Chapter 3
And so, within the privacy of our Kingsway apartment, we started on a delicious new road to the future. A steep learning curve for me, but all of it wonderful, with Rachel critic and teacher (and even more ardent lover) every step of the way. Things I thought I’d worked out for myself had to be learned all over again. Always something else. Every day, as soon as I got home, male drab was joyfully discarded and I would become Diane for the evening. Right at the start, rather like an episode of “What Not To Wear”, Rachel pitched almost all the pieces of feminine clothing that for years I had lovingly concealed in a nondescript suitcase. Then at weekends we would go shopping — Rachel and Jeff — to buy dresses, blouses, jackets, skirts, lingerie, boots, shoes and accessories, supposedly for Rachel but really for Diane. We developed a system of me slipping into the changing room while Rachel stood outside. Anything we took home that couldn’t be modified to fit, we returned and exchanged. Modifications were often necessary, even if the 16-18 sizing was approximately right. Rachel was an excellent seamstress and Diane became quite good at it too.
And with all this came a welcome end to that distress about arms and legs. At last I could have the clean smooth body I’d wanted for so long.