"The night glittered brilliantly then."
Banana Yoshimoto
A NEW FAMILY
"So, Enos and Daisy are goin' to become parents", Bo smiled at Luke, "It's so strange, don't you think?"
"Strange, yeah. I'm happy for them, but… I'm surprised"
"And jealous, 'cause Daisy, now, is under Enos' protection, and Enos showed us he's perfectly able to protect her"
Luke stared at Bo: he got it. His younger cousin was becoming wiser and wiser.
"You're right, Bo. I'm a bit… jealous, 'cause Daisy will leave the farm, and it's so strange thinking of her as a wife and a mother, under the protection of a man different than us. But I'm happy that man will be Enos, after all, 'cause nobody can love Daisy more than Enos"
The two cousins remained silent, their eyes on Enos and Daisy moving in the kitchen, helping uncle Jesse to cook dinner.
"But... no fish for dinner 'cause of Enos", Bo sniggered then he stood up, walking to the kitchen and leaving Luke alone on the couch of the living room. Luke sighed, shaking his head and standing up to reach his cousin, but a knocking at the door stopped him on his way to the kitchen.
When he opened the door, Erika Salinger was standing there, a brown and tall man by her side, and Luke sincerely hoped they weren't going to bring other problems, 'cause it wasn't time for other problems.
"I'm sorry to bother you, but… I need to talk to Enos before to leave Hazzard"
Leaving Hazzard. So, Erika was going to leave.
Luke nodded, "Ok, but… I hope you're not goin' to tell him something that could hurt him"
Erika shook her head, "No, I want only to say him goodbye before to leave"
Erika and the man by her side entered the living room as Luke walked to the kitchen to call Enos.
Few after, Enos was in front of his sister and of the man Dukes knew being Erika Salinger's husband, Josh Baldini, an ATF's officer who's now shaking hand with Enos.
"I'm glad you're back, Enos, and I'm sorry if I shocked you last time I talked to you. I didn't want to hurt you", Erika's tone was sincere, and her sincerity, beside Enos' calm, weakened Daisy's worrisome and anger.
"My wife is perfectly able to drive people crazy, so you have all my sympathy, colleague"
"Josh, please", Erika poked him, "stop kidding"
Enos smiled at the couple, and Daisy finally relaxed.
"I'm not kidding, Erika. You're more stubborn than a mule, and your pregnancy didn't help you. You're more and more stubborn, and I had to come here to drag you back", Josh kept on teasing her, but in his eyes everybody could see his love for that stubborn woman.
"Pregnancy?", Daisy opened her eyes wide, realizing that Erika's overweight was the sign of her pregnancy. It seemed Daisy wasn't able to recognize any pregnancy, lately.
Erika blushed, casting an angry look in Josh's direction, "Yeah, I'm pregnant", then he looked at Enos, trying to focus the talk on something else, "Anyway, I'm going to leave Hazzard. Now that I know you're back and you're OK, beside your fight with John Fitzroy, I can leave," she took a small piece of paper out her hand-bag, "this is my telephone number. Call me, in case you'll know something more about our parents, or… if you want to call me, for any reason"
Daisy held her breath; was Enos going to tell Erika about what he found out from Doc Fay, about "the happy couple Andrew/Rose"? She observed Enos and she noticed his brief stiffening and then his relaxing.
Enos took the paper from Erika's hand, smiling, "Thanks. I'm goin' to call you, in case I'll know something, or… just to call you, just to know if everything's OK with you, and your baby"
Daisy smiled, loving Enos even more. It was obvious: knowing she was pregnant, he wasn't going to tell Erika about what he knew, so sparing her the shock about her father's double life. Again, he was going to carry that weight all by himself, protecting people around him. In Enos' voice Daisy could feel a new sweetness toward Erika: was he seeing her in a new way? Was he thinking of her as his little sister, so protecting her from that weight?
Josh stared at Enos, his deep brown eyes half-closed, thoughtfully.
Erika smiled, "Thanks," then she looked carefully at Enos' face, "WOW, what a rough fight, but this time it seemed you beat John"
Enos blushed, "Uh, it seems you know a lot of things. You're a good detective, or there's too much gossip in this town"
"There's too much gossip in this town, for sure," Erika laughed, "Ok, it's time to go, now"
"Yeah, it's time to go, brother-in-law, bye", Josh patted on Enos' back, surprising him with his gesture and his words, a positive surprise: Enos smiled thankfully, a soft red on his cheeks and a brief spark in his eyes.
The ATF's officer stretched his hand out to Enos, shaking hand with him and looking into Enos' eyes, "Thank you".
Daisy realized Josh understood Enos knew something about Erika's father, something that could hurt Erika, and he was thanking Enos for not telling it to Erika.
"I'll call you after the baby's birth", Erika smiled, "and maybe you should come to visit us, to meet your… nephew… or niece," she blushed.
Enos became red as a tomato, but it wasn't a blushing of embarrassment or pain, it was a blushing of happiness, and Daisy sighed in relief.
"Somehow Erika Salinger and Enos are facing something similar, and, somehow, I think she could be a… gift for him". Daisy remembered uncle Jesse's words: Enos was going to have a family, a big family, he was going to become not only a husband and a father but also a brother and an uncle, and he seemed happy. A gift: uncle Jesse was right, as usual. Daisy looked at her uncle and uncle Jesse looked at her, smiling and nodding.
"And you, call me when you'll become a daddy, 'cause I want to meet my nephew… or niece", Erika kept on smiling, but when he saw the smile fading from Enos' face she worried, "did I say something wrong?"
"How do you know I'm goin' to become a … daddy?"
"I heard 'bout it from Mary Beth, the Hotel's receptionist"
Enos looked at Daisy, and Daisy at Enos: perfect, if Mary Beth knew it, probably everyone in Hazzard knew it.
"Something's wrong?" Erika repeated her question, wondering why everybody looked at each other.
"See, Miss Salinger," uncle Jesse tried to break that awkward silence, "Enos and Daisy are goin' to get married, and… we thought nobody knew about the baby and the wedding, but it seems that… there's too much gossip in this town"
Erika smiled, "I'm happy you're gonna to get married, and I'm happy about the baby"
"OK, now, it's really time to go, Erika," Josh rested his hand on Erika's shoulder, "Bye Enos, and call us".
After a brief hug to Enos, Erika and Josh left the farm, a silent farm, everybody looking at each other.
"So, people know 'bout the baby. I bet it is John Fitzroy's fault, he can be the only one to know about the baby", Luke sank into the couch, rubbing his face; he could imagine what people were saying about Enos and Daisy (especially about Daisy) and his over-protection on Daisy was driving him crazy.
"Enos, let's get married, right now. Go to the Pastor and let's get married," Daisy took Enos' hands in hers, "it's the right thing to do… to stop this"
"NO!", Enos' word stunned everybody, his tone serious, "No. Daisy, if we get married right now, all in a sudden, with a sort of hidden ceremony, it's like admitting we are wrong, it's like admitting we decided to get married just because of the baby, and people will talk about it even more. But there's nothing wrong in our wedding: I love you, Dais, and you love me, and I want to remember our wedding as the best day of my life. I want to marry you in front of your family and in front of our friends, not to marry you secretly. I want to show everybody how much I love you and how much you love me. We'd have married, anyhow, baby or not, so let's get married in a normal way. I want to see you in your wedding dress, and… I want to marry you… in a normal way. Possum on a gum bush, Dais, is there something normal in my life? I want finally something normal," he smiled.
"Enos is right. People will talk, no matter what. And they'll talk even more if you get married like that, in the night, secretly. And… like Enos, I want to see you in your wedding dress, and I want your wedding will be a feast, a beautiful day to remember," uncle Jesse walked close to Enos, resting his hand on his shoulder, in his eyes all his respect for that man, a man who's showing him his strength and his pride beside his usual shyness and lacking in self-confidence. Uncle Jesse was proud of Enos.
Daisy looked at Enos and at her uncle, smiling, "OK, so, let's go for a normal wedding, the best day of our lives".
Sitting at the kitchen's table, during dinner, Dukes and Enos talked about the up-coming wedding, planning everything to do.
A calm and happy atmosphere, and Enos enjoyed it from the bottom of his heart: no rumors hurting him any more, no past, but he and his new family, his two families (Dukes and Erika Salinger), and a bright future.
Thank you for your patience. This is a sort of bridge for the next chapter, a chapter TOTALLY focused on the wedding!
Thank you for following me along this slow and slice-of-life-kind story, with no much action in it. I hope you enjoyed it, and I hope you understood that thing about the sense of love, friendship and family I was talking about in the summary :-)). I hope you found the characters "in character"(ALL of them, especially uncle Jesse along these last chapters) and you found DOH's spirit in this story (despite some rough topic here and there, and despite the lacking of cars, chases, shuck and jives and so on).
Stay tuned for the up-coming wedding, I promise it'll be a moving chapter ;-)
