Julia Watts - Wedding Bell Blues

Before Lily could form a response, the doorbell rang. She rose to answer it, eager to escape the conversation, and let in Ken, who was carrying a large white shopping bag, and Jack, who was carrying a small brown paper sack.

“Okay,” Ken said, unpacking his bag on the coffee table. “We have two bottles of champagne, artichoke dip with sliced baguette, smoked salmon with crackers, and fresh fruit with poppy seed dressing.”

“And paper napkins and a bag of potato chips.” Jack grinned. “My elegant contribution.”

When Ken popped the cork of the champagne bottle, Mordecai fled the room in terror. It was nice to have something to laugh at.

“Shouldn’t we have the champagne after the hearing?” Lily asked. “If we win?”

“Well, I thought about that,” Ken said. “But I figured you’d need it more before the hearing.”

The two couples fed each other dainty bits of food and drained the first bottle of champagne far faster than was probably good for them. By the time they were halfway through the second bottle, Ben and Ken were necking on the couch, and Lily was sitting on Jack’s lap in the armchair.

“Well, I guess we know why the French are supposed to be so sexy,” Lily laughed, watching Ben and Ken kiss. “It’s the champagne.”

Ben and Ken broke apart. “Sorry,” Ken laughed, “champagne always has that effect on me.”

“I’m not complaining.” Ben’s face was flushed.

Lily knew that Ben had loved Dez, but by the time she met them, they were acting like a bickering old married couple. Seeing Ben with Ken was completely different. In Ken’s presence, Ben seemed lighthearted and light-headed, giddy with excitement. Lily wondered if that’s what Ben was like in the early days of his relationship with Dez. Or was each love different?

“The champagne’s got nothing to do with it,” Jack teased. “It’s you city people coming down here and corrupting the likes of Ken and me. I mean, look at this living room...the empty champagne bottles, the kissing boys...we’re practically having an orgy here!”

Ben and Ken were too busy kissing to respond to Jack’s comment, but Lily laughed. “Why don’t you boys get a room? Like, Ben’s room, for instance?”

Ken turned to Ben. “What do you say?”

Ben reddened and drained his champagne glass.

“Sure. Why not?” Laughing, they strolled down the hall, hand in hand.

Jack took Lily’s empty glass. “More champagne, milady?”

“Well, it’s a shame to let it go to waste.”

Jack refilled their glasses and motioned for Lily to join her on the couch. They linked their arms and tried to drink champagne out of each other’s glasses, but the alcohol made them clumsy and Jack spilled some of the golden liquid on Lily. They laughed, and then Jack took Lily’s glass and set it down on the coffee table.

“Can’t stand to see that champagne go to waste,” Jack said, leaning over and licking the spilled drops off Lily’s collarbone. Lily gasped with delight. “You know what?” Jack whispered in her ear. “I’ve never seen your bedroom.”

Lily giggled in spite of herself. “You really want to? With the boys just across the hall?”

“They’re busy. They won’t pay any attention to us. And we’ll be quiet.” She smiled. “Not like last time.”

In Lily’s room, inhibitions washed away by the champagne, Jack and Lily undressed each other and slid into a slow, sensual round of lovemaking. The first time they made love, it had been with the ravenous urgency of a starving person sitting down to a lavish meal. Today, though, with the whole afternoon ahead of them, they savored the experience, enjoying the taste of each other’s kisses, exploring the texture of each other’s skin, and breathing low sighs of pleasure.

Between the champagne and Jack’s capable hands, Lily felt the coils of tension she had been carrying for the past week start to unwind. Ever since she had come to Versailles, Lily had been trying to control a situation that seemed uncontrollable. But here, beneath Jack’s hands and mouth, she could allow herself to lose control—to turn off her brain for a few minutes and surrender to sensuality.

Afterward, as they lay naked beneath the cool sheets, Lily said, “Have you ever heard the expression that you grow a new heart for every child you have?”

Jack started. “You and Ben aren’t expecting, are you?”

Lily laughed. “Not unless a star is rising somewhere in the East.” She laid her head on Jack’s freckled shoulder. “No, I was just thinking about that idea. When I was with Charlotte, I didn’t know if it would be possible for me to love anybody else ... I just felt so full and content, you know?”

“Uh-huh.”

“And then we had Mimi, and I discovered this whole other capacity for love I didn’t even know I had. And then, getting to know you...I mean, it’s not that I love Charlotte less, but with you...I guess sometimes meeting someone can cause you to grow a new heart, too.” Lily laughed. “God, I never would’ve said something like that if I was sober.”

“Do you mean it, though?”

Lily thought for a moment. She had spoken just then without thinking, but she had meant what she said ... just as people usually did when they spoke without considering their words beforehand. “Yes.”

“Then I’m glad you’re not sober.” Jack and Lily’s lips met in another long, slow kiss. When they parted, there were tears in Lily’s eyes.

“I’m scared, Jack.”

“I know. Whatever happens, though, I’ll take care of you.”

Lily drifted off for a few minutes, letting herself feel almost safe in Jack’s arms. When she heard the footsteps in the hall, at first she thought it was Mordecai. But then she heard the voices: “Lil-ee! Ben!

You’ve gotta be home — the door was unlocked!”

Oh, shit. Sheila and Tracee — as always, just walking right on in whenever they felt like it.

Lily and Jack sprang out of bed and scrambled for their clothes, sure that the boys across the hall were doing the same thing. But it was no good. The bedroom door, which they hadn’t closed all the way, swung open. Sheila’s scream at the sight of Jack and Lily rang out at the same moment as Tracee’s did when she opened the door on the boys across the hall.

“Have you never heard of knocking?” Lily yelled, pulling on her shirt.

“I always thought family didn’t have to knock,” Sheila said. “Of course, I thought family had nothing to hide from each other.”

“Look,” Ben barked, standing in the hallway wearing only his jeans, “what my wife and I choose to do in the privacy of our own home—”

“You and your ‘wife’—if you can call her that—wasn’t doing a thing together,” Tracee interrupted. “I knew there was somethin’ funny about y’all’s marriage the second I laid eyes on y’all together. I said to myself, somethin’ —”

“Ain’t right,” Sheila finished. “Oh, I wonder what Big Daddy and Mama McGilly will have to say when they realize they bought a new car and a new house for a couple of —”