Meehan shrugged. "The kid had a rough experience. Doc Kristin gave her
some sedatives. I talked to her a while before she went under. I think
she'll be able to forget what happened."
"I hope so."
Meehan's lips trembled. That wasn't in character with Jack at all.
He saw Joanie standing behind me, and he frowned a little, and then
he said, in a quavery sort of voice, "Al, I want to thank you. If
you hadn't fought off Riccio, he might have--he might have--" Meehan
paused. "I mean, Naomi means a lot to me. More than I really suspected,
until this afternoon. And--and I'm grateful for what you did."
"Skip it," I told him. "It could have been anybody."
I'd never seen Jack Meehan looking maudlin before. I realized what had
happened: the flip, cynical gay blade had actually gone and fallen in
love!
Well, he wasn't the only good bachelor to bite the dust that day.
I said, "Just to change the subject, Jack, there's something I think
you ought to know. Joanie and I--well, we're--well, we're keeping
company."
"He means we're engaged," Joanie said. She laughed good-naturedly and
added, "And really we're as good as married already."
Meehan looked dumbstruck. But he managed a smile and a shaky laugh.
"Gosh," he said. "Gosh, that's--that's wonderful, Al. That's really
tremendous."
I slipped my arm around Joanie's shoulder. She stood there, my big
glowing golden girl, more radiant than ever now that she had at last
become a woman. I told myself that there might be a couple of weeks'
delay before I had a free moment to get back to work on that novel.
I said, "You see, all I was doing was evening the score, Jack. I owed
you a favor, because if you'd never brought me here I would never have
met Joanie, and--and--well, it works out nicely, doesn't it?"
"Very nicely," Jack said. He was smiling broadly. "Christ everlasting,
but I just got a swell idea."
"What?" Joanie and I said at once.
"The perfect scene for kicking off my article," he said. "A description
of a wedding. No, a _double_ wedding. A double wedding with brides and
bride-grooms and guests and everybody in the nude."
I began to laugh. It was a swell idea, I thought. A perfectly swell
idea. We could be Best Man for each other, and we could import a nudist
minister to read the ceremony, and--we all laughed roaringly and threw
our arms around each other, and Jack gave Joanie a big kiss, and even
though both of them were stark mother-naked I didn't mind at all.