Towards the end of the week, Charlene asked me if I’d like to start designing again.

“I’d really like to see some of your designs”, she said. “People always spoke highly of them at Henderson’s. We all knew they were yours, not your mothers. It was the worst kept secret in the industry.”

“Use me as a model, if you like”, she said, nudging me with a smile on her face…

Charlene took me to a corner of the shop I hadn’t seen before. Then I saw the computer, pattern books and the beautiful old fashioned drawing board, as well as the empty area for cutting and sewing…

I was in love. I explored every nook and cranny of the area, hardly able to contain myself.

“You like your new office, then?”, she said. I was speechless…

In front of Charlene’s joyful eyes, I grabbed some paper and pens and got straight down to it, measuring her by eye. Once I had all the measurements I needed, I just shooed her out of the room, politely, then buried myself in my work.

I’d never felt so happy, or complete. That made what happened when I went back to my flat that evening even more of a shock…

Geoff, my dad, was standing there. He just looked me up and down, then shook his head.

“I knew this was going to happen!”, he said, gruffly. “Give you a tiny bit of independence and you go straight back to your old ways. You weren’t born a damn girl, so don’t behave like one now!”

To his amazement, I ignored him completely.

“Max! Snap out of it!”, he said. “Grow up!”

That did it. I really laid into him.

“I have done, dad! This is me! This is what and who I am! Maxine Henderson! Fashion Designer!”

“I know you did the odd dress for mum”, he said, “but you don’t have to be a girl to wear them!”

“The odd dress!”, I cried, indignantly. “I designed all of them, dad!  She just took credit for them, at my urging! I didn’t want to be in the spotlight at the time because I wasn’t ready to come out! I am now. I’m respected as I am, and I’ve got people that support me. If you can’t cope with that, fuck off!”

I stormed into my flat and slammed the door, shutting him out. The tears came freely…

By the time I’d pulled myself together a bit, Dad had gone. I was still a wreck, shaking and crying. I knew he was never going to understand…

I didn’t sleep at all that night. I felt and looked a wreck the next morning, and couldn’t face going to work, so I just stayed under the covers, quivering like a junkie going cold turkey. Dad had upset me a lot more than I realised...

What I didn’t know at the time was Dad was only going on what he had been told, not what had actually happened. By sheer chance, he was drinking at one of his old haunts the next evening, talking to some of his retail friends, when the subject of dress design had come up, relating to Hendersons. He also didn’t realise Charlene was in the pub, meeting those same friends…

“There were some amazing designs out of Hendersons”, he said. “I sort of miss those days, but we couldn’t really keep going after Belinda died. She was our chief designer, after all.”

Tony, his friend, snorted. “Max was, you mean. Belinda was just a figurehead.”

“Cobblers!”, he replied. “Belinda designed nearly all of them, Max just played at it a couple of times.”

“No, mate, you’re way wrong”, Tony said. “Belinda told me. Said because her eyesight was going, and the illness, she had lost her touch. Max bailed her out. He designed the entire range.”

“Oh, my god…”, Geoff said. “You mean, Max designed them all…?”

“Yep, he’s the real genius. I wonder what he’s doing now?”, said Tony.

“She’s working for me, now”, broke in Charlene, with the emphasis on the ‘she’. “Maxine is brilliant. Or she would be, if she’d come in to work this morning. I haven’t seen or heard from her all day…”

“Maxine?”, asked Tony.

“How do you think she was so proficient with what women needed?”, Charlene said. “I know you don’t have to be a woman to design women’s clothing, but she doesn’t just design. She feels…!”

Feeling ten kinds of heel, himself, Geoff slinked out of the bar. Charlene followed him…

Back at the flat, Geoff knocked on the door. No answer. He then saw the door was open…

His face went white. He rushed in, Charlene close behind…

Maxine was lying, still, on the bed. Charlene just barged past Geoff, picked her up and cuddled her.

“Get away from her, you bastard!”, she yelled. “You’ve done enough damage already…!”

She called the emergency services, and just sat there, rocking back and forth, with Maxine in her arms…