After her song Luke smiled at her as she came back to her seat next to him. After all the years of marriage she was still beautiful and Luke loved watching her sing. He only wished that Lisa and Will could have been there to see it. Because of the lighting in the room blinding him he couldn't see out into the audience and see that his family, other than Sandra, was there.
Lori smiled as she sat down amidst claps from the audience. "So, Lori, how do you do it? Be a successful actress and raise two children on the side?" Montel asked as the applause died.
"It takes a lot of work and help from God and Luke. Luke is a wonderful husband. Without his help, support, and prayers I couldn't handle as full a load as I do," Lori said, smiling at her husband.
'How long have you two been married?" Montel asked Luke.
"About close to twenty years now," Luke said.
"Now, I understand you have a son, Nathan, and a daughter, Sandra. How do they feel about your constant traveling? How do they go to school if your family's on the road to get to your concerts?" Montel asked.
"They understand pretty well and during the school year when Luke and I have to go on the road we leave them with Luke's family. recently we've thought to try out homeschooling with Sandra and it works pretty good," Lori said, cupping her knees with her manicured nails.
"Now, my sources tell me that you had two other children. Will and Lisa. Why aren't they with you on the road?" Montel asked the painful question.
"We don't normally talk about our missing children. They were stolen from us by an old girlfriend I dated and we never saw them again," Luke said firmly.
"Two missing children that were stolen before the age of five! Now, Lori, how'd you like to know that your children are safe and waiting to see you?" Montel asked. Lori's eyes filled with tears and managed a shaky smile.
"I've been praying for that every day since we lost them," Lori said, her eyes spilling over.
"Turn off the stage lights, please," Montel ordered. The lights turned off and Luke recognized Bo, Daisy, Cooter, Nathan, and Uncle Jesse on the first row.
'What's going on?" Luke asked, turning to look back at the talk show host.
"Before you came on tonight your family came with two surprises that have been long overdue. Will the young man and girl next to Jesse Duke stand please?" Montel asked.
Luke and Lori looked to the two Montel had indicated. A boy, no older than eighteen, with a girl, wearing a doo rag on her head stood to their feet and looked at them, smiles on their faces. Lori's breath caught as she looked at them and the tears ran down her cheeks.
"Will! Lisa!" Lori managed to choke out as she bolted out of her chair and into their son's arms and then hugged their daughter.
Luke's eyes met Will's as he came over to them. "Will?" Luke asked, standing arm's length away from his son as he looked at him. if this was his boy then he had grown up strong and just like him, except for the green eyes that was his mother's.
"Daddy?" Will asked back. In that instant Luke knew. This was his boy. He wrapped his arms around his son pressing his lips firmly to his forehead.
After watching the video that their mother had made for her new song the family went up to their hotel suite. As soon as they got up there Lori started hugging them again. "My babies. I never thought I'd see you again? How did you find us?" Lori asked, sitting down and holding Lisa in her arms. Luke had his arm around Will's shoulder in a companionable hug.
Will liked being here with his father and mother. He smiled at his mother and revealed the detective's badge he wore clipped to his belt. "I'm a cop in Colorado. I'm in charge of missing persons and I ran across our poster while I was working," Will said as he sat down in a chair.
"You're a policeman?" Sandra asked her brother.
"Yes I am. The youngest ever to graduate from the police academy in Colorado," Will said with pride as Lori got back up from her seat and walked over to him.
"My baby. I've missed you so much. What did Jenna do to you?" Lori asked, sinking to her knees in front of him and stroking his face gently with her hands.
"Lori, this can wait. We can talk to them later about that," Luke said warningly.
"I have to know. Did she hurt the two of you in any way?" Lori asked.
"No. Just dyed our hair and told us a couple of really good whoppers," Will said offhandedly.
"Dyed your hair?" Lori asked, shocked.
"Yep. I stopped dying it a year ago, but she did it for so long there are still a few light streaks on the top. Lisa's actually looks worse. That's why she's wearing that," Will said, indicating the doo rag.
Lori examined the top of Will's dark head. 'Yes I see it. This should fade away with time. Now, Lisa, what did she do to yours?" Lori asked. asked, turning to Lisa.
Lisa looked at Will nervously. "Lise, you might as well take that off. We need to fix what Jenna did to your hair and hope the damage isn't permanent. She dyed your hair more than mine," Will said ruefully. Lisa slowly removed the covering. Lori gasped visibly as she examined her daughter's light brown curls.
Luke stood and came over to his daughter. "She did this often, Lisa?" Luke asked, cupping his daughter's face with his hands.
"Every three or four months when my hair started to darken. I think i asked her once why I couldn't let my hair get dark like Will's and she said I didn't look good with dark hair," Lisa said, her tears falling on Luke's hands.
"That's ridiculous! You have your daddy's hair. You look very good with dark hair," Lori said, smoothing her daughter's hair out of her face.
"Can you fix this, Lori?" Luke asked.
"I'll try. Like Will said, I don't know the extent of the damage that has been done. I'll have to take her to a hair doctor. I just hope this isn't permanent," Lori said. Luke hoped so too. It was alarming to see Jenna's hair color on his daughter.
"What reason did she give you for dying your hair in the first place, Will?" Luke asked, holding his daughter to his chest as he looked at his son.
"She lied and said she was our mother. All she said was that she wanted to see what me and Lisa looked like with her hair. I think she did it so you'd never find us. It's something kidnappers do to young children. I've seen it often when I work on a case that involves kidnapping. I saw one little boy who's hair was dyed jet-black and he was a redhead. He was about my age when Jenna stole me and Lisa," Will said, shrugging his shoulders.
"I can't believe Jenna did this. First she steals my babies and then she tries to alter their looks," Lori fumed.
Luke couldn't believe it either. Will seemed able to cope with all of this shock, but Lisa, like her mother, seemed to have been taking this hard. She was shaking and gripping tight handfuls of Luke's leather jacket. Luke hadn't touched her hair yet. He stroked her hair gently as she cried
Lori Leigh couldn't believe this. If this was a dream, she didn't want to wake up! Her missing babies were back home
with her thanks to Montel. She would have to thank the talk show host personally maybe even give him free concert tickets
and Backstage pass. She hugged Lisa tight. She couldn't believe how pretty Lisa looked. She just hoped that
Jenna didn't mess her hair up to bad. Maybe they could get back to the dark color again. She sat on the bed hugging both
of her babies and crying happy tears. She always hoped that her children were still alive out there somewhere. William looked exactly
like his father with the Dark hair and muscles. He held her in his arms as she held Lisa in her's and they stayed that way
much of the night. Lori didn't want them out of her sight again. "I'm so glad you both found us again", said Lori looking
at both of them.
She could tell Luke was happy about seeing his children again to. He sat near them hugging his entire family. Lori just hoped
that Jenna would stay away and not bother them again. She wanted to catch up with her children and learn all that she had
missed. Lori knew that Jenna had to be found and arrested for her babies kidnapping. SHe just hoped Bo could find her.
"will your so handsome like your dad", said Lori leaning into him and felt his muscles wrapped around her "You been working
out?"
Will looked at the muscles in his forearms. They were hard from exercise that had been required as he had trained to be a detective. The Colorado Police Department didn't want any of their policemen fat. "It was necessary. I was on the wrestling team in high school and when I went for police training they said I couldn't be fat. I had to be trim for this job," Will said.
"What made you decide to be a policeman, Will? When you were little you wanted to be a fireman like me," Luke commented as he pushed a lock of his son's dark hair behind his ear.
"I don't remember that. I took the D.A.R.E program when I was in fifth grade and I decided then I wanted to be a policeman. Of course I told Jenna that and she just about threw a fit. All she could say was that I was going to get shot at," Will said sourly.
"Will, you did. Remember that drug cartel you broke up a month ago when you were on loan to the Texas Rangers? A man shot you and you were laid up with a bad arm for two weeks," Lisa chimed in, raising her head from their father's chest.
"It was just a flesh wound. You and Jenna made too much out of it," Will said blithely.
"You got shot?" Lori asked, looking at Will in concern.
"Just in the arm. This heroin user shot me before I could clear my gun. Hence the reason why I wear it now. Even when I'm not working," Will commented as his mother hugged him tightly.
"My baby. My poor baby. I should have been there," Lori said, her tears falling on Will's black shirt as she buried her face in his shoulder.
"It's all right, Mama. It doesn't even hurt any more. All I have to show for it is a slight scarring on my arm, just inches from my shoulder," Will said comfortingly.
Luke thought both his children were brave. Will especially. After being shot he acted like it didn't phase him in the least. Lisa was a different kind of brave. She had come with Will while she was scared. Now he held his daughter in his arms and stroked her light brown curls as she cried quietly.
Holding her brought back all those memories of when she was little and she had run to him, thinking Daddy could fix everything. Luke knew he couldn't fix all the damage that Jenna had done to his daughter, but he could try. Her hair had possibly been damaged and she had been lied to by a woman who made Lisa think that her father hadn't wanted her.
"It's all right, Lisa. I'm here now and I'm never losing you again," Luke whispered softly in his daughter's small ear as he rocked her gently.
Lisa looked up at him, her green eyes filled with tears. "So you and Mama do love us?" Lisa asked in a shaky voice.
Luke and Lori looked at each other in shock. Lori broke the hug she shared with their son and knelt in front of their daughter, stroking Lisa's face and hair gently as Luke rubbed his daughter's back.
"Of course we love you. We've always loved you, Lisa. We've always wanted you," Lori said.
"But I forgot both of you!" Lisa wailed.
Luke cradled his daughter's head against his chest and looked up at his family, who looked shocked. "It wasn't your fault, Lisa. Jenna lied to you and Will. I don't blame you for thinking I didn't love you or care and that Jenna was your mother. She probably forced you to call her that," Luke said bitterly.
"Oh, she did. Believe me," Will said, rolling his green eyes slightly.
Everyone looked at him. "She didn't hold a gun on you, did she?" Lori asked.
"No. She was tucking me in that first night when she took me. She had just finished dying my hair and was gloating over how she was going to take me and Lisa to see some mountains. She said good night to me and I said good night back. Then she forced me to say "Good night, Mama." I didn't want to, but she made me," Will said, wrinkling his forehead.
Lori went back to their son and pulled him into her arms, kissing his head gently as she stroked his dark head. "My poor baby," Lori said, breaking into fresh tears. Luke felt like crying himself. Both of his children had been hurt and all he could do, besides pray, is keep loving them as their father.
After everyone had gone to bed, the only ones who were still up was Lori and will. Lori Leigh ate her usual midnight snack.
Coconut cake from downstairs cafeteria at the hotel they were staying at. She couldn't believe the many years that she spent
without having Will or Lisa. After she ate, Lori went out on the balcony to clear her head. How Will adn Lisa both managed
to escape Jenna was beyond her thinking. She knew Jenna must be pissed by now and looking for her children desparately. But she
knew deep down that Jenna would be angry at Lisa and Will for leaving her. She could possibly come back and find them and hurt
her in some way to pay Will and Jenna back.
Will came outside to join his mother on the balcony. Her face was set in a worried expression as she stared into space
deep in thought. "Mom, are you okay?" he asked approaching her closely. His mother had grown quiet lately and he was worried.
Lori leigh sighed. "Will, I'm just so glad I have you and Lisa back. But, I just have this feeling once Jenna finds out the two
of you left her, she is going to hunt us down and possibly try killing one of us again. And I have a feeling that she
will want to kill me. Jenna never stops until she gets what she wants. And I just don't want her to rip our family apart
again. I've been through enough! I just want to catch up with you and lisa and keep you two forever". Lori Leigh said
crying. Little did she know William had planned to quit his job and work for his mother being a second bodyguard and work alongside
his dad to protect his mother and his sister. So he decided to tell her.
