Dave took the phone to his favourite private corner near the washing place. For once it was deserted.It took a while to get through to the hospital. He hoped Nurse Prim wouldn’t answer again but he recognized her voice at once. Evidently she recognized him too.‘Is that the husband who’s in Afghanistan?’ she asked beadily.‘Yeah. Can I talk to my wife?’‘It’s taken you a long time to phone. She’ll be going home any day,’ said the nurse.‘Well, we’re so busy playing cards and watching the grass grow that I just couldn’t be bothered before.’‘Now, now, there’s no need for sarcasm.’He could hear her carrying the phone through the ward.‘We were all very shocked to hear that British soldiers have killed some Afghan children,’ she said reproachfully, as if Dave had personally been out spraying bullets into kids.‘Not guilty,’ he pleaded.He could hear the cries of babies. His heart thudded. Babies. And one of them was his.‘Hi, love,’ said Jenny.He swallowed.‘Dave? Are you there, love? Oh, don’t say we’ve lost the line!’‘I’m here, Jen.’‘Hi, darling!’‘I couldn’t phone before.’ Bad start. Defensive.‘Don’t worry, you’re here now.’ She sounded relaxed.‘Is it all OK? I mean, you’re OK, the baby’s OK, tell me everything’s all right.’ Too anxious.‘Calm down, everything’s fine. It all happened quickly in the end. There wasn’t even time to do it properly with groans and contractions and things. They just had to get her out so I had a Caesarean. It’s goodbye bikinis, but who cares?’‘How are you, Jen?’‘Fine. I’m taking painkillers. But I’ve felt so much better since she was born. All the swelling’s gone, the dizziness has gone. I’ve turned into a gentle old cow, giving milk and more milk.’‘And the baby?’‘A bit surprised to find herself out in the real world so suddenly.’‘Wasn’t ready for deployment?’‘She responded well to the alert. Now she’s happy as Larry. Likes to be held and cuddled and she’s drinking a lot.’‘Trish was there?’‘For the birth? Well, sort of.’‘Only sort of?’‘She was there when I came out of the operating theatre.’‘Oh, shit, shit, you were alone.’‘Nope. There were doctors and nurses everywhere making a big fuss of me. And then Mum was waiting outside. And then your mum arrived.’‘Are they both staying at our house?’‘Yeah, spoiling Vicky rotten.’‘I’ve only just seen the pictures.’‘Isn’t she gorgeous?’‘Yeah,’ said Dave. ‘Yeah. She’s gorgeous. So are you. All I want now is to get home.’‘Still think the army’s where you want to be?’ Jenny asked.‘That was a cheap shot.’She laughed. ‘Just answer the question!’‘At this moment,’ he admitted, ‘I’m not so sure.’When the call ended he turned and saw a silent figure, hanging back in the shadows.‘Jamie Dermott, I should have guessed,’ he said, holding out the phone.‘I haven’t booked it. But I guessed they weren’t minimized any more . . .’‘Go on. Phone her. Get it sorted out,’ said Dave.Jamie was already dialling. He asked how Jenny was but Dave could tell he wasn’t listening to the answer.About ten minutes later, when Dave was wandering around the base, squinting in the dark at the damage caused by today’s attack, Jamie caught up with him.‘Well?’ Dave was running his hands over a wall of sandbags and wondering if the engineers would say they should rebuild the whole bloody thing. He looked up. Jamie was smiling.‘Everything’s fine! She was all over me!’Dave grinned back at him in the dark. ‘I told you it was only a misunderstanding. Six days with no contact and she’s gagging to talk to you. It just proves you’ve been phoning her too often, mate.’
