Chapter 13

The next morning there were four of us at breakfast. Stacie and I sat across from Charlotte and Larissa. There was the usual small talk about the lovely weather, the news of the day, etc., followed by some uncomfortable silences. Finally, Larissa sighed and said, "So now you know."

I looked into my coffee cup and said, "Yes. Now I know."

After another pause, Larissa said, "And how are you with it?"

I looked first at Larissa, then at Charlotte and back to Larissa, my eyes locked on hers. "I'm OK with it," I said, "but it would have been nice to find out another way."

Larissa and Charlotte looked at each other. Charlotte blushed a bit. Larissa grinned. Charlotte smiled back and patted her hand. They both giggled. Soon the giggles became full-fledged laughter. Stacie and I joined in. I had no idea what we were laughing at, but the laughter seemed infectious. Larissa said breathlessly, "Oh fuck! You should have seen your face. I'm sorry, but you looked so..." She searched for a word.

I said, "Shocked?"

"Not exactly. You had what my dad used to call 'the fish look.' Wide-eyed and openmouthed." Larissa and Charlotte embraced and laughed even harder.

"Well put yourself in my place," I said. "Charlotte, when you first came to stay here, how would you have felt if you'd walked in on Stacie and me in a similar situation?"

Charlotte stopped laughing and smiled at me. "Jack," she said, "I wouldn't have been the least bit surprised. I knew you loved Stacie before you did. Even before I met you she'd already told me that she was in love with you. As soon as I saw the two of you together I knew you felt the same way about her. Yes, Larissa and I are in love. I love her more than I ever loved my husband." Now it was Larissa's turn to blush. "And she's more worthy of my love than he was. He turned out to be a lying skunk. Larissa is kind, decent and honourable. She's one of the finest people I've ever known. I consider myself very lucky to have her love. And if she'll have me, I want to spend the rest of my life with her." Charlotte and Larissa embraced again. They held each other and cried. Stacie was also in tears, and I wasn't far from it.

I rose, walked to the counter and picked up a box of tissues. I put them on the table. The three women gratefully used them to mop their faces and blow their noses. Larissa smiled as she wiped her eyes. "Stacie, you and Jack are my witnesses. Unless I'm hearing things, I just received something very close to a proposal. This wonderful creature said she wants to spend her life with me. And I'm goddam sure gonna hold her to it."

Charlotte smiled through her tears. "And that, my love," she said, "brings me to your only flaw. Is there any way I can get you to clean up your language?" Larissa kissed her and laughed. Soon everyone joined in the laughter.

As the merriment subsided, Charlotte said, "Now everyone eat your breakfasts before they get cold." The old Charlotte had reappeared. Taking care of everyone as she always did.

We ate. The atmosphere around the table was completely cleared. We felt at home and comfortable. I reflected that there was no one whom I would welcome into my family more than Larissa. She was a dear friend, all the dearer for her relationship with Charlotte. And it was Larissa who turned the conversation to things more serious.

"It's about this scholarship fund," she said. "Charlie has been resisting going on TV, but I can't think of a better way to promote it. And she's the ideal spokesperson. She knows the problems of young disadvantaged women. She knows them well. Goddam well." Charlotte looked as though she was about to interrupt. Larissa kissed her right index finger and then touched it to Charlotte's lips. "No, darling," she said, "let me make my case. If you appear on TV as the spokesperson for this fund, you can friggin' well sell it. I know you can. And I'll help you. I know a few professional media consultants that I can blackmail into giving you free lessons. You can do it. You will do it."

Charlotte sighed. "OK," she said, "I know when I'm licked. I'll do it. But if I faint or wet myself on camera, it's all your fault. Now what's on the agenda for today?"

Larissa took her Palm Pilot out of her purse. "Today," she said, "we begin our outreach. You're scheduled to speak at the Flemingdon Park Recreation Centre. 'Flemo, ' as it's known by the people who live there, is a low-income area. Most of the people who live there are immigrants. Many of them are from Africa. The girls there really need to know about this scholarship."

Charlotte shook her head. "I hate standing up in front of people and speaking," she said. "I don't know how I can go on doing this."

Larissa kissed her cheek. "Don't worry, Charlie," she said, "I'll be right there with you. Everything will be fine."

Charlotte sighed again. She said, "Why do we have to do this on a Saturday?"

"Because," Larissa said, "that's when the kids are most likely to be in the recreation centre. Why give a presentation if you don't have an audience?"

Charlotte and Larissa went downstairs to ready themselves for Flemingdon Park. Stacie and I went upstairs to ready ourselves for the day. Stacie was determined to take me shopping. She'd made up her mind that I needed a new blue suit. So, she'd made an appointment with my tailor, Fernando Rego. I wasn't looking forward to the trip. Fernando was a nice guy. But I knew that he'd put me through the drill of choosing fabrics, design -- even buttons, for God's sake. To me, buttons are buttons. The silver lining in the cloud would be spending the day with my lovely wife. And I'd made a lunch reservation at Tasting Rooms, Stacie's favourite since our first official date as a couple.

As it turned out, the trip to the tailor was painless. Fernando had all my measurements on file, so he just had to make a couple of quick checks with his measuring tape. Stacie helped to pick the material and so forth. We were out of there in record time.

At Tasting Rooms, things continued to go well. Coming in the door right behind us were Greg Young and his wife Megan. Since it was obvious that we were all there for lunch, we agreed to make a foursome. Greg was an interesting fellow. He ran a company called Northern Lights Productions. They produced television programmes and short films. His was one of the success stories of Canadian show business. He and his company had long been clients of Mack and Jack. Although strictly speaking they were Mack's clients not mine, I'd helped out on a couple of actions. People who produce series television really have to cover their asses, especially when said series are hits. And Greg's company had produced a number of hit series. I couldn't remember the cases in detail, but I knew that people had come out of the woodwork claiming to own the concepts for at least two of them. One of the claims had been laughed out of court. The other one had been a bit more of a challenge. I'd been sure that the plaintiff's case had no merit, but it was very cleverly presented. The guy's lawyer had obviously examined several successful cases and patterned his suit after theirs. Greg thought that he should settle out of court, but Mack and I convinced him that would only hang out a sign that he was an easy target. We won the case. And Greg had been with us ever since.

Back to the lunch in question. I suggested that we take a table in the lounge rather than in the white-tablecloth rooms. It would be much cozier and more conducive to friendly conversation. As we made our way to the table, the ladies went ahead of us, following the maitre d'. I smiled as I saw them together. Greg's wife Megan was one of the few women who seemed tiny next to Stacie. It wasn't that she was so much shorter. In fact, I doubted if she were even an inch shorter. Megan just seemed small in every dimension. Where Stacie was voluptuous, "delicate" was perhaps the best way to describe Megan. Both women were beautiful but in different ways. Stacie was blonde. Megan had black hair. Stacie had lots of curves. Megan was definitely feminine, but everything was on a smaller scale. They were both fair-skinned. And both had sky-blue eyes. Megan's were almond shaped, hinting at some Asian ancestry.

We sat down and perused the menu. Greg asked if we'd like wine. Stacie and I agreed. We settled on white, and Greg asked for the wine list. He chose a nice Australian Chardonnay. When the waiter poured it, Megan put her hand over her glass. "I'd love to have some," she said, "but I won't be having any alcohol in the near future."

I said, "Why not?"

Greg was blushing and grinning. "Because," Megan said, "there are soon going to be three people living in our house."

Stacie looked at her with a wide-eyed smile. She said, "Do you mean..."

"Yup," Megan said, "I'm preggers. Knocked up by this brute." She patted Greg affectionately.

I smiled and raised my glass. "Congratulations," I said. "Here's to the growing Young family."

Greg had a sip from his glass, even though he was being toasted rather than toasting. "It was actually quite amazing. How it happened, I mean," he said. "You know, I was married before. My first wife died in a skiing accident. She and I had tried for a couple of years to conceive. Tried everything. No luck. But the very first month that Megan and I gave it a shot -- bingo! How's that for luck?"

"I'd say that's wonderful luck," I said. "Congratulations again."

Megan said, "Thanks. We're incredibly lucky. All the tests show that the baby is healthy. And I plan to be a stay-at-home mum for the first year. Luckily, my job allows up to a year of maternity leave, although I'll only get paid for the first six months."

"Hell," Greg said, "we don't need the money. Sometimes I wish that Megan would stay home permanently."

Megan smiled at him. She said, "And do what? Become one of those bitches in the Junior League? No thanks. I need my job to keep my sanity."

Stacie said, "What do you do?"

"I'm the assistant general manager of the Parks, Forestry and Recreation Division of the City of Toronto," Megan said.

Stacie said, "Wow. That's impressive."

Megan laughed. "Not really," she said. "It's a grand title that translates roughly as 'fart catcher.' I try to make sure that the other managers don't screw up too much. And I help my boss run interference with City Council. We try to keep the councilors off the backs of the management and staff. That's almost a full-time job in itself. It can be a pain in the butt, but it has good benefits, thank God."

Stacie and Megan chatted a while about baby things. I wondered if Stacie were getting any ideas. She'd said many times how much she envied Rachel Stewart because of her daughter Esther. Oh well, I'd cross that bridge when I got to it. Then the conversation changed to weddings and honeymoons. "We spent our honeymoon in Paris," Stacie said. "Jack was very sneaky. I didn't find out where we were going until the wedding reception."

Megan said, "Gosh that sounds really romantic."

"It was," Stacie said, "we had a wonderful time. I'll never forget it. Where did you go?"

"Well," Megan said, "it may sound odd, but we went to Japan."

Stacie exclaimed, "How exotic!"

"Yeah, it was great," Megan said. "You see, my mum is Japanese. She has a pretty big family in Japan, and many of them couldn't come here for our wedding. So we decided to kill two birds, as it were. We combined family visits with sight-seeing and just general honeymoon type stuff."

Stacie said, "Do you speak Japanese?"

Megan said, "Well, I can get by, but I'm not fluent by any means. And I've been told that I speak like a child. Fortunately, my uncle in Kyoto is an English professor at the university. He acted as our guide and translator. Without him, we'd have had a lot more trouble."

Lunch was very pleasant. Greg and Megan turned out to be fascinating luncheon companions. They were both very intelligent, well-read and witty. Megan's wit was quite wicked, especially when she skewered Toronto's elected politicians. She called the mayor "an idiot -- a well-intentioned idiot, but an idiot nonetheless." I'd hate to be the subject of her jibes. Greg was far more laid back. I enjoyed his anecdotes about the television business. And I countered with a few lawyer jokes. Stacie told the Youngs about the latest developments in her scholarship foundation. Needless to say, they were quite impressed. Greg immediately volunteered to help in any way he could. And Megan offered her help in getting the message out to kids in the poorer parts of town. As we said good by to Greg and Megan, the four of us agreed to get together soon for supper. I suggested that we entertain them, and they agreed readily, saying only that they insisted on returning the favour.

When we arrived home, Charlotte and Larissa were no where to be seen. Stacie and I went upstairs to change. Of course, as soon as we started to undress, our thoughts turned in a different direction. I helped Stacie remove her last two garments, and she in turn took care of my boxers. As usual, I found myself staring at my lovely wife, taking in every detail of her precious body. "Jack," she said, "you're looking at me as though you'd never seen me before. You've seen me naked hundreds, maybe thousands, of times."