“I’d bitten off far more than I could chew,” Ty admits today.

He lost his business license and felt he had little choice but to leave Washington and start over. He moved to California and then Oregon.

In Oregon, Ty soon started seeing a young divorced woman who had a small daughter, Sylvie.* His new family changed his life. They married and soon had another daughter, Brigette.*

Neil was still dating Melissa. He loved her, but he remained torn by his sense that he should have been born a female. Before he asked Melissa to marry him, he knew he had to be totally honest with her.

“I told her...