Newly reconciled Frieda and Gordon had played in a Graded Pairs event. This hand from the morning session had given Frieda (East) a particular satisfaction.
| ♠T64 ♥AKQ2 ♦KJ6 ♣A96 | ||
| ♠9752 ♥4 ♦AQ3 ♣J8432 | ♠AKJ83 ♥JT875 ♦T7 ♣T | |
| ♠Q ♥963 ♦98542 ♣KQ75 |
North was the dealer and the bidding had gone:
| West | North | East | South |
| 1♥ | 1♠ | 2♥ | |
| 3♠ | Pass | Pass |
All passed and Frieda, in 3♠, received a heart lead. North won with the ace, cashed ♣A, and played another club. Frieda ruffed, then ruffed a heart, and played one round of trumps (noting the fall of South’s queen). From the bidding it seemed that hearts were splitting 4-3 so now she played heart ruff, club ruff, heart ruff, club ruff, heart ruff. That left the following cards:
| ♠T6 ♥— ♦KJ6 ♣— | ||
| ♠— ♥— ♦AQ3 ♣J8 | ♠KJ ♥J ♦T7 ♣— | |
| ♠— ♥— ♦9854 ♣K |
The lead was now in dummy. She now played the ♣J and a confused North made the mistake of ruffing! Now Frieda overruffed, drew the last trump, cashed ♥J, crossed to dummy with A♦ and won the last trick with 8♣; making 5.
Gordon later quipped that this was ruff luck for the defenders.
In the afternoon session Gordon (North) had enjoyed being declarer in 4♠ on this hand.
| ♠K6543 ♥AKQ94 ♦Q ♣T2 | ||
| ♠T9 ♥875 ♦AKJ8 ♣KQJ8 | ♠J72 ♥JT63 ♦T743 ♣A5 | |
| ♠AQ8 ♥2 ♦9652 ♣97643 |
The remarkable auction had been
| West | North | East | South |
| 1♠ | Pass | 2♥ | |
| Pass | 3♥ | Pass | 3♠ |
| Pass | 4♥ | Pass | 4♠ |
| Pass | Pass | Pass |
It had come off the rails immediately by Frieda’s 2♥ bid. Gordon had just offered her a chocolate biscuit and she had suffered an attention-depleting coughing fit. This propelled them rather higher than they would otherwise have bid.
East led a diamond to West’s ace and Gordon ruffed the diamond return. Now he established his heart suit before drawing trumps: ♥A, heart ruff, ♠A, ♠Q, diamond ruff, ♠K and now his 3 good hearts. 10 tricks and a very good score.
The event had produced its ups and downs but they had taken to heart a dictum of S. J. Simon: “Don’t try for the best possible result on every hand, just the best result possible”. Their mixture of pragmatism, discipline, and developing partnership trust was turning them into a formidable couple at the bridge table. Secretly, both hoped to be a couple in another sense of the word but neither knew the way forward.
Bridge Romances 
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