‘Kira, Kira. Come on sis, wake up.’ Bo walked up to the pallet that Kira was sleeping on, quietly. He really didn’t want to wake her up even though it was getting close to lunch.

Several family members have arrived since breakfast and everyone had been told about Bo’s finding Kira. Bo (along with Luke) insisted that everyone kind of stay back and give Kira space. Pauline was a mite upset by their insistence. After being missing for so long, her first instinct was to wrap the newly found Duke in a hug so tight that she’d never disappear again. Finally, Bo convinced the family that the best way to welcome Kira would be to try to treat her as if this WASN’T the first time they’d ever seen her. Bo hoped everyone would do their best. At least he had Luke helping. Coy and Vance seemed ready to throw in too. Daisy seemed a bit put off, but tried to understand why Kira had been moved out of her room. Besides there would be other cousins moving in with her anyway. When he heard what Luke had done for Kira, Bo about kicked himself for not thinking of doing this himself.

‘Kira, lunch is about ready. Kira.’ Bo reached out to lightly shake her shoulder. Slowly, Kira began to rouse only to come up ready to fight once she realized that she wasn’t in her own bed. Looking around, it took her a moment to remember where she was at.

‘What, no revenge for this mornin’?’

‘Nah, maybe later. For right now, lunch is about ready. Come on. After lunch, we’ll have that race with the other fellas. That’ll give you an out when you’ve had too much togetherness.’ Bo reached down and grabbed Kira up from the make-shift bed. Kira snatched up her hairbrush and ran it through her hair quickly before heading toward the stairs with Bo at her side. ‘In the habit of sleeping in hiking boots?’

‘Why not?’ Kira had fallen into bed the moment that Luke had left that morning without bothering trying to get comfortable. Years ago, comfort was a luxury that she rarely afforded herself. Even now, she sometimes forgot that she didn’t have to worry about being ready to move in a moment’s notice. ‘Any advice for the rookie before we go out there?’ If facing only five strangers last night had been difficult, she expected today to be about as pleasant as getting a cavity filled, without Novocain.

‘Just be yourself. They might as well get to know the real you right off. Just holler if you need me to bail you out. Luke, Vance, and Coy will be running interference, too. Daisy’ll be leaving shortly after lunch for work.’

With that, they reached the bottom of the stairs from the attic and headed out to the rest of the house. Lunch was being set up outside at the tables and chairs that had been brought out for the next day. Luke had already staked out the end of one table. Bo and Kira bypassed the relatives and sat with him, Kira sitting on the end with Bo beside her. Luke and Vance were sitting opposite of them. Coy was talking to Pauline as he noticed Bo and Kira joining his cousins. Leaving her, he went to sit beside Vance. The rest of the family notice that the guys seemed to of taken up their stations as if they had assigned themselves as her personal guards; intent on keeping the rest of the family from crowding Bo’s twin.

Kira wanted to hold onto her pride. To tell the guys to back off. That she could handle herself just fine. But truth be told, she was thrilled that her brother and cousins decided to act as go betweens for her. Already, she felt more relaxed with Luke, and Coy seemed to have charm that could put anyone at ease. Vance’s quiet demeanor was also a bit soothing. The four men all seemed to complement one another.

Various relatives came up to Kira to ask her everything from where she grew up (questions she avoided with the help of Bo) to what she did for a living (which earned her strange looks). Pauline came over and insisted that Luke swap seats with her, which he couldn’t refuse no matter how much he tried. Pauline set herself to learning everything she could about Kira. She even tried to pry information about Kira’s love life (to the discomfort of EVERYONE at that end of the table). Of course, since Bo had told her to be herself, she told Pauline that under no uncertain terms was that any of her business. That caused all the guys to snicker since they had all been the subject of Pauline’s meddling at one time or another, but their raising had prevented them from bucking her attentions the way they had always wanted to. To watch Kira do it though was like a small victory for them all.

Pauline didn’t find Kira’s attitude all that funny. In fact, she narrowed her eyes at Kira. Bo waited to see who would back down first. Kira, however, seemed to be thriving on her own annoyance with Pauline, though. Kira saw her eyes narrowed, and pointedly ignored her and kept eating her sandwich. Everyone seemed to have gone quiet at the tables.

When Kira and Bo had come down stairs, John Duke was struck by a vague sense of having met Kira before. But since he often went to Atlanta, it was possible that he had run into her on the street while running various errands in the big city. How strange to be able to walk right by a family member and not even know it; especially for a Duke. Family was the most important thing for all Dukes; second only to God himself.

Looking over at his wife, he could tell that the very mention of giving the newest Duke some space and time to adjust to suddenly having such a large, extended family had spurred her to do the exact opposite. Especially since all of his nephews seemed to be standing guard around her. Those four seemed to have taken to Kira like she already belonged. During lunch, he had nearly been ready to go rescue his new niece from his wife’s attentions when he was surprised by Kira when she put his wife in her place all by herself. Right frankly, he found it just as funny as his nephews did (though he had the good sense not to join in the laughter that was filtering in from the next table over).

It wasn’t often that anyone could face down his wife. John always heard that lawyers liked to argue. It looked like his niece was well adept at it at least. Shortly after lunch, the fellas and Kira all headed out under the pretense of racing. Jesse kept eying the door the whole time they were gone. Kind of reminded him of his own youth when Jesse had been responsible for seven younger brothers. He always did think his oldest brother grew up too fast. Though he made up for it with the fun he had making ‘shine runs. As much as he likes to harp on his charges about their foolish chances that they constantly take behind the wheel, if only they knew that they couldn’t imagine competing in the same league as his brother. At times while growing up, John swore if he’d found an encyclopedia and looked up world’s most foolish driver, Jesse would have had a full page picture of himself staring back at him. With Jesse teaching the boys how to drive, it ain’t no wonder that they drive the way they do.

Jesse hadn’t heard what was said but he did see his sister-in-law’s look that she was giving Kira. He didn’t like what he saw. Of course his nephews all seemed to have found amusement in whatever had been said. Not sure if he should intervene or not; Jesse continued to watch from a table over. Once again, Kira seemed to of found her confidence while facing a perceived threat but this time that threat was his sister-in-law.

By the end of lunch, Pauline seemed thoroughly annoyed with their long-lost niece. Kira, however, looked more relaxed while she joked with the guys as if she had known them all her life. As lunch was cleared, Luke returned to the others as they seemed to gravitate toward the race-cars. From what Jesse could tell, the guys seemed to be explaining various modifications that they had made to their cars.

While Kira was listening to the fellas talk about their cars, she couldn’t help but notice that Jesse had hardly taken his eyes off her since she had come down for lunch. Glancing at Pauline as she went over to speak with her brother-in-law, Kira figured that she was probably the reason. It hadn’t been personal, she just did not intend to start letting anyone think that they had a right to go poking around in her private life; family or not. As she and the guys all went over their racers, other cousins, aunts, and uncles would come over to add to the conversation from time to time. After a while, Kira slipped away as everyone seemed lost in conversation. Kira headed over to the barn just out of sight to get a breather. That’s where she was when Coy saw her. He had seen Kira’s get away and followed to make sure she was okay.

“How ya doing, Sugar?” Coy slid up beside her where she was sitting on the fence railing.

“Okay, I guess. I keep forgetting everyone’s names though. I don’t think I’ll be able to remember them all.”

“You don’t have to. Just call everyone Sugar or Darlin’ and you’ll blend right in and no one’ll be the wiser.”

Kira laughed as thought about the fact that everyone did seem to call out or respond to those names of affection. “Oh, so that’s your secret. No wonder you haven’t called me by my name yet.”

Kira and Coy laughed as they discussed various ins and outs of Duke life. Soon, Kira was once again ready to go back to the farmyard. Coy suggested that she go on in and get her helmet and riding jacket so they could all have their race. He went to tell the others that they were about ready as Kira went inside to get her things. Of course that was no simple matter since the house was teaming with unknown relatives. Kira kept fending off various questions from curious family members as she made her way to the stairs. She met Pauline on the stairs and couldn’t help the feeling of trepidation that rose in her as she passed her. She didn’t really dislike her, she was, however, terrified of her. For reasons that she couldn’t really explain. Finally, Kira was back up in the attic where here things had earlier been brought up by Luke. Grabbing her helmet and throwing on her jacket, Kira braced herself before heading back down into the rest of the house.




“Uncle Jesse, we’re gonna go ahead and have our race now. We’ll probably just race to town and back.” Bo came over to tell his uncle so he wouldn’t be mad after being left to entertain a house full of relatives alone since Daisy had already left for work.

“You mind telling me what that business was all about at lunch?” Jesse tried asking Pauline but she just headed off to watch her youngens instead of answering him.

“Aunt Pauline was giving Kira the third degree; askin’ a bunch of questions. Once she started getting a bit too personal, Kira had enough. Told her that her love life was none of Aunt Pauline’s business. Right frankly, there were some questions I’m glad she didn’t answer. I wasn’t even all that comfortable and she wasn’t talkin’ to me.” Bo knew that Jesse was stuck wanting to defend his brother’s wife and Kira at the same time. In the end, Jesse just nodded his head as he accepted the explanation.

“Just don’t stay gone too long. I don’t trust them motorbikes and your sister don’t know the lay of the land yet. Don’t let her race that thing once it starts gettin’ dark.”

“I won’t Uncle Jesse.” With that Bo ran back over to the cars where everyone else was waiting for him.




‘Well are you plannin’ on racing or are you out for a Sunday drive, Bo?’ Kira had took her bike off road, relying on her memory of some of Bo’s old stories to help her navigate toward the Boar’s Nest. Kira knew that the guys hadn’t really taken her racing all too serious. They were out here to entertain her, not race her. Well, she best better show ‘em that they shouldn’t have underestimated her.

‘Funny, Kira. Just didn’t want to embarrass ya too bad your first time out is all.’ Bo and Coy were both neck and still five miles out from the Boar’s Nest. It wasn’t until Kira started teasing him that Bo realized that he hadn’t seen Kira in several miles. ‘Where’re you at anyway?’

‘You just worry about the road in front of you. I’ll see ya at the Nest.’ Kira laughed before she closed her link with Bo. Pulling the bike in behind the Bar, Kira walked around and headed on in to wait for the guys. Seeing Daisy behind the bar, Kira went up to take a stool ‘til the others showed up.

“Hey Daisy. Wow, who would’ve thought that this place would be so busy on a Wednesday?”

“Hey, Sugar, I think nearly everyone in Hazzard decided to come here to hide from their relatives. What are you doin’ here anyway, Kira?” Daisy walked around heading over to a table that needed to be cleared and Kira walked with her as she talked.

“I thought I was supposed to be racing the fellas here, but they all went soft. I’ll bet they’re still a couple miles out yet. How about bringing them some beers over when they get here?” Kira took the opportunity to claim the table that Daisy had just cleaned before anyone else could.

“No problem, you want anything?”

“After dealing with Pauline during lunch, you’d better bring me a Scotch. Is she always like that?”

“You’ll get used to it. I’ll be right back.”

Outside, the two race-cars pulled up and the guys all got out to wait for Kira to show up. “Well, Bo, where’d you think she is?”

“I don’t know Luke. She should be here by now and she ain’t answering me.”

“Maybe racing here wasn’t such a good idea after all. And here y’all were going easy on her too.” Luke eyed the parking lot as he looked for his cousin’s bike.

“Hey Boys! Bo! I hadn’t heard you were back in town.” Came the sound of the town mechanic’s voice.

“Cooter, yea, I got back yesterday. Sorry I ain’t talked to you yet. Been kind of busy.”

“Cooter have we got a story to tell you, we’ll tell ya inside. Just as soon as Kira and that motorcycle of hers gets here.” Luke said with a grin.

“The only motorcycle I’ve seen is the one parked around back. A real slick racing bike. So who’s this Kira? Another relative of y’alls?” All four guys chuckled at Cooter’s question.

“You could say that, Coot. Come on inside and we’ll buy ya a beer while we explain it to you.” Bo smirked.

Coy nudges Vance, “How’d you think she beat us here? I never saw her pass us.”

“Me neither, but you and Bo weren’t exactly drivin’ your best. Looks like she’s better than y’all figured.”

Once inside, the men saw that Kira had claimed a table so the guys pulled up their chairs and joined her. “It’s about time you boys showed up. Do me a favor. Next time we race, try to remember that little pedal to the right of the brake, that’s what you use to make the car go. Think you can do that?” Everyone laughed as she teased the guys.

“Oh, spunky. Ain’t she?” Cooter hadn’t heard anyone tease Bo and Luke about driving in a while, and certainly not a woman at that. Daisy came over with the beers and another Scotch for Kira.

“Kira, I’d like to introduce ya to our best friend in Hazzard, Cooter Davenport. Cooter, I’d like ya to meet Kira. My sister.” The Dukes all watched Cooter as he took in what Bo just told him.

“But I thought...But they said...But how...? Ha! Well I’ll be! Pleased to meet ya Kira!” Cooter reached across the table to shake her hand. “Hey wait a minute Buddy Roo. How come you’re here? Boss’ll lock you up the moment he’s sees you!”

“Calm down, Coot. And listen.” Bo started to tell Cooter of everything that had happened since he had called Sunday, leading to Kira getting his permission to be out of the county for Bo; which left Cooter a bit confused since he didn’t exactly explain HOW he had found Kira Saturday. Of course that detail was forgotten once it was explained that Kira was a Lawyer from Atlanta.

“Say what?” All the other guys at the table smirked as they remembered last night’s revelation and how they had reacted to that knowledge themselves.

Seeing Cooter dumb founded, Luke piped in. “Well, we always knew Bo was always just window dressin’. Now we know where all his smarts went.” That earned him a half-hearted hard look.

‘I seem to remember even you joking about you being, Just Pretty in the past. Guess that makes me the smart one then huh? You better hope your looks don’t ever fade.’ Kira grinned as Bo made ready to make a comeback as Daisy came back to the table to check on them. Cooter seemed to still be trying to take in Bo’s story though.

“Daisy, be straight up with me. Are they shuckin’ and jivin’ me? Is this here really Bo’s sister?”

“You bet, Honey. And you should’ve seen Boss when he learned he had another Duke in Hazzard. I’ll bet he needed a tranquilizer by the time he got home.” That started yet another round of laughing and joking as everyone started to share their favorite Boss Hogg story. After a while Kira excused herself and headed away from the table.

‘Where ya goin’?’

‘Somewhere you fellas can’t follow if ya don’t mind.’

Catching the drift, Bo went back to talking with his friend and his cousins. He ended up telling everyone that the reason he had cut his call so short on Sunday was because he and Kira had gone to the football game while everyone in Hazzard was looking for him. That was a confession he instantly wished he could unmake.

Stepping out of the ladies room, Kira was stopped by a man that could’ve been attractive, if he hadn’t oozed the stench of being a total jerk. “I haven’t seen you around here before. How’d you like to dump those loser Duke Boys and dance with a real man?” Oh brother! Obviously, that couldn’t have been his best line.

“You plannin’ on pointing me in the right direction? ‘Cause it certainly ain’t right in front of me.” Kira went to move past him to head back to the table when the man grabbed her arm to stop her. Kira balled up her right fist and it connected squarely on the man’s left jaw. He let go of Kira as he stumbled backwards a step and looked up only to see a thick soled hiking boot come from his right and send him into the wall behind him. Kira’s family instantly started to make their way over and saw Ernie Leadbetter crumpled on the floor.

“Kira, Ernie causing you any problems?” Anyone in Hazzard knew that Luke and Ernie’d had a feud going on between them since they were nothing but kids.

“Nope, no problem. He just wanted to dance but didn’t know the steps is all.” Kira pushed pass the guys, ignoring the looks that each of them gave her as she crouched down beside Ernie. Leaning in, Kira looked Ernie dead on as she said, “You ever touch me again, you won’t have to worry about these guys behind me. ‘Cause by the time I’m done, the only thing left for them to do will be for them to be your pallbearers.” With that, Kira got up and went back to the table. Luke and Vance grabbed Ernie up and started dragging him outside to talk as the others joined Kira. They all seemed to sit in an awkward silence as they sipped their drinks. Cooter was the first to break the silence.

“That was one mean right hook. Where’d ya learn that?”

“Some things you don’t learn, you just do it I guess.” Kira had started to unconsciously rub her arm where she could feel a bruise forming. One bad thing about being so light skinned, she always seemed to bruise so easily.

“Maybe if you’re a Duke, I guess.” He looked over at Bo as he watched Kira rubbing her arm. Bo scowled as he watched. He should have gone outside instead of Luke. Next time he saw Ernie, he’d...

‘Bo, stop would ya? I’m fine. This ain’t the first time I’ve run across a jerk. And I ain’t ever needed to have someone take care of them for me.’ Bo met Kira’s eyes and saw that, at least in her own mind, she was capable of handling herself with guys like Ernie.

“I think it’s time we headed back to the farm.” Bo stood up, “We promised Jesse that we wouldn’t be long.” Waiting just long enough for Coy and Kira to stand, Bo headed on over to the door. Coy shrugged his shoulders at Kira as he helped her get her jacket and they followed the tallest Duke on out.




Kira was tearing the road up on the way back to the farm. Everyone had tried to talk her into riding back in The General and let Luke ride her bike back to the farm. As if just because some jerk made a pass at her would somehow make it unsafe for her to ride back on her own. Instead, she got on the motorcycle and left them where they were standing. Still discussing her like she was a child. Now the two cars were trying to catch up to her. Well she had wanted a race. She just didn’t plan on it being like this.

‘Dang it Kira, would ya slow down! The bridge is out up ahead. You need to turn around and head the other way instead.’

In response to Bo, Kira only sped up even further, seeing where the bridge once was up ahead. Behind her, the cars tried to catch up to get around her, but Kira was more than just motivated to stay in front now. It was a matter of pride. Pushing the bike as fast as she could, Kira hit the ramp and felt the instant feeling of flying as she left the ground. Behind her the cars had skidded to a stop while the four occupants stared helplessly waiting to see if she made the jump or not.




Jesse stood on the porch waiting on the kids to get back. It was nearly time for supper. His sister-in-law and some of the other women had taken over the kitchen so there wasn’t anything else for him to do. He’d already played three games of checkers with his brother. Now, if those dang fool kids would just get home. He had a feeling that something had happened. His toe didn’t hurt; it was just a gut feeling. So the boys weren’t in any real trouble, just enough to give him indigestion.

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