Page 58 of It Always Snows on Mistletoe Square
‘Enough chit-chat, gentlemen!’ Tannon demands. ‘We sound like a lot of women gossiping away. I think the time has come to raise the stakes … ’ He puffs forcibly on a huge cigar. ‘All these notes are beginning to look quite untidy piled up in the middle of the table.’
‘What do you suggest, Tannon?’ Michael asks. ‘My money is all on the table.’
‘Property … ’ Tannon suggests with a smirk. ‘What do you say, Stephen, are you game?’
‘Fine by me,’ Stephen replies, his face flushed but expressionless as he attempts to bluff his way through the hand.
‘Good. Good. Then I shall raise you everything on this table, plus my gold watch.’ Tannon removes his gold pocket watch from his waistcoat and places it on the table in front of him.
Stephen follows by doing exactly the same. ‘Michael?’ he asks.
‘Too rich for me,’ Michael says, throwing his cards on the table. ‘I’ve got a wife at home with a penchant for expensive dresses and a new baby on the way. I need all the money I can get. What about you, Winter?’
‘Me too.’ Winter throws his cards down and lifts his glass of whisky from the table instead. ‘I’ll just enjoy watching you two old pros battle it out.’
‘What do you say, Stephen?’ Tannon asks, his eyes glinting. ‘What else have you to give? Or perhaps your hand isn’t quite as superb as you’d have us believe … ’
‘That’s what you hope, Tannon, that’s what you hope. I have this house,’ Stephen says slowly, and I see Estelle stiffen.
‘Ooh, now, that is interesting,’ Tannon says. ‘When I said property, I didn’t actually mean bricks and mortar. But … ’ He considers the cards in his hand. ‘Why not? I was thinking of moving soon – these houses aren’t what they used to be – but owning two right next door to each other would bring a nice little earner, I’m sure.’
‘Stephen,’ Michael says warningly. ‘I’m not sure that’s a good idea. Think of Clara upstairs, and Estelle. They need this house, as do you. You can’t risk it on a card game.’
‘Michael, as this family’s doctor I will always listen to you, in the same way I listened to your mother when she attended Clara during Estelle’s birth. But in medical matters only. What I do with my money is my business, and, like Tannon says, the income from a second house would come in very handy.’
Michael lifts up his hands in surrender. ‘Don’t say I didn’t warn you.’
‘Well, my good man, are we on?’ Tannon’s eyes glint once more as he puffs on his cigar.
‘Father!’ the young Estelle calls, hurrying into the room. ‘It’s time for the King’s Speech on the wireless.’
Stephen looks around in annoyance. ‘Not now, Estelle.’
‘But you said I could listen with you, and I’m sure all these gentlemen wouldn’t want to miss such an important event?’
‘She’s right, Stephen.’ Michael says. ‘Our game can wait for the King.’
‘Except technically he’s not the King any more, is he?’ Winter says as they all stand up and make their way over to the chairs around the fire. ‘His brother is.’
‘I like old Bertie,’ Michael says, sitting down in one of the chairs. ‘Family man, isn’t he? Much more appropriate as the head of the Empire. I’m sure his daughter, Elizabeth, will make a fine queen one day too.’
‘Hear! hear!’ Angela says, pretending to pat Michael on his shoulder. ‘Well said.’
Michael’s hand moves to the back of his neck as if he senses something there.
Estelle gives Angela a stern look, and Angela backs away slightly.
‘Women shouldn’t be in charge of anything,’ Tannon says, accepting a top-up of whisky from Stephen. ‘It was bad enough when they got the vote.’
‘Ignore him, Estelle,’ Michael says, smiling at Estelle standing awkwardly by the wireless. ‘Stuck in the Dark Ages is old Tannon here.’
‘It’s on!’ Estelle announces, turning the radio up. The room falls silent as the familiar sound of King Edward VIII’s abdication speech fills the room.
‘A few hours ago I discharged my last duty as King and Emperor, and now that I have been succeeded by my brother, the Duke of York, my first words must be to declare my allegiance to him. This I do with all my heart … ’
While we and the men all listen, I notice that the young Estelle has moved quietly to the back of the room, and step by step she’s gradually moving closer to the card table.
The men are so engrossed in the speech that they don’t notice. They all sit facing the old wireless as though it’s a television set they’re watching, instead of a voice over the radio.
