it… not while they were trying to make their case. “Mimi is the daughter of my best friend Charlotte,”Lily explained. “She was killed in an accident, and she left custody of Mimi to me.”
“Charlotte was in the car with Dez,” Ben added.
Big Ben shook his head. “I sure was sorry when ole Dez got killed. He was queer as a three-dollarbill, but he was funny as hell.” He stared off in the distance for a second. “Now, Benny Jack, Mimi here’syour baby by Charlotte?”
“Yes. Charlotte and I were ... involved.”
Lily could tell she really wanted this plan to work because she managed to keep a straight faceduring this part of the story.
“Well, I’ll be a monkey’s uncle!” Big Ben laughed, obviously delighted. “All this time I thoughtyou was a fairy, and here you was, with two women!”
“Go figure,” Ben replied lamely.
“So, anyway,” Lily said, “now Charlotte’s parents want to contest my custody of Mimi — theydon’t think I should be allowed to raise her.”
Big Ben drained his can of beer and crushed it. “Now is that on account them thinking there wassomethin’ between you and Charlotte?” His steel-gray eyes were focused on Lily.
“Well, uh . . . there was something between Charlotte and me,” Lily said, as Ben shot her awarning glance. “But that was before I met Benny Jack here.”
“Hmm.” Big Ben scratched his beard thoughtfully. “Well, I don’t even pretend to understand whatit is you young people do today, but what I want to know is this: The two of y’all has a real marriage,right? You’re devoted to each other, with no hanky-panky on the side?”
“We are,” Ben and Lily said in unison.
“And y’all wanna make a real family for this little girl?”
“Yes.”
“All right, then. First thing in the mornin’, I’ll get ole Buzz Dobson on the phone ... he’s ourfamily lawyer. And Lily, you just tell Charlotte’s parents to come on down to the Faulkner CountyCourthouse, and we’ll have a big can o’ whupass waitin’ for ’em.”
Lily and Ben lay in their marital bed, not consummating a thing. “You think you’re gonna be ableto do this?” Ben asked.
“Do what?” Lily gasped. She was a little nervous about his question, given where they were.
“Fake this whole marriage act for as long as it takes?”
“I think so. It’s awfully fucking weird, though. This whole day has reminded me of when I wasexperimenting with hallucinogens in college.”
“I know what you mean — not about the drugs, but about the weirdness. Tomorrow we’ll see if wecan rent an apartment ... that way we’ll be out from under my parents’ watchful eyes. Plus, we won’t be