Chapter 24 Rory #2
Now she felt foolish for not giving them more thought.
She quickly mulled them over in her head.
Male pronouns were not right for her. Not now, certainly not after the way Gemma had made love to her.
For the first time in months, if not years, she had felt alive and fully present in the world.
She felt like a woman, she felt like herself.
Her mind unhelpfully presented her with a montage of Gemma making love to her, and she chased it away, not wanting those memories to be sullied by this moment with John.
She then thought of her achievements at work, how she was among a handful of senior lawyers who were female and how much harder she’d had to work to get where she was.
Her lips quirked at the irony of embracing her masculine side, only to feel prouder than ever to be a strong, independent woman.
“She/her.” She stated proudly.
“Oh, that’s a relief,” he said, a small smile teasing his lips.
Rory’s hackles rose, and she gripped the arms of her chair again.
“Why is that?” She struggled to keep her voice neutral.
“Marjory at reception cannot cope with they/them pronouns.” He sighed dramatically.
“Every time she needs to type it up, I get a rant about how grammatically incorrect it is. I keep telling her, ‘Your insistence on good grammar does not wipe away someone’s identity or their right to express themselves exactly as they wish.’ I don’t want to have to give her another warning, because aside from that, she’s good at her job.
” He sighed. “We need to keep educating her and be visible.” He took a breath as if to calm the situation.
“My poor attempt at humour aside, you use whatever pronouns suit you. You can always put them at the bottom of your email so everyone in the company is aware.” He took a slim notebook out of his pocket and took a pen from her desk.
He made a small note before returning her pen.
“I’ll suggest that everyone does that on their emails to the other partners.
” He waggled his notebook at her before returning it to his pocket.
“We should be doing that anyway, but thank you for reminding me.” He sat back in his chair.
His face was neutral, but Rory could see he was weighing his next words carefully.
“Do you remember my daughter-in-law?”
Rory racked her brain but couldn’t recall her. The last time she’d learned anything about his family was five years ago when she’d covered John’s cases whilst he went to his son’s wedding. But that was to a man. She tried to think whether he had other children.
“Did Sarah get married?” She dug his daughter’s name from the depths of her memory, wondering where the hell this conversation was going.
He chuckled, “Not yet, but soon we think.” He crossed his fingers and winked. “I’m talking about Daniel’s wife.”
She thought again and could only conjure up images of two smiling men in tuxedos. An excited John had thrust them in her face when he’d come back from leave. She relaxed a bit. How had she forgotten that John was an ally? She swallowed and let the silence be all the answer he needed.
“My daughter-in-law used to be my son-in-law.” He took a breath.
“Of course, my wife is delighted because they now seem like a hetero-normative couple, but I keep telling her it doesn’t work that way.
They’re still queer, and we’re still allies.
” He paused and let the statement breathe in the air for a moment.
“I am not assuming anything about your life, and I don’t need to know.
” He smoothed his tie again. “But I do know a little of what Poppy has been through and will support you in any way I can. My door is always open for you.”
He uncrossed his legs and patted his thighs, a universal sign that this conversation was nearly over.
“You have my support if you need it. We try to be a progressive firm here, but you know lawyers can be a conservative bunch. Look at the hoo-ha we had over the use of the Oxford comma!”
Rory chuckled at that. She rose at the same time as he did and took the hand he offered.
“You are one of the brightest young lawyers here, Rory, and you’ve earned your place through hard work.
I, and the company, are jolly lucky to have you.
I’m here for you. Anytime, for anything.
” She nodded, and the first genuine smile since she’d walked into the office crossed her lips.
As she walked around her desk to open the office door for him, she tugged her suit jacket into place again.
John looked her up and down for a moment before raising a hand to the collar of her jacket.
The shirt she had chosen this morning was a man’s shirt, but the suit was female cut, and nothing worked together, and she knew it looked a mess.
“Don’t take this the wrong way, but would you like the name of my tailor?
He’s really very good.” He swallowed. “I remember Poppy struggling to find female clothes in the beginning. You know, they’re cut for the wrong body type and whatnot.
Samuel would be happy to help.” Rory swallowed.
Of all the people to be an ally to her on this journey, her ultra posh, seemingly conservative boss was not someone she would have thought about.
But the look on his face told her he was sincere, and the softness in his voice when he spoke of his daughter-in-law spoke of great love and understanding.
“Don’t suppose he can rustle up a tux in a week, can he?” She winced. “I’m going to Larchester Manor Opera next weekend and want something a little nicer than the off-the-rack thing I had last time.”
“Gosh, no. Samuel is old school, and you’ll be back and forth like anything for fittings. Leave it with me for the morning. I may have an idea.”
Before she could speak again, John had gone, and her office was silent again. She wasn’t sure what had just happened, but she felt it was positive. She threw herself into her work and only came up for air two hours later when a message from John pinged on her internal mail.
As she clicked on it, she realised her heart was much lighter than it had been this morning. Yes, she’d had a few odd looks and, as John had predicted, Marjory had muttered about pronouns until Rory glared at her and reminded her of the HR policy around EDI and gender identity.
She checked the contents of the email.
Rory,
My friend Charles works at Markham’s Department Store. He does semi-bespoke fittings for suits and can fit you in this week. I’ve checked your schedule and tentatively put you in for Thursday afternoon. He is Daniel’s godfather and will take care of you.
Best, John.
He/Him
Rory let out a huge breath of air and sat back in her chair.
Of all the people to support her at work, she would not have counted John among them.
Sitting back in her chair, she then took a moment to check herself.
She had dismissed him as an old-school lawyer with conservative views and someone who was not, and never could be, an ally.
She had forgotten his son was gay. This gave her hope for when she saw her parents.
She pulled her phone out to text Gemma the details for Thursday before forcing her brain to finally concentrate on the multimillion-pound deal she and John were working on currently.
Unhelpfully, her brain kept working out her bonus for this deal and how she would love to take Gemma on a holiday with the money she would make.
Images of Gemma in her bikini then swam in her brain, and she had to forcibly chase them from her mind to get any work done at all.