A love story involving a nice, wholesome young woman with enormous breasts, and perhaps the only man on the planet who both loves enormous breasts and can treat a woman who has them like a regular person.
Mature themes in Part 6 include gigantomastia (extremely large breasts).
Part 6 is the final part. It includes the following chapters:
Chapter 21: Tessa and Brad’s big day
Chapter 22: Cruisin’
Chapter 23: Cassie, junior giga
Chapter 21: Tessa and Brad’s big day
It turned out that having two weddings in two places, a two hour drive apart, on the same day, was more of a logistical challenge that anyone first thought. No one involved with the wedding had ever heard of anyone else ever doing such a thing. They would use different caterers, bakers, and florists in the two locations, so that wasn’t too difficult. What was a bit more difficult was to figure out which location would be first and which second, and what time of day the two weddings would be held, allowing sufficient time between the two. Since they weren’t serving meals at the receptions, they didn’t want them to occur during times when people would normally eat meals. They then had to figure out when to hold wedding rehearsals at the two locations, and arrange for the traditional rehearsal dinners for the wedding party and family members.
They decided to hold the Robertsville wedding first, in the early afternoon, and the Capital City wedding second, in the evening. They would be leaving for their honeymoon the next day, and it was easier to depart from Capital City. To minimize the back-and-forth travel, the Capital City rehearsal would be Thursday evening and the Robertsville rehearsal Friday evening.
The rehearsals and the subsequent dinners took place without any issues, and now all they had to do was get through the two weddings. The Robertsville wedding, being first, would be the official, legal wedding, and the Capital City wedding would simply be a reenactment for a different group of guests. Of course, very few guests were aware that there were two weddings or that the second one wasn’t the real thing.
The guests arrived at the church in Robertsville. Of course, most guests were Brad’s relatives, and many of the women and teenaged girls were gigas. Those who weren’t were all longtime Robertsville residents and were used to being around gigas. The only people there not either from Brad’s family or Robertsville were Pastor Brubaker and his wife and Tessa’s parents and brothers. It helped that the church had traditional pews, rather than rows of chairs hooked together, giving the gigas as much room as they needed.
Brad’s parents were escorted to their seats, and then Tessa’s mother. Brad and the pastor entered the sanctuary from a side door and stood at the front. Brad was dressed in a black tuxedo. The music began, and the guests turned to the rear of the sanctuary to watch the wedding party enter. First to come down the aisle were Brad’s oldest sister Bethany accompanied by her husband Ryan. Next were Brad’s middle sister Brittany accompanied by her husband Jared. Then the maid of honor, Brad’s youngest sister Bella escorted by the best man, Brad’s cousin Brandon. Finally, the music changed to the traditional wedding march, and the guests stood and faced the rear. Tessa beamed as she proceeded down the aisle on the arm of her father. At the front of the sanctuary, her father kissed Tessa on the cheek and took a seat next to her mother. Pastor Brubaker opened in prayer, and then addressed the assembled guests.
Pastor Brubaker: Dearly beloved, we are gathered here today to witness the joining in holy matrimony of Tessa Cartwright and Brad Collins. Most of you don’t know me; I’m Jason Brubaker, pastor of Belhaven Community Church in Capital City. Tessa and Brad both began attending Belhaven a few weeks apart a little over a year ago and met there exactly a year ago today. For the past year, I’ve had the privilege of getting to know each of them and seeing firsthand their love for each other grow.
Pastor Brubaker: As individuals, Tessa and Brad are each extraordinary young people who have bright futures ahead of them. Tessa, in particular, has overcome a lot of adversity in her life and has become a brave, confident young woman. But Tessa and Brad together are better and stronger than the sum of their parts. I don’t think I’ve ever met another couple planning a life together who were as ideally suited for each other as these two. If you talk to either of them, they will be quick to tell you that they know without a doubt it was God who brought them together at the perfect time. But I won’t steal any more of their thunder. They’ll each have more to say about this in a minute.
Pastor Brubaker: Bradford Collins, do you take this woman, Teresa Cartwright, to be your lawfully wedded wife, to have and to hold, in sickness and in health, in good times and bad, for richer or poorer, keeping yourself for her alone as long as you both shall live?
Brad: I do.
Pastor Brubaker: Teresa Cartwright, do you take this man, Bradford Collins, to be your lawfully wedded husband, to have and to hold, in sickness and in health, in good times and bad, for richer or poorer, keeping yourself for him alone as long as you both shall live?
Tessa: I do.
Pastor Brubaker: The couple will now exchange their vows to one another.
Brad: Tessa, I know it was nothing short of a miracle orchestrated by God that brought me to Belhaven Church that day so that I could hear you tell your life story. You were always exactly the one I wanted to spend my life with. I just didn’t know you actually existed until then. Then, as we met and got to know each other and fell in love, I became even more certain that you, and only you, are perfect for me in every possible way. You are such an amazing person, and I’m so privileged to be with you.
Brad: And now, I promise these things to you: I will always love and cherish you with all my heart. You will always have my absolute and unwavering loyalty. I will always put your wants and needs above my own. I will always be your biggest fan and supporter. I will do everything in my power to make sure you always know the depths of my love and admiration for you. And I will do all of these for the rest of our time together on this earth.
Brad then took Tessa’s left hand and placed the wedding ring on her finger.
Tessa: Brad, before we even met, the first thing I noticed about you was your smile. It, and you, had a way of putting me at ease like no one else had ever done before. You are literally the answer to my prayers, many years of earnest, heartfelt prayers, and I thank God for you every day. I never understood why he made me the way I am and had me to go through some of the things I did in my life, until I realized that it was those experiences that allowed me to truly appreciate how uniquely perfect you are for me, and prepared me to be uniquely perfect for you. And now I’m so glad that he did. God had this planned the whole time.
Tessa: You are an amazing, one-of-a-kind man, Brad Collins, and I’m so glad you’re mine! I pledge to you now, for as long as we live, my complete and undying love, faithfulness, support, and respect, when life is easy as well as when it’s hard, to the utmost of my ability, and as selflessly as I know how.
Tessa reciprocated by putting a ring on Brad’s left hand.
Pastor Brubaker: By the powers vested in me by this state, I now pronounce you husband and wife. Brad, you may kiss your bride.
And the two exchanged a passionate kiss.
Pastor Brubaker: Ladies and gentlemen, I present to you Mr. and Mrs. Brad Collins!
The assembled guests erupted in enthusiastic applause. Many of the women were crying, and some of the men appeared to be choked up as well.
The celebration then moved to the church fellowship hall, where Tessa and Brad made the rounds, meeting each guest and thanking them for attending. Everyone gushed about what a beautiful ceremony it was, and what a beautiful bride Tessa was. Eventually, Tessa and Brad changed into street clothes and returned to the hall to say goodbye. Then they took off to go do it all over again at Belhaven.
The crowd at Belhaven was much larger. It included Tessa’s extended family and childhood friends, Tessa’s and Brad’s respective co-workers and college classmates, and mutual friends from church. Other than the maid of honor and best man, the other bridesmaids and groomsmen were from among that group. The only gigas present were Tessa, Bella, and Brad’s mother. Pastor Brubaker worded his remarks slightly differently since he was back in his own church, but otherwise the second wedding was a repeat of the first.
Tessa and Brad spent their first night as a married couple in a local hotel. (What transpired that night will be left to the reader’s imagination.) Bethany and Ryan drove to Capital City and spent the night at Brad’s apartment, along with Bella and Samson. In the morning, Tessa, Brad, Bethany, and Ryan rendezvoused and traveled by car together to the cruise ship.
Chapter 22: Cruisin’
The cruise ship began boarding on Monday morning with an afternoon departure. The two couples arrived and were preparing to go through the boarding process and be shown to their cabins, which were close to each other but not adjacent. Brad had made sure of that, not wanting to have to worry about whether his sister could hear Tessa and him through the wall. Bethany seemed rather uneasy and nervous; she was not at all used to being away from a place where most everyone was used to seeing gigas. They were getting some long looks from some of the other passengers. Tessa did her best to reassure Bethany.
Bethany: Everybody’s looking at us!
Tessa: It’ll be okay, Bethany, I promise. I get this all the time. Most people don’t mean anything by it; they’ve just never seen anyone like us before.
Bethany: I feel like a circus freak! I’m not sure I can do this.
Tessa: Come on, now. I know you can do it. You didn’t come all this way just to back out. I’ll be with you the whole time. We’ll get through this together, and it’ll be fun, you’ll see. We’ll get some looks as people see us for the first time, but it’ll get better as the cruise goes on, I promise. I’ve found the best way to deal with it is to be friendly to people. It’s disarming to them.
Tessa: [to a middle-aged couple nearby who had been staring at them and whispering to each other] Hi! My name’s Tessa and this is my husband Brad.
Tessa inwardly beamed over the fact that she could now introduce Brad as her husband.
Woman: Hello, Tessa. Hello, Brad. I’m Melissa, and this is my husband Phil. I’m sorry if we were staring; we didn’t mean to be rude. Are these your friends?
Tessa: This is Brad’s sister Bethany and her husband Ryan. Bethany’s a bit uneasy about this, and I’m trying to reassure her. It’s the first time any of us have been on a cruise.
Melissa: Hello, Bethany and Ryan. We’re old pros at this, I guess. This is our fifth cruise. We’d be happy to show you the ropes, so to speak. If you have any questions, just ask, or we’re in cabin 605 if you think of any later.
Tessa: I can’t think of any questions right now. Bethany? [Bethany shakes her head no.] But thank you.
Melissa: Well, enjoy the cruise. We’ll see you around, I’m sure.
Melissa and Phil moved on.
Tessa: See, Bethany? That wasn’t so bad. They turned out to be very friendly. They just had to get past their initial surprise at seeing their first gigas.
Bethany: You handled that very well. I don’t think I could ever do that.
Tessa: I learned to do it out of necessity. I didn’t live in a place like Robertsville where I could blend in. But you can learn to do it, too, I know it.
Bethany seemed to relax a little, and the four of them boarded the ship and were shown to their cabins.
As they headed to dinner that evening, Bethany was again very uneasy about the idea being in such a large crowd and having everyone staring at them. But at Tessa’s urging, she put on a brave face and resolved to get through it as best as she could.
As they entered the dining room, they saw Melissa and Phil already seated at a table that had room for all of them. Melissa smiled and waved at them, inviting the two couples to join them. A lot of heads turned as the two gigas and their husbands walked across the room, but Tessa ignored them. Bethany tried hard to follow Tessa’s example and do the same but was way out of her comfort zone.
The three couples exchanged pleasantries and got to know each other a little bit. Melissa and Phil were from the suburbs of a big Midwestern city and had three kids, two daughters aged 15 and 9 and a 12 year old son. Bethany and Ryan’s oldest was their now 13 year old daughter Brianna, so they found some things to talk about, having children close the same ages.
Melissa then leaned in close, addressing the two gigas.
Melissa: I’m sorry for being so direct, but I really need to ask you two a personal question.
Tessa and Bethany exchanged glances, and Bethany looked like her worst fears were about to be realized.
Tessa: [guarded] Go ahead.
Melissa: I don’t know how else to ask this, and I know it will seem very rude, but I need to know. Are those real? [nodding towards their chests]
Bethany looked mortified, and seemed like she was about to get up and run out of the room. Tessa held her arm tight so that she wouldn’t.
Tessa: Yes, they’re real.
Melissa: I thought they might be. So you both have gigantomastia, then?
Tessa: That’s right.
Tessa was a bit surprised at that last question; most people are not familiar with the medical term.
Melissa: [seeming relieved] I’m so glad! Please allow me to explain. Our daughter Cassie has it as well. Or rather, she likely will soon. She’s currently wearing an L-cup, which is only macromastia, but they’re still growing like crazy. Cassie is having quite a difficult time coping with this, as I’m sure you can understand. Of course, we don’t know anyone else with this condition, or at least we didn’t until today. Cassie has no one to talk to who can relate, no one who can give her any guidance who’s been through it themselves. She’s seeing a therapist, but I don’t think it’s doing much good. We are so worried about her. I was hoping you could at least give us some advice about what to do.
Bethany seemed to relax a bit, enough so that Tessa let go of her arm.
Tessa: I can help more than you realize. I’ve been right where she is now, and I completely understand what she must be going through. But besides that, I’m also a licensed professional therapist myself, and I specialize in helping girls and women with body acceptance issues. And, we can potentially connect her with others with gigantomastia besides the two of us, including some girls her age.
Melissa: Oh my gosh! I can’t believe it! You’re exactly who Cassie needs to talk to! We are so lucky to have met you here! Would you please talk to her, *please*?
Tessa knew it wasn’t luck at all. This was another divine appointment, arranged by God, just like when she met Brad.
Tessa: I would be happy to talk to her. It’s what I do.
Tessa didn’t just mean it’s what her job was. More than that, she meant that it had become her life’s calling to help fellow gigas who were struggling. And now, that meant more than just Brad’s family.
After that, Tessa, Brad, Bethany, and Ryan and their new friends Melissa and Phil were inseparable for the remainder of the cruise. Well, except for when Tessa and Brad wanted time to slip away to their cabin to do what honeymooners do. It actually worked out well that they had bonded with Melissa and Phil so quickly, because Bethany had become comfortable being with Melissa without Tessa also always having to be there.
When Melissa had learned that she had interrupted Tessa and Brad’s honeymoon, she was extremely apologetic. But Tessa repeatedly reassured her that it was okay; that she was happy to help. Brad said the same thing; by now he realized that being there for Melissa and Phil made the honeymoon even more enjoyable for Tessa, and Tessa being as happy as possible in turn made the honeymoon even better for him. Tessa’s desire and willingness to help others was just part of what made her so special.
The three couples discussed at length how the women in Brad’s and Bethany’s family all had gigantomastia, but that Tessa so far was the first and only one in her family. The implications for Melissa and Phil’s family being that there was no way to know whether their 9 year old daughter Charlie might also develop it, until she either did or didn’t. It was not lost on Brad that Charlie’s fate would be determined much sooner than that of any daughters he and Tessa might have. Not that what happened in Charlie’s case would have any implications for anyone else. But if Charlie did in fact develop gigantomastia, it might present an opportunity to search for the presence of the giga X gene in a completely different genetic line.
Chapter 23: Cassie, junior giga
Once home from the cruise, Melissa made arrangements with Tessa to hold a remote therapy session with Cassie via video conference. In order to not make Cassie wait for an open appointment time, Tessa agreed to meet with her one evening when she would normally not be working. They signed onto the conference at the appointed time. Melissa and Cassie were both on together. Melissa and Tessa briefly exchanged pleasantries, and then Melissa introduced Cassie and Tessa to each other.
Tessa: Hi, Cassie. I’ve heard a lot about you from your mom. I feel like I almost know you already. Now, we can talk either with or without your mom in the room with you. It’s completely your choice.
Cassie: I’d like my mom to stay, if that’s okay.
Tessa: That’s fine. If you change your mind later, please let me know. Now, this time is for you to discuss what’s on your mind. It’s about you, not me. But I think it might be helpful if I tell you a little bit about myself first, so you know who you’re talking to. Now, your mom showed you the video Bethany and I made for you when we were on the cruise together, right?
Cassie: Yes.
Tessa: So you know that the two of us have gigantomastia. Bethany is my husband’s sister, by the way. Like you, my breasts began to get very big, very fast starting when I reached puberty, and just kept on growing like crazy. I went through my entire teenage and college years not ever having met anyone else with this condition, so I felt completely alone. I felt like a freak. No one else could possibly understand what I was going through. I hated my huge boobs and I hated my life. Does that story sound at all familiar to you?
Cassie: Yes.
Tessa: Good. So I think we’ll be able to relate to each other pretty well, don’t you? [Cassie nodded.] But we’ve had some different experiences as well. I had parents who were ashamed of the way I looked. They also refused to get me into therapy, even though I begged them to do so. So, it wasn’t until I went away to college that I was able to get the help I needed. You have a big head start on me, having supportive parents who are doing everything they can to help you.
Tessa: It wasn’t quite a year ago that I finally met someone else with gigantomastia. Actually, a whole bunch of people – dozens of them. Bethany was just one of many. Now, I’m part of the giga sisterhood. That’s what we call each other – gigas. And now, you’re part of the giga sisterhood, too. I know you’re not as big as us yet, but I was about your size at your age, so I’d say that makes you a junior giga. Rule one of the giga sisterhood is that gigas always look out for each other. So, I want you to know that you’re not alone in this anymore. In fact, right now there’s another giga here with me, in the next room, who would like to meet you. Would that be okay?
Cassie: I guess so.
Tessa: [calling out] Bella, would you come in here, please?
Bella enters the room and sits where she’s in view of the camera and screen.
Bella: Hi, Cassie! Nice to meet you! It’s always a pleasure to meet another giga!
Cassie: Thanks.
Tessa: Bella is Bethany’s sister, so she’s also my sister-in-law. She’s in her junior year of college, studying to be a middle school science teacher. Okay, Bella, thanks. You can go now.
Bella: Bye, Cassie!
Cassie: So Bethany and Bella are sisters, and they both have gigantomastia? Does that mean Charlie’s going to get this, too?
Tessa: Not necessarily. I’m the only one in my family who has it. There’s no way to know until Charlie starts developing. But if she does have it, she will never feel alone and not understood by anyone, because she’ll have you to help her. That’s what the giga sisterhood is all about.
Tessa: Okay, let’s talk about you now, if that’s okay.
Cassie: Wait, I have another question. All three of you are grown-ups and can do whatever you want, but none of you got a reduction. Why not? You said you hated your boobs.
Tessa: Yes, I did say that, but I don’t hate them anymore. In fact, I’m glad I still have them. My life would be so different now if I had gotten the surgery, but I really like the life I have. It’s only because I kept them that my husband and I realized we had anything in common and fell in love. It’s only because I kept them that I discovered the giga sisterhood. And it’s only because I kept them that your parents and I connected on the cruise ship and I’m here talking to you now. On the other hand, Bethany and Bella always had the giga sisterhood, and they never had a reason to consider surgery.
Tessa: But lots of gigas do get reduction surgery when they’re able. It’s a personal decision, and there’s no right or wrong answer. When you’re old enough, you’ll be able to get the surgery if you want it, but nothing says you have to, either. Any other questions before we start?
Cassie: No.
Tessa: All right, then. Why don’t you tell me your story from the beginning? But don’t just tell me what happened; I also want to hear how it made you feel. And don’t forget, we can excuse your mom if you’d be more comfortable talking without her present.
Cassie: No, it’s okay; she can stay. [deep breath] I guess it all started when…
THE END