I'm not good with secrets, particularly from my partner. I had told her so much about my life and desires, fantasies etc. However, I had always held back Ophelia. 

Early on I had told her about my adventurous activities around the city (not what you think), and interest in fetishwear and BDSM. Within a few months I had had a great pegging session with her and purchased latexwear for her. Great times. We even went to Torture Garden together, and a Chardmore Dinner. Things were great. Then a child came along and a wedding. Yup, things got official. 

Roll forward to our 7th year together, and I had suffered redundancy and had time on my hands. So Ophelia crept out of the closet and started to remerge from hibernation. I joined TVChix and started looking into the TGirl scene. I realised I wanted to enjoy being Ophelia more. Previously I had solidly been a crossdresser, and hadn't contemplated makeup and wigs. However, now, I had a keen interest on going outside, so I purchased a wig. I then went to have makeup lessons and purchased a plethora of brushes, powders and twisty stick things. 

For our Leather wedding anniversary, I somehow managed to talk my wife into going to a dungeon in Leeds, where I'd hired a Dominatrix. As part of this, I had arranged I would be in a dress and wig. This, dear reader as you may have gathered, was to test the water for other things. But I also got to have a pegging session with a latex clad Dominatrix. Although, I think she may have flunked Dominatrix 101, as she was pretty clueless. My wife was a much better Domme. We both agreed it wasn't the greatest of experiences, and left with resolve to never visit another Domme. My wife had also not been happy with my crossdressing, which was quite a downer. 

Roll forward a year or so, and Covid had come to town to par-ty. We were constantly cooped up in the house with a young child. Ophelia had crawled back in the closet. In order to escape the claustrophobic atmostphere, I had taken to increasing my cycling and cycled pretty much all over the South East of the UK. I also decorated three bedrooms on the wife's orders! After the lockdowns had subsided, and the child was back at school. Ophelia came back out of the closet, a-gain! This time I was keen for her to stay out of the closet. This would involve informing my wife. So on a trip back from the Norfolk beach house, I started to test the waters. Luckily, I was also driving at this point so hitting or slapping me wouldn't be possible. I'd thought of pretty much everything. 

I started by talking about secrets, and how everyone had things that they kept from people for different reasons based on a tenuous link to something that had come up on the Radio. My wife then asked what secrets I had. I responded that she knew pretty much all my secrets, but that there were some things that should just remain private for our happiness. She then kept pressing me. "You've had an affair?" No. "You've had an abortion? (She's Catholic) No. "You're Gay?" No. This continued with various guesses. And then she had started to get a bit upset and really wanted to know as she'd wound herself up. And I said "I like to crossdress." And she went silent for a few minutes, looking straight ahead. Clearly a look of disappointment on her face. Maybe I should have declared an affair?!

She then asked the expected questions. "Do you want to transition to a woman?" No. "Are you going to be dressed up at the school gate?" No. "Are you going to dress in front of our child?" No. "Do you want to dress all the time?" No. "Have you been doing this at home?" Yes. "So you've been dressing in private?" Yes. The rest of the journey home was somewhat tense. Clearly my wife was upset. Not floods of tears or angry red eyes upset, but sort of shocked I guess. 

A few weeks later she raised the subject again. What gear did I have etc. I collected it all together and showed her, and she had a bit of a freak out. "I don't want to see all that, I'm not ready." I put it all away, and didn't say anything. 

Roll forward a few months, and somehow the topic of crossdressing popped up again. My wife asked if I wanted to dress, as we had a day together. I asked if she was ready to see that, and she was. So she pulled out some clothes, I put on my boobs and bra, some black panties, and she handed me a blouse and skirt. She offered to do my makeup for me, and I sat in the bathroom for half an hour while she put foundation, eyes and lipstick. The results can be seen at the top of the 3rd Journey - Makeup page on here.

I couldn't have been more grateful, although there was a distinct difference her doing female makeup on a man, most notably the beard shadow.  She asked me lots of questions, and wanted to see me walk in my heels. I would say her attitude was, this is a thing, I'll just have to accept it. 

I continued to dress in private from time to time, mainly during the day when the house was empty. Every summer my In-laws would take the child, and my wife and I would have the house to ourselves. In the summer of 2023, we had a week to ourselves. I was more proficient at doing my own makeup now, and my wife said I could dress for an evening. She baulked when I said it would take me 2hrs to get ready (i'm supposed to be searching for jobs all the time). She seemed to be keen to see all my bodyhair disappear, armpits, legs, groin, chest etc. I wasn't keen to go that far, that's a LOT of work! So I left the chest and armpit hair. I did my makeup and put on a nice yellow top and blue skirt (as in the Brockwell Park walk). I stood waiting in the kitchen for her, in my low heels cooking our tea. It was nice to have dinner ready for her as she walked in the door.

As she came in, she called for me. I said are you sure you're ready, 'yes.' And she walked in. "Wowwww" she said. And looked me over. "That's a lot of makeup." "It's what I was taught, you have to hide the beard shadow!" The next thing I know we're snogging away, lipstick all over the place. When we stopped, I served up dinner, and put it on the table. We ate by candlelight. I left the washing up for the morning, and we retired to bed. There my wife stripped me off, and we had sex. My wife's hands all over my nylons and boobs. Throughout she was smiling. This was a revelation and something I never thought would happen after I'd told her. A few days later she was mostly OK with me going to a club, She World. This would involve a trip across town. My wife wasn't happy about it. Mainly because she was worried I'd get knifed or beaten up by drunken men. None of this happened. 

I'm sure my wife would rather Ophelia didn't exist, but she becomes more and more excepting of her as time goes on. I'm not sure this is the best of guides on how to tell your partner, but it's how I did it to mine. I wish you the best of luck if you're looking to tell your partner. I would hope you're a bloody good partner, that's all!