Reborn: The Boy Who Discovered He Wasn't

Chapter Eighteen

Reborn: The Boy Who Discovered He Wasn't
By sabrynabrooklynne

CHAPTER 18

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Meanwhile, back at home James had gotten up, cleaned the house and decided he was ready to talk to Rebecca about the doctor's visit, so he gave her a call.

"What's up Becca? Wanna go swimming?"

"You bet I do, Jessica. You ready to talk to your bestest-friend-in-the-whole-wide-world about what the doctor said?"

"Well, actually, yeah, I am."

Rebecca squealed. "Yay! Well hurry up and get over here before you change your mind."

"I'll meet you by the pool in ten minutes. Unlock the gate." James then hung up his cell phone and quickly gathered what he needed.

He quickly chose one of his new bathing suits, a backless one piece. Actually, it was more of a two piece that tied together on either side of his waist. It had a huge oval gap in the front between the small bright yellow top with wide shoulder straps and the high-waisted teal bottom.

Hr carefully tucked his tiny penis back, to give the suit a smooth front, then checked his profile in the mirror. Taia still didn't know his secret and he didn't want her to find out like that.

Over the suit, he pulled on a thin, shoulder shawl cover-up and slipped his feet into a pair of 3 inch thick soled, fluorescent pink flip-flops with a huge neon pink daisy on top of each foot.

After writing his mom a note on the touchscreen-front panel of the refrigerator, he headed out the door and across the park.

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Still standing there, while Mr. Williams and Raymond continued to talk, Carol had a hundred things running through her head.

"Mr. Williams. While this all sounds amazing, it's not a decision I can make lightly. It does appear that everyone here is on-board and I appreciate your vote of confidence. Can we go back to your office and go over the personal financial details and then I'll let you know where I stand and give you a decision of whether or not to take your offer."

"Carol, I would expect no less. I want you to give it some thought before you decide, but don't take too long. I want to be able to have your designs on the runway in Milan, for Fall Fashion Week in 24 days. Raymond, take her to your office and let her know what we're willing to do for her."

"Thank you, Mr. Williams, Raymond, everyone." Carol nodded at everyone, picked up her bag and headed for the door, following Raymond.

As she walked down the hall she could hear a buzz of excited discussion starting to happen back in the conference room.

Mr. Williams knew that he and Raymond had already run the numbers. Her designs would sell, there was no doubt about that. The question yet to be answered was if they would sell enough to make the new label as profitable as the company's current offerings.

The market research he had run last week was far from conclusive, but the preliminary results indicated that the company would grow tremendously if Carol allows them to produce her designs. He was willing to bet the company on that research.

He had already told his son to have a contract drawn up. She would be in charge of her own clothing label - EstroHaus Designs, she would even be in charge of her own marketing team and get to use her choice of models.

Likewise, she would receive a modest salary, but in addition, she would also become forty-nine percent owner of the new line, which would be an entirely new company under Velheim and she would receive eight percent royalties from all her designs, in perpetuity. This would drive her to work harder to make her works a success.

This was a better offer than any Raymond had ever seen anyone offer. Still not as good as he felt he should be offering her, but he had done as his father asked him to.

An hour later, Carol was ready to go home. Walking out of Raymond's office, the last thing she told him was, "You let him know that it all sounds good, but one thing, I won't do it for anything less than fifty-one. You got that? Not forty-nine or even fifty, no less than fifty-one."

Carol exited the building and got into her car. She had so much to think about as she made the drive home.

When she got to the house, James wasn't anywhere to be found. Wondering where he was, Carol glanced at the fridge and saw that James had left her a message:

---Mom, I am writing you this cause I know you will probably forget to call. I'm going to Becca's house. I'm ready to talk to her about yesterday's doctor's visit. When you get this, call me and we can go to lunch. I love you with all my heart, Jessi.---

After she read the message she told herself either someone else had written the note or Jessica must have written it very slowly and deliberately. Not only was it neater than anything she had ever seen her child write but the letters were also rounder, more bubbly.

And wait a minute . . . Jessi? "She's never called herself Jessi before," Carol told herself, out loud.

She smiled, "I like it. And the heart for a dot over the letter I, too."

Carol thought about what she was observing with the girly handwriting and the name and decided to let Jam-, er, Jessica stay at Rebecca's for a while longer. They could go out for dinner, later. Besides, she had a lot to sort out and just wanted to be alone right now.

Carol grabbed a spoon out of the drawer and headed into the living room to sit on the couch with a half-gallon of her favorite chocolate ice cream with marshmallows and chunks of fudge.

Kicking her heels off onto the floor, she curled her legs up beside herself and lightly stroked one of her silky hose covered legs with the back of her fingernails, gradually causing a sensation up her leg that triggered a warmth to began building in her groin. She took a bite of the ice cream and began to ponder all that Mr. Williams was offering her.

She knew that what she was being offered was better than she would be able to do on her own starting out. She also knew it included using Jessica as the face of the clothing line.

The more she thought about it all the more excited she became, but then a thought occurred to her. What if Jessica decided that being a female fashion model wasn't what she wanted at all? What if she decided she wanted to live the rest of her life as a boy?

Thinking about everything Jessica was going through and the decision she was facing, Carol began to tear up. Blurry eyed from the tears, she picked up a framed photo of her late husband Shaun, with her and little James, just five years old at the time. Clutching the photo tight against her breast, she began to think about how Shaun never came home after that picture was made, but she saw him every time she looked at their child.

Jessica had Shaun's reddish-blond hair and emerald green eyes. She had the same cute upturned nose that he had so hated on his own face but made him such a beautiful man. She had his sense of humor and his will to see whatever he started, finished right to the end, no matter how good, bad or ugly it was.

There was nothing more precious in her life now and she wanted, more than anything, for Jessica to be happy regardless of what her final decision was.