Page 41 of The Village Midwife
She glanced up to see Billie still hovering at the doorway. ‘How are you feeling?’
‘I’m fine.’ Billie looked at the table, as if deciding whether to join them. ‘All good. I’m bored, mostly, because Dad won’t let me do anything around here.’
‘Good,’ Zoe said. ‘Depends what it is you’re wanting to do, but if your dad doesn’t want you to do it, then it’s probably something I wouldn’t want you doing either.’
‘I think I’m meant to be flattered by your trust,’ Alex said from the kettle. ‘I’m not sure I deserve it, though.’
‘You don’t even know what it is,’ Billie said.
‘It’s decorating, Zoe,’ Alex said. ‘Up ladders. With paint and fumes. Even I know that’s not a good idea, and I’m a useless man.’
Corrine laughed. ‘I’m sure you’re not useless because you’re a man!’
‘You’d think so, to listen to my daughter. I know nothing about pregnancy, is all I get from her. Like I wasn’t there when her mother was carrying her. I might be a man, but I have a good-enough memory.’
Zoe could imagine him being a considerate, solicitous partner. She hadn’t known him long, but what she did know had already convinced her that he’d looked out for his pregnant wife and done everything in his power to make things easier for her. When she’d come to see Billie and he’d refused to get her, Zoe had imagined all sorts of bad things, but now she realised it was simply him doing his best to look out for his daughter, even if it was a little misguided.
She glanced at Billie but didn’t see the reaction she’d been expecting. Instead of smiling, or even teasing her dad, shelooked desperately sad. Without another word, she turned and left the room. Zoe looked up at Alex. He’d seen her go, and now he looked awkward and sad too.
‘Is she all right?’ Zoe asked quietly.
‘Yes,’ he said, though he didn’t look as if he really believed that. ‘She’s probably had enough of me going on.’
‘Her partner,’ Zoe began carefully, at once convinced she shouldn’t be asking her next question but too far down the line to take it back, ‘the baby’s father. Billie told me he’d never be involved.’
‘He’s not around.’ Alex paused as he opened a cupboard, staring into it as if he couldn’t see the mugs that were right in front of his face. ‘He died just before she found out she was pregnant.’
‘Oh, the poor thing.’
Zoe turned to see Corrine tearing up. Lost in the moment, she’d almost forgotten her landlady was there.
‘I see,’ Zoe said. ‘I’m not prying for the sake of it,’ she added. ‘It helps me to understand what she needs, and she didn’t exactly want to tell me at clinic…at least, it didn’t seem as if she did.’
‘I think there’s an element of denial,’ Alex said. ‘If she doesn’t say it, it’s not true. It came out of the blue, and then we left Spain so quickly that I don’t think she’s really processed it yet.’
‘I’m sorry.’ Zoe forced a bleak smile. The mood in the room had deteriorated in seconds, and she couldn’t help but feel it was her fault. And that she ought to have saved a conversation like this for clinic, where Billie could say it for herself. Zoe suddenly felt guilty, as if she’d gone behind Billie’s back and betrayed her trust. ‘I shouldn’t have asked.’
Alex came back to the table. ‘It’s all right. Like you said, it means you can help her better, now you know. I think she worries about when the time comes. She doesn’t even have a birth partner, and I’m sure she doesn’t want to ask me. Maybeyou could talk to her about that next time you see her in your clinic? She shuts me down when I bring it up, so I’d appreciate your help.’
‘Absolutely,’ Zoe said. ‘We would have covered that when we drew up her birth plan, but I’ll mention it next time I see her.’ She shot a glance at the doorway, wondering if Billie could hear all of this, and decided that if Alex was comfortable saying it, he was probably fairly certain that she couldn’t. And if the past half hour was anything to go by, if Billie could hear them, she wasn’t the sort of woman to keep quiet about it.
‘Other than bits of old metal,’ Corrine began, perhaps in a bid to change the subject to something she felt more comfortable with, ‘how is the building going? On your little camping huts, I mean.’
‘I haven’t done much towards it yet apart from trying to level some of the field and put foundations in. I got sidetracked by mybits of old metal. I probably ought to focus. I won’t get very far if I stop every time I find something shiny, will I?’
‘No,’ Corrine agreed. ‘Are you getting contractors in? You’re surely not planning to build it all by yourself.’
‘I’m going to do as much as I can to save money. I don’t foresee anything I can’t do, to be honest. Like you said, they’re only little camping huts at the end of the day. I might need a hand with plumbing for shower blocks and such, but then again, isn’t that what YouTube is for? I’m sure if I watched a video or two, I’d be able to do it.’
‘I have to admire your confidence,’ Zoe said.
‘Or stupidity,’ Alex replied, and she couldn’t help but agree a little with that.
‘I’m sure Victor would be able to recommend someone local if you’re after a reliable tradesman,’ Corrine said.
‘I’m sure he could, but the name of the game is keeping the costs down. If I really have to, I will get someone in, but I’d rather not.’
Zoe wondered if money was as big an issue as it was sounding. He’d told her before that he had money put aside, but now it didn’t sound as if he was sure it would be enough. Unless he was so confident in his own abilities he’d decided he didn’t need the help. She resisted the urge to give her head a wry shake. That was also the sort of thing Ritchie would do. And then she was suddenly annoyed that she kept thinking of Ritchie. She didn’t want to, but he was always there. He’d been such a huge part of her life for so long, perhaps that was to be expected, but she had to wonder when it would stop.
