Reborn: The Boy Who Discovered He Wasn't

Chapter Twenty

"This one is for you."

Standing this close to Mr. Williams for this long, James began to grow even more confident of his completely feminine appearance. He accepted the rose and brought it to his nose for a sniff.

Mr. Williams began to explain why he had brought the roses.

"Your mom showed me more courage this morning than some of the men that have been with me for years. I hope you are as proud of her as she is of you. I also have some papers for her to look over. Would you give her these as well? She'll understand. And once she has read them I think she will be well pleased."

He offered James a small stack of papers, but James didn't take them.

"I would be glad to. No disrespect, sir, but are they to her terms? She will take no less than fifty-one percent. If these papers say forty-nine percent like you offered earlier, then you just as well take them back with you, 'cause she won't be signing them," James told him with a seriousness in his unblinking eyes.

"Oh, don't you worry, young lady. I think this contract will be to her liking."

"It had better be," James replied as he turned and used a stool to get a vase from a high shelf.

Mr. Williams looked around seeing a clean and proper house, but not one that said there was any wealth here.

Once James had put the flowers in the vase and ran some water in it, he sat it on the island bar and made sure it was secure before he let go.

He then took the papers from Mr. Williams hand and placed them on the counter next to his mom's purse. Turning back around to face him he asked Mr. William's if there was anything more he could do.

This young girl, he observed, was the most innocent thing he had ever laid his eyes on. He felt nothing from her but genuine love and respect, something he was sure Carol and her husband had taught her. Her smile and confidence had melted his heart in a way he had never thought such a young person could.

James stood there watching as Mr. Williams reach inside his jacket and the real size of the man registered on him. His one hand was big enough to make both of James's and some left over, he told himself. He wasn't afraid of this man, but he was worried that there would be problems with his mom if he didn't leave soon.

From his wallet, Mr. Williams took four one hundred dollar bills. He gave them to James and then gave him his business card as well.

"I want you to share that with your mom, two for you and two for her. Maybe you can go to Karyn's 501 with her again sometime. This is my business card, my special business card that not many people get. It has my personal cell phone number on it. If there is anything you need, anytime day or night, you call me. Okay?"

He stood to leave.

Carol, still standing just inside her bedroom door listening to what was happening, could hear his voice shaking and she knew her child had melted the big man right to his core. She had been thinking she would walk out and let him have it with her child present to hear it, but with how he was now reacting to 'Jessica', she didn't. That would spoil the moment, as she had never seen him be so gentle with anyone.

When Mr. Williams stood again, James realized even more so just how big he was. No wonder his mom was so afraid of him or at least that was the way she talked about him.

James promised Mr. Williams that he would have his mom call him. Mr. Williams then turned to leave.

Carol had just witnessed an event that would have made every Hollywood filmmaker green with envy. Armed with nothing but his love for his mother, a smile and pure honesty, her son, appearing as her daughter, had just reduced a hulk of a man to nothing more than putty in his hands.

Carol slipped out of her room, poured a cup of coffee and was sitting at the table by the time James closed the door behind Mr. Williams and turned back around.

James ran to give his mom a hug.

As Carol sat and looked over the contracts, the scene she had just witnessed played over again in her mind. James was Shawn made over, at this moment, a beautiful female version, and it warmed her heart to no end.

There were three checks mixed in with the papers. Thr first one, for three-thousand dollars, said it was for Jessica.

Carol looked at the check and then up at James. She knew James had read the check because the poor kid's eyes were as big as saucers.

Responding to the look on James's face, Carol began, "Listen honey. You realize that your decision about your gender will determine whether or not you get to cash this check. I don't want you to make a decision based on this check, but I do want you to know that if you decide to become a full girl, then you will become the face of my design line, my main model. That's what this check is for. It's called a signing bonus. Now, if you decide against that, I'll have to find another model and this money will go to her."

"Will there be more than that or will that be it?"

"That's not important right now. I want you to make the best decision for you and the rest of your life, not a "blinded-by-dollar-signs" decision. But, to answer your question, as long as we are successful, yeah there will be more."

"OK mom, I understand."

Standing behind his mom, James put his arms around her neck and gave her a kiss on the top of her head.

The second check was the same amount as the first, an upfront bonus for Rebecca. For herself, Carol found a five-thousand-dollar upfront royalty bonus and in the contract was an agreement giving Carol fifty-one percent ownership of the label, just as she requested, in addition to everything else they had discussed that morning.

This was much better than anything Carol could do, starting out on her own. It would put her years ahead. She was so happy she almost began to cry.

"What's a matter, mom? Is it not what you wanted," and James asked, concerned about his mom.

"No, honey, it's everything I asked for. And it takes a load off my shoulders, not having to start from the ground up."

"Then what are you waiting for," he asked as he ran to retrieve a pen.

"here," he offered, holding the ink pen towards his mom.

With a smile on her face and a swelling of excitement in her heart, Carol signed the paperwork right then with James standing over her shoulder.

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