Page 98 of Christmas for the Village Midwife
‘Yeah…I don’t think I’m going to be able to get up here, actually. I think it’s too slippery.’
‘Shit.’
‘I couldn’t have put it better myself. You might have to come down after all.’
‘But…’ He was silent for a moment, the torch beam moving away to plunge her into gloom again. ‘Stay there,’ he said finally.
‘It’s not like I have a choice.’
‘Yes, sorry…I mean, hang on. I’ll go and get help.’
‘Don’t fall down any slopes!’ Zoe called after him as she watched the beam of his torch turn back the way they’d come. She let out a sigh and sat down again. It wasn’t like her bum could get any wetter, and her ankle was hurting, so why not? She felt around the ground in her immediate vicinity for her bag again, in case she’d somehow missed it, but in vain. That was the most annoying aspect of this whole thing.
Unable to do much about that now, she dug out her phone to check for messages. There were none. Either everyone wastoo busy looking after Georgia to update, or they were too busy because something bad had happened. Zoe decided to text Emilia, but when she pressed send, she was met with a notification that told her there was no signal again. The night was getting better and better, she reflected ruefully.
With nothing else to do, she resigned herself to waiting for the promised help, and hoping that Alex wouldn’t run into trouble on his way to get it like she had.
Twenty minutes had passed. Zoe was cold, and she was getting stiff and plagued by a vague, irrational worry that if she sat there for much longer, she’d get buried by the snow and nobody would find her until it was too late – for her and for Georgia. But then she heard an engine, deeper and throatier than Alex’s car, and was filled with new energy. Surely this had to be her rescue party?
The engine came to a halt somewhere on the track above her, and then Alex called down.
‘Zoe? You OK?’
‘Better now you’re back,’ Zoe called up.
‘I’m coming down.’
‘But—’
‘Don’t worry!’ another voice called, and Zoe took a moment to place it until she realised it was Leon, Victor’s son-in-law. ‘We’ve got mountaineering gear fit for Everest, so it should do us here just fine.’
Zoe might have stopped to wonder where they’d come by such equipment, but she was just too happy to hear she was finally going to be rescued. Not only was she now freezing, soaking wet, impatient to get to Georgia and in some discomfort from her ankle, but she felt incredibly stupid too. Stupid for getting into this predicament in the first place, and for theinconvenience she was now causing for everyone having to pitch in to pull her free. It was Christmas Eve, and poor Leon had been dragged away from his family celebrations to fetch the silly moo who’d gone and slipped down a hill.
There was some clicking and clanking up above, and then the beam from a much stronger torch than Alex’s swept over her.
‘Ah, there you are,’ Leon said. ‘We’ll be with you shortly.’
A few minutes passed. Zoe could hear puffing and panting and the sound of a clip against a rope, and then Alex was there, a headtorch – presumably borrowed from Leon – on. He pulled it up so that the beam wouldn’t blind her and smiled. ‘Hello there.’
‘Hello.’ Zoe returned his smile, relief flooding through her.
‘I’m going to put this harness on you and clip it to me, and then Leon’s going to help us…It’s mad this, isn’t it? Like a disaster film.’
‘I feel like a disaster film right now.’
‘Don’t. It’s not your fault. Right…let’s just make you safe and secure, and then see if you can grab hold of me…’ He took a minute to kit her out. ‘Put your arms around my neck…that’s it. Leon! OK, we’re ready!’
The rope that had them tethered to the top of the slope tightened, and Alex used it to support and steady them both as he climbed, Zoe piggybacking, doing her best to hold on while keeping her strain on him to a minimum. A minute later, they were up, with such surprising ease that Zoe wondered how it had been such a problem in the first place. But when she saw the equipment Leon had brought with him, she had to admit that it was pretty heavy duty.
‘Thank you so much!’ Zoe said, throwing her arms around Leon with such force he looked faintly shocked.
‘How’s your ankle?’ Alex asked.
‘It hurts, but I can manage.’
‘We’ll have a look when we get back to the house—’ he began, but Zoe stopped him.
‘When we get to the church and I’ve seen to Georgia, you mean. We’re not going back to the house. I haven’t come this far and gone through all that just to go back to Hilltop.’ She turned to Leon. ‘I’m sorry to ask, but is there any possibility you could get us to the church?’
