Wedding Bell Blues - [15]

“Lily,” he said, “I know I oughta let you put this baby girl to bed, but I swear, I don’t believe I can standto part with her.”

“She does look awfully comfortable,” Lily said. Big Ben cradled Mimi’s little body in hisenormous forearm and hand. In his other hand, he held the last beer from the cooler.

“Daddy,” Ben said, “there’s something I need to talk to you about ... some legal trouble.”

Big Ben raised his wooly eyebrows. “You in trouble with the law, boy?”

“No, Daddy ... nothing like that. It’s about Mimi, actually.”

“Now you got me real confused, Benny Jack.” Big Ben took another swig of beer and lookeddown at Mimi’s cherubic face.

“It’s about who gets custody of Mimi,” Ben the younger said. “You see ... I’m Mimi’s biologicalfather, but Lily here isn’t Mimi’s real mother.”

Lily was offended by the phrase real mother, but decided it was best not to make an issue out ofit… not while they were trying to make their case. “Mimi is the daughter of my best friend Charlotte,”Lily explained. “She was killed in an accident, and she left custody of Mimi to me.”

“Charlotte was in the car with Dez,” Ben added.

Big Ben shook his head. “I sure was sorry when ole Dez got killed. He was queer as a three-dollarbill, but he was funny as hell.” He stared off in the distance for a second. “Now, Benny Jack, Mimi here’syour baby by Charlotte?”

“Yes. Charlotte and I were ... involved.”

Lily could tell she really wanted this plan to work because she managed to keep a straight faceduring this part of the story.

“Well, I’ll be a monkey’s uncle!” Big Ben laughed, obviously delighted. “All this time I thoughtyou was a fairy, and here you was, with two women!”

“Go figure,” Ben replied lamely.

“So, anyway,” Lily said, “now Charlotte’s parents want to contest my custody of Mimi — theydon’t think I should be allowed to raise her.”

Big Ben drained his can of beer and crushed it. “Now is that on account them thinking there wassomethin’ between you and Charlotte?” His steel-gray eyes were focused on Lily.

“Well, uh . . . there was something between Charlotte and me,” Lily said, as Ben shot her awarning glance. “But that was before I met Benny Jack here.”

“Hmm.” Big Ben scratched his beard thoughtfully. “Well, I don’t even pretend to understand whatit is you young people do today, but what I want to know is this: The two of y’all has a real marriage,right? You’re devoted to each other, with no hanky-panky on the side?”

“We are,” Ben and Lily said in unison.

“And y’all wanna make a real family for this little girl?”

“Yes.”

“All right, then. First thing in the mornin’, I’ll get ole Buzz Dobson on the phone ... he’s ourfamily lawyer. And Lily, you just tell Charlotte’s parents to come on down to the Faulkner CountyCourthouse, and we’ll have a big can o’ whupass waitin’ for ’em.”

Lily and Ben lay in their marital bed, not consummating a thing. “You think you’re gonna be ableto do this?” Ben asked.

“Do what?” Lily gasped. She was a little nervous about his question, given where they were.

“Fake this whole marriage act for as long as it takes?”

“I think so. It’s awfully fucking weird, though. This whole day has reminded me of when I wasexperimenting with hallucinogens in college.”

“I know what you mean — not about the drugs, but about the weirdness. Tomorrow we’ll see if wecan rent an apartment ... that way we’ll be out from under my parents’ watchful eyes. Plus, we won’t bestuck in the same bed.”

“That’d be cool. This isn’t so bad, though. When I was little I used to sleep in the same bed withmy cousins. It’s kinda like that.” She listened to her stomach rumble. “One thing we’re definitely gonnahave to do tomorrow is find some food I can eat. The only thing I could eat at the barbecue was that fruitsalad with the little marshmallows in it.”

“Yeah, my folks aren’t much on vegetarian cuisine.”

“No shit. Even the potato salad had bacon in it.” They lay in awkward silence for a few minutesuntil finally Lily said, “Good night, husband.”

“Good night, wife.”

Lily closed her eyes and slept the sleep of exhaustion.

CHAPTER 6

Mimi had gone to the park with Dez. Finally, Lily and Charlotte could have some time alone.

Since Mimi had come onto the scene, time alone had become Charlotte and Lily’s euphemism for thelovemaking that occurred all too infrequently between them. Their nighttime attempts at intimacy wereoften interrupted by Mimi howling for formula or climbing out of her crib to scratch pathetically at theirbedroom door. As a result of this syndrome of caught-us-interruptus, Dez had agreed to take Mimi out fora couple of hours every two weeks so the women could enjoy some uninterrupted time alone.

Although sex had become less frequent since Mimi’s arrival, the rule seemed to be quality overquantity. Lily and Charlotte craved their time alone — ached for those couple of hours when they couldbe free of the responsibilities of mommyhood and lose themselves in each other.

Lily was aware of Charlotte behind her as they walked upstairs to the bedroom. Her breath caught