Page 43 of The Village Midwife
‘I’ll have to go back to Kestrel Cottage to get my car, and I’ll drive down.’
‘Victor will take you,’ Corrine began, but Alex cut in.
‘I’ll take you – it will be far quicker than you going to get your car.’
‘But what about?—’
‘If all you need is dropping off, then I’ll be back in half an hour, if not sooner. Everything here will wait.’
Corrine got up. ‘I’ll head back and let you both get on then. Phone us if you need us, won’t you, Zoe?’
‘Of course; thank you.’ She turned to Alex. ‘Are you sure you don’t mind?’
‘I wouldn’t have offered if I’d minded. Let me tell Billie where we’re going and then we’ll head off.’
12
‘If you take a left, Simon’s house is a bit down the road. You can drop me there, if that’s all right.’
‘I’ll wait; I can take you to the surgery afterwards.’
Zoe glanced to her side to see Alex’s attention on sweeping beams illuminating the road ahead. The dark came that bit earlier every evening as the year hurtled towards its end, far too quickly for Zoe’s liking. Today, dusk had fallen and night had taken hold completely during the short time Zoe had been sitting with Corrine in the kitchen of Hilltop Farm. She would have made the drive down the hill alone willingly, but in her current state of anxiety, she was glad she didn’t have to. All would be fine. Everyone had told her what a worrier Tegan was, and the call was probably nothing. But if Zoe really believed any of those possibilities, why was her stomach in knots? She’d tried Tegan’s number twice more since, and there had been no answer either time, and that had only made her more desperate to speak to her.
‘There’s no need,’ she said. ‘It’s a two-minute walk – you’ve already been kind enough to bring me down.’
‘How will you get back?’
‘On foot.’
‘In the dark?’
‘Maybe Simon will take me home.’
‘I’ll wait. You said it was only a phone call to check on everything, so you won’t be long, will you? I don’t mind.’
‘What if it’s…?’
‘If it takes longer, then all the more reason for me to wait.’
Zoe couldn’t argue with his logic. If it was more than a quick phone call would fix, then she might need his assistance. It wouldn’t hurt for him to be on hand.
A couple of minutes later, Zoe was letting herself into the darkened surgery. She’d asked Alex to wait outside. It took a moment to feel along the wall to the light switch, the sudden flood of yellow light forcing her to squint, and then she rushed to her office and switched on her computer. She stomped her feet and blew into her hands as she waited for it to boot up. The office was cold, but she was impatient too.
After what seemed like hours, she managed to open up the file containing Tegan’s details and typed the emergency number into her phone. It went straight to voicemail, and she almost squealed with frustration.
‘What’s the bloody point of an emergency contact who isn’t there when there’s an emergency?’ she huffed under her breath as she switched everything off again. She’d done all she could do for now and could only hope that Tegan or her husband, whose number she’d just called, would phone her back shortly to let her know it had all been a false alarm and everything was fine.
‘I think I might be overreacting,’ she said to Simon when she took the key back. ‘I’m sorry; it’s just that I don’t know why she’d phone me out of hours if there was nothing wrong.’
Simon gave a reassuring smile as he took the key from her. ‘I’m not going anywhere. If you need me again tonight, all you have to do is call. I’ll keep my phone close by.’
‘Thanks, but I’m sure it will be fine. If I don’t hear anything from them tonight, I’ll pop—’ She slapped her forehead. ‘I’m such an idiot! I’ll go over to her house! It’s on the outskirts of Thimblebury, but that’s like, what? It can’t be any longer than a fifteen-minute drive.’
‘Want me to come?’ Simon asked.
Zoe shook her head. ‘I’ll go and get my car – there’s no point in dragging everyone out.’
‘Is there any point in you going out at all?’ Simon asked pointedly, and though Zoe disagreed, she could see what he was getting at. Driving to an expectant mum’s house every time she had a missed call from them or a vague feeling of unease wasn’t going to be a sustainable way to do her job in the long term. But she’d only just arrived in Thimblebury, and she wanted to start out on the right foot. Besides, the worrying aspects of Tegan’s recent clinic visit were playing on her mind.
