A Hard Road Taken
Chapter. 2
Ken stared at the men that stood behind her sister. Her eyes locked on the softer features of her face; her twin sister's face. A view not many people realized that she missed something terrible. As a small breeze blew though Ken's reddish hair, she once more pushed the longing of a sister relationship out of her mind, because she was here to deliver a message, and then she was going to leave. All of a sudden pain hit her where her wound was and she gritted her teeth against the need to yell out.
Kalista stared at her sister and wondered what she wanted. She noticed the pain in her eyes and she wondered what had exactly happened in her life to cause the pain she could see in her eyes. Was it the lack of Kalista talking to Amaris? Kalista was happy to see her, but Amaris was not talking.
"What is it you want, Ken?" Kalista said the name her sister was going by, silently wondering what happened for her to stop by going by Amaris.
"Pa made me promise to tell you in person that he died. His last thoughts were of you, your husband, and your in-laws. I know you got a letter from mom; however I don't make promises lightly. I know ya'll don't want me around, so I will be going, now that I've done what I came to do." Ken turned around and before anyone could say differently, she mounted. Ken spoke up after she got on her horse and faced the other way, "Kalista, while we may have chosen different paths in our life I never stopped loving you."
Ken started down the road; the pain starting to get stronger and she found once again that all she wanted to do was yell out, however she knew that would do no good. She would just have to go to the doctor and get help. At least that was Ken's thought before she realized she was falling down.
Little Joe and his family watched her leave and then start to fall. Little Joe and Hoss looked at each other with a glance, then ran to get Ken. Hoss picked the little lady up, while his brother took the horse's reigns.
Little Joe took the horse to the barn, while his older brother rushed Ken into the house, followed closely by the rest of the family. As Little Joe was coming out of the barn, Adam was running towards it, and before he could ask what Adam was doing, his oldest brother yelled, "I'm going for the doc."
'Course, Joe; you should have known that' Little Joe silently chewed himself out as he headed into the house.
Kalista was bending over Ken; taking off her sisters clothes, while Hoss went to get a shirt of his. It use to amaze her how Ken was always tanner then she was, however looking back on their childhood Kalista spent lots of the time inside the house while her twin Ken was outside very chance she got. Maybe, that is why people had such hard time believing that they were twins.
It was when Kalista took off the shirt, did she see stretch marks and a wound that was infected. Both of those things caused her to gasp and her mind was rolling a thousand miles per minute, as Kalista finished undressing her sister and cleaning the wound as best as she could.
There was some hot water and wrapping that Hop Sing had brought her the minute he saw Ken unconscious in Hoss' arms. After cleaning the wound, Kalista wrapped it up and pulled the blanket over her sister just in time, as Hoss opened the door holding a shirt.
"I got one of Adam's shirts; figured my shirt would be too big for such a small lady." Hoss spoke, as a small blush appeared on his face.
Kalista smiled and took the shirt from Hoss. The man was a gentle giant and she wouldn't have her brother-in-law any other way. She waited until he was gone before gently putting her husband's shirt on her sleeping sister.
"Get well, sis." Kalista whispered in her sister's ear before leaving the room. As much as she wanted to sit next to her sister, but there was nothing else that could be done until the doctor arrived. Kalista also knew that there were chores that Hoss, Little Joe and she needed to get done.
Ben was sitting behind his desk when Kalista came out of the room looking worn down. "Kalista?"
Kalista looked at Ben and asked, "What is it, Pa?"
Ben pointed to the chair across from him and waited until she had sat down before speaking. "How is your sister?"
"Okay, I guess. I will feel better once the doctor gets here and takes care of her."
"I don't mean any disrespect towards your sister when I ask this question, but how in the world did she end up like that?"
Kalista chuckled as she answered, "As children she was always out in the barn or near the animals that our father was working with. It drove our mother crazy, because she would always come in muddy. I think our parents thought that Ken would out grow the tomboy stage, but she never did. The tomboy in her is too deep to get out even if she wanted it out. Trust me she doesn't want to remove it. Somewhere along the way we grew apart; whether it was because for the longest time I couldn't accept her for who she was, or something else I don't know. I still don't understand her and her ways, and her choices."
"Do you want to stay by her side until the doctor comes? Don't worry about the chores; Hoss and Little Joe have offered to help out, so you can be by your sister."
Kalista gave a tired smile and thanked Ben, as she went back to her sister.
Ben watched Kalista until she went into the spare bedroom before going back to his paperwork. It was easy to tell Ken and Kalista were sisters; the resemblance between them was obvious, however Ken's hair reddish long hair was very different from Kalista's dark brown shoulder length hair. He hoped and prayed that Ken would survive and the two sisters could build a bridge between gap, that he perceived, separated them.
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Adam rode his horse at a gallop as he headed into town. Their regular doctor was out, but the doc's good friend was here until the man returned. Doctor Nelson knew what he was doing; there was no joking about that. Adam slowed down to a walk once he reached town and he headed straight to the doctor's building.
Doctor Nelson had just seen his last patient and was just sitting down. He was a striking man in his late forties and had somehow managed to hold on to his hair and most of its dark color, though now it sported gray throughout it. He loved being a doctor; however his feet were yelling at him for the amount of time he had been up and around today. When the door flew open revealing Adam Cartwright with a worried look Doctor Nelson stood up. "What is it, Adam?"
"Need you out at the ranch. My wife's twin sister needs your help urgently."
Doctor Nelson grabbed his bag and they both left hurrying to get back to the Ponderosa before too much time had passed.
