Lily pulled into the sock mill’s gravel parking lot. “I hope you’re right.”
Big Ben grinned. “Honey, in Faulkner County, I’m always right. I’m a McGilly.”
When Ben and Lily walked into the sock mill’s office, the clerical workers were abuzz, whispering
“here they come” and “won’t they be surprised.” One of them went to the restroom door and hollered,
“Jeanie! They’re here!”
“Just a second,” Jeanie called from behind the closed door. “We’ll be right out.”
“What’s going on?” Lily asked one of the office workers.
She smiled. “Let’s just say that somebody’s mamaw took her shopping.”
Jeanie opened the door, cooing, “Come on, let’s show Mama and Daddy.”
Mimi stood in the bathroom doorway, steadying herself against the door facing. She was wearing a cake-frosting-pink dress, the skirt of which was so tiered with stiff, lacy ruffles that the little girl was unable to lay her arms flat at her sides. Instead, she stood with her arms sticking out, like Mr. Potato Head. Her tiny feet were encased in stiff white patent-leather Mary Janes, and a lacy headband with a pink bow clued in anyone who might not yet have picked up on the fact that this was indeed a female child.
“So, what do you think?” Jeanie asked, beaming.
Lily started laughing — a more socially acceptable reaction than crying, which had been her other impulse. “She’s...she’s...a sight.” Mimi looked mad as hell, just like Charlotte used to look when she had to wear a dress and high heels.
“Good god, Mother, how much did you pay for all that crap?” Ben asked.
“Now, Benny Jack, don’t you say a word. A mamaw’s got to splurge on her only granddaughter a little bit. We just went over to the Little Princess shop in Callahan, and then after that we stopped at McDonald’s for a Happy Meal.” Jeanie scooped Mimi up in her arms. “And Lord, you shoulda seen this girl put away them Chicken McNuggets!”
“She’s...she’s never eaten meat before.” Lily had pledged to raise Mimi a vegetarian, at least until she got old enough to make her own dietary decisions.
“Well, I’ll tell you what,” Jeanie said. “She eat them Chicken McNuggets like she was going to the chair.”
It was so easy, Lily thought, to plan how you would raise your child — to say with absolute certainty the things you would and would not do. But once the child got exposed to outside influences, all those plans were shot to hell. “Well ... Mimi, I guess we’d better get you home for your nap. You’ve had quite a day.” She picked her daughter up. Her new dress must have added five pounds to her weight. Or maybe it was the Chicken McNuggets. “Thank you, Jeanie, for taking her shopping and ... taking care of her.”
As they walked out of the building, Ben said, “You look like you’ve been poleaxed.”
“I’m just overwhelmed. The house, the car ...” When she set Mimi in her car seat, Mimi’s lacy petticoat flew up high enough to obscure her little face. “And Mimi ... god ... leave her with your mother for two hours and...”
“She becomes a meat-eating femme fatale?”
