Part 32 (1/2)

”Where are Granny and Marietta?” he asked as they headed down her hallway.

”Marietta went home today,” Waycross told him.

”And Granny's at my house in my guest room,” Tammy said. ”Probably sound asleep by now.”

Savannah stopped outside the door of her second bedroom. ”Waycross, I think you are the one most responsible for this, so why don't you fill him in.”

His big freckled face s.h.i.+ning with happiness, Waycross reached for the doork.n.o.b. ”Well,” he began, ”my big sister here knew that it was gonna be hard for you-a real man's man that you are-to live here in a woman's house. Her being kinda a girlie-girl decorator, and all that. So she told me how she wanted this done, and I did my best. Me and Tammy, who was like my a.s.sistant.”

Waycross reached over, put his arm around Tammy's shoulders, and pulled her next to him. ”Now the three of us would like to present you with”-he threw the door open with a flourish-”your man cave!”

Savannah was as surprised as Dirk when she looked inside and saw that her feminine, ruffles-satin-and-lace guest room had disappeared. In its place was an almost exact replica of Dirk's trailer's living room.

There was the bus seat sofa-though Savannah was thankful to see that Waycross hadn't transported the rusted TV trays, which served as end tables. On new shelves, which lined one wall, were Dirk's Harley mementos. All two hundredplus of them, including Harley mugs and shot gla.s.ses, figurines, ashtrays, bobble dolls, and Christmas ornaments.

On the opposite wall hung his framed Harley tee-s.h.i.+rts, collector plates, and old tin signs.

The third wall also had shelves, and they were lined with Dirk's VHS tapes-an entire library of Bonanza episodes, as well as Sean Connery and Clint Eastwood movies.

Instead of the walls being a rosy pink, they were now pale blue. The lacy curtains had been replaced with simple white shades. And on the floor lay a blue rug with the Los Angeles Dodgers logo in the center.

”Holy cow!” Dirk said as he stepped into pure Coulter paradise. ”How did you . . . ? When did you . . . ?” He turned to Waycross and Tammy. ”You guys did this for me? Really?”

”Savannah paid for it,” Waycross said. ”She told us what to do.”

”But they painted the room and moved everything over here,” Savannah added.

”And Waycross built all those shelves,” Tammy said. ”He's really good with power tools! You should see him! He's amazing!”

Tammy gazed up at him with so much adoration that Savannah felt like bursting into tears. Especially when she saw Waycross look down at Tammy with the same affection in his eyes.

Apparently, Dirk's little telephone pep talk had done some good, after all.

”I don't know what to say,” Dirk told them, suddenly plagued by some fuzz or something in his eyes. ”n.o.body's ever done anything like this for me before. I mean, it's just . . . geez, guys . . . it's too much!”

Waycross reached over and wrapped his other arm around Dirk's shoulders and gave him a hearty, sideways hug. ”Well, heck, man. You're my brother now.”

Suddenly, without any warning, it was a group hug-just one great big knot of sniffling, laughing happiness.

Savannah half-expected Dirk to try to wriggle out of it. Group hugs weren't really his favorite things. Especially a Reid family hug.

Everyone knew people had been seriously injured during those.

However, he submitted with more grace than she had ever thought him capable of.

”This is cool,” he said with typical Dirk articulation. ”So cool. It's like I really do have a family now.”

Tammy was the first to pull out of the bunch. She reached over and took his hand. ”That's true. Since we're feeling all this family love stuff, I have something to give you, too. It's a belated wedding gift, but we have to go downstairs to get it.”

Dirk looked around at his new room. ”I hate to leave my man cave, but okay. Let's go.”

They tromped back down the stairs.

Once in the living room, Tammy led them over to her computer. She sat down in the desk chair and pulled up another chair next to her.

”Have a seat,” she told Dirk. ”There's something I want to show you.”

Savannah stood with Waycross behind them. She was rabidly curious what this present might be. Tammy hadn't mentioned any additional surprises to her. But then, the suns.h.i.+ne girl was always coming up with unique gifts for the ones she loved.

Savannah was so grateful to be counted among that number.

Tammy turned in her chair to face Dirk. To Savannah's shock, she took both of his hands in hers and looked into his eyes. ”I want to thank you, Dirk,” she began, ”for what you said to Waycross. The things you shared with him the other day-it's made a big difference in our relations.h.i.+p.”

She beamed over her shoulder at Waycross for a moment. His face flushed almost as red as his hair.

Tammy turned back to Dirk, who was nearly as fl.u.s.tered as Waycross. He mumbled, ”You're welcome.”

Then she continued. ”I hope that you don't mind, but he shared a little of what you told him about you being adopted.”

Oh, wow, Savannah thought. There must have been a lot more to that conversation than she had heard.

”He also told me what that awful man who adopted you said about your mother.”

Dirk didn't reply. He just nodded and looked down.

Tammy squeezed his hands. ”I couldn't bear to think of you living your whole life and not knowing, so . . . I hope you'll forgive me if this is something you wouldn't have wanted me to do, but . . .”

She reached over and flipped on the computer. ”. . . but I did some research about your mother. If you don't want to know, I won't tell you, because-”

Dirk sat bolt upright in his chair. ”Yes!” he said. ”Yes! I want to know. Whatever you found! Everything!”