Jesse waited while the phone rang on the other end of the line. He figured that he might as well go ahead and call his brother over in Placid. He’d waited until the morning, hoping to catch him before he and the family left for church.

“Duke Farm. John Duke speakin’.”

“Hey John, I was hopin’ to catch you this mornin’. How was the drive back to Placid?”

“It was fine. Is there something that I can do for you? It ain’t often that you call so early on a Sunday mornin’.”

“Well, John, I was just callin’ to pass on some news. Some good, some not so good.”

“What’s goin’ on? Is it Jebb?”

“Well, actually, it’s Kira. She’s in the hospital. Someone ran her off the road up on Iron Mountain.”

“Iron Mountain!”

“She was hurt pretty badly but she’ll be alright in a few weeks. But we also got some good news when she got to the hospital.”

“And what would that be?”

“You’re gonna be a Grand-Daddy!”

“WHAT?”

“Sometime in early February according to the doctor. I’m sure that Jebb would have called but he’s over at the hospital with Kira. He ain’t hardly left her side since the accident.”

“I’m sure I’ll talk to him real soon. A baby. Well that didn’t take long did it?”

“Long enough. It’s about time to start a new generation of Duke. I’ll have Jebb call ya this afternoon.”

“You do that. I think I’ll let Jebb tell his mother. He ought to have that honor.”




Kira felt groggy as she tried to remember what happened to make her so sore. She’d been driving home and had to take a detour. She had to take the bypass on Iron Mountain because of the construction on the road. She had gotten half way around the mountain...Nothing. She can’t remember past that. She does seem to remember calling out to Bo, though.

‘Bo?’

‘Kira? You awake?’

‘Not really. What happened? Why am I sore? I tried to wake up but I feel so groggy.’

‘I think that’s the sedation. You don’t remember what happened?’

‘I remember taking the detour, but not much past that.’

‘Kira, someone ran you off the road. You almost went off the mountain. You were hurt pretty badly.’

‘So I’m in the hospital.’ Kira tried to relax but something kept nagging at her. Before she could really think on it, though, she felt herself being pulled back down into a drugged sleep.




Kira’s first sensation that she felt as she began to wake up was a tightness in her throat. Like something was stuck in it. Then she heard high pitched beeps that confirmed that she was indeed in the hospital.

“Kira?” Jebb saw the pained expression cross her face that told him that she was waking up. She groaned a reply but soon realized that no sound came out when she did so. She tried to allow her eyes to fly open in search of the cause but they moved much closer to a flutter instead. She felt her hair being brushed aside and knew it was Jebb. Moving her eyes she found his worried expression in her field of vision. She went to try to say something but found that the tightness in her throat prevented it. “Shh...Don’t try to talk. The doctors had to put you on a breathing machine.” Jebb saw the question in his wife’s eyes. They were always so expressive. Even when she could school the rest of her face, her eyes always spoke volumes. Probably why she likes to wear those sunglasses of hers so much. “The seat belt cut into your throat. They had to operate to close the artery. Your lungs got banged up good too, so they put you on this thing to be safe.”

Once again, Kira let her eyes roam the room. She briefly wondered how long she’d been here. Looking at the rolling table for the bed, she saw one of her books that she’d bought in Atlanta. The BABY! Jebb saw her looking at the book and saw the alarm (and heard it as the machine registered the spike in her pulse rate).

“The baby’s fine. The doctor says that he’s pretty lucky. Gonna be tough just his mom it looks like,” Jebb grinned as he tried to reassure his wife.

So much for seeing the look on his face when I tell him, she thought. Kira relaxed back into the bed with so much that she wanted to say and ask but really had no way to do so right now.

“I do have one question, did you know last week at the race that you were pregnant?”

Kira gave her head a slight shake; unable to do much else. She did see the tenseness in Jebb’s shoulders relax a bit. He was about to try to play twenty questions with yes and no answers when the doctor came in to check Kira over. He’ll have to wait, it would seem, to ask anything else.




Jesse had told his Pop about the baby, but it looked like they both had decided that he’d be the one to tell his mother. He wasn’t sure if he really wanted to do this just yet but it looked like he really didn’t have a choice. His uncle had already told his folks that he’d call this afternoon. He did put it off as long as he could though. When Bo came to relieve him at the hospital for a while, Jebb first got himself a shower, something to eat, even took a short nap. Now he was ready to go back to sit with his wife but Jesse had made it perfectly clear that he was expected to talk to his mother before returning to the hospital. Looking at the clock, he figured that he’d better get it over with. Maybe his mom won’t be home. A lot of times she spends Sunday afternoons over at Karen’s. Picking up the phone, Jebb tried to decide just how to tell his mother that he and Kira were having a baby.

“Hello? Duke Farm, Pauline Duke speaking.” So much for Mom not being home.

“Hey, Mom.”

“Jebb! I’m glad you called. Your Uncle Jesse called earlier and talked your dad about Kira. Is everything okay now?” Of course Pop would tell Mom about the accident. Get her worried about the niece/daughter-in-law that she really didn’t care for. “The way your uncle talked, it was a serious accident.”

“Well I ain’t sure it was an accident, Mom. That guy ran Kira off the road on purpose. And yes, it was serious. The worst injury was to her neck. The seat belt cut into her artery.”

“Oh My! Is she goin’ to be alright?” Genuine concern in her voice now. She had thought that John might have been exaggerating the extent of Kira’s injuries, but now it seemed that he wasn’t.

“I hope so. She’s on a breathing machine right now. When she woke up earlier she could only stay awake for a few minutes before she went back out. The doctors are all gonna keep a close eye on her. She’ll be in the hospital for a while though.”

“Should we come back down? To help out?”

“No Mom. Y’all stay in Placid. Jesse and the others are all helpin’. We’ll be alright.”

Pauline couldn’t help but hear that there wasn’t something that Jebb wasn’t telling her. A mother picks these kinds of things up. Something else was still bothering her baby boy. Maybe he was just wanting to get back to Kira but felt that he had to talk to her right now.

“Is there anything else then Jebb? I know that you want to get back to Kira. I may not like the fact that y’all got married but she’s still family and she needs to be taken care of. I suppose you’ll do that just fine.” The closest thing that Pauline had said to Jebb that indicated that she acknowledged the fact that Jebb really did love Kira. Bitter words. Not the words that she knew her son wanted but they’d have to do for now.

“Actually, Mom. There is one more thing. When the doctor came out to tell us that Kira was out of surgery, he told us something else too. Kira’s almost two months pregnant.”

“SHE’S WHAT! Pregnant?”

“Uh-huh. You’ve wanted grand kids for the last several years. I suppose the first part of February will have to be soon enough.”

“A baby... But the wreck? Is the baby alright?”

“The doctor was surprised that it survived but seems alright for now. They’ve brought in a specialist to monitor the pregnancy. Hopefully, since the baby survived the wreck, the worst is behind it. They both were lucky to live through it.” A thought that Jebb had tried not think about from the moment that he first saw the truck dangling over the mountainside, then as he watched Kira being rushed up to surgery, not to mention when he’d seen Luke drenched in his wife’s blood. He’d never been more scared in all his life. He’d been so afraid that Kira wouldn’t make it. That life was going to pull the rug out from under him.

“I’m sure that she’ll be fine.” Pauline started imagine what her grandchild would like. Most likely blond, tall, with blue eyes. After all, Jebb was blond and Kira’s brother, Bo, was a blond. Nearly all the Dukes had blue eyes too. “Jebb, when everything calms down, before harvestin’ starts, y’all come up. You hear me?”

Y’all. The first time that his mother invited them BOTH to come. “Yes ma’am. I better go now. I love you Mom.”

“I love you too. Now go take care of my grand-baby.”




“Hey, lookey here. A lawyer who can’t say nothin’! How you feelin’?”

‘Funny Bo. I don’t need to talk to yell at YOU!’ Kira gave Bo a look that made him laugh, even though that hadn’t been her intention.

‘I know it. But I had to say it. But seriously, how are you feelin’?’

‘Sore, frustrated. I still can’t remember anything. I guess I’m lucky I was able to call for help and that you guys came a runnin’.’

‘We’ll come anytime you need us. You know that. I have to say though; you gave us all a scare. Then to add on top of that, a huge shock when your suitcase was opened up when we went lookin’ for a jacket or something to warm you up with. Hope you weren’t too attached to those sheets.’

‘And here I was hoping to see everyone’s faces when I told everybody about being pregnant.’

‘Maybe next time.’ Bo said with grin.

‘Don’t push it.’

‘You say that now. I’m willing to bet that you’ll end up with at least six kids.’

‘Six?’

‘You have to have enough to make up for rest of us not havin’ none.’

‘You’re lucky I can’t throw nothin’ at you right now.’ Kira gave Bo a hard look. She then caught a glimpse of the stacks of magazines that Bo had brought to read when she was asleep (and to no doubt leave for Jebb when he comes back). ‘You know I am perfectly capable of sitting here in this bed without a babysitter. You ain’t got to stay here.’

‘I know. I’ll leave when Jebb comes back.’

‘That’s not what I mean.’

‘You tryin’ to get rid of me?’

‘Yes.’

‘Too bad. Now go back to sleep. Your eyes are barely open as it is. Besides, you need to stay rested for the little Duke now.’ Kira rolled her eyes, hoping that as soon as she got out of the hospital, things could return (somewhat) back to normal.




Jesse walked into Kira’s room and saw Jebb sitting in the chair beside the bed doing the word search that Daisy had brought by on her way to work. Looking at Kira’s sleeping form; he saw that the breathing tube had finally been taken out after three days. The doctor had said yesterday that they’d try it today.

“Hey Jebb. How’s she doin’ today?”

“Well enough to complain about havin’ to go on an all liquid diet ‘til her throat heals.” Jebb had to smile as he remembered Kira’s expression when she’d been given her lunch of soup with some sort of thickener in it. “She’s able to talk again, but it’s pretty close to a whisper.” Jebb’s expression then changed before he continued, “You know what she thought was wrong with her when her pregnancy symptoms started showing up? She thought that the cancer had come back. And she didn’t even tell anybody! Just went to see her doctor in Atlanta all by herself.” There was a touch of anger in Jebb’s voice. “It’s the REAL reason why she’d stayed an extra day in Atlanta. The appointment she had was to get the results from the tests that had been run earlier in the week.”

“Well, let’s just be glad that she was wrong. I for one will be glad to see a little baby around the farm again. Are you hopin’ for a boy or a girl?”

“I guess if I was honest with myself, I’d have to admit that a big part of me wants a son. To carry on the Duke name and all.”

“I reckon that’s normal. I suppose most men want a little boy to take fishin’ or to rough house with. Of course, you might end up with both, a boy and a girl. Twins run heavily in the family. Then you’d each get to pick a name out. Remember, it’s tradition for the father to name any sons and the mother to name the daughters.”

“Is that why Bo and Kira have such different names?”

“Uh-huh. Kira was named after her mother’s aunt. Of course, your mother tried to talk your Aunt Crystal into giving her a different name. You know how your mom likes for twins to have matching names.”

“Like Emma and Emily? I swear, I think Ms. Tisdale still thinks Emma was named after her.” Jebb laughed as he remembered the woman’s look on her face the first time the family came to Hazzard after the twins were born.

“Probably. No sense in tellin’ her differently.”

“I’m almost afraid to ask, but what did Mom want Aunt Crystal to name Kira?”

“Well, she liked the name Beauregard for Bo, so she was pushin’ for the name Beatrice for Kira.”

“BEATRICE?” Jebb scrunched his nose up at the suggestion. “She would have hated that. Bo and Bea? They would have been teased mercilessly.”

“With you as a front runner for it all I’m sure. You always loved riling Bo by using his given name.”

“What can I say? He made it too much fun.” Jebb grinned at his Uncle Jesse as he thought back to his younger years, teasing his cousin was always fun. More fun than using Luke’s given name. “I do keep thinking about one thing though. The nurse who stole Kira away, why didn’t she change Kira’s name? It seems on odd that she didn’t? Why keep the same name when it could get her caught?”

“Because there’s honor even among criminals.” Kira mumbled in a whisper from the bed drawing the attention of the two men in her room. “Gettin’ a fake I.D. for an infant would have raised suspicion, even from crooks. It would have been easier to get an I.D. for herself using Mom’s name.”

“How long have you been awake?” Jebb moved to help adjust the bed and pillows for Kira as he spoke.

“Long enough to hear about Pauline wantin’ my name to be Beatrice. Which means she ain’t puttin’ her two cents in for this baby’s name.” Kira tried to get comfortable as she spoke. “At least not in front of me.”

“I’d like to see how you plan to keep her from tryin’.” Jesse laughed as he looked forward the next time that Jebb’s folks came to town. Maybe he ought to sell tickets. It’s bound to be interesting.




As much as Kira was glad to finally be home after over a week in the hospital, she was still suffering from severe cabin fever. She was hoping to get out to shake the boredom from the week away once she was finally released. Instead, she was at home not even allowed to go into her own office to get some work done until she got the all clear from Doc Appleby, and she wouldn’t even see him until tomorrow. Like reading files would somehow reopen the incision in her neck or something. Already, Daisy was planning for the two of them to go shopping. Kira knew that her cabin fever must be worse than she’d thought when SHE was looking forward to the outing of roaming from one store to another.

Kira went into the kitchen to look for something to ease her stomach when she found some Ginger Snap cookies on the counter. She didn’t remember getting them, which means Jebb must have instead. It seemed that she remembers that he went running to the store as soon as he’d gotten off the phone with Pauline yesterday after they’d gotten home from the hospital. Kira vaguely remembered hearing Jebb talk to her about her nausea and how the saltines that a nurse had given her had done nothing to help. Looking at the cookies skeptically, Kira grabbed them and some milk to soak them in since her throat was still so tender.

Pauline’s gone through this three times, she probably knows what she’s talking about in at least THIS area. Kira settled at the kitchen table for her small snack and read a little more out of one of the pregnancy books. After a couple of chapters, Kira got up to fix dinner. Even if she couldn’t go out (except to the other farm) she could at least fix dinner. She was still stuck drinking soup for the most part but there was no reason to make Jebb settle for it too; especially on such a hot day. When she was halfway through, Daisy showed up to see how she was. Of course she had planned to offer to bring supper over so Kira wouldn’t have to worry about it, though it looked like she was a little late for that.

“Honey, you didn’t have to worry about dinner. I would have taken care of that.”

“No offense Daisy, but I’ve had enough of everyone taking care of everything for me lately. I needed to do something. I’ve been bored out of my mind. I can’t work, I can’t ride my bike because of my ribs; though I’m sure that even once they’re healed up everyone to go nuts when I do. It’s almost as if everyone is treating me like I have a terminal illness or something.”

“Considering the reason that you went to the doctor in Atlanta, that ain’t funny Kira.”

“Sorry, I didn’t mean anything by it. It’s just been so frustrating.”

“It’s alright. And I guess I can see why you’d be so upset. But remember, all this is new for Jebb too. He doesn’t want anything else to go wrong. You were lucky to survive the accident, and I know it scared him to death.”

“I know. But if things are like this already, when I’m not even showing yet, how are things gonna be once I’m eight or nine months along? Plus the other guys are just as bad. You know I caught Bo rigging my bike this morning so it wouldn’t start.”

“You didn’t? What did you do?”

“I told him that if I caught him disabling my bike again, I was gonna disable him.” Daisy laughed at that. “Looking back, maybe I shouldn’t have been so harsh. I just got so mad. And then I found that Jebb took my key to the office with him so I couldn’t do any work.”

“Hey, if I were you, I’d use the whole Pregnancy Hormones thing to my advantage. Just blame everything with Bo and the bike on them.”

“I’m already not liking the mood swings. At times I wish I could just turn them off. I actually think that I’m going to have to do a lot of apologizing to Jebb by the time this baby is born. But he doesn’t have to go out of his way to make sure I can’t do anything that remotely resembles work. This is gonna be a LONG thirty weeks if something doesn’t give soon.”

“Just have Doc Appleby talk to him tomorrow when you see him. He’ll be able to tell Jebb that he doesn’t have to go so overboard. After that, things should calm down. Then we can go shopping.”

Kira groaned slightly, “I hate to say it, but that’s probably a good idea. A couple weeks ago, I was worried because my jeans were getting loose. Now they’re getting a bit tight.”

“Have you been over to Springville, yet?”

“No, why?”

“There is this one shop over there that sells nothin’ but clothes for women that are pregnant. My friend Jo Anne told me about it a few months back. I’ve been so curious about it and dyin’ to go check it out. Of course If’n I’d gone over and went in, folks would have found out and then would there would have been tongues a waggin’.”

“Well, I suppose I’ll be your excuse to go in. Tongues have been waggin’ in my direction ever since Jebb and I got married. This will just add to it.”

“Thursday is my day off. We’ll go then.”

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