Wedding Bell Blues - [60]

Lily and Ben were both subdued on the stand. They answered Buzz’s gentle questions asrehearsed, and when the time for cross-examination came, they each followed Buzz’s instructions: “Nomatter how much that sonuvabitch tries to provoke you, don’t say anything but that you both love Mimiand that you plan to raise her in a healthy, supportive environment.”

When all the testimony had been given, it was nearly four o’clock. Judge Sanders took off hisglasses and rubbed his eyes. With his glasses back in place, he said, “We’ve heard some very persuasiveevidence from both sides today,” he began, “but it seems to me that there is one factor that has beenoverlooked —or intentionally ignored— by both Mr. Hamilton and Mr. Dobson, the claim that Mr. BennyJack McGilly is Mimi Maycomb’s biological father. If Mr. McGilly is indeed the child’s father, it is onlyfitting that I give custody to Mr. McGilly, and, of course, his wife.”

Judge Sanders sucked in his breath, then exhaled. “however, Mr. McGilly’s claim to paternity isunproven. If Mr. McGilly is not the child’s father, certain evidence — particularly the video evidencepresented by Mr. Hamilton — persuades me that the Maycombs could provide Mimi Maycomb with ahealthier, more morally sound home environment.”

He took off his glasses to rub his eyes again. Lily wished his eyeballs would fall out into hishands. “Mr. Benny Jack McGilly,” the judge intoned, “I order you to submit to a DNA test to determinepaternity. If you are Mimi’s father, in the interest of the rights of biological fathers, I will award custodyto you and your wife, Lily McGilly. In the event that you have deceived this court and are not MimiMaycomb’s father, custody will be awarded to Mr. and Mrs. Charles Maycomb.”

The judge looked at Ben. “Mr. McGilly, I’ve already talked to the folks at the lab over at FaulknerCounty Hospital. I explained the rather urgent nature of this case, and they said if you come in at eightA.M. tomorrow and bring Mimi, they can rush the blood samples down to Atlanta and have the results byMonday morning. Is that agreeable to you, Mr. McGilly?”

“Yes, sir.” Ben’s face was as white as a sheet of paper. Lily remembered what he had said whenthey were hatching this ill-fated scheme: “Nobody in Faulkner County is gonna make a McGilly submitto a DNA test.”

“All right, then,” Judge Sanders said. “Court will reconvene Monday at ten A.M., at which timethe test results will be revealed and custody will be determined.”

Jeanie hugged Lily, and Ben clapped his son on the back. “Looks like y’all are about outta thewoods!” Big Ben said, grinning.

“I can’t believe Jake Sanders would make a McGilly take a DNA test!” Ben was clearly incensed.

Lily, however, didn’t have enough fight in her to be incensed. The judge’s decision had made itofficial: She had lost everything.

“Well, now,” Big Ben said to his son, “a judge is an elected official. If he came across like he wasgiving custody to a couple homos without there being any scientific reason for it, he’d get voted outtaoffice before he knew what hit him. This way, he can make it seem like the DNA test made the decision,not him. I know you don’t wanna have to go through the rigmarole of getting tested, but after the resultsget back, you’ve got no worries.”

“Right,” Ben muttered. “No worries.”

CHAPTER 21

It was awful, hearing Mimi wail as the lab technician pricked her to collect the blood sample. Butit was even more awful knowing that this fleeting bit of pain was the least of Mimi’s problems.

What kind of woman would Mimi grow up to be, being raised by the Maycombs? Would she rebellike her mother, by becoming a radical intellectual? Or would she rebel in a more reactionary and self-destructive way, by turning to drugs and promiscuous sex at an early age? Or, Lily worried, would she notrebel at all? Would she swallow every idea that the Maycombs spoon-fed her and grow up to be a self-righteous fundamentalist housewife who thanked the good Lord that Ida and Charles and Mike had savedher from being raised by a godless degenerate?

Lily, Ben, and Mimi crossed the hot asphalt of the hospital parking lot. “Well, I guess that’s that,”Ben said.

“That’s all you can say?” Lily yelled, not caring who heard her. Her eyes flooded with tears as shestrapped Mimi into her car seat. “You drag me to this fucking hellhole because you have a surefire planfor me to keep my daughter, and when it falls through, all you can say is, ‘That’s that?”

“I know...I’m sorry. I really did think it would work.” Ben started the car. “I was thinking...youand Mimi could always leave the country. I could have you back to Atlanta and on the first flight towherever you want to go on Friday afternoon.”

Lily didn’t bother to wipe the tears that were rolling down her cheeks. “I never quite picturedmyself as a fugitive from justice. Of course, it’s not justice that I’d be running from.”

She tried to picture herself raising Mimi in some unspecified foreign country. Before her move toVersailles, she had never lived anywhere but Atlanta. “Where would we go?”