Beauty is Only Skin Deep

Chapter 12

Word about Maddie and Bo's wood working skills soon spread throughout Hazzard, especially after Lulu had talked them into making several pieces of furniture for her. After much prompting from the others in the community, Maddie quit her job at the law firm and she and Bo opened up a small business making small pieces of furniture of all styles. As word continued to spread, more and more orders came in, most of them coming from Lulu Hogg, much to Boss' annoyance especially when he had to hand a check over to a Duke. A year later, their small business had taken on a life of its own and they ended up hiring some help, moving out of the barn and into a bigger building, and buying more and bigger equipment.

With a little persuasion, Maddie convinced Jesse to "retire" from his farming, well semi-retire, and help out with the business. She had seen some of the pieces that he had made for his wife when they were first married and between Jesse and the others that were working with them, Maddie and Bo were picking up a lot of the little tricks needed to make a beautiful piece of furniture. She also convinced Luke and Daisy to help out, which really wasn't that hard either, but both of them would only help out part time since Luke still wanted to run the farm and Daisy wanted to keep her waitress job.

Plans were soon in the works to celebrate Jesse's sixty-fifth birthday at the Boars Nest and practically everyone from Hazzard had been invited. Jesse spent the last hour opening the gifts that his friends and family had given him and he was somewhat overwhelmed by the thoughtfulness of everyone. He had just finished thanking Enos for the new fishing tackle that the young man had given him when Bo loudly cleared his throat.

"Uncle Jesse, it seems ya forgot ta open one of your gifts," Bo grinned widely as he handed the small, thin package to his uncle.

"Another one? Who's it from?" Jesse asked as he looked back at his youngest nephew.

"Actually, it's another one from Maddie and me."

Jesse gently shook the package. "What is it?"

"Open it and find out."

Jesse tore the paper off of the carefully wrapped package as Bo and Maddie held each other while they watched. Jesse finally found a solid wood picture frame inside the box, but instead of it holding a normal photograph, the frame held a strange black and white fuzzy picture. Jesse stared at it for a moment, a perplexed look on his face. "Not ta sound ungrateful, mind ya," he said as he kept turning the picture in his hands. "But what is it?"

Maddie and Bo looked at each other for a moment and she nodded her head for Bo to tell him. "Well Uncle Jesse, what you're lookin' at there is one of those new fangled ultrasound pictures that doctors use ta see things inside a human body."

"Well...that's nice," Jesse hesitantly said as he continued to look at it in confusion. Suddenly a look of worry came over his face. "Doctor? Is one of ya sick?"

"We're both fine, Uncle Jesse," Maddie assured the older man. Jesse looked back and forth between the two of them trying to figure out if they were telling him the truth.

"See that little blob like thing there?" Bo asked as he pointed it out to his uncle.

"Yeah, I sees it."

"Well, what you're lookin' at is an ultrasound picture of your grand nephew," Bo grinned back.

"Or niece," Maddie added with her own smile.

"Yeah, or niece," Bo agreed with a chuckle.

Jesse's eyes suddenly lit up with surprise as understanding hit him. "Ya mean...?"

"That's right, Uncle Jesse," Maddie smiled. "I'm pregnant."

A loud cheer went up all over the room at the unexpected news the two had just given. Bo felt his back being slapped as the men congratulated him and Maddie was hugged numerous times by the women. It was after Jesse had stood up and given them each a hug that he looked at the both of them, excitement flashing in his eyes. "Well tell me, when's the baby due?"

"In about five months," Bo grinned.

"We wanted to surprise you with the news and we both thought that today would be the perfect day to do it," Maddie said as Jesse hugged her again.

"Ya sure did," Jesse beamed. "Let me see that picture again!"

Maddie leaned into Jesse's shoulder as she explained to him what he was really looking at, tears falling down the old man's face as he now saw the baby clearly. Luke came over and stood by his baby cousin.

"How in the world did ya managed ta keep that a secret for so long?" Luke asked as he wrapped an arm around Bo's shoulders. "You of all people keepin' a secret and one that big too."

"It wasn't easy," Bo confessed with a grin. "Almost slipped a few times especially after tellin' Maddie's family about it. But we really wanted ta surprise Jesse and the rest of ya."

"Well ya sure did that," Luke admitted. "Congratulations Bo. You and Maddie did good, not just with the baby, but the business and everything else too."

"Like Jesse says, 'With the help of a good woman, ya can go a long way'."

"And ya got yourself a dandy too," Luke grinned.

"I don't know what I did ta deserve her," Bo smiled as he looked at his wife, "but I can honestly say that I'm happy."

"And I'm happy for ya too, the both of ya's."

"Thanks Luke," Bo answered with a grin. "Say, how are the plans goin' for you and Marie's weddin'?" Bo asked as he nodded his head in the direction of Luke's dark haired, brown-eyed fiancé, who was looking at the picture of the baby over Jesse's other shoulder.

Luke's own grin widened. "They're goin' pretty good. I can't believe that I'm gonna be married in less than two months. Say, that reminds me, I need ta thank Maddie again for intoducin' us at your weddin' reception."

"Yeah, Maddie was kinda upset when Mindy broke up with ya but she was also pretty excited about getting you and Marie together."

"It's funny. I would never have thought of Marie as someone that I would have chosen for a girlfriend, but she's nothing like any of the other girls that I've dated."

"Just goes ta prove that we both needed a shove in the right direction," Bo grinned.

"Now if we could only get Enos ta build his courage up enough ta ask Daisy ta marry him," Luke said suggestively. "I think courtin' her for three years is long enough."

"Guess we better work on him some more, huh?"

"Yep. Hey come on. I want ta see this picture of my new nephew," Luke said as he wrapped his arm around his cousin's shoulders again.

"Or niece," Bo reminded him.

"Or niece," Luke laughed as they headed over to the small group that was huddled around their uncle.

The End

Well as you can see, that was the last chapter folks. I hope that you enjoyed the story. Take care until next time!!