Page 29 of Prognosis So Done

CHAPTER ELEVEN - 1700 HOURS

GILL heard the laughterdrifting out to meet him in the hallway as he strode towards the dining room. It was a relief that everyone was laughing again after a subdued couple of hours. No one looked up as he entered, engrossed as they were in their game of poker.

‘Deal me in,’ he said, picking up a cashew from the bowl in the centre of the table and sitting down between Harriet and Siobhan.

Gill picked up his cards and took his share of plastic chips out of Helmut’s felt-lined case, and thanked God for it. It came with Helmut on every mission, even if it meant he had to sacrifice space for clothes, and had been used to while away many a boring hour.

Such was the nature of their work. Frantic hours of intense surgery, churning through a multitude of casualties, mending and patching, mending and patching. And then hours of nothing.

Not that the nothing usually went on for long. Occasionally

they were blessed with a day’s respite...occasionally. And it was in these down times, when they weren’t catching up on their sleep, that they played poker.

He looked across at the other table. Some of Ben’s team were playing Scrabble. They were quiet, concentrating intensely on their letters and the board. The others were lounging around, reading which was a stark contrast to the hilarity and camaraderie of his close-knit team.

Gill couldn’t help but compare the two. The difference between a team that had been together for a long time and a new one were glaringly obvious. Ben’s team didn’t yet have the closeness that was essential in this business. That usually took a while to develop but when it did, it was pure magic.

And one of the many reasons he wanted to do this for ever.

He was conscious of Harriet beside him. He had heard Nimuk’s mother a little while ago and had known how upset she would be. He had tried to resist the urge to seek her out but it had been strange to deny such a basic instinct, stranger still that he hadn’t realised how natural it was for him to play the role of her comforter.

Unfortunately, it was the kind of dynamic that had to stop given they would soon be divorced.

But, they weren’t yet. And so, when he’d seen her up on her balcony, he’d gone to her. It had been too late, though, Katya had beaten him to it and he’d withdrawn. But not before he had heard Katya’s shocking suggestion and Harriet’s horrified rejection.

He didn’t know how he would have reacted if Harry had deliberately set out to get pregnant. He would have been angry at being thrust into a situation he didn’t want to be in, that’s for sure. But realistically what could he have done? Made her terminate the baby? No — she wouldn’t have done it and

it wasn’t something he would have asked of her. Left?

No — that was more her style.

He probably would have just lumped it, but the resentment he’d have felt would not have been healthy for their long-term relationship. There had to be trust in a marriage, and if he couldn’t trust her then ultimately it didn’t matter how much he loved her.

Helmut made a grunting, attention-seeking noise and Gill realised they were waiting for him to discard. He hadn’t even looked at his cards. Sure, he’d been staring at them but his preoccupied mind hadn’t registered any of them.

He caught Siobhan’s gaze over the top of his cards and she winked at him. She was wearing her usual smug smile and Gill had no doubt she’d clean them all out as per usual. Siobhan always claimed it was the luck of the Irish but Gill had a feeling that she’d been gambling since she’d first learnt to count!

He’d bet his last chip she’d grown up at her father’s knee. And Daddy was a bookie! Plus, she was an excellent bluffer. Her poker face was true Las Vegas and her pile of chips was already double anyone else’s!

Hmmm. A pair of kings. Tossing three cards out, Gill held Siobhan’s unwavering gaze as he picked up his replacements which were all rubbish. But he was careful not to give that fact away. When everyone else folded, he tossed out a chip — she was not going to bluff him this time.

‘Raise you another,’ she said calmly.

He raised her again. She reciprocated and then so did he. Clink - another of her chips hit the growing pile in the middle

of the table.

‘You know you’re going to lose, right?’ Harriet said.

‘Nonsense,’ he dismissed jovially. ‘Not with this hand.’

‘Oh, yeah. She’s so scared,’ said Katya, and they all laughed at her deadpan expression.

‘Raise you another one,’ Siobhan said, tossing in another chip.

‘Back at ya,’ he said, adding his.

‘Give in, man, you can’t win,’ said Joan.

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