Recollections Prologue
The first thing I have to do is to publicly thank Angharad, KarenJ and last, but certainly not least, Jillian, for all their efforts to decipher my scribbles. It was also their encouragement that gave me the courage to submit this to Maddy, in the first place.
I also extend a warm ‘thank you' to Maddy, for creating this ‘universe' and giving my mind a place to occasionally wander.
Prologue :
This ‘document' wasn't originally meant for posting, just my way of keeping things straight in my own mind, but thanks to some gentle nudging by Angharad, I put this up for all the other Gabfans to read. Thanks also go out to the various fanfic authors and Maddy Bell, herself, for creating this ‘universe' and providing the inspiration. Whether you realize it or not, there's a part of each of you, in this work.
… And to all who read this, I hope you enjoy it as much as it was for me to take the Journey.
Written in the third-person, this is a “what-if”. “What-if” Drew was informed of his infamous test results, early Jan. 2004 – prior to going to the US? “What-if” he was inter-sexed? “What-if” he did have a hormonal imbalance and he was experiencing “monthly periods”? Ever wonder the direction Maddy's story might've taken, upon getting the results and Drew did decide to remain as Gaby, legally and physically? This started out as only being a compilation of the differences with Maddy's Gaby, for that “what-if”. As those differences got more pronounced the notes become lengthier and even this document ‘evolved'. The result seems less of a ‘story' and more as a catalyst to invoke one's imagination.
The various ‘Gaby' author's, have all said at one point or another, ”they don't know what will happen next – the story writes itself”. It's just not ‘modesty speaking' or ‘empty words' - I've finally experienced that phenomenon first-hand and the ‘result' is that this ‘Gaby' story has evolved from one of a teenaged boy who doesn't even consider himself TG, is repeatedly mistaken for a girl or even finding himself in situations where he must pose as a girl, to that of a young woman, coming to terms with herself, her sexuality and her new life. It also deals with her long-time, girlfriend's journey from a manipulative and at times, immature, teenaged girl into a young woman, ‘forced' to be responsible and honest not only to herself, but others – Gaby in particular.
Whether it is elements or entire chapters from Maddy Bell's Book 4, the fanfics, posting's in the G'zone, real life or my own imagination – all are used to direct the plot. It's been evolving from the time I first started reading Book 4 and it initially only grew as fast as Maddy updated her site, but ‘recently', it just took a life of it's own. Now, I felt I should get some record of this “never ending story” – even if it's only sparse notes, hurriedly jotted down to record the various points of the events that comprise Gaby's journey into womanhood. I've made no attempt to record all the details that occurred, nor make no apology for doing so. My memory's not that great to recall every scene or line of dialogue, that has revealed itself in the ‘epic film' that played in the mind.
In addition, I also take into account reality whenever it's to my benefit. Given that the story goes beyond 2005, the real-life position on same-sex marriages, in countries like Canada and the UK, play an important role. For plot purposes, I've also included Germany in this, although I don't know if Germany does share this view not, or the probability of it happening in the near future. As background I offer an explanation of the Canadian position.
“Even though legalizing same-sex marriages across Canada , isn't currently an issue in the 2006 federal legislation , provincially, 7 of the 10 Canadian provinces have already legalized same-sex marriages. In the case of church weddings; providing the particular church will agree to perform the wedding (not hard in Toronto with I believe, three churches having openly gay clergy), religious marriage ceremonies can be performed.
Gay/lesbian civil and church marriages are now relatively commonplace – civil ceremonies being the more common option. Politically, this decision with the church, allowed the provincial governments to pass the legislation for same-sex marriages, while appeasing church goers that the church won't be forced to perform a wedding if it was against the wishes of a particular church or congregation. “
The ‘wedding', should really be visual, but you make do with what you have at your disposal. Since it was relatively recent, as this bit of writing goes, I decided to try putting this down in some detail, while the whole scenario was relatively ‘fresh' in the mind.
The mental images, ‘actions' and sentiment, come from many sources that I've seen, heard or experienced. The American Native influence can be attributed to artists like the 60's singer-songwriter, Buffy Saint-Marie, a full-blooded Cree and my own daughter's experience with Native American fashion. She still occasionally wears some of her Mohawk-crafted jewelry/accessories, today. The ‘wedding ceremony' is derived from my experiences with two daughters and their weddings, an occasional imagination and other influences.
This all begins with the Americans visiting Warsop, specifically in the first week of Sept. 2003.
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Sept.2 - Time Trial's and the ‘cheer team' (incl. Britney and Maddy) are there for Drew. At the completion of his ride, he passes out after getting off the bike, as per Maddy's Gaby.
Sept. 6 - racing at Sheffield, once again the ‘cheer team' is in attendance and once again Drew collapses after dismounting. The remainder of month went as per Maddy's storyline. Time Trial's the following Tuesday, were medically uneventful.
Sept.30 – the usual weekly Time Trial's and Drew passes out, once again after dismounting. Again, as per Maddy's story.
Oct. – Jan. Events as per Maddy's story, with the following exceptions:
In Oct., Drew finally sees Dr. Sanwari for first time, for these blackouts and after taking many blood samples from Drew, begins testing. The Dr. sends out samples, anonymously, to eminent colleagues around the UK, to get their opinions. Meanwhile. As a result of his own tests, he outlines his findings of Drew's hormonal imbalance and concludes that he was born a biological female (inter-sexed). The blackouts resembled the symptoms of a period and may well be just that, given the time interval of approximately twenty-eight days between ‘episodes'.
Jen phones Dave with her decision to leave him and the whole ‘split' episode occurs, as recorded in Maddy's story, up to and including her return to the family, Dec.28, with her revelation that she's got ‘Stage IV (terminal) cancer'.
The week of Jan. 5, 2004 and the Royal Mail resumes after the holidays. Drew gets back into his normal daily routines, after the holidays. One day, upon getting home from a ride and showering, he settles down with a tea. Dave gives him a registered letter from Dr. Sanwari – it's the written confirmation of Drew's test results, with the names and signatures of all the other Dr.'s that were involved with the re-testing, attached. It just confirms that Dr. Sanwari was 100% correct with his prior conclusions.
Drew's thought long and hard about the following options as first outline by the good Dr.:
• Either he remains living as a male, pumped with testosterone hormones. The results would be unpredictable. Anything from a male version of Jenny (not good in a world where looks play a part in one's career path) to a visually normal, strong and buff specimen of a man. Either way, he'd very likely be unable to perform as a man.
• Or she chooses to live as a female. Already his body, going through puberty, seems to have made that choice, physically anyway. Drew also has had some deep thoughts about Gaby and has concluded her ‘established life' is far better than Drew's. An MRI is offered to see just how much, internally, is female. His male gentalia, very undersized for his age, is only good for urinating, having no testosterone in his system.
Having made his decision to remain Gaby after seeing that the test results agreed with Dr. Sanwari's initial findings, he requested a ‘family meeting' with both, the Bond's and Peter's, to inform them of her decision. At the time, Maddy is unavailable, off shopping with Bernie and her Mom. Jenny is also unavailable at this time, as she's still severely weak and resting. Drew notes to inform Maddy as soon as he can. Dave says that he'll inform Jenny, but in his mind, he decides he'll say nothing, until Jenny is on the road to recovery and is strong enough to deal with it. Dave did remember to phone Jenny's mum, as well as the rest of his family.
Thus, it is Gaby, pretending to be Drew, which returned to school for the week prior to the US trip. Both ‘escorts' for the exchange trip and Mr. Woods are also eventually informed of ‘the decision'.
Given all the concern she and Jules had for their mum, Maddy and the 'gang' remained uninformed as to the decision to remain Gaby. They still thought Jen was planning to leave Dave and the kids and that was the reason for the preoccupation of the Bond kid's during the trip to Virginia. Only one member of the ‘gang', Maddy, eventually learned - from Carol - that Jenny had (terminal) cancer. Maddy kept it secret, as requested by her mum and Dave, from the rest of the ‘gang'.
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The US trip is as per Book 4, with the following exceptions:
• Dan had Stacey (his girlfriend; Capt. of the Jr. Cheerleaders and as such, social leader for the lower grades; also in Brit and Gaby's homeform), leak to the kids, prior to Gaby's arrival at the school and as his retaliation for Gaby for spurning him (decking him is more like it), that she is a ‘lesbian' and has a girlfriend - based on his limited knowledge from the UK. Since the kids at AHS are under a microscope to prevent any physical harm from befalling the British kids, Stacey's plan is to make Gaby a social outcast. None of the kids will have anything to do with her, not if they wish to remain acceptable – both, to Stacey, as well as socially! (Note: Gaby will learn of this from clues, pieced together, just prior to the Valentine's dance. This may prove to be good for Gaby, as it somewhat isolated her from exposure to the ‘homophobic ideas' of the other AHS students. This repeated but unintentional, exposure would have the effect of ‘brainwashing' the other members of the ‘gang').
• Maddy faked having an injury to get Gaby to fall behind, during the initial community ski trip, only it didn't go as planned. In a worse case scenario, the results could have been fatal, considering Gaby wasn't dressed for the activity or the weather. Obviously, Gaby's tormentor's just hoped Gaby would require ‘thawing out' by the ‘olds, risking ‘her' discovery. The first attempt by Brit, with Maddy's help, to ‘expose' Gaby, failed. Let the game's commence!
• Dan ‘arranged' for his friend, Sam to meet Maddy, setting her up for Sam to spread the false rumour , that she's ‘easy', supposedly ruining her rep and thus serving as Dan's revenge on her for spurning his attentions, while in Warsop! Maddy, having lesbian tendencies (she's actually more in love with Gaby, rather than Drew), cons Gaby to switch for the weekend, knowing full well Gaby will be forced to go on a dinner date with Sam – something Maddy doesn't care to do herself. She also believes it will be a good ‘girl' experience for Gaby and besides; Miss Bell will be there to prevent any problems. It's just that she conveniently forgot to tell Gaby any of this…
• Gaby's Sat. bike ride and blackout approaching Jack's Diner, was recorded by Maddy. Inquiring about Sam, after ‘her' dinner date, Gaby gets the first of the “you don't need to know” lectures, from Maddy, leading to doubt and a downward spiral in their relationship, as far as Gaby is concerned..
• Gaby spends the remaining weekend with Miss Bell as “Maddy, BUT in this case; ‘she' is ‘discovered' by Jessica, on the Saturday afternoon. That evening/night, sees Jessica and Gaby sharing some Chinese food and a LONG informal discussion – more like ‘sisters confiding in each other', mostly about Gaby's ‘history', her feelings on ‘being Gaby' and on the trip. Gaby even confides her ‘decision' on remaining Gaby, to Miss Bell. Jessica even opens up a bit, to Gaby, thereby forging what becomes, a lasting bond between the two. On Sunday, Maddy (Gaby) still sees Sam at Jack's Diner, thus unknowingly, setting Maddy up for Dan's plan. The rest of the afternoon is spent with Jessica, out riding (Jessica owned two horses, keeping them in a stable behind her place), in the fields around her house. At first, Gaby was apprehensive, but as the afternoon went on, it became very enjoyable for her.
• Maddy discovers being coy with ‘her Gaby' about the alleged ‘relationship' with Sam, strangely comforts her. While it's clearly unsettling for Gaby to believe Maddy is seeing someone else, Maddy's perverse logic tells her that Gaby's concern (jealousy/whining) is telling her that ‘Gaby still loves her' – the only way, as she sees it, that Gaby can still openly say it to her, since Miss Bell has told the kids to keep their relationships low-key for the duration of the visit, due to the homophobic ripples going through the school and Grottoes. As Maddy convinces herself of the validity of her logic, she pushes Gaby deeper into doubt, with her aloofness. Only during Sandy's sleepover, does Maddy show her affection openly, since everyone there, except Sandy, knows of her and Drew/Gaby.
• Miss C. repeatedly ask ‘Drew', if she's uncomfortable and Gaby always states she is, but will continue because of her promise back in Mr. Wood's office, to be on the cheer team at the competition. Gaby knows if Miss C. pulls her out of the trip because of her ‘comfort level', the cheer team would be automatically be pulled from the competition. For the sake of the promise and her fear of the reaction from the rest of the team, Gaby continues to endure her treatment at the hands of her ‘friends'.
• Even Em (Rhodi) has betrayed ‘Drew' with her repeated failure to consider ‘his' feelings when speaking of Maddy and her own efforts to push Gaby into unpleasant situations. She's also becoming increasingly ‘prissy' in her attitude, pushing friends like Gaby and Ali, away from her. Em's ‘volunteering' of Gaby to don period dress was just another veiled attempt to expose Gaby, since Gaby had to dress from the ‘skin out', in the company of the female guide from the Civil War museum. Risking the ‘discovery' of Gaby has become somewhat of a game for Maddy, Brit and now it would appear, Em.
• Now aware that Jessica also knew about the ‘decision', Fran was also concerned, not only with watching for a deliberate exposure of Gaby, now more likely at the hands of her ‘friends', but also the disturbing trend seemingly led by both Maddy and Em, to alienate Gaby from the ‘gang'. The two teachers' were well aware, that despite Gaby's medical situation and her ‘decision', she still had her ‘boy bits', so Gaby's deliberate exposure to others, was still of a very great concern.
• Out of concern for her ‘sister', Gaby ends up being comforted nightly, by Jules, in the seclusion of their room, before going to sleep. Jules was fully aware of the pain Gaby was feeling and it's only these nightly sessions that seem to hold Gaby together - that and her cycling with her new friends, made outside the school and exchange program - away from the other kids. Jules had even awoken during some nights to find Gaby softly crying. When that happed, Jules thought nothing of getting up and comforting Gaby until she went back to sleep, or as on one or two occasions, got up for school. So far, there had been few redeeming experiences, on this trip, for Gaby.
• Following the Sherwood Forester's cheer performance, while the team was in the stands watching the other competitors, Gaby finally was pushed too far, breaking up with Maddy and quitting the team, effective immediately!
• When Gaby told Maddy that if she broke up with Maddy, so did ‘Drew', Maddy just dismissed Gaby's rants as just that, rants of a jealous girl friend! Maddy still didn't believe Gaby could talk for Drew and as such, refused to believe ‘Drew' was breaking up with her. However, Gaby's break-up; was a non-issue for Maddy, who now, as a result of the continuous exposure to the ‘ideas' of the other AHS students, now believed in her mind, “girls can't like girls” and Gaby is just another girl friend, who was just becoming a real ‘pain'.
• Gaby defends her decision to leave the cheer team, to Miss C., stating she only promised to be with the team for the competition, not to remain with it! Gaby then tearfully rushed to the change room, rendering her uniform temporarily ‘un-presentable', thus preventing Miss C. from insisting she put it back on for any reason that day. Changing to her street clothes, Gaby headed outside, leaving the uniform behind. She even refused to travel back with the team. Instead a distraught Gaby headed back to Grottoes with Jules, Debbie and Mrs.W.
• Ali also resents Em's behaviour, to her as well as to Gaby, and like Gaby vs Maddy, Ali's relationship with Em is strained.
• Miss C. and Miss Bell were dumbfounded with the events, trying to handle the Gaby and Maddy ‘crisis du jour', plus get the cheer team out in front to claim their trophy and acknowledge their win. In the end, only Maddy and Em went out to claim the prize – no encore performance as with the other teams and their award essentially became only ‘bragging rights' with the hardware staying at AHS since it had to be returned to the organizer's for next year's comp. Miss C. and the team paid a very high price for these ‘bragging rights' and with ‘Drew' having paid the highest price!
• Jenny still signed for 2004 and the whole Atlanta episode remained unchanged as in Maddy's story, except that Dave only discreetly informed Jenny of ‘Drew''s ‘blackouts', on the flight over to the US, leaving Gaby to fill her mum in on ‘the decision' and how it came about, up in Jenny and Dave's Atlanta hotel room.
• Maddy used ‘Drew' to retaliate against Sam at the Valentine's dance, as per the main story. Maddy also wished ‘him' good luck in Atlanta, but on Gaby's return to Grottoes, the gang, including Maddy, was strangely silent towards her. The night, prior to the Thursday morning DC departure, was a particularly dark period of Gaby's US visit with her falling into a deep depression over her treatment on the trip, by her ‘friends'. A terrified Jules was sufficiently shaken and insisted that Miss C. assign her to a hotel room with her sister, while in DC and she also remained close to Gaby for the rest of the visit - even if that made the question of Rhod's accommodation, a bit of a problem for Miss C. Bernie and Ali finally accepted ‘Em' and Maddy was moved in with Jules' original hotel roommate.
• There was some interaction, with the ‘gang' and Gaby in DC, but it was cool, almost ‘forced'. Unfortunately Ali got shot in the arm, while on a shopping trip in DC with the rest of the exchange students.
• Em, underneath it all, resented being made to return to being Rhod for the trip home – immigration or no immigration - yet Gaby was left to remain unmistakably Gaby (long hair and all). What Em and the rest didn't know was of Drew's ‘decision'. Miss C. was armed with a fax (from Dave) of Dr. Sanwari's ‘letter of confirmation', to help Gaby through immigration, if it was required. Fortunately, she had contacted Dave about this, much earlier, at Jessica's recommendation, as a result of Gaby's weekend with Miss Bell.
• Maddy and the others, not only chose seats that would allow them to avoid sitting with Gaby on the return home, leaving her to instead, sit with Jules and Miss C., but collectively pressed Gaby into service as an impromptu luggage porter for their carry-on's, as per the main story. At the school, the 'gang' dispersed to their families after saying good-bye/hugging each other, but avoided even eye contact, with Gaby.
• Once home, Gaby, now without the friendship or support of the ‘gang', in her own mind, had no reason to remain in Warsop and implored Dave to accept the job, thus moving the family to Germany. Jules backed up Gaby's plea, relating Gaby's US experience, based on her nightly sessions with her sister. This effectively removed one of the biggest concerns Dave had about
up-rooting the kids from their friends. At the same time as being relieved with the kid's reaction to the idea of moving, Jules' revelation of Gaby's experience in Virginia, shocked Dave and Jenny.
• Upon her return to the UK, Gaby discovers that her mum has, since the ‘olds return, been working with her (Warsop) lawyer, to get Gaby's name and passport changed – with help from Dr. Sanwari in convincing the authorities that a change is needed and quickly. After all, the child is really a girl by birth and should now be correctly identified as a girl on her existing legal documentation, asap! Jenny hoped that it would be done before the family moved to Germany. Three weeks after Jenny's return to the UK, she had Gaby's new documentation. Both of the Bond sisters maintained email links with the Walters and Gaby enjoyed additional email contact with Erin, Diane and Jessica.
During mid-term break, not much interaction with ‘Drew', but some. The ‘gang' still didn't know of Gaby's decision. Considering their treatment of her on the trip and with Gaby knowing that the move to Germany was almost a sure thing, there was no reason nor opportunity to inform them (just one crisis after another, eh?). In the end, Gaby never mentioned the ‘move' or the ‘decision', to the ‘gang'.
Gaby, pretending to be ‘Drew', but tying her hair in a mid-back length ‘low pony', started back to school following the March mid-term. It was decided ‘Drew' would still attend school until the Bond's planned move at Easter. ‘Drew' met Helen on ‘his' first day back and ‘he' sensing her situation, as the ‘new kid' and the outcast, drew parallel feelings to Gaby's US trip. ‘He' invites her to ‘his' 14th birthday party, which, incidentally, Maddy insisted occur. Although she's consistently been cool towards Drew since returning from the States, she still firmly believed she possessed him and is not amused with this development.
Since Drew's 14 th b'day party was held at Carol's, the Grottoes presents for Gaby, were left back in her bedroom. The ‘beginning of the end' for Gaby and Maddy, started when Maddy put down a present on the table, that she was given to bring back, by Jessica, FOR GABY – knowing full well the tag read: “Happy Birthday, Gaby, from Jessica”. She was hoping someone would just hand the present to ‘Drew' in front of Paul, Clive and Helen… all of who don't know of Drew/Gaby. Maddy's assumption was based on the fact that the others just spent 6+wks with Gaby and you know what they say about “old habits…”. True to form, Em ‘innocently' handed the present to ‘Drew' while reading the tag, aloud. Maddy was quietly elated, Em seeing nothing wrong, was unrepentant for her actions and ‘Drew' was crushed, while the two boys and Helen slowly realized what 2+2 add up to.
Following the initial confusion and the inevitable questioning from the boys, Gaby ends up tearfully recounting her history, the test results, etc., then before storming out, yells (in anger) she had no wish to acknowledge Maddy or Em, ever again and informs Carol, if she ever ‘visited' her mum, she was to leave Maddy behind! Gaby may still have had feelings for Maddy, but was totally fed up with her ways and saw the only resolution to the problem was to have ‘Drew' break up with Maddy!
Carol was incensed with Maddy's behaviour as Maddy finally accomplished what Em , Brit or herself, couldn't do In the US - that of exposing Gaby to others. Maddy won the ‘game', but along with Em, lost friends in the guise of Ally, Bernie, Paul and Clive. Between sobs, Gaby told the ‘olds, she just wanted to leave Warsop behind - coming just ‘this close' to exposing Rhod/Em to Paul, Helen and Clive, out of anger, but realizing that would make her no better than Maddy and Em!
Carol abruptly ended the party. Jules, Jenny, Dave and John, were clearly stunned by Maddy's actions. Jen implored the boys and Helen, not to reveal ‘Gaby' to the others at school and they agreed. Sylvia was called to get Em and informed of her behaviour . She wasn't impressed with her daughter, in the least! Maddy now in tears, was up in her room, not feeling any remorse for her actions but rather wondering why the others reacted to her, as they did. Meanwhile, Helen asked Gaby to walk her home, as she felt Gaby's the one who currently needed a friend. She had a calming influence on Gaby and once at her (Helen's) door and following a peck on Gab's cheek, asked if she can meet the real Gaby, to which Gabs agreed, for the following day after school.
The next day, Thursday, ‘Drew' stayed home and at school, Jenny requested Maddy and Rhod (Em wasn't enrolled at school, yet) not stay in her geography class, as she was still stinging from their actions at the party and teaching them as if nothing happened, just didn't sit right. Mr. Woods heard of it and considering his position re students ‘bullying' a fellow student, in or out of school, he decided to exclude Maddy (as the instigator) for a 3wk period. Rhod got off rather lightly for just being stupid and uncaring, with a week. Maddy may have got a severe punishment, but given the impact to Gaby and possible future impact, if it ever leaked out, Mr. Wood felt he still heeded Jen's request to be merciful, yet remained firm and send a clear message. Maddy's exclusion made her miss the entire month of March and with the addition of the 6wks of the US trip; Mr. Wood's decision effectively resulted in Maddy repeating the year as she couldn't catch up with her studies.
Meanwhile, Jenny asked Helen to still come by, offering to drive her to the house – with Helen's bike on the van's roof carrier. Helen and her mum ended up getting invited for tea, plus Dave managed to fix her bike (at least it left in much better shape than it arrived) after being told the problem(s) by Gaby. Gaby did make her promised appearance for Helen and her mum, with their reception of the teenaged girl, being much to Gaby's relief!
As a result of Gaby's exposure at the party, ‘Drew' was now officially gone and ‘Gaby' refused to attend Warsop College. Doing so would mean she had to unnecessarily explain her appearance and Drew's disappearance, for the short time that remained before their move. The parents agreed to keep her out of school. It was Jenny that suggested Gaby travel to Germany with Dave, whenever he went and get enrolled, either in the local German school with Kat Pinger or the English school in Bonn, for the coming year and spending the intervening time learning the language. Gaby felt that repeating the year was a small price and in the end, was advantageous. Jules ended up doing the same, agreeing it's better to do the entire year with the new curriculum than try to catch up for exams, in the last part of the year, especially given the importance of the year, in terms of her academic studies. Like Gaby, she also took advantage of the ‘off-time' to learn the language.
Dave started working part-time with George, in Germany, taking the kids with him each time he went. Just before Easter, tragedy struck. A driver that suffered a fatal aneurysm, while at the wheel of his car, fatally struck down Helen and her mum. Maddy didn't attend the funeral for the two, but the rest of Helen's classmates and the Bond's, did. A devastated Gaby moved to Germany with the rest of her family.
Once in Germany, after a short stay in Jen's old 2-bedrm apt, they moved to a new house, not far from the Pinger's. Things finally seem to be going well for the Bonds and their plans. Using the ‘remaining' school year to learn German, Gaby and Jules enrolled in the local German school for the following school year, after their move. During the course of the new academic year, Jules was even seriously looking at attending the University of Bremen. Re-doing her final year in a German school was paying off, for her. Dave was doing well, setting up and running the Jr. program. Jen was still hoping to return to competition but she was also increasingly accepting the idea of her retirement. She eventually did retire from competition and took the position of full time coach/ training director for the Jr. program. Dave as part of his new duties, also scouted and signed girls from all over Europe (including Gaby's cycling friend, Kristen) to the program. Gaby was getting ready to hold her 15 th b'day with her German friends. Warsop is largely; a distant memory for her, but she still had intense, buried feelings toward Maddy.
Gaby and it was now GABY, with her parent's consent, had finally signed a sponsorship contract with “Specialized”, a few days before her birthday. The first (unsuccessful) attempt to get her to sign, materialized back during a Dorset vacation, when she was still 13.
Pick up three years later, when Gaby and Maddy are both 18 - the year is 2008:
Gaby's had her surgery to remove her male gentailia and to expose her existing female gentailia, some time ago and now she had developed into a ‘striking' 18yr old clone of her mum! Gaby's continued relationship with ‘Specialized” for the last three years has seen her accumulate a fair-sized bank account, with a bonus – she'd found herself with a ‘bit of a surplus' after she put aside funds for university. Jenny is “chuffed” to say the least, with Gaby and her sponsorship, but a wee bit jealous that it didn't happen for her, as well. Still, like mothers everywhere, she was thrilled when she saw either of her children doing so well.
Jules' (no ugly duckling, herself) was now in her 3 rd year at Bremen University. Both, Dave and Jenny were reasonably successful, both having secured long-term positions with the team. Gaby was in her final year at the local German school. Kat was in her first year at Bremen University and still spent time, helping Mike when she came home. Maria also retired from competition and had assumed the position of coach for the Jr. Development Program, while Jenny had become the dedicated training director for the Apollinaris' jr. program. The program had evolved from just helping to develop young female cyclists, 13-19, to include the formation of an actual part-time jr. team for Apollinaris, with the four older girls of the program, making up the team, with Gaby as the ‘team captain'.
Maddy is now in her final year at Warsop College, the rest of the ‘gang' having ‘graduated' the previous year and moved on in life. Her ‘graduation' is now fast approaching. She's also long been showing signs of genuine remorse for the past and with Gaby in particular, finally admitting her intense (lesbian) feelings for Gaby, not only to herself (which was a very big step for her), but also ‘coming out' to her parents, whom suspected it, all along and were happy see she'd finally come to grips with her own demons. Carol informs Jenny of this development, who is very pleased, considering Gaby's ‘moods' for the last four years, whenever she was left alone with time to think or Maddy's name was mentioned.
Gaby was told she was meeting Carol at the Bonn airport, later that month and a ‘still-exiled' Maddy was allegedly remaining in the UK with her father. It ended up, it was Maddy, she met – Gaby had been set up by both of their mums and she knew it! This airport meeting ‘forced' the two girls to finally talk on the way home and they very quickly revealed to each other, how much each had missed the other. After Maddy spent the weekend with the Bonds, things had been patched up between the two girls and Gaby had even been invited, by Maddy, to return to Warsop at the end of the following week to attend the year-end dance, at the school, not ‘hiding' as a girl friend attending ‘in stag', but ‘openly', as Maddy's date!
Having returned to Warsop for the dance, Gaby made a decision. Together with their re-discovered feelings for each other and both girls looking at another 4-5 years apart with university; their decision to be ‘out' with their relationship, the growing general acceptance of same-sex couples and even the idea of legal marriages, in several countries, including the UK and Germany, Gaby prepared to go through with her plan to propose to Maddy - removing the ‘guesswork from their ‘relationship status'. Even though Gaby had purchased both rings, back in Bonn, the girls ‘exchanged' the' identical' diamond rings, prior to the two girls leaving Maddy's home, for the school dance.
Maddy's schoolmates were a bit surprised to learn of her sexual orientation and subsequent engagement, but in the end, knowing Maddy as a person, they accepted it as another fact of life. Miss C. and Mr. Woods just shook their heads, knowing that whether it was Drew and Maddy or Gaby and Maddy, those two were destined to be together.
For the girls, their engagement gave a piece of mind ‘ensuring' their commitment to each other throughout the coming university years and it also resulted in their openly discussing ‘wedding plans' following their graduation from university, with the families. Their intention was to get married in Germany and settle down, near Jenny and Dave – assuming their job prospects make that option, practical. Gaby also had the very real probability of going pro with Team Apollinaris, after or even before, her graduation. .
Kat spent the summer of 2008; helping Mike out with the pro team; while Jules helped her dad and Maria, with the running of the jr. program.
Maddy got a summer job, helping Jen, along with Hans (Mike's co-mechanic assigned to the jr. team), supporting the team's efforts. While Dave remained in Europe, focusing on the younger members of the jr. program, Maddy, Jenny and Hans took the Jr. Team Apollinaris on a five-week summer tour (basically a Jr. World Cup tour), with scheduled stops that included races in Beckley, W. VA, in the US; Toronto and Vancouver, in Canada; Italy, Holland and finally returning to Germany. Apollinaris even donated a Canadair Challenger 604, one of their new corporate jets with intercontinental range, for this ‘Jr. World Cup tour'.
The purpose of the ‘tour' was to give the team, some ‘international exposure'. While in Beckley, racing against the Virginian State team and others, Jenny made a mental note regarding Diane Biggs' cycling prowess, even phoning George later that evening, suggesting he should try to find time between races, to fly over and look at her, with a view to getting her sign with the pro team for 2009. Also in Beckley, Gaby and Maddy had a leisurely reunion with Jessica, Diane and Erin, which included dinner at the local “Pancake House” and wound up, back in their room, at the hotel.
On the few ‘off-days' built into the schedule, the team did the ‘tourist thing', exploring the local area. While in Toronto, they used their off day to head east into the ‘Quinte region' of Ontario (on the eastern tip of Lake Ontario), to enjoy the beach at the Sand Banks Provincial Park and even visit the near-by Mohawk Indian Reserve at Shannonville. Vancouver, saw the team,' whale watching', off Vancouver Is. In Holland, it was Kristen, who took over as ‘tour guide' on their off day, planning a day-trip of shopping and sight-seeing in her home town of Apeldoorn.
Meanwhile, John got an offer of promotion and transfer to the large Berlin office, from his employer. He was seriously thinking about it, realizing he was finding himself in a situation somewhat similar to Dave's, those few years ago. One thing he had to consider is that Maddy had been accepted at UMIST, for the upcoming year. However, he finally accepted the transfer and planned to move while Maddy was away at university.
Pick up four years later, when Gaby and Maddy are both 23 - the year is 2012:
After 4 ½ years, Gaby flew back to Manchester with Maddy's parents, to attend Maddy's graduation ceremony from UMIST. She earned a BSc. in Molecular Biochemistry. After the proceedings, Gaby was introduced to Cathy, Ann and Brenda – Maddy's friends from university. During that 4 ½ year wait, Gaby managed to earn a 2-year BA in Geography from the University of Bremen and turn pro, signing a multi-yr contract with Team Apollinaris as well as continuing with “Specialized” after signing a ‘meatier' contract.
After the graduation ceremony, they decided that Maddy would take time off, at least for the summer, possibly longer (considering Gaby's projected annual income) and travel with Gaby on the 2013 World Cup Tour. Of course, with Gaby having a ‘real job', the two girls also turned their attention to seriously formulating wedding plans.
Maddy's friends, Cathy, Ann and Brenda, are eventually contacted and agreed to become Maddy's bridesmaids. Kat agreed to be Maddy's “Maid of Honour ”. Gaby's bridesmaids were her three former Jr. Team Apollinaris, teammates (all now pro's) – Kristen (raced against Gaby since her Warsop days), Nina and Judith. Gaby's “Maid of Honour ” was of course, Jules. The girls set a tentative wedding date of exactly one year to the day from Maddy's graduation from UMIST - May 18, 2013, which also happens to fall on a Saturday. There intentionally were no bridesmaids chosen from the old Warsop ‘gang', since neither of the girls, had any contact with Ali, Em or Bernie, since Gaby's 14 th b'day party.
Some thought was also given to the ‘international' make up of the guest list as well as getting their ‘international bridal parties', plus Carol and Jenny, together in one location, long enough to get the dresses, etc. Gaby suggested an idea to Maddy, which required a short trip back to Canada, for the two girls. Jenny and Carol are resigned to only acting as consultant's in the wedding plans - rather than assuming the planning duties, as mothers-of-the-bride tend to do - with the two cousins deciding that both girl's seem to have considered everything and to just let them ‘do their thing', yet be there for them whenever the stress began to show.
Gaby asked George for a team schedule, so she and Maddy can determine their own planning sessions around the team. At that time, George felt he should inform both Gaby and Maddy, that as a wedding present, Apollinaris had again, donated one of their corporate jets, this time to provide any travel for the girls and the wedding party, leading up to the actual wedding. A BIG gift to be sure, as individual travel costs were a major concern to all. Evidentially, Apollinaris thought a lot of the Bonds and their contribution to Team Apollinaris, over the years.
Gaby's training and race schedule for the summer of 2012 continued, culminating with her realization of a long-time dream – to ride in the “Tour de Feminine”. Her only regret was that her mum wasn't riding with her. On her first “Tour”, Gaby captured two of the five stages, including the Time Trials. Since Apollinaris decided to bring the participants in their 2012 jr. program along, to observe the “Tour” first-hand, Jenny was there, ‘riding' every kilometer with her daughter! At 23 and her first year as a pro, Gaby came in overall third in the “Tour de Feminine” and ended the season with an overall 2nd in the World Cup standings, not to mention she was the youngest cyclist in the top 10! Jenny, rightly so, was simply beside herself, with pride in her daughter! Needless to say, Team Apollinaris was very pleased with their newest ‘Bond girl', that year.
During the 2012 “off season”, Jenny frequently joined Gaby's public appearances and both women seemed to enjoy these outings. The mother-daughter team was always a crowd pleaser and Jenny still commanded the autograph seekers. Maddy and Gaby spent the second week of Dec., in Canada, returning to Germany for the holiday season, with a few presents and everything they were after, for the wedding… five months to go!!
During the holidays, Josie joined the ‘Bonds' and the ‘Peters'. For the first time in what seems like an eternity, both families (including Jenny) were together for the season. Plans went forward, for both the wedding and the upcoming World Cup tour, which was scheduled to start the following February, in Canberra, Australia. Gaby really felt she could take it all, that year!
The girls double-checked with George to ensure they had a ‘window' in May, from the “Tour” on the dates they required. Maddy now intended to accompany Gaby on her 2013 World Cup tour and both planned to keep in touch with the others involved in the wedding, via email and the ‘net. Jenny and Carol were given the tasks of ensuring all the ‘booked arrangements' were in place, while the girl's are away.
… Happy New Year - 2013!
Wedding plans were going very smoothly, maybe much too smoothly! With everything pretty well taken care of and five months to go, the girls suddenly realized that they hadn't given consideration to getting a place of their own, nor even what's going into it! Until they found a house, or even determined if, with only Gaby's annual income, they can comfortably afford one, they considered the very real option of taking over Jenny's old apartment, assuming the George can arrange it and if it was still available.
Three-and-a-half months and counting. It's almost mid-Feb. and the team was getting ready to leave for Australia in a couple of days, leaving the girls to check their lists before (nervously??) handing things over to their mothers - after all, they do know what their mother's are capable of. Dave, John and an estate agent, would continue to address the housing situation.
Gaby aggressively tackled her training and races, during the ‘Tour”, determined to re-capture her mum's World Champion title for the “Bond's”. Jenny's predictions of “I expect she'll be better than I am” seem to be coming true, with Gaby shattering her “mum's performance” in many of the same races also ridden by her mum, in the preceding years. By mid-May, Gaby was in a comfortable position in terms of the overall standings, to realize her goal – if she could maintain the pace.
May 13 th and just as George said, there was a break in the World Cup schedule, until the last week in May. That break brought the all team home from Spain, including an increasingly anxious Maddy and Gaby. At least the constant training and racing kept both their minds off the preparations, for the most part. Fortunately, they found their mum's SEEM to have followed their instructions.
Sat., May 18, 2013 – the wedding day…………
The Look:
Maddy and Gaby's gowns while different, complimented each other… they were both, simple in some ways, and influenced by the medieval look – in others - a look that was very appropriate for the girls, considering their birthplace. Both girls opted to go bare headed, contrary to the ‘advice' of the sales girl, when getting their gowns. The idea for the other girls was to have the bridesmaids within each bridal party, have matching gowns, while the “Maid of Honour” had her own gown. The trick was that all the gowns, in both of the bridal parties, had to be complementary to each other, while at the same time, actually be something the girls will like to wear. Jenny and Carol chose their own gowns, but in the end, went with something that complimented their daughter's wedding gowns. Dave and John just wore suits, but one's that were appropriate, considering how elegant their wives were looking.
Maddy and Gaby's wedding day started much the same at both of their houses – with a ‘forced' breakfast and a ‘relaxing' tea, for all the girls in each of the bridal parties. This was quickly replaced by the stressful scene one typically expects at a bride's house with the female folk shifting into ‘panic mode', while at the same time, trying to keep the bride calm. As for the male members of the household, they just sit back, stayed quiet unless called upon and generally tried very hard not to get in the way!
At the appointed time, the two limos arrived; one each at the Bond's and at the Peter's, to take the respective bridal parties to the same beauty salon . It was only at that point, some small degree of panic, seemed to ease as one entity, from Maddy and Gaby's minds. Because of being faced with doing a dozen women for the same wedding, the owner of the salon put up a sign in the window, “ Geschlossen für private Funktion” ( closed for private function). The way Maddy and Gaby requested the girl's hair to be done, made things go much smoother than might, otherwise, be expected, only to be followed by another ‘panic attack' as five women in each house, tried to get dressed while at the same time, fussing over the bride like ‘worker bees over the queen'! An' again, the men folk in both abodes, just retreated to quiet rooms until a few minutes before ‘Showtime '!
Back when they originally asked all the girls to be in the wedding party, Maddy and Gaby also asked each girl to allow their hair to grow out, only trimming it in the interim. The plan was to have all the girls wear their hair long and straight, so at the hair salon on the wedding day, it was just a simple trim, wash and set – with highlights added. Of course, the girls got pampered with their nails, eyebrows, etc. Each of the six bridesmaids also, had two, locally picked, fresh ‘wild flowers' put in their hair above an ear. Gaby's bridesmaids had them on the left side and Maddy's bridesmaids, on the right. This ensured the flowers would be ‘facing the guests' while the girls were standing at the front of the church. The rest of the final touches came from the shopping list the girls took with them, to Canada.
To understand the Canadian connection, you have to go back to Grottoes, 2004, specifically the weekend Gaby, posing as Maddy, was discovered by Jessica and their resulting time together. It began when the two ‘sisters' were watching some music-award show, talking about Gaby (including the ‘decision'), ‘her' visit thus far and just some general ‘girl-talk', with the TV as more of a background, all the while enjoying some Chinese take-out.
They noticed Buffy Saint-Marie was being honoured with a lifetime achievement award and as she walked out on stage, her native accessories, caught Gaby's eye – a ‘bone' and feather choker, feathered earrings and a feather in her hair. Upon commenting how ‘kewl' that looked, Jessica admitted her fondness for Native American crafts, explaining the significance behind the choker and the hair-feather. One thing led to another and soon Gaby was trying on the various accessories that Jessica had, including those, similar to the ones worn by Buffy. Jessica explained the differences in appearance, were due to tribal traditions – Buffy was Cree and Jessica's stuff, although from various ‘nations', were mostly Mohawk. She had obtained her collection from visits to various States and Reservations, plus a few Canadian vacations that included one specific Mohawk Reservation at the eastern tip of Lake Ontario. Her collection was not necessary all jewelry, but included crafts and some clothing.
The reason Jessica's showed some “dream-catchers” ** to Gaby, was that she (Gaby) had mentioned the restless nights and bad dreams, she and her sister had, both when Jenny was talking about leaving and when she returned with ‘terminal' cancer. Gaby found the native beliefs behind the “dream-catchers”, quite interesting and wished she and her sister had them during that troublesome period.
Turned out the b'day gift that Jessica gave Maddy to give to Gaby contained some of the items Gaby tried on back in Grottoes - a ‘hair feather'; two pair of ‘feathered' earrings; two pair of miniature ‘dream-catcher' earrings; a beaded choker in a traditional design; those two 10” “dream-catchers” she'd shown Gaby – with a note saying “better late than never” and the moccasin boots she'd only reluctantly took off.
All the earrings were a drop-style, with the ‘feathered' earrings ending in a single small feather and the ‘dream-catcher' earrings ending in a miniature ‘dream-catcher', complete with two ‘smaller' feathers. The beaded choker was about 3” high, solid beads, arranged in a traditional design. The only modern concession to the choker's design was the hook n' eye close at the back, otherwise, like the ‘Hair Feather', it was unchanged from the dawn of time.
The ‘hair feather' as worn by a woman (not to be confused with the feathers as worn by Indian ‘warriors'), consisted of a long ‘string' of rawhide, a hawk feather and a small 1” dia. circular shield. This was worn by taking a strand of hair on the left side and braiding it, with the rawhide ‘string, just far enough to secure the feather. As the top of the braid formed, the feather shaft would be ‘worked' into the braid, at a downward angle, with the shield clipped in place to hide the shaft of the feather and to secure it.
Returning to 2013 - one purpose of heading back to Canada was to visit this Mohawk Reservation that Jessica had repeatedly been to and it's store called the “Trading Post”, operated by the Tribal Chief and his family. They intended to get accessories for the wedding party, in the form of earrings for the bridesmaids, earrings and choker's for both the “Maids of Honour”, plus the “Mother's of the Brides” and finally, earrings, choker and a ‘hair feather' for themselves. Both Maddy and Gaby fell prey to temptation and each girl also got a pair of the knee-high moccasin boots. Although originally conceived for the trappers to trudge through deep show, while checking their trap lines, Gaby knew from her previous pair, they looked great and were comfortable when worn over jeans, in dry weather, of course. They also made real comfy ‘slippers' on those cold winter evenings, when paired with a nightie, a quilted housecoat and a cup of hot chocolate!
In order to distinguish the bridal parties, it was decided each of the bridal parties, would wear different accessories. Gaby's attendants would wear the ‘feathered' earrings, plus she and Jules would wear the beaded chokers. Maddy's attendants would all wear the ‘dream-catcher' earrings, while she and Kat wore the ‘bone'/feathered chokers. Maddy and Gaby each wore a ‘hair feather', but with a different traditional design on the shield, as their headpiece. Jenny and Carol wore the same style earrings and choker their daughter wore.
The Ceremony:
This was to be held in Bad Neunahr, the village where the Bonds and now the Peter's resided. The local church had two ministers; of which the more junior, was a woman, in her mid-30's. After both minister's talked to the girls about their plans, the woman asked both the girls and her superior, if she might perform the ceremony. The girls were ecstatic she volunteered to perform the service.
The seating of the 80 invited guests was optional, as opposed to Peter's on one side, Bond's on the other.
Prior to the service, the minister appeared at the front, informing the guests what to expect considering the few ‘changes' to the proceedings, as suggested by the girls:
- Since not everyone present spoke German and all either spoke or was reasonably fluent in English, the majority, but not all, of the ceremony would be conducted in English.
• Each bridal party will come down the aisle, separately, with each bride, escorted by both parents.
(Gaby went first and after she got herself sorted at the front, it was Maddy's turn. Gaby and her party on the invited guests right, while Maddy and her attendants went to the left.)
• A single piece of recorded music, as opposed to traditional organ music, will be played for both bridal parties.
(The selected piece would be Bryan Adam's “Everything I do (I do it for you). At a bit over six-and-a-half minutes, it would give time for the bridal parties to take their places at the front and for that ‘last kiss', to occur – all with ‘background' musical accompaniment.)
• Upon reaching the front and prior to the minister commencing the ceremony, the girls will have a ‘symbolic last kiss'. This was to be the very last one, between Madeline Peters and Gabrielle Bond.
• The Brides won't be carrying a traditional bouquet, but each would carry a single (silk) rose that would play a role throughout the ceremony. The rose each carried, is a symbolic representation of themselves. The rest of the wedding party will be carrying small local ‘wild flower' bouquets.
Finally the minister mentioned the girls combined their thoughts to write the ‘vows' and would be delivering them in both English and German, for the benefit of all the guests. Even though, Maddy was fluent in German after a year in the country, they decided, that she would give the English version and Gaby would repeat the same ‘vows', in German.
The Ceremony, described:
• Once the music's piano Introduction ended and the lyrics started, Judith slowly started down the aisle, walking in time with the music, followed in turn by Nina, Kristen and Jules. Finally Gaby, escorted by both Jenny and Dave, joined the procession. Upon reaching the front, a ‘nervous' Gaby, along with her parents and the rest of her bridal party, sorted themselves out then automatically turned to watch Maddy, and her attendants, approach.
• Upon reaching the front, a few words were exchanged between the minister and the happy couple, after which Maddy turned to Gaby, embraced her and “tenderly”, but far from symbolically, kissed her on the lips. As this was to be the ‘last kiss', Maddy seized the moment at the last minute and decided to make the best of it. Not that it was excessively prolonged, but it was somewhat ‘more passionate' than the minister expected and it was plain to those near-by, Gaby didn't mind, one bit! Kat couldn't help but notice that Jules was trying very hard, to suppress a ‘smirk' while maintaining a dignified-like composure, but with her looking at Jules, then at the two girls, Kat realized that she too, had fight to keep her own composure.
• Finally Maddy broke the kiss. As Maddy and Gaby were each offered the open prayer book, by the minister, each lightly kissed her rose and placed it, like a bookmarker, on the book. The two girls then faced each other and joined hands….
• At that point, the minister began the ceremony proper, with “Dearly beloved, we are gathered here today to witness the union of Fräulein Madeline Elizabeth Peters und Fräulein Gabrielle Drew Bond, in holy marriage.”
• She followed those words with the declaration, “If any one here can show just cause why these two should not be joined, speak now or forever hold your peace” and for the purpose of making it absolutely clear to everyone, immediately followed it with it's German equivalent; Wenn irgendein gerechter Ursache zeigen kann, warum hier diese zwei nicht verbunden werden sollten, sprechen Sie jetzt oder halten Sie für immer Ihren Frieden .“
• Hearing silence, the minister let out an almost inaudible “sehr gut”, then turned towards Maddy and her parents, asking, “Who gives this bride away?” , to which both Carol and John replied, “We do” and the minister nodded for them to be seated . She then turned to Gaby and her parents, asking the same question; “Wer gibt diese Braut weg?” Jenny and Dave simply replied, “Wir” and they were also motioned to sit down.
• After the parents were seated, the minister announced “Madeline und Gabrielle have decided to express their true feelings, in the writing of their own vows…. Madeline … “. As Maddy said her ‘vows', the minister offered the prayer book to Kat, who then placed Gaby's ring on top of the two rose stems. As Maddy's completed her ‘vows', she took the ring and placed it on Gaby's finger. The minister “cued” Gaby and the process was repeated for Gaby and Jules, with Maddy's ring.
• Both girls then walked to the Alter behind the minister, lit a larger ‘wedding' candle, each using a smaller candle, after which time, they returned to their positions at the front.
• At that point, the minister offered Maddy and Gaby, in turn, the prayer book, allowing them to remove ‘their' rose. Maddy then offered ‘hers' to Gaby, who (only because she was more adept at this), held the two roses side-by-side and twisted the stems together, interlocking both roses – symbolically showing they are now as one. Gaby then lightly kissed both roses and returned them to Maddy. The minister blessed the couple, then announced “By the authority bestowed upon me by the church, I now pronounce you legally married. You may both kiss the bride” - at which point, two obviously relieved brides, did …..
• The two girls, along with Kat and Jules, retired to one side of the church, where a table had been set up for them to sign the registry, after which they all returned back to their previous positions, following the minister. Once everyone was back in place, the minister had the newlyweds turn, face the guests and using Maddy's suggestion, announced in English, “I'm pleased to publicly present, for the first time, Ms Gabrielle und Frau Madeline Bond” – it was Maddy's decision to take Gaby's last name….
• With the minister's last announcement, the newlyweds exited down the aisle, followed by the combined wedding party, for photos and mingling with the guests, outside on the lawn. A reception at the “Hotel Krone” in nearby, “ Altenahr” followed, but any notion of a ‘honeymoon' would have to wait until the “off season”. Gaby had races to ride and a ‘World Champion' title to secure…
While it wasn't a particularly large wedding in terms of numbers, the invited guests included Josie, Fran (aka Miss C.), Jessica, Diane, Erin, Britney, Debbie, both Team's Apollinaris, Harold (aka Mr. Woods) and even a few notables from the cycling world, as well as an Apolliniaris representative, in the form of the CEO, no less.
Frank and his wife were invited but since she was just beginning to recuperate from hip surgery, they couldn't make it, but sent their regrets and best wishes for the happy couple. The elder Walters were also invited, but maybe the idea of attending a same-sex wedding, put them off. That of course, wasn't the reason given for their absence, but something told the girls differently and the Walter's girls seemed coy about their parent's absence. Maddy and Gaby chose not to pursue the matter any further, but rather, join Jules and enjoy the reunion with Brit, Deb and the rest of the Grottoes crowd.
At the reception, the girls did the ‘normal' things like greet the guests; endure the speeches and the ‘embarrassing' anecdotes. Much to the family's credit, there was no mention of Drew or any connection to Drew - it was always Gaby. During the dinner, the girls asked the guests to refrain from the ‘tinkling of glasses'. They thought that at some point, the kissing would eventually include members of the wedding party and they just didn't wish to ‘force' themselves on their friends for the sake of the festivities. They also didn't really expect the two bridal parties to pair off to join them for the traditional ‘first dance', for the same reason. To be fair, the newlyweds did poll all the girls before hand and asked if they would mind slow dancing with another woman, but the lack of response, seemed to indicate the expected “we'd rather not”, so Maddy and Gaby ‘dropped' it.
“Everything I do (I do it for you) started to play and the newlyweds walked to the floor for their ‘first-dance'. However, unknown to the girls, Jules and Kat had been scheming behind their backs. By the second verse, the entire wedding party, appropriately paired off and dancing as close as any other couple would, joined the girls on the dance floor. This didn't go unnoticed by the newlyweds, who expressed their sincere happiness with all the girls, after. This was followed by another slow dance, this time with Maddy and Gaby paired with their respective dads, only to switch dads, mid-way through the piece. The rest of the time, the girls spent more time mingling with the guests and posing for photos, than on the dance floor.
When it came time to announce the throwing of the bouquets, two things happened simultaneously, both Maddy and Gaby picked up a more traditional bridal bouquet for the toss and Gerhart, Jules' boyfriend of three years, proposed to her. After the squeals of joy subsided, the toss went ahead, minus Jules, with Kat and Debbie, catching the bouquets. Following the newlywed's changing of clothes in their hotel room upstairs, more mingling and dancing, the time came to call it a night. Before they went back up to their room, Dave reminded them of the post-wedding lunch, tomorrow (Sun.) at the ‘elder' Bond's and the last chance to visit some more with the UK and Grottoes guests.
The next morning, Dave and Jenny arrived to pick the girls up, much earlier than planned, quickly ushering them into the backseat of their car. With the girls being slightly less than amused, they ended up aimlessly driving around in silence for a while, until Dave pulled into a drive, only a few streets from their own house and parked behind a Saab. Saying nothing, Dave and Jenny just turned in their seats and handed a set of keys to each girl. The two soon found out that the Saab, was Gaby's ‘team car' and the house, the girls saw in front of them, was theirs!
Dave and Jenny decided, when the girls were on the 2012 World Cup tour, to take the money they had set aside for Gaby's university and since Gaby paid her own way, put a down-payment on the house as well as purchase some furnishings. As John and Carol came out of the house to meet them, the girls learned that Maddy's parents had also had a hand in this, as they furnished the master bedroom, living room (lounge) and the formal dinning room. Both girls were on the verge of tears, the whole time they toured the house.
Gaby & Maddy drove their car back to the ‘elder' Bond's for lunch and there, the girls, still shocked at the totally unexpected wedding present, had a grand visit with both sets of parents, ‘Gran', Fran, Harold and the entire Grottoes crowd – Brit, Debby, Erin, Diane and Jessica. Of course, Jules and Garhart, rightfully shared the spotlight. It was hard to tell who was more excited for them, the newlyweds or mum and dad. Now Dave and Jenny have another wedding to look forward to and the prospect of ‘an empty nest' ….. an' dare they think it(?) …. Grandkids?????
From the beginning of the 2013 “World Cup tour”, Gaby was making her mum's aggressive style of riding, seem almost ‘laid back' on some occasions, convincingly putting the youngest of the Bond girl's, in 1 st overall, in the standings, as the team headed to France for the prestigious “Tour de Feminine” and Gaby's second try at the ‘yellow'.
As the 2013 race season was drawing to a close , Maddy convinced Gaby that she should get a full-time job to help out and eventually applied for some of the positions available in a couple of the ‘local' hospitals, including the large teaching hospital in Bonn. They still had to pay off the house, despite the generous down payment Gaby's parents managed
During the “Tour de Feminine”, Gaby dominated the field as an individual, but also played a big role in leading Team Apollinaris to an overall 2 nd place standing. Kirsten took the green jersey, winning the sprint on the final stage, while Gaby easily took the yellow, with her overall point total accumulated on all five stages of the “Tour de Feminine”. The victory more than assured her of the 2013 ‘Women's pro cycling World Championship' title!
It was during the podium ceremony, that Gaby, in front of the crowd and gathered international news media, simply ‘lost it'. She was ok until her mum, who Gaby thought was still in Germany, walked out on the stage, along with Maddy and slipped the yellow jersey on her daughter, while Maddy went behind her ‘wife', to fasten it. Actually, all three women just ‘lost it', then and there. Shutters went off at a furious pace! Gaby later, still with wet, red eyes and clutching her mum in one arm and Maddy in the other, commented to the press, that whatever else happens with her pro cycling career, THAT would be remembered as the single biggest highlight!
Epilogue:
Once back in Bad Neunahr , Maddy did get the job she was after – assistant to the ”Director for Cellular Research” at the teaching hospital in Bonn and life for the girls, started to take on an air of ‘normalcy' or at least as ‘normal' can be for a married lesbian couple, one of whom, just happens to be a sports celebrity - one half of the only mother-daughter duo in pro cycling history and a 2 nd generation World Champion, at that!
Team Apollinaris also had a very good year in 2013 – in part thanks to Gaby's successes, putting them in very good position for next year. The ‘elder Bonds, continued their work with the team, as did Gaby. Maddy went on to enjoy a successful career in medical research. As time wore on, Maddy and Gaby enjoyed a long and happy marriage. It had been said, the destiny of those two, was always to be together…
Jules and Gerhart married in 2014, with Jules ‘paying back' her sister by making Gaby, her “Matron of Honour”. They moved to Stuttgart and eventually gave Dave and Jenny two granddaughters, thus bestowing the title of “Tante” (Auntie) on both Maddy and Gaby.
As for the old Warsop ‘gang', Bernie married Scott, the boy Em introduced to her, during their Grottoes visit all those years ago. He was doing some post-graduate work at Oxford, when they tied the knot and they now live in Ohio, where he's teaching at the University of Ohio. Ali was working in London, as a Parliamentary secretary.
Em had gone through; perhaps the most dramatic inner changes of the ‘remaining gang'. Following Gaby's infamous 14 th b'day, Em found herself alone, without Maddy, Bernie or Ali, as friends. After graduation from Warsop College, Em completed the necessary training and returned to help her mum in the salon.
Her dad had again divorced and it was during a visit to his place in Wales, that he accidentally walked in on Em (still awaiting her SRS) only to discover the truth about ‘her'. To say ‘it' hit the proverbial fan would be a gross understatement and once again her dad was out of both, Mfawny's and Sylvia's life – this time for good. It was also during this emotionally disastrous ‘outing' to her dad, Em was suddenly hit with flashbacks and parallels, to her Grottoes visit, Gaby's 14 th b'day party, plus the painful realization of the effect her ‘prissy' attitude had on Gaby, Maddy and the rest of the ‘gang', over time. Now with the surgeries behind her, Em was resolved to search out the others and try to recapture the treasures, she lost.
FYI:
** A ‘dream-catcher' is a closed hoop, usually 7” to 10” in diameter. Within the hoop, is a web (usually fine rope or rawhide), with a few feathers hanging from the bottom of the hoop for decoration. The design of the ‘web', is unique for each Indian ‘nation' (ie: Mohawk), thus one can tell what ‘nation' made a particular “Dream-catcher” just by looking at it, assuming one knows the web designs of the various Aboriginal Indian ‘nations'.
The Aboriginal Indians have a common belief, regardless of their ‘nation', in a ‘Great Spirit' and amongst everything else, he is solely responsible for all the dreams had by all peoples. These dreams are sent down from the sky above, into the heads of the sleeping individuals. Therefore, hanging above the head of the sleeping individual, is a “Dream-Catcher” – it's appearance being all-important, enticing the dreams to enter the ‘web'. As the legend goes, the bad dreams would get caught up in the ‘complex web' and only the good dreams would find their way out, to continue their journey down to the sleeping individual.
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