by: Marty Chrisman

            Over the next couple of months, the bond between Luke and Kelly deepened. They snuck away as much as they could to be alone and Kelly practically lived at the Duke farm. If anyone else noticed the shift in their relationship, nobody said anything to either one of them. It was getting harder and harder to hide the way they really felt, but Kelly was terrified of her father finding out that she was in love with Luke.

“What can he do?” Luke asked Kelly with just a trace of impatience in his voice  “You’ll be eighteen in a couple of years. Then he can’t stop you from leaving and doing whatever you want.” They were hidden away in the hayloft, where they had been discussing the same thing for almost an hour.

“Luke, you don’t know my father. He’d kill me if he found out about you and me.” She sighed with a far away look in her eyes “He keeps trying to keep me from coming over here as it is.”

“Why don’t we talk to Jesse? I’m sure he could help us figure something out.”

“No, I don’t want to involve Uncle Jesse.” Kelly said in a determined voice.

“I think Jesse already knows about us.” Luke told her

“Why? Did he say something to you?”

Luke shook his head “No, but I still think he knows.”

“Yeah,” Kelly said, laughing softly “Jesse doesn’t miss much around here.”

“Jesse doesn’t miss anything that happens around here.” Luke emphasized. He reached out to pull Kelly into his arms “I love you, Kelly” he whispered “And I wanna spend my life with you.” He bent his head and kissed her deeply, holding her tightly. He was tired of hiding how he felt about her. He wanted everybody to know but he knew better then to push the issue with Kelly. She wasn’t ready for that. Years of abuse had left her terrified of her father. So, for a little while anyway, they would have to keep meeting like this, keeping their love a secret even from Luke’s own family. Luke hated doing that. Jesse had taught them never to lie, especially to each other. But as long as nobody asked him directly about him and Kelly, he guessed he wasn’t exactly lying to anyone.

Luke heard Jesse’s old truck pull into the drive. Letting go of Kelly, he said “Jesse’s home, I gotta get to my chores.” He looked at Kelly as he turned to walk towards the ladder. “Are you gonna stay here and wait on me?”

“I thought I’d go down to the creek for awhile.” She told him. “Why don’t you meet me there when you’re done?” Luke nodded. Climbing down the ladder, he started on his chores before he got yelled at for not having them done. Daisy and Bo were both over at the Church helping get ready for the picnic the preacher’s wife was having for the congregation that Sunday, so Luke had Bo’s chores to do to. He didn’t see Kelly leave.

Luke hurried through his chores, and then headed off to the creek to meet Kelly. But when he got there, she was no where to be found. Frowning, he wondered where she was but he figured she’d show up back at the farm for supper.

When supper time came and went without any sign of Kelly, Luke started to worry but he kept his thoughts to himself. He kept sneaking glances out the window, watching for her, and hoping that nobody noticed his concern. Bo and Daisy were chattering about the picnic at the church that weekend and didn’t seem to notice how tense Luke was. But Jessie did.

“You got something on your mind, Luke?” Jesse asked, breaking into Luke’s thoughts.

“Uh….no, sir.” Luke said, flushing slightly, guilty at being caught. As he turned away from the window, from the corner of his eye, he saw a flash of color and instinctively he knew that it was Kelly going into the barn. That meant something had to be wrong if she was going to the barn instead of coming into the house. “I….uh….just need some air.” Luke said hastily, ignoring the puzzled look in Jesse’s eyes as he turned and went outside.

Crossing the barnyard, he went inside the barn and climbed up to the loft. He could hear Kelly crying softly somewhere in back of the loft. Following the sound of her soft sobs, he found her crouched in the far corner of the barn. “Kell,” he said softly, kneeling down beside her. “What’s the matter?” Luke caught his breath sharply as Kelly raised her head and he saw her face. Her bottom lip was split and swollen and there was a fresh bruise on her cheek. There were also scratches on her other cheek and red marks on her neck. Luke didn’t have to ask what had happened, he already knew. Her father had beaten her again.

When Luke pulled her into his arms, she started crying even harder, burying her face against his shoulder. He simply held her, rocking her gently, and let her cry. He felt the rage boiling inside of him. He fought to keep it in check, not wanting to upset Kelly any more than she already was. When she had finally calmed down enough to stop crying, he gently cupped her face in his hand and said quietly “What happened?”

“My dad found me down by the creek. He was drunker than hell and he started screaming at me and kept saying that I was never coming back here again. He said he’d kill me if I did. I got away from him and tried to run away but he grabbed me and I fell. I hit my head on something and got knocked out. When I came too, he was gone.”

Concerned about a possible head injury, Luke gently ran his fingers through her long silky hair. He could feel a lump just behind her left temple. She flinched when he touched it and pulled away. “You need to have that checked out” he said in a concerned voice.

“No,” Kelly said adamantly, shaking her head. “I’m okay. It’s not that bad.” Her eyes darkened “I hate him. I told him I was never coming home again.” Her jaw tightened “I wish he was dead.”

“I won’t let him hurt you.” Luke told her, tightening his arms around her waist “Not again. I promise.”

“There’s nothing we can do.” Kelly said in a tired, defeated voice. “Luke, he’s really crazy this time. I’ve never seen him this bad before.”

“We’ll talk to Jesse, tell him the truth. He’ll find a way to help. I know he will.”

“Luke, didn’t you hear me? I said he’s really gone crazy this time” She cried desperately “He said he’d kill you if he finds out I saw you again or anybody in your family.”

“Then we’ll run away.” Luke said in a fiercely determined voice “We’ll go someplace safe where he won’t find you and can’t hurt you. And in a couple of months, we’ll let Jesse know where we are.”

Kelly choked back a sob, pulling herself out of the comfort of his embrace, shaking her head “I can’t let you do that, Luke.” She told him “He’d find us no matter where we went. He wouldn’t stop looking until he does.” She shoved herself to her feet, her jaw set in that determined, stubborn way that Luke had come to know so well over the years. Her eyes blazed with an inner rage that Luke had never seen before “This is my problem and I’ll handle it my way.”

Before Luke could reach out to stop her, she turned and ran from him, climbing down the ladder to the ground below. Luke followed her but the time he reached the bottom of the ladder, she was already outside and running towards the ridge that separated the Duke farm from her shack. Not sure what else to do, Luke went back into the house.