Page 48 of The Village Midwife
‘At this time of night?’
Corrine came back to the table with a tin and opened it to reveal two slabs of different cakes – one fruit and one chocolate. ‘When there’s only the two of us doing what needs to be done around here, you get round to it when you can.’
‘Hmm…’ Zoe watched as Corrine got out some plates. ‘Is that why you offered Billie work?’
‘Well…’ Corrine looked awkward now. ‘In a fashion. To be completely honest, it was more what you said.’
‘Me?’
‘She needs something to take her mind off her troubles, and it must be lonely up there, a young woman in her condition with no friends in the village. I know we’re old folks, but I thought even old folks are better than nothing, and we’d only have her petting the girls a bit, really. We wouldn’t have had her mucking out or anything too hard. Perhaps she could do a bit ofpaperwork, computer stuff –that would help Victor out no end; he hates all that online business.’
‘I bet she’ll be doing all that for Alex when he gets his holiday site up and running.’
‘I’m sure, and there’s no pressure on her to do it for us. It was only a thought to tide her over.’
Zoe was silent for a moment as she pondered Corrine’s words and wondered if Corrine saw her living in Kestrel Cottage and discussed with Victor if they thought she was lonely there. Did she feel lonely? She certainly felt cut off at times, and sometimes the house felt too big and too silent for her, but there was also peace and the loveliest neighbours not so far away.
‘Which one do you want?’ Corrine asked as she hovered over the cake tin with a knife. ‘Or have a bit of both if you like.’
‘Your kitchen must be like Mr Kipling’s factory when there’s nobody here.’ Zoe looked up with a smile. ‘A big old assembly line of cakes. Every time I come over, you’ve got a full tin.’
‘I do bake a lot of cake,’ Corrine agreed with a laugh, ‘because I’m married to a big child who has a sweet tooth. He’d go on strike if there was no cake after tea. Or before tea. Or with tea, come to think of it.’
Zoe laughed. ‘If it’s not depriving him of his favourite, I’ll have some of the chocolate one, please. Will you be getting involved in the celebrations?’ she asked.
‘What celebrations?’ Corrine cut into the chocolate cake and placed a slice on Zoe’s plate.
‘The five-hundred-year celebrations. Magnus was telling me about them.’
‘Oh, those! Yes, I’ll probably be doing a stall with Penny – my youngest. Cake, of course…We’ll give the money we make to a charity – haven’t decided on one yet. I suppose you’d know one or two. Something to do with babies.’
‘I know a few, yes, and they’d be glad of the money. That’s a lovely idea.’
‘Well, it’s not costing us anything other than a few raisins and some flour.’
Zoe suspected there was a lot more to it than that, but it was nothing less than what she’d come to expect from Corrine.
‘It all seems to be moving fast, this…what is it again? The word, I mean.’
‘Oh, the quincentenary. I don’t know why we can’t just call it a five-hundredth birthday and have done. I think it’s been rushed through, to be honest. Someone realised at the last moment that this year was a big date, and then it was a race to see someone at the council. They must have made a fuss about it because here we are. It’ll be nice to celebrate something – not much happens around here in general.’
‘Magnus says there’ll be fireworks and circus acts.’
‘And that’s only Magnus and Geoff having one of their tiffs,’ Corrine said with a laugh.
She was still laughing as the back door flew open, blowing Victor in on a gust.
‘Someone’s having far too much fun!’ he said as he took in the scene. He turned to Zoe. ‘Hello, love. Come to cause mischief?’
‘I came to bring your dish back. I think Corrine is causing the mischief!’
‘That’ll be about right,’ he said, giving his wife a wry glance. ‘I see I’m just in time for elevenses.’
Zoe checked the clock, wondering if she’d fallen into some crack through time, but no, as she’d thought, it was early evening. Then she felt quite dim as she got the joke.
‘It’s always elevenses where you’re concerned,’ Corrine said. ‘Get those boots off before you come and steal all the cake.’
‘All right, all right. Already doing it – see?’ He kicked off one wellington and then the other and stood in his socks for her approval. ‘That satisfy you?’
