Chapter 13

Pete reported back to John Gladstone with the statements from all three guys who lied about Shirley's pregnancy. They all pointed the finger at Bill Lambert's mother. He was glad that he didn't have to make the decision about what to do with this. The final decision about how to handle this evidence was up to his client so he posted the statements with his report on how the evidence had been obtained. Despite the fact that pressure had been put on at least one of the people concerned, he felt that the evidence was conclusive and totally reliable. He stressed this in his conclusions of the report and signed it.

I received my private eye's report including the evidence that the lies spread about Shirley's pregnancy were put about by Bill Lambert's mother. I knew what I wanted to do with them. I wanted to confront the colonel with this evidence so that Shirley was seen as the innocent victim in the persecution that followed. I realised though, that this could well estrange mother and son. I felt however the final decision should be up to Shirley as to whether or not this can of worms should be reopened in the here and now. So I called a family conference and confessed what I had done regarding the events of seventeen years ago

When Shirley and Ginny gathered with me over coffee in the kitchen later that day I presented the evidence that John Gladstone had obtained. Shirley was amazed that all three boys had confessed to lying. I pointed out to her that the statements had been given in the knowledge that we would not be bringing any action against the colonel. We were not seeking maintenance of his daughter over the past sixteen years. They would merely be used to vindicate Shirley and show how unjustly she had been treated. Apart from being shown to Colonel Lambert to make him aware of how he had been duped they would remain confidential. So even if the colonel himself made it clear that he had been lied to and that Shirley had been telling the truth and then acknowledged Ginny as his daughter he was unlikely to want the knowledge of what his mother had done to become common knowledge.

I also told them that detective Gladstone had been in touch with the colonel and was under the impression that the colonel had for some time suspected that his mother was behind the estrangement between himself and Shirley. He also suspected that Ginny was in fact his daughter. As Shirley seemed to have disappeared, he felt that it would serve no useful purpose to seek her out, especially as he had been married at the time and was the father of two more daughters. He had therefore taken no steps to find out what happened to them or where they were.

As I concluded the recitation of these facts, I asked Shirley how she felt on the matter and where she would like to go from here. A few months ago Shirley would have flown into a rage at the revelation of these things and screamed about the injustice that had been done to her. Now, however, she sat in contemplative silence for a while and then she said,

"I don't really know what I want. Since I saw the television programme I have been reflecting on what happened more objectively. It seems to me that Bill was in some ways a victim of his mother in the same way I was. It did not have the disastrous financial consequences for him that it had for me. The hurt he felt at my alleged betrayal must have been really painful for him, because I truly believe that at that point we were madly in love and were planning a future together. When we hurt like that, as I well know now we tend to lash out at the person we believe caused the hurt. That is what he did to me when he called me a whore and refused to marry me. But Ginny has to be considered in this too. She has a right to get to know her father if she wants to and I won't stand in the way of that."

Ginny looked at her mother and said, "I am just like you mum, I don't know what I want. Part of me wants to speak to my father and to get to know my half sisters, but I would not do this if it was going to bring more pain to you. Perhaps we need to ask Gibby where he thinks this should go since he has gone to so much trouble to bring out the truth of what happened all those years ago."

With this statement I felt that the ball had firmly been placed in my court once again.

"When I started these investigations," I said, "I merely wanted to have the evidence that would vindicate Shirley and prove your parentage Ginny, for I felt we all need to know where our roots lie. However after reading the report, I have provisionally arranged that I should meet with the colonel and present our evidence to him. I suspect that he will want to take matters further anyway and that sooner or later he will contact Ginny to see if he can make amends for the way he has treated her and you Shirley. It would be preferable that this was done with all our consent and not forced upon us by actions outside our control. Would you both agree with that?"

"What do you mean it being forced upon us?" Shirley asked.

"I think we now have conclusive proof, even without DNA testing that Ginny is the colonel's daughter," I said. "If we present that proof to him, he may well insist on seeing his daughter and having contact with her. If he goes to court to enforce that right he may not succeed as Ginny is old enough to decide for herself. In any legal action, however, there is always some doubt about outcomes, and until Ginny is eighteen there is a possibility that she could at least be forced into some kind of reconciliation counselling." The colonel's standing and wealth is not a matter we can afford to overlook. As a wise old Englishman once said, it is better to jaw, jaw, rather than war, war."

"So you think we should talk with him?" Ginny asked

"In the first instance I think I should keep that appointment with him and find out which way the wind is blowing and then we will be in a better position to make decisions."

"What Kind of decisions?" Shirley asked.

"Whether some kind of reconciliation is possible for all of us or just some us," I said. "It may be that it would be possible that you, Shirley would agree with Ginny having contact but prefer not to be involved with him yourself. On the other hand it is possible that you would feel able for Ginny's sake to have some degree of contact, loose or otherwise. We can only ascertain that when we know where he stands and when you both have considered his position on the matter."

After some thought Ginny and her mother both agreed that I should meet with the colonel once the exams were over and school had wound down.

May gave way to June and we went through the hurly burly of exams. At the same time, Ginny and her mother were busy shopping for the accessories to Ginny's prom dress and arranging for hairdressers and beauty treatment appointments. I was kept in the dark regarding most of this and would only see her in all her glory when I went to pick her up from her mother's flat. She would be well attended in her preparation for the event as Mags and Shirley's new friend from college were all on the preparatory committee. I, of course had been left to book the statutory Limousine. Since it was accepted that we were sexual partners I also booked a place in a hotel where the gang could meet afterwards. I also booked double rooms for those friends who like us were in a relationship in case they wanted them.

When the exams were over Ginny and I were both pretty confident that we had done well. Now we just had to wait for the results. On the night of the prom I walked across to her mother's flat and went upstairs. In the sitting room I was greeted by Jim, Mags and Flora, Shirley's friend. Jim and Flora were both armed with cameras. Jim told me that Shirley was just helping to put the final touches to Ginny's hair and makeup. I paced nervously round the sitting room in my tux until at last the door of the bedroom opened and my girl walk out into the corridor, As I looked through the sitting room door and saw her move towards me she took my breath away. Her red hair was piled high on her head and her slimmed down face was made up to perfection. Her dress hugged her body and accented the beauty and fullness of her breasts and the v at the neck showed enough cleavage to be exciting.

She was altogether a different shape from the young woman I had started courting almost nine months ago. She was no fashion model but had a tall, very womanly figure with curves in all the right places. When you live with someone day by day, you do not notice so much the changes that are wrought in them by sensible eating and exercise. In that dress and with her beautiful red hair styled and adorned with a tiara styled clip to keep it in place it was brought home to me very forcibly that tonight I would be dancing with one of the loveliest girls in the hall. I went to meet her and handed her the corsage which her mother helped pin to the shoulder of her dress and then I took her hand in mine, and said,

"Ginny you are so beautiful, you take my breath away."

She looked at me and gave me a radiant smile and then said, "Good, that was the plan, but you are looking good yourself in that Tux stud. I was half expecting full highland regalia."

"Not tonight," I told her, "I would not want anything to distract people from the beauty of my fiancé. Had we been in Scotland where it would have been appropriate, I would have welcomed the chance to wear it"

The obligatory photographs were taken and when at last everybody felt they had enough I took her hand and led her downstairs to our awaiting Limo. When we arrived at the table to sit with Penny, Jimmy, Jake and Silvia, Jake let out a low whistle then said to Ginny

"Wow! I knew you were losing weight Ginny but I did not realise you had become such a gorgeous dame. Dressed like that you are going to turn a few heads tonight."

Ginny blushed and said,

"Why thank you Jake, I have been working hard to shed the pounds."

Jake's right," said Sylvia, "You really are looking very dishy. It is a good job you are taken or there would be a stampede of boys around this table."

Ginny was unused to these kind of compliments and was looking a bit embarrassed, so I laughed and said,

"I kept telling her she had the potential to be a femme fatale, right from the start of our relationship, but I don't think she believed me. I think I can safely say, tonight she has proved me right, so may I have this dance my lady."

Ginny took my hand and I led her onto the floor. Jimmy and Jake danced with her and I danced with Penny and Sylvia several times, but one or two other guys from our classes came over and asked Ginny to dance also. I think all of them made her blush by complimenting her on her transformation. By the end of the night, I think she was both delighted and amazed by the compliments she had received from many of the people who knew her to talk to, boys and girls alike.

When we got back to the hotel snacks and drinks were laid on and we sat and chatted until Jake and Sylvia stood up and thanked me for my hospitality and said they were going to bed. Penny took Jimmy's hand and said her thank you to us and left for their room too. Ginny looked over at me and said,

"That just leaves you and me Gibby, and I am going to take you to our room and then I am going to demand that you expound every last bit of energy you have to make me even happier than I am now. I can't believe what happened tonight was real. When you said I could be beautiful I did not believe you, but you have helped me to make it happen."

I laughed and pulled her to me and said,

"You have no idea how happy that last part of your statement makes me."

"What do you mean?" She asked.

"You just said that I helped you to make it happen," I told her.

"Well you did," she said.

"Yes I did," I agreed, "but you also gave yourself the credit for making it happen. A few months ago you would not have done so. It is not only your appearance that has changed sweetheart, you have grown in confidence too and I love you more and more every day because of it."

"Gibby McThomas," she said. "Much as I love your compliments, are you going to stand here and talk to me, or are you going to take me to bed and show me how much you love me?"

Well, no man could resist that kind of challenge from a very beautiful red head. I took her hand and led the way to our room. As soon as we got through the door and shut it behind us she was on me, kissing me with a passion greater than ever before. As we broke the kiss, she turned away from me and said,

"Unzip me darling I want you inside me and I want to feel your hard cock thrusting into my hungry pussy."

In no time we were naked and to my surprise she dropped onto all fours in front of me and waggled her ass at me and said,

"No foreplay Gibby darling, I don't need it. My pussy has been wet all night just waiting for me to get you alone. I want you this way because I feel like a bitch in heat so fuck me please. We can make love later"

I wasn't going to turn down and invitation like that I grabbed her hips from behind and reaching back with one hand she positioned my cock against her entrance and with a single thrust I was inside her and she gave a little squeal of delight. Her remarks and her reaction to my entrance made me feel that she was indeed my bitch in heat and I was her mate and I pounded into her wanting to plant my seed in her and imagining that it would go straight to her womb and fertilise her waiting egg. It was a very primitive and animalistic feeling and I was straining every muscle to penetrate her as deeply as I could. As my lust rose so did her squeals and then she was crying for it harder and faster.