The morning went fairly for Jenny and Harry. Jenny's mixed feelings generally remained, but that was probably something that anyone in her position, or in a similar position, would be having. Her morning class went quite well, and while Mr. Anderson's Freshman English Literature Class was an elective class for her, she did like it. From there, she and Harry made their way to her next therapy session with Doctor Twist. They arrived at the clinic on time and made there way in.
"Hello, Mr. Jenkins, Ms. Harper," Rudy spoke to them as they entered the front lobby.
"Soon to be Mr. and Mrs. Jenkins," Jenny gave a bit of a smile.
"Congratulations," Rudy answered and was soon on the intercom with Frances' office, "Doctor Twist, your morning appointment is here."
Jenny and Harry both heard Frances's answer as they walked to the couch that they could sit at while they waited. They didn't have that long to wait. A little while after they had sat down, Frances appeared in the hallway opening and beckoned them to approach. They did so and quickly approached her. Jenny even waived to Rudy before entering into Frances's office. The two of them moved to therapy couch while Frances moved to her chair.
"So... one more day to go," Frances spoke with a small smile, "How are you feeling?"
"Fairly good... I mean, I have all the sort of mixed feelings that typically go along with weddings in general," Jenny spoke, "Love for Harry and excitement at soon to be his wife... but nervous and anxious over... well... all the other issues and baggage that I've brought into Moon Lake."
Frances blinked at that and caught a bit of Jenny's tone at the end of that. True, it did sound like some of the typical "mixed emotions" typically faced by any bride on the eve of her wedding. In fact, Frances remembered both her and Samantha feeling the same jitters before their wedding. However, their wedding was under fairly different circumstances from Jenny's. While her parents weren't necessarily the keenest on the fact that Frances was a lesbian, relations were tolerable, though mostly due to her brother serving as something of an ambassador between Frances and her parents. They did get along and in the end, Frances knew that her parents didn't hate her or Samantha. The thing that really got to them was that Frances and Samantha could never give them biological grandchildren.
Jenny's situation was very different with a very controlling father and mother with parental methods that were probably out of date in the 1950s let alone the 2010s. It was a situation that Jenny had to recognize and confront. Letting them know about the wedding and even inviting them made some sense in the idea of keeping family connections, but if Jenny never truly recognized the problems in her family and stood up to her father and mother, all that would turn into would be either repressing the bad memories or simply leading to escapism with feelings of depression at the loss of family being held under the surface. Those sorts of issues were really what the therapy sessions of late were dealing with.
And so far, Jenny had been doing rather well with regard to the therapy sessions and was making a lot of progress toward what would need to be done and to be ready to deal with those issues. Frances felt very proud of Jenny's progress in that regard, but the end of Jenny's comment seemed to indicate that Jenny thought that it was her fault that these various issues were coming down on Moon Lake. While some might blame her, that wasn't accurate or appropriate. It wasn't Jenny's fault that her parents were the way they were and Frances also knew that most people in Moon Lake would probably have acted in much the same way as Jenny had so far had they been in Jenny's place.
"It's not your fault, Jenny," Frances spoke, "you are not responsible for your parents behavior."
"But... I could have prevented all the work that's being done to try and keep the town safe and keep Dieter Wilhelm at arms length, right?" Jenny asked as Harry moved to comfort her.
"Not telling your parents about the wedding might delay that," Frances commented, "but can you say for certain that either your parents or Dieter Wilhelm might come here ANYWAY when you don't return to Alabama for the summer at the end of the school year... or sooner if they don't hear from you at all?"
Jenny looked down for a moment, "No..."
"And that is why YOU aren't at fault for this," Frances told her, "It might just come anyway. And that is why we've been having these sessions... to get you ready for what may happen."
"I think I'm ready for that," Jenny looked up and looked a bit more confident, "Harry is the man that I love and I have no intention of marrying Dieter Wilhelm. And I'm more than willing to stand up to him on that..."
"And if your parents don't accept Harry and/or disown you?" Frances asked, looking to see what Jenny would say to it. She figured that would be some indication as to how she was doing.
"Then it will be what it will be," Jenny managed, "I'll have Harry and his family... and my English Professor and his wife, Mr. and Mrs. Anderson have offered to be something of a surrogate family for me. I have plenty of contacts here that would be there for me as friends and family."
Frances sat quietly as she heard her patient stated that Frances's neighbors had offered to essentially be family for Jenny. In a way, it made her fairly proud, but she could never say that to anyone else.
"The only thing where I'd have concern is with my younger siblings," Jenny continued, "My older brother is old enough to go on his own, but my younger siblings... there my folks could take their anger out on them. If we can get them emancipated and brought here... they'd get a chance for a life where they won't fear for anything..."
"Though, neither of us know how to do that," Harry commented.
"Doing that will depend on what can be observed when they are here with your siblings and what your siblings say on the subject, and they can't be asked until they are here," Frances spoke, "though, I'd figure that the Skulk may ultimately handle all the legal fees that you may have to deal with... likely as part of the commitments you've said they've already made in relation to the wedding."
"That'll be a relief," Jenny said to Harry as she looked to him.
"But you're ready to stand by that decision?" Frances asked.
"Yes," Jenny said with some firmness, "I wish there was a way that we didn't have all these worries... my parent's autocratic nature and Dieter Wilhelm being a skunk with no morals... but I am more than willing to stand up to them. After all, I am my own person, right?"
"Right," Frances nodded with a smile.
Jenny did sound confident, and that was a good thing. To Frances, it did sound like she was coming to grips with these issues and truly asserting herself on them. That was understandable and clear proof that Jenny was of sound mind and rapidly healing from the lengthy period she had spent before her transformation could be completed, if she wasn't completely healed already. As much of these issues came down to things that Frances had noted throughout her practice, that many times those who came to see her, be it by appointment or as a walk in patient, that they were often quite sane, but had been under stress or something they had repressed in their minds. In those situations, the best thing for all involved was to simply let the patient get those things off their chest and into the open. Healing soon followed.