Wedding Bell Blues - [54]

the course of events was inevitable, she might as well speed things along.

“Now I can’t say me and Jeanie was surprised by what Sheila and Tracee said they saw,” Big Bencontinued. “I reckon what surprised us was that y’all didn’t have the presence of mind to lock the frontdoor before ya got nekkid.”

For the first time since his parents arrived, Ben looked up. “What?”

Jeanie set her cup down on the coffee table. “Why, Benny Jack, honey, we’ve knowed you was ahomosexual since you was ten years old. And when you brought Lily home, we just kinda figgered shewas one, too.”

With a shaking hand, Lily set down her cup. “You...knew?”

Big Ben smiled. “Honey, just ’cause we live in a little-bitty town in Georgia don’t mean we’restupid. Benny Jack never cared nothin’ ’bout girls, and you know what they say: A tiger don’t change hisstripes.”

“So you were going to help me keep Mimi even though you knew I was a lesbian?”

Jeanie shrugged. “Don’t see why not. You’re a good mama.”

“And besides,” Big Ben said, “I took a real dislike to them Maycombs. Never could stand peoplewho meddle around in their grown children’s affairs. After your younguns is out of your house, what theydo is their bizness.”

Ben was mute again, but Lily could tell it was a different kind of muteness from before — amuteness that came from the realization that in all his years, he had never given his parents enough creditfor being decent, intelligent human beings.

“Well, I’m very touched by your support,” Lily said, “but no matter how supportive you are, itwon’t do us a bit of good if Sheila and Tracee go blabbing about us all over town.”

“I wouldn’t worry about Sheila and Tracee,” Big Ben said. “I took care of them.”

Lily thought of all those stuffed hunting trophies that littered the McGilly house. “You didn’t ...

shoot them, did you?”

Big Ben let out a big belly laugh and slapped his thigh. “Naw, honey, I didn’t shoot ’em. ’Course,I’d like the sight of my bank book a little better if I had shot ’em. I bought ’em off ... it was the easiestthing in the world. You give ’em a little money to buy somethin’ shiny with, and they’ll shut right up.

They’re no better than magpies, those women. I went to the safe in the house and peeled ’em each off fivethousand-dollar bills — pocket change was all it was. I told ’em if they breathed a word of what they seenat your house, that’d be the last of my money they’d ever see.”

Ben shook his head in wonder, and Lily rose to kiss Big Ben and Jeanie. “You’re the best father-and mother-in-law a lesbian in a sham marriage ever had.”

The doorbell rang before Lily had a chance to sit down. She opened the door to see GrannyMcGilly, holding the sleeping Mimi in her arms.

“I took her to the playground over in Callahan and ran her some,” Granny said. “Once the carstarted moving, she went out like a light.”

Lily took Mimi from Granny McGilly and held her close. The little girl smelled of sunshine andsleep, and Lily inhaled deeply.

The courtroom of the Faulkner County Courthouse did not have the polished wood sheen ofcourtrooms on TV shows. The once-white walls were dingy, and Lily, Ben, and Buzz Dobson were seatedat a cheap folding table. Ida, Charles, and Mike Maycomb, with their Italian-suited attorney, sat at afolding table opposite of them. With its dinginess and cheap furniture, the room looked like anapproximation of a courtroom for a high school production of Inherit the Wind.

The entrance of Judge Sanders failed to fill Lily with hope. Despite the fact that he wassupposedly the official property of the McGilly family, the judge’s dour expression did not inspireconfidence. Stooped and scowling, he looked as ancient and stodgy as some of the living fossils on the

Judge Sanders croaked at the Maycombs’ attorney to make his opening remarks. Stephen J.

Hamilton stood before the judge, wearing a suit that probably cost more than the sum total of all theclothing Lily had bought in her life. His artfully woven hair, his bronze skin — everything about him saidbig-shot, big-city lawyer. Lily hoped that Judge Sanders wasn’t impressed by flashy appearances.

“Your honor,” Hamilton began, “I am here to speak today about the value of a child. Those of usin this courtroom who are parents know the joy of holding a new baby for the first time, and any goodparent will tell you that a child is more precious than diamonds, more valuable than gold.” Lily watchedthe gold and diamond ring glint on his right hand. “The value of a happy child, a loved child, a childraised by strict but loving parents in a morally sound home, is immeasurable. These children are worthmore than their weight in diamonds and gold. These children are our country’s most valuable resource,for in their tiny hands, is our future.

“But,” Hamilton said, letting his tone grow somber. “What about the other children? Childrenraised in morally unfit homes? Children without a real mother and father to love them, to discipline them,to teach them right from wrong? What about these children’s future? And how will these children affect