Chapter 25: Pondering a Proposal

When Jebb told Kira what everyone back in Hazzard was doing, she got a bit worried that they just might send Luke back pedaling if he found out too soon. But as far as keeping Luke in New York a bit longer, well that shouldn't be so hard. He was coming over to the hotel to get his luggage this morning.

Kira's meeting today wasn't until after lunch so she figured that it would be a good day for him to come since he'd not been able to keep Jo out of work again today. She was really anxious to try to go about her life as normal as possible after the miscarriage. The doctor had told her to trust herself as far as when she was ready to go back and right frankly, she needed some space away from Luke to think about his proposal.

When Luke got to the room, he looked like a huge weight had been lifted off of his shoulders since she'd seen him on Sunday.

"You seem to be in a good mood. You must have liked the side of the bed that you woke up on this mornin'."

"I just liked the bed I woke up in this mornin' period. Forget about which side."

Kira laughed as she stepped aside to let her cousin into the room. "So I'm assumin' that this means that you and Jo have patched things up?"

"You could say that."

"Good 'cause when I called home, Jesse told me to tell you to invite Jo to Thanksgiving. And if you ain't plannin' on doin' it, you're goin' to be the one to tell him. Not me."

"I hadn't given that much thought to Thanksgivin'. I don't know. Maybe that wouldn't be the best time to ask Jo to go back to Hazzard. You just know what the family'll do if I ask her to Thanksgivin'. Plus, I don't want to scare her off. Especially right now," Luke said as he thought about taking Jo home to meet the rest of the family.

Kira lifted her brows as she took one of the chairs in the room. "And what's so special about now? Spill, Luke."

Luke took the other chair before replying, "I asked Jo to marry me."

Kira studied Luke's face, "But she didn't say yes?"

"Not yet. I told her to wait to give me her answer. I know that I hurt her, and she probably thinks that I only asked her because I'd gotten her pregnant."

"But?"

"But I was already doin' some thinkin' along these lines long before I even knew that I'd gotten her pregnant. But I'm not sure that Jo would have believed me if I told her that," Luke said as he heaved a sigh.

"Does that mean that you're willin' to alter your life for her?"

"I'd still prefer to stay in Hazzard, but if I have to stay here instead...It'll be worth it."

Kira grinned at the admission of her oldest cousin and teased, "I think that the hearts of hundreds of women in Georgia just broke at one time."

"They'll live. They still have your brother to chase after."

"I think he's gonna need to up his vitamin intake to keep up with the demand. That or we're goin' to have to import some of the other Duke Boys to help out."

Both cousins started to laugh at the idea of Bo being the lone Duke Boy left in Hazzard as they headed down the block for a quick lunch. As the two talked over their meal, Luke started to chuckle to himself as Kira went on about how Jesse got the court hearing for the small skirmish out at the bar to be set after Thanksgiving since the judge was going to be out of town this week and no one wanted to deal with that kind of stuff the week of Thanksgiving while everyone would have relatives in town.

Kira was surprised that he bought that excuse that Jesse had told her to use after he'd spoken with the judge about the family's need to keep Luke out of Hazzard for the week but didn't really find it all that funny.

"Luke, what are you laughing at?"

"I just thought of somethin'. Your accent has gotten a lot stronger since you married Jebb and moved to Hazzard. I'm tryin' to imagine you in a room full of these northern lawyers."

"I can control my accent if I want. But I've chosen not to. I walked in; they automatically wanted to deduct fifty points off of my IQ. I guess that the southern accent isn't exactly the most intelligent soundin' accent in the world. They thought that they could slicker me. I liked the looks on their faces when we started to get down to dickering on the finer points of the deal. I think they'll be a bit more wary about me today."

"I know I'd be." The dark-haired Duke snickered.

~01~

Jesse heard from Luke and he'd said that he planned to stay in New York until next week. And he'd be bringing Jo in when he came home for Thanksgiving. Jesse was practically beside himself wanting to know if there'd be an announcement when they got to Hazzard. At least the delay would give the family the needed time to finish the wiring and plumbing of the old cook cabin. Checking on the progress, Coy walked over to Jesse and took a sip out of a glass of lemonade that the older Duke had brought with him to the cabin.

"How come it seems that every time Vance and I come to town, there's a buildin' project that needs our help?"

"Well, that's what happens when folks go to settlin' down. You can't expect everyone to stay under the same roof once they go and get hitched. Maybe the next buildin' project will be for you, Coy."

"Don't count on it, Uncle Jesse," Coy said as he put his glass down and headed back where Bo and Vance were working.

~01~

Kira finished her business up and figured that she might as well as do a bit of sight-seeing on her last full day in New York. Unfortunately, the weather decided that it wasn't going to cooperate with her. Wanting to get out of the sudden down pour, Kira hailed a taxi as the rain started to soak her suit. When she got in the cab, a windfall of curiosity hit her. She directed the cabbie to take her to the museum that Jo worked at.

Looking at the time, the blonde was bound to be at her apartment by now with Luke. Kira was just dying to take a look at Jo's paintings. When she got into the museum, it became apparent that she wasn't the only patron escaping the rain outside.

Going to the desk, Kira asked which direction she should go to find the Hart Collection. When she reached the circular hall that contained the paintings Kira took her time going from one painting to the next. Kira was drawn to the more modern depictions of the Marines on the canvases. There was something in them that called to her.

She hadn't known Luke when he was in the Marines but looking at some of the paintings that depicted various bits of Marine life, Kira felt that they helped her understand the parts of his life that he rarely talked about. Kira was so lost in the art that she was surprised when she heard her name.

Kira turned to see Jo walking up behind her. "Jo? I sort of thought that you'd be gone by now. I'm sure that Luke is waiting for you back at your place."

"I know. I got delayed a bit. What do you think?" Jo indicated to the paintings.

"I can see why Luke raved about them when I had lunch with him yesterday. They each seem to pull at various emotions. That's not something that I'm used to when I go to an art gallery. I'm not sure how you managed that but you definitely seem to have a talent for it."

"Luke talked to you about the paintings?" Jo asked a bit surprised.

"He certainly did. You should have seen his face light up when he was telling me about them. Of course that glow might be partially because he loves you so much."

"He told you that?"

"I think that the family figured it out before he did, Jo. You know how he is. He's not one to go tripping over himself to show his feelings for anyone; though I'd say he's come close to doing that now. The whole flight up he couldn't think about anything else but you," Kira told the other woman.

"Because he was feeling guilty."

"Partially. Mostly because he was afraid. An emotion that that cousin of mine doesn't let himself feel very often."

"Afraid?" Jo was a bit skeptical of that.

"He'd been wading through trying to figure out just where he wanted things to go with you since you first came around earlier in the year. Just when he was ready to do something about it, he lost contact with you, going three weeks between phone calls and all. Then he was afraid that he'd ruined things with you when he talked to you Saturday," Kira said as she thought about all the time the family had watched Luke deal with his inner battle.

"Wait a minute; you said that he figured it out before I went to the hospital?"

"From what I gather by the way he talked to both my husband and brother. Then from what he said on the flight up and at lunch yesterday..."

Kira saw the wheels turning in Jo's head. She thought that Luke had decided to pop the question solely because of the baby. Miscarriage or not, Luke was still likely to want to do right by her for that reason alone.

"Jo, one thing that you might want to get used to right now. Duke Men are born with one foot in their mouths. But they are really good at apologizing for any misstep that they make afterwards. Not to mention that Duke Men are more loyal than an old dog. If Luke wants to marry you, he'll never give you a reason to not trust him. In fact, as far as I know, he hasn't so much as looked at another woman since you two have gotten together."

"I find that a little hard to believe. I've been up here in New York for months," Jo said with a slight laugh.

"Believe it or not, I won't try to convince you," Kira smirked.

Yeh, she remembered how hard she found it to believe that Jebb wasn't going out with other women when she was in Cambridge. She knew that there would be nothing that she could say that could convince Jo that Luke's fidelity was genuine. That was something that only Luke himself could do.

"So, you think that there is more to Luke's proposal than guilt?" Jo asked.

Kira gave Jo a small smile. "Trust me; I doubt that Luke would ever take a step like this out of guilt. He even said that he'd be willing to come here to be with you. And I'm not talking about just for a visit, either. He's willing to leave Hazzard. Believe me. That's no small thing for Luke."

Jo blanched at Kira. She had no idea that Luke had discussed leaving Hazzard. She knew that he'd never wanted to leave the town again once he and Bo returned from their year away on the NASCAR circuit. But according to his cousin, he was willing to do just that. For her.

~01~

Jo decided to try to see if she'd be able to sleep without the sleeping pills tonight. She didn't like taking them, especially with Luke there. She hated zoning out on him, even if he was being understanding. She wanted to get one more step back to normal. That meant not getting doped up to get some sleep.

Now Jo was curled up next to Luke listening to the steady rhythm of his breathing while she thought about her discussion with Luke's cousin before coming home. Back in the summer, she would have been willing to stay in Hazzard if Luke had asked her to. Now it appeared that Luke was willing to come to New York instead.

Jo tried to imagine Luke in New York all of the time. Right frankly, the image that popped into her head made her chuckle. A man like Luke didn't belong so far away from the country. If he came here permanently, he'd waste away and die. And Hazzard, while being a bit backwards in some areas, had a certain charm all of its own.

Jo supposed that this was one more thing that she should discuss with Stephanie. Though considering what she'd already told Jo when she got to work and told her about Luke's proposal, Jo was pretty sure that Steph will race over to the apartment to help her pack the moment that she told her that she was now considering going to Georgia.

Jo snuggled down closer and looked at the clock and groaned. It was clear that she should have taken those sleeping pills but it was too late to do anything about it now. She'll just have to pay for her own stubbornness tomorrow at work.

~01~

Kim was in the office tending to one of the kids in town who had fallen out of a tree and broken his arm when the phone rang in the next office over. She heard her uncle pick it up as she gave the parents of the young boy instructions on how to take care of the broken limb. Once the family left, Kim walked over to her uncle's office and overheard his conversation on the phone.

"No, that'll be okay, Ted...Well I'm not sure if Kimberly will be here for Thanksgiving or not...No, I haven't talked to her about it...Well..." Irving Appleby glanced at his niece as he spoke on the phone. "Yes, it'll be the usual time...Alright, I'll see you then...Bye." Irving hung the phone up as his niece walked into his office.

"Ted's coming to Thanksgiving?" Kim asked as she tried to keep her voice from cracking.

"Well I couldn't exactly tell him that he couldn't come, now could I? He's come to nearly every family function for the last four years. Even when you were overseas. He doesn't have family of his own. Kimberly, I don't know what happened between you two. I ain't ever asked. It wasn't my place, but I've been a bit concerned by some of the things that Ted's told me over the last year."

"Uncle Irving, I'll not be here if that man comes to Hazzard. I don't want to see him," Kim said trying to tamper down the panic that threatened to choke her.

"Kimberly, you know how this family feels about divorce. I don't know why you chose not to try to make things work with Ted, but according to him, you didn't even tell him that you were leaving. Says that you took off while he was off at work without sayin' a word to him. Then you didn't even show up at court when you divorced him. Now I think that the least that you could have done was to let the man know why you left."

"Ted knows exactly why I left, Uncle Irving. Once I left, I had no desire to see him again. I'm sorry if the family disapproves of my divorce, but I don't have to go explainin' myself to everyone." Kim said as she tried to gather her thoughts. "When is Ted comin' to town?"

Doc Appleby sighed as he could already see that his niece had made up her mind on the subject of her ex-husband. He'd hoped that the two could work through any differences that they had. No one in their family had ever gotten a divorce before Kimberly walked out on her own marriage.

"He's coming in this weekend," Irving said sounding a bit defeated when he saw that Kim was determined not to see her ex-husband.

"Alright. Just do me a favor, don't tell him that I moved here to Hazzard. I'll be leaving out first thing in the morning."

Kim left her uncle's office and went to her own and shut the door before practically collapsing against it as she slipped to the floor. Now to just figure out where she was going to go in the morning.

~01~

Kira walked into the house and stopped just short of tossing her bags down when she realized that Jebb had fallen asleep on the couch as both boys were playing with their blocks at his feet. Kira put her bags down beside the door and crept in as quietly as she could. When the boys saw her sneaking in, Mikey started to bounce on his bottom while he called out to her.

"Muh, Muh, Muh!" Kira laughed quietly as she went to her oldest.

"How come you only do that when no one else can hear you, huh?" Kira snatched up both boys and gave them both hugs and carried them both upstairs and got them ready for bed.

When Kira got back downstairs and saw that Jebb was still sawing logs, she figured that she'd have a bit of fun. She moved her bags into the next room leaving the wooden door to the porch open and went to the kitchen and slammed the screen door. Then she watched as Jebb jolted awake and started to look for both of the babies. He jumped up and went out to the porch and started to call both of the boys' names and when he came back in he had a look of sheer panic on his face. Kira started to laugh as she walked out of the kitchen.

"Oops. I'm sorry. I didn't wake you up did I?" Kira kept laughing as Jebb still tried to figure out where the boys were.

"When did you get in?" Jebb asked as he still scanned the room for the boys.

"Daisy dropped me off about fifteen minutes ago. If you're lookin' for the boys, I already took them upstairs. They didn't give you any trouble while I was gone, did they? After all, you had Daisy to help out most of the time."

"You'd think that twins would want to do more of the same things at the same time."

Kira gave Jebb a hug and said, "Poor baby. I could see that they wore you out."

"I swear I only went to sit down for a minute," Jebb said exhausted.

"It's funny how those minutes can get away from you. How are things coming along with the cabin?"

"I think they're almost done. Daisy and I went out to Capital City with the boys to pick out the new appliances and furniture. Since I couldn't help out with the actual work, at least I could make sure that the cabin had some nice stuff in it," Jebb said as he pulled his wife in for a hug for the first time in over a week.

"I'm surprised that you went with Daisy to pick it all out. You could have just called the store and told them to let her pick out whatever she wanted." Kira went over to the couch and curled up with her husband after being gone a week.

"Are you kiddin'? I couldn't picture Luke sitting on the furniture that Daisy wanted. I think we came to a good compromise. It would have helped if we knew Jo's style though. So, do you think that all of this work will be for nothin' or what?"

"Well, Luke did ask Jo to marry him, but she still hasn't given him an answer. Luke told her to take her time decidin'. I think that we might end up with a new Duke soon. Whether or not they'll be here in Hazzard, though, is what I'm uncertain about."

"You really think that Luke would move up to New York?" Jebb asked his wife.

"If he had to; I guess we'll have to wait and see what happens."