Page 94 of The Village Midwife
‘Nothing. At least, I don’t think so. Will you get me some dinner when you go? I think I do need to get to the bottom of…’
Zoe’s sentence tailed off as she noticed Alex leave his spot with the miniature sheep man. They went to the ciderstand together and seemed deep in conversation. For now, Zoe decided she’d have to wait. ‘Never mind,’ she said. ‘I’ll come with you and catch him later.’
The food carton warmed her hands as they walked back to their colleagues. But then Zoe noticed that Alex had returned from the cider vendor and was now standing alone staring into space.
‘Ott…’ Zoe gave her carton to her friend. ‘Would you take that for me? I want to have a quick word with Alex.’
‘No problem. It’ll be all right, you know. You’ll probably find it’s something and nothing and there wasn’t any need to worry at all.’
Zoe gave her a grateful smile, but she wasn’t so sure. Something was off. He’d been so keen, so interested only a day before and now he was acting like he didn’t even know who she was.
‘Don’t take too long,’ Ottilie said. ‘Only I can’t promise I won’t eat yours as well.’
‘I won’t,’ Zoe said, striding off.
As she approached, she painted on a bright smile. ‘Hey…how’s it going? It’s crazy here, isn’t it? I never imagined it would be so busy. Where’s Billie? Has she come down to join in?’
‘No,’ he said with such a lack of emotion that Zoe’s heart sank. Something was very wrong, and the vibes she was getting told her she was at the root of it. But though she frantically went through scenarios in her head, she couldn’t imagine what it was she’d done to upset him like this. She was mistaken; she had to be. He was distracted with other things. Perhaps Billie was causing him stress again and he didn’t feel he could keep taking those problems to Zoe. She decided to ignore the frostiness and see if she couldn’t lure him out of it.
‘So what’s been happening with your archaeologist expert? What’s he said about your beads? Is it good?’
‘Nothing much.’
‘But they’re genuine? They’re?—’
‘I can’t talk to you now.’
Zoe stared at him. ‘What?’
‘I can’t talk. There’s too much going on here.’
‘Not even…I’m not asking you to debate the meaning of life; I’m only trying to make small talk. You know, like friends do.’
He rounded on her now, like a spring that had been wound as tight as it would go but had suddenly been set free. ‘Would a friend go behind my back to ruin my life?’
‘I don’t understand…What have I done?’
He glanced at the crowds around them. ‘Look where we are. I can’t go into it here.’
‘But I can’t spend the rest of the day not knowing what I’m supposed to have done. If I’ve upset you, I’d rather you tell me now.’
He glanced around once more and then lowered his voice so that it was almost a growl. ‘Billie is giving up the baby. She wants to have it adopted. She says you told her to.’
The ground beneath her tilted. For a moment, she had no words in her head, no thoughts, only a chasm of silence. Eventually, she stuttered a reply, though it hardly seemed adequate. ‘I said she had that option, but I never said?—’
‘You had no right!’
‘I had every right!’ Zoe fired back with a rush of anger. ‘She told me she was struggling, and I gave her options! I wouldn’t have had to if you’d taken the time to talk to her yourself!’
‘I did talk to her!’
‘After we’d talked about you needing to! If she’s saying it now, then she’s given it a lot of thought and decided it’s the best thing. What do you want me to say? I haven’t made her do it.’
‘You put the idea in her head.’
‘Don’t be stupid. She would have been well aware that adoption services exist and that nobody has to keep their baby.’
‘If she goes ahead with this…’ he said in a deliberate tone that scared her more than if he’d been shouting, ‘it will ruin her life. She’ll regret it forever. That’s your doing. I hope you’re happy.’
