Page 26 of Christmas for the Village Midwife (The Village Midwife #2)

‘I wish I could tell you, but I can’t get a straight answer out of her. It can’t be long now, though – she’s only got six weeks to go.’

‘It’s just like Ottilie to keep working.’

‘It is. Maybe you can have a word with her to slow down because she doesn’t listen to me.’

‘I…’ Magnus frowned slightly as he noticed Geoff beckon him. ‘Sorry, Zoe, I have been summoned.’

‘Looks serious too,’ Zoe said.

Magnus grinned. ‘I’ve seen that look before. It is serious – he can’t find the corkscrew.’

Zoe laughed as she watched him go. She’d never been to one of Magnus and Geoff’s famous parties, but she had a feeling she was going to get a crash course in how they rolled today.

An hour later, Zoe watched as Magnus ushered Alex inside.

He was wrapped in his padded coat, his thick, dark hair peeking out from beneath a knitted beanie.

He swept off the hat and mussed up his hair to unflatten it, throwing a brief, warm smile her way, those huge brown eyes melting her in an instant.

She wanted to rush over to be folded into his arms, but it would have to wait.

Instead, she allowed a moment for those who’d noticed to greet him before going to claim him as her own with a lingering kiss.

‘How was the bank meeting?’ she asked.

‘Fine,’ he said. ‘Not as exciting as your day, obviously, though it was good of their business manager to fit me in on a Saturday at short notice, so I don’t suppose I can complain.’

‘You’ve seen Billie?’

‘For a few minutes. She was on her way to have a bath and a lie-down when I got home. She seems happy.’

‘You should have seen her! Way more than happy – I don’t think I’ve ever seen her look so proud. I wish you could have been there – you’d have loved it.’

He stroked a stray hair from her face and smiled down at her. ‘Thank you.’

‘For what?’

‘For persuading her to do it. For introducing her to so many people who are having a positive impact on her. For being a good friend to her.’

‘I like her; I want to be a friend to her.’

‘I know that, but even so. It’s all making such a huge difference. I’m not sure I’ve felt this optimistic about the future since I lost Jennifer, and it’s because of you.’

‘It’s not just because of me,’ Zoe said. ‘It’s because of Thimblebury. It’s done the same to me too. Everyone here is so welcoming.’

He raised his eyebrows playfully. ‘Everyone?’

‘Well, everyone who doesn’t mind your camping field. But,’ she added, standing on tiptoes to kiss him briefly again, ‘that’s what we’re going to try to fix today, isn’t it?’

‘I wish I had your faith, but I’m willing to give it a go. So where do I start? Who’s the first person I need to attack on this charm offensive?’

‘Be chill about it, that’s what I say. There’s no need to target anyone – just spread your natural good humour as you mingle and that ought to do it.’

‘Mingle, eh? Does that mean I can’t spend the entire afternoon gazing at you?’

‘Sorry, but it does. Worthy causes demand great sacrifices, you know.’

‘They do!’ he said, laughing. ‘God, how did I get so lucky? I…’ He paused, flushed and then took a breath. ‘Almost said it then, like it was nothing, but it isn’t nothing, is it? I wanted to do it properly, and here I am, blurting it out in the middle of all this.’

‘Blurting what out?’

‘I don’t know if it’s too soon to say it, but I feel it. Zoe Padbury…I love you.’

Zoe’s smile was broad and warm, her stomach doing flips as she gazed into his soft brown eyes. ‘It’s not too soon at all. I’ve been wanting to say it, but I didn’t want to freak you out. So here we go…Alex Fitzgerald – I love you too.’

He wrapped her in his arms, and she could feel his muffled laughter echoing through his chest. ‘Well, now we’ve got that sorted, maybe we should do some of this mingling you’ve got me down here for.’

Zoe started to laugh too. His reaction was perfect.

He hadn’t made it weird or attached monumental significance to their first ever declaration of love; he’d seen it as a natural progression, something that they could both be relaxed and happy about.

She felt the same way, and it was true that she’d wanted to say it for a while, but their relationship was still so new, and she hadn’t wanted him to feel it was moving too fast.

‘Yes,’ she said, letting him go. ‘Go forth and mingle like your life depends on it.’

But he didn’t show much sign of wanting to go forth when Ottilie came over with Heath, who offered his hand to Alex.

‘How’s it going?’

‘Good,’ Alex said, shaking it. ‘Very good.’

Heath grinned at them both. ‘Seems like it.’

Ottilie gave him a sharp nudge. ‘Don’t tease!’

Heath laughed. ‘Who’s teasing? They look happy; I’m only saying so!’

‘Oh,’ Zoe said. ‘Was it that obvious? We weren’t doing the PDA thing, were we?’

‘It says a lot that you don’t know,’ Ottilie said with a smile of her own now. ‘But no, you were fine. It’s just obvious you’re good together, that’s all. It’s nice to see.’

Ottilie turned to Alex. ‘Billie did an amazing job on her gingerbread house.’

‘I thought so,’ he said. ‘But then I’m a bit biased.’

‘It was really good. She said she enjoyed it, but what did she say to you? It’s hard to tell sometimes, isn’t it?’

‘We only had a few minutes to chat, and then I came down here. I’m sure she’ll tell me all about it later, but I think so. It’s not what she’s used to, though. Gingerbread house competitions in a little village hall.’

‘I bet!’ Ottilie said. ‘I bet it was all raves and cocktails on the beach when you lived in Spain.’

‘Not quite,’ Alex said, and the way his smile slipped made Ottilie’s own disappear.

‘Oh, Alex, I didn’t mean…’

‘I know. Neither did I. We all worked hard at the villa, even Billie. She’s always pulled her weight, even when she was young, and she never showed that much interest in partying.

We were content messing around on the beach and having family barbecues and that sort of thing.

It was a good life, but…well, we’re here now, and life is good here too, only in a different way. ’

‘I imagine it’s been a funny couple of years here for the locals,’ Heath said. ‘So many new people seem to have arrived all at once. Gran says she can’t keep up with it.’

‘I’m sure she can,’ Ottilie said, giving Heath a pointed look. ‘She can certainly keep up with any gossip about them.’

‘Yes, well, the less said about that the better.’

‘It’s a good job she was home when I was on my way down here then,’ Alex said.

Zoe frowned at him. ‘Why’s that?’

‘Oh, something I saw by the old phone box, that’s all.’

‘Mate, you can’t give us half a story!’ Heath said, laughing.

‘I know, but now I’ve started, I’ve realised I’m going to sound as bad as your grandma if I tell you!’

‘We won’t tell anyone,’ Ottilie said.

But something in Alex’s expression had Zoe wondering whether it had suddenly occurred to him that what he’d seen wasn’t something to share after all.

‘I don’t know about any of you,’ she said very deliberately, ‘but I’m going to get my hands on some of those sesame chicken skewers before they all go.’

Heath gawped. ‘They have sesame chicken? On skewers? Sign me up! Where?’

Ottilie laughed. ‘Come on – let’s go and see what’s on offer. We can pick this up later when we’ve got Alex a bit drunker.’

‘Give us a minute and we’ll be there,’ Zoe called as Ottilie and Heath walked away. Then she turned to Alex. ‘Do you want to tell me? I mean, you don’t have to, but…’

‘I don’t mind telling you because it’s about your friend.’

‘Which one?’

‘Georgia. Well, actually, it was her husband I saw. Sitting on the bench by the old phone box. He had no coat on and…well, it’s brass monkeys, isn’t it?

So I went to see if he was all right. He seemed a bit…

worse for wear, to put it politely. Slurring all over the place and a hell of a cut on the side of his head. ’

‘And was he all right? What did you do?’

‘He told me to piss off and mind my own business.’ Alex rubbed at the back of his neck.

‘I can’t help feeling now that I should have insisted on getting him home, but at the time I was like, fine, I’ll get out of your face then.

Should I have done more? I’m worried now he’s not all right.

Even as I’m telling you, I’m thinking I might go and see if he’s still there and, if he is, take him home. ’

‘I’m glad you told me because when I went over earlier, something was going on.

I knocked to see if Georgia was planning on coming to the gingerbread contest because she’d said she would, but when I got there, things were a bit hectic.

I wondered if he was drunk because I heard a load of commotion, and then he came out of the living room bleeding, like he’d fallen over, and Emilia went to sort him out.

I offered to help, but she made it clear she didn’t want me involved.

I feel the same as you, we have to respect their privacy, but I can’t help but wonder if we ought to check on things all the same.

You don’t know what to do for the best, do you?

We might be able to assist, but at the same time we might just be sticking our noses in where they’re not wanted.

But at least it’s not just me who thinks all is not right. ’

‘What about if I slip out now and have a look by the phone box? If he’s gone, then he’s probably back home and there’s nothing to worry about.’

‘Not necessarily. Being gone from there doesn’t automatically mean he’s back at home.’

‘True. But I could look anyway.’

‘I could text Georgia. Not sure how to put it, but I could at least ask if they’re all OK.’

‘Why don’t we go to the phone box first? If he’s not there, you can text Georgia. And if he is there, we can ask him if he needs help. He might be more receptive if it comes from you.’

‘Why?’

‘Because you’re a woman. And you’re nice.’

Zoe might have been tempted to argue but could see that Alex probably had a point.

She would be far less threatening – not that she saw Alex as such, but she could understand that Brett might.

And she was an old friend of Georgia and a colleague of Emilia, and perhaps those things would count for something too.

She glanced around the room. More people had arrived and the party was getting hectic, but that was good.

With luck, they could slip out without being seen, do what they had to do – hopefully quickly – and be back before anyone noticed they’d been gone.

‘What do you think?’ Alex asked. ‘Maybe we should leave it alone. He did tell me to stay out of it.’

‘It’s not him I’m bothered about,’ Zoe said with a candour that caught even her off guard.

‘I can’t say I like him all that much, but he’s Georgia’s husband, and she’s at a very sensitive point in her pregnancy.

I don’t want anything stressing her out so much she goes into labour before she’s ready.

This sounds like it might be something that would do the job. ’

‘I never thought of that,’ Alex said. ‘I can go?—’

‘You just said yourself he might be more willing to accept help if it came from me. I should go, but I’d feel better if you were with me. I’d prefer it if we got away from here without anyone seeing us so there are no awkward questions.’

‘Got it. Let’s edge towards the door and then slip out when nobody’s looking.’

Their efforts were valiant, but after twenty minutes they were no closer to achieving their aim than when they’d first agreed on it.

No sooner would they end one conversation and make excuses to move on than someone else would want to talk to them, and for all Zoe’s advice about mingling and charming his way to winning over the locals, she could see Alex was as frustrated by the delays as she was.

At this point, they were standing with their backs to the door, their exit tantalisingly close, but they still couldn’t get away.

Zoe threw a helpless look at Alex as Stacey came over to ask whether he’d come across any new archaeology at Hilltop Farm recently and then got into a conversation about how Simon might have been tempted to buy the house Alex and Billie were now living in had he known it was for sale.

She was halted by Magnus, who by now was well on his way to tipsiness, announcing that he was going to cut up his prize-winning gingerbread cathedral and share it out amongst all the lovely friends who’d come to celebrate his win, which was greeted by a horrified chorus of those same lovely friends telling him he at least needed to keep it on display for a while and enjoy it before he broke it up.

Someone reminded him that he was meant to send it to the church for their charity events, and Zoe got the impression – not that he’d say it out loud – that he felt it a bit too good for such an ignominious fate.

Some people wanted to take photos of him with it, and as they crowded around and every eye was on their host, Zoe and Alex took their chance to slip out.