But in two minutes, he was in the kitchen, his face shadowed with stubble and his hair standing on end asif he were a cartoon character who had stuck his finger in a light socket.
“Welcome to married life, Lily,” Jeanie said, dropping two more pieces of bread in the toaster.
“You might go to bed with a good-looking man, but when he wakes up in the morning, he’s gonna looklike holy hell.”
Lily laughed, while Ben muttered an incantation against the female sex and helped himself tosome coffee.
“I’m just teasing you, Benny Jack. You want three eggs or four?”
“Mother, I’ve told you a thousand times that I don’t eat eggs anymore. I know the doctors inVersailles haven’t heard of cholesterol yet, but —”
Jeanie rolled her eyes. “I know all about cholesterol, Benny Jack. I just thought you might want areal breakfast this mornin’ since it’s a special occasion. I mean, if a man don’t wake up after his weddingnight with a good appetite, then there’s somethin’ bad wrong —”
“Two,” Ben mumbled.
“What was that, honey?”
“Two eggs, Mother.” He sank into a kitchen chair.
Mimi pulled herself to standing and leaned against Ben’s knee. She grinned up at him with herjack-o’-lantern teeth. “B-Jack,” she crooned.
Jeanie looked up from her cooking, delighted. “What was that she said?”
Lily laughed. “I think she just called him Benny Jack.”
Jeanie grinned. “Now, Mimi, honey, you don’t call him that. You call him daddy, just like always.”
Mimi gave Jeanie a puzzled glance. Daddy was not a familiar concept to her. She looked back upat Ben, giggled, and repeated, “B-Jack.”
Ben slammed down his coffee mug in exasperation. “Ben! Why can’t everybody just call me Ben?
It’s just one little syllable! Is that too much to ask?”
“Now, now, honey,” Lily cooed with mock affection. “I think Benny Jack is an adorable name.”She thought it only fair that if she had to suffer the indignity of being named Lily McGilly, Ben shouldalso be saddled with a name he hated.
Jeanie brought Ben’s breakfast to the table. “Your daddy wants y’all to meet him down at the millat eleven. He’s got y’all a one-thirty appointment with Buzz Dobson, but first, he’s got a little surprise.”
Lily wondered with some trepidation what the surprise could be. Surprises weren’t really what shecraved these days.
“And I was hoping,” Jeanie said, “that you might leave Mimi with me. I’d just love to show heroff and maybe take her shopping. The poor little thing barely has a stitch of clothing to her name.”
Lily looked down at Mimi, who was wearing a plain white T-shirt and a pair of tiny denim shorts.