5
I'd been in the hospital a week and most of the other patients had moved on, or were still confined to their beds. The hospital was, as a result, unusually quiet and peaceful, and the warm weather introduced an incredibly relaxed atmosphere that was nudging towards being lazy.
Earlier that morning, Tom had changed my bandages and had decided to use his plentiful free time 'helping' a Miss Kitty Trevelyan, much to mine and Miles' amusement. In fact, his efforts were doing anything but – it took a full hour for her to make the beds on just one of the wards. The other nurses were milling around, with only a few patients requiring care; everyone was at a loose end.
Miles and I sat across from each other at a table in the sun playing what became a very violent game of cards. It turned out we were both a little too competitive – Miles had actually splintered the wood of the table slamming his hand onto it in order to claim the smaller pile of cards.
We were on our sixth game, one we'd been playing solidly for nearly two hours, when there came a shout that there was a squad of men marching towards us on the road.
Miles and I didn't even glance up from our game; if they were walking here there was clearly nothing much wrong with them, and it looked like the game was going to finish in another round or so.
Then again, we had thought that at least forty minutes before.
"Are you ready to give in yet?" Miles threw me his adorable smile.
It was unfair him being able to distract me like that, but I just returned the grin. "Are you?"
"Just because you're winning, you think you're invincible." He lowered his voice to a growl that sent shivers up my spine.
It really was unfair.
"Quit bluffing and turn the damn card." I rolled my eyes, my hands hovering over my last fourteen cards.
He leant forwards across the table and tapped his stack of cards with a finger. "If I win this, I want your bacon rations for a week."
I laughed. "You're already on double rations; you won't fit into that uniform of yours if you keep going like this."
"I'm fighting fit!" he objected. "Tom's the one you need to watch. Now Kitty's accepted his proposal he's got complacent – let himself go."
"Tom proposed?" I interrupted him gleefully. "No wonder he was actually smiling this morning – he seemed like a different person… so much less moody." I flashed a smile.
Miles' eyes flicked to the side as he took a breath and held it. "Yes," he breathed out. "But, thinking about it, that was supposed to be a secret." He grinned sheepishly.
"Understood," I smirked. "I won't breathe a word."
"Anyway, as I was saying," he leant further towards me, "I had to put an extra hole in his belt this morning."
"You did not!" I couldn't help but laugh. "But when I win, I want you to prove to me how 'fighting fit' you are by doing two laps of the field." I inclined my head towards the expanse of grass.
Miles' expression barely faltered. "I could do three," he boasted.
"Done," I grinned slyly.
Miles bit his lip for a second as he realised the stakes he'd just agreed to. "I can taste the bacon already." His feigned confidence fooled no one.
"Stop your stalling," I laughed.
With a sigh of determination he flipped the top card over and the space between us filled with a frenzy of cards. I don't think either of us really had a clue what cards we were putting down.
We were both yelling as we fought to get our cards down before the other made our move invalid. In a flurry I dropped my last card onto the deck and for a split second our eyes met. The recognition of the challenge was clear in his eyes. It all came down to speed now.
We both lunged for the empty space next to the pile and my hand slammed into the wood barely a millisecond before Miles' hand came crashing down on top of mine. There was an audible crack and the brittle wood of the table gave in; it shattered, spilling cards and shards of wood in all directions.
Our hands stayed hanging in the air, where the table had been moments before. There was a second of silence and then Miles let out a snort of laughter and I could do nothing to stop my own laughter from ripping through me.
The stakes were momentarily forgotten as we stared at the wreckage of the wood.
"Noisily destroying military supplies, it just had to be my Jo."
The voice startled us both and I turned to see John walking towards us, his jacket slung over his shoulders.
"John!" I had to try my hardest not to squeal like a girl.
"Well if it isn't my little brother," he grinned back, enveloping me in a hug that made me wince. "Glad to see you haven't lost your skill with that game. Though I still haven't forgiven you for breaking my hand," he teased.
"That was years ago!" I protested, thumping him on the shoulder. "And you were cheating! The card was still in your other hand!"
John rolled his eyes. "That's what you keep telling yourself."
I punched him again. "But, whatever you say, this time I won! Fair and square!" I turned back to Miles, grinning like an idiot. "Don't you have something you should be doing, Captain?" I dropped the emphasis on his rank with a wink.
"Damn, I don't suppose there's any point arguing?" He grinned hopefully, scratching the side of his head.
I said nothing.
"Frankly I'm too scared to even try." He crouched down and began picking up the cards deposited across the dry mud. "Fine," he conceded, that adorable grin still etched into his face. "You won, I'll do my time. But can I beg of you the one small mercy of waiting until I won't pass out from heat exhaustion?"
"I thought you were fighting fit?" I teased, sitting back down on the bench. I was healing, but crouching was definitely out of the question.
"If you insist," Miles began dramatically. "But please bury me somewhere nice – preferably with a view of the sea."
John chuckled from behind me. "Or perhaps, Jo, you could spare the poor Captain's life so he can part with his money for the drinks tonight," he suggested.
"Tonight?" Miles and I chorused.
"Me and the lads are on leave in the town and Matron's letting us steal you away for the night." He grinned. "As long as one of the docs tags along to make sure we don't get you too drunk and damage all their hard work," he added with a wink.
"I would be delighted to accompany you." Miles flourished a small bow from where he was crouched on the ground. He sounded for all the world like he was accepting an afternoon stroll with the King.
"You? As a chaperone?" I laughed, probably a little too loudly. "You'd be face down in the gutter with an empty bottle of whatever-you-can-find in your hand before we're even out of the car."
"Why does everyone have to keep bringing up that night?" Miles rolled his eyes then winked, his composure, as always, completely unaffected. "I promise to be the gallant gentleman throughout."
"If you manage that I'll let you out of your bargain," I snorted disbelievingly.
Miles just folded his arms sulkily. "I don't like you." However, the grin that still hadn't left his face belied his words.
A shout came from by the Colonel's cabin and we turned to see the rest of the lads waving energetically. A subdued Matron was standing next to them, clearly telling them off for disrupting the patients.
"I suppose I'd better let the others over now – Matron said I had to ask if you felt you were up to visitors first." John grinned, "I can't keep you all to myself; they've given me nothing but hell since I left you here in the first place." He waved over to the others who pelted their way towards us, ignoring Matron's half-hearted shout of protest.
I thought Miles was going to be trampled for a moment, but clearly he had the same thought as he pulled himself to his feet and, with a smirk, called out that he was going to go stop Tom pestering Kitty before she killed him in a moment of passionate infuriation.
I turned back just in time to be charged by three ridiculously over-excited men, all yelling and laughing about something that was clearly a topic of excitement. I grinned, guessing we had a week's worth of catching up to do.