Daisy had been looking for a good place to hide from Luke once she’d been told by a friend that he’d seen his picture over at the Guess Who’s Who game when she saw Jebb and Kira walking off up ahead. She figured that she could get their help escaping Luke’s wrath until he calmed down. When her two cousins ducked behind the vacant booths, she was curious but figured that maybe Kira’d had enough with the crowd or something. She still didn’t know all that much about her new cousin but figured that it wouldn’t be long before she knew her as well as all of the others.

Weaving through the crowd, Daisy finally made it to the booth that she’d seen Jebb and Kira turn in behind. Rounding the corner, she hadn’t been prepared for what she saw. There in front of her was her two cousins wrapped in a very passionate embrace. So lost in their kiss, Daisy wasn’t sure if they even knew that she was there. Feeling awkward, Daisy stumbled back, red faced, around the booth. That was when she heard Jebb call out to her. She reckoned that she really should have waited so that they could explain what she’d just seen. But really how much explaining does that sort of thing need?

“Daisy! Wait up!” Jebb had easily slipped through the crowd to catch up to his cousin. “Daisy, let me explain. Okay?” Daisy looked around her and then back up at Jebb before nodding. He guided Daisy back to where they’d both left Kira. “Daisy, we really were plannin’ on tellin’ everyone about us. But things just kept getting in the way.”

“How long have you two...” Daisy motioned with her hands as she was trying to figure out exactly what words she should use.

“We’ve been together for over a year, Daisy. We didn’t mean for anyone to find out like this.” Jebb eyed his cousin a second as she took in that much in before he said anything else. “You goin’ to be okay with this? With Us?”

“I don’t know what to say. I mean, it’s just a bit of a shock you know.” Daisy looked at the two in front of her. But then, maybe it shouldn’t be quite as much of a shock. There was definitely some chemistry there between Jebb and Kira. She had dismissed it the first time she had thought about it. Thinking that she’d just read too many trashy romance novels; that she was reading too much into what was there. Well, it looks like she’d just read what really was right there in front of her after all. “I mean, it’s one thing to joke about this sort of thing, but for it to really be happening.”

“Daisy, it’s not like I KNEW that Jebb was my cousin when I finally agreed to go out with him. Or that we were related when we fell in love. We can’t exactly turn back time now that we do, either.” Jebb smiled as he heard Kira say out loud that she loved him to their cousin. Reaching down, he grabbed her hand and gave it a slight squeeze. Daisy smiled at the gesture exchanged between the two. As awkward as the situation was, the hopeless romantic in her was happy for them. She’d never really been able to turn away from a romantic love story. Now it looked like her cousins would be living one out right in front of her. At least ONE of the Duke Boys wasn’t immune to real romance.

Smiling, Daisy threw herself at Jebb and Kira. Kira pulled back slightly at the gesture but endured it as best as she could. Once again, not the reaction that she’d expected. “Wait until the fellas hear about this!” Looking at both faces before her, “Don’t worry, I won’t say nothin’. This is all y’all’s to tell. But you better make it fast. I’m not sure how long I can keep a secret like this. Plus, the next time it might be one of them that walks in on you two.”

“I know.” Kira sighed. “Well at least we’re down from telling five to just tellin’ three now.”

“Three? Who else knows?”

“I talked to Uncle Jesse last night.” Jebb replied, “Turns out he and Pop already suspected the whole time. Jesse was sittin’ back watchin’ us squirm until one of us came out about it. Told me about his Aunt Charlotte and Uncle Jebb. That they were cousins, too.”

“Uncle JEBB!”

“Yep. Talk about history repeating itself. It was kind of nice to know the truth about the old family joke though.”

Heading back out to the rest of the booths, the three decided to give Luke more time to cool off about the picture, by having Daisy and Kira heading back to the farm ahead of the others. Leaving it to Bo to get Luke and Judd home in The General. Jebb said that he’d pass on the message, which made Daisy remember that he still didn’t know about Bo’s and Kira’s link.




“So come on. Tell me about you and Jebb.” Daisy glanced across to her cousin, grinning as they rode back to the farm. Then as if putting together pieces that up til now she wasn’t aware of being part of the same puzzle. “And what was that about last night?”

Kira laughed a little as she remembered the night before. “Just proving a point to him. Jebb was goin’ to see if he could make me jealous last night. So I just made him realize that it not ME that tends to have a slight jealous streak. No woman alive would survive long in a relationship with a Duke Boy if she was the kind that couldn’t handle some harmless flirtation.” Daisy thought back to everything she had seen and all of the looks exchanged between the two that only now made sense.

“That was pretty good.” Daisy hadn’t seen any of the women that Bo and Luke dated in the past make either of them squirm the way she’d seen Jebb while at The Boar’s Nest. “And he couldn’t even do anything about it since no one knew about y’all. No one knew that he’d have a reason to be jealous.” Kira and Daisy laughed at the truth of it.

“He probably wouldn’t have taken it so bad if he hadn’t had to keep us a secret. And I’ll admit, I enjoyed the fact that he had to suffer in silence.” Kira’s grin grew even wider as she remembered the look on Jebb’s face when she and Cooter had come in from steering Rosco away from the roadhouse.

“I was wondering why he kept shooting daggers at Cooter last night. Like he couldn’t wait for him to leave. That usually ain’t Jebb. I ain’t never known him to be rude or anything.”

“Yeh, well, we’d decided to spill the beans to all of y’all last night and Cooter being there sort of put a wrinkle in that plan. And by the time he left, well, it was a little late to get into all of this.” Daisy sat and pondered the last week and all of the changes that had occurred. To everyone in the family, but especially her new cousin.

“Well, you’ve certainly have had a wild week haven’t you?” Kira was really expecting for Daisy to acknowledge the roller coaster that she’d been on in the last seven days. From learning that her imaginary friend as a child was her REAL twin brother, to realizing that they share a psychic link, to suddenly going from being an orphan to having an army of an extended family. And now her long time boyfriend is her cousin.

“To put it mildly. I find out that I have a family and suddenly I have more drama than I can handle.”

“That’s part of being a Duke, Honey. Life is never dull for a Duke. And I guess you’ve been playin’ catch up this week.”

“Looks like it. How do you think the guys are goin’ to react to me and Jebb?”

Daisy shrugged, “Who knows. It ain’t like y’all did this on purpose. And you did say that you’re in love, so...It may be a little rough at first but I don’t think you’ll have anything to worry about.” Daisy paused before continuing. “That is until you go see Jebb’s parents. I have the feeling that Aunt Pauline is going to throw a fit.” Kira groaned as she thought about Pauline. “You may want to enlist Uncle John’s help before you talk to her.”

“Oh this just keeps getting better and better.”

Daisy felt a little sympathy for her new cousin but reminded her that at least she didn’t have to face anyone alone. That she had Jebb. Plus, now that she and Jesse knew as well, they’d be helping too. Kira was beginning to look forward to going back to Atlanta where life could go back to normal. Where all of the complicated matters that she had to deal with was of a legal sort. That she could handle with her eyes closed.




“Alright, Jebb. What is it that you wanted to talk to us about before getting back over to the farm?” Jebb had told his cousins that he needed to talk to them about something.

Being a curious lot, they’d agreed to meet Jebb out at one of the old still sites before going home. Now that the four of them was out here, he was beginning to lose his nerve. And he’d been the one that had told Kira that they couldn’t put this off any longer. But he didn’t have the heart to make her face her brother and their cousins so he figured that he might as well do it himself. After all, Kira was probably getting an ear full of flowery notions coming from Daisy. As a self-proclaimed hopeless romantic, Daisy was most likely enjoying all of this.

“Well, it’s about Kira.”

“What about her?” Bo asked.

The four men all sat around on the fallen logs around the cold fire ring in the clearing that they were sitting in. “Yeh, what’s with all the secrecy?” Luke asked since he was a little curious about why Jebb called them out here.

“Well, you know that Kira and I have known each other for several of years, right?”

“A fact that I keep getting reminded of every time I stick my foot in my mouth or underestimate her.” Bo’s biggest mistake so far was to not take his sister’s talent on the motorcycle and having to stand by helplessly when she had jumped the Styx River just to prove a point.

“Uh, yeh, well. There’s something that you don’t know.” Luke and Judd exchanged looks as they watched their cousin shift uncomfortably where he was sitting. “You see well, um, we didn’t know that we were cousins and well...” Judd started to laugh as he realized what Jebb was getting at. Luke, too, was fighting back a chuckle. “And we’ve been racin’ together for years.” Bo looked over at the brothers then back at Jebb.

“What are you sayin’ Jebb? That you two use to date?”

“Still are.” Jebb answered. Bo’s jaw dropped at the revelation. “We’ve been going out steady for a little over a year.”

“A YEAR?” Luke knew that he and Bo rarely dated any ONE girl for more than a month or so since high school. But for Jebb to have dated Kira for so long, that has to be some kind of a record for a Duke Boy. Jebb just shrugged his shoulders at Luke.

“What do you want me to say?”

“You? And my SISTER?” Bo stared at his blond cousin as he let it sink in. “For a year?” He knew that Jebb would never hurt Kira on purpose, but going out together, that certainly leaves the door open to that kind of disaster. And if that happened, he’d have one less cousin around.

“So, things must be serious for you two to have been going out for so long.” Judd asked, as he and his brother continued to laugh at the look on Bo’s face as he processed the fact that his sister and cousin were an item. Jebb just nodded his head, eying Bo to see how he was going to take this. “Real serious?”

“Yeh. I was plannin’ on givin’ her a ring for Christmas.” Bo’s eyes weren’t the only ones that went wide at that statement. A Duke Boy had been thinking about MARRIAGE? Somehow that statement alone trumped the revelation of his and Kira’s relationship. “She don’t know that part so y’all can’t say nothin’ about it. I think she’s still reeling from everything else this week. I’m not sure she can handle anything else right now.”

Bo thought about what Jebb was saying. He needed to get away to work through all of this without Jebb standing just a few short feet away. Getting to his feet, Bo stormed off into the woods. “Hey, Bo!” Jebb was afraid of this. Before Jebb could follow, Luke was on his feet.

“I’ll get ‘em.” With that, Luke went chasing down his cousin.

Judd watched his brother head after their cousin off into the woods. He really didn’t think that Bo was angry, just a bit taken back. Looking over at Jebb, he thought that maybe he ought not be here, when Luke brings back Bo. “It looks like it’ll be time for chores soon.” Jebb looked back at Judd as he heard the unspoken suggestion. Glancing back in the direction of where the other two Dukes had went off. He guessed he needed to go and tell Kira that he’d talked to the others without her.

“I’ll head back then.” Jebb took one more look towards where Bo stormed off in, then got on his bike and took off toward the direction of Old Mill Pond Road.




‘Kira?’ Bo called out to his sister.

‘What is it Bo?’

‘I just talked to Jebb.’ Bo was still trying to figure out if he should be angry at Jebb for dating his sister, at Kira for not telling him, or at himself for not noticing that there was something between them.

There was a pause before Kira answered back. ‘You’re mad because we didn’t just tell everyone on Thanksgiving.’

‘I’m not really mad, it’s just...Are you really serious about each other?’

‘No Bo, I’m in the habit of having friends with benefits. Now I plan on moving right onto the whole “Kissing Cousins” thing, instead.’

Bo caught the sarcasm and recognized it for what it was. His sister was feeling pushed up against the wall. As much of a shock as this is for him, he knew that it had to have been much worse for her. Now to just figure out how to navigate through all of this without making a big mess of it.




Jebb rode up to the old farm house and spied his uncle out in the yard with the chickens. He asked Jebb where the others were so Jebb told Jesse about telling them all about his relationship with Kira. He also told of how Bo had stormed off. Jesse nodded, knowing that Luke would talk to him. Everything might be a bit tense at dinner tonight but he didn’t really think that there was anything to worry about. He then told Jebb not to worry about the chores just now, since it really was still a bit early yet for the evening chores to get done. Going on inside, Jebb went looking for Kira and found her up in the attic, which had served as her bedroom since she’d been out at the farm. It looked like she had done some packing to get ready for when she would head back to Atlanta tomorrow.

“Couldn’t wait to face the firing squad I see.” Jebb wasn’t surprised that she’d guessed that he’d already spoken with the others. She’d always been able to read him like a book anyway.

“Didn’t really see the point in putting it off any longer. Especially with what happened with Daisy. Besides, since Bo can’t fire a gun right now, I figured that I’d most likely get shot by one of those dynamite tipped arrows instead. I could expect to be put out of my misery a lot faster that way if he’d decided to grab them out of the trunk.” Jebb walked over and sat next to Kira where she was staring out of the window. “Judd and Luke seemed to think that all of this was funny.” Kira leaned back slightly as Jebb wrapped his arms around her, pulling himself closer to her resting his chin on her shoulder.

“But not Bo.” Again, a statement, not a question. Kira had just finished talking to her brother just as Jebb had pulled into the farmyard. Of course she couldn’t tell him that just yet.

“He seemed more surprised than anything. He stormed off though before it all really sank in.” Kira nodded, she could understand that. She wasn’t sure that after three days that it had really sank in for her.




Luke watched from a distance as he saw the signs that Bo was in deep conversation with his twin. He watched as Bo idly tossed small stones down into the slight ravine that he had come to the edge of. After a while, Bo turned and saw his cousin.

“Half of me wants to be mad, though I’m not sure of the ‘At Who’ part, the other half just doesn’t know what it wants to do.” Luke fought the urge to laugh again at his cousin’s reaction to Jebb’s confession.

“Well you could try lookin’ on the bright side to all of this.”

“And what would that be, Luke?”

“Kira was bound to end up bringing someone home eventually to introduce to the family sooner or later. And I’m sure neither one of us would have like any of them just like we ain’t never liked anyone that Daisy’s brought home. Would you have rathered that she had been dating one of those highfalutin lawyers that she works with on a daily basis? Someone that would look down their noses at us whenever they came around? You know Jebb. He’s not goin’ to do anything to hurt her. He’s down to earth, one of us. In more ways than one. And it’s not like they KNEW about each other before now.”

“I guess this is better than the alternative, but, I don’t know.”

“What’d Kira say?” Bo looked at Luke and just shrugged.

“She got a little defensive.” Then Bo remembered the other surprise that Jebb had delivered. “Can you believe that Jebb’s thinking about getting MARRIED? He ain’t much older than I am and I couldn’t imagine getting married right now. And he’s considering it with my SISTER. I mean, that’s a little unreal too. That will make him my brother-in-law.”

“It could be worse. What if she had taken to someone like Ernie.” Luke and Bo thought about that together.

“Oh, then I’d certainly would have had to of gotten someone to help with hiding the body.”

“And I would have been the one to have helped ya.” Luke laughed but then came up short. “Oh, no. I just thought of something. If them two end up getting married, look at who Kira will end up having as a mother-in-law.” That gave Bo reason to pause before they both started to laugh.

“Somehow I doubt that Aunt Pauline will be all that pleased with any of this.”

“She’s goin’ to throw a fit.”




When the three remaining Dukes returned to the farm, they headed on to the barn to get a start on the evening chores before supper. Once in the barn, they found Jebb since he’d already started on the them. Luke and Judd eyed both blonds wondering just what might will happen now that they were both in relatively close quarters again. Before they could really get an answer though, Uncle Jesse called Bo inside, leaving the other three to finish up with the chores. Once Bo was inside, Jesse took him into the living room while Daisy finished up cooking supper.

“How you takin’ things son?”

“I ain’t figured that out yet. You goin’ to tell me how I should be takin’ all of this? That I shouldn’t have doubts about them two?” Bo sank into the couch as he practically fell on to it.

“Nope. Not exactly.” Jesse looked into his youngest nephew’s eyes, “You ain’t afraid that Jebb wouldn’t do right by your sister are ya?”

“What? No...I know Jebb wouldn’t do somethin’ like that.”

“Then are you afraid that she wouldn’t be good for him?”

“No.” Bo answered in a small voice reminiscent of his much younger years when being asked it he’d skipped school that day even though his uncle already knew the answer.

“Then what’s the problem?”

“I don’t know. I... It’s just that ...If something goes wrong, I don’t want to have to choose between them.”

“You so sure that something’ll go wrong?”

“I don’t know. I just can’t figure out what I’m supposed to do now.”

“Well, I think you should try to figure it out soon. Your sister’s been through enough this week. And I don’t want you feelin’ like you have to jump on Jebb’s case about any of this, neither. I’m sure that no one would have chosen for any of this to have happened but it has and I don’t want anyone to make this any harder on them two then it already is.”

“Yes sir.” Bo answered automatically.

“Now how about helpin’ Daisy since the others should be in here any minute.” Again, Bo responded automatically even though he never really cared for kitchen chores. When supper was ready, everyone drifted over to the table taking their places. Bo was between Luke and his sister, Judd was between Daisy and Jebb, with Uncle Jesse at the head of the table.

Dinner was a fairly quiet affair with no one really bringing up the day’s revelation. Daisy had been tempted to go ahead and ask a few more questions that she’d never got around to asking when she and Kira had drivin’ home after the festival. Noticing the tension, though, she figured that she’d wait until she could pull one of her cousins aside, alone.

After supper, everyone went in to sit in the living room and decided to watch a movie on television since Uncle Jesse’s favorite Christmas movie, ‘It’s a Wonderful Life’, was on. Jebb sat down in front of the hearth and pulled Kira down with him to sit the same they had when they had gone to talk in the old silver mine. The way they settled with such ease wasn’t lost on any of the others and Daisy smiled at the couple. Tension or not, she thought that they were cute together. Jesse also had to smile a bit when he saw the younger Dukes. After learning of the life that Kira had lived before Bo had been able to find her again after so many years, he knew that it couldn’t have been easy for her to have let someone like Jebb close enough to her heart to end up like they were. For her to trust Jebb the way she does. Watching now as he wrapped his arms around Kira from behind, he couldn’t help but be proud of his nephew for wanting to take the time to be the kind of man that she needed.

Jesse then glanced over at Bo. Seeing the look on his face as he watched his cousin and sister, he saw that Bo was seeing what he was seeing, too. He may be feeling a bit awkward, but he was glad the Kira was able to feel comfortable with Jebb. Even if they were cousins, they were in love. He could see that now. And as everyone had pointed out, they’ve been together for a long time, but only knew that they were related for three measly days. Bo kept watching the two throughout the movie, watched as they whispered about the show, watched as they would shift to get comfortable, and watched as Jebb would absently rub a hand along Kira’s arm as they sat in silence. Not once, had Kira pulled away from his touch as she had the habit of doing when anyone else touched her too much. She was comfortable with Jebb, she trusted him. Bo acknowledged that his sister NEEDED him.

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