Wedding Bell Blues - [9]

to the La-Di-Da, the Chatterbox Beauty Shop looked as though it might dole out hairdos to match thedress shop’s anachronistic clothing.

The only downtown eating establishment was a diner called the Dinner Bucket. “You know,” Lilysaid, “somehow I just don’t find bucket to be a very appetizing word.”

Ben pulled over in front of a squat brick doctor’s office. “Yeah, it does sound kinda like sloppingthe hogs, doesn’t it? And the really awful thing is that nobody in town calls it the Dinner Bucket — theyjust call it the Bucket.” He put the car in park and looked in the direction of the doctor’s office. “So ... areyou ready to bleed?”

“Do we need an appointment?”

“Nope. That’s why you can get married in a day here. They’ve got a lab tech on staff whose onlyjob is to draw the blood of the betrothed — no appointments necessary.”

Mimi was sweaty and cranky from her nap in the car. As soon as Lily took her into the doctor’soffice, she got to work making her a juice bottle while Ben waited at the front desk to check in.

A heavy woman in a white polyester uniform emerged from behind the EMPLOYEES ONLY doorand promptly crowed, “Well, Benny Jack McGilly, as I live and breathe!”

Lily stifled the guffaw she felt rising from her belly. Benny Jack? Mr. Tommy Hilfiger-wearing,Wall Street Journal-reading, Emory University alumnus over there was named Benny Jack?

“Hi, Maybelle. We need to get blood tests today.”

Maybelle grinned. “Blood tests? Do you mean to tell me the oldest McGilly boy is finally gettingmarried? I never thought I’d live to see the day!”

Ben glared up from the form he was filling out. “Believe me, neither did I.”

“You having a big church wedding?” Maybelle asked, taking his paperwork.

“No. Actually, I’d really appreciate it if you didn’t say anything about it. It’s kind of a secret.”

“A secret?”

Lily felt Maybelle’s eyes on her as the chunky woman suspiciously regarded Lily’s nose ring andthe baby on her lap. Lily gave the woman a jaunty wave, but it didn’t seem to alter her opinion.

“A secret. I understand,” Maybelle said.

Maybelle called Ben back first. Mimi was calmer now, sitting in the chair next to Lily and playingwith her toy camera. There was precious little in the waiting room to keep patients amused: ancient copiesof Field and Stream for the menfolk, equally antiquated issues of Good Housekeeping for the ladies. Thekiddies were expected to amuse themselves with the Children’s Illustrated Bible, the cover of whichdepicted an Aryan-looking Jesus talking to an equally Aryan-looking group of children.

In the lab, Lily sat down on a stool with Mimi on her lap. Although she was sure that Mimi wastoo young to comprehend what had happened to her mother, Lily had noticed that since the accident Mimihad clung to her like a baby koala bear. Tiny though she was, she seemed to sense that she had alreadylost one of her mothers and that she needed to be extra-careful not to lose this one, too.

The lab technician swabbed Lily’s arm with alcohol and nodded at Mimi. “That Benny Jack’s littlegirl?”

Lily reminded herself that this was the lie she was supposed to be perpetuating. She was going tohave to be careful to keep her story straight. A lifetime of honesty hadn’t prepared her for this kind ofskullduggery. “Uh, yes,” she said.

“I thought so,” the lab tech replied. “She looks just like him.”

Sure, lady. Whatever, Lily thought. But she smiled benignly. “Let’s see. I guess you’ll have to putyour little girl down while I draw your blood. She can crawl around on the floor; she won’t hurt nothin’.”

Lily set Mimi down and turned her head as the needle entered her non-tattooed arm. Tattooneedles, she could handle. But she hated having blood drawn.

As Lily queasily watched the syringe fill with red fluid, a middle-aged, smiling nurse stuck herhead in the door. “Hi, honey,” she said to Lily. “I just wanted to stop by to ask if you had any questionsabout ...” She pursed her lips demurely. “Married lady things. I’ve got all kinds of pamphlets, if you need

’em.”

“Mama!” Mimi squealed happily. Despite the lab tech’s certainty that she wouldn’t “bothernothing,” Mimi had managed to dump an entire bag of cotton balls on the floor and was petting them as ifthey were kittens.

The nurse looked at the baby, then at Lily. “I guess you won’t be needing any pamphlets, will you,hon?” She scurried off.

“Poor ole Bernice,” the lab tech said, sticking a round band-aid on Lily’s arm. “She just can’t get itthrough her head that there ain’t a girl alive these days that needs one of her little pamphlets on what agirl should expect on her wedding night.”

Lily laughed. “I guess girls are more sophisticated these days.” More sophisticated than you’llever know, she was thinking. “I’m sorry my daughter wrecked your lab.”

“Oh, don’t worry a thing about it. She’s just as cute as she can be. If you and Benny Jack wannacheck back in half an hour, we should have your test results ready.”

After a quick trip to the Piggly Wiggly for cold Cokes and Pampers, Ben and Lily returned to the