Page 25 of The Village Midwife
‘So it’s just you and your dad up at Hilltop?’
‘Does that matter?’
‘Of course not. I’m only trying to get a sense of your circumstances so I can help you better. It’s nice, actually, to be able to get to know my mums-to-be on a more personal level. When I worked in Manchester, I had so many on my list I barely had time to say hello during the appointment.’ She left a gap for some kind of response, but when there was none, Zoe gave a mental shrug. There was plenty of time and no need to rush things – she felt confident she could gain Billie’s trust and get her to open up. She decided to stick to business for now. ‘Do you have a care plan from your previous midwife?’
‘Didn’t she send it over?’
‘I’m afraid not. I wondered if she’d given you physical paperwork…you know, a little folder or something. We used to use those, years ago. You had to carry them around everywhere.’
Billie shook her head and regarded Zoe as if she was wishing she could find her off switch.
‘OK,’ Zoe said, choosing to ignore the withering looks, ‘I’ve got some medical records, so we’ll have to muddle through as best we can. I’ll contact your old midwife to see if I can get more info for next time I see you.’
She went to her computer to pull up the relevant pages. As she did so, she noticed Billie staring out of the window. Absent, looking but not seeing, a hand resting on her belly. Her sadness didn’t only fill the room; it threatened to suck the oxygen from it. Zoe was no stranger to sadness, but she’d never experienced it like this, and she hoped, looking at the younger woman now, she’d never have to.
9
Zoe ended up taking her moussaka home with her.By the time she’d seen Billie off, tidied her room and got the afternoon’s clinic prepped, it was too late to join the others and she’d gone past being hungry anyway. Lavender had popped her head around the door to say they’d put a doggy bag in the fridge for her and then plied her with extra cake during afternoon coffee break, and by the time Zoe walked into the door at Kestrel Cottage, her mouth was watering at the thought of the meal that everyone had raved about earlier. The fact that she didn’t have to cook it herself was a very welcome bonus.
She’d no sooner put the oven on to warm it when there was a knock at the front door. For the briefest moment, she considered ignoring it. The working day had felt like a long one, and all she wanted was a few moments to herself. But she decided it might be something important – perhaps Victor or Corrine, who, she’d discovered, never seemed to phone anyone when they could call to see them instead. In fact, Victor didn’t even possess a mobile phone – he’d lost too many around the place, he said, and didn’t see the point in continuing to add to the cache already languishing in the fields around Daffodil Farm. Ottilieconfirmed that both Corrine and Victor were stubbornly old-fashioned about communication but that everyone knew they were never going to change at this point in their lives. Zoe had set up a standing order to pay the rent, and there was some due out that week.She hadn’t yet seen it leave her account and perhaps there was a problem.
Whatever it might be and no matter how she might want to ignore it, Zoe decided she’d better go and see.
‘Oh…!’
‘Sorry…’ Alex was on the doorstep. He was out of his scruffs today, but still casual in a denim shirt and black jeans, and there were traces of paint in his dark hair, only visible up close. And Zoe found herself looking and wishing she was even closer…
He glanced at her work uniform. ‘Is this a bad time?’
‘Um, no…I mean, I didn’t mean to make it sound as if it was. I wasn’t expecting it to be you.’
‘Ah. I just wanted to check…Billie says she came to see you today. I mean, she did, right?’
‘She did.’ Zoe relaxed into a smile.
‘And did she tell you…? I mean, what did you talk about? If I’m allowed to ask.’
‘Mostly about her pregnancy,’ Zoe lied. It was only a little one, and in the name of patient confidentiality, so it was for a good cause. Those sorts of lies didn’t bother her one bit.
He held up a carrier bag. ‘They said at the shop that you liked these chocolates.’
Zoe frowned. He was bringing her chocolate? He’d asked Magnus and Geoff what she liked? Even more surprising, as she took the bag and peered in, was that Magnus and Geoff had even noticed what brand of chocolate she favoured. The bag was full of it. She’d been given chocolates before, but never like this, and she had no clue what they were for.
‘Are they wrong?’ Alex asked.
‘No, these are my favourites,’ Zoe said, smoothing her frown as she looked up. ‘And so much of it…I won’t have to buy any for the next year. Thank you.’
There was a gap – not long, but long enough to start feeling awkward. With a sudden desperation to fill the silence, Zoe said the first thing that came into her head. ‘Would you like to come in?’
‘If you’re busy, then?—’
‘I’m not especially. I’ve got time for a tea or coffee if you’d like one.’
He seemed torn before nodding. ‘That sounds good. You were right – if we’re neighbours, then we ought to get to know one another a bit better.’
Zoe wondered whether she might get more information about his and Billie’s circumstances. Perhaps, once they’d relaxed and started to chat properly over a hot drink, he might open up. She’d felt a strange pull to Billie ever since the appointment over lunch, and her thoughts had turned to the young woman often during the afternoon. Her other expectant mums had been fairly happy, straightforward cases, and so it had left plenty of space for Zoe to mull over her more complicated ones.
It was hard to tell whether Alex was happy to be in Zoe’s house or not. He seemed ill at ease as he stepped in, and yet she’d put no pressure on him to accept her offer. She turned off the oven she’d switched on before he’d knocked on her door and then put the bag of chocolate on the kitchen table as he took a seat there.
