“That’s all very moving, hon. But is your pride worth allowing your daughter to be raised a Southern Baptist?”
Lily collapsed with her head in her hands. “Oh god.”
“If it helps, you can think of this as a subversive act. We’ll not just be lying out of self- protection; we’ll be beating the straight people at their own game.”
Lily sat in silence for a moment. Hellish as the plan was, it was the only course of action she could think of that might give them a chance of success ... if they could pull it off. “I won’t have to, like, wear a white dress or anything, will I?”
“Hell, no. We’ll just have a justice of the peace do it. You can wear jeans and a Lesbian Avengers T-shirt for all I care. The thing is, though, in front of my folks and the judge, we’ll have to make it look real. We’ll have to be affectionate with each other, and in order to play well in Faulkner County you’ll have to take my name —”
Lily started laughing so hard she couldn’t get her breath. Tears streamed down her cheeks.
“What is it?” Ben asked.
“I don’t fucking believe it,” she said when she could finally speak. “My whole life I’ve sworn never to let men influence my identity, and now I’m going to be named Lily McGilly.”
CHAPTER 4
Ben’s Lexus sped along the interstate, taking Lily into a world so different it was hard for her to believe they’d been in Atlanta a scant fifty minutes ago. The only traveling Lily had done in the past several years was for book signings. She’d drive to the Atlanta airport, board a plane, and be deposited into another metropolitan area. A native Atlantan, Lily had seen little of the expanses of country that lay between major metropolitan areas.
She looked behind her, where Mimi was snoozing away in her car seat. As always, Lily saw Charlotte’s face in Mimi’s. She hoped she was doing the right thing.
They passed a green sign that read FAULKNER COUNTY. “Last chance to back out,” Ben said.
His tone was only half-joking.
Lily replied, “I’m willing to go through with it if you are. Although I must admit I’m surprised you’re willing to go so far to help Mimi. I mean, you don’t even like kids.”
“Look, I know I’m not the most touchy-feely person in the world, but Dez meant a lot to me. He brought me out into the gay world, and even after we weren’t lovers, he was my best friend. Babies are noisy and erratic and have no control over their biological functions, but that baby in the backseat carries Dez’s genetic material, and I’ll be damned if I’m gonna see her raised in a way Dez would disapprove of.”
“So,” Lily said, “which are we gonna do first, go see your folks or get married?”
“Oh, get married, definitely. If we don’t, Mom’ll try to rope us into having a big church wedding, and I don’t think either of us is up for that.”
“God, no. Weddings are barbaric. I’ve never understood why people think they’re romantic — all that heavy-handed symbolism about virginity and fertility ... it’s about as romantic as throwing a virgin into a volcano.”
Ben laughed. “Well, we’re lucky. In Faulkner County, they have this deal where you can
