Chapter 21

I held Shauna's hand as we sat down. Adrienne discretely went to sit with Robin. Shauna smiled at me and said, "Pat, you'll have to let go of my hand sooner or later."

"I'll never let go," I said.

She smiled and kissed me. "That's a lovely sentiment, but hardly practical."

I lifted her hand and kissed her ring. "We have some plans to make, my love."

"We do, darling, we certainly do. But just let me get used to the idea for a little while."

"Take as long as you want, my little love. Right now, I want to apologize and to explain exactly what happened on that terrible day."

"You don't have to explain. I realize that it was all a misunderstanding."

"It was a hell of a lot more than that. Just before he died, Moe told me that he was sure Tori engineered the whole thing. We were set up."

"My God! Of course! There was a note on my desk asking me to come to a meeting in your office at 2:30. There was no signature. I thought that it might have come from Joe."

"Nope, it was from Tori. In fact, she admitted to me that she'd planned it. She even tried to make it sound like she was doing me a favour."

The band finished its set. Someone tapped me on the shoulder. I turned. There was Carole with a big smile on her face and a bottle of champagne in her hand. "You two have a bit of celebrating to do," she said.

Shauna smiled at her. With her free hand, she gestured to the chair on her right. "Please join us," she said, "we owe you a lot."

Carole sat down. Soon we were joined by Danny. I introduced him to Shauna.

"Shauna," Danny said, "I hope you'll forgive me for that stunt. Pat and I cooked it up, and Carole organized everything."

"Danny, you're more than forgiven. To tell the truth, I've been sort of looking for a way to get back together with this guy. My roommate has been telling me what an idiot I've been. I'm just sorry that it took so long."

I said, "Yeah, that episode that broke us up? It turns up that Tori planned the whole thing."

Carole pursed her lips. "That doesn't surprise me a bit," she said, "I never understood what you saw in that bitch."

Danny picked up the bottle of champagne and popped the cork. He poured a glass for each of us. "I propose a toast," he said, "may Shauna and Pat be as happy as Carole and I have been. And may they have many years together."

We drank, and then Carole turned to Shauna with a smile. "I have to tell you some time how Danny and I got engaged. It was in this very club. In fact, this is the place we first met."

For the next hour, complete strangers kept coming to our table to congratulate us. It was pleasant, but after a while Shauna and I felt the need to be alone. We said goodnight to Carole, Danny and Sarah. Then we went across the room to say goodnight to Adrienne and Robin. They hugged each of us in turn.

"If you guys are going back to the hotel for the night, Shauna will need some of her stuff," Adrienne said, "It just so happens that I have her bag in the trunk of my car."

Shauna looked at Robin. "Robbie, did you..."

Robin smiled at her, "Yeah, I did. I packed your things while you were out. Adrienne picked up the bag when she came to get Jesse."

"Robin Markoff, you are the sneakiest, most underhanded, best friend a girl ever had." Shauna hugged Robin and then turned to me. "Come on, old-timer. It's time you got your beauty sleep. For all the good it'll do."

I leaned over and whispered in Shauna's ear, "OK, whipper-snapper, we'll see who gets any sleep tonight." I kissed her cheek. Shauna blushed beet red, and Adrienne and Robin laughed. It obviously didn't take much imagination to guess what I'd said.

"My car's in the lot next door," Adrienne said. "Unfortunately, Jesse's booster seat is in the back. So somebody is going to have to scrunch up. Maybe even sit on someone's lap."

Shauna blushed again.

It was a short ride back to the hotel, and it was certainly no hardship to have Shauna on my lap. When we arrived at the hotel, I took Shauna's bag from the trunk. We said our goodnights to Robin and Adrienne and prepared to head upstairs. We were intercepted by the concierge.

"Good evening, Ms. Cake, Mr. Connolly," she said. I stood there with my mouth open. "Come with me."

The concierge led us to her desk. She took a folder out of a drawer. "You've been moved to a better room -- actually a suite -- at the same rate. All your things have been moved and are there ready for you. These are your key cards. Give me the old key. Good. Now, I'll have a bellman take that bag up for you. Johnny!" Johnny came over and took Shauna's bag. "Take these people to the Waterview Suite on the 25th floor."

We followed the bellman. Shauna whispered in my ear, "How does the concierge know who I am?"

I smiled at her and said, "Three guesses. Just think for a minute. Who knows practically everyone who works in this hotel? Who's the head bartender here? My guess is that Adrienne set this up in advance and then called from the Eternity to confirm it."

Johnny the bellman smiled at me. He'd obviously overheard. "Yeah, she's a peach, that Adrienne. If I didn't have a wife and kids..." He left the obvious unfinished.

We arrived at the 25th floor. Johnny led the way to the end of the hall. He opened the door with a flourish and handed me our key cards. Johnny held the door as we entered the suite.

"Oh my God," Shauna said. She held my arm tightly. The living room fronted on a huge balcony -- actually more of a glass-roofed solarium. Spread out before us was the Toronto waterfront. We could see the CN Tower, Skydome, the yachts in the harbour and the lighted tour boats sailing on the lake.

"Follow me," Johnny said. "This is the library. You can have drinks and appetizers served here in the evening, if you'd like. Or brandy and port after dinner. Through here is the dining room. It's perfect for breakfast or supper. The service kitchen is next to it, so you can easily entertain guests."

On the large dining room table was a crystal vase containing a dozen red long-stemmed roses. Beside the vase was a card signed by Carole, Danny, Sarah, Adrienne and Robin. Shauna looked at the roses in wonder. She bent over to inhale their fragrance. But the tour was conintuing.

"Through here," Johnny said, leading us through an arched entry, "are the bedroom and the master bath. The bath is equipped with a Jacuzzi and has a view of the waterfront. And this is your bedroom." The bedroom was bigger than many suites I'd been in. "Madam, may I assist you in unpacking your bag?"

Shauna simply stood there staring out the window. She may not have heard him. "No," I said, "that will be all for tonight. Thanks so much, Johnny." I handed him the first bill I came across in my wallet. It was a ten.

"Thank you so much, sir." He handed me a card. "If you need anything, this is my direct pager number."

The bellman left. I walked over to Shauna and hugged her from behind. "What do you think, little love?"

She turned and kissed me. "Oh my God, Pat. This is a dream come true. How can we top this on our honeymoon?"

I grinned lasciviously. "I can think of a couple of ways."

Shauna stroked my cheek affectionately. "Get your mind out of the gutter, you randy old goat." She kissed me and turned toward the stand on which the bellman had left her bag, but her attention was caught by something else. "What's this?" Shauna pointed to the dresser. Sitting on a silver tray were a large dish of chocolate covered strawberries and a bottle of champagne in an ice bucket.

We walked over to the dresser. There was a card. The envelope was addressed to Shauna and Pat. I picked it up and handed it to her. Shauna opened it. She read it and began to cry. I took it from her.

"Happy Valentine's Day to two of our favourite people," the card read. It was signed by everyone on the National Affairs unit. There was a special note from Joe Dudich at the end. "You can even take next week off," it read, "but I want both of you in here at 100% ASAP."

Shauna and I kissed. She looked up at me. "How the hell did they arrange all this?"

"I have no idea, little love. I suspect that there's been a lot of clandestine communication. Ours is not to reason why. Right now, our job is to enjoy all this. Perhaps we should get ready for bed. Then, we can enjoy strawberries and champagne and maybe even something else."

"Definitely something else," she said, smiling.

Shauna opened her bag. "What the hell," she said. Sitting on top of her clothes and toiletries there was a brightly-wrapped package It was sealed with a Victoria's Secret sticker. "This had better not be what I think it is."

Shauna opened the package. Inside there was a sleep set: a pink silk babydoll with a matching robe. There was a card that said, "Please don't be too mad. I couldn't resist it. Robbie."

Shauna's eyes were moist. "What a crazy kid," she said, "what a wonderful, crazy kid."

"OK," I said, "time to get ready for bed. Do you want the first shower, or should we take one together? After all, we should conserve water."

"Not so fast, lover boy. As I recall, there are two washrooms in this joint -- his and hers. I claim the big one with the Jacuzzi. You can have one off the living room. Get moving." Shauna took her new PJs and her toilet bags and headed for the washroom.