Straightening the Curves

Chapter Three: Welcome Home

The bus rolled to a stop on the dirt road that led to the Duke farm. A young man with bright blue eyes and short dark hair jumped off, a duffel bag swung over his shoulder. As the bus drove off, he waved good-bye to his companions and then made his way towards the house.

Luke Duke hadn't told anybody that he was due back home today. He had wanted it to be a surprise. He couldn't wait to see Uncle Jesse, Daisy, and especially Bo again. Although Bo was a married man now, he'd still have time for fun and driving around in the General with Luke—he hoped.

He hadn't even passed the mailbox yet when he saw the screen door fly open and a beautiful brunette come running across the yard with her arms wide open. Daisy.

"Luke!" she cried happily, leaping into her cousin's welcome arms as he swung around in a circle. "I'm so glad you're home, we've missed you so much!"

"Same here, Daisy, same here," he told her as he gave her a tight hug. He looked up and tears almost came in his eyes. "Uncle Jesse," he simply stated, releasing his cousin and going over to give the elderly man a hug of his own.

"Glad to have ya home, son. It's been kinda lonesome not havin' you or Bo runnin' 'round here gettin' into trouble," Jesse said, patting his oldest nephew on the back. "Daisy behaves too well for her own good."

"Hey now, what's so bad about that?" Daisy asked, grinning widely. "Oh, Luke, you haven't seen my engagement ring yet, just look at it!" She pranced up to her cousin, proudly showing him the small rock that she wore on her left ring-finger.

Luke whistled. "That's awful nice, Daisy. Enos sure can pick 'em, huh? Congratulations by the way."

"Thank you," she beamed, looking at the ring for millionth time since she first received it.

"So how's everybody else been doin' since y'all last wrote me?" Luke asked as the three of them began walking back towards the house.

"Oh, 'bout the same," Jesse answered. "Rachel's seven months along now. I think they decided to wait until time for the baby to be born to see if it were a boy or girl. Course I don't see why that would matter, you oughta be happy no matter what ya get."

Luke smiled. "An' how are the little Coltrane couple handlin' things? I'm actually sorry I missed their weddin'."

"It was beautiful, Luke. They had holly plants and mistletoe for the decor," Daisy said dreamily, more than likely thinking about her own wedding that was coming up in March. "I hope mine's just as romantic."

"I'm sure it'll be perfect," Luke smiled at her. A thought came to him and his face fell a little. "Say, any word from anyone about Ali?"

"You didn't write her any while you were gone?" Jesse asked, opening the door and letting his niece and nephew go inside.

Luke shrugged. "Well, y'all said in one of them letters that she moved to Atlanta the same day I left. So I figured she was just mad at me for that little remark I made at the Boar's Nest that night."

"She left because you were leaving," Jesse told him matter-of-factly. "With Rachel married an' her not bein' on good terms with Eve, she didn't have anyone when you left."

The phone started ringing. "I suppose," Luke replied as Jesse quickly grabbed the phone.

"Hello? Oh, hi, Bo."

Luke's eyes got big and his face widened into a smile when he heard that Bo was on the other line. "Tell him I'm here!" he whispered.

Jesse pretended to wave him off. "Slow down, Bo, you're talkin' too fast. Yes, I"m fine, Daisy is too. There's someone here I think you'd like to----what now? Well, what about Cooter, spit it out already! Arrested?"

Luke's smile quickly faded. Daisy stopped daydreaming and got a serious look on her face.

"What?" Jesse continued to converse with Bo. "That's silly, why would he—well, how should I know why they say he did somethin' like that?"

"Like what?" Luke whispered.

Jesse mouthed the words "Hold on" and kept on talking to Bo. "Who all knows about this? Just Eve an' Rosco? Oh, she's gonna be Cooter's lawyer. How's she gonna do that when she's still Lulu's secretary. I see. All right, Bo, thanks for callin'. Bye."

Jesse hung up the phone. Luke looked about ready to explode with questions.

"What's goin' on? Is Cooter in real big trouble? Why'd he get arrested?"

Jesse sighed before answering. "The Feds think that—they think he killed someone in Atlanta. Said they have a photo of him carryin' the murder weapon out of the hospital it happened in."

"Murder," Daisy repeated to herself, not believing that this had happened.

Luke was outraged. He had not expected on hearing that one of his best friends was being charged with murder on his first day home. "That's insane, Cooter would never do somethin' like that! Photo or not, they've made a big mistake!"

"Now, Luke, don't worry," Jesse told him, although knowing that he would probably worry anyway. "From what I heard, Eve was a derned good lawyer over in Atlanta. She'll think of somethin' to get him outta this."

"But I can't just sit here an' do nothin' though!" Luke insisted. "Whoever's really responsible for this is still runnin' loose out there! An' I gotta hunch that unless the real murderer is caught, Cooter's future is goin' to be behind bars."

(sorry so short!)