inspired by @bucky-plums-barnes barnes (I’m blaming you for this rabbit hole)
Y/N was the daughter to a farmer who was on the downhill slope of life. She watched her father rise before the sun and stumble to his room long after it had set. His work was what he was best at, never stopping for anything. Y/N was to follow in his boot prints if he’d let her, but could a ragged wanderer change her heart and mind to be who she really is.
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Y/N head the clammer of her father’s boots as the hit each oak step, prompting her to roll out of her own bed to follow him down. Since her mother died, leaving her and her father on their own, Patrick, Y/N’s father, had been a man of the field. He had laid off all but two workers and they worked over the acreage for years. She hated watching her father work himself ragged, but something told her he wouldn’t stop until he was laid to rest with her mother. She shook her head as the rooster crowed, jolting to her closet to get dressed in her overalls.
Bounding down the stairs and into the kitchen, she already found her father trying to pour his juice with a shaky hand. She bit her lip before taking over, the years had not been kind to him. “Mornin’ Pop,” she kissed his cheek as she handed him the glass.
“Morning sugar plum,” he offered a small grin, helplessness written across his face.
“Go sit,” she gave a tight smile in return, “I’ll fix breakfast, you don’t have to worry.”
Patrick went to argue, only stopping when his daughter turned deeper into the kitchen. His daughter was almost as stubborn as his late wife and himself combined. He sat, glass in hand, and watched as she worked. A woman before her time, independent, strong-willed, intelligent, something that wasn’t common among the women of the 50’s, he thought to himself as she buzzed around. He licked his lips, thinking about what she could become if she wasn’t stuck here, with him.
She broke his thoughts as a plate landed in front of him, “hot and ready,” she sat across from him with her own.
“Thank you Y/N,” he took his fork and steadily began to eat, taking in her appearance: long hair tied in the pigtail braids he had seen many times before, an exact replica of her mother’s face framed by hairs that fell out of the braids, dirty overalls clinging to her with a plaid shirt underneath the dirty denim. “Y/N?”
“Why don’t you go into town today? Buy you some pretty dresses, I hear there is going to be a town Fourth of July bash, you could go. Go in a nice, new, pretty dress,” he suggested.
She looked at her father as if he had grown three new heads, “Pa, I don’t think that’s my speed, I’m not one to go out on the town with fancy heels and a dress with a neck littered with pearls,” she laughed, “I mean imagine.”
“I imagine you’d look even more like you mother,” he remarked with a beaming smile.
Y/N laughed and cast her eyes down momentarily,”I don’t know that, besides, you need all the help you can get here. I can’t leave you here without Louis and Dennis.”
“Dennis already agreed to work on the fourth. Go, it could be fun.”
“We’ll see,” she conceded, “I’m not one for parties much.”
Patrick settled it with a nod before standing, “well, I need to get out there. When you go into town, you know where my wallet and keys are.”
She shook her head as she watched him walk out the back doo and head towards the field. Y/N busied herself with cleaning up from breakfast, humming as she went. She was drying the last pan when a knock from the front door resounded throughout the house. Looking up, she put the pot down, wiping her hands as she came to the door.
“Can I help you?” she asked as she opened the door. She was met by a tall man, no older than her, sad look written across his face, broad shoulders, a worker.
“I’m Hal Carter,” he introduced with a tip of his hat, “I was told by the people in town that this was the place to come to look for work. But, apparently Patrick Y/L/N doesn’t live here anymore,” he went to turn to leave.
“He’s my father, he’s out in the field,” she assessed him, “Mr. Carter, how long has it been since you eaten?”
“Couple weeks ma’am,” he admitted to her.
“Come on in, you can’t work on nothin’, if you need a job might as well be fueled for one,” she opened the door for him. “I’m Y/N.”
He stepped in, removing his hat, “thank you Miss Y/N.”
“Welcome to Y/L/N farms, Mr. Carter,” she addressed him as she entered into the kitchen to cook again.