Theresa — Chapter 50

The Story So Far (TGF subscribers can read earlier installments): Terri (Theresa) is a post-op transsexual and aspiring actress in her twenties. Her early teen years are related in Juliet (the first volume of this trilogy) and her late teen years are presented in the second volume, Barbara. She has a boyfriend (Eddie Roberts) and she’s the biological father of a daughter, Jessica. She also has had two implacable opponents – her in-laws, Mr. and Mrs. Norris, who were attempting to gain custody of Terri’s daughter (their granddaughter). As Chapter 49 ends, the Norrisses have abandoned their custodial quest and are seeking Terri’s friendship and Terri has just received two bizarre simultaneous marriage proposals.

When I woke up again, I felt a little better, though still weak and hungry. I opened my eyes and looked around the room. No nurse, no Jessie, no Brad, no sign of life except Eddie, asleep in an uncomfortable-looking chair. I was so happy to see him – he always seemed to be there when I needed help. But my fiancé? That seemed ridiculous. It looked as if he were impervious to my girlish charms. Maybe he just showed up to help his old pal Alan. Maybe I’d have to take the initiative to find out just where I stood in Eddie’s scheme of things.

I sighed and called out to him, not too loudly. He stirred but didn’t open his eyes.

“Eddie!” I said again, a little louder.

This time he woke up. “Hi, Terri,” he said, getting up and walking over to my bed. “Look, I’m really sorry about all that stuff with Brad.”

“That’s all right.”

“No, it wasn’t. That nurse sort of egged us on. She said most girls never found themselves with two fiancés at one time, and we should make a little joke of it, just to amuse you.”

“That’s all right.”

“No, it wasn’t. It wasn’t a very good idea, was it?”

“No.”

“You weren’t amused, were you?”

“No. I thought it was kind of sophomoric.”

“Yeah, I can see how you would. I’m sorry.”

“When a girl gets a marriage proposal, she likes to have things a little more serious and a lot more intimate and romantic. Song-and-dance acts may be fine on the stage, but…”

“Yeah.”

I looked around the room. “There’s no one here but us. It’s a hospital room, but I’ve seen less romantic places.”

“Me too.”

“Of course, there’s no telling how long it will be just us.”

“You mean…?”

“Yes…”

He took my hand in his and knelt down on one knee. His eyes were brimming with love. “Terri, I love you so much. I adore you, and I have for years. Will you marry me?”

“Well…let me think…” I could see him start to deflate, and I realized that I needed to be serious too. “Yes, Eddie darling. Yes, I will.”

He took me in his arms and we kissed. I hoped I wasn’t wired up with something that would bring a couple of hundred nurses running from their nursing stations. “Oh, just a minute,” he said. “I knew I had something here for you.” He made a show of rummaging through his pockets, eventually extracting something that he placed on my left ring finger. I looked at the something. It was, of course, a ring – a wonderful, beautiful diamond engagement ring.

“Oh, Eddie. It’s absolutely gorgeous.”

“Not nearly as gorgeous as you are.”

“Oh, thank you. I just adore it. When did you get it?”

“About a month ago. I was planning on proposing in a couple of weeks, in more intimate and romantic surroundings…”

“This is just fine, darling.” I grabbed his ears and pulled his head down and kissed him until we both had to come up for air.

***

Eddie told me that he and Brad had become friends while they were roommates in the hospital’s carbon monoxide wing. “He’s not a bad guy,” Eddie said. “He’s just a little hyper about his novel.”

“I liked Brad,” I said. “I just thought he was going down the wrong track, and I didn’t care for the idea of being his villainess. He didn’t know he was writing about me, but he had it all wrong, and that novel wasn’t the way I wanted to be immortalized – as it would probably eventually have become public knowledge that I was his anti-heroine.”

“Well, he’s thrown it all away – or most of it – and he’s starting over. From what he told me, I think you’ll like this version of Terri much better than his first draft.”

“When you and Brad came in here with your song and dance routine, did he have a ring, too?”

“No. He was a little upset about that – he said it gave me an unfair advantage.”

“It didn’t. It couldn’t have. You had an unfair advantage, but it wasn’t this ring, as much as I love it. It was just you being you – Brad couldn’t match that.”

“Really?”

“Really, truly. We’ve been friends forever, but I finally realized that I’d gone beyond friendship and that you were the one I wanted to be with…forever.”

He pulled me into his arms and held me tightly. I closed my eyes in bliss, and when I opened them again, I saw Jessie and the nurse standing in the doorway. I waved my left hand at them.

“Oh, my god!” the Nurse said. “Is that what I think it is?”

“It sure is,” I said.

“Does this mean you’ve cut back from two fiancés?”

“You could say that – but I really didn’t have any fiancés at all until a few minutes ago, and now I’ve suddenly gone from none to one.”

***

All of my medical tests had come out satisfactorily and I was free to leave the hospital, the nurse told me.

“Where’s Assistant Nurse Jessie? Does she agree?”

“Yes; she’s gone home with the Norrisses. She was a little reluctant to leave you, but they promised her some ice cream…”

“Jessie can always be bribed,” I observed.

“Mrs. Norris wanted me to tell you that Jessie would be all packed and ready to go when you got to her house.” That was a relief – I’d been afraid for a moment that she’d changed her mind about abandoning the custody suit.

Jessie was indeed ready to go – several suitcases’ worth of readiness. We stuffed them into Eddie’s rental car, waved goodbye to Gramma and Grampa, and headed for Manhattan.

***

Mother was delighted to hear all the news – the end of the Norris custody suit, Jessie’s return, all carbon monoxide victims doing well, and a new son-in-law-to-be. “I’m so happy, Eddie,” she said. “I’d always hoped to have you for a son-in-law.” Eddie looked startled. “Oh, I’d hoped you’d marry Amy or Alice,” she said. “I somehow never thought about my fourth daughter…but, of course, that was before I knew I had a fourth daughter.”

“Mother!” I said, looking around for Jessie. “Little pitchers have big ears!”

Jessie was over in a corner with some of her favorite toys. “No, I don’t,” she said in a matter-of-fact tone. “I’m not a little picture – I’m a big girl, but I don’t have big ears.” I knew she could count to four, but I didn’t think she’d be able to associate four faces with four numbers.

Mother rolled her eyes, but Jessie didn’t seem interested in pursuing the fourth daughter question, so she changed the subject. “So, when’s the wedding?”

“I haven’t any idea,” I said. “We’ve only been engaged for about four hours, and we haven’t done much planning yet.”

“We haven’t done any planning yet,” Eddie said.

“Well, it’s never too early to get started. Large or small? Formal or informal?”

“Let’s see…I want a huge white gown and at least a dozen attendants I’m sure I can think of two or three hundred people to invite, if we can get all the theatres in town to shut down for a day. Eddie will want to invite a couple of hundred people, too – won’t you, dear?” I threw a large wink at him, and he went along with the game.

“Oh, yes,” he said. “At least.”

“Well,” Mother mused. “I think perhaps we’ll need to consult with the father of the bride. Have you told him yet?”

“No. I thought perhaps we could see him this evening.”

“I think he’s between plays right now, so he might be home. How about your parents, Eddie? Are they pleased?”

“That’s a good question,” Eddie said. “They don’t even know yet, but I don’t think ‘pleased’ will be quite the right word. ‘Horrified,’ maybe. Well, I’ve thought about this a lot over the last month or so, and I think I have a way to handle them. But we can start the wedding planning anytime. Terri and I will be married, as long as she’s still willing, regardless of what my parents have to say.”

***

I called Dad’s apartment to see if he and Ivy were going to be home that evening. They were, so I invited myself over for a visit. I said I had several pieces of news to tell them about. I didn’t mention Eddie, but when he followed me into their apartment, Dad and Ivy exchanged a very significant look that made me think that some of our news might no longer be particularly newsworthy. “Oh, what a lovely ring!” Ivy said from twenty feet away, so I trotted across the room to give her a better look. The conversation immediately turned to weddings, wedding dates, wedding gowns, invitees, attendants, and so on and on.

It had been fun to tease Mother, but the Father of the Bride was not to be trifled with. We told him that we hadn’t had time for any real planning, but the guest list would be reasonable, the wedding gown white but not terribly voluminous, and the only for-sure attendant would be Jessie the Flower Girl (though we’d probably add six or eight more).

When we got back to my apartment, we found that Amy and Alice had become temporary roommates to free up a guest room for Eddie. Everyone was asleep, and so were we a few minutes later. Even the thought of the probable face-off with Eddie’s parents wasn’t quite terrifying enough to keep me awake.

To Be Continued

Category: Fiction, Transgender Fun & Entertainment