spot at the picnic table, she heard Ben say, “Daddy, I’m married.”
When Big Ben could close his jaw enough to speak, he shouted, “Married? To a woman?” BigBen cackled with joy. “Hot damn! I never thought I’d live to see the day.” He punched his son on theshoulder so hard that Ben lost his footing for a second. “Where is she? Where’s the little lady?”
This, Lily guessed, was her cue. She rose. “Right here,” she said.
Big Ben gallumphed over and placed a hand on each of her shoulders. “I don’t believe I’ve everbeen so happy to see a woman in my whole life.”
Lily guessed that Ben had been right. Her nose ring, her dreadlocks, and her Doc Martens wereirrelevant; the only thing that mattered to the McGillys was that she was a woman, and Ben had marriedher. “It’s nice to meet you, Mr. —” She stopped herself. “Big Ben.”
“Gan!” Mimi babbled from Granny McGilly’s lap. She was already trying to say granny.
Big Ben looked down at the baby girl, surprised. “Now who is this?”
“This,” Ben said, “is my daughter.”
Big Ben looked at Mimi, then at Lily, and finally at Ben. His lips spread into an impossibly widegrin. He punched his son on the shoulder again. “You dog,” he laughed. “You ole dog, you!”
The party was dying down. Wayne and Sheila and Johnny and Tracee had taken their kids home tobed. Jeanie and Granny were in the kitchen, washing the dishes after having assured Lily that there wasno need for her to help them. “No need for a girl to wash dishes on her wedding night,” Jeanie had said.
“They’ll be plenty of time for that kinda thing later, believe me.”
Lily and Ben sat beside the pool with Big Ben, who was holding the sleeping Mimi in his arms.
“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 of