Page 3 of Christmas for the Village Midwife
‘We’re decorating it together?’ he asked. ‘You said you wanted to?—’
‘Hold that thought,’ Zoe cut in as she heard her phone ringing in her pocket. After pulling it out and seeing the caller ID, she answered, listened intently for a moment, and then rang off, giving Alex an apologetic grimace. ‘Sorry, one of my mums has gone into labour. She’s down for a home birth, and I said I’d attend, so it looks as if the tree is going to have to wait.’
‘If I wasn’t so in awe of how good you are at your job, I might start to resent all these interruptions.’
Zoe’s head flicked up. Was that really a veiled complaint this time? But he was smiling, and he didn’t look as if he was complaining, and so she relaxed. It was so hard to know, and she longed for a time when she’d feel more certain of everything he said and did. It would come, though, so she just had to muddle through until then.
‘It means one very good thing for us,’ he added. ‘Well, for Billie. It means she has the best midwife around.’
Zoe smiled now as he slammed the boot shut. ‘I don’t suppose you could get me back to the house sharpish? I could do with collecting my kit and getting to my birth before it’s all done and dusted.’
‘For my little heroine, anything. Come on, let’s go.’
2
The front door was opened by one of the older Kovalenko children. Yana Kovalenko had five, and from the groans echoing down the hallway, number six was almost ready to make an appearance.
‘Hello… um…’
‘Alik,’ the boy said. ‘She’s in the other room with Dad. He’s just put up the pool. Olena is playing in it.’
Zoe paled. ‘What?’
‘Dad tried to get her out, but then Maria started to cry, and when he went to see what she wanted, Olena snuck back in again.’
‘You’re the oldest, right?’ Zoe asked as he allowed her to come in and close the front door.
Alik nodded, in that sullen way that only teenage boys knew how to.
‘I’m going to need a right-hand man until the baby’s arrived, and it sounds as if your dad has his hands full. Do you think you could help me?’
‘What do I have to do?’
‘Boss your siblings around. Think you can manage that?’
‘They don’t listen to me.’
‘Try…please. With a bit of luck it won’t be for long.’
He nodded again and then showed Zoe into a dining room that had been cleared to allow space for a large blow-up pool. Yana’s husband and the second-oldest son were filling it with buckets of warm water, while their four-year-old, Olena, splashed around laughing.
‘Hello, Denys,’ Zoe said. ‘Coping?’
‘I know she’s not meant to be in there,’ he replied, angling his head wearily at his daughter, ‘but I’m trying to get this filled as quick as I can.’
‘Where’s your youngest?’ Zoe asked, giving Alik a brief nod to galvanise him into action.
‘I’ve got her in the playpen,’ Denys said. ‘Kateryna was watching her, but she had to go to her mum. I think the baby will come soon.’
‘Hopefully,’ Zoe said, noting how overwhelmed poor Denys looked amidst the absolute chaos of a home life that was not only dominated by five lively children, but had a sixth currently on the way, and his wife’s fervent wish for a home water birth, which wasn’t exactly the easiest thing to set up. ‘You look like you could do with a cup of tea.’
‘Make that vodka,’ Denys said, ‘and you’re on.’
Any further niceties were drowned out by the protesting squeals of Olena as her brother tried to fish her out of the pool, and Yana yelling in Ukrainian from another room. Denys shouted something back and then turned a resigned look to Zoe.
‘She wants to know if you are here and this is ready.’
‘I’m coming!’ Zoe shouted, following the sound of the reply.
