The Farmhand and April

**Note from author. This is my first story on this site, any feedback is very appreciated! This is a slow burn romance story involving a transgender woman.**

April awoke groggily stretching her arms as the sun peeked through the curtains to her bedroom. Slowly she stumbled out of bed looking at the clock. 6:30, good. Her father always seemed to be in a bad mood when she was late waking up, well more of a bad mood than he usually was. Lately he'd seemed to be spending more time with a bottle in his hands than usual. April knew why, but didn't want to acknowledge it.

Slowly she fastened her bra, and walked to the bathroom for a shower. Upon opening the door however she was greeted by the presence of a man she'd never met in her life. He was strongly built and had a tan, clearly someone who had been working outside for a while. April froze in place as the two made eye contact, only then did April notice he was stark naked clearly about to take a shower himself.

"I uh... forgot to lock the door it seems.", the stranger said with a nervous laugh. April blushed intensely and quickly shut the door and ran to her room. She threw herself onto her bed and squealed into her pillow in embarrassment. Who was this guy? Why was he in our house? April sat alone for a while trying to process things until she heard the shower stop, and shortly after the sound of the door opening. She waited a minute and stuck her head out ensuring the coast was clear.

April started her shower, making sure to turn the lights off and carefully navigate back to the shower. It was a habit she had been accustomed to, it made showers easier for her, she felt less uncomfortable with her body that way. The hot water running down her body had a way of calming her nerves. It wasn't out of the ordinary to have farmhands get hired from time to time, but we already had Jeremy and Rod, did we really need a third?

April finished up her shower and proceeded to get dressed. Rough jeans and a tight fitting flannel. Not her first choice of fashion, but work clothes were never meant to be fashionable. She sighed and finished getting dressed as she went downstairs. She rounded the corner and stopped dead as she saw the stranger and her dad sitting at the table sipping coffee.

"So this must be April, eh?", said the man nonchalantly as if the earlier encounter never happened.

"April this is Brad. Brad this is April, my uh.. only child.", her father said hesitating with his last words.

Brad stuck out his hand with a warm smile. She took it blushing slightly as she looked into those eyes. They had a very gentle look to them.

"Breakfast is ready", her mom said as she came in with a couple dishes. "Hope you like pancakes Brad!".

"Pancakes are perfectly fine to me, it looks great ma'am!", Brad said smiling.

"Oh shucks you're too kind mister." said her mom smiling. Her dad didn't even look up from his morning paper as he grabbed a pancake with his bare hands not even bothering with a plate. The smile from her face fell slightly as her husband didn't even acknowledge her work. April always felt that her mother's work always went underappreciated, but was glad that Brad at least was appreciative. It earned him some points in her book.

"Thanks for breakfast mom.", April said earnestly. Her mom gave her a gentle smile, "Alright here's today's chores. Brad, you're going to be sticking with David (She gestured towards her husband) most of today. The southern storage shed needs maintenance. After that if you have time you should meet Rod and Jeremy, and help them with the sheep. There's a lot of sheering that needs done so they're already out there."

"Sounds mighty fine ma'am, thank you for the meal.", he said smiling as he got up donning his hat along with David. As the two went out the door Brad turned around and gave April a tip of the hat, "It was nice to meet you April." he said with a wink as April's face turned red once more.

"April, quit dawdling girl and come help me clean up.". April quickly gathered the dishes and began to wash as her mother dried.

"So what did you think of him?" April's mother asked casually.

"Oh, well he seems alright..."

"You seemed to think he was more than alright the way you were looking at him." her mother responded smirking, "He does seem like a pretty nice man, and super handsome to boot.". April's face turned a deep shade of red, "Ma you're embarassin' me."

"That's my job.", she said smiling.

"Why did we hire him anyway? We never had more than two farmhands."

April's mother looked down solemnly, "You're father has been falling behind in his work. He's uh... not working as efficiently. He could use some help.".

April shifted uncomfortably as her mother looked at her smiling gently. "It ain't your fault he's drinking honey.". Somehow her mother seemed to know her better than she did sometimes, "He just needs some time to process it, that's all."

"I just feel so guilty mom, maybe i shouldn't have said anythin."

April's mother set down the dish she was drying rather suddenly, "Look at me baby. You got nothing to apologize for. I remember how sad you were, how hard life was for you, and I see how happy you are now. You ain't got nothin' to apologize for, it took a lot of courage to come out like you did, and I'm mighty proud of you. You're father just needs some time to grieve the son he lost, that's all."

April looked at her for a few moments as her eyes began to water. "Oh honey come here.", she said as she pulled her daughter into a hug, "Tell you what, how about we make some spaghetti and meatballs for tonight? You're favorite." April smiled and hugged her mom tightly. "That's my girl, now why don't you go out to the shed, think I left my large crock pot in there".

April strode the farm to the shed. She'd always loved the farm, the fresh air and gentle breeze always had a way of calming her. As she approached the shed she saw Brad prying nails from the shed.

"Where's dad at?", April asked curiously. Brad did a little jump, "Oh geeze, didn't hear you coming, gotta get a bell on ya!", he smirked "Father had to go into town, shed is badly water damaged, had to get new materials if we want it to last at all."

April nodded gently, "Sorry about this morning by the way..." she said shuffling her feet.

He gestured his hands in a dismissive way, "Eh, don't worry about it. My fault not locking the door." he looked me up and down smiling softly to himself, "So what brings you out here?"

"I umm, was looking for mom's crock pot." April said shyly fidgeting her hands. She couldn't seem to get the image of him out of her mind.

"Big ole' tan one with blue flowers?" he asked curiously.

"Yeah! That's it, how'd you know?" April asked incredulously.

"Saw it while in the shed. Folks have one just like it. Here, I'll show you where I saw it, "He gestured April inside as he opened the door. April went inside as the door shut suddenly. Before she knew what was happening she was spun around and pushed against the door, "H..hey what are you...", but April's protests were interrupted by Brad's kiss. Initially she kept her eyes open in surprise, but slowly melted into the kiss as she closed her eyes enjoying the moment. He slowly began to move his hands onto her hips as she moaned softly. His hand slowly begun to move down to the hem of her pants and towards her button. In a moment of panic she pushed him away. She loved the moment, but couldn't risk him finding out about her. She quickly grabbed the crock pot and made her way back to the house.