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 —”
“Queers!” Tracee finished for her. For two straight girls, they finished each other’s sentences like an old married couple.
“Now wait just a damn minute,” Jack said, towering over the two big-haired women. “I don’t see why there’s any reason to go off and tell Benny Jack’s parents. Lily’s a good mother, and if you go off blabbering like that, she could lose her daughter.”
“Last thing a lezzie needs is a little girl,” Sheila spat. “She’s probably already been messing with her.”
“Now, that’s ridiculous—” Ken began.
“No,” Tracee interrupted. “This is ridiculous. Come on, Sheila, we’re taking a drive over to the big house.”
And they were gone.
Jack punched the wall with the fist she had balled up while talking to Sheila and Tracee. “What do we do now?”
“Nothing to do but wait for the hammer to fall,” Lily said, her voice dull and numb.
“If I know Mother and Daddy, they’ll be over here within the hour. It would probably be a good idea if the two of you went home,” Ben said.