Page 114 of Christmas for the Village Midwife
‘How much more do you want from this Christmas?’ he asked with a light laugh. ‘You delivered a baby! By yourself in a church!’
‘Not exactly by myself?—’
‘Zoe, stop! Would you listen to yourself for one minute? You don’t owe one word of apology to anyone! We will have an awesome Christmas – I’ve already had the most amazing Christmas and we’re not even past lunch yet! I love you, you loon! After yesterday, I don’t think I could love you any more! You showed everyone just who you are, and it’s the most beautiful person. We’ll have lunch when we have lunch, and I’ll love my gifts, and everything will be perfect as it is.’
Zoe still felt sceptical, and she wondered if her face showed it. Of course, his words meant more to her than anything, and she loved that he was so content with the Christmas they were having, but she’d wanted so much more. She couldn’t help but feel that if she’d simply been a little more organised in the weeks leading to it, if she could have managed better, made more sensible decisions, things might have been perfect. Perhaps, she reflected, a little common sense managing to break through, she only felt so disappointed because she was so tired, and it was hard to feel anything but negative when someone was as exhausted as she was.
‘Come here…’ he said, pulling her into a hug. ‘I don’t want you to worry about anything for the rest of the day.’
‘I’ll have to worry about lunch – I did promise to cook, after all.’
‘We’ll work something out,’ he said.
When it was their turn to speak to the vicar, he had plenty to say about the drama that had unfolded in his church overnight, and Zoe could see people listening in with shocked expressions. It led to many of them coming to her and Alex afterwards to ask about it, and all they did for the following half hour was relay the story again and again.
It was as their audience finally dispersed that Zoe realised she hadn’t seen Billie in a while. Alex’s daughter had been at the service with them, but when was the last time Zoe actually remembered speaking to her? Certainly not as they’d waited their turn to wish the vicar merry Christmas or when they’d been chatting to members of the congregation outside.
‘Where’s Billie?’ she asked sharply, surprised that Alex hadn’t already said anything about her absence.
‘Oh, she’s gone over to Emilia’s,’ he said.
‘When did she do that? Why didn’t she say anything?’
‘She did…You weren’t looking.’
‘I thought she might have said goodbye, though.’
‘She did. She said it to me.’
Zoe tried not to frown, but there was something evasive about Alex’s excuses. Yes, that was it – theysoundedlike excuses.
At the gates to the church, they were met by Leon, who hadn’t been to the service. He was jangling a set of keys in his hand and whistling as he watched everyone disperse.
‘Merry Christmas!’ Alex said, leading Zoe over.
‘Same to you. How did you manage last night? Nice and comfy?’
Alex grinned. ‘It wasn’t too bad. I wouldn’t call it five star, but we managed to get at least half an hour’s sleep.’
‘Need a lift up the hill?’ Leon asked. ‘I’ve got the four-by-four parked over there, and it’s not too bad going underfoot now.’
‘For your jeep, maybe,’ Zoe said. ‘Not so much for my feet. I’d love a lift if we could have one.’
‘No problem,’ Leon said. ‘Ready when you are then.’
The trip back up to Kestrel Cottage was tough going, but a world away from the journey they’d endured to get down the hill the evening before. At least the relentless blizzard conditions had stopped. The sun was shining, throwing bleached light across the glittering landscape, and the scattered clouds that dotted the sky did their best to wring a few more flakes out, but they were gentle, barely there, fluttering ineffectually to the ground to catch the sun like dust motes in an empty room.
Zoe felt Alex’s hand wrap around hers as she watched from the window of Leon’s four-by-four. She turned to see him smiling.
‘All right?’ he asked.
‘Yes. I don’t feel as tired as I did. I think maybe I’ve pushed past it.’
‘Like jet lag? You don’t want to have a nap then?’
‘No. I don’t want to waste any of what we have left of the day in bed. I want to spend it with you and Billie. Will she come back up from Emilia’s before lunch?’ Zoe added, suddenly troubled by the notion that Billie might not want to have lunch with them.
‘I expect so,’ he said cheerfully.
