Julia Watts - Wedding Bell Blues

When they walked into the house, Mordecai followed Lily close behind. At the stairs she said,

“You wait here, Mordecai. I’m gonna put Mimi down for her nap.”

When Lily came back downstairs, Mordecai was still sitting there dutifully. When she sat on the living room sofa, he joined her there, his bulky body occupying the length of the sofa, his huge head in Lily’s lap.

“That’s amazing,” Ben said. “I’ve never seen him act that way around anybody.”

“Well,” Lily said, stroking Mordecai’s huge head. “I’m afraid he scores more points than you do in the doting-husband category.” She sighed at the thought of having to contact the Maycombs. “But if you want to improve your score, you can hand me the phone. I believe we have a dinner invitation to proffer.”

Lily dialed the Maycombs’ number and waited nervously for an answer. After three rings, Charlotte’s mother trilled a melodic “Hello.”

Shit, Lily thought, before she dialed, she should have figured out what she was going to say. “Um, hi, Mrs. Maycomb? This is Lily.”

“Lily Fox?”

How many Lilys do you know, old woman? she thought, but she said sweetly, “Yes, although that’s not my last name anymore. I...married recently.”

“Married?” Ida Maycomb squawked like a mynah. “To a man?”

Well, sort of. “Why, yes, of course. I’m Mrs. Ben McGilly now,” Lily said, gagging slightly. “The thing is ... Ben, Mimi, and I are living up in Versailles now, and his family and I wanted to invite you to dinner some night. You could spend some time with Mimi, meet her other grandparents ... and we could talk. I know we’ve had our differences in the past, and I was hoping we could sit down to a meal together and maybe straighten things out.”

“Well...um, I don’t know, Lily.” Ida’s voice quivered with the uneasiness of a person who never makes her own decisions. “I’d have to ask Charles, of course. And Mike ... would he be invited?”

“Sure,” Lily said cheerily, even as her stomach lurched at the thought of this horrid gathering.

“And when would this dinner be?”

“How about Saturday at six? Ben can meet you at the interstate exit to show you the way to the house.” Ben glowered at her, and she stuck out her tongue at him.

“Well ...” Ida waffled. “I’ll tell you what. I’ll talk to Charles when he gets home and see what he says.”

“Okay, well, let me give you the number here.” Ida hung up the second Lily recited the last digit.

Two beers for Lily and three dog biscuits for Mordecai later, the phone rang. Lily had only gone so far as to say “Hel —” when Ida said, “We’ll be there — Saturday at six.” Click.

“Well, they’re coming,” Lily sighed.

Ben shook his head. “It’s kinda hard to figure out whether that’s good news or not, isn’t it?”

That night, Mordecai slept in the bed between Lily and Ben, taking up more than his fair share of room. Between Ben’s snores and Mordecai’s flatulence, Lily could scarcely sleep for the noise and air pollution. Soon, she comforted herself, they’d be in their shoe box of a house, where at least they could sleep in canine-free separate beds.

The housekeeper had dusted, scoured, or vacuumed every available surface of the McGillys’

colonial-antebellum-style home. In thirty minutes, Ben would be meeting the Maycombs at the Versailles interstate exit to escort them to the house. Right now, though, Lily and Ben sat on opposite ends of the slate-blue and mauve living room, dreading the evening ahead of them.

Jeanie strode into the room, nervously glancing at her gold watch. “Benny Jack, you heard me tell your daddy to be home by five-fifteen so he could change into some decent clothes, didn’t you?”

“Yes, Mother, I heard you.”

“Well, if you heard me, why the hell didn’t he?” Jeanie was wearing a peach jersey sundress and tan canvas espadrilles. A small strand of undoubtedly real pearls hung just below the hollow of her throat.

Her curly brown hair hung loose around her tanned shoulders. She looked stylish, comfortable, and very, very rich.

Lily was wearing a sky-blue dress she had borrowed from Jeanie. Except for her most faded pair of Levi’s, it was the lightest-colored garment she had worn since she was a kid. But for Mimi she’d suffer anything — even pastels.

Lily looked down at her daughter, who was playing on the floor and wearing a mint-green smocked dress. Lily watched as Mimi spotted Mordecai, a demonic gleam in her eye. “Mookie!” she squealed, then pulled herself to standing at the coffee table, walked three tentative steps, and fell smack on her diaper-padded butt.

“Omigod!” Lily yelled at the exact same moment Jeanie did. Lily picked Mimi up and swung her through the air. “Mimi-saurus, that was great! You’re a toddler now!”

“Did you see that, Benny Jack?” Jeanie was breathless with excitement. “Your little girl just took her first steps!”

“Yeah,” Ben said, sounding completely devoid of interest. “Well, I guess I’d better go pick up the Cobb County cretins now.”

As he headed out the door, Jeanie shook her head in exasperation. “Men. Sometimes I think they just don’t know what’s important in life.” She turned her attention to Mimi. “Now, I think a big walking girl ought to at least get a cookie if her mama says it’s okay.”

Lily smiled. “Of course it’s okay. This is a special occasion.”

Jeanie and Lily assembled a salad while Mimi nibbled her cookie. “It would be great if Mimi would walk in front of the Maycombs tonight,” Lily said, slicing a cucumber that she was secretly thinking of as Mike Maycomb’s penis. “That way, they’d see she’s developing normally in this environment —”

“You know,” Jeanie said, chopping a tomato, “Big Ben told me about Mimi not being yours by blood, but I’ve never seen nobody love a child the way you love her. If these people can’t see that, there’s something bad wrong with them.”

Lily felt her eyes fill, and it was carrot, not onion, that she was chopping. “Mimi’s the world to me. She’s all I’ve got.”

“Besides Benny Jack, you mean?”

“Yeah, right. Besides Benny Jack.”

Just as Jeanie had feared, Ida, Charles, and Mike Maycomb arrived at the house before Big Ben.

Big Ben’s absence made Lily nervous. She knew the Maycombs would be more comfortable if there was a patriarch presiding over the evening’s events, and as far as patriarchs went, Ben the younger didn’t quite fit the bill.

When Ben the younger walked in with Ida, Charles, and Mike, a rictus of a smile was frozen on his face — the kind of grin worn by a death’s head. “Come on in,” he said, through clenched teeth. “Lily and I would’ve invited you over to our new place, but you would’ve had to sit on unpacked boxes.”

The three Maycombs glanced around the living room— approvingly, Lily hoped. Despite the hot weather, Charles and Ida were both dressed for a Sunday service at Calvary Baptist. They looked as starched and proper as Dick and Pat Nixon in their heyday. Mike, however, was going for a more casual look. In his ridiculous fuchsia polo shirt with matching fuchsia and kelly green plaid pants, he was dressed for a day on the golf course.