Page 16 of Christmas for the Village Midwife
‘I know. I’m looking forward to it, sort of, but it’s going to be weird too.’
‘Why?’
Zoe shrugged. ‘I suppose we’re probably both completely different people than we were back then. Being friends as a kid doesn’t mean being friends as an adult, does it? We might not even like one another now.’
‘Don’t be daft! How could anyone not like you? You’re brilliant!’
Zoe grinned. ‘All this praise! Careful, it might go to my head!’
‘Good, let it. I’m not going to stop, no matter how much you ask me to. Someone has to tell you how special you are.’
She leaned into him, laughing lightly, and he planted a kiss on her head. But then the laughter faded as something else came to mind, something she hadn’t yet aired to anyone, even though she’d thought it. ‘I get the feeling there’s something going on with her. Something not right.’
‘Like what?’
‘I’m not sure, but Emilia seemed cagey about what she told me. One thing she did ask was if I’d take care of her while she’s here because she’s about eight months pregnant.’
‘Who, Emilia?’
‘No, Georgia. That’s her sister. But it’s an odd thing because she has her own midwife already – presumably. So it makes me think her stay is going to be quite a long one. Open-ended – that’s what Emilia said.’
‘I suppose you’ll find out when you see her.’
‘I’m sure I will.’
‘So when is she due to arrive?’
‘Soon. Emilia said she’d be here over Christmas with her husband.’
‘Emilia’s husband or Georgia’s?’
Zoe prodded him playfully through his padded coat. ‘Are you being deliberately thick?’
He laughed. ‘Honestly, no! It’s just a natural talent.’
‘Georgia’s. I don’t think Emilia has a partner at the moment, though she’s definitely either divorced or separated because she has a married name now. That’s why I didn’t recognise her at first – I didn’t make the connection with the name.’
‘Right. Am I all caught up now, or is there more I need to know?’
They discussed Zoe’s feelings on the matter some more, and then the conversation turned to Fliss’s retirement before finally wandering over to Victor and his help with the search for more of the Bronze Age archaeology they’d accidentally found on Alex’s land some months previously, subsequently taking a detour to Billie and how she was faring, before circling back to Grizzle and what might be wrong with him. By the time they’d covered all this ground, the lights of Hilltop were close. Zoe could see Billie at the downstairs window watching for them.
At their arrival, she opened the door with a tight smile. ‘Hey, Zoe.’
‘I thought I’d come for moral support,’ Zoe said.
‘Is he still throwing up?’ Alex asked briskly as Billie stepped back to let them in.
‘Not since I called you, but he doesn’t look well,’ Billie said. ‘He’s in his basket.’
‘He must be ill if he’s in his basket,’ Alex said, attempting a reassuring smile for Billie that was fooling nobody. ‘He hates being in his basket. I’d better have a look at him.’
They went through to the kitchen, where Grizzle was curled up looking very sorry for himself. His head rose at the sight of Alex, and his tail thumped a lame rhythm on the side of his doggie bed, but it seemed to be taking some effort to raise any enthusiasm, even for his favourite man in the entire world.
Alex kneeled beside him and ruffled the fur on his head. ‘All right, trouble…what’s going on with you then?’
Grizzle licked his hand as Alex looked him over, feeling at his nose and belly and then peering closely into the dog’s doleful eyes.
‘I feel like I’m pretending to know what I’m doing,’ he said finally as he looked up at Zoe and Billie. ‘Has he had much to drink?’
