Kira set to unpacking hers and Jebb’s things while the guys all headed out to sign up at the track for the races the next day. Daisy was doing the same in her own room and had already made plans to go window shopping but Kira decided to bow out. She really didn’t care to go shopping. Uncle Jesse stayed in Hazzard saying that this trip should just be for the “Kids”, not to mention that someone had to stay behind to tend to the chores. Kira suspected that he had plans that he didn’t want anyone to know about but didn’t press the issue.

Kira had just finished putting away everything and thought about calling some old friends from the office when she felt a little flush. Just like in Placid, she heard the sound of rushing water fill her ears as the room began to spin. Reaching behind her, she grabbed the chair and tried to sit down. She blacked out though before she knew if she’d made it.




“Hey, Daisy. Enjoy shopping?” Bo popped a kiss on her forehead.

“Well it would’ve been more fun if Kira would have come along. I was about to go up and check to see if she’s ready to go out for dinner. You boys get signed up alright?”

“Sure did. We even ran into some of Jebb’s friends over at the track. They’re comin’ over to the bar here in the hotel later on. They seem to be pretty cool. You should have seen their faces when Jebb told them that he and Kira got married.”

“Surprised were they?”

“Only in the fact that none of them won the bet about when they’d finally get around to it.”

“Bet?” Daisy asked amused.

“Uh-huh. Seems that all of Jebb and Kira’s racing buddies had a pool goin’. What do you think will happen if Kira hears about that?”

“They’d better hope that she don’t. I don’t think she’d like being the subject of that kind of fun.” Daisy giggled.

“I think you’re right, especially when the hormones are in full swing. Jebb might want to make sure that the fellas keep that under their hats.”

“Hey, Bo, where’s Luke and Jebb anyway?”

“They’re comin’. Luke wanted to do a practice lap and Jebb was still talkin’ to his friends when I left. They’ll be here by the time you and Kira are ready.”

“Speakin’ of which, I’ll go on up.”




When Kira came to, her heart was still racing. Looking around the room, she leaned her head back against the seat of the chair that she had tried to sit in before she fainted. Great, here she and Jebb were supposed to be having a fun weekend to prove that there was nothing to worry about with the pregnancy and here she’s had another episode like she’d had in Placid. The only difference being that no one else knew about it. And they weren’t either. Kira got up off of the floor and sat in the chair while she thought about what had just happened. This time she couldn’t even blame the spell on Pauline or anyone else. She hadn’t been fighting, irritated, or anything. Shoot, she had been downright calm and the spike seemed to happen for no reason at all.

“Hey Kira, open up. You about ready to head out?” Kira heard Daisy on the other side of the door.

“I’m comin’. Yeh, I’m ready.” Kira got up and glanced into the mirror and straightened out her clothes and hair before heading out. Thanking her lucky stars that Daisy hadn’t come up a little earlier. The last thing she’d want would be to ruin the weekend by having everyone hovering over her just because her blood pressure spiked again.




“I’m giving you one last chance. If you screw this one up, I’ll find someone else who can get the job done RIGHT! Do you understand me?”

“Yes sir, Mr. Kyle.”

“Good. I’ve been told by my informant that she’s here in Atlanta again. I DON’T want her to make it back to that backwoods farm of hers. I don’t care what you have to do, just see to it.”

“Yes sir.” Dan headed back out of the office as he began to formulate his plan of taking care of the thorn in his employer’s side. While Shawn set about to covering his tracks just in case this fool louses up again.




“You know that you cost me a lot of money. I bet that you were goin’ to propose on Christmas, not get married the day after instead,” Blake Horton, a fairly good looking guy with dirty blond hair, said.

“Well, that WAS the plan, but it kind of got side-tracked. It’s a long story. So, tell me more about this betting pool. How is it that I never heard about it ‘til now?”

“Well, you’re married to Kira, what do YOU think would have happened if she’d have heard about it?”

“She would have killed all of you.”

“THAT’S why we made sure that neither of you found out about it.” Blake laughed as he spoke, “Of course I figured that you would’ve had to of knocked her up first before she’d settle for you. She could’ve done a lot better you know. Like me.”

Jebb gave his old racing friend a hard look while Blake and the other guys at the table laughed. “Is that so?”

“Where is Kira anyway? You didn’t leave her in that backwater town that you moved to did you?”

“She’ll be down here soon; she’s up in the room.”

“Not anymore,” Charlie piped in from the other-side of the table. “You’re slackin’ off Jebb. She just walked in with another guy. At least I THINK that’s her.”

Jebb turned to see Kira and Bo walking into the bar with Luke and Daisy behind them. Jebb acknowledged that Kira did look differently from the last time these two had seen her. One, her hair was a lot shorter than it used to be. Two, her stomach was a bit larger than it had been.

“Relax, Chuck. That’s her brother. And did I forget to mention that she’s pregnant now. She’s due in February. Sorry guys, guess none of you had that wager made in the betting pool either.”

“I didn’t know she had a brother.”

“Yeh, well, neither did she this time last year. Now no more talk of the betting pool.”

Kira and the other Dukes joined Jebb and the other two racers and everyone started to discuss the race of the next day. Bo and Jebb debated over which Duke would beat the other. Meanwhile, Daisy was enjoying herself while she flirted with Blake. After the racers and the two women had been at the table for a while, various people in the bar got up to sing and it became obvious that it was karaoke night at the hotel bar.

“Hey Jebb, you think that you and these two are up for a little karaoke challenge?” Charlie motioned to Bo and Luke while giving Jebb an evil grin.

“For once, I finally have an excuse NOT to play along.”

“Why, Sis? Just ‘cause you’re pregnant doesn’t mean you can’t get up and sing.”

Jebb answered for her, “When these guys play, it usually involves liquor. You have to let the machine choose a song at random. If you stink, you have to take a shot of tequila. If you refuse to sing at all, you take four shots.” Jebb turned back to Charlie, “These guys are used to 200 proof moonshine, tequila would be like drinking Kool-Aide. Plus I’ve never known either of them to walk away from a chance to show off at anything.”

Bo looked over at a couple of blonds at the bar that he’d been exchanging looks with for the last twenty minutes. “What’ll ya say Luke? Should we show ‘em how it’s done?” Bo elbowed Luke as he spoke, “Put everyone else in this bar to shame.”

“Why not?” Luke and Bo went on up after the woman that was up on the small stage got done. Then they got in front of the machine and it set to play the next song. They exchanged looks then walked off the stage and headed back to the table. “Go ahead and set ‘em up. There ain’t no way.”

Daisy looked up at her cousins then ran up on the stage to see what selection had come up that had sent the men back to the table without singing a note. Once she saw what it was, Daisy began to bust out laughing. “Kira! You have to see this!” Kira joined Daisy up on stage and started to laugh as well as she tried to imagine Bo and Luke singing the song on the display screen. “What do you think? Should we?”

Kira looked over at the men while she decided.

“They wouldn’t. Especially not Kira. She hates to sing in front of people. She barely makes a sound on Sunday while we’re singing hymns.” Bo prayed that the two female Dukes wouldn’t do anything that would embarrass him and Luke.

“She’s been known to make an exception or two.” Jebb smiled as he remembered some of those exceptions, then he saw his cousins look back to the women on stage.

“Well, since my cousins got cold feet and wouldn’t sing after all, Kira and I will sing it instead. Y’all can imagine that it’s them if you want.” Daisy giggled as she pushed play on the machine. The two women started to sing ‘It’s Raining Men’ (Daisy singing the lead with Kira doing the backup) to a room that erupted in laughter as they did indeed imagine the two previous men singing instead.

Kira and Daisy giggled the whole way back to the table. “That was fun; we should do that more often.” Daisy was trying to stop herself from laughing as she spoke.

“Was that really necessary, Daisy? You just had to get up there and embarrass us didn’t you?”

“Well, Honey, how often does a chance like that happen?”

“Besides, Bo; you could have changed the song before y’all left the stage. You kind of left the door wide open didn’t you? Daisy’s curiosity was bound to get the best of her the way you two came back to the table like y’all did.” Jebb had joined in with the laughter as he pulled Kira down to sit on his lap. “You two did great though.”

“Y’all goin’ to try it again?” Daisy asked as she finally got the giggle fit under control.

“Not until you two are gone,” Luke answered as he finished his last shot. This stuff ain’t bad. Nothing like ‘shine though.

“Party Pooper,” Daisy shot back at her oldest cousin then proceeded to try to get Blake to go up next instead.




Daisy was surprised that the stands at the track were so full for a couple of amateur races. She and Kira found seats high enough so that they could see nearly the whole track at one time. The first race would be the stock car race. The race would be just short enough so that there would be no pit stops. From their seats, they could just make out where the three men where giving The General Lee one last look over. When the cars all cranked up to start the race, Kira’s hand went to her stomach as the twins both seemed to jump at the loud sound.

“Everything alright?” Daisy asked in concern.

“Yeh, I just think that the babies’ a little excited about the race.”

“If the baby’s already showing an interest in racing, then he’s definitely a Duke.”

“That he is.” Actually they are, but both she and Jebb were trying to see who could go the longest without telling everyone that they were expecting not just one but two babies come the New Year. “All it took was for the cars to start to get ‘em active.”

Daisy grinned as she turned back to watch the cars pull out to their starting positions. Luke had qualified fairly close to the front so she wasn’t worried too much about him. Those other cars would be eating his dust. Daisy sent a sidelong look at Kira as she sat back down. She thought about a question that she’d wanted to ask Kira ever since her pregnancy became obvious.

“Uh, Kira. Can I ask you something?” Daisy sat down as she spoke.

“Sure. What ‘cha want?” Kira shrugged.

“Are you sure that you’re only twenty-three weeks along? When my friend Jo Ann was pregnant, it just seemed that her pregnancy went a little slower.”

Kira knew she’d be walking a tight rope here trying to stay honest with her cousin and keep the fact that she’s carrying twins a secret. The fact that even Pauline had noticed that she was bigger than she should have been if she was carrying just one baby LAST MONTH got her to wondering how she and Jebb were going to keep it a secret until February.

“Jebb had some similar concerns, worryin’ that everything was goin’ the way it should. Doc Appleby said that no two pregnancies were the same. He said that everything’s going just fine.”

“What about that spell you had in Placid? That can’t be normal can it?” Kira tried to figure out how to respond to Daisy when the race began. The increased noise made responding to Daisy impossible, thankfully.

Meanwhile, in the orange stock car with a Dixie flag and an 01 painted on it down on the track, a gentle push of the accelerator caused the vehicle to shoot ahead at 120 mph. There were only the sounds of the wind passing around the car and the tires coming in contact with the track, and the rumbling roar of the powerful engine under the hood of The General was like music to Luke’s ears. By the time Luke was on his second lap, he was taking the corners at more than a hundred miles per an hour and the straights 30 mph faster. After four laps, he got used to not needing to shift or use a clutch pedal. He used the brakes less because it felt like the car was driving in a slot, practically glued to the track. Luke slipped the orange speed machine through the small breaks between the other cars. By the tenth lap, Luke was in the lead with several car lengths between him and the closest car. Now if he could just hold onto the lead for another forty laps.

On lap fifteen, one of the cars in mid-field got a little too friendly with the wall and went into a spin. When Luke got back around to that side of the track, he easily slipped around the wrecked car as he fell in behind the pace car that had come out to slow the drivers down during the yellow flag as the wrecker came out to haul the disabled car away. When the pace car headed back to the pits, Luke was forced to try to regain the immense lead that he’d had prior to the wreck. The car behind him started to bump-draft him as he set himself to keeping the car beside him from pulling ahead. In the next turn, he slide past the car that was keeping pace with him by going to the inside and had The General give everything that he had as it pulled out of the turn at the next straight away.

Unfortunately, the car behind him stayed right behind him as he’d left the car in second place behind him. Now, MR. Bump-Draft was keeping a close second to Luke’s first. Several times, he’d made Luke’s car go loose but his skill from his ‘shine days kept him from losing control of his car. He was now only five laps away from the finish of the race and he knew that he had to lose his tail since it was obvious to him that he intended to sling-shot around The General at the last minute. Taking the next turn, Luke took it a bit faster than he knew he should have, knowing that it was probably the same kind of a fool stunt that he’d most likely would have gotten mad at Bo for doing. It worked though since his tail backed off a little, though still not enough to give Luke a comfortable lead. In the next turn, he again went lax on the brakes while praying that he wasn’t pressing his luck.

He needed to win this race. The money was stretched a bit thin back on the farm. While he knew that Jebb and Kira wouldn’t let them go hungry, he didn’t intend to be kept by his cousins if he could help it. It was bad enough that they were paying for their stay at the hotel but they had insisted that they wanted a weekend of racing and had booked the rooms before he or anyone else could say anything. It looked to Luke that they had toyed with the idea of supplying the entry fees as well (especially when Luke had almost winced at the price to enter) but held off. After discussing it with Jesse, he had insisted that Luke take their menial funds to pay for the entry fee. The prize money for this race would be more than they needed to replenish their funds. In fact, it could probably carry them all the way to planting season if they managed it right. And that’s without the money that they should be getting in just as soon as they harvest the corn and sell it. He wasn’t going to lose to some guy that liked to get a little too personal with his rear bumper.

When the race was down to the last two laps, everyone was on their feet as Luke and a bright red car continued to battle for first. Coming out of the forth turn; The General Lee finally pulled a couple of car lengths ahead.

“Luke’s got it in the bag now. GO LUKE!” Daisy jumped up and down as she cheered for the lone Duke that was out on the track as he pulled further ahead of the pack. “Looks like we’ll need to celebrate tomorrow night.” Daisy said as the checkered flag went down as Luke drove the orange stock car across the finished line before any of the other cars out on the track.

“Tomorrow? Why not tonight?”

“I have a date tonight.” Daisy winked at Kira.

“Humm, he wouldn’t happen to be a racer with dirty blond hair, about six feet, and was pretty much putty in your hands last night would he?”

“Why not? You only live once.” Daisy gave Kira a mischievous smile. “Besides, he’s kinda cute.”

Back in the pits, Luke climbed out of the car and looked around to see who the driver was that had almost beaten him since coming in second to a Duke ain’t bad at all. After spying the driver’s car, he saw the driver climb out to greet some of his family members that had waited in the pits. When the driver pulled off his helmet, Luke saw that HE was actually a SHE. And SHE was someone that he’d not seen in years. Not since she’d left Hazzard after leaving the winner’s cup with him and took off with her red stock car with a number thirteen on it.

Curious, he started to head over to congratulate her on a good race but stopped when a man gave her a kiss and a little girl jumped into her arms. It figures. He found a woman that showed potential to keep up with a Duke and he let her slip through his fingers years ago. Now she’d married and has a kid of her own.

Turning, Luke headed over to claim his prize before finding a spot to watch the next race. Not sure who to pull for; he fell back on the advice he’d given Bo when it had been Kira that Jebb had been racing against earlier in the year. Pull for anyone with the name Duke.

Bo and the other riders took their positions and waited for the start of the race. Since Luke had won the stock car race, Bo didn’t have to worry about trying to get the prize money for this race. His main goal was simply this, finish ahead of Jebb. Just a friendly race between him and his cousin to see which Duke is better than the other. Both Dukes were side by side at the line waiting for the flag to drop. Glancing over at his cousin, they both wished the other luck and lowered the face shields of their respective helmets.

Both Daisy and Kira watched from their places up in the stands as the bikes shot forward. Kira noticed as Jebb slipped in behind where Blake and Bo quickly began a struggle for first. Daisy wasn’t sure which Duke to pull for so she, along with Kira, simply enjoyed the race for what it was. Though part of her also pulled for her date of the night.

Down in the infield, Luke waited for the riders to ride past him as they made their circuit. From his position, he could see very little of the race. When he saw the riders go by, he caught a glimpse of Bo’s orange racing suit and helmet just ahead of Jebb’s black suit. On the next go round, it was the same way. He wasn’t sure if Jebb was holding back or not, though if he wasn’t, Bo will be sure to be loud and proud if he beats his cousin in the race. Very shortly, the last lap came and Luke smiled when he saw the riders go by him for their last time. Guess there would be some bragging tonight over which Duke was the better on two wheels.

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