Page 7 of Christmas for the Village Midwife
‘Pay me when you collect it.’
Zoe thanked him and left with the plasters and some other bits she’d picked up for work. The surgery staff took it in turns to fetch supplies of tea and coffee and snacks, and it was hers.
As she stepped out into the snow, she found it had restarted after a brief break. This time, however, the sky was heavy with it, falling in stuttering flurries. It was almost as if the weather itself was trying to apologise for the way it was behaving, or perhaps that it was uncertain what it was meant to be doing. Someone had cleared a path from the shop down to the road, and along the main street as far as the old stone cross that marked where the traders of old had sold their wares, but already the exposed ground was dusted with a powdery layer of fresh snow. Zoe didn’t mind. She liked snow – at least down here where the terrain was flat and manageable. The hill going up to her cottage was a different matter, but she’d been lucky enough to have Victor and his Land Rover to take her up and down while the weather had been making the path difficult.
She drew in a lungful of clean, iced air, exhaling it as a great cloud that swirled up into the sky, and smiled. Life was good.
4
At the surgery, Zoe knocked at the door of Ottilie’s office. From within, she heard her colleague’s voice. More than a colleague, actually. Zoe and Ottilie went way back, all the way to the days when they’d shared a student house, both training to go into the health service. And with Ottilie’s baby due in eight weeks, Zoe was also honoured to be Ottilie’s midwife, which felt like the greatest and most important service she could give to repay her old friend for the kindness she’d shown when Zoe had needed it most. If not for Ottilie, who had seen what Zoe had needed and refused to give up on her, Zoe wouldn’t have the incredible life she’d started to build in Thimblebury.
‘Unless you have chocolate, you can bog off!’
Grinning, Zoe pushed open the door and put her head around it. Her friend was pinning a glittery Christmas card to a board already well populated by other festive cards of all shapes and sizes. Ottilie was popular in the village, but if anyone had been in doubt of that, the volume of cards here compared to what anyone else had in their rooms proved it. ‘Sorry, no chocolate. Got to watch that blood sugar, after all. I’ve come to do your check-up before clinic starts.’
‘I’ve done it all.’
‘Blood pressure, urine?—’
‘Yes, yes…’ Ottilie wafted a hand. ‘It’s all fine. Baby is kicking – boy, is baby kicking! I feel fine. Fat but fine. So you can go and get on with something more useful than worrying about me.’
‘I wish all my mums were this easy.’ Zoe leaned on the door frame and folded her arms. ‘I’d work an hour a day and spend the rest of it watching reruns ofHouse.’
‘God, not that! Haven’t you had enough of medical stuff by the time you go home?’
‘Houseis not medical stuff…I mean, it is but not really. Anyway, I know you’ve got it all under control, but I think I ought to have a look myself, just to be certain. So come on – on the couch and let’s have a look at that beautiful bump.’
Ottilie rolled her eyes but did as she was asked anyway. She’d only recently begun to wear a looser-fitting uniform, her progress coming all at once, but despite this, Zoe remarked on how much the baby had grown since the last review.
‘It’s all those huge dinners Heath keeps making me eat,’ Ottilie said. ‘I’m sure I’m eating for five, not two. I keep telling him I’m not having quadruplets.’
Zoe let her hands gently trace the shape of Ottilie’s belly. ‘You’re blooming,’ she said. ‘Everything is progressing like a textbook pregnancy, as far as I can see. And if Heath wants to look after you, let him. You’ll have enough to do when the baby comes.’
‘Of course it’s a textbook pregnancy,’ Ottilie said wryly. ‘I’m the most sensible, predictable woman in Britain – what else would my pregnancy be but sensible and predictable? I’m sure it’s all very boring.’
‘You can keep it boring for me – that’s the way I like it. There…’ She pulled Ottilie’s tunic over her bump and stood back.‘All done with plenty of time to grab a quick cup of tea before your first patient.’
‘I doubt that. It’s Mrs Icke, and she’ll have camped out overnight in her excitement to start complaining about every little thing that’s bothering her.’
‘Come to think of it, I did hear her voice when I came past reception.’
‘Great…you could have warned me.’
‘What, and have your blood pressure shoot up before we’d measured it?’
‘Oh, Fliss has already had a go at doing that.’
‘Why?’
‘She’s all grumpy about Simon being unavailable for clinic.’
‘She agreed to it.’
‘I know, but this is Fliss we’re talking about. She’s forgotten it’s her replacement he’s interviewing, and now she can only see how much extra she’s got to do in his absence.’
‘I’m sure she’ll see it’s worth it when things are sorted and she can finally retire properly. Anyway, what does she expect when she lands her news on everyone out of the blue and it’s panic stations trying to find her replacement. Simon will be lucky to find someone who can do such a short notice period.’
‘Hmm, try telling her that today.’
