Page 94 of Christmas for the Village Midwife
‘I don’t know; Emilia hasn’t said any more than that. It’s half an hour in decent weather, but this isn’t decent weather, is it? I’m not sure how passable the roads are, but judging by how we struggled to get home, I don’t imagine very. If Emilia was asking, she must have wanted me.’
‘When did she send the message?’
‘A couple of hours ago.’
‘She might have got help since then. They wouldn’t have waited around for you, would they?’
‘I don’t know that either. She might not be progressing very fast – perhaps she’s just telling me so I can keep tabs on things. It might be hours and hours before she’s ready to have the baby, but if her waters have broken, I’d rather be on hand.’
‘Can you be on hand tomorrow? Emilia knows what she’s doing…enough, surely? Do you have to be on hand tonight? There’s no way you can go out in this weather again.’
Zoe shook her head vaguely and dialled Emilia’s number. It was answered immediately, but not by Emilia, by Brett.
‘Hi…it’s Zoe. I’ve only just got the text…what’s happening?’
‘Georgia’s waters have broken.’
‘So the message said. Where are you now? Are you home?’
‘We’re at the church.’
Zoe frowned. ‘But you’d left there…’
‘We went back to find you when it happened, and yes, I know we shouldn’t have let her go out into the snow, but she wouldn’t hear otherwise. Now Emilia doesn’t dare move her. She’s not doing great.’
‘Georgia isn’t?’
‘She’s struggling. In a lot of pain…’
‘She’s in labour?’
‘I don’t know. Maybe.’
‘Can you put Emilia on?’
‘Hang on… She’s just….’
Brett’s voice faded, and then Emilia’s was on the line.
‘Hello,’ she said briskly. ‘She’s started. I can probably manage if you can’t get here, but I’d be grateful if you could. It’s not really my strong suit, delivering babies. Not something I generally have to do a lot of.’
Zoe smiled grimly. ‘I don’t suppose it is. I’ll come. How far along do you think she is?’
‘She won’t let me look. I think she’s a bit delirious, keeps banging on about everyone in the church being able to see.’
‘You’ve got her somewhere private?’
‘Heavens, of course I have! There’s nobody here now but the vicar. I did ask if he could deliver a baby but apparently not.’
‘Hang on,’ Zoe said, fighting an irrational urge to laugh at Emilia’s statement, despite the situation. Casually asking the vicar if he could deliver a baby like he might whip up a pot of tea and being surprised and annoyed when the answer was no… It was very Emilia. ‘Make her comfortable…Sorry, I know, stating the obvious. I’m sure you know all that. I’ll be with you as soon as I can.’
Zoe ended the call, and when she looked up at Alex, she could see real concern. ‘Surely you’re not going out? Can’t they call an ambulance?’
‘I’m sure they have, but it’s got to get here. Come on – you know how long it takes. We had the same thing with Billie not so long ago, when she had her fall and she was bleeding, remember? And you were glad enough to have me on hand then…’
‘Sorry…’ Alex looked shamefaced, and she realised her tone had been sharper than she’d meant.
‘No, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean it like that. You have to understand, this is my job. I could never stand by and let everyone struggle down there. How could I sit here and be at peace with my conscience? I could never look another mum in the face again, and what if something bad happened? It would be my fault.’ She gave her head a firm shake. ‘Sorry, but I have to go.’
