Page 37 of The Village Midwife
‘She needs feeding all right,’ Corrine said. ‘It wouldn’t hurt to take some good home cooking over to them. I think I’ll make a pie and take it over tomorrow.’
‘That’s me officially jealous.’ Ottilie smiled. ‘I’d be your instant best friend for life if you were making me a pie.’
Corrine beamed at the compliment. ‘You know my guardian angel can have one any time she likes.’
Corrine and Ottilie shared a look of understanding and deep affection, and Zoe felt a pang of real jealousy. Or rather, not so much jealousy but longing. She was envious of how settled Ottilie was here, how much of a shared experience she had with other women in the village, whereas Zoe felt keenly her status as recent arrival. She had work to do before she became a real part of the community. She’d persuaded herself she didn’t care, that she had no plans beyond her six-month trial at the surgery, but that wasn’t true. She wanted to belong because ever since she’d lost the baby and then Ritchie, she’d felt lost in life too. Reflecting on it now, however, it struck her that was one thing she had in common with Billie. Perhaps, she thought, that was the way to connect. If she could use her outsiderness to some advantage, then perhaps she could turn it into a force for good.
‘If you’re going over tomorrow, Corrine,’ she began slowly as the plan formed in her head, ‘I’d like to come with you – if that’s all right.’
Stacey laughed. ‘Aye, aye! We set her a challenge to take on the new man and she’s gone for it!’
‘No!’ Zoe laughed herself, though it was more self-conscious. ‘That’s not it at all! I only meant it would be good for me to check in on Billie, and this is a way to do it that won’t seem obvious. Like Corrine said, she seems lonely, and that can’t be good for a girl of her age, especially one who’s pregnant.’
‘Yeah, you keep telling yourself that,’ Stacey fired back with a grin. And then she looked up at Corrine. ‘This cup of tea is allvery well, but weren’t we promised a girls’ night? Shall we open the wine I brought up?’
‘I can’t drink it,’ Ottilie reminded her, but Stacey’s grin only spread.
‘Aww, shame, we’ll have to drink your share, won’t we? It’s a hardship, but for you, I’m willing to bear it.’
11
It was raining again the following evening when Zoe met Corrine on the path between Kestrel Cottage and Daffodil farmhouse. Corrine was carrying an insulated bag containing a pie dish covered in tinfoil. Zoe could smell the pie as Corrine greeted her.
‘That smells gorgeous – what is it?’
‘Chicken and leek.’
‘I’m kind of hoping Billie and Alex are vegetarian so I get to eat the whole thing,’ Zoe said.
Corrine gave her a bright smile. ‘Don’t worry – I’ve made one for you too. It’s on the side in the kitchen – you can pick it up before you go home. And I know they’re not vegetarian because Magnus told me.’
‘Of course he did. How does Magnus know?’
‘He told me Alex picked up some Quorn from the shop, and when Magnus asked him about it, he said they didn’t eat it because they were vegetarian, only that sometimes they liked to cut out meat to be a bit more environmentally friendly.’
Zoe pondered what that might say about Alex and Billie and decided that, whatever it was, she approved.
‘I think they’ll be all right with a bit of chicken from a local farm, won’t they?’ Corrine added. ‘That’s quite environmentally friendly, I’d say.’
‘Of course. I’m sure it will go down nicely either way. I wonder if that means their camping pods will be all eco-friendly too?’
‘It seems to be something they’re interested in, so perhaps they will.’ Corrine studied her for a moment. ‘How are you settling in? You’ve been in Kestrel Cottage almost a month already – can you believe it?’
‘It’s flown by, hasn’t it? I like it there. It took some time to get used to the quiet, but now, if you asked me to go back to Manchester, I don’t think I could cope.’
‘Oh, I couldn’t be doing with a big city. When I was a girl, I dreamed of running away to London. It seemed so glamorous but I don’t expect it’s like on the films. Anyway, I met Victor and that put paid to London.’
‘Do you ever regret not giving it a go?’
‘Oh no.’ Corrine shook her head. ‘It was just a silly girl’s idea. I’m sure I’d have hated it. You know, when you grow up in a place like this, all you want to do is leave, and some get the chance to leave, and more often than not they realise that yonder hill isn’t as golden as it looks. They come back and they tell you what it was like, and then you realise you had all that you wanted all along.’
‘And that’s you?’
‘That’s me. I’ve had a good life at Daffodil, and I wouldn’t want to be anywhere else now.’
The path was on the boggy side, and Zoe frequently had to check where she was walking, but Corrine seemed to have no such issues. She was decades older than Zoe, but from a distance she looked like the fitter and stronger of the two women. Zoewondered vaguely if she might end up like that, if she lived in the hills for long enough.
They continued to chat as they walked, about life in Manchester, about Zoe’s divorce and about her work. Corrine was pleasantly interested but not pushy, and when Zoe hinted that a particular topic was off limits, she changed the subject immediately. She told Zoe about the skin cancer Ottilie had spotted very soon after they’d met, but her telling differed from Ottilie’s modest version. Corrine couldn’t praise their village nurse highly enough, and it was clear she valued her friendship. Zoe had noticed a similar love for Ottilie in everyone she’d met in Thimblebury. She was glad her friend had found a place where she so clearly belonged, and she wondered if she’d ever slot into the village in the same way. While she liked Thimblebury well enough, she couldn’t imagine it at all.
