I normally set my stories in the UK (cos I'm familiar with all the terminology) but for a change I thought I'd write a short story set in the US, in LA to be precise. I normally don't like posting first drafts but I figure that maybe I could post significant redrafts as they're done and perhaps get some feedback on what works and what doesn't work.
Amber's Story
by Rachel Redhead
Amber had reached the point where she couldn't go on living a lie anymore, the pain and misery of being stuck in the wrong stupid body was just too much for her to bear anymore. She'd been in therapy for three years now, since surviving that stupid suicide business when she realised just how much that she wanted to live.
To her parents though she was just the pale copy of their golden child, her twin brother Alistair who got all the good grades and the scholarship package. Everything she heard from her parents was "why aren't you as good as Alistair?" and "Alistair's got a scholarship, why didn't you work hard for one?" She just wanted to scream at them to shut the <not allowed> up, she had serious issues to deal with that had stopped her being able to concentrate on her school work, that geography just wasn't as important as all the self-loathing about her body which she could barely cope with at the best of times.
To the outside world she was plain old Arthur Delaware McFarlane, an identity so wrong she had known since as long as she could remember that she was a girl not a boy. She was nothing like her brother but with all the stupid pressure to be like her brother, a constant, endless, relentless, non-stop force from not just her parents but the whole of society, was it any wonder that any child in need of love and comfort would do what was necessary to get what she needed, even pretend to be someone else?
Finally though the day had come, all her talks about bravery and acceptance with her therapist had let her accept who she really was inside, she was Amber though and through and the need to bloom like a flower, to live her life as it should be lived was just too much to ignore anymore. The upcoming party for her parents wedding anniversary was the perfect moment for her to reveal her true self to the world, either they'd rally round and support her or they could all go to hell, she was going to live her life her way, because it was her life, no-one else's.
The party was held in the garden and nervously Amber took the microphone, she'd worn gender neutral clothing especially, gotten her hair done in a modern style that was just on the feminine side of androgynous and she'd shaved her whole body again just so that she felt that little bit more assured in her femininity. "Hi, can I have your attention please?" This was it, the moment of truth, no going back now girl. "I'd like to wish my parents, Opal and Anthony, a happy wedding anniversary; they deserve to celebrate this special day with their family and all their friends who love them." Suddenly Alistair took the microphone from her.
"Thanks for that Arty." Alistair said with a smile. "I too just want to say thank for having me and my brother and putting up with both of us during our highs and lows and I love you both very much which is why I have to tell you all now, to tell the whole world that I'm gay and I need you all to know that this is just one part of my life, I'm still the same guy I always was."
Amber was stunned for a moment, glad for her brother but also angry that he'd stolen her thunder and feeling selfish for thinking that her issues had any more value than his. She walked off, back into the house and into her room. She unlocked her secret wardrobe, the one where she kept all her female clothes and began to put them all into a suitcase, she had decided to go with her back up plan, it was too late to come out now, it would seem like a plea for attention and no-one would believe her, so she decided to move out into her private house.
Her father was a very rich businessman, but he made a lot of shady business deals and Amber had spent a month working in his office as the supervisor for his deals and it hadn't been difficult to use his money to buy up a small apartment block. She'd done it through a fake business set up for this sort of thing; everything was in her real name and off the real books. She had the deed in her name too and she used more of her father's money, a pittance really, he wouldn't miss it because all of it was done illegally through his own criminal channels, he couldn't accuse her of breaking the law without admitting he'd broken the law too. The apartment block was renovated, to a modest standard, though she'd had one room set aside for herself. Everything was channelled through the building superintendent, a very capable and honest man, his pay also came through her father, not so much he felt hard done by but not so much it was noticeable.
Amber loaded all three suitcases into her car and drove off before the party started, the only male clothes she had left were the ones she was wearing and after letting herself into her apartment by the secure side stairwell did she cast off the remains of her wrong life and finally begin to live honestly and openly. She had a shower, a proper one, with all her favourite body washes and herbal shampoo. She then shaved herself again, taking good care to do her armpits and calves. Once she was clean she patted herself dry before moisturising her skin with a scented moisturiser, gone were the days of using an unscented brand, the more feminine she treated herself the more feminine she felt about herself. It was late and so she pulled on a simple pair of panties and a nightdress, before putting night cream on her face. She looked at her reflection in a mirror and saw the beginnings of her real self in it. "My life, my rules." She smiled and got into bed, she hugged her large teddy bear for comfort and finally allowed herself to cry and let out all her tears.
Alistair walked into his brother's room and looked around, "there's a few things missing that I can see right away."
"This wardrobe's empty." Anthony said, "looks like he took clothes with him, so he's took off for a while."
"It can't be because I came out, can it?" Alistair had been sure his twin would back him up all the way.
"I doubt it honey." Opal said to her son. She saw that one of the few remaining hangers was from a women's' clothing store and the shoe racks were all wrong for men's' shoes, plus the patterns left in the light layer of dust looked exactly like the ones her own heels made. "I think Arthur was going to say something too, you just got there first, it's not your fault, you weren't to know. We'll just have to wait until Arthur gets in contact with us." Her mind was reeling, she'd always wanted a girl, she'd spent hours and hours with Arthur when he was little, he'd always been closer to her, he'd wanted to wear her make up and jewellery when he was really little, until Anthony had found out about it and put a stop to it. Now she found herself wondering and hoping that what she suspected was in fact true.
"Your brother is always acting up." Anthony said to his favourite son. "Remember when he wanted to grow his hair long? He fought like crazy; I had to drag him down to the barbers so he got his hair cut like a man, he wouldn't sit still and cried the whole time."
"Arthur's always been the sensitive one." Alistair said. "Remember when Charlie died, he cried for the whole week."
Opal had heard enough and was about to leave when she spotted something peaking out from under the mattress, she quickly diverted her husband and son. "Can you two do a double check of the other wardrobe; see if Arthur took anything from there?" She picked up what turned out to be a journal and she slipped it behind a cushion she had just picked up. She made a big deal of smelling it "it smells like him." She walked out the room and went to her own office where she locked it away in her bureau before taking the cushion up to the main bedroom, she planned the hug it all night long while she worried about her favourite child.
Amber awoke feeling far happier than she had ever done before in her life. She slid out of bed and pulled on her favourite silk kimono on, she had a lot to do; she needed to get hormone treatment and a zillion other things such as a new driver's licence and she had to ditch her old car. She'd long suspected that her parents had lojacked it and needed to get rid of it now before they traced her. She gave herself a quick shower and carefully put on a light make up for the day, just something simple and feminine. She hated having to glue the breast prosthetics into place but until she got her own real ones they'd have to do, her bra kept them in place and would give her upper body the curves that should already be there. She wore her favourite padded panties too over semi-opaque pantyhose, the ones that made it look like she had a vaguely female butt, then she pulled on a simple summer dress and then picked up her purse, filling it with what she needed.
Amber drove to the long term car park across town and paid for a six month deal, where they'd lock the car up in a secure container. The metal container might just keep the lojack signal from being traced, though if they found it she had another, cheaper, car she'd bought herself and had stashed in the same location, perhaps not the wisest idea but she found her other car and liberated it, paying the early release fee in cash. She then drove to her therapist's office for what was bound to be a heavy session, good job she'd brought her emergency make up kit with her and some tissues for drying her eyes with.
Arthur hung up the phone. "The police say it's too early to report Arthur as a missing person, especially as he has a history of taking off with friends without any notice."
"None of Arty's friends know where he is." Alistair said sharply. "They said he was withdrawn recently, depressed, like he had the weight of the world on his shoulders. It's all my fault, I'm the high flying successful one, obviously he tried to match me and couldn't live up to what was really just good luck and being in the right place at the right time. Arty's much better at doing his paintings and he's a certifiable genius with a computer, he's your business heir easily dad, you know how well he did with that placement you got him in the office."
"Yes." Anthony had realised that Arthur had gotten very close to uncovering the secret to the family business, the very shady business deals he made with questionable people. "He did very well." Could his son have uncovered the truth? Had he done a runner because he didn't want to be involved in criminal activities? He couldn't have uncovered anything, no-one could be that good at concealing something so important for such a long time, could they?
Opal started to read the secret journal of Amber and her heart broke anew with every page that she turned. "Oh Amber, if only you could have told me, my precious darling baby girl."
Amber told her therapist everything that happened at the party. "I'm proud of Al for coming out really I am, it's just, his timing could have been better, but then how could he know what I was planning? I should have told him first, in private, I just felt so angry, at myself, at him, at my parents, at the world, I'd planned everything perfectly and my thunder was taken from me."
"Sure. Do you still want to tell them?"
"I don't care anymore, I left home, I'm out of their lives and they're out of mine. I wish things could have gone the way I planned it but they didn't and I was going to move out anyway, I just brought that forward."
"So you don't have a support network to help you with your transition?"
"I still have my girlfriends in the trans community, they said they'd support me all the way, they know I'm one of the girls."
"What about money? How will you support yourself?"
"I still have money of my own, a private bank account in my real name. I'm a land lady to an apartment complex in town, that's enough to keep me going for now. I also plan to get an evening job as a barmaid at a trans bar, my friend Sapphire knows someone who'll pay me cash in hand, which is useful to me because I want an untraceable source of money."
"This all sounds a little shady to me Amber, do you want to be a crook?"
"I want to put on parties for my friends, that costs money and I'm not old enough to go into a shop to buy booze, but if I buy wholesale cash in hand then it's no questions asked."
"Are you worried that your old drinking problem may reoccur, that you could relapse?"
"Every day, but my drinking was because I was in denial, as soon as I accepted who I really am I got sober, I've not had a drink since our first session, when you told me that you accepted me as I really am."
"That's good to hear. I'm going to prescribe you a course of feminising hormones, just a light treatment to begin with, to see how you go with them. It's important to monitor you regularly, to see if they're suitable for you or not. Everyone has their own unique tolerances and what's perfect for one may not be enough for another, or too much."
"I want this so much, but I want to live too, there's no point transitioning if it kills me and I can't enjoy becoming even more feminine."
"That's a very healthy attitude Amber."
Anthony went over his business accounts VERY carefully, he couldn't see anything amiss, everything seemed normal, which made him feel relieved, until he realised that overall there was a 0.01% loss against the expected gains, not normally noticeable at all, especially in a recession, but it just felt wrong, then he came to the startling realisation, someone was embezzling money from him! It took a lot of digging, whoever had done this had hidden their trail very well, they used the same illegal connections and shell companies that he did, only even more so, they were actually better at covering their trail than he was, which disturbed him a great deal. It all led to the purchase of an apartment block, the name on the deed was encrypted, other money had been siphoned off into a secret numbered account in a foreign country, which would be impossible to trace but he had some very strong suspicions about who was responsible, as he recalled Alistair's words about his brother being a computer genius.
Amber met Sapphire, Ecstacy, Saffron and Emerald at Fantasia. "Good afternoon ladies."
"Amber, you made it." Sapphire exchanged kisses and hugs with her BFF. "You're two drinks behind, but don't pout, Emerald's a drink behind too."
"How did it go with your therapist?" Saffron asked Amber as she took her seat.
"He gave me the magic girly juice." Amber grinned. "I am officially hormonal."
"Congratulations girl." Sapphire said.
"About time." Ecstacy added.
"We always knew you're one of us." Saffron agreed.
"How did it go with your parents?" Emerald wondered. "Are they supporting you?"
"That did not go well at all ladies." Amber paused to order herself her first drink of the day, a Shirley Temple, the others knew about her drink problem and made sure that she stuck to alcohol free drinks. "In fact in the whole history of coming out it was spectacularly bad."
"Did they reject you hun?" Saffron asked.
"Did they throw you out of the house?" Emerald worried that may be the case, because her own parents had thrown her out when she came out to them as trans.
"I didn't even get the chance to tell them." Amber explained. "I had the mic, I was about to say the words when my brother grabs the mic off me and tells everyone he's gay!"
Sapphire burst out laughing. "Oh that's bad hun, hilariously bad." She gave Amber a hug. "I told you to come out to your brother first, but you can't blame him for not knowing your situation and wanting to come out himself."
"I know." Amber said. "I'm proud of him, I always have been, it was my father that tried to make everything so competitive, he wanted two perfect clones of himself, well it looks like his actions have backfired on him." She finished her drink and ordered herself another. "At least I'm finally out to those I love most, you lot, my girlfriends."
"We've always had your back, Amber, I knew from the moment I saw you checking me out you weren't perving over me, rather you were checking my clothes out and imagining yourself wearing them, it's a skill I have." Ecstacy hugged Amber again. "Here's to us, ladies, long may we be as feminine as we can be."
"Listen, why don't we organise an official coming out party?" Saffron suggested. "Amber's been out to us for years but she needs to make her official debut."
"That's a great idea." Emerald agreed. "We need to organise a proper birthday party girl, cos we love parties and you're the girl on honour."
"Sounds perfect." Sapphire said with a smile. "Now we just need to freshen up, come along Amber, we need the little girls' room."
"Of course." Amber followed her BFF into the ladies loo where she examined her make up in the large mirror. "I checked myself in my compact after my appointment, I was expecting a complete mess, I mean I was all tears and self pity for a good two hours."
Sapphire looked sternly at her best friend and spoke to her as only a best friend could. "You know you've got to tell them don't you honey? Your parents. They deserve the chance to meet their daughter. Most of us are here in LA because our folks didn't accept us, you're the local girl with the rich parents, but none of us can help the manner of how we got here, we've come together as friends to love and support each other, always and forever."
"You're right, Saph, I just need to time pull my stuff together, be myself for a while, discover if I can stand being me 24/7. I just don't want them thinking that it's some silly drama I'm acting out to one up Alistair. You're so right, I should have spoken to him long before now, he's always been there for me and I want to be there for him."
"That's why I'm your big sister as well as your BFF." Sapphire smiled. "I always know what's best for everyone."
"I know." Amber replied. "Do you want to come with me? I'm going to get my name changed legally this afternoon; I could use my BFF and big sister there."
"Sure thing honey, cos I know that this is legit and for you. You've been Amber all your life, now it's time to let everyone know who you are."
Opal finished the last page of the journal and put it down. "Goodbye Arthur. She said her farewell for a boy who had never really existed except as an expression to please others. Amber was very real and she wanted very much to meet her and hold her in her arms, the daughter that she had always wanted had been in front of her the whole time and she'd missed all the signs that she was there.
Anthony walked into the bedroom. "Damn company can't get a signal on Arthur's car, what's the point of paying all that money if they can't do their job properly?"
"Anthony, we need to talk." Opal put Amber's journal on her dresser. "Arthur's gone, he's never coming back."
"Don't say that dear, Arthur's not the suicidal kind, sure he had that drink problem a while back, but he got over that, three years plus sober, one of the few things I'm actually proud of that boy for."
"We need to talk." Opal said more forcefully. "Arthur's gone, he was never here, it was all an act, a lie, to cover up the truth."
"What are you saying sweetie?" Anthony asked. "Arthur is mine isn't he?"
"You have one son." Opal said, not sure how to say the words. "Alistair is yours."
"Come on, Arthur's the exact twin of him, apart from temperament they're exactly alike in looks."
"You have one son, and one daughter." She picked the journal up and threw it on the bed by her husband. "Read it, read all about the daughter we never knew we had."
"What's this? What are you on about? You mean Arthur's one of those people who dresses up as a woman?"
"If by that you mean 'is she a woman' then yes she is. I could have been reading my own journal from back when I was her age, all her doubts and insecurities, her hopes and fears and her terrible, horrible loneliness, all the signs were there for us to see and we missed them all."
"This is a joke." Anthony had always seen himself reflected in his two boys, well mainly Alistair. Alistair was the perfect son, caring, dutiful and manly. Arthur had always been so different, a wimp really which was why he pushed him all the more to 'man up' and be more like his brother, no he couldn't accept it, no way did he have a son who wore women's' clothes and called himself Amber. "I'm phoning the police again, I'm putting an end to this right now, if I have to call in every last favour I'll find our son and bring him home and show him how to be a real man."
"She's our daughter!" Opal yelled at her pigheaded husband. "Read this and learn all about her, see the heartache and misery you've caused her all these years!" She threw Amber's journal at him and stormed out the bedroom, intent on finding Alistair and confiding everything in him.
Thanks to her therapist's letter and Sapphire's unexpected testimony Amber found herself legally Amber Daytona McFarlane which made her pleased beyond words and she hugged Sapphire afterwards, grinning like an idiot and not caring at all who saw her.
"You were so brave honey." Sapphire said to Amber, "now there's no time to waste, we need to get you a new driver's licence, better make sure your face is fixed first for the photo."
"This is the best day ever." Amber said to Sapphire as they got into her car and drove to the DMV building. "With photo ID my new life will be officially complete."
Alistair nodded as his mother told him everything. "It all makes sense now. At first I thought she was seeing those girls for sex, but obviously they're her friends. There's a club downtown, I was out on a date with this guy, he was a total hottie, we drove through the gay part of town to this gay bar and on the way we went past the T bar, at first I thought I was seeing things, Arthur, Amber I mean, was talking to them, they looked suspicious at first, then they smiled, I thought he was paying for sex, I guess she was just finding her peer group."
"Can you find this bar again Alistair?"
"Yes, I think it's called Fantasia, as I said I really had other things on my mind at the time."
"You can tell me all about him on the ride over there." Opal said to her son. "You know you can talk to me about guys any time you like, I'm your mother I want to know everyone who's important in your life, it's my job to worry about you and love you without question."
Amber hugged Sapphire again as they exited the DMV, "that was amazing, they just read the letter, took my photo and here it is Amber, female."
"Was there any doubting it sugar?" Sapphire asked. "We always know who's real and who's legit. The crossdressers have their own clique, and we have ours."
"Now for one last thing." Amber said with a smile. "Before you organise this party for me. "That job at Fantasia, do you think I have a chance at it?"
"If that's what you want to do sweetie, then I'll put a word in for you." Sapphire knew Amber held a lot back and she suspected some of it may be criminal, rich folks were always up to something to keep their money to themselves.
"You are officially the best BBF ever." Amber grinned as they drove back to Fantasia, only to see her mother's car parked outside. "What the actual? That's my Mom's car."
"I guess you're a little easier to find than you thought honey pie." Sapphire smiled. "You have to go in there and talk to you, as the best BFF ever I here by officially order your ass in that building."
"Fine." Amber agreed and parked up. She walked inside to find her mother and her brother deep in conversation with the rest of her friends. "Hi mom, hi Al."
"Amber?" Opal ran over to her daughter, who looked so feminine and pretty, and hugged her tightly. "You left your journal, I read it, I'm sorry, I'm so sorry for not realising who you really are."
"You could have talked to me sis." Alistair took his turn to hug his sister. "You look amazing; you just look so you, everything makes sense now."
"We'll give you some family time." Sapphire said to Amber before shepherding the rest of the girls to another alcove, so they could still be there for Amber, but at a discreet distance.
"How did you find me and my friends?" Amber asked her mother. "I went to such great pains to keep my real life away from you all; I just wasn't ready to come out."
"Until I blew it for you." Alistair said. "Sorry."
"It's not your fault, you had your own issues, I wish I'd talked to you before, long before, I just didn't know how to have that talk, or find the confidence to say the words until recently. You know how I like to plan things, to get them perfect, all the little details just right. I'm my own worst enemy at times. I wish I could have helped you with your own issues too, I'm so proud of you for coming out bro." She hugged her brother again. "I'd better stop all this mushy girly talk or I'll ruin my make up again."
"Why don't we go shopping for some waterproof make up?" Opal asked her daughter, I have so much I want to pass on to you. Though you've picked up a lot yourself, that dress is wonderful on you and the rest of your outfit matches it perfectly and that purse is just amazing, you must let me borrow it sometime, I have the perfect outfit it'll go with."
"I'm going to head home." Alistair said. "Give me a call sis; you know my number, any time." He hugged hi sister once more, he was thrilled to see her beyond words but he needed to go and have a serious talk with his father about what a jackass he was being. "Your friends are really great by the way, I'm glad I got to meet them, if any of them have a single hot brother tell them to send him my way."
"See you soon Al." Amber said. "Oh I never gave him my new address, say Mom, why don't you me and the girls all go back to my place, I haven't had an official housewarming party yet."
"That's a great idea." Opal was keen to get to know her daughters friends, so far they all seemed like really good girls. "Party at Amber's place ladies, the drinks are on me."
Anthony was on his fifth drink when Alistair got home. "Was I such a monster?" He put the journal down. "I just wanted the best for you both, my two boys."
"I'm just as startled as you are dad." Alistair said. "You just didn't know Amber as well as I did, you were out most of the time, it's not your fault, you had to keep a roof over our home, you did what you had to do to keep us all safe. She's my twin, dad, I didn't know for a long, long time. Sure I thought she was more emotional than me, as much like mom as I'm like you, I just figured that was they way we were different, every other way we were the same, at least I thought we were."
"Was I really such a bad father though? I couldn't see the signs, or didn't want to. I've always prided myself on the two of you being like me. I though your sister just needed extra encouragement, extra drive to achieve, how could I have been so wrong?"
"Everyone makes mistakes dad, she didn't tell us either. Families need communication; she has to tell us her feelings as much as we need to tell her ours."
"It's still my responsibility at the end of the day son, that's what being a father is all about. My poor baby girl, I caused her so much heartache and grief."
"Talk to her, dad, see how happy she is now. In just a day she's become this strong and confident young woman, my sister, your daughter. She's got friends, a part-time job, a place of her own and a new car already. You'll be so proud of her, when it comes to planning things she's more like you than I am. I just coasted by on my good luck."
"Yes." Anthony said. "She is a lot like me, and that's what worries me."
"The second I saw her in a dress I knew she meant what she said about being a woman." Emerald said to Amber's mother. "She's just so natural at it and she loves every aspect of being a woman, you need to take her shopping to see for yourself, she knows everything about everything and she listens to what everyone says. I'm super glad to call her my friend, I really am."
"Thank you Emerald."
"It's Emma really, the others have such glitzy names, though I'm fairly sure Ecstacy was going to call herself Stacey, that's life and they insist on calling me Emerald in public."
"That's because you're a precious gem." Sapphire said to Emerald before she talked to Amber's mother. "She's had a hard life that one, most of us just got kicked out of our homes, she was nearly raped by her depraved uncle who thought it'd cure her or some such BS that rapists think to excuse their perversion. Saffron was beaten up by druggies and nearly set on fire, Amber and I had to fight those bastards off bare hand, let me tell you that girl knows her kung fu, she took three of them down herself while she was in heels, it was a sight to behold. It isn't easy being what we are, Amber knows this, she is who she is and she's a fighter, deep down she knows what she wants, when it comes down to it there isn't a thing that girl can't or won't do for those she loves."
"Thank you." Opal said to Sapphire. "That's the woman I want my daughter to be."
"She loves you so much, but there's a streak of her father inside her too and I don't like that about her at all."
"What do you mean?" Opal asked Sapphire. "Have you even met my husband?"
"There's a talk you need to have with Amber, quite very soon I imagine. Ask her how she owns this place."
"I thought she just rented this apartment." Opal said.
"Oh she owns it alright, she owns this entire building, it's her name of the deed, she told me once when she though I'd had too much to drink and thought I wouldn't remember her confession."
"Are you saying my daughter's a crook?" Opal was shocked.
"Yes I am." Amber said, as she had heard the end of Sapphire's statement. "I stole from Daddy's precious company, the one he made famous with mob money, drug running and other nasty doings. He was good at covering up his tracks, enough for the IRS anyway; I'm much, much better. I've owned this building for two years, bought with the money I embezzled from the company, which wasn't difficult because I used the same dodgy business connections and shell companies that Daddy uses, only I tided up better after myself. He really should never have let anyone as good with computers as me and with as good a business education as he paid for anywhere near his accounts."
"This can't be true." Opal said to Amber. "Your father loves us all very much."
"And I love him, I'm just more like him in all the ways he never wanted me to be. Alistair's the good dutiful son who'll do amazing, I'm the heir to Daddy's business empire and I've proved it by hiding this place from him and his very clever accountants for over two years. That's what this place is, proof that I'm the daughter he needs me to be to keep the family and the company going, eventually. Right now though I just want to enjoy my life, now that I can finally start living it."
Anthony looked at his accountant. "Can you stop the money going into her account?"
"Certainly, but I'd have to stop each and every single transaction and then reset them. She's been very clever, she's added subroutines to your banking software, a tiny fragment of a percent comes from every transaction and goes into her account. There's other diversions of money in other parts of your accounts too. How many years has she had access to your system? This must have taken at least five years to set up."
"She had it all done in a month." Anthony couldn't help but take some pride that his daughter was a genius, she knew his company better in that month than he did in a lifetime of setting it up and running it. "First I'm going to ground her, and then I'm going to offer her a job as my security consultant."
"She might be the only one who knows and can find the full extent of what she's done here. She could have taken you to the cleaners, but she didn't, in fact I think she made you money. Look at these transactions, if this is the month you said she worked here then she made this company half its annual profits in that one month."
"I just put that down to better than expected results." Anthony said. "I guess she really is a chip off the old block." He was no feeling proud of his daughter for being the consummate businesswoman.
Opal was in two minds, should she confront her husband about his shady business dealings? She knew that he loved and wanted the best for the family, but the risk he put them at, especially with the mob involved. She loved him so much and knew that if there was a way to make money legit he'd do it rather than break the laws. Amber had said as much, she'd worked out the way the business worked, it only made shady deals when times were very hard and there was no other choice. She also said that if her father had been a total crook then she'd have just left is accounts ledger at a police station one day, but she knew the truth, her father was a hard worker who did what he had to do to keep those he loved safe and well protected.
Anthony waited as the parade of young women left his daughter's apartment before she let him inside. "Your friends seem like nice young women."
"They are." Amber said. "I take it you found out what I did with the company."
"Yes. My accountant thinks he may never find the full extent of what you did. I have to say I'm shocked and appalled."
"Me too." Amber agreed. "I mean fancy sitting there thinking your father is the cleverest man alive and then you discover he's a bit of a crook. Still I guess I proved I'm just as much a crook as you are, this whole building was bought with your money."
"A wise business investment, you've made a real go of this place, affordable housing for those who need it most." Anthony was proud of his daughter's achievement. "You have a gift for computers, your brother said you were a genius, how would you like a real job with me, a proper job?"
"I always wanted to work for the family business." Amber said honestly. "I just had to attend to personal issues first. What exactly do you want me to do?"
"Security, I want you to find out if anyone else has or can do to me what you did, and I want everything you did undone. I'll pay you a salary commensurate to what you were ripping me off for, that way you can keep this place going. Property, that may well be the way to go, you might well have put me on to something young lady."
"There's a huge shortage of housing for GLBT people, Daddy, a lot of girls like me get kicked out by their parents, they have no where to go. My friends and I we help catch them and direct them as best we can. If there were a few dedicated housing projects we could point them towards, it'd be a great help and you'd get a lot of good will and publicity from it."
"Yes, that might just work." Anthony was thinking of all the headlines he could get from such an undertaking. "Goodwill projects are better for business than just corporate deals. I still need to punish you for running away the way you did. We were all terribly upset, your mother was in tears the whole time and your brother was blaming himself, though no where near as much as I should be blaming myself. I honestly had no idea sweetheart, not the first clue. All that rubbish about trying to man up, I was doing what I thought would help when in fact it had the opposite effect. So your punishment from now on is to be the best young woman you can be, the best daughter that I can proudly show off to the world. All I ever wanted was for you to be happy Amber, and in spite of everything I think you've found that happiness."
"Thanks Daddy." Amber hugged her father. "I love you so much. I want to work for the family business so much, though there's a little part time job I've got nearby that I want to keep, that'll work out very well later on for all of us, I've got a few plans I'd like to run past you."
"How many?"
"Oh just enough for the next twenty years or so, I do like to think long term and I think that we'll do quite well, of course I still have a lot to learn from you." Amber was glad her father was seeing sense, so that she didn't have to use the gun in her purse.
"Just as I think I've got a lot to learn from you." Anthony hugged his daughter again and felt reassured that she was as committed to the long term survival of the family and the company, so he didn't have to use the gun in his jacket pocket.
