Blood Wild

"So, when are you going to give this ring to Y?" Lee asked, letting one eyebrow rise questioningly.

"Soon. I was thinking maybe Thursday... if I can stand waiting that long. I wanted to talk to you, and Tom. I was going to call this evening and hope you two would answer the phone. I'm so happy you two stopped in today." Deeny gushed.

"I'm going to ask Yvonne to come to dinner with mom and dad Thursday after we get off work here at the diner. I was hoping you and Tom could just happen to be there too. I want to ask her... propose to her after dinner, in front of all of you. We are family, and I want her to be part of my, our, family." Deeny explained her plans.

"Oh. Deeny! I think that's a wonderful idea... it's beautiful." Lee said lovingly and pulled her sister in for another long hug.

"So, you and Tom will be there?" Deeny asked softly next to Lee's ear as they embraced.

"Of course, we will." Lee responded happily.

"Thank you! I love you!" Deeny almost sobbed into Lee's hair.

"I love you too Deeny." Lee replied.

There was a knock on the door and a gruff male voice sounded on the other side of the door. "Hurry up Deeny, I gotta use the head."

"Hold your horses, Hank! We're just washing our hands!" Deeny called out in return and then giggled in Lee's hair before pulling away from her.

Deeny and Lee both did wash their hands and dried them on the rotary cloth towel from the dispenser beside the sink. They both walked out past a frowning impatient greasy aproned Hank giving him smiles and a wink. Hang grumbled and then pushed through the door after they passed.

Deeny squeezed Lee's hand once more before they parted at the end of the hallway, Lee going around the front of the counter and Lee behind it. Yvonne was busy taking an order from a new customer a couple of stools down from Tom but looked up at Deeny and smiled and winked before turning her attention back to her customer. The bell over the door jangled again and a couple more customers came into the diner from the rain outside. They took one of the booths near the door and Deeny grabbed a couple of menus and the coffee pot and headed their way.

***___***___

"Deeny asked that nobody should let on that anything was going on tomorrow night." Caroline informed Duke as the sat on the glider Wednesday evening relaxing after dinner.

"So, tomorrow is the big night huh?" Duke asked with a touch of amusement in his gruff voice.

"Guess so. She's bringing Yvonne to dinner, Deeny asked Lee and Tom to be there as well, it'll just be our family." Caroline expanded on the news.

"Yeah... family." Duke noted almost wistfully as he squeezed Caroline just a little tighter to him, his arm around her shoulders and she nestled into his side, her head resting on his chest.

"Speaking of family..." Caroline said softly, almost vibrating with happiness. "Annie called from Florida while you were in the shop this afternoon. She had some news." She added.

"Oh? What news?" Duke asked, assiduously trying not to sound too interested, but failing in Caroline's ears.

Caroline dug her fingers into Duke's side causing him to jump a little then giggled at his reaction.

"She told me that Gerald proposed to her on the beach." Caroline said almost dreamily.

"The beach huh? The old bastard. I knew he was a romantic softy under all that shoe leather and rawhide. Kind of beats being proposed to in a hay stack, doesn't it?" Duke asked somberly as he reflected on his own proposal to Caroline long ago.

"Gerald Lee Simmons! I wouldn't have cared if you had asked me to marry you while we were in an outhouse! It's not the location that it happens that makes it special, it's the man who's asking!" Caroline scolded Duke and swatted him on the chest with an open hand... before tilting her head up to kiss him on the lips.

"Okay! Okay! I'm sorry!" Duke said in surrender when she released his lips from the kiss, then smiled into her eyes.

"Still though... it would have been romantic... sunset... on the beach..." Caroline couldn't help but to giggle as Duke sighed in defeat.

Caroline used her fingers to turn his face back to hers and then resumed kissing him again. Duke brought his free hand up and gently caressed Caroline's cheek with the backs of his fingers as they let their tongues dance and shared their very breath. Caroline swooned and lay her head on his chest and sighed contentedly when they broke the kiss again.

"I love you, Duke. I love you so very much." She murmured quietly as he squeezed her shoulders gently again and kept the glider rocking gently back and forth listening to the crickets tune up for the night's performance.

***___***___

"So, you can come to dinner at my folk's house tonight? Right?" Deeny asked Yvonne for the third time since yesterday morning.

"Sure, as long as you're going to be there that is. Otherwise, it might be a little awkward, especially after whole Wilding thing." Yvonne interjected with a smirk and then winked at Deeny.

Deeny's heart skipped a beat, and then another... the thought of her proposing to Yvonne in front of her family excited her far more than anything else had in her life to date.

"Is it just going to be us and your mom and dad?" Yvonne asked out of curiosity, as she carefully refilled salt and pepper shakers for the tables and booths.

"Actually, I think Tom and Lee will be there too. You know, spending a little time with my parents before Tom has to ship out Saturday morning. It may be the last time they see him other than Saturday, for quite some time." Deeny explained as she wiped down the counter in front of her.

"I get that... it's awful that those two are going to be apart for so long..." Yvonne said aloud but was thinking inwardly what she would do if she were to be separated from Deeny for so long. The overnight in Kansas City recently had seemed interminable. Yvonne gazed at Deeny longingly while Deeny was unaware.

"Should I bring anything?" Yvonne asked after a moment or two of admiration.

"No, I think mom's got it covered. Just yourself and that beautiful smile." Deeny said over her shoulder as she looked back at Yvonne with a smile of her own.

Yvonne actually blushed at that comment and shook her head even as she smiled even more broadly while she finished up with the salt shakers. The bell over the front door jangled and both Yvonne and Deeny looked up to see who was coming into the diner. Both ladies smiled as they recognized their relief coming in to take over waitressing responsibilities for the evening. The till was counted up and tips counted and divided between Yvonne, Deeny and Hank in the kitchen.

As the girls were walking out to their cars in the parking lot, Yvonne leaned in closer to Deeny and asked in a soft, tempting voice.

"Wanna come over to my place before you head home?"

"Oh God! Yes! But I promised mom I'd help her finish up dinner preparations for tonight... but maybe..." Deeny said almost shyly, looking around to see if anyone might be within earshot before continuing. "I would like very much to go home with you after dinner...would that be okay?" Deeny asked just as softly and quietly as Yvonne had asked.

Yvonne's heart skipped a beat, again, and she simply smiled down at Deeny's upturned and very hopeful face. Yvonne winked and blew her a kiss before opening her car door to climb in. Deeny smiled all that much brighter and did the same for her old blue chevy and waved to Yvonne as the older waitress pulled out of the parking lot to head to her place alone.

Deeny's knees were shaking even as her own heart pounded in her chest. Was this really the night? It was a rhetorical question however, she knew in her heart that tonight was the night. Tonight, she would ask Yvonne to be hers forever. She would make her vows and slip her ring on Yvonne's finger and Yvonne, hopefully, would slip the ring on Deeny's finger. Wed, by heart and soul in front of her family. The very thought made Deeny giddy. She smiled all the more as she started old blue and put it into gear to begin her drive home.

***___***___

"I never in my life thought I would miss this place." Tom said languidly as he and Lee lay sweating and temporarily satiated on his mother's bed, looking up at the ceiling.

"This house? Or this county?" Lee asked curiously as she lay on her left side with her head on his shoulder, her right leg still thrown over Tom's legs and her hand idly running through the sparse hair on his chest.

"Mostly this house. All I've thought about for most of my life was to get away from here... well... to get away from that old bastard. But without him here, and now with you being here... I see it differently. It would be a wonderful place to raise a family." Tom professed as he ran the fingers of his right hand through Lee's dampened golden locks, gently brushing a few strays out of her face for her.

"It is a nice house, but is it big enough?" Lee asked, causing Tom to turn his head and look into her big beautiful blue eyes.

"What do you mean?" He asked puzzled by the question.

"Well, there's us, and soon to be our first of who knows how many children, and your mother... and now her soon to be new husband Sheriff Potter... I mean, is she going to move away from here to be with him or is he going to move in here?" Lee asked quietly wondering what the possibilities and arrangements were going to be.

Tom shrugged as best he could while lying on his back with Lee nestled in close.

"I don't know. I suppose we'll find out soon enough, but I probably won't be here when I find out. I really should have asked, I mean... where are you going to live while I'm away?" Tom asked now suddenly concerned with arrangements that hadn't crossed his mind until just now.

It was Lee's turn to shrug as she cuddled a little closer before answering.

"I figure, since Annie... you mom has said yes to the Sheriff, I would probably want to give them as much room to... well... you know. Besides, I'm going to be working at the diner before the baby comes. I can still ride with Deeny to and from work till then. After the baby comes, mom said that she'd help with sitting and taking care of the baby when I had to go back to work. So, I figured that I'd just continue living at home with my mom and dad till you came back." Lee said quietly then looked up into Tom's face for his reaction or input.

"You know, my mom and your mom are going to practically be smothering our baby when it comes. There will be no shortage of help with babysitting." Tom said with a chuckle. Then he sighed and continued.

"You're probably right though, in giving my mom and Gerald some room. I'm sure mom has a lot of catching up to do." Tom said and jumped as Lee poked him in the ribs for the implication of his mother and the sheriff "catching up".

Lee and Tom both giggled a little at the thought.

"I wonder why Deeny was so insistent that we come to mom and dad's house for dinner tonight?" Lee queried thoughtfully.

"I don't know, I guess we'll find out though, soon. We should probably get up and clean up a bit before we dress and head that way." Tom said thoughtfully, still running his fingers through Lee's hair.

"You're just hungry!" Lee said with a little laugh, turning her face so that she could bite his right shoulder playfully.

"OW!" Tom cried before wrapping both arms around her as she squealed and laughed out loud, pretending to struggle, her lithe naked sweat dampened body sliding along his as he pulled her atop of his own bringing her face to his for a passionate kiss.

"Do we have to go?" Lee almost whined when the kiss ended and she gazed dreamily into Tom's eyes.

"Well, we did promise that we would be there, so yeah, we'd better go." Tom confirmed softly, gazing lovingly into Lee's big blue eyes in return.

"Fine, but we'll continue... this... later when we get back." Lee stated as a matter of foregone fact.

"Promise?" Tom asked teasingly and raised his head up to plant another quick passionate kiss on Lee's smiling and delicious lips.

"Promise!" Lee said gasping for breath when they broke the kiss moments later.

With that, the two rolled out of bed and headed to the bathroom to take a shower and clean up. The grabbed and fondled and tickled and caressed throughout the entire process. It's any wonder they were able to bathe and get dressed and on their way without ending up back in bed. Both smiled as if that was the only thing they were capable of doing, and it was, when in each other's company anyway.

***___***___

Duke stood behind Caroline as she tended to food on the stove. He wrapped his arms around her waist and squeezed her gently as he nuzzled her neck and kissed her softly under her ear. Caroline momentarily swooned, pressing back into his broad chest, moaning softly with her eyes closed.

"Have I told you I loved you today?" Duke asked her softly as he gently rocked her side to side.

"I think so... but feel free to repeat yourself all you want." Caroline purred then pressed her elbows back into him to push him away gently.

"Not now though, I need to finish cooking, everyone will be getting here anytime now. Why don't you get the tea pitcher from the fridge and set it on the table... make yourself useful. You can pick this back up later." Caroline said with a soft laugh as she half turned and kissed his cheek.

Duke sighed and moved to the fridge to do as she had asked. He was just closing the fridge door when he and Caroline heard Old Blue pull up outside and stop by the old oak tree. Deeny was home. Caroline looked over at Duke and smiled as if to say "I told you so."

Deeny came through the screen door from the porch practically vibrating with nervous energy. She stopped by the table and hugged her father and kissed his cheek.

"Hi daddy." She practically sang as she nearly skipped over to the stove to do the same for her mother.

"I love you mom. Thank you so much." Deeny gushed and kissed her mother's cheek again before turning and nearly running to the stairs and up to bedroom she and her sister had shared for years.

Upstairs, Deeny began taking off her waitress uniform before she even reached her room. Down to only her bra and panties, she once more looked that the summer-dress she had hung on the back of the door before she left for work this morning. It was a darker blue with light blue, yellow and red flowers printed throughout. At the foot of her bed were the dress sandals she liked to wear with dresses, at least in the warmer months.

Deeny had considered weary a silk bra and panty set that she on rare occasions wore, but decided against either this night. The dress was dark enough that it wasn't particularly see-through and long enough that an accidental exposure was next to impossible... so no, no underwear tonight.

Smiling at the thought of going commando on this most special night made her tingle in all the naughtiest of places. With a sigh, Deeny left her room to go down the hall to the bathroom wearing only her work panties and bra. They would be going into the hamper and she could wear a towel back to the room after her shower.

It had to have been one of the quickest showers she had taken in a very long time. It was over before the mirror over the sink even had time to fog over from the steam of the shower. Deeny had only dampened her hair instead of shampooing this evening. It would take too long to dry before she could style it if she had shampooed.

After drying off, mostly, Deeny brushed her teeth more out of habit than on purpose. She studied her reflection in the mirror and asked herself if she really wanted to go through with this. Her eyes watered with happy tears and her bottom lip trembled with the beginnings of a smile as she nodded to her reflection. "Yes. Absolutely, yes." She declared to herself before turning and opening the door to go back to her room.

First thing, Deeny stepped into her sandals and then buckled the little straps on the back of each heel. Next, she slipped the dress on over her head and wriggled it down into place, turning this way and that in the mirror on the dresser. Her fidgety hands smoothed down imaginary wrinkles and fingered the ruffle like arms at her shoulders.

Satisfied with the fit and look of the dress, Deeny then set about styling her hair. Her thick dark locks would never hold the prettier hairstyles that her younger sister tended to prefer, or even those that her mother often wore. Like as not, Deeny would usually be found to be wearing a pony tail, though sometimes she actually brushed, coiled and twisted it into an updo bun with a couple of strategically placed loose strands down the sides of her face by her ears.

She wanted to look nice tonight, for Yvonne, and present her with something that she'd not seen Deeny wear before. Tonight, she decided to modify the bun and the ponytail, combining them somewhat. She gathered all of her hair, pulling it back as if to make a ponytail, and secured it with an elastic tie. Then she set about pulling the sides, teasing them out of the tie to form something akin to wings that swooped from her front scalp along the sided of her face and just over her ears. Of course, she teased out a couple of strands to hang down the sides of her face, one on each side.

Turning her head side to side to get a good look at her handiwork, Deeny smiled. She liked the way it turned out. She didn't even need any hair spray for this style. It was light and airy, like the summer dress she wore, but refined somewhat. She thought Yvonne would like it. Deeny looked at her watch and her stomach fluttered with a thousand butterflies... it was almost time. Yvonne would be here soon.

Opening the top drawer of the dresser that Deeny shared with her sister for so many years, Deeny picked up the little blue velveteen ring box and held it in her hands... to her breast, her heart. Bringing the box to her face, she pried the lid open to peek once more at the two rings her father had made for her out of the silver coins, she had given him. They shined even in the light of her bedroom, they each had a small bow of blue ribbon. The rings were connected with that ribbon, just as Deeny was connected to Yvonne and she with Deeny.

Deeny smiled again, so much her face had to start hurting before too long she thought as she slipped the ring box into the pocket in her flowery summer dress. She looked up into the mirror again and paused. Perhaps she should put a little makeup on ... a little maybe. And... a little perfume?

Caroline was just pouring the green beans into a serving bowl when she heard tires crunching on the gravel of the driveway outside the house. Duke heard it too and moved to the screen door to look outside.

Slowing in the driveway and parking next to the old blue chevy under the big oak tree was a pickup truck. Waving from the passenger side window was Lee. Then Yvonne's car turned in to park next to the pickup truck as well. Lee and Tom got out of the truck and Lee almost leapt into Yvonne's arms for a hug before the taller woman could even fully stand up after getting out of her car.

"Looks like everyone is here." Duke commented, from the screen door, over his shoulder as he watched the greetings going on outside.

When Yvonne was finally released by Lee, she gave Tom a warm hug as well and he offered both girls an arm each and turned to walk to the porch. In the bedroom window upstairs, Deeny had watched the greetings and her heart raced... the butterflies were turning into a tornado in her stomach. This was it... or at least, the beginning.

Deeny had decided to wait until everyone had finished eating dinner tonight before making her proposal to Yvonne. That way, no one would be distracted. But before that would happen, Deeny still had to go downstairs and greet the love of her life. To let her see Deeny as she was now dressed and made up, especially for her.