Page 77 of The Village Midwife
Zoe reached for a pakora, juggling it between her fingers because it was so hot.
‘She’s waiting for references to clear for the landlord and then we’ll know. I would think next month is likely. She wants to be in by Christmas.’
‘But she’ll come home for Christmas Day, won’t she?’
Stacey pulled a second tray from the oven. ‘I think so. At least, I hope so.’ She turned to Zoe. ‘It’s good she can still stay under your care when she moves. I don’t think she’d cope with having to get used to another midwife. Thanks for doing that.’
‘I have warned Chloe that I might not be able to get to her if there’s anything urgent, and I probably won’t be able to attend the birth, but in the meantime, if things go smoothly, there’s no reason why I can’t do her routine checks.’
‘She’ll be a better patient than she was last time,’ Stacey said.
‘I hope so!’ Ottilie said. ‘I don’t fancy doing that again!’
‘Of course!’ Zoe said. ‘I totally forgot you helped Chloe deliver Mackenzie!’
‘Not out of choice. And let me tell you, I wouldn’t want to swap jobs with you!’ Ottilie replied with such feeling that Zoe had to laugh.
‘Don’t worry, I wouldn’t want to swap with you either.’
Stacey put another tray of nibbles out and turned to Ottilie. ‘Those all right for you? Not into weird food yet? Because I’m sure I can fix up some tuna and banana sandwiches for you.’
‘No, thank you.’ Ottilie grinned as she reached for a second pakora. ‘Another plate of this will do just fine, so keep ’em coming.’
21
Zoe was surprised to see Victor in the shop when she walked in to pick up some biscuits on her way home from work the following Monday. He and Corrine didn’t often come down to the village – though they were friendly with everyone when they did – and it was even rarer he had the need to buy from the shop. That being said, it didn’t seem as if he was buying anything now, as he was having an animated conversation with Magnus and Geoff. At the sound of the door opening, all three turned to Zoe.
Victor’s face lit up. ‘You’ll never guess what we found!’
‘You and Alex?’ Zoe asked, the only people she could think of who’d been actively searching for something.
‘Jet beads! What do you think of that? It’s a crying shame we didn’t find them on the day you were with us, but still. Didn’t even show on the metal detector, of course, but the man Alex has been talking to is excited now all right. He says it’s a safe bet there’ll be more jewellery. He’s wondering if we might uncover some stones.’
‘Stones?’
‘Like up at Cockpit.’
Zoe was still confused.
‘A stone circle,’ Geoff clarified. ‘Like Stonehenge, except obviously not Stonehenge because if they were that big, I’m fairly sure we would have noticed them by now.’
‘Wouldn’t we have noticed a stone circle anyway?’ Zoe asked.
‘Not if most of it had been taken away to build and what’s left fell down and got buried,’ Victor said.
Zoe thought that sounded quite a stretch, but she didn’t want to dampen Victor’s enthusiasm so kept quiet.
‘Of course,’ he continued, ‘you’d have thought when Ann and Jim were farming up there they’d have noticed something.’
‘Perhaps they did and didn’t realise what it was,’ she offered.
‘I expect that’s it,’ Victor agreed. ‘Would you like to see the beads?’
‘Have you got a photo of them?’
‘Not with me. No phone. But if you call up at the house later, I’ve got them. I found them, see, so Alex said for me to keep them until his man decides what he wants to do.’
‘Do you think they’ll send people up to excavate?’ Geoff asked.
