Page 116 of The Village Midwife
He looked up at her with those sweet brown eyes that were like a warm embrace, and that thick hair, messed up from where his hands had pushed through it. Those lips that she’d thought about kissing so many times since she’d met him. He was a good man – she knew that. Everything he did was to make those around him happy, and even when he got it wrong, his intentions had been right. And the way he cared for Billie…would it be so bad to have someone like him care for her even half of that? It was more than Ritchie had ever done, and didn’t she deserve it? She could take a chance, and she could do worse than taking a chance on a man like Alex Fitzgerald.
She unlocked her phone and began to type, a quiet smile lighting her face.
‘What are you doing?’ he asked.
‘I’m messaging your daughter.’
‘Oh God, don’t blame her for this. It wasn’t her fault; she was only trying to?—’
‘I’m telling her that the answer is yes because she seems more invested than we are.’
Zoe pressed send and looked up to see him frowning slightly.
‘You are?’
‘I am. Yes, I will go out for a drink with you. And maybe there will be more drinks after that, and even some kissing.’
‘I can do kissing. I’m a bit rusty, but…’
‘Me too. We can brush up our kissing together.’
‘I’d love that,’ he said, breaking into a lopsided grin that was at once nervous and sexy. ‘When? When do you want to go for our drink? I’m free the rest of this week.’
‘Have you got time now? You could stay for an hour after all – I think we’ve waited long enough, don’t you?’
‘I do,’ he said. ‘I haven’t brought anything with me, though.’
‘I don’t have anything in either. I suppose that’s the drink bit scuppered then. We’ll have to go straight to the kissing instead.’
He laughed loudly, and then stopped and stared at her when she didn’t laugh but sat close to him. ‘Oh God, you meant it!’
‘Yeah, I meant it,’ she said before leaning in to touch her lips to his, her pulse suddenly racing and every nerve end on fire. And as they drew one another in, she decided that his kissing technique was really rather good after all.
EPILOGUE
Two weeks later…
To spare everyone’s blushes, they did most of their kissing at Zoe’s house. Though it had spilled out, on occasion, to a local pub or a lakeside vantage point, in his car, in her car…and even the fields where Alex was excavating.
While they’d been upfront and honest with Billie – whose pregnancy was now back on track, her scare becoming an unpleasant memory – about their new relationship, Zoe and Alex hadn’t wanted to announce it to the rest of Thimblebury until they’d been sure about it themselves. Which was odd, when Zoe reflected on that decision, because if the amount of kissing was anything to go by, there had never been a more certain thing than their new relationship. She’d felt like a teenager again, sneaking around and revelling in the mischief.
People had their own suspicions, of course, and it was hard for Zoe to hide her new joy in every morning. Ottilie had worked it out, and Zoe had asked her to keep it quiet for the time being, and while Fliss and Lavender hadn’t come to such a solid conclusion, they’d dropped enough hints for Zoe to knowthey’d figure it out soon enough. Simon, of course, was oblivious, caught up in plans for Fliss’s replacement and for the surgery as a whole once she left them.
They finally decided to let the secret out when their hand had been forced anyway. In the end, Zoe hadn’t cared that Victor had seen them kissing at her gate one morning – the morning after the night Alex had first stayed over. He’d only grinned and called a cheery greeting, but must have rushed off to tell Corrine because that night after work, Corrine was waiting at her front door with a tin full of cake and a head full of questions.
Zoe pretended not to suspect anything as she opened the gate. ‘I suppose this visit has nothing to do with Victor seeing me and Alex this morning?’
‘Whatever do you mean?’ Corrine asked with almost cartoon innocence. ‘I only came to chat. I can come back if you’re tired, of course…’
‘No, I’m not too tired.’ Zoe nodded at the floral tin in Corrine’s arms. ‘I take it that’s cake?’
‘Victoria sponge. Fresh cream, of course, home-made jam…’
‘As if I could say no to that, even if I was tired! Come on.’ Zoe unlocked the front door. ‘I’ll get the kettle on.’
Zoe filled the kettle and switched it on to boil, and then ran upstairs to quickly change out of her uniform, leaving Corrine in the kitchen to fetch cups and plates. And when she came back down, the table was already laid out and the tea was brewing and Corrine was waiting expectantly on a chair.
She was about to speak when there was a knock at the door. Zoe frowned slightly. She’d arranged to meet Alex but not until much later that evening. They’d met almost every evening since they’d got together, neither able to stay away for long.
