Page 21 of Christmas for the Village Midwife (The Village Midwife #2)

‘Someone needs to go and tell them about the temperature in here! The heat will have everyone’s icing melting! I don’t know why they didn’t do it in the church like they did last year. It’s far colder in my kitchen, so I don’t know what that’ll do to my joins!’

‘I don’t think you’re the first person to say so,’ Zoe replied. ‘At least that’s what I heard. Perhaps they’ll do something about it.’

‘Want me to have a word?’ Victor asked, and at least he was his usual amiable self.

‘Flo will be here shortly,’ Corrine said. ‘She’ll have something to say about it.’

‘Fair enough.’ Victor put the box down, examined his palm and then licked it.

Corrine stared at him. ‘What on earth are you doing?’

‘Icing. On my hand. I’m not going to let a blob of icing go to waste, am I?’

‘Icing?’ Corrine flew to the box and opened it, peering in with an expression that, if Zoe hadn’t known better, might have looked like borderline panic. ‘Where’s it from?’

‘I think some went on the table when you dusted last thing – must have got on the bottom of the box.’

‘Icing sugar, you clown!’ Corrine put a hand to her chest. ‘Don’t do that to me! I thought something had broken off!’ But then she paused, finally noticing Billie’s entry. Her face transformed in an instant, impatience replaced by a huge smile. ‘This is yours, my love?’

‘I love how you automatically assume it’s Billie’s and not mine,’ Zoe said wryly.

Corrine turned to her in some confusion. ‘Oh, I’m sorry, Zoe. It’s yours?’

Zoe had to laugh at the utter disbelief in her tone, even as she asked.

‘No, it’s Billie’s. I wish it was mine. I’ll tell you one thing this experience has taught me – there’s no point in me applying for Bake Off .

’ She glanced at her own box. ‘I might as well get this out now. Standing next to yours and Billie’s, what’s the use in even pretending it’s not an actual embarrassment? ’

‘Oh, Zoe…’ Corrine said, shaking her head. ‘I’m sure it’s not that bad.’

‘It is.’ Zoe opened the box. ‘But it’s all about the taking part, remember? A bit of fun that doesn’t matter.’

‘Of course it is.’

Zoe and Corrine took theirs out at the same time, and Zoe realised hers was even worse than she’d feared.

The most she could congratulate herself on was that it was in one piece.

That in itself was a miracle when she considered how flimsy and badly engineered it was.

Though she agreed with Corrine about the heat – her construction might not stay in one piece for long if her sugary mortar started to melt.

Corrine glanced at Zoe’s and then seemed almost embarrassed to remove the wax paper she’d had protecting her own.

Billie almost gasped. ‘Corrine! That’s so good!’

‘Oh, it’ll do,’ Corrine excused. ‘Not my best, but I didn’t have time to do another one.’

‘You thought you needed to do another one?’ Zoe asked. ‘What kind of mad perfectionist are you?’

‘The worst kind,’ Victor said. ‘An angel all year, but stay out of her way in the kitchen when she’s making her Christmas competition entry.’

‘Don’t be daft…’ Corrine grumbled but looking sheepish enough for Zoe to know there might be a little truth in Victor’s statement. She glanced towards the entrance. ‘Here come Ottilie and Flo. Wait for the complaining to start.’

‘Not by Ottilie,’ Zoe said.

Corrine winked at her. ‘You’re learning fast. Oh Lord, and there’s Mrs Icke.’

‘Does she even have a first name?’ Zoe asked. ‘Because I don’t think I’ve ever heard anyone use it since I’ve been here. I work at the surgery and she’s in almost every week, and I still don’t know what it is!’

‘Do you know,’ Victor said, ‘it’s so long since I’ve heard it used. I can’t remember what it is either.’

‘Nobody likes her enough to care,’ Billie said, but then flushed as Corrine gave her a look that was gentle but obviously chastising. ‘That’s what I heard anyway,’ she added lamely.

‘She’s hard work, yes,’ Corrine said, ‘but she’s been through more in her life than any of us could ever imagine. If I get to her age having survived all she has, I hope I can be forgiven for being a bit impatient with folks.’

Zoe watched Lavender greet Ottilie and Flo briefly before taking Mrs Icke over to her space on the tables.

The old woman was as combative as always, but Lavender was showing remarkable patience with her.

Ottilie went with Flo to put their boxes down a few tables away before coming over to say hello properly to Zoe and her companions.

‘These are looking good,’ she said, eyeing all three gingerbread constructions. ‘Whose is whose?’

‘As if you couldn’t guess which one is mine,’ Zoe said.

Ottilie let out a light laugh. ‘I don’t like to assume.’

‘This is mine,’ Corrine said, pointing.

‘So that’s yours?’ Ottilie smiled at Billie. ‘That’s really good.’

‘Can I come and look at yours, Ottilie?’ Zoe asked. ‘I’m all set here now.’

‘If you want,’ Ottilie said. ‘But prepare to be underwhelmed. And I have to warn you that it also means talking to Flo, who isn’t in one of her most tolerant moods today.’

‘In that case, consider it a rescue mission.’

Ottilie and Zoe wandered over to Ottilie’s bench.

‘I can’t believe how good Billie’s is,’ Zoe said. ‘Actually, that sounds harsh, doesn’t it? I didn’t mean I don’t think she had the talent, just that I didn’t realise she had that much patience.’

‘I’m surprised to see she bothered at all. From what you’ve told me, I wouldn’t have thought she’d be interested in this sort of thing. Especially at her age. She’s about the same age as Chloe, who told Stacey in no uncertain terms she wouldn’t be seen dead at something like this.’

‘I know what you mean. I think Corrine’s encouragement has helped. I think it’s exactly what she’s been needing.’

‘A sort of mother figure?’

Zoe nodded, and Ottilie shot a warm glance back towards where Corrine and Billie were working out their problem.

‘She’s that all right. We might have to crown her village mum because I certainly felt that way about her when I first moved here.

I don’t know what I would have done without her and Victor, but I’m sure I wouldn’t still be in Wordsworth Cottage. ’

‘Me too. They both have this way of making you feel settled and that someone’s looking out for you, like they – Corrine especially – have a way of knowing what you need before even you do.’

Flo looked up at their approach. She’d been fussing over a string of what looked like the fake grass you saw on the food trays in delicatessens, trying to get it in the right place around her house.

‘It’s all wonky,’ she grumbled at Ottilie. ‘I said we needed to lay it out, but you said no, it’ll be fine rolled up in a tub. And now look at it!’

‘Want me to stamp on it?’ Ottilie asked with such mischievous mock innocence it was all Zoe could do not to burst out laughing. ‘The weight of me these days ought to straighten it out easily enough.’

‘Don’t be daft…’ Flo straightened up and tossed the strip onto the table with some disgust. ‘I’ll have to do without it.

’ She nodded at Zoe. ‘Morning. I see you’ve come to look at mine.

Hoping it’ll be bad so you’ll have a better chance of winning.

I wouldn’t bother. We all know who’s going to win, don’t we?

It’s a foregone conclusion, as it is every year. I don’t know why anyone else bothers.’

‘It’s really good,’ Zoe said, paying Flo’s house closer attention. ‘Very cute. I like the little snowdrifts around the walls.’

‘It’s not bad, if I do say so myself,’ Flo acknowledged. ‘But I haven’t got the ear of the judges, have I?’

‘I don’t think that’s the reason Corrine wins,’ Ottilie said, clearly trying to keep a frown of disapproval from her features. ‘It seems a bit mean to say so.’

‘You wait until you’ve been here a few more years,’ Flo fired back, unbothered by Ottilie’s faint warning tone. ‘We’ll see if you still feel that way. All the people in this room come every year, and the same one wins time after time, and if that’s not a fix, I don’t know what is.’

‘It could be that Corrine is just a way better baker than the rest of us?’ Zoe offered. ‘That’s not to say there aren’t other good bakers here, only that she’s on another level. That’s how it is sometimes, right?’

‘She gets enough practice,’ Ottilie agreed. ‘She can whip up a Victoria sponge in her sleep.’

‘And it would be the best sponge you’ve ever had,’ Zoe added.

‘Hmph,’ was all that Flo replied before turning back to her strip of plastic grass and trying again.

Zoe watched her for a moment. Everything about Flo was spiky.

She was Heath’s grandmother and so Ottilie was forced to spend time with her, and yet Zoe knew that, despite her brusqueness, Ottilie also liked the old woman.

Zoe, no matter how hard she tried, couldn’t see why.

She’d given up over the past couple of weeks, content to imagine there must be hidden depths only Ottilie had seen.

Very hidden depths, like the sort you’d need oxygen tanks to find.

‘I wonder if Emilia will pop in?’ Ottilie wondered out loud, interrupting Zoe’s thoughts.

‘I doubt it,’ Zoe replied. ‘For one, Lavender’s here. And she doesn’t seem to be much of a fan of Christmas anyway.’

‘I know. Fliss wasn’t a fan of village events either, but there were some, like this, she made an exception for. Once or twice she helped to judge. Emilia hasn’t said anything about being approached to judge?’

‘Georgia hasn’t said anything if she has.’

‘Simon turned the judging role down. Very politely, of course. It’s a shame, but I get why.

Said he didn’t feel able because he didn’t know enough about it.

And I suppose he didn’t feel he could be seen as impartial when Stacey was putting in an entry.

Or Magnus, for that matter, considering he’s Stacey’s brother-in-law. ’