interrupted, Lily had been a reclusive sort, content to spend her days bent over her drawing board, rising only to see to Mimi’s needs, until Charlotte came home from work. Lily had probably talked to more people in the past two weeks than she had in the past two years.
“Benny Jack’s the only one that’s been able to make a baby girl,” Granny said. “His brothers is just too all-boy, I reckon. I always did love me a little girl, though. You care if I hold her?”
“Go right ahead.” Lily helped herself to a second beer.
Granny knelt down and made eye contact with Mimi. “Hey, Mimi, you care to come sit in an old woman’s lap?”
Mimi smiled and raised her arms in the universal “pick-me-up” symbol.
“What’s all this about?” a male voice boomed.
Lily looked up to see a middle-aged man, balding, bearded, and broad-shouldered, with a sizable paunch beneath his plain white T-shirt. She knew immediately that he was “Benny Jack’s” father, Big Ben.
Jeanie ran over to stand at his side. “I thought about calling you at work to tell you, but I thought it’d be more exciting to surprise you at home.” She looked across the pool. “Benny Jack! Come tell Daddy your news!”
Lily considered joining Ben but decided to stay put until she was told otherwise. From her safe 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?” Big Ben cackled with joy. “Hot damn! I never thought I’d live to see the day.” He punched his son on the shoulder 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 ever been 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 were irrelevant; the only thing that mattered to the McGillys was that she was a woman, and Ben had married her. “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 wide grin. 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 to bed. Jeanie and Granny were in the kitchen, washing the dishes after having assured Lily that there was no 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.”
