by: Marty Chrisman
Shelby stretched and opened her eyes, blinking against the sunlight that was streaming in through the window. At first she didn’t remember where she was, she didn’t recognize the room she was in. Then she remembered that she was at the Duke farm. Luke had bonded her out of the Atlanta jail the night before. Sitting up on the edge of the bed, she glanced at her watch and saw that it was almost noon. The Dukes had let her sleep in. She must have been more exhausted then she had realized.
Shoving herself to her feet, she saw a pile of clothes lying on the dresser along with a note from Daisy. Shelby, here are some clothes that shrunk so much I can’t wear them but they should fit you. I know you don’t have anything with you. Daisy. Shelby smiled as she opened the bedroom door and stepped into the living room of the farm house.
Daisy was in the kitchen getting lunch ready. She smiled brightly when she saw that Shelby was awake. “Hi, sugar.” She said “You hungry? Lunch will be ready in about fifteen minutes.”
“Yeah, I am.”
“There’s lemonade in the fridge or coffee on the stove. Take your pick.”
Shelby opted for a glass of lemonade. Pouring herself a glass, she sat down at the table just as the back door opened and the two boys came into the house, followed by Uncle Jesse. They had been out in the back field working all morning. They all greeted Shelby warmly. The boys went upstairs to wash up before lunch. When they came back down, everyone took their place at the table and Jesse said grace before they ate. Daisy had fixed ham sandwiches, potato salad and cornbread.
As they ate, the Duke family made casual conversation. Shelby spoke if she was spoken to but didn’t contribute to the conversation. As he ate, Luke stole glances at Shelby. She still looked tired. There were dark circles under her eyes and a fading bruise on her cheek that Luke couldn’t help but wondering how she had gotten. After they had eaten, the boys and Jesse went back out to finish their work in the field and Daisy started clearing the table.
“Let me help with that.” Shelby said, stacking the plates and carrying them to the sink.
“Thanks.” Daisy said with a grin “It’s nice to have another female around to help out.”
“It’s the least I can do….if it weren’t y’all I’d still sitting in that jail.”
“Well, we couldn’t have that.”
“I’m glad to see that Luke’s okay. He is okay, isn’t he?”
“Yeah….it took him about a month before he could see again…but its okay now. He still gets real bad headaches once in awhile though”
“At least that girl got what was coming to her.”
“Yeah, they should have put her under the jail instead of in it.” Daisy said “I could think of a few other things I would have liked to have done to her for what she did to Luke…and to Kelly too.”
“That was Luke’s wife, right?”
“Yeah…” Daisy said with a trace of sadness in her voice “It was a real bad thing what happened to her.”
“I know. Uncle Jesse told me a little bit about it the last time I was here.”
“That’s good…cause Luke don’t talk about it. He’d never tell ya himself.”
“He’s been through a lot.”
“Yeah, he has. He’s just now starting to act like himself again.”
After they had finished with the dishes and put them away, Shelby decided to take a shower and change her clothes. She got some clean clothes from the pile Daisy had left for her and went upstairs to the second floor bathroom. Closing and locking the door behind her, she turned on the shower, adjusting the spray to a comfortable temperature. Stripping off her clothes, she stepped under the water, relaxing as the heat soothed the soreness in her muscles. She shampooed her hair and washed it, then shut off the water. Stepping out of the shower, she grabbed a thick terrycloth towel and dried herself briskly. She had to admit that she felt a lot better. She quickly dressed in a pair of cut off denim shorts and a yellow tank top that left very little to the imagination. She pulled her hair back from her face and fastened it at the back of her neck with a gold clasp she found in the medicine cabinet.
When she opened the door and stepped into the hallway, she found Luke leaning against the wall patiently waiting for his turn to take a shower. “Hi,” she said with a smile
“Hi, yourself.” Luke said with a grin, letting his gaze sweep over her body. He had to admit, she looked great in that outfit. He felt a familiar stirring deep inside of him that he hadn’t felt in a very long time. Flushing slightly and hoping she didn’t notice, he brushed past her and went into the bathroom.
Closing the door and locking it, he took a deep breath and exhaled slowly. He hadn’t expected his reaction just now to seeing her in one of Daisy’s old outfits. Stripping off his clothes, he adjusted the water temperature for the shower (just a little colder than usual) and stepped under the spray. Turning his face up into the water, he closed his eyes and let the water wash away the tension in his body and cool off other parts of his anatomy.