All characters are above the age of twenty-one years of age.
Kim
My older sister and I had always been friends growing up out in the country property. We had sixteen hundred acres of ranch land in South Texas and when our grandparents and parents passed away we refused to sell the land. I took control and leased the land to a rancher at about half what the leasing would cost him as well as a twenty percent cut of his profits. This made us more than enough to keep the land as well as pay all the taxes. We owned the mineral rights still and a drilling company found natural gas and oil on the land. The money from all this allowed me to retire and live a very comfortable life. Kim had moved away after college and thirty years later she came into some troubles in her life.
I never was one to judge her as I as well had issues and with a good legal team to protect the property as well as myself I stayed out of trouble nowadays. Kim called and asked me to wire her a thousand dollars and without a pause, I sent it to her as she was living in Colorado near Denver. A few days later she called and said she wanted to come to stay with me as long as I did not ask questions and when she was ready to talk she would tell me what had happened. This had me a bit worried and I agreed to let her come home. I was twenty-six and Kim was thirty-one and the house seemed so empty as I lived alone. The house was a five-bedroom, four-bath with a huge garage and basement with several garages for my cars and motorcycles. One was set up as a workshop for computers and an electronic game room and I spent most of my time there as it had a kitchen and set up as an apartment. The compound was fenced off with an eight-foot cement wall and an electronically controlled gate surrounding the five acres.
The next day I got a call that she was at the airport and needed a ride so I jumped in the 1970 Ford F150 truck I finished rebuilding and drove two hours to the airport and picked her up. All she had with her was a carry-on bag and the clothing she had worn on the flight. Her long light brown hair had streaks of silver starting and she looked very tired and when she saw me she ran to me and wrapped her arms around me and started crying.
"Alex I am so sorry to have bothered you, but I had to leave him. He lost everything we had and I could no longer deal with him." she cried into my shoulder.
I held her tight as possible to comfort her and did not say a word as she slowly relaxed." Can we get to the ranch now?" she asked me.
I walked her to the truck and secured her carry-on in the truck box in the bed of the truck and she slid into the truck from the driver's side door and slid to the middle and put on her seatbelt as I got in and did the same. Not much was said during the drive as she looked out the windows as it had been so long since she was home. As we neared the turnoff to the ranch. I slowed to make the turn and was now on the private road to the compound I undid my seatbelt and Kim did the same as we neared the small city cemetery and as we arrived I stopped the truck.
"I have not been here since the accident that killed mom and dad. I am so sorry to have neglected the family" she sobbed as we approached mom and dad's graves. The stone markers had the names and dates as normal, but I had dad's masonic emblem added and a lamb added to mom's marker. They did not stand out any more than any other marker as they always said in death everyone was the same. We knelt next to them and neither of us spoke for a long time. Kim softly spoke," Mom I will be back in a few days to talk to you, but for now I will say you were right all along and I was blind. Thank you for loving me regardless of how stupid I had acted. Daddy, I hope you can forgive me as well and I will tell you more later." then Kim stood up and wiped her eyes on the sleeve of her cotton shirt. She wrapped her arms around me and asked," Is that daddy's truck? The one I wrecked and tore the front passenger side almost off of?" as we walked back to the truck.
I just nodded my head before saying," It is and it took me a long time to fix, but I remembered every lesson dad taught me about mechanics and more than a few life lessons about forgiveness to others." I said as I opened the door for her and Kim slipped in and I followed her. Closing the door and it did not take us long to get to the compound and she was surprised by the fence as I reached up into the visor and hit the gate code and it opened as we slowed down. I did not wait for the gate to close and slowly drove to the main house and parked the truck on the smooth cement drive. I took out my phone and disabled the alarm before we walked to the door." Sis, I have to warn you I have not changed anything in the house as I live in one of the barns I converted into an apartment. The house is cared for weekly by a cleaning crew and the pool and saunas are all working. I suggest you take the Master Suite as I did move mom and dad's items out and had the mattress replaced, but with the closets empty and the dressers empty, and personal effects gone everything else is the same. I will be in my apartment taking a nap if you need me for anything."
Kim walked to the door and I pulled the truck around to my apartment before she had entered the house. I could not be there when she walked through and the memories rushed over her as they had me after finding out I owned everything and I was overcome with sorrow. I had quickly built the barn in under a month and only walked into the house to use the pool and saunas.
I stripped down to my boxers as I laid down in bed and went to sleep dreaming of when Kim and I had been teenagers and the fun we had running sound on mini bikes on the prosperity and all the outdoor sports we played. I heard the door to my room open and saw Kim standing in the doorway I sat up and was about to get out of bed, but she laid down next to me.