Chapter 452 Lori's Wonder:>73

• Davey showed me around the house a little, none of which made me change my mind in the least; I'd be dipped in shit before I ever lived at Denham Hall, nor would I ever, under any circumstances, let any child of mine within a mile of that gloomy pit; I'd rather live in a Saigon jail cell than call the place home, and certain events that night bore me out; what happened has already been told, so I'll say nothing more on the subject, except that it was the most frightening experience of my entire life. Just believe me when I say the return of Elvis, teaching a dog to tap-dance and sing 'Embraceable You', and me living there are three things that are just not ever gonna happen.
• Davey did take time the morning we arrived to show me his father's car collection, which included some of the most beautiful cars I'd ever seen, all in perfect condition; the car his granddaddy gave Mom on her wedding day, a classic 1950's Jaguar C-Type sports car, was there, dark green and sleek, curvaceous, and breathtakingly sexy, a few quirky machines that David Senior had cherished, a pop-eyed little red car that had been Daddy and David Senior's favorite plaything (and it had come as bit of a shock when Davey had first told me that Daddy knew Davey's daddy well, they'd been best friends, closer than brothers, even, from before Davey was born), and, best of all, Daddy's beautiful, gleaming Harley Davidson motorcycle, untouched and un-ridden since the day Davey's poor daddy had passed away.
• As soon as I laid my hands on those swooping, up-swept handlebars I felt his hands in mine, I saw him bowling down a country lane on that red, ivory-white, and sparkling chrome work of art, the motor making that distinctive, throbbing 'potato, potato' Harley-sound, with that huge, happy grin of his, his hair whipping in the breeze as he rode, and the look of perfect happiness he'd get whenever he looked at Mom. It was just a moment, but I felt all those things, I felt him all around me again, and suddenly I felt completely at home; Daddy was here, this was a part of him, I had my hands in his hands again, and now I knew, deep down and all the way through me, that he hadn't gone at all; he'd been here waiting for me all along. Some tears came, but they were sweet and wistful, a remembrance of what he'd been to both of us, and Davey had smiled as he wiped them away, giving me a look that told me he knew exactly what had passed through my mind. Once again that thought crossed my mind, the realization that my daddy was also his daddy; he'd been Davey's daddy before he was ever my daddy, and I knew that Davey had felt those self-same things every time he'd laid hands on this thing he'd kept so pristine in memory of both his daddies.