A thoroughly modern story with a bit of an old west twist thrown in for good measure. The times may change but outlaws never do. Sammy knew well enough who was who and what was what. Too bad the Parson boys didn't know that. Charlie has lost the love of his life and when he realizes the family farm is in trouble too, it time to get back to his roots

Chapter 1

Charlotte and I had been married for most of ten years now. We had been college sweethearts and married almost as soon as we graduated. We shared everything right down to our clothes. Most women have no feelings as such for a cross-dresser, but Charlotte had loved me from the start. In fact, she was the one that had changed my appearance enough that I could get out and about in public and get away with it.

Charlotte was a beautiful woman with ample breasts and just enough hips to have all the curves in the right places. Her golden brown hair and bright green eyes were almost disarming to every man that met her. When she smiled, she had a way of making everything, no matter how bad, seem as if it was just a bump in the road.

The thing we shared most was the calm personality. She and I agreed that calmer heads always prevail. We never argued at all, although, we did have our disagreements. Even so, it never turned into a shouting match or name calling. To say it took quite a lot to make either of us really mad to the point of such things was a very true statement. Of course, we also agreed that once you lost your temper, you also lost control of the situation.

I'm five foot eight, same as Charlotte, and not so muscle bound as some men. I have brown hair, although, I have gotten a few gray streaks of late. I have dark blue eyes and a small potbelly that Char often kidded me about. Char is short for Charlotte and my pet name for her. My name is Charles so, as you might guess, she often called me Char as well. She was the one that had talked me into letting my hair grow out and now it was almost as long as hers. At times I hated it, but one night on the town with her shopping or out for a meal made all those other times worth it.

Such was the case tonight. We were at a Halloween party thrown by the bigwigs at the hospital where she worked. I was the driver for tonight's event so I wasn't drinking at all. I was wearing a corset to hide my potbelly and a very pretty sundress that was keeping me cool at the time. Char had glued on my breasts, as the top of the dress had a low cut neck line. The stockings and garters were my secret thrill for tonight, but later at home I knew there would be some hot sex as well.

I had studied makeup as part of my art class in college so tonight I had gone all out to look my best. Very few, if any of the people at the party, knew me as Charlotte's husband that night and we laughed at how easily I had fooled them each time we talked at the party. I worked in advertising so I knew how easily the eyes could be fooled.

Just after midnight, Charlotte said it was time to go home and I was more than ready, as the high heels I had on were new and killing my feet at the time. All night long I had drunk coke or 7-up, but Charlotte had drunk a few mixed drinks. Our relationship, however unconventional, was strong and she sat close to me as we took the car and headed home. She was the light of my life and always would be.

Just two blocks from the interstate, with the window's down and cool Nevada desert night air blowing, I stopped for a red light. A four-wheel drive pickup stopped behind me and I was first at the light. Then he gently eased his bumper to mine and started to push us out into the intersection. I held the brake as hard as I could and just seconds later we were hit on the passenger side of the car. Then it was lights out for me and Charlotte.

I do recall hearing the sirens as the police and ambulance workers came to the scene. And I recall the damage being so bad they had to cut the car apart to get us out. Once, I thought I was in the ambulance and felt sure Charlotte was, too. I don't recall anything after that.

I did wake up some time later in the hospital and the first thing I asked about was Charlotte. The doctors and nurses that came around refused to tell me anything and I was in the hospital where she worked. I was all but fuming mad when police came in to talk to me.

"Who are you?" I spat, as I looked with my one uncovered eye at a big man and somewhat smaller woman standing in my room.

"David Gray," the man flashed his badge, "and this is my partner, Cheryl Wilson."

"If you are up to it, sir, we would like to ask you about the accident last week?" He said, sounding real professional like.

"I'll tell you anything you want to know if someone will just tell me what happened to Charlotte," I spat with some volume in my voice.

Cheryl was close to the bed and looked me right in the eyes. "She didn't make it, sir. I am sorry, but she was dead on the scene."

I broke down in tears before she even finished what she said. David gave her a stern look and then said they would come back later.

My right arm and leg were broken and my right eye was cut open just above the lid. I would live, but I couldn't leave the hospital till my broken bones had healed. Wendy, my wife's best friend and her favorite nurse, had come around and told me the whole sorted story.

She had kept the newspaper from the morning after the wreck. As I read it, and I did several times, they seemed to make a big deal of the fact that I had been dressed as a woman, so probably at a party on Halloween night, as it was. They even went as far to say they assumed my wife and I were both drunk and I had run the red light. That being the case I could be charged with the death of my wife and jailed.

I told the police the same story at least a half dozen times. The only part they could confirm was that, yes, we were at a party given by the hospital and left right around midnight. According to the police, there was no damage to the back of our car to indicate we had been pushed into the intersection. Likewise, the car that hit us had been stolen only minutes earlier and whoever stole it fled the scene.

The DA was looking to send me to jail, according to Cheryl.

At that point I got a lawyer. They had to give him all the information they had and he was confident there would be no conviction for drunk driving on my part. Still, it did look as if I had run the red light so they could push the issue. Especially after they found out that Charlotte had almost doubled her life insurance policy after we bought our new home. And, yes, I got it all if something happened to her.

About three months after I was released from the hospital the trial came to court. I had already been arrested and charged for manslaughter. The bail was set and I was free till court day came. Wendy had often come to the house to visit Charlotte and talk shop. They were the best of friends so far as I knew and I treated her kinda like a sister.

Wendy had watched me closely at the hospital and came by the house often to see if there was anything I needed or any way she could help. She never stayed long and we never talked about the trial or what might happen.

On the witness stand, Wendy was all but forced to tell the court all she knew about me. That included all the stuff Charlotte had told her about my cross-dressing and such, going all the way back to my college days. They did their best to paint me as an unfit husband and a man not unafraid to kill his wife to get what he wanted.

My attorney was quick to point out that my job paid better than hers and I had paid off all my debts from before the marriage. Also, that I had paid off our old house before we moved to a new one and Charlotte's name was not on the mortgage. She had other debts that she was paying off, debts she had made on her own and some before we were married. So I had no real motive to kill her.

It became obvious to me that nobody believed my story when the police investigator told the court that he had not checked into the four-wheel drive truck that supposedly pushed me through the intersection. There was no damage to indicate any such thing had happened. And they had so far had no luck finding the driver of the stolen vehicle that actually hit us. The way he and the DA framed all this it was like I had paid somebody to do this for me.

The press had a field day speculating as to just how I had done it and seemed to think I would actually get away with it. My reputation was so well slaughtered that the firm I worked for let me go the day I was convicted. Granted, it was for reckless driving, that was the only charge they could make stick. My license was suspended for a year and the judge was very plain that if I was caught driving a vehicle of any kind, that it would be a year in jail.

Now, after living in north Las Vegas ten years, I had no friends, no wife, no job, and very little if any reason, to live, as far as I was concerned. I locked up the house, packed a few things and caught a commuter flight back home.

Mom and Dad were glad to see me. Dad was showing his age and his heart was all but ready to go any minute. Even Charlotte had looked him over and all that could be done had been done already. They or we were a family farm. Not just your average farm though, as they owned over a thousand acres that yielded them a good living most every year. Mostly, because the land had an abundance of good water on it. I had no idea at the time there was all but a war going on over water rights and my family had them.

I listened as dad told me about it and how some men had come around and tried to strong arm he and mom to selling out. No way pop was going to go for that one. They had even had death threats and one had brought them news about my wreck and the death of Charlotte. Dad was a farmer and not so quick sometimes to put two and two together.

Mom and I talked as well and while most of it centered around Charlotte she had already put two and two together. At least I could talk to mom about Charlotte and if I cried, she well understood why. It was mom that had talked me into going off to college where I met Charlotte. Her words...‘I don't want to see you turn into some modern day cowboy'. Mom had a way with words.

I was well on my way to being just that. I rode a horse as good as anybody and never without my Stetson. I wore chaps over my blue jeans and I could chew a plug of tobacco as good as any man around. I was a pretty fair shot with a pistol back then, too. Even now I could probably run the farm as well as dad could.

"There's not much of that country boy left in you now," mom sighed.

"It's still there, Mom, just buried under a city life I wish I could forget," I added.

I stayed most of a month and while I was there dad's heart finally gave out. At the funeral most every farmer in west Texas came and showed their last respects for my dad. I was standing under the shade of an old alder tree that Dad had planted as a kid. It was where he asked to be buried and mom and I saw to it he got his last wish. Then to my wondering eyes, I saw it.

A good ways out in the pasture there was a four-wheel drive truck with the same grill I had seen the night Charlotte was killed. It was chrome and had a 4 x 4 emblem where the normal logo should have been. It was like having a knife stuck in my gut and I felt the pain of Charlotte's death all over again. I made my way out into the area where everybody was parked and acted as if I was counting the cars and trucks there. When I got to the 4 x 4, I counted it and got the plate number as well.

I watched the truck as they all began to leave and go home. Nobody had seen me in years and nobody seemed to remember that dad had a son that would be my age. I watched and Wayne and Darrel Parson got in the pickup and left. Their dad had died some time ago and now they controlled the farm just ten miles south of us.

Wayne had a limp and had had for years. He got it in a car wreck back when he was just eighteen or so. He had stolen his girlfriend's car and was running from the law when the wreck happened. He went to prison for several years, as he had some other scrapes with the law already.

Darrel was spineless and pretty well did whatever Wayne told him to, according to mom. Dad had already told me the Parson's were right in the middle of all the water rights issues and now two and two were starting to add up.

Before anybody could really find out who I was, I went to the courthouse and got all the land for the farm legally declared private property. After the signs went up, I knew mom, along with some help from some of the other hands, would be alright for a while. So that same day I headed back to my home in the city.

I contacted the private investigator I had hired and since he was associated with a larger firm asked if he had any contacts in west Texas. He did and I gave him the information I had on the 4 x 4 and where it could be found.

Next, I contacted Wendy and with her help got all the information I would need to become a woman legally. Right now time was on my side. All the crops for this year were done. There wouldn't be any trouble till planting season came and I would be back there by then. And heaven forbid if what I thought was true really was.

I had lost the love of my life and the only true love I had ever known. Well, save that of my parents. If you're thinking that I wasn't thinking straight right about now, you would be in the same boat with Wendy. If what I thought was true, I didn't want Darrel or Wayne to go to prison for the rest of their lives. Far from it. I wanted to ring the blood out of both of them barehanded.

The next day I went and had myself castrated. As soon as I was healed, I started seeing a shrink and got on hormones. Over the internet I ordered myself as much cowgirl clothing as I figured I could pack back home with me. In no time I had breasts and I was forced to present myself as a female. That was when I went and had my name legally changed. I had been born Eric Charles Hawthorne. I would now be known as Erica Renee Billings. Billings was Charlotte's maiden name. And, yes, her parents had disowned me as well.

I guess I should tell you that Charlotte's insurance money left me very, very well off. Since none of the real charges against me had stood in court they did pay me off. How much? Well, let's say I was worth several million and that wasn't counting the farm that I was sure to get when mom was gone. She was still in good health and I was in no rush to see her gone.

Now, the small bumps on my chest had grown into full blown tits. I had been on hormones for most of six months and with my balls gone they were working faster than normal. Well, that and I was double dosing on the hormones at that time. My penis was all but nonexistent by now, too, but that didn't bother me at all. I had a bigger plan and was working on it full steam ahead.

Then I got a letter from my dad's lawyer. It was personal so I won't go into details, but he lamented over losing his son to the big city life. He had met Charlotte and told in the letter that he loved her as much as he would have a daughter. Then went on to say that he had half expected me back at the farm any day looking more like a daughter than a son. He still held out hope that I would come home and help my mom take care of business, as he called it.

Dad had known and he was one person that I knew in my mind would hate me for it. His letter didn't say so, but I suspected mom had told him since she knew from the start. It sounded though as if I might had judged him wrong, that maybe had I done this long ago he would have accepted me as a daughter. Actually, according to this will, the farm was mine, but he knew full well I would never run my mom off.

In a different light, had Charlotte not gotten killed and we had that happy life like before, I might have just sat on the farm till mom passed and then sold to whoever. But not now, not by a long shot.

It was time to leave now. I went to the salon that Charlotte had often used and got the complete makeover. Hair, nails, all of it and with the work Wendy had done with the laser, my body was pretty well hair free. She had told me all along she felt this was wrong for me, but I wasn't listening, not even a little.

I put on a pair of Bareback Jeans and with the high waistline of the corset, they fit just right. My yoked and flower printed, western style shirt just did close over my now full C cups and that was with a tight bra on. I traded in my BMW for a Dodge Duel-wheel pickup that was bright red. The beamier was great for the city, but about useless on a farm.

Even with all the changes my body had gone through, mom recognized me right off. We sat and talked for hours and that was when she got out the pictures Charlotte had sent her. Many of them were with me dressed as a female. It brought back many, many memories, but I told mom I was here to stay this time. If I was happy, she was happy for me and that was all that was said about my transition.

Mom called a meeting of all the farmhands and I got the foreman's position the next day. She never told them who I really was and that was that. Dad was only planting half the land for a crop these days and the other half was left to the cattle. I decided that we would take half of the half the cows had and plant that part, too, this year. Two-hundred-and-fifty acres was plenty for the cows to roam and a lot less riding for the hands to round them up.

I hadn't ridden the fences and slept in a poncho for a long time. The day I packed my horse and strapped dad's old colt .45 to my leg I had more than a few of the men looking. I slung the matching rifle from the saddle and told Tommy, dad's oldest hand, to see to things while I was gone. In a way, it was like I was taking part in old western movie.

This was my life as a young boy on the farm and I felt very close to my dad as I rode out of sight that day. I could put two and two together as well as the next person and I cursed under my breath as I saw the first group of cattle come into sight. I was being a little high tech though. I had a scanner to read the tags in the cow ears and a battery powered G.P.S. stuffed in my knapsack. No, I didn't let any of the men see me pack the G.P.S.

I rode well past sunset, as the moon was bright that night, and I could see the fence well enough to know if it needed to be repaired. Sammy had been my horse since childhood and was old now for a horse, that is. When I stopped for the night, Sammy had no trouble laying down and I slept beside her all night. Sammy would spook easy enough if anybody or anything came around and woke me up.

Sammy was a bay mare and long legged to boot. Fourteen hands is a good sized horse and spirited, to say the least. The white blaze down the forehead and one side of the nose was what caught my eyes when dad and I saw the horse as a babe. That spirit was still there, just not so strong as it once was. Dad never bred her and I wondered why he even kept her all this time.

I spent most of the next day in what dad called the lower forty. Dad had told me long ago this was his gold mine. You can grow most anything there, I recall him saying. It was actually the back two-fifty and the part I was getting the cows out of so we could plant it. It was right about then I realized as well why dad had kept Sammy. She did a great job getting the cows over in the other pasture. There wasn't much my dad couldn't do with a horse.

I closed the gate and headed back towards the house when the last cow was in. I wouldn't get home till well into the morning, but that was okay. Mom still made a full breakfast for all the hands so I knew I could eat when I got there. I gave Sammy a light kick to the ribs and gave her the reins. She knew where home was, all I had to do now was ride.

The house wasn't in sight, but suddenly Sammy had broken into a full on run. She wasn't spooked, but her head was down and she was making tracks quick like, too. I wasn't afraid and it wasn't unusual for a tired horse to see the barn and take off in a run. I didn't try to stop her, you seldom see a horse run full on for no reason. When the house came in sight, it was like she found a new gear and now she was going even faster. The closer we got the less it seemed she was going to slow down. At the last moment she not only put on the brakes, she went down on her butt to stop.

I got off and tried to calm her down. She just stood and flipped her head up and down at the hay barn. She even reared up and stomped her front feet. Something was up and when I headed for the barn, she stood still and watched. When I opened the door, I found mom flat on her back and a small pool of blood under her head.

I checked her pulse and she was still alive, so I tried to talk to her. I got my cell phone and called 911 and then went back to her. None of the farm hands were around, not even their cars were parked in the normal place. Then I realized it was Saturday, they were off today. When the ambulance arrived, she still hadn't came to or talked to me. I felt sure this was not an accident. Sammy stood like her feet were glued in place till the ambulance left.

I walked her a bit to cool her and then tried to get her back in the barn. All I had to do was start towards the barn and she went stiff legged. You try moving a fifteen-hundred pound horse that's saying, no. Finally, I just gave up and took off the bridal and turned her loose in the pasture with the cows.

I cleaned up and changed clothes and went straight to the hospital. Mom was awake now and mad as a wet setting hen. Alone, she told me she had gone to the barn to settle the other horses down. Something had spooked them and she found one of the Parson boys, or so she thought, on a four wheeler doing it on purpose.

"Whoever it was went flying past me and hit me with something. That's all I remember," she said.

She had three stitches over her right ear, but the doc said she would be fine. In fact, I got to take her home with me that night. When we got home, it was quite a sight.

Sammy had gotten out. I wouldn't have put it past her to jump the fence. She, well, had it in her to do it. And now, she was laying crossways in front of the steps to the house. Mom was a tough old farmer's wife and got of the car on her own despite the fact that I had asked to let me help her in the house.

"Oh, fiddle, I have been through worse than this," she said. Then she stooped down and rubbed Sammy on the neck. "We've seen a lot, haven't we, old girl?" Sammy stood up and paused a minute to look me right in the eye. Then, just as if nothing had happened, she went in the barn and got in her stall.

I fixed dinner for mom and after the kitchen was cleaned up, I went out to the barn. It wasn't just Sammy that looked at me as if I had done something wrong. Sylvester, Patch, Star, Red, they were looking at me like I was the cause for what happened to mom. I gave them all some sweet feed and told them who I really was. I know they don't understand, but if you had been in that barn with five horses staring you down, you would have told them something, I assure you.

A month would pass before the planting started in earnest. I already had all the corn and fertilizer and other stuff we needed. I had checked all the pumps and they were working well, so watering it wouldn't be an issue once the dry season set in. I figured any day now the trouble would start. Not like it already hadn't if what I thought was true.

While it seemed that everything in my life was going sideways, John Stodard came to pay us a visit. I hadn't seen him since high school and he had turned out to be a very handsome man. His parents were both gone so it was just him that ran the family ranch now. Our families had always been close and he wanted to know if he could run his cattle with ours when the time came. I told him sure and invited him for some tea and some dinner, if he wanted, since it was still on the table.

"Do I know you?" He asked.

"Not really," I replied. "My name is Erica and I am the foreman so long as Ms. Hawthorne will have me." I blushed a little, I'm sure, and I hoped he didn't catch it.

"She'll be around, John," mom said from the kitchen.

Now he was blushing and there was no hiding it. I was nervous as hell he would make me before I had a chance to explain, but he nibbled a little at the food and then headed on back to his place.

"That man hasn't slowed down that long in ten years," mom smiled, as I brought the plates from the table.

"What are you trying to say?" I moved beside mom so I could see her face.

"He's smitten," she stated.

"Sure, mom, and you know how long that will last," I quipped.

"Well, I see him every year at the county fair. I bet every pretty girl in this town has tried to land that man. He might pause and listen for a minute or two, then he moves on," mom smiled, as I was the one listening now.

Mom's cooking would pack the pounds on any man. Thankfully, I had stayed the course with the corset and now it was closed all the way in the back. In two more months I could have the operation, as my one year test would be up. I already had the doctor over in Colorado picked to do it. But then there were matters that I needed cleared up here before I was gone for any length of time.

By the following weekend we had all the fields planted and now, in a way, it was up to mother nature. Also, about that time the private eye that had taken over my case came around.

He seemed hesitant to tell me what he had found out and I had no clue he had also worked for the Parson family. I had to all but pry it out of him, but a traffic camera had caught a picture of Darrel just one block behind me on the same day and time of the wreck. The man reminded me that I got off pretty light and even if I proved to the police that my story was true, they wouldn't reopen a closed case very easy.

It was almost as if he didn't want me to clear my name or possibly stir up trouble for the Parson family. I don't know what he considered getting off light was, but losing Charlotte was never what I considered light. Something Wendy had said kept coming back to me.

"If you do this, then you have let them win," she told me.

This was when I first started my transition.

Time was passing quickly now as the fields sprang up with new life. John had came by to visit several times and now his cattle were in the same pasture with mine. When the annual county fair came around, John asked me to go with him. I wanted to decline, but mom would have none of that.

Going to the county fair with a man in this part of the world was like a city girl being asked for a night on the town. Mom saw it no different and the same day I told John I would go, we were off to town and dress shopping for most of the day. Around the farm or at home with mom and the farmhands I had no problems with being seen as a girl. Being at the mall with mom and crowded as it was, I was more than a little nervous.

I tried on several dresses that day and finally settled on what you might call a short prom dress. It was satin, blue trimmed in a white ruffle with a choker style collar. It had almost no back till just above my butt and stopped about two inches above my knees. It would have to be tailored to fit me, but of the dresses they had this was the only one both mom and I liked. I still thought the tiny straps that held the dress to the collar left me showing way too much of my breasts, but mom insisted that it looked great.

At home mom got my measurements and told me she would tailor the dress. I had always been careful to not let her know I was wearing a corset, but now she knew. In the meantime, I made an appointment at a salon in town and for the day before. My nails were all but gone and my hair, well, the perm was long gone by now. Mom once commented I looked a bit like a tomboy.

I was distracted all week to say the least as I wanted to devise a way to settle a score with the Parson boys. Mom could see the anger in everything I did, but she didn't really know why. When the night of the fair rolled around, she asked me, almost crying, to stop living in the past just long enough to enjoy the night. After my trip to the salon, I looked and felt almost as good as when I had left Nevada.

When I went to put on the dress, I realized quickly that the corset had to go. I put on a garter belt and then attached the stockings. I put on the panties to match and slipped on my heels. I stepped into the dress and closed the collar around my neck. The short zipper was on the side and started at my hips, but was all of three maybe four inches. I closed it and pulled the dress back down over my hips and butt. It was so tight that every curve of my body stood out for all to see.

I had no idea how much time had passed since I had started getting ready. When mom called me downstairs, I took one quick look in the mirror at my makeup, grabbed my purse and started down the stairs. When I made the landing for the livingroom, John was standing there with a really huge smile on his face.

That set the tone for the night and I was totally shocked when all the farmhands stopped dead in their tracks to watch John open the door of the car for me. For the first time in a long time I felt special and that's a feeling every woman loves, trust me.

At the fair, when I noticed at all, there were a lot of men that seemed to eye me up and down. John had a prize bull entered in the livestock contest and, eventually, we wound up in the barn. This was where I got a shock I never saw coming. At the corner of the rail on the south end of the barn there stood Wendy and behind her Darrel Parson. Thankfully, John and I were back a bit in the crowd so she never saw me.

John got a call on his cell phone and we had to leave rather quick like. The bunk house on his ranch was on fire. The fire trucks were there even before we were, but the place was a total loss and John couldn't afford to rebuild it or not soon. When the fire was out and everybody was gone, I took the blame for the fire. John all but shouted at me that he knew the Parson boys did it.

"John, can you take me home? There are some things we need to talk about and now," I added.

Mom was in bed by now, I was sure of that, and I saw no choice but to come clean with John. When he parked the car, I asked him to walk me to the barn as I wanted to check on the horses.
I stood by Sammy as the tears rolled down my eyes and I told John the whole sorted story. From the day Charlotte was killed, forward, he knew it all.

"So you figure they burned my bunk house cause of or relationship?" he sputtered.

"Yes, I do," I stated flatly.

"Well, I appreciate your honesty, but that is not the reason," he smiled and gave me a hug.

"You might not think so, but it is," I lamented with my face buried in his chest.

"This is about water and water rights. My ranch and several others, including the Parsons, have wells that have all gone dry," he said, as he stroked my hair.

"Yes, but there is water here and plenty of it," I replied.

"Well, if there is, someone else has all the rights to it," he spat.

"Yes, they do," I replied. "And I know who that is," I added.

"There's something I want to show you," I said, as I took him by the hand.

I opened the door to the bunkhouse and then went into dad's old office. I got out the maps that showed the aquifer for most of the land around us.

"There's an underground river that runs from the southwest corner of my property to the northeast corner of yours," I pointed out. "Past that in either direction and it goes too deep for a regular pump to get it out. All you need is one well drilled into that river and you will have all the water you need," I added.

"You're right, I'm sure, but you still need the rights to do that," he said, as he looked at the map.

"Well, for a small price I will give them to you. After all, I am the one who has them," I added.

"I can't afford to rebuild my bunk house, much less pay for the water rights, and then drill a well," he added.

"Then how about a none cash option?" I replied.

"This I got to hear," he said, as he took the chair I offered.

"It's simple, really. You and mom are the only people that know who I really am. Dad told me about what was going on before he died and I think the Parson's are responsible for the death of my wife as well. I am all but sure they are the ones that attacked mom in the barn a few months ago. And now you think they burned your bunk house. So you keep my secret and when all this is sorted out you will have the water rights and I will help you rebuild the bunkhouse good as new," I added.

"Secrets have a way of getting out all on their own, but if that is what you want, I won't tell a soul," he added. "But I hope that doesn't mean we can't go out now and then," he smiled.

That next weekend Wayne and Darrel came to visit. I was in the barn tending to the horses when they came in and I tried to act as if I didn't know them or why they might have come around. Wayne said he knew I was running the place now as Ms. Hawthorne was too far up in her years to. He also asked me to help him get her to sell the place to his family along with the water rights as their farm's wells had all but dried up.

I told them Ms. Hawthorn didn't own the place as Mr. Hawthorn's will left it to their son. So far as I knew he wasn't interested in selling the place as the farm had been in the family for most of four generations or that was what he told me.

Wayne and Darrel then set in to making threats about how pumps often failed and crops could be lost for different reasons and so on.

Sammy's tail was standing straight out and her breathing was hard and fast. It was as if she felt the tension of threats as well as I did. Her ears were tilted back and she was standing almost like a bird dog did when he pointed. I told them flat out to leave, the place wasn't for sale and they had need not ask again.

I went straight to the house and told mom what had happened. Then I called John and alerted him as well. He was at the house so fast I didn't have to start the story from scratch for him to know what had happened.

The next morning over breakfast John and I settled on a contractor to build his new bunkhouse. Once we settled on a price, I gave him fifty percent up front to get started and I thought John would faint when I gave him cash and asked him to sign a receipt.

Our next stop that day was at a local radio shop. We bought enough hand-held radios for every hand on his ranch, as well as my farm, to have one. We had already agreed that we would have the hands parole his place, as well as mine, around the clock. With the radios and a base station at his place, as well as mine, we could be alerted to any trouble in a matter of seconds.

With mom in agreement, I asked John to step up and run the place for a few weeks. I had some personal business I needed to take care of and I would be gone for most of a month. He agreed and we swapped cell phone numbers so it would be easy to stay in touch. I didn't expect to hear from him unless something happened. He had become rather cold towards me since I had revealed all that night in the barn.

Before I left I set things up for a new well to be drilled at John's place. I marked the spot with the map of the underground river dad had. I gave them instructions to lay enough water pipe to serve his house, the bunk house, and the feed lot for his cattle. The driller said he felt sorry for taking my money. He had punched a lot of holes in the area and they were all dry. I assured him there was water there and he said he would do it.

That next Monday I left for Colorado to have the final operation. Once it was done I was going to Vegas to recover and settle up a few things there as well. Wendy had set me up with the doctor in Colorado. She didn't think I had the money to pay some of the more high priced surgeons to do the job and this one was doing trials of some sort.

I arrived a day early, but I was only there in body. My mind was still on the farm and trying to put together all the stuff that had happened into something that made sense. The female doctor went on for most of an hour about how, if all went well, I would have all the same plumbing a real woman had and, furthermore, I might even be able to have children. Most of what she said was so technical it all went over my head and the rest just went in one ear and out the other.

The next day she did the operation and seemed overjoyed at the outcome. I was in a lot of pain for the first few days, but as soon as I could she had me up and moving around. It wasn't fun, but I did what I had to do and by the weekend the pain was well under control. I payed close attention to all the after care instructions and then with a bottle of pain pills and the other stuff I would need, I was checked out.

Driving the five speed pickup to Vegas was no fun at all. Each time I used the clutch the pain would all but bring tears to my eyes. When I did get there, all I wanted to do was sleep for most of the first week, but by then John was calling me at least twice a day just to check on me. I wondered if mom had told him the real reason for my trip. I had asked her not to, but you never know with mom.

By the time a month had passed, the pain was an on again, off again kind of thing. Pants were out of the question, as the pressure on my new vagina made it really hurt. Wearing the corset had caused me to drop quite a bit of weight and the potbelly I had before was long gone. That being the case I could wear the clothes Charlotte had bought me without the corset now and I was surprised at how good they looked on me.

I asked John if he could stay on another month as the things I was doing here were progressing slowly. He said it was no problem and I should take all the time I needed. There hadn't been any problems and he doubted there would be before harvest time.

I called Wendy and asked her over for dinner. Some of the things she had said back when this all started were kinda stuck in my mind. I fully intended to corner up over being with Darrel Parsons at the fair. I felt sure she hadn't seen John and I hoped it would catch her off guard.

I grilled a couple of steaks and had baked potatoes and salad sitting on the table when she arrived. There was the usual small talk and we both reminisced about the good times with Charlotte. We had several glasses of wine and then I popped the question.

"So how is that you know Darrel Parson? And what brought you to a fair in Texas?" I added.

The wine glass she was holding started to shake and she put it down quickly. The blood ran from her face and she wasn't talking at all.

She wiped a tear from her eyes and gave me a look that would melt steel. "I will answer all of your questions, but if you ever tell anyone who told you or how you found out, I will kill you with my bare hands," she spat.

"Fair enough," I replied.

"Do you recall a boy you went to school with named Walter Cummings?" She asked.

"Yes, I replied. "Walt and I were good friends. His family's farm is right next to mine," I added.

"Shortly after you left for collage, Walt married Gail Parson, the youngest of the Parson's children. The Cummings' family thought this was a match made in heaven as the Parson boys had made a lot of trouble for them. The well that bordered the two farms was already going dry and your father all but gave the Cummings' family the water rights they needed to drill a new well and keep the farm going," she paused and took a sip of wine.

"The Parson's had already bought up several of the smaller farms that bordered their property and the wells they had were drying up, too. The marriage did stop the boys from causing trouble for the Cummings' family, but not for long. The water rights your father gave the family were not transferable and when Walt, Sr. and Betty passed away, the well was capped and the problems started all over again." She paused again as the tears now poured down her face.

"Walt took a job in town and spent every dime he got drilling one well after another, but none of them yielded enough water to farm with. Finally, all but broke, Gail divorced him and got half the farm in the divorce. Walt was to hardheaded to know he was beat and pleaded with your father for the water rights to the well that was already there. Your father refused even after the divorce and said as long as he lived the Parson's would never get anything from him, not even through marriage. I can only guess his reasons why."

She paused and took another sip of wine and tried her best to stem the flow of her tears. So far it seemed I knew more about the Parson's and the reason my dad was the way he was towards them than she did. She was still trying to get herself together and I didn't say anything as I really wanted to know if she knew if there was something new to be found out.

"Walt told the Parson's it was never going to happen, as far as getting the water rights were concerned. Then went on his way and tried to forget the matter as best he could. But the Parson's weren't through causing trouble or at least not yet. Walt was out riding the fences one day. You know he rode old style with long reins that were tied in a knot, so left over the saddle horn they didn't drag the ground and possibly trip the horse. Wayne Parson rode up and started a fight and Walt was thrown off and landed on the fence, more to the point the fence was between his legs. Wayne saw Walt's hand tangled in the reins and slapped his horse on the hind quarters. The horse bolted, of course, and dragged Walt all the way to the next fence post before he could let the horse go."

Her tears had turned to anger and I could tell by her voice she was struggling to finish the story.

"I am what is left of Walter E. Cummings. I sold my half of the farm to my aunt and uncle and used the money for my sex change and to go to nursing school. I wanted to tell you as soon as I realized who you really were years ago. I go back each year to the fair and hope even to this day that I can catch Wayne off alone somewhere. I would surely go to jail, but to settle the score between him and I, I would consider that a small price to pay.

"And this is why you were so dead set against my plan?" I asked.

"Yes, and you and I are not the only ones those boys have hurt," she spat, as she started to cry again.

"So you know it was them that caused the accident the night Charlotte was killed." I stated.

"Yes, but what I know and what I can prove are two different things," she sniffed.

"Do Wayne and Darrel know you now on sight?" I asked.

"No. I have stood just inches from both of them and they had no clue," she stated.

"I asked her straight up if she wanted the farm back, it's a hard life and full of blisters." I added.

"It was the only thing that ever mattered to me," she replied. "If I could get it back, I would do it in a heart beat," she added.

Wendy and I made a deal. I would keep her secret so long as she kept mine and in time I would help her get the farm back, but she had to be ready on a moment's notice to come home. She was more than glad to make the deal.

By the time I got back to the farm it was just thee weeks till harvest time. John hugged me like I had been gone forever and mom swore I was starving myself and cooked enough food to feed an army. I did tell John about Walt, now Wendy, but I knew he would never tell a soul and he was part of my plan to set things right.

The well at his place was done now and so was the new bunkhouse. He owed me big time, as it were, and promised me faithfully he would do anything I asked if it put the Parson boys out of our lives.

I got a local lawyer to draw up a quitclaim to the half of the farm that Walt had lost to Gail in the divorce. I also had a security company come out to the house and wire the barn for video and sound. Now, it was back to the normal routine and riding Sammy with a still somewhat bruised crotch was no fun at all.

Wayne or Darrel, one or the other, would come around soon enough and with a little help form Sammy I would get the confession I wanted and needed. Of all the horses on the farm, Sammy seemed to understand and know who I really was. And she had already shown me how protective she was over mom, so I was sure she would be the same over me.

In the meantime, John and I became rather close. He didn't know I was really a woman now. I hadn't seen the need to tell him and unless he asked I had no reason to.

John's older brother finally retired from the Marine corp and came home. Wow! He was a big man. He looked like the super sized version of the hulk. He was six-feet, six-inches tall and weighed every pound of the two hundred-five he would confess to. His name was David and even with his size he was just as handsome as John. In no time at all, he felt like he was one of the family. The fact that Sammy seemed to like him was good enough for me.

Now the harvest was started and as soon as we had the lower two-fifty done, I knew we were in the black for this season. Dad was right, that plot of ground grew more corn than all the rest of what we planted. I paid all the bills and had enough to pay off a few loans that dad left us and still had money left over. I knew once word got out the trouble would start and it did.

It was Wayne that decided to pay me a visit this time and you can bet I was more than ready.

I was in the barn with Sammy, as we had just finished up for the day. All the fences were good now. A few had been clipped by the farm equipment, but that was a normal thing to happen and it was easy to fix as well.

"Damn you," he stormed into the barn in a huff.

"Pardon me?" I replied as if I had no clue.

"I farmed twice as much ground as you did this year and got half the yield. We need water and you're going to get it for us or else," he said, as he threw the tally sheets at me.

"Not in this lifetime," I spat.

He made a quick move in my direction and when I stepped back, that was all it took. Sammy cocked her ears back and flipped her tail high in the air as she lurched from the stall almost knocking Wayne on his butt as she did. He stood up and started back paddling, trying to get out of her way, but Sammy was right on him. He ran out of real estate at the door to the barn and Sammy reared up and caught his leg right about the knee on her way down. When he hit the ground, she put her left hoof on his ankle and just stood there while he yelled out in pain.

I walked over and placed my hand on Sammy's neck.

"You bitch, get the damn horse off me," he spat.

Sammy picked her right front leg up a little and all her weight shifted to the hoof that was on his ankle. She had her head down so close to his face I know he could feel her breath.

"I'll make you a deal. You sign this quitclaim for Walt's old farm and I will see what I can do.

"Fuck you," he replied.

Sammy leaned forward now putting even more weight on his ankle and I heard the first bone snap.

"I don't think Sammy liked your answer. Let's try a different question. Who was driving the night you caused the accident in Las Vegas, you or Darrel?" I heard another bone snap and saw him wince from the pain.

"It was me, it was me," he said, as Sammy keep adding the pressure.

"Ready to sign the claim now?" I asked.

"Yes, I'll sign it. Just get the damn horse off me," he added.

I handed him the claim on a clipboard and a pen to write with. He signed it and quick, too.

I walked back to Sammy's stall and called her. She took her time and looked at me like I had lost my mind. "It's okay, girl," I said, as I tried to calm her down. I closed the door to the stall and called the ambulance service, along with the police.

It took a few days for the dust to settle and when the cops arrested Wayne, I felt like it was the beginning of the end. I had shown the tape of what happened in the barn to the county sheriff and Wendy was on her way to file the quitclaim and send Gail packing for good.

Under repeated questioning by the police, Wayne, eventually, confessed to everything that he, along with some help from Darrel, had done over the years. Including, what he had done to Walt. They tried to get a plea deal, but Wendy and I wouldn't go for it. The prosecutor was glad we didn't, since Darrel had confessed as well. At this point he figured a conviction was in the bag.

John and David had been in the mountains on a fishing trip the night all this happened, but they got word about what had happened and were back here like a flash. I think mom called them, actually, but she never said she did.

Wendy and I were walking back to the house from the barn when John and David showed up. I saw the lights and bells go off almost the second David laid eyes on Wendy.

After a nice dinner, I showed the tape of what happened to John and David.

"That horse probably saved your life," David said when it was done.

"Well, it wasn't like there were any men folk around at the time. Besides a girls gotta do what a girls gotta do. Right?" I looked at Wendy.

"That will never happen again," John stated, as if it was a fact.

He took me by the hand and led me out of the house and back towards the barn. We stopped when we got to the stall where Sammy was standing. John took a deep breath and looked me right in the eye.

"I should have known those boys would wait till I was gone to try something. But marry me and it will never happen again. I promise," he added, as he held up a small box with an engagement ring in it.

Sammy said, yes, immediately. She was shaking her head up and down like I was supposed to say, yes, as well. "I'll take the ring, but there are a lot of things you need to know before I say yes. You know, if this town were to ever find out who I really am, they would disown you and me both."

"All I need to know is if you love me, like I love you. After that I really don't much care what someone else thinks," he added.

"Yes, John. I do love you," I said, as I blushed enough to light up the whole barn.

"Well, I have things to do. We'll set a date as soon as all this legal stuff is over," he added.

We were headed back to the house, but stopped dead in our tracks when we got close enough to see David and Wendy out on the front porch.

David was down on one knee giving Wendy a kiss that had enough passion to light up the whole town. David was so big all we could really see was the top of her head and a pair of legs that stuck out from under her dress. We just smiled at each other and waited till the kiss was finished.

The Parson boys pleaded no contest and got twenty years for each count in the indictment. They would be dead before they served all that time. That same weekend the sheriff gave Gail the eviction order and after she sold off most of the family farm to pay the legal bills there wasn't much left for Gail. I'll let you guess who actually bought up the Parson's old place.

In the months that followed, David and Wendy became inseparable. And just as I had thought they would, they married about a year later. David knew the whole story about Wendy before the happy day and it didn't phase him.

John and I were still engaged and mom was after me hard to set a date for the wedding. John and I had had sex more than once and he was a great lover. I knew any girl in her right mind would be glad to have such a man. But even now the memory of Charlotte was strong in my mind.

The other thing that weighed heavy on my mind was that I would never be able to give John children. I was standing in the barn talking to Sammy about all the things that were bothering me when I felt what I can describe as a bubble busting low in my belly. I seldom had gas so it was a bit odd to me at the time.

After brushing Sammy and pouring out my heart to her, I put her back in the stall and headed in for the night. I often took a quick shower at night just to wash off the dust of the day and tonight I really needed one. Much to my shock when I got undressed, I had blood soaked panties. After the shock passed, I laughed a little to myself as I remembered a couple of my dad's old sayings.

‘Son, if it's got tits, tires, or tracks, it's bound to give ya trouble.' And the other one was something like, ‘Boy, you'd better think twice about trusting anybody that bleeds for seven days a month and don't die'. I laughed at the thought of it as I now fit both categories. I had tits and I was bleeding. Would have to see for how long it lasted.

Wendy had long since started having a period and was fertile, according to her doctor. I took a chance and had the test as well. According to the test, I was fertile as well.

I was two months pregnant when I gave in and married John. Wendy was a month ahead of me and there was no getting the smile off of David's face.

We both had boys and, yes, they were named after their fathers. Like most married couples, John and I didn't see everything eye to eye. But those were the times I would just tell him I needed to see a horse about a man. He caught on soon enough.