Gradual Change – Part 9

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"Rye..., ah, I mean Erinna, I was thinking before we go home, maybe we should get you measured.  That way, you can spend the day with Oliver and Conner while I buy everything you need," Heather asked, looking in the mirror while driving.  She couldn't deny that she would enjoy shopping for her daughter. She would prefer to take it easy on her new daughter and encourage her to love the shopping experience than force it on her.  If Erinna would come to love being a girl anyway, there was no reason to force her.

"I can still go out with Oliver and Connor?" Erinna asked, a bit surprised by her mom's decision. She didn't expect her mom to still allow her to go out with Connor and Oliver today. She didn't know if she was ready for this or not. While she would love to, she had a whole lot of things going on inside her head.

"I don't see any problem.  I know your dad may be against you staying over with boys, but I think I can handle it," Heather assured Erinna. Heather knew that Erinna had been looking forward to seeing the new movie. Even if there would be some fights in the movie, Heather knew that it wouldn't affect her daughter. Also, the main theme of the movie was good against evil, so Heather saw no harm in it.

"Thank you, mom," Erinna said, making Heather smile widely. She finally could go shopping with her daughter. While they didn't have the time for shopping now, they would go shopping together soon. She had some old clothes that she kept in the hope of handing them to her daughter when she got one. Now that she had a daughter, she would hand all her old clothes to Erinna. She, however, would make sure that her daughter also received new clothes.

"Ok, first thing, you will need underwear, then we will see what else you need. Just enjoy your day and don't busy your mind with it, ok?" Erinna nodded in the back, making Heather smile a bit. When Heather said they would only go to get her measurements, that was Erinna's intention.  But now, she wasn't sure if this was what her mom was planning.  She looked far too excited, just for taking some measurements.

Heather drove to a nearby shopping mall and parked the SUV. "Let's go, sweetheart," Heather said, looking back at her beautiful child, who was now her daughter. She had always thought of how pretty her child was, too pretty to be a boy. That's what she thought the moment Ryan was born.

Erinna left the SUV, following her mom inside the mall. No one, who saw them, would ever say that they were mother and son. Just a pretty mother with her equally beautiful daughter. "Mom," Erinna called as they were walking in the mall.

"Yes, baby?" Heather replied, looking at her daughter. She had many emotions running inside her. She felt sad and scared for her baby. She felt excited and happy that she finally had the daughter she always wanted to have.  She had given birth to her too. A daughter that shared everything with her, even her looks.  But she was feeling guilty because she shouldn't feel this happy. After all, she lost a son in the process, and her child's life was now messed up.

"Now that I am a girl, I can let my hair grow even longer, right?" Erinna asked. It was probably the only positive thing she could see about becoming a girl.  No one would question why she let her hair grow so long now that she's a girl. She had always wanted to have her hair the same length as her mom's hair.

"Honey, you know that even as a boy, I didn't mind your hair. Your dad was also ok with it. I will say this; if you want to have it longer, you must take care of it. But yes, it will be easier for you to grow your hair longer now that you're a girl." Heather couldn't wait to see Erinna's hair longer. She loved Erinna's hair.  While Erinna may not believe it, Heather would say Erinna's hair is prettier than hers.  While they looked alike, Heather felt, no, she knew that Erinna was prettier than she was at her age, and she was happy about that.

Heather walked past many stores until they started to approach her destination. The two big letters N Y stood out as the store logo, and the store itself was much larger than other stores around it. The store was famous, and there were rumors that they were about to open a branch in London.  Erinna, however, knew the store for a different reason.  Erinna knew the owner of the store since she was one of their neighbors.  She also had a 13-year-old daughter that Erinna knew. "Mom, I can't go in there, Mrs. Grace will see me, and Carla is there as well," Erinna complained as she grew a bit apprehensive.

"Now, calm down; I came to this store because they will understand your condition. The last thing I want is to see you embarrassed in front of anyone," Heather explained. She didn't want to expose her daughter even if TSS children enjoyed a very high degree of acceptance in society.  Heather didn't want to see her daughter forced to explain her condition to a stranger. "You trust me, don't you, sweetie?" Heather would never put her children in an embarrassing situation. She knew that Erinna trusted her, and she would never do anything to betray this trust.

Hearing the word trust, Erinna had no choice but to put her faith in her mom. She trusted her mom; after all, she knew that her mom never wanted anything but the best for her. "Ok, Mom, if you say so," Erinna gave in with a sigh. They walked to the store while Erinna was becoming more and more nervous.

Upon entering the store, Heather spotted the store owner immediately. She was standing with her daughter checking shelves when Heather walked up to them. "Lillian, good morning," Heather said, catching the attention of Lilian.

"Oh, Heather, good morning," Lilian said, turning to Heather. "Are you looking for something for Ryan?" Lilian asked. It was normal for Heather to come to look for Ryan's clothes here. Ryan was a bit taller than kids his age, so finding the clothes he needed without looking in the teen shop was a bit difficult. This store had everything they needed, kids, teens, and adult clothing.

"Well, you see..." Heather said before lowering her voice a bit. "We just confirmed that Ryan has TSS, and she's now Erinna." Both Lilian and her daughter's eyes grew wide upon hearing this.

"Oh, Sweetheart, that must have been very hard for you," said Lilian. She felt bad for Ryan, or now Erinna. She had personal experience dealing with this transsexual syndrome; after all, she knew how hard it could be on children and parents. "I am sure, just like my Carla, you will be ok," Lilian admitted pulling Carla closer and kissing her forehead.

Heather was astounded when she heard this revelation. She knew Carla was a pretty girl who came to live with her mom. She never realized that Carla used to be a boy; she was just way too pretty. "You mean Carla used to be a boy?  I would never have guessed if you hadn't told me," Heather admitted feeling surprised or rather choked when hearing the news.

"Yes, ma'am, I used to be Carl before I moved here.  For the first week, I was still Carl.  Ryan, George, and Nancy knew about it," Carla said, surprising Heather even more. Carla is a teen fashion model.  She knew that her sister, Leslie depended heavily on Carla to sell her designs. She looked just like her mom with bright emerald green eyes and dirty blonde hair. She had a great figure that made the other girls green with envy.

"But, you're too pretty... Too pretty to be a..." Heather stopped, not knowing how to complete her sentence from the surprise. To think that all along, she knew a girl like her daughter but never guessed the truth.

"Too pretty to be a boy, right?" Lillian asked with a confident smile. She looked at Erinna and smiled softly. "We all think that way; I am sure you also thought that Erinna was too pretty to be a boy, right? I mean, look at her; she's a real beauty," Lilian said, praising Erinna and making her blush.

"I will admit it, I always thought that Erinna was too pretty to be a boy," Heather admitted with a sigh. She had always thought that Ryan would be better off as a girl, but she never wanted to force him. As Ryan, Erinna was having so much fun living as a boy that Heather couldn't even bring herself to admit her thoughts.

"Really?" Erinna asked hearing this, for the first time in her life. She loved her parents, and she would do anything to make them happy. Even if they had asked her to be a girl, she might have struggled, but she would have accepted it to make them happy.

"Yes, Sweetie, I just didn't want to tell you. You were already going through so much." Heather wiped a tear from her eye before kissing Erinna's forehead.

"I think that's enough talking; I understand why you brought Erinna here." Heather looked intently at Lilian.  She was sure there was a misunderstanding since she brought Erinna to get her measured and buy her some underwear. It didn't seem that this was what Lilian had in mind.

Heather was about to say something, but Lilian pulled Erinna's hand gently towards her. "Let's get going now, shall we?" Lilian pulled Erinna towards the dressing rooms. "Carla, why don't you help Mrs. Huston choose some cute things for Erinna?" With that, Lilian and Erinna disappeared into the dressing rooms.

Lilian looked at Erinna. "Ok, I know how embarrassing this is, but I need you to take off everything except your underwear, ok?" she asked softly, taking a measuring tape once they were in the dressing room. Blushing profusely, Erinna looked at the floor and didn't move. "Look at me sweetheart, I know it's hard, but I can't take your measurements if you don't take off your clothes," she explained as Erinna gulped and began to remove her clothes.

Once Erinna was standing in only in her boxer-briefs, Lilian smiled. "You have a great figure, still developing, of course, but you're the best-looking 10-year-old girl I have ever seen," Lilian informed Erinna, making her blush even more. Grabbing the tape, Lilian started measuring Erinna's breasts, waist, and hips, jotting down her size.

"All done, I will go help your mom look for clothes.  In the meantime, you can either wait here and try things on or get dressed and help out your mom if you want," Lilian said, leaving the blushing Erinna in the dressing room, covering her breasts like any girl would do when feeling exposed.

This was not going according to her mom's plan, and it certainly wasn't her plan. However, knowing how much her mom loved shopping and how much she always wanted a daughter, Erinna thought maybe she should let her mom have some fun with the daughter she always wanted to have.

An hour later, Erinna and Heather walked out of the store, each of them carrying seven bags full of clothes for Erinna. What was supposed to have been a quick visit to get Erinna measured and just get her some underwear and bras turned into a buying spree.  They walked out of the store with bags full of underwear, bras, skirts, blouses, various tops, skinny jeans (though Erinna wasn't convinced it was her size,) tights, thigh-high and knee-high socks, a couple of patent leather shoes,  pink running shoes, Maryjane shoes, a pair of flat black ankle boots, and a long wool coat. They even brought two dresses, one was denim, and the other was a dark blue velvet dress with long sleeves.

Erinna couldn't protest, seeing how happy her mom was. She had never seen her mom this happy before. From the look on her mom's face, shopping for girls' clothes was worth it. Also, she wouldn't admit this, but it wasn't as bad as she thought it would be. Reaching the SUV, they both loaded all the bags in the back and then got in.

"Sweetheart, I knew we pushed you a little too hard; I am sorry it won't happen again," Heather apologized, kissing Erinna's head.  She was having such a great time shopping for Erinna's clothes that she completely forgot why they came here in the first place. She wouldn't forget that Erinna used to be a boy only a couple of hours ago. For the very first time, she was shopping with her daughter and not just watching other moms shopping for their daughters.

"It's ok, mom, no big deal; besides, you looked happy; I didn't want to stop you," Erinna admitted. She felt bad for not noticing this before. Her parents were the best parents she could ask for, so she wanted to make them happy. Yes, she may not want to be a girl, but being a girl for one day could make them very happy. Now, she didn't have a choice but to be a girl. She was now obligated to make her parents happy by being the daughter they always wanted to have.

Heather couldn't help but smile; as always, Erinna seemed to care more about the people around her than herself. "You're one magnificent girl, do you know that?" Heather said, hugging Erinna and smiling as she could slightly feel the bra. "Thank you for keeping up with me; I love you, sweetheart."

They broke their hug and got into the SUV, while Erinna couldn't help but notice that the bra was so comfortable.  It was way better than her undershirt tank top, which usually rubbed against her nipples in a very uncomfortable way. The bra was perfect. It was just the right size for her and held her small but growing breasts in place.

"I will tell Carol once we get home. Is that ok with you, sweetheart?" Heather asked, looking in the mirror back at Erinna. She knew that everyone would have to know eventually; Heather didn't know she was in for a couple of surprises.

"I guess so," Erinna replied with a shrug. They will eventually know anyway, so it's not like Mom could do anything. "Mom, do I have to tell Oliver and Conner?" Erinna asked with a concerned look. She didn't look forward to telling her friends her secret, but all of her friends were nice, and she was sure they would be supportive.   But still, she wasn't looking forward to it.

"Sweetheart, I know Connor is a good boy, and Oliver may be the opposite of you, but I know he will understand you the most; you have good friends.  I am sure they will understand." While Heather was saying this, she couldn't help but worry. She knew that children like Erinna were well accepted in society; they didn't have any choice after all. Still, Heather was worried about Erinna. She could understand why some TSS children wanted to hide their past identity after their gender changed.

"Mom, how are we going to tell dad and George?" Erinna asked, terrified, realizing that her dad and George must both be told. Telling George was going to be worse for her than telling her dad; she looked up to George and always admired him. Yes, she looked up to her dad, but she idolized George.  Now, she knew she would never be like him. It was also clear that she was far more like her mom than anything remotely close to George or her dad.

"They already know, honey.  When we were late, your dad called me because he was worried about you. I had to tell him, baby, and I am sure he has already told George." Since Erinna had been unconscious for almost an hour, Jeff called Heather, worried sick about Erinna. Heather had to tell him everything; it was shocking news for Jeff to hear at first, but what mattered more to him was the wellbeing of his child. Deep down, he was excited about having a little princess, but he didn't show it.

"What did dad say? Is he mad at me?" Erinna said, dreading what her dad might think. She loved him, and she didn't want him to hate her in any way. Little did Erinna know, this was the farthest from the truth.

"What? No honey, your dad will never get mad at you since you didn't do anything wrong," Heather replied a bit defensively. It was Jeff they were talking about; she wouldn't have married him if he was nothing other than a caring father. She did not doubt that Jeff would put his life in the line to keep his family safe. They had been married for almost 18 years, and she knew Jeff very well.

Erinna hadn't yet seen Jeff's daddy's side, and their relationship would most certainly change. Jeff would be far more protective of her now and will spoil her to no end. Good dads love their daughters and sons the same way, but they also tend to treat their daughters differently.  Erinna was in for a treat.  It may make her feel a little weird at first, but eventually, she would understand how much her daddy loves her.

"Dad doesn't hate me?" Erinna asked, still a bit worried. Her dad had never shown her anything but love and support, but she was scared that this might change.

"No, sweetheart. Your dad loves you more than you can ever imagine.  It doesn't matter to him if you are his daughter or his son.  I doubt that he cares about any of that. And regarding George, I am sure you know how much he loves you. He will always be your big brother and will care about you and try to protect you the same as before.   Sweetheart, we all love you, and we're all here for you," Heather spoke with confidence. She knew their family well. Heather was very confident that Jeff and George wouldn't have a change of heart towards Erinna.