same time again which would probably not happen for some time. In the end, when he could bear the frosty atmosphere no more, he went to his bedroom and, after reading for a while, fell asleep. On Sunday morning, Richard was awoken by the sound of the front door slamming. As he looked through the window, he saw Anne driving off and breathed a sigh of relief. He didn't know where she was going or how long she'd be but at least, while she was out, he'd get some respite so got up to make the most of her absence while he could. About half an hour later, the doorbell rang. He opened it to see Emma and invited her in. "Is Anne in?" "No, she went out about half an hour ago." "I thought I saw her go out but wanted to check. Where did you say she was last week?" "Stockholm. Why?" "Well Ben told me he'd gone to stay with his parents but I found this as I was taking his dirty clothes out of his case to wash." Emma handed him the piece of paper which read "Radisson Hotel, Stockholm." It was a hotel receipt addressed to Mr B Watkins. Although written in Swedish, they could see Rumsnummer 403; 22-28 nov. "I think that means room number 403," she declared, "are you thinking what I'm thinking?" "Yes, and you're right, Anne did stay at the Radisson. I think we should take a leaf out of her book and look for evidence that links her to the same room as Ben," replied Richard. It didn't take them long to find a room service receipt in Anne's bag again showing room 403 but this time made out in her name and signed by her. They sat on the bed and looked at each other. Emma was the first to speak. "I've had my suspicions for a few weeks. He's done this sort of thing before and I always know when he's up to something as he gets quite moody. I had no idea it was Anne this time, though." "To be honest, I didn't suspect a thing. I hardly see Anne these days and, given how unpleasant she is to me most of the time, there was no sign at all that she was seeing anyone behind my back," replied Richard. "So what should we do about it?" "Well, to be honest, I've had enough of her. The constant sniping and verbal abuse had already worn me down but after last weekend's humiliation and now this, I don't care if I never see her again." "I feel the same about Ben," agreed Emma, "if he wants to carry on with affairs with whoever he wants, he's welcome to do so but I won't be there to pick up the pieces the next time it all falls apart for him, which it inevitably will." They went back downstairs and Richard made them both a coffee. As they sat thinking what to do, Emma suddenly smiled. "I've got an idea," she started "I'm not sure how you're going to feel about it but I think it will give both of our spouses a dose of their own medicine." Emma explained her idea to Richard and promised him that she would make all of the arrangements. When she had finished, he just smiled and said "Let's do it." ------ At 5:30 the following Saturday, Richard's phone rang. After a quick chat, he said, "OK, I'll be there as quickly as I can," and explained to Anne that he'd been called into work following a severe IT failure. "You know we're going to Ben and Emma's at 8:00 tonight. Don't you dare embarrass me by coming in late or not bothering to turn up at all. You know how I feel about your work and you're just not senior enough to be at their beck and call like this." "I'll be there," he reassured her and, without a further word, left the house. Richard parked in a side road, a couple of hundred yards away and, after checking that the car couldn't be seen from the road, walked through the woods surrounding their cul de sac. He opened the gate to number four and walked across the garden to the back door. "Come in Richard." Bill and Karen were another couple in the gated development. They jointly ran a chain of successful beauty salons and, as they welcomed Richard into their kitchen, the three of them sat down for a coffee at the kitchen table. Karen spoke first. "Richard, firstly we both want to apologise for our behaviour a couple of weeks ago. It was, of course, a shock seeing you like that and I think we both took leave of our senses in joining in with your humiliation." "Thanks, that means a lot," smiled Richard. "Anyway Emma has told me everything and I'm happy to help however I can. As you know, we've got the salons and we do get guys in for makeovers from time to time. If you're in any doubt, then take a look at these." Karen opened the business website on her iPad and showed Richard two pictures, one of an ordinary looking man and one of a very attractive woman. "Who are they?" asked Richard. "Who is he you mean?" corrected Karen. "It's a before and after of the same person. Now, before we start, are you sure you want to go ahead with this." If Karen could make him look even half as good as the guy on the photographs, Richard knew the evening was going to be spectacular. "I've never been more certain of anything in my life!" he replied. Karen took Richard upstairs and instructed him to have a bath with plenty of scented bubble bath, shave all over and then put on the silk robe hanging on the back of the bathroom door. "Call me when you've finished," she instructed him. When Richard had finished his bath, Karen took him to the spare bedroom where, laid out on the bed was one of the most beautiful dresses he'd ever seen - a beautiful cobalt blue colour - and a pair of black suede court shoes with a four inch heel together with the usual assortment of underwear and hosiery. "Emma chose those for you," smiled Karen. Richard's heart missed a beat as he imagined wearing them but then a look of concern crossed his face. "What's the matter?" "The front of the dress looks a bit low cut and I'm not really built to fill it out if you know what I mean." "Oh, don't worry about that," reassured Karen, "I can work wonders with surgical tape and padding and, by the time I've finished, you'll believe they're real yourself!" And, with that, Karen set to work transforming Richard ready for the evening out. ------ By 8:00, Emma's house was starting to fill up. Anne had walked through the door on the dot of 8:00 asking, "Is my husband here yet," and then unleashing her usual torrent of criticism of his inadequacies as a husband. By 8:15, only Richard, Bill and Karen had still not arrived. Despite Emma's reassurances that their delay didn't matter, Anne was having none of it. "It's just typical of him, I can't trust him to do anything properly. He assured me that he would be here on time so where is he? It's just plain rude." A couple of minutes later, though, the doorbell rang and Karen & Bill were soon being greeted by everyone. "Have you seen anything of my useless husband?" Anne ranted. "Oh yes, he came with us. He's just taking his coat off and will be in in a minute." And then Richard walked into the room. As Karen had promised the average looking man had gone and in his place stood a beautiful woman, any hint that she was not what she seemed skilfully masked. The outfit looked even better on than when it was on the bed and the higher heel had sculpted Richard's freshly shaven and nylon encased legs to perfection. And as for the cleavage, Karen had promised that it would look real but what she had achieved was beyond belief giving the impression that Richard had sprouted a pair of D-cups overnight! But it was the makeup that really stood out. Thanks to Karen's skill, Richard's face now looked completely female with emphasised cheekbones, dark smoky eyes and deep scarlet lips. How she had done it without making him look like an over the top drag queen one could only wonder but here he was, standing in front of his neighbours looking every inch the glamourous woman. Emma, who despite already having seen Richard transformed into Rachel gasped with delight; whilst she knew that she had been able to turn Richard into a convincing woman able to blend into a crowd, Karen's skills with makeup were, quite simply, in another league. One by one, heads turned her way and, with gasps of admiration, the compliments started. "Oh my god, you look amazing." "We were told to expect the unexpected but nothing prepared us for how beautiful you look tonight." "The outfit, where did you get it? It's fabulous." "Where have you been hiding all this time?" "That dress colour sets of your eyes so beautifully." Richard just stood there, lapping up the praise and smiling. This was certainly a different reception to the one he'd received a couple of weeks earlier although, of course, everyone in the room had been briefed by Emma what was to happen to ensure that there were no unpleasant surprises. Well, nearly everyone. "RICHARD!" Anne shouted, her rage intensifying by the second. "What on earth are you doing?" "Actually Anne, I would prefer to be called Rachel tonight and, as for what I am doing, I am here because Emma invited me and I thought I'd dress up for a change." And then Ben butted in. "You know, after I saw you last week I was going to suggest you grew a pair of balls! I see you went for a pair of tits instead! Mind if I have a feel?" "That's enough Ben. I think Rachel looks absolutely gorgeous," said Emma to murmurs of agreement from the others in the room. Then Anne started up again. "Richard. We're going home now before you humiliate me any more." "No, I'm not leaving. And I told you, my name is Rachel," he replied. Anne became even angrier "Richard. If you don't come now, there'll be trouble. It's bad enough that you're such a weak man at the best of times but this is beyond the pale." And, at that point, Emma knew it was time to go in for the kill. "Anne, I'm really sorry to hear that Richard has been such a disappointment to you. Maybe you'd like a stronger, manlier man like my husband instead." "That's enough, babe, I'm not going anywhere," interrupted Ben. "Don't you dare 'babe' me and whilst you may think you're not going anywhere now, you certainly seem to have gone somewhere last week. How was Stockholm by the way?" And then, turning to Anne, she continued, "I hope he measured up to your standards but don't raise your hopes too much as he'll probably be bored with you in a month or two, just like he was with all of the others before you. Now, I want you both out of my house now." Anne was by now bright red with rage. She turned to Richard. "We're finished. You can now enjoy your dressing up as much as you want. But don't think you'll be leading a life of luxury from the divorce settlement - everything we have was bought with my money and I won't give you a penny." Then Tony, one of the other husbands who was a partner in a law firm spoke up. "Anne, you obviously don't know much about our divorce laws and I should also warn you that judges are particularly sympathetic in cases involving transgender parties. I think they're scared of being accused of discrimination so Rachel should expect a very good settlement to cover her future needs, including gender transition if that's what she decides she wants to do. Now of course, you could choose to contest the divorce but I hate to think what it would do to your reputation if people started finding out that you'd abused your husband so much that it had led to him contemplating changing gender." Tony's use of "Rachel" and "her" to describe Richard was deliberate as he knew that it would antagonise Anne even more. And just for good measure, he turned to Richard and added, "Rachel, I would consider it an honour if you would permit me to represent you in your divorce." That was enough for Anne who, without another word, stormed out of the house, slamming the door behind her. Emma turned to Ben. "You too. Your time is up so get out and don't come back. You can call me next week to arrange to pick up your things while I'm out and I'm sure Tony will be happy to guide me through our divorce too." "My pleasure!" chipped in Tony. As the door closed for a second time, the room erupted in laughter. Even Richard and Emma whose marriages had both ended a minute or so earlier were delighted in the outcome. "Come here and sit with us on the sofa, Rachel," urged Karen moving up to make space. She then continued, "Us girls are all going out together next Friday. Would you like to join us, Rachel? You can come round to mine beforehand so that I can give you a hand getting ready if you want." "That sounds lovely, I'd love to," came the reply. Then Emma added, with a twinkle in her eye that suggested that she was up to something. "I'm going shopping again tomorrow, fancy coming along? I'm sure we can each find a new outfit for the girl's night out. After all, we're both single now so, if we pick the right outfits, you never know what might happen!" Richard smiled, was Emma dropping hints that they may have a future together? Before he had time to think, Tony added, "Er Rachel. Richard and I were going to have a game of golf next Saturday. If you see him, can you ask him if he's still up for it?" "Oh, I'm sure he wouldn't miss it for anything," giggled Rachel, "but I'll ask him just to be certain!" And as Rachel smiled, the whole room smiled too. Justice had been done and acceptance was now complete. And, inside, Richard smiled too. Life seemed to be getting a whole lot better all of a sudden.