ornaments.
She thought of how lovely those ornaments would look next Christmas hanging on her tree among her carefully color-coordinated, lavender and rose Victorian vintage baubles.
Oh, dear Lord , she thought, what have I gotten myself into?
Dirk pulled into her driveway and parked next to her bright red ’65 Mustang. It was her baby, her pride and joy, the reason why she could almost understand why he loved his Harley stuff to distraction. An obsession was an obsession. As long as she talked lovingly and sang to her ’Stang every Saturday morning when she washed, vacuumed, dusted, and waxed it—stopping just short of flossing its teeth—she really couldn’t say much about his framed Harley tee-shirts.
“Who-all’s here?” he said as he cut the key and gave a wary glance toward the house.
“You mean, which of my zillion Georgia relatives are still using my house as a free motel while they prolong their California vacations?”
“Yeah, something like that.”
Savannah couldn’t blame him for being leery. So was she. On her wedding day, when she had left her home, it had been filled to the brim with Reids.
As the oldest of nine kids, she had more relatives than she could shake a stick at. Frequently, she found that was exactly what she wanted to do. She could handle them one at a time when she had to, but having her small, two-bedroom, one-and-a-half–bath house overrun with her two brothers, six sisters, one brother-in-law, two nieces, and two nephews had just about been her undoing.
Her grandmother had been there, too, but Granny was the one person in the world, other than Dirk—and the jury was still out on him—whom Savannah wouldn’t mind living with for the rest of her life. Gran had taken all nine of her neglected grandchildren into her home and heart, years ago. For that, and for all the loving guidance and comfort she still continued to supply in bountiful abundance, Savannah would be forever grateful and in her debt.
“Well, Granny’s here,” she told him.
“Gran can stay as long as she wants, as far as I’m concerned,” he said, reminding her of why she loved him.
“And Waycross.”
“Waycross’s a cool dude. I don’t mind him. Just tell me Vidalia and her old man and those two sets of twins are gone.”
“Left this morning.”
“Thank goodness for that. Not that I don’t like children, but those kids of hers are enough to turn you against the younger set.”
“Cordele, Alma, Jessup, Atlanta, and Macon left last night. Marietta’s still here,” she said, hoping she could slip that in without him noticing it.
“Marietta? Oh, man. Just kill me now.”
“Ah, come on. I know how much you love her.”
“ ‘Love her’? I can’t stand her. What’s that thing you always say about her and cockroaches?”
“She’s crazy as a sprayed roach?”
“That’s it. And she is. You keep that woman away from me.”
“I’ll do my best, sweetums. Let’s go inside. It’s time to face the music.”
Chapter 6
S avannah and Dirk got out of his car and walked, hand in hand, up the sidewalk to the house. As Savannah was unlocking the front door, she could hear Marietta’s voice inside, high and shrill, rattling on about some topic that Savannah knew had to be positively enthralling. Probably something about the new brand of hair spray she’d discovered on sale or maybe the edible, tiger-striped undies at the naughty-girlie shop she’d located somewhere on the bad side of town. If Granny wasn’t around, she’d probably be jabbering about how she was going to use the hair spray to get the biggest hair possible, and how she would wear the new panties to a rendezvous with some guy she’d met yesterday during an Internet chat. Her most recent soul mate, no doubt.
Marietta was a woman with her priorities in order.
“They call this Passion Aplenty,” they heard her say as Savannah swung the door open and they stepped inside. “It’s the latest color. I’m going to paint
She thought of how lovely those ornaments would look next Christmas hanging on her tree among her carefully color-coordinated, lavender and rose Victorian vintage baubles.
Oh, dear Lord , she thought, what have I gotten myself into?
Dirk pulled into her driveway and parked next to her bright red ’65 Mustang. It was her baby, her pride and joy, the reason why she could almost understand why he loved his Harley stuff to distraction. An obsession was an obsession. As long as she talked lovingly and sang to her ’Stang every Saturday morning when she washed, vacuumed, dusted, and waxed it—stopping just short of flossing its teeth—she really couldn’t say much about his framed Harley tee-shirts.
“Who-all’s here?” he said as he cut the key and gave a wary glance toward the house.
“You mean, which of my zillion Georgia relatives are still using my house as a free motel while they prolong their California vacations?”
“Yeah, something like that.”
Savannah couldn’t blame him for being leery. So was she. On her wedding day, when she had left her home, it had been filled to the brim with Reids.
As the oldest of nine kids, she had more relatives than she could shake a stick at. Frequently, she found that was exactly what she wanted to do. She could handle them one at a time when she had to, but having her small, two-bedroom, one-and-a-half–bath house overrun with her two brothers, six sisters, one brother-in-law, two nieces, and two nephews had just about been her undoing.
Her grandmother had been there, too, but Granny was the one person in the world, other than Dirk—and the jury was still out on him—whom Savannah wouldn’t mind living with for the rest of her life. Gran had taken all nine of her neglected grandchildren into her home and heart, years ago. For that, and for all the loving guidance and comfort she still continued to supply in bountiful abundance, Savannah would be forever grateful and in her debt.
“Well, Granny’s here,” she told him.
“Gran can stay as long as she wants, as far as I’m concerned,” he said, reminding her of why she loved him.
“And Waycross.”
“Waycross’s a cool dude. I don’t mind him. Just tell me Vidalia and her old man and those two sets of twins are gone.”
“Left this morning.”
“Thank goodness for that. Not that I don’t like children, but those kids of hers are enough to turn you against the younger set.”
“Cordele, Alma, Jessup, Atlanta, and Macon left last night. Marietta’s still here,” she said, hoping she could slip that in without him noticing it.
“Marietta? Oh, man. Just kill me now.”
“Ah, come on. I know how much you love her.”
“ ‘Love her’? I can’t stand her. What’s that thing you always say about her and cockroaches?”
“She’s crazy as a sprayed roach?”
“That’s it. And she is. You keep that woman away from me.”
“I’ll do my best, sweetums. Let’s go inside. It’s time to face the music.”
Chapter 6
S avannah and Dirk got out of his car and walked, hand in hand, up the sidewalk to the house. As Savannah was unlocking the front door, she could hear Marietta’s voice inside, high and shrill, rattling on about some topic that Savannah knew had to be positively enthralling. Probably something about the new brand of hair spray she’d discovered on sale or maybe the edible, tiger-striped undies at the naughty-girlie shop she’d located somewhere on the bad side of town. If Granny wasn’t around, she’d probably be jabbering about how she was going to use the hair spray to get the biggest hair possible, and how she would wear the new panties to a rendezvous with some guy she’d met yesterday during an Internet chat. Her most recent soul mate, no doubt.
Marietta was a woman with her priorities in order.
“They call this Passion Aplenty,” they heard her say as Savannah swung the door open and they stepped inside. “It’s the latest color. I’m going to paint
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