Page 33 of The Village Midwife
‘Oh, his alpaca!’ Zoe cast a glance around the empty kitchen. ‘Am I the first here?’
‘Oh no, Ottilie and Stacey were here, but they’ve gone across with Victor. Ottilie’s in love with those animals almost as much as he is – any excuse to go and see them.’
‘She must be – she’ll get soaked out there.’
‘Don’t worry, we fixed her and Stacey up with some of our old raincoats – they’ll be all right in those. I shouldn’t imagine they’ll be long.’
‘I’m a bit jealous. If I’d known there would be an alpaca visit, I’d have got here earlier myself. Is Victor joining us for our first girly night? He could be an honorary girl, couldn’t he?’
‘Lord no!’ Corrine laughed as she went to the fridge and got out a pot of double cream. ‘He wouldn’t be able to keep up! He’s got a programme to watch, so he’ll be as good as gold in the living room. We can gossip about him as much as we like – he’d never know. Now where did I put my…?’ Corrine searched the table and then let out a little huff of satisfaction. ‘There you are!’ she said, picking up an emerald ring. She seemed almost relieved when it was on her finger.
‘That’s a gorgeous ring,’ Zoe said.
‘Yes, isn’t it? Victor got it for me a couple of years ago. I was poorly, you know. He bought this to celebrate when I got the all-clear from the hospital.’
Zoe nodded. She recalled Ottilie telling her about noticing the worrying signs of skin cancer shortly after she’d first met Corrine, and how she’d acted quickly to help Corrine get it diagnosed.
‘I feel so bare these days without it. But, daft old thing that I am, I lost it in some pastry last year, so I take it off now when I’m kneading.’ Corrine went to the stove and put on the kettle. ‘Tea while we’re waiting for the others? Unless you want to go over to the paddock, of course…’
‘I think I’ll stay here. I’ll go over another time. Tea would be lovely.’
‘Ottilie tells me you’ve met your new neighbours at Hilltop,’ Corrine said as she lit the stove.
‘I did. Alex bought me some chocolate. Which I thought was a nice little present just for me, until Magnus burst my bubble by telling me he’d been buying things for other people too…’
Corrine grinned. ‘He did indeed – came over with some wine for us. Even though we don’t really drink it, I thanked him for it and fed him. Seems a nice chap. Had a big conflab with us about his posh camping ideas.’
‘Oh, his glamping. I imagine that’s why he’s buying us presents,’ Zoe said, still wondering why she’d been disappointed to learn that she hadn’t been the only recipient of Alex’s gifts. ‘He’s trying to sweeten up his neighbours.’
‘Without a doubt. If you know you might be causing a ruckus, you do what you can to get into people’s good graces first. Although, I did say to him if he runs it right, he shouldn’t have too much trouble. Not that it would trouble us in any case.’
‘Will it trouble anyone? How much disruption can one camping field cause?’
‘Around here, people will complain for the sake of hearing their own voices. You’ll learn that soon enough.’
‘I’m not sure I want to,’ Zoe said, and Corrine started to laugh.
‘I’m sure they won’t be complaining about you. Who could do that?’
‘You’d be surprised. Catch me on the right day, I can be annoying enough – ask my ex.’
Corrine shook her head. ‘It’s such a shame – lovely, pretty girl like you on your own.’
‘Hardly a girl, and there are days when I wake up and look in the mirror and I’m anything but pretty. It doesn’t bother me. Being on my own isn’t where I saw myself at this point in my life, but it’s where I am, and there’s nothing I can do but get on with it. I intend to. It’s good to have a man, and you and Ottilie andStacey all seem to have struck gold, but I can do all right without one.’
‘I’m sure you can,’ Corrine said. ‘As for gold…’ She glanced out of the window and smiled. ‘Here they all are now, like a bunch of drowned rats.’
A moment later, the back door of the farmhouse flew open, and with a flurry of limbs and wet coats and laughter, Victor, Ottilie and Stacey stepped inside.
‘I hope you’re going to mop that puddle up,’ Corrine said. Ottilie went towards a door in the corner of the room, and Corrine stopped her. ‘I don’t mean you – you’re a guest. I mean that oaf of a husband of mine.’
‘If it’s all right, I’ll go and wash my hands,’ Ottilie said.
‘Me too.’ Stacey followed her. They both went through a door that led to a set of dark stairs.
Victor appeared from the broom cupboard a second later with the mop and began to clear up what was really hardly a puddle at all. Zoe thought, as she watched, that if they’d left it for a few minutes, it would have dried up all by itself, as they’d shaken most of the rain from their outdoor clothes into the porch.
‘You can go now,’ Corrine told Victor once Ottilie and Stacey returned.
