The Door Left Unlocked Pt. 03

Later just Bryan and Becky were left awake and she looked at him after a mostly silent evening. "That was me, you know. I looked at that picture and I saw me. Not just in the similar face, but all the way. In 20 or 30 years, I would be raped and strangled. You may have saved me from that."

"College is going to be a bitch," he said. "Rumors, stories, being away from home, not having all day to deal with stuff. I want the degree, but I don't know if I want to pay the price."

She walked over, pushed his feet off the ottoman, and took his hands. "And parties, brother. Lots of drunken parties with sex and pressure to have sex. Can I do it? Can I really go and put up with all the shit long enough to get a degree?"

"Cory thinks you can."

"Yeah, but Cory will be here, and we aren't talking much. Thanks for keeping up with him."

Bryan paused. "He has a friend who wants to meet you. Not a crossdresser. I met him at a pub and he seems nice."

Becky looked at him and smiled. "You still care. We're almost out of time though."

Bryan smiled back. "I know, he'll be here tomorrow at 7 unless I tell him not to come. It was just a hunch. There's no pressure."

"You know, little brother, your hunches can be pretty good at times."

They made it through the year and graduated. A month later Bryan and Wendy were married and he moved out of the house. He did, though, accept the job his dad offered as a front line manager. Cory's friend was named Wilson, who married Becky 4 months later. Cory was best man and he wore a floor length gown for the wedding.

Babies, working, building a family. They stayed close, met often, and laughed and cried about the past. One day Bryan's oldest, Hope, came home from school saying a boy told her she was cute. She was in 3rd grade. They shared the story at the family gathering that weekend and they all laughed.

Bryan looked at his mother, then father, then at Becky and said, "And the cycle of life continues. I just hope I'm wise enough to raise that girl right."

Becky walked over and hugged him, her own two little ones playing on the floor at Wilson's feet. "You are, brother, you are. Just once in a while, forget to lock the doors so people can get in and see the real you."