Chapter 1
Jake walked down the hallway to his daughter Louise's room, 'Louise come on get up.'
Louise's muffled reply came five minutes later, 'Daddy do I have to, its' she stopped mid sentence '4:30 IN THE MORNING!'
'Sorry darling but I need your help' Jake grinned today was Louise's sixteenth birthday, he was getting her up to check cattle so that by the time they got back Sam would have gotten back from Darrell's with Louise's birthday present. Jake had something else planned for Louise for a birthday present, and thanks to Nate and Zelda he was able to get the present.
'Give me half an hour's more sleep' Louise begged.
'No, now do I have to come in there?'
'No' was her quick reply and he could hear her running around her room getting her clothes, she opened the door and walked down the hallway to the bathroom. Jake walked down to the kitchen.
'Louise, hurry up!' Jake shouted to the bathroom door.
'I'm going as fast as I can' Louise shot back to him.
Jake shook his head, 'How did you end up with the Forster stubbornness?' Jake asked as he walked down to the kitchen.
'Easy, because I take after mom and have her hair' Louise shouted down the hall after her dad, Jake chuckled hearing her response.
'Met me outside' Jake shouted; he walked down to the corral by the new barn, dawn was just breaking and the light was hitting the corral perfectly, highlighting the horse inside perfectly. Inside was a chestnut quarter horse, the first of Zelda's breeding stock that needed to start training.
'Wow, she is absolutely beautiful' Louise said and leaned against the corral railings with her foot on the first rail. 'But what is he doing here; he's Aunt Z's pride and joy.'
'She is, but what you didn't know was that Zelda's pride and joy has a twin, this is her' Jake replied jumping over the rails into the pen. 'But the thing is, Zell has only started her by getting used to having a halter hanging up in the pen and while she's busy with this girl's twin, and I'm busy training Drover, she's not going to have much time to be trained.'
'She's so beautiful and moves so fluently, it's a shame that she isn't going to be trained for a while' Louise said, her eyes watching the horse move smoothly from side to side in the pen avoiding Jake.
'Well that's where you come in; you're ready to start training horses and Zell wants you to start with her, it's a birthday gift from Nate, Zell, your cousins and me' Jake said jumping back out of the pen next to Louise.
'Thanks daddy' Louise said hugging Jake.
'No props Lou' Jake said hugging her one armed, he looked into the distance. 'Can you make breakfast for your brothers and sisters and get them up'
'Yea sure, what…'
'Leave Tim to sleep for another half hour, he can do his morning chores then' Jake said answering her question without hearing what she had to say.
'Sure' she said, leaving her dad who went into the barn for Sam's tack.
'When you see your mom tell her I've taken Sam to check the cattle' Jake yelled, walking to the 20 acre pasture.
'Sure, sure' Lou muttered, walking to the house, she ran down the hallway to Wyatt's room.
'Hey bro, time to get up' she said walking into her brothers rooms only stopping when she saw him with another girl in his bed.
'Wyatt Lucas Ely' Louise screeched into his ear.
'What?' He shot up.
'Get that girl out of here, before mom gets up and dad gets back' Lou said and left, she now ran to Grace's room.
'Grace' she said walking into her sisters room, 'Grace' she shook Grace's shoulder.
'What?' She mumbled.
'Unbelievable' Lou muttered under her breath, she grabbed the glass of water beside Grace's bedside table and poured it over her head.
'ARH' Grace yelled and fell off her bed. 'Okay, what?'
'Can you do Tim's chores for him' It was an order.
'Why?' Grace asked getting up and grabbing her work jeans.
'Because it's his first day of school today, and I'm cooking for everyone. Wyatt is being the jock and has someone in his bed, so help please' Lou begged.
'Okay' Grace muttered and went to the bathroom; Lou went down to the kitchen to start breakfast.
'Great no eggs' Lou said aloud as she turned the radio on, Country music blasted through the speakers. 'Great dad' she muttered and turned the radio down, she loved country music like her dad but sometimes having it on full ball straight up gave her a bad headache.
'I'll go get them' Grace said walking into the kitchen, she grabbed an apple from the table and bit into it. 'Do you want me to do your chores to?'
'No, mom does half of my chores on my birthday, I just have to turn some of the horses out into the 20 acres pasture and feed them'
'It's your birthday today isn't it? Crap I forgot'
Louise laughed, 'it's alright, and can you feed the horses for me?'
'Sure' Grace replied and gave Lou a push as she went and put her brown Stetson on and her boots, 'have fun cooking.'
'Hardy ha ha ha' Lou said sarcastically, and chopped up bacon. Grace smirk at her sister, and went outside. Louise shook her head at her sister.
'Lou?' Tim asked as he quietly walked into the kitchen.
'Hey Tim, are you ready for school today?'
'Yea, but I am scared, thankfully Richard will be on the bus with me'
'You'll be sitting at the front while Richards at the back though, but at least you know someone'
'I wish Uncle Kit and Aunt Maria lived nearby, then Connor and I would be in the same grade' Tim said and sat at the kitchen bench.
'I do miss Uncle Kit, its fun to watch him playing football with dad and Uncle Nate and his sons' Lou chuckled and Tim laughed.
'Happy Birthday Lou' Tim said and hugged his sister.
'Thanks Bro' she said and hugged him, she quickly made breakfast for him and got him ready for school.
'LOU!' Grace shouted; Louise dropped her brother's lunch she ran outside. Grace was trying to keep their mother on her feet while leaning on a truck, Sam was pale and looked to be unconscious. Lou ran back inside to the radio.
'Ely's come in!' Lou said into the mouth piece, it crackled but no one replied.
'Uncle Nate! Uncle Bry! Uncle Quinn! ANYONE!' Lou shouted, Tim was looking at her.
'Nate here'
'Bryan here'
'Quinn here' they all said at the same time.
'It's moms she's collapsed!' Lou shouted into the radio, she had to cover Tim's ears they way her uncle's were swearing.
'I'll be right there' Nate said and signed off, Bryan and Quinn were already on their way from their houses.
Lou grabbed her cell phone from her bag by the door she rang the number she was dreading.
'Hello' her father's voice was too cherry, Lou had a quiet sob.
'Its mom' Lou said quietly, the line was dead as soon as the words were out of her mouth. Lou ran outside again her mother was whiter than before.
'The I.V isn't helping' Quinn shouted at Bryan, Nate galloped towards them he was off his horse before it had stopped.
'Call an ambulance Lou!' Nate said, there was something wrong with the girl he had always called his sister. They waited for Jake and the ambulance to arrive; Sam was getting whiter and whiter and had developed a high fever.
Jake and Sam galloped into the yard like a blur he was off Sam and beside his wife in under a minute.
'Where's the bloody ambulance!' Jake shouted, he held Sam's hand for dear life. The sound of sirens was soon heard by the gathered Ely clan; Jake picked Sam up in his arms and led her towards where the ambulance was pulling in.
The ambos where out as soon as Jake was at the door; they got the stretcher out and Jake laid Sam on it.
'Does she have an allergies, has she been sick been out of routine?' the young ambo asked.
'No, no, no, she was perfectly healthy till now' Jake said, he got in and sat beside Sam waiting to drive off.
'She had her period yesterday' Lou said to the ambulance, which hurried them up.
'What?' she asked, surprised they were moving faster. They driver got in and started up the ambulance.
'Tox…' the bloke started saying but got told to hurry up by the driver he did as he was asked and got in, they watched as the one person they all loved was rushed to hospital.
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Sorry had to leave as a cliffy, will update ASAP.
ParkerGirl
Jess