Wedding Bell Blues - [30]

bill.”

Lily smiled. “Gee, thanks.”

Dr. Jack returned her grin. “My pleasure, Mrs. McGilly.”

As she wrote the check, Lily marveled at the direction her life was taking. She never thought she’dlive to hear a butch — or anyone — call her “Mrs.” anything.

After Lily finally agreed to let Mordecai in bed with her, he dropped off in a fitful sleep. Lyingawake while Mordecai snored beside her and Ben snored in the next room, Lily had her first moment ofenlightenment since Charlotte’s death.

She was thinking about the story Dr. Jack told, about going with her father on vet calls when shewas a little girl. There was a picture book in that story —a picture book about farm animals, so simplethat even very young children like Mimi could enjoy it. But the pictures of the farm animals could beframed by the story of the little girl and her father — and how the little girl wants to grow up to be a vet.

Lily had never written a book for such young children before, but she liked the idea of writingsomething for Mimi. It would be a lasting gift for her daughter — even if things in the courtroom didn’twork out.

She wanted to draw the animals in accurate detail, something along the lines of Garth Williams’

wonderful illustrations for Charlotte’s Web, but she hadn’t been to a farm since a field trip in first grade.

Lily wondered if Dr. Jack might agree to let her go along on a few farm calls, so she could sit back at asafe distance and sketch the animals. She would ask her on Friday, she decided, when she called aboutMordecai.

CHAPTER 11

“The hearing is set for August fifteenth,” Buzz Dobson told Lily and Ben as they sat in his dingylaw office, the decor of which consisted of half a dozen dusty football trophies and one bedraggled plasticplant. “Let’s just pray that the air-conditioning in the courthouse is working.”

Lily sighed and looked down at Mimi, who was getting positively filthy playing on the lawoffice’s unmopped floor. “I’m afraid the temperature in the courtroom is the least of our worries.”

Buzz shot Ben a conspiratorial grin. “She’s the nervous type, ain’t she?”

“Well,” Ben said, attempting a macho attitude, “you know how women get about babies.”

Lily sat quietly with her hands in her lap, but her fists were clenched so tightly she doubtedanyone would be able to pry them apart.

Buzz pasted a condescending smile across his face. “Now, Mrs. McGilly, I don’t think you have athing to worry about. We just need to establish that you and Benny Jack love each other and that you loveMimi and take good care of her. And if Benny Jack here is Mimi’s real father like he says he is, you’vegot no worries.”

“Right,” Lily said, clenching her fists even tighter. “No worries.”

“Now if you wanna do something that’ll turn the odds even more in your favor, I have a couple ofsuggestions for you, Mrs. McGilly.”

“Yeah?”

“Well...” Buzz shuffled some papers uncomfortably. “When you’re up there on the stand, youcould try to look like a nice girl.”

“A nice girl?” Lily looked down at her cutoff Levi’s and Doc Martens, which were separated bypasty white legs whose unshaven state was due to apathy rather than feminist politics. “Well, I wasplanning on wearing a dress, if that’s what you mean.”

Buzz smiled self-consciously and reshuffled his papers. “Um, well, yes, that’s part of it. But I wasalso thinking you could take that ... that thing out of your nose and maybe do something with your hair.”

“My hair?” Lily was proud of her hair. Very few white girls had such soulful braids.

“Yeah, I mean ... somethin’ respectable.” He was still staring at his desk. “Look, Mrs. McGilly,I’m not a fashion expert, and the last thing I wanna do is tell a lady how she should fix herself up. I’m justsaying that in these parts, a judge might look more sympathetically on a lady with a more ... conservativeappearance.”

Lily flinched at the sound of the word conservative but muttered, “I’ll see what I can do.” As longas she was the same person on the inside, it didn’t matter what clothes she wore or how she styled herhair. Or so she tried to convince herself. If the only way she could keep her daughter was by deceivingpeople with misleading appearances, then deceive them she would.

At first Lily had been reluctant when Ben had wanted to invite Ken over for dinner. The facade ofpropriety they had created was so delicate that the slightest provocation could cause it to shatter.

“Don’t be so paranoid, O wife of mine,” Ben had said. “Married couples have bachelor friendsover for dinner all the time —just to make sure the poor single guys get a decent meal every once in awhile. No one will think a thing of it. And besides,” he added, “Ken knows the truth. Wouldn’t it be niceto be able to let your guard down for an evening — to spend a few hours not pretending to be my littlewoman?”

Lily had to admit that it would.

Despite the fact that she was not slated to play the role of little woman for the evening, Lily stillgot saddled with the cooking. She didn’t mind it, actually.

Ben’s culinary abilities were limited to picking up the phone and ordering Chinese takeout, and