Page 55 of The Village Midwife
An hour before the working day was due to end, Zoe received two messages. One was from Ottilie telling her everything was OK and she’d be coming to work the following day as normal. Apparently, Fliss hadn’t been happy with the plan and had ordered Ottilie to take the rest of the week off and rest, an order which Ottilie fully intended to ignore, now that she’d been given the all-clear.
The second was a general notification from the ultrasound clinic at the hospital.
‘Oh, Billie…’ Zoe murmured as she read it. She dialled Billie’s number but got no answer. Then she tried Alex, who picked up after a few rings and pre-empted her question.
‘Yes, she’s here,’ he began with a tone of desperation. ‘And I know why you want to talk to her because I know she didn’t go to her ultrasound. She told me she had a headache and didn’t want to leave the house. I said she needed to reschedule her appointment…Didn’t she do that?’
‘She didn’t,’ Zoe said patiently. ‘I’m happy to do it for her if she’s not feeling up to it.’
‘Thanks – we’d really appreciate that. I mean, I could, but I don’t think I’m allowed…am I?’
‘Listen, don’t worry, I’ll do it. But could you do me a favour? If the same happens again with the new appointment, and she gives a reason not to go, could you give me a call?’
‘Yes, but?—’
‘I know it’s probably me sticking my nose in a bit too far, but I’d like to know. I might be able to help, and she does really need to attend for the scan.’
‘I didn’t mean that. I just don’t know what you can do.’
‘I can come and talk to her, to find out if there’s something more than a headache going on.’
Alex sighed deeply. ‘Good luck with that because she won’t even talk to me these days.’
‘You’re a man and her dad – she might feel you won’t be able to understand. It might be easier for her to talk to me.’
‘I could ask her to phone you now. She’s watching television.’
‘I tried to call a minute ago and she didn’t pick up. I’ll try her again.’
‘That’s OK. Let me go and tell her you’ll be phoning so she knows to look out for the call.’
‘Thanks, Alex. I’ll give it a couple of minutes – it’ll give me time to get another appointment for her – and then I’ll try her again.’
Zoe did exactly that. She managed to find another slot on the system for Billie’s new appointment, one that had been made vacant by a last-minute cancellation for the following day. In the hopes that it would be all right, she snagged it and then tried to call Billie’s number to let her know. Once again, Billie didn’t answer. She decided to text Billie the details, and then wondered whether she ought to send them to Alex too, so that he could make sure to get her there. Was that crossing a line? Professionally, it was a very grey area, and she wasn’t meant to share details in that way, but she reasoned that if a letter had gone to the house, he may well have intercepted it anyway. Wasn’t this sort of the same? And if it meant Billie going to the appointment, perhaps it was worth a little bending of the rules. Without further consideration, she did just that.
She’d dealt with women who weren’t exactly over the moon about their pregnancies before, of course. Not all were planned, and not every pregnancy was enjoyed, but Billie’s case still bothered her. She had a feeling that Billie wanted her baby, but she was afraid of her future and she was still wedded to the past, and a possible future that had once existed but that she could now never have. As far as Zoe could tell, Billie was not only mourning the death of her boyfriend – the baby’s father – but the death of the future they could have had as a family. And now she had to face that future alone, with the child who was a constant reminder of what she’d lost. She’d love the baby – Zoe felt certain of that – but it was easy to see why her love would be more complicated than it might be for other new mums.
A minute later, Alex replied to say he’d ensure Billie attended the ultrasound.
Happy she’d done as much as she could, Zoe put it out of her mind as she cleared down for the day and got ready to go home.
16
One of the parts Zoe enjoyed most about her job was when she got to visit newborns to see how baby and mum were doing. She didn’t have a lot of contact with them, but she was always there in the first few weeks to keep tabs on the little one’s development and make sure mum was recovering well from the birth. It was so rewarding when all was well, and Zoe liked to think her small contribution during the pregnancy had made a difference.
The weather was damp, the verges becoming littered with leaves of fading golds and ambers, and what was still on the trees was ochre and scarlet in the morning sun. Zoe hummed softly along to a tune on the radio as she drove out of Thimblebury towards a neighbouring village where she was scheduled to meet Nadya and baby Musa. Nadya hadn’t been in her care for the entire pregnancy, having been looked after before Zoe’s arrival by a rotating team that were based with the area’s health authority. When Zoe had taken over, the young mum expecting her first child had been delighted to finally get consistent care from one person, even if it was a little late in the day, and Zoe had loved seeing her. The pregnancy had progressed like a dream, and baby had been born without complications ata healthy nine pounds during the early hours of the previous Saturday.
Twenty minutes later, she pulled up outside a modest, newly built cottage and gathered her things before going to the front door. She knocked softly in case baby Musa was asleep, though with enough force to hopefully alert Nadya to her arrival.
During her training, Zoe had worked with an old midwife who’d insisted on hammering at every front door, stating that the baby had to get used to noise and learn to sleep through it, otherwise it would be a restless sleeper for the remainder of his or her life. While Zoe had swallowed every bit of advice and logic from the more experienced woman, she’d come to her own conclusions over the years that her theory was a bit rubbish. In Zoe’s opinion, motherhood with a newborn was exhausting enough without waking the poor woman’s baby when she’d finally got it off to sleep. She might have to, of course, to do her checks, but even then, there was a chance the little one would sleep through being picked up and weighed and measured if they were tired enough, and Zoe could sneak away and leave mum to enjoy a few more precious moments of peace.
Nadya opened the door looking tired and dishevelled, but broke into a broad smile at the sight of her midwife.
‘Hello, mummy,’ Zoe said brightly. ‘How are you doing?’
‘Not too bad,’ Nadya said, ushering her in. ‘My mother-in-law has been here for a couple of days, so she’s been helping with Musa.
‘So that’s a gold star for mother-in-law,’ Zoe said. She followed Nadya into the living room where an older lady was cradling the baby as his eyes drooped for sleep. Zoe went over to take a look. ‘Aww, he’s a little cutie, isn’t he? Look at all that hair already! Is he being good for you?’
