"What a strange thing!
to be alive
beneath cherry blossoms."
Kobayashi Issa
CHERRY BLOSSOMS
Smell of coffee entering his dreams, dreams of him, Daisy and a little baby living happily in a yellow farm in Hazzard.
Enos opened his eyes and he stirred, the sunlight entering the room with a light that seemed magic to him.
The reason of that magic approached him, caressing his hair, "Good morning, sugar"
He looked at Daisy wrapped in his bathrobe, her hear a bit damp, scent of shampoo inebriating him, and not only the scent of shampoo, but also her sweet smile, her voice, her legs… everything of her. Was it real?
He had only one way to understand if it was real: he kissed her.
"Good morning, Dais".
She touched gently his neck, "I think it's time to go back to Hazzard… after a good breakfast", reality entering his dream: yeah, it was time to go back to Hazzard.
He nodded, he got up, Daisy's eyes on him, and he headed to the bathroom: only few months ago her looking at him was enough to confuse him, and when she touched him he barely remembered his name, whereas now he felt totally at ease. For sure a lot of things changed in his life: his mother was dead (that way) and he found out he wasn't the son of Thomas Strate but of an ATF's agent (his mother's lover), terrific changes and traumas, but fortunately his new relationship with Daisy (and the surprise Daisy just brought to him) was saving him from drowning.
Daisy looked at him 'till he entered the bathroom, noticing something she didn't notice the day before: he was slim, more and more slim since his mother's arrival and even more now, after nearly three weeks spent in that cabin, not eating properly, obviously. She sighed and she started to prepare breakfast, a nourishing breakfast.
Scrambles eggs and sausage's smell gave her nausea, but Enos needed a good breakfast, so she kept on cooking, fighting back her nausea.
Few after, sitting in front of him, only a cup of coffee in her hands, she observed him eating his breakfast, his shirt's sleeves rolled up to his elbow, his left forearm a bit slimmer than his right one due to disuse during the last month.
"And you? Only a cup of coffee?", he looked at her and at the cup of coffee in her hands, a pitch of worrisome in his voice.
"I'm not hungry, sugar. I'm feeling a bit sick", she smiled, calming him.
"Uh… I'm sorry, it's my fault", he lowered his head as a scolded child.
Daisy laughed, "Sorry?", only Enos could say he was sorry because of her nausea and so of her pregnancy, "it's pretty normal for a pregnant woman, and don't say you're sorry, 'cause I suppose you enjoyed the way it happened, didn't you?", a sweet teasing him, as so many times in the past (not about that topic, anyway), and she looked amused at him blushing: despite he was finally at ease around her, it seemed she didn't lose her ability to make him blush.
"Uh… well, it seemed to me you too enjoyed it, didn't you?", a shy but at the same time sly smile, and it was Daisy's turn to blush: a new side of him, the side able to make HER blush, and she enjoyed that new way to tease her.
"Before to go back to Hazzard, I need to go to the town to pay the rent and to give the cabin's keys to the tenant", the teasing turning in a practical talk, and Daisy enjoyed that feeling of being an happy couple talking about everything, sitting at the kitchen's table in the morning, eating breakfast, "do you want to have a walk, Dais? The road to the town is great for a walk, but if you're tired we could use the car".
"I need a walk outdoor, I love the wood's smell around here", she remembered the brief walk to reach the cabin, the fresh air and the wood's scent. A walk with Enos along a path like that would've been great, "Thank you", she stood up, she bent forward across the small table and she kissed his cheek, then she headed to the bathroom to dress up.
When she came out the bathroom, he was tidying up and she started to help him, enjoying, again, that feeling of "happy family".
Few after, his bag in his car, they were walking along a small path surrounded by trees and bushes, the sunlight joking between the trees and drawing a kaleidoscope of lights, shadows and different nuances of green around them.
Daisy stopped, she closed her eyes and she inhaled the wood's scent, enjoying the feeling of the sun on her face. When she opened her eyes, he was looking at her, few steps in front of her.
"If you are tired, we could stop", a caring and soft voice.
"I'm not tired, Enos, I'm enjoying the sun and this scent… and your presence. I missed you, sugar", gratitude in her voice.
Enos blushed and he smiled sweetly, his look on her silhouette in the sunlight, the brown of her hair turning into a blonde/reddish nuance, her hazel eyes turning into a bright green. He was alive, Daisy was alive, they were going to have a baby and to be a family: there was still hope, for him, he could move on and forgetting everything happened in that long winter.
He stretched out his left arm to her and she grabbed his hand with her right one.
They walked side by side, hand in hand, their fingers intertwined, silently, sated of their presence and of the Nature around them.
When they arrived at the town, Daisy was a bit disappointed: she hoped the town was more distant, to prolong, more and more, her walk with Enos.
She looked at a telephone-box, and she came back to reality, "I think I should call the farm".
"OK", he nodded, "While you phone at the farm, I go to the tenant", he pointed at a little house.
Finally in the telephone-box, Daisy dialed the farm, waiting for uncle Jesse's answer, a quick answer as her uncle was longing for that call, and, in effect, he probably was longing for it.
Her eyes on Enos walking in the square and then entering the little house, she answered her uncle's questions, reassuring him and telling him she was going to come back to Hazzard, with Enos, and feeling relief in uncle Jesse's voice. The worrisome in uncle Jesse's voice remembered her what happened, Enos' running away and his shock because of his talk with Erika Salinger, toning down her previous dreamy state.
A dreamy state reviving after the call, when she saw Enos walking to her.
"Ok, we can go, now", he stretched out his arm and he took her hand, "Did you tell uncle Jesse about…", a pitch of fear in his voice.
She laughed, "Oh Enos, for sure not by phone. Soon after we arrive in Hazzard, we're goin' to marry. What do you think about?"
He nodded, "Yeah, and then we're going to tell uncle Jesse, Bo and Luke about the baby. At that point they won't kill me, 'cause you'll be a widow, otherwise", a serious tone, so serious that Daisy burst out laughing.
"Enos, are you really so worried for uncle Jesse's reaction?"
He looked at her, surprised by her amusement, "Uncle Jesse could tan my hide, seriously".
"Don't worry. When he'll see what a happy couple we are, he'll be happy for us"
He stopped walking and his hand slipped away from her one as she kept on walking before to realize he was motionless behind her, pale.
"Enos, what's up?", she realized something was wrong with him, his body trembling, his breath heavy and his eyes closed as he rested against a tree, his fist against the tree and his forehead against his fist, "Enos… sugar…", she recognized his attack (the same way of the day of his mother's funeral). Why now? Why there?
She walked to him and she gently took his face in her hands, turning him to her, forehead against forehead and then lips against lips in her particular mouth to mouth resuscitation, 'till she felt him relaxing.
Her hands still on his face, she looked into his eyes, "Enos, what's up? What are you thinking of? Trust me, uncle Jesse won't kill you"; was he really so worried for uncle Jesse's reaction? No, there was something more, and Daisy waited for his opening up.
Both kneeling down, she wrapped her arms around his head as he buried his face against her chest, talking confusingly about a talk with Doc Fay, a talk about his mother and Andrew Salinger keeping on meeting along the years, an happy couple in that little town. It wasn't surprising Enos was shocked about it, and Daisy held her tears back; not easy for him to accept his mother and his real father (a man who knew to be Enos' father) kept on meeting as an happy couple along the years, without worrying about their son: a real kick in the teeth, for Enos.
"Oh Enos", she let him tremble against her, keeping him close to her, 'till he looked up at her, desperation in his eyes.
"What if…. I won't be able to be a good father?"
Daisy was shocked: his total lack in self-confidence sometimes stunned her, especially this new side and surprising lack in self-confidence.
"You'll be a GREAT father, Enos, 'cause you're the sweetest man of the whole world", she gently kissed his lips and she caressed his hair, "OK?"
He nodded, slowly standing up.
Their walk back to the cabin and to their cars was silent, but a different kind of silence than the one on their way to the town, magic replaced by pain and confusion, and Daisy realized she'd have had a lot to do in order to help Enos to recover from his grief and shock, despite his apparent calm: behind that apparent calm there was a storm ready to explode, again, the same way the night he ran away followed by his inner demons.
Daisy squeezed his hand, hoping that the baby would've saved him from those demons.
In his hideout, John Fitzroy was thinking of Enos Strate, the bastard son of Andrew Salinger.
After Bo and Luke Duke stopped him, he managed to run away, and Sheriff Rosco was looking for him, to bring him to jail.
If he had to go to jail, well, he'd have gone after getting his revenge on Enos Strate.
He hated the deputy, he hated him because he was Andrew Salinger's son, and because he had Daisy Duke. Enos Strate would've paid for both things, and, along Enos Strate, Daisy Duke too would've paid for being such a slut.
WOW, 26 chapters (my longest story ever)... and the best is yet to come :-))
Sorry for the language in the last part of the chapter.