Chapter 17: While You Were Sleeping
It was shortly after 12:30pm Pacific time when Daisy boarded a TWA bound for Atlanta from LAX. She had enough money to stay in Los Angeles overnight and leave in the morning, but she figured if she was going to be miserable, it might as well be in Georgia than in California. The time difference would put her home late, but she didn’t care.
There had been several empty seats on the flight back and she’d ended up in a window seat. She wrapped her arms around herself in Enos’s shirt and rested her head against the glass, watching as the urban sprawl of Los Angles melted away slowly into the arid hills and valleys of the desert southwest and eventually into plains that stretched on as far as the eye could see. Like the cropland they flew over, still brown and barren in late winter, so Daisy saw her future – desolate and alone, and all the things she’d dreamed of one day having seemed forever out of reach.
The flight to Atlanta took four and a half hours and it was nearly 8:30pm Georgia time when she found Dixie and drove out onto the interstate. She followed I85 to Gainesville, then north up Highway 23 until she hit Chickasaw County, then turned up Spruce Creek Lane at Raleigh, down the dirt roads that had been a part of her life for as long as she could remember. It was past eleven when she pulled into the driveway of home. The entire farm was illuminated – someone had turned the pole light on, just in case she came home she supposed, and though she wished she could just slip in without anyone the wiser, she knew her Uncle Jesse would be sitting up waiting for her.
Instead of going inside the house, she walked to the barn, hoping anyone that saw her drive up would take the hint and leave her alone. The night air was heavy and humid, feeling more like spring than than the 8th of February, and the barn was stuffy with the smell of the hay and animals. She opened the large double doors at the other end and slipped out. On the field side of the barn she sat down under the eave on the dry, packed earth, leaning her back against the wall. The post light’s rays shone around the building, casting strange shadows out into the pasture. Far to the north, the lightening played out across the sky, illuminating the boiling storm clouds that were quickly rolling in over the Blue Ridge Mountains. A breeze with the scent of rain caught her hair and she closed her eyes, letting it whip across her face instead of holding it back and thinking how fitting it was to come home to rain, to a storm that would mirror the anguish she felt inside.
She heard the front door of the house open and shut quietly, whoever it was had caught the screen door on the way out. It would be Luke or Uncle Jesse, and her money was on her uncle since he hadn’t talked to her before she left. The footsteps crossing the gravel drive were quick and even though, not the sound of his steps, and so she resigned herself to having to talk to Luke again about what had happened. Just thinking about it made the tears start again and she tucked her knees up to her chest and buried her head in her arms, willing him not to find her. Listening for footsteps in the barn instead of the grass, she didn’t notice anyone was there until he knelt down quietly beside her. She didn’t bother to look up.
“Please, just leave me alone.”
But the soft voice that answered her wasn’t Luke’s. “Daisy…oh Daisy, don’t cry.”
She raised her head. Overcome with emotion, she couldn’t speak even to say his name, as Enos pulled her into his arms and held her tight.
“Daisy, I’m so sorry.” he said. ” Luke told me what happened. I didn’t mean t’ scare ya’. You weren’t even s’posed t’ know where I went… that’s why I left so early, ’cause I was flyin’ right back.”
He had left the Duke farm before sunup, driven into town, and woken Rosco up – to much griping and complaining until he’d explained to the Sheriff what he was doing there, and offered him a dollar a mile to drive him to Atlanta and pick him up later that day. Rosco had phoned Cletus to tell him where he would be, but Enos hadn’t counted on the deputy heading off down Mill Road to talk to the guys that morning.
He’d left his car at Jake’s to get new tires, and Rosco had dropped him back at the farm that afternoon. Luke had nearly (literally) rung his neck when he’d walked into the kitchen shortly before supper time. He’d explained everything to them, which had put theirminds at ease…but not his. Never in all his life would he have thought she’d follow him. The idea of Daisy wandering around alone in Los Angeles only brought to mind cases he’d worked at the Homicide Division – the ones of beautiful women in the wrong places at the wrong times. He’d sat at the window looking nervously out onto the road for the rest of that evening and into the night, watching for headlights and praying she was safe.
“I thought you’d left.” Her face buried against him muffled her words.
“I’d never leave without tellin’ you, not again – not like before.”
“Cletus came an’ told us you’d flown off t’ L.A. What was I s’posed t’ think?
“Daisy, Cletus ain’t never been accused of usin’ th’ brain God gave him. Don’tcha know better than t’ take his word on somethin’?” She gave him a rueful grin as he brushed the tears from her cheek. “Now what was so all-fired important that ya’ had t’ chase me all th’ way t’ California for?”
His eyes met hers and suddenly she realized what that look in them had been the last week that she couldn’t figure out. He knew.
She looked up at him suspiciously. “Why do I get th’ feelin’ you already know?”
No matter how happy she’d been to see him thirty seconds before, Enos knew he was about to tread on thin ice. He looked down, knowing what he was about to say would change everything forever. “‘Cause I wasn’t asleep,” he said quietly. “When you were talkin’ to me…I wasn’t asleep.”
Daisy’s mind raced through the times she’d been around him while he was sleeping, and stopped dead in it’s tracks. She pulled back from him and stood up as he dropped his arms from around her and did the same. “What d’ you mean?” she asked, though she surely knew what his answer would be.
He took a deep breath and sighed heavily. “At th’ cabin…you were all set on talkin’ about what had happened when I’d left Hazzard, an’ I figured if I just played possum, I could get back t’ California without gettin’ my heart put through th’ ringer again. But then you started sayin’ th’ gosh-darn most beautiful things I ever heard, an’ I…I couldn’t bring myself t’ stop you. Sorry, Daisy.” He winced as though he expected her to whack him, but she just stared at him, speechless, as a bright flash of lightening raced across the sky above them.
Enos had been sure she would have figured out that he was awake. His heart had been racing and it had taken all the concentration he could muster to breathe normally as she’d told him things he’d only dreamt of hearing her say. He hadn’t slept a wink that night. For the last twenty years, Daisy’s flaky behavior towards him had been a mystery… until she’d given him the answer while she thought he was sleeping.
He could see her face, burning red, even in the dim light and her eyes flash angrily with embarrassment as the rain began to fall beyond the eaves of the barn.
“Gosh, Daisy, don’t look at me like that. It ain’t like I meant t’ snooker ya’ or nothin’.” He tried not to fidget and failed miserably.
She shook her head. “If you heard what I said, then why did you just walk away from me yesterday at th’ pond? …You were tryin’ t’ teach me a lesson! Ooo! You’re impossible, Enos Strate!” She turned and walked off, out into the rain.
He followed her, caught her arm and pulled her back in front of him. “No, Daisy! You’re not walkin’ away from me again.” She looked up at him, the rain striking her cheeks as though the sky were adding its tears to her own. “I wasn’t tryin’ t’ teach you a lesson, I just… I have t’ have more than a dream t’ come back to, Daisy. Promise me someday I’ll have you, an’ I’ll come back, an’ I’ll wait forever… but I have t’ know, and it has t’ be real. I love you, Daisy, and nothin’ will ever change that – but if you tell me t’ go, I’ll go, an’ I swear I’ll never set foot in Hazzard again.”
In the light of his ultimatum, at last she saw plainly between them the wall that she had built. Had she thought he had changed? He had always been there, waiting for her. It was she who had pushed him away, and who at fifteen had begun playing a game that had changed their lives forever. She reached up and put her hand against his cheek, and he closed his eyes and leaned into her touch.
“Oh Enos,” she said softly, “I have no idea why you’d still want me after all I’ve done t’ you. But I do love you, and I’m yours if you’ll have me.”
He looked down at her, and she didn’t have time to tell whether it was the rain or tears that fell from his eyes before he gathered her in his arms and hugged her tight. She laced her own around him, under his coat.
“Daisy…,” she heard him breathe into her hair. “…oh Daisy…you’re all I’ve ever wanted.”
Neither of them knew how long they stood there in the rain, locked in their embrace. It beat down upon them, drenching them, washing away the wasted years. He moved back but not to let go, keeping one hand on her back as the other drew her wet hair away from her face. He tilted her chin up to look at her, with eyes full of love and longing, before they closed and his lips met hers. He kissed her once, soft and hesitant, and then again. Daisy, afraid he would stop and let her go, took his face in her hands, pulling his mouth back harder against hers. She felt him smile, and the world and the rain and all the years between them melted away as his kisses changed from cautious to passionate. He pulled her against him, and she knew from the taste of salt that they had been tears on his cheeks and not the rain.
They finally parted, breathless, still clinging to each other.
“So…you want me t’ stay, right?” he whispered, teasingly.
Daisy laughed and hugged him tightly. “Yes Enos, I want you t’ stay.” She slid her hand into his. “Come on, we’re gonna catch our death of cold out here.” She pulled him after her around the barn, across the gravel, and up to the porch, hitting the switch to turn off the pole light on the way.
He picked up the blanket from the porch swing and draped it around her shoulders.
“Aren’t you cold?” she asked him.
“Nah, just m’ coat’s wet.” He took it off and sat down at the far end of the swing. She followed, curling up next to him in the blanket as they sat, contentedly listening to the rain.
“I’ve missed you,” she said, quietly. He was about to answer her, but she continued. “And I don’t mean just when you were gone. I missed us, Enos, th’ way it always was when we were kids…when no one could tear us apart.”
He put his arm around her and she lay her head against his chest. “I’ve missed you, too, Daisy Mae,” he whispered, nearly making her cry all over again to hear the name he hadn’t called her since they were kids.
“What are you gonna do, now that you quit your job in L.A.?”
“Well, I talked t’ Rosco on th’ way to Atlanta. For now I’ve got m’ old job back, but he’d like t’ retire as Sheriff.”
She leaned back and frowned at him. “Enos, you deserve better than workin’ for Rosco as a deputy! That’s a pretty big demotion, an’ you know he’s not gonna quit as Sheriff with no pension.”
“That’s okay, Daisy, th’ perks are better,” he said, kissing her temple. “‘Sides, Cooter’s come up with an idea of how t’ get Rosco his pension back.”
“Cooter! Enos Strate, did everyone know what was goin’ on but me?”
He grinned, and she felt him laugh quietly. “No, I just happened t’ mention to him that I was movin’ back when I dropped m’ car off at Jake’s this afternoon. You didn’t seem t’ be around,” he teased, “or I would’a told you, too.”
“Uh huh,” she grumbled good naturedly. “So what’s th’ plan?’
“Well, o’ course Cooter ain’t gonna be around Hazzard much longer, but he’s gonna help get it on th’ ballot come March for a Special Election. He figures if we spread th’ word around that th’ Sheriff’ll step down if he gets his pension back, it’ll pass with flyin’ colors. Bo an’ Luke ain’t th’ only ones tired of his tricks.”
“Well, you’re not kiddin’ there,” she said. “I don’t know why no one thought this up years ago.”
He paused, then added shyly, “I thought I might put my name in for th’ next election after that.”
“Oh Enos, there’s not a soul in Hazzard that wouldn’t vote you in as Sheriff!”
“Be kinda strange, wouldn’t it? ”
“Hazzard would finally be respectable again.”
“Th’ Georgia State Patrol offered me a job, too, assigned to th’ Tri-County area, but I think if I had my choice, I’d rather be Sheriff than a State Trooper. Until then, I reckon I don’t mind sittin’ out in th’ woods waitin’ for speeders. It’ll be a nice break from California, that’s for sure.”
She laughed and lay her head back against him. He felt her breathing gradually become slower until he realized she’d fallen asleep. Enos wasn’t tired at all, having slept most of the time on both flights earlier that day . The rain slowed and then stopped as the storm played itself out and moved on towards the south. He kissed the top of her head, breathing in the scent of her shampoo, marveling how the girl in his arms had changed the entire course of his life. He’d waited so long for a moment that he’d never really believed he’d see, dreamed so many dreams that he thought would never see the light – and yet here she was, his – the way it should have been all along. In the clarity of hindsight he wished he’d gone after her that day – the day he’d learned she was getting married to L.D., but he couldn’t have known then what he knew now. That was just one of the many things that he wished…he shook his head. There was no sense in going there, and he would just as soon close the book on at least the last four years.
He’d spent the last week and a half relearning Daisy Duke. There had been a time, back when they were both in school, when he’d known her better than anyone, a time when they barely had to talk to know what the other was thinking, and he found that the bond he’d thought had been lost forever was still there. In the light of what he secretly knew they shared, he could finally see what had been there all along – love, subtle but strong, coloring every look, every smile, and every touch however innocent that she’d ever given him. Enos found himself loving her more deeply than he’d thought possible as the days passed by. He hugged her gently to him as she slept. Daisy…his Daisy, and as God as his witness, no one was ever going take her away from him again.
He must have dozed off, thought Enos, as he watched a streak of gray on the horizon grow lighter and gradually change to a soft pink as the night waned and morning swiftly approached. As loath as he was to wake her, and as much as it was nobody’s business what they were doing on a porch swing at dawn, soaked to the bone, he had to go to work and it would be easier on Daisy if she didn’t have to endure her family’s teasing.
He stroked her hair back from her face, a part of him fearing she’d changed her mind after sleeping. “Daisy,” he said, gently, “Daisy, wake up.”
She woke startled, and sat up, wondering why she was outside until she saw Enos and remembered the night before.
“Mornin’, Daisy,” he said, shyly, “I’m sorry t’ have t’ wake ya’, but I have to get to work soon unless I want Rosco t’ fire me before I even start.”
Daisy laughed, and brushed her hand across his cheek, knowing he was probably worried that she’d changed her mind overnight. “Mornin’ t’ you, too..” She stood up and held her hand out to him to pull him up as well. “I feel like I slept in a swing all night,” she said, rubbing her back.
“I’m sorry, Daisy, I should’a woken you up so you could go t’ bed,” he said, contritely, looking away from her.
“No, Enos, you should not have.” She recognized the characteristic shyness settling into him, and knew she had to do something to stop it. She looped her arms around his neck and leaned into him as she pressed her lips to his. For a split second he was still, but then he took a breath, put his own arms around her, and kissed her back.
“You didn’t dream it, ya’ know,” she said when they’d parted.
“I know that Daisy, I’m just not used to it’s all. I’ve spent th’ better part of my life tellin’ myself not t’ touch ya’.”
She grinned up at him, thinking how much things had changed in the last 24 hours. The blanket she’d had around her was damp and she draped it over the back of the swing. “Come on, I’ll fix ya’ some breakfast before you have t’ leave.”
Enos looked warily at her damp clothing. “Ah, shucks Daisy. You go on an’ get some dry clothes on, I think I can manage not t’ burn coffee an’ ham.”
“You sure?”
“Yeah, go on.”
“Thanks, I’ll hurry.” She gave him a quick kiss on the cheek and headed out of the kitchen towards the bathroom to take a shower.
Shortly thereafter, Bo walked into the kitchen, roused by the smell of food. He did a double take at the slightly disheveled Enos standing at the stove, cooking breakfast.
“Uh…mornin’ Enos.”
“Mornin’ Bo.”
“Daisy get back okay last night?”
“Yeah, she did,” said Enos, not turning around.
“Where is she?”
“Takin’ a shower, I think.”
“Um…okay…”
Luke came into the kitchen and walked over to the window. He saw Dixie setting in front of the house, smiled to himself, and reached for the coffee. Uncle Jesse walked in, sat down at the table, and picked up the paper from the day before.
“Mornin’ Luke,” said Enos, cheerily.
“Enos. Ya’ don’t look like ya’ slept…much.”
Enos blushed faintly. “Oh, well, it’s hard t’ sleep after sittin’ on a plane all day.”
“Or in a swing all night,” agreed Uncle Jesse, not looking up from the paper.
Bo and Luke glanced questioningly at their uncle, but Daisy breezed into the kitchen just then.
“Mornin’ y’all.”
Her cousins and uncle greeted her while Enos grinned. She came over and took the skillet from him.
“Thanks for makin’ breakfast. You’d better go get dressed, though.”
“If ya’ could give me a lift into town, Daisy, I’d be mighty obliged.”
“No problem, Sugar.”
They smiled at each other, neither moving until Luke cleared his throat and they looked away.
“I’ll be ready in a minute, Daisy,” said Enos and left the kitchen as Daisy watched him go.
“So,” said Luke, “You work things out with Enos?”
She turned back to the stove to hide her grin. “Maybe.”
“You two sure are actin’ awful gosh-darn strange this mornin’, that’s for sure,” said Bo. Luke had told them where she’d gone, but not why exactly. Bo figured Daisy following Enos to California had a whole lot more to do with a guilty conscience than it did anything else, but seeing them standing too close together and getting all dreamy looking at each other this morning was making him wonder if he was missing something.
A couple minutes later, Enos came back in, dressed in a uniform he hadn’t worn in nearly four years. Daisy’s face lit up as he fastened the buttons on the black Hazzard County coat. She crossed over to him and straightened his tie.
“Feel strange?” she asked.
He shook his head. “Feels like home,” he said, quietly.