Chapter 61
The three male Duke cousins had watched first Karen bolt from the barn followed by Daisy. Now they stood alone in the barn exchanging looks with one another. Bo wasn't certain that he should have gotten out of Karen's way even after Luke told him too.
Jeb had wanted to follow his sister then either talked, or knocked, some sense into her head. He could not figure out just what she had been thinking. With helping take care of the twins as much as they had been, surely she wasn't like some of the girls he'd seen in school ready to graduate, get married and start her own family the following summer. Jeb thought for sure that Karen would have other plans.
As for Luke, he was now second guessing ever getting involved between a brother and a sister. No matter what the out come, he stood to be the loser in the end. Before any of the three could make a move to talk this out, Luke heard his Uncle Jesse calling him from the house. Luke started toward the house, leaving Jeb and Bo to figure out what to do about Karen.
Luke reached the porch to find Jesse, John and Pauline on the porch. Jesse said, "Phone is for you. It's Bill."
Luke frowned. He could not figure out why Robin's father was calling for him as he went inside and picked up the receiver, "This is Luke."
"Luke, this is Bill. I know I'm about to put you in a awkward position, but I need some help with my truck. Mark thought he knew how to wire up a new stereo I got. I'm not sure what he did but I don't have any power anywhere. Normally, I'd run it up to Cooter's but it won't even crank and I need it to go to work bright and early in the morning." Bill said as his annoyance with his oldest son came out loud and clear.
There were now several things running through Luke's mind. First he was still technically grounded. Then there was all the fall out with Ralph which basically lead back to Robin, who may or may not be home. Deep down Luke knew it really didn't matter to him if Robin was home or not, her father had always been good to him. True, there had been a time that he wasn't at all happy that it was Luke showing up to see his only daughter, but the two had worked things out and had gotten pretty close before things had fallen apart with Robin. As far as Luke knew he was the only one outside their family to have driven every vehicle they owned, including the a fore mentioned prized truck of her fathers.
Luke did the only thing he knew to do under the circumstances. He replied into the phone, "Give me a second." Then, stuck his head back out the door, "Bill needs some help with his truck. Is is alright if I head over there for a little while?"
Pauline frowned at the thought of her nephews friends calling him away from his family at such a time of day.
Jesse seen her look and knew what was sure to follow if he agreed to let Luke go. He replied, "Can't Mark help him?"
Luke shrugged his shoulders a bit, "It seems that Mark has already helped wire a stereo up to the point that Bill can't even get it to crank." He explained, then added for good measure, "He needs the truck in the morning for work."
Jesse knew as well as Luke did the complications of Luke going to help Robin's father, yet he also knew that her family had treated Luke nothing but good. Jesse said with a warning tone, "Alright, you can go, but remember it is Sunday and you are just starting to heal up."
"I'll remember. Thanks Uncle Jesse." Luke said as he ducked back in the door to tell Robin's father that he'd be over soon.
Pauline couldn't hold it any longer, "Jesse that's not like you to let one of the kids little friends call them away from company."
John shook his head at his wife even before he heard Jesse's explanation.
"Pauline, the 'little friend' that is needing Luke's help is his friend's father. Evidently, his son thought he knew how to wire up a stereo and now his truck is out of commission. As you heard, the man needs his truck for work in the morning. He wouldn't call for help unless he really needed it." Jesse promptly finished the conversation.
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Karen walked in silence a long while, before she admitted, "You know Daisy, I am concerned about Dad going to court tomorrow and all but, ... you heard Jeb tonight. I'm sure you all know what happened to me."
Daisy replied, "Well, I know you've been grounded you told me that yourself. Jeb may have told the others more, but I really only know what he said in the barn."
"Well, it started out when one of Jeb's football buddies asked me out. Mom said, 'No.' which I still haven't figured out because I had done everything that needed done around the house before I even brought it up. Usually she is all about wanting me to get serious about a good man, but it's hard to know if they are a good or not if you never go out with them. Anyway, Dad told me to tell her I was going to a friends and meet him in town. I didn't want to lie to Mother, so I called Charlene and asked could I stay over. So the plan was we would meet the guys in town for a movie and head over to her house for the night." Karen paused, "That was the plan."
Daisy asked, "So what went wrong?"
Karen explained, "Right then, nothing really. We went to the movies had a good time."
Daisy giggled, "HOW good of a time?"
"I'm getting to that!" Karen laughed at her younger cousin, "As good a time as you can have in a crowded movie theater with everyone there know you. But, after the movies someone suggested going out to the lake for a swim. Well, even planning to stay at Charlene's I didn't have a swim suit, so I was going to have to decline."
That has all sounded reasonable to Daisy, "Right. Go on."
"So when I said I couldn't because I didn't have a suit, ... that's, ... when I was informed that they hadn't brought anything to swim in either." Karen paused for her younger cousin's reaction.
Daisy gasped at the thought of the situation, then asked, "Sooo, what did you do?"
Karen blushed crimson, "I decided to go along."
"Really?" Daisy asked surprised.
"Yeah, like Danny said underwear covers more than most swim suits these days, so I went." Karen continued, "There was eight of us that had decided to head up to the lake in a friend's pickup truck. Once we got out at the lake there was a cooler that showed up from somewhere. The next thing I knew I was being handed a beer."
Daisy's eyes bugged out a little. She knew that all them had been allowed to drink some on special occasions at home, but she knew that drinking away from home was a very different thing.
Karen seen the look and held her hand up so she could finish, "Yeah, well it gets worse. I looked around and everyone had a beer and seemed to be having a good time, so I figured I'd take it. I planned to take a sip or so occasionally and that would be the end of it. First off, the first sip was terrible, but I played it off that it was just cold. After the first couple of sips though it wasn't so bad so I continued to sip on the beer, then another, ..."
"Oh brother." Daisy replied.
"Don't say that word at a time like this!" Karen said referring to the word 'brother'. Both girls had a good laugh before Karen continued, "Everyone had split up by now and Danny suggested a swim. Before I could reply he, ... kissed me."
Daisy was getting really interested in this story about now. She was a romantic at heart and had read every Harlequin Romance book that she could get at least three times. "Go on."
Karen bite her lip before replying, "Daisy I have been kissed before but NOT like that, ... there was butterflies in my stomach, my head was spinning and my body felt like it was on fire!" After a pause Karen went on, "We both went behind bushes to 'change', then we got in the water. We were getting closer and closer, then he, ... his hands, ... never mind." Karen said abruptly.
"Karen! Oh, but no! You ain't stopping this story THERE!" Daisy insisted.
Just thinking about the rest of the story, Karen felt herself flush as she blushed. "Well, for now I'll say that I did somethings that I'm not real proud of, ..."
Daisy was dying to ask what but didn't for fear her cousin would clam up on her again.
"Then we got out of the water and went back to the blanket. We drank some more, ... kissing some more, ..."
Daisy couldn't keep her mouth shut any longer, "Did you do IT?" She saw several emotions pass over her older cousins face.
Karen finally swallowed the lump in her throat and said barely above a whisper, "Yeah."
Daisy wanted more. She waited for Karen to finish the story, but the older cousin was silent. Daisy wanted more, she wanted DETAILS! "Really? Sooo, ... was it that bad? Did it hurt? Karen what's wrong?"
Karen was silent awhile longer before she replied, "What's wrong? Everything!"
"Why? I don't understand." Daisy said. "It seems like everything was going good, ..."
Karen cut her off, "Yeah, right up until the State Police showed up."
Daisy eyes flew open wide!
"Daisy, you don't understand. Everyone has been going and on about Luke getting into that fight and going to jail. He makes me look like a Saint!" Karen exclaimed.
Daisy tried hard to wrap her mind quickly around everything her cousin was telling her, "Oh, Sugar it can't be that bad."
"Can't it?" Karen asked, then started to explain her situation to Daisy, "First off, Dad has court tomorrow, if things go badly, Mom, the girls and I will have to go home. Daisy I have court on Friday. From what the Judge said that day, ... it could be bad, ..."
"Judge? So you got arrested?" Daisy asked. "How bad?"
"Yeah. Luke's ten days could be nothing compared to what the Judge say we could get." Karen replied.
Daisy tried to sound optimistic, "Look, Sugar, they did that to Luke too had him real worried and all and then he got ten days."
"There's more to it. If Dad goes to jail, ... and I get what I could get, ..." Karen couldn't bare to say or think about the real possibility of actually having to be locked up in jail for better than a year. "Mom has the girls, Jeb has his obligations here, and I heard Mom and Dad talking the other day. Daisy she used the 'P' word again."
Daisy gasped, "Oh MY God! Really? Your Mom is going to have another baby? That is Great!"
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When Luke came back out on the porch a few minutes later heading for his Torino, none of the adults missed the fact that he was freshly shaven complete with cologne and a clean shirt.
John gave Jesse a grin as he asked, "Does that boy always clean up to go work on a truck?"
"Wouldn't you if you were going to help your Ex-girlfriend's father?" Jesse asked with a mischievous grin.
John couldn't help but to laugh just before he saw the expression on his wife's face. He promptly sent her a warning look as he and Jesse enjoyed a good laugh.
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