by: Marty Chrisman

Luke smiled as he looked down at his daughter lying peacefully in his arms taking a bottle. It still seemed strange to be looking into his daughters eyes, the same sapphire blue as his own. Even though she was only a few weeks old, he could already see the subtle blending of his features and Shelby’s in her face. Both babies had his eyes, little Jesse had the same color hair but little Kelly’s hair was the same color as Shelby’s. And they both had that stubborn set to their chins that seemed to run in the Duke family.

He glanced over at Shelby who was sitting on the couch feeding little Jesse. He couldn’t help smiling at the picture. He may not have been sure in the beginning about being a father, but he had no doubts now. Shelby and the twins meant more to him than he had ever imagined. And Jesse, Bo and Daisy were just as thrilled with the babies. At this rate, they were gonna be spoiled rotten.

After the twins had finished their bottles, Luke and Shelby carried them into Shelby’s bedroom and laid them in the crib. Even in their sleep, they curled up against each other. As they walked into the kitchen, Luke glanced at Daisy who was fixing lunch and said, “Daisy, would you mind watching the babies for a minute? I wanna show Shelby something.”

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by: Marty Chrisman

Slowly, Shelby opened her eyes. It took her a moment to realize that she was in a hospital room. Then she turned her head and found herself looking into Luke’s sapphire blue eyes. He smiled when he saw that she was awake.

“Hey, baby…” he said softly, gently brushing a strand of hair back out of her face. “Welcome back…”

“The babies….” Shelby said in a frightened voice, her hand automatically reaching for her stomach. Her face filled with sheer panic when she felt the flatness of her belly beneath the bed sheet.

“Shhhh….” Luke said soothingly “The babies are fine. The doctor had to do an emergency C section but they’re just fine.”

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by: Marty Chrisman

Shelby groaned as she struggled to shove herself to her feet. She was almost in her eighth month and was big enough that it was hard to get around. She felt awkward and clumsy. Dr Applebee had told her at her last appointment that he wanted her to stay off her feet as much as possible. She was trying to follow his orders but she felt like she was going crazy not being able to do anything. The boys were out in the fields helping Jesse and Daisy was at work, so she had the house to herself.

Trying to find something to occupy her mind, she picked up a photo album she found lying on a bookshelf and began flipping through it. She smiled at the pictures of Bo, Luke and Daisy as children. There were a lot of pictures of them together, alone and with Uncle Jesse. They all looked so happy.

In the back of the album was an envelope with pictures in it that had not been put in the album. When Shelby glanced through them, she realized that they were pictures that had been taken of Luke and Kelly on their wedding day. Self consciously, Shelby put the pictures back in the envelope and put it back where she had found it. Luke had looked so happy in those pictures and so had Kelly. Little did either one of them know that before that day ended, so would their entire world.

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by: Marty Chrisman

Luke glanced out of the kitchen window and cursed under his breath. “What the heck is she doing now?” he muttered when he saw Shelby in the corral sitting bareback on Lobo’s broad back. Sitting down his coffee cup, he slammed open the screen door and hurried outside. Shelby saw him come out of the house and smiled faintly as he crossed the barnyard to the corral. Glaring at her as he pushed open the gate, he said “What are you doing? You know you ain’t supposed to be doing no riding.”

“I’m not riding. I’m sitting. There’s a difference.”

“Well, git down off of there before you give me a heart attack or something.” Luke told her. Shelby grinned but she didn’t resist as he reached up to help her down. She could feel the strength in his arms as he lifted her down from Lobo’s back. She put her hands on his shoulders as he set her on her feet. Through the thin material of his shirt, she could feel the rippling of his muscles as he easily lifted her weight to the ground.

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