Page 12 of Christmas for the Village Midwife
She returned his smile now as they joined the back of the queue and Wham’s ‘Last Christmas’ began to blast from a nearby speaker. Ahead of them, a young couple jigged a baby up and down between them, singing along and sending the infant into fits of giggles that were impossible to hear without wanting to join in.
‘I really think Billie is going to keep the baby in the end,’ Alex said, not for the first time, and those worries that Zoe had tried to banish crept back in. To a point, she understood the optimism for a different outcome, one where they kept his grandson living at Hilltop Farm, but she was afraid of it. If Billie went ahead with the adoption and Alex hadn’t mentally prepared for that eventuality, she didn’t know how he’d recover.
‘You should wait to see before you make any plans,’ she said carefully.
‘I know – you’re right. I’m not counting my chickens or anything.’
Except he was, and it seemed he wouldn’t be warned that he might turn out to be wrong after all.
The baby further up the queue let out another adorable shriek of delight, and Alex watched wistfully.
‘I’m going to get everything on my chocolate,’ Zoe declared in a bid to bring him back to the here and now, a far more certain place for them to be. ‘It’s going to be disgusting. Can you cope with watching me drink it? I mean, it’ll probably end up all over my face.’
‘I’m going to have all the toppings too,’ he said, and she was glad to see him back with her. ‘I’ll give you a run for your money, I bet.’
With her hands wrapped around her mug, fingers tingling as the warmth from it spread through them, Zoe turned her attention to the stage where the switch-on was about to begin. The pop music that had been pulsing from the speakers had stopped, and in its place a choir of small children were gathered on the stage, singing something jaunty about Santa being stuck in a chimney, a song Zoe vaguely remembered from her own childhood. It was all very cute.
Around the edges of the gathering, more children of all ages raced up and down, or pointed at things, or pulled on grown-up hands with excited wonder, or begged to be lifted up for a better view, or asked for sweet treats, all overwhelmed and overawed by an occasion that was possibly bigger than many of them had ever been to. There was a jolly Santa flanked by elves, working his way around with a collection bucket for local charities, someone offering the opportunity to get up close to a reindeer, a wishing tree where people could leave pinned messages of hope or love or condolence or all three, and a towering Christmas tree glittering with glass and tinsel. The brisk tang of pine rose into the frosty air to mingle with the sugar and spices of the refreshments and the breath of the crowds that curled up intothe sky. From behind a bank of tumbling cloud, an iced moon made a brief appearance before being swallowed once again, and just as the countdown to the switch-on was about to commence, the evening’s first fresh flakes of snow began to flutter down.
Zoe caught one in her hand and watched it melt. ‘It’s a good thing you booked that B&B room. If it starts to snow properly again, we’ll be glad we don’t have to drive back to Thimblebury.’
‘And you said it was a waste of money.’
‘I never said that! I only asked if it was a bit frivolous because I didn’t want you spending all your money on taking me out. Because Christmas is coming, and you need the money for Billie and for other things.’
‘And I said it’s only one night, and we deserve it.Youdeserve it, for putting up with me.’
‘Oh, it hasn’t been all bad,’ Zoe said with a smile as she pulled her scarf up around her chin. ‘But it turned out to be a smart move, whatever the reason. We can have a nice drink and watch the snow fall as hard as it likes and not worry.’
‘Do you think Billie will be all right on her own at Hilltop?’ he asked, suddenly doubtful.
‘Why wouldn’t she be?’
‘I don’t know…She’s vulnerable right now, and sometimes even I’m aware of how isolated Hilltop can feel when it’s dark and cold and the rest of the village is down the hill below.’
Zoe offered a reassuring smile. ‘With Corrine and Victor on standby? They’d be across that dividing field like a shot if she needed them. I’m sure she’ll be more than all right. And she’s got Griz for company. He’s not much of a guard dog, but he’s great at giving doggy affection. You can never feel lonely with Griz around, can you? Besides, I bet Billie’s glad of the break from us. It’ll be nice for her to have the house to herself. She can have a long bath, sit around in her fleece and watch whatever she wants to on telly. Whatever that is – I don’t think I’ve ever hada conversation with her about what she likes to watch, so I don’t really know.’
‘Neither do I, and sometimes it’s one of the things that worries me. I wonder if I ought to know, like I ought to notice more than I do. But she’s so…’ He paused, searching for the right words. ‘I don’t know. She’s hard to read sometimes, that’s all.’
‘She reminds me of Stacey’s daughter a bit in that way.’
‘Stacey…Geoff at the shop’s sister?’
‘Yes. I’m not sure if you’ve met her daughter, have you?’
‘I don’t think so.’
‘You might not agree when you do, but she’s closed, a bit like Billie can be. Only Billie’s definitely not as miserable as Chloe. Then again, nobody could be that miserable. Ottilie says it’s all a front with Chloe, and she’s not so bad when you get to know her, but I feel like Chloe can destroy you with a look if she thinks you’re annoying. But maybe we ought to introduce them – they could become friends; they’ve got a lot in common.’
‘Billie doesn’t really do friends.’
‘I don’t think Chloe does, come to think of it, but still…I think it would do them both good to open up a bit and accept some help and friendship. I guess people do what they want to – you can’t force them to be a thing just because you think it would be good for them.’
Their discussion would have to wait because an announcement blasted out from the PA system, and then the countdown to the lights began. Everyone in the crowd joined in: TEN, NINE…
Zoe grinned up at Alex, transported back to her childhood for one glorious moment, where everything had been about fun and adventure, and there were no cares. Right now, she was here with Alex, looking forward to the sudden, magical illumination of the town and rush of festive joy, and she didn’t want to think any further than that.
And then everywhere was flooded with light and thunderous applause, and Bing Crosby crooned about it beginning to look a lot like Christmas, and Zoe had to agree that it was.
