Page 30 of Christmas for the Village Midwife (The Village Midwife #2)

‘Well, maybe you and I can go shopping another day?’

‘I doubt we’ll get time now.’

‘There’s a whole week. More or less.’

‘Five days actually. And you have to go to work, and it would have to be when Dad doesn’t know, so I don’t know when we’d do it. It’s probably best if you go when you’re free rather than wait.’

‘It doesn’t matter if he knows where we’re going, does it?’

‘No, but you’re still working until Christmas Eve, aren’t you? I’m not even sure if there are late-night openings in any of the towns around here, but that’s the only time we’d be able to go.’

‘That’s a fair point,’ Zoe said. ‘I’m annoyed at myself, really, for leaving it so late. I just kept thinking I’ve got time and then, before you know it, I haven’t got time.’

‘Yeah, well…’

‘I don’t really want to order online. It doesn’t feel like it’s making much of an effort. It might not arrive on time either now – we’re definitely cutting it fine. You really don’t have any idea what he might want?’

‘You could get him tools.’

‘Tools?’

‘For the house. He said he wanted more tools.’

‘I can’t buy him tools!’

‘I don’t know, but he was pretty excited when he got an electronic screwdriver.’

Zoe burst out laughing. ‘Was he? There’s a new hidden depth I wasn’t expecting to find!’

Billie put a hand to her chest and grimaced.

‘Heartburn?’ Zoe asked.

‘Yeah. It’s all the time now.’

‘Your baby’s taking up more space as he grows, so it doesn’t leave a lot of room for your own bits, I’m afraid.’

‘You’re going to tell me it’ll get worse before it gets better as well?’

‘I’m not because you already know it,’ Zoe replied with a faint smile. ‘But at least you’re on the home stretch now, so there’s that.’

Billie sighed heavily. ‘Feels like I’ve got ages yet.’

‘Just nine weeks. Sounds like a lot but it will go faster than you think.’

The kettle boiled, and Zoe went to get a cup, deep in thought.

‘I’m going to get a shower,’ Billie said. ‘You know where everything is, don’t you?’

‘Don’t worry, I’ll be fine.’

Billie nodded, and Zoe went to get her handbag from the chair where she’d left it the night before. Her phone was low on battery as she pulled it out, but at least there were no missed calls or urgent messages on it.

By the time Zoe had finished breakfast, cleared the kitchen and dressed, Alex had returned.

‘Heard from Georgia this morning?’ he asked as he teased Grizzle with a doggie chew.

‘No. It’s Sunday – maybe she’s sleeping in. Anyway, I don’t suppose she thinks she owes me a call. I mean, it’s probably only me who was stressing about the situation, and I’m sure it’s all water under the bridge there.’

‘Probably,’ Alex said. ‘It’s annoying,’ he added absently. ‘I wanted to go over to the fields and do some more detecting today.’

‘Good luck in all that snow.’

‘Exactly. I’ll have to think of something else to do.’

Zoe raised an eyebrow. ‘You do realise this is incredibly flattering for me? To have you sit across from me wondering what to do with your day. A girl could let all that attention go to her head, you know.’

‘Sorry.’ He gave a sheepish laugh. ‘You know what I mean, and I didn’t want to assume I’d have your company all day.’

‘As it happens, you won’t, but that’s not the point.’

‘You’re not staying?’

‘I can’t, not all day. I’ve got things to do…It is almost Christmas, after all.’

‘I’ve got things to do as well; I’m just feeling lazy about them. I thought I’d decorate the smallest bedroom, actually. It needs a lick of paint.’

‘Right…’

Zoe wondered why he would do that, this week of all weeks, so close to Christmas.

And why had he chosen the smallest bedroom when he’d said many times that there were more prominent areas of the house he wanted to make over?

But he didn’t offer anything more, and she wondered whether she was seeing too much into it, so she decided not to ask.

What he did with his spare time in his own house was his business, after all.

Telling herself that didn’t stop her from worrying that he was turning the room into a nursery in the hope Billie was going to change her mind about the adoption.

It might happen, but though he didn’t say so, Zoe felt he was pinning a bit too much on those hopes.

At that moment, her phone began to ring.

She put a hand to it, wondering whether it would be Georgia, but it was Magnus.

Zoe frowned slightly as she took the call.

She’d only recently given Magnus her number so he could alert her to new ginger stocks in the run-up to the competition and the resulting, as Magnus had nicknamed it, Great Ginger Shortage of Thimblebury.

‘Hey, Magnus…how are you feeling this morning? A bit delicate?’

‘A bit,’ he admitted. ‘How are you?’

‘Not too bad, all things considered. I think the walk up the hill might have sobered me up.’

‘You made it home safely? I did worry about you when you’d gone.’

‘We were fine – no need to worry. I had Alex with me to fight off the wolves and bears.’

‘Ha ha, yes. Or perhaps an angry alpaca. We found a bracelet when we were cleaning up this morning and Geoff thought it might be yours. It has charms on it, and one of them is the letter Z.’

Instinctively, though she knew it wasn’t there, Zoe felt at her wrist and then realised it must have fallen off at some point and she hadn’t even noticed.

‘I think it might be. Is there a silver bee on it too?’

‘There is.’

‘That’s lucky then. At least it came off at your place and not in the snow because I’d never have seen it again. Thank you so much for letting me know. Are you opening the shop today? I could call in and pick it up.’

‘Not today – we’re both tired, and we don’t think we’ll have a lot of customers. People won’t want to come out in this weather. But you’re welcome to call at the house to collect it.’

‘Thanks. I might do that in a couple of hours, but I’ll text you first to make sure it’s still OK.’

‘You could stay for lunch.’

Zoe smiled. ‘Thanks, but I think I’ve worn out your hospitality for one week. Besides, I’ve got things I need to do at home. But the walk to the village will do me good, and I’d happily stay for a quick cup of tea, if that’s all right.’

‘We’ll look forward to it,’ Magnus said.

Zoe bid him goodbye and then ended the call.

‘What was that about?’ Alex asked.

‘It was Magnus – he found my bracelet at the house. It must have come off at some point yesterday, or I took it off – who knows? I’m just glad it’s there and it didn’t drop off on the way home. I’ll go down later and collect it.’

Alex frowned at the windows. ‘In this weather?’

‘It’s not snowing now. It should be fine.’

‘It was still a bit rough underfoot when I took Grizzle out. Let me go and get it.’

‘Honestly, there’s no need to?—’

‘It’s no bother. I’ll go down for it and bring it to Kestrel Cottage later.’

‘You really want to go? Didn’t you just say you were going to paint one of the bedrooms?’

‘I was, but it can wait. I might be painting it for nothing anyway…’

‘Well,’ Zoe said, choosing not to address his statement, even though it seemed to confirm her worries that he had been thinking about turning his small bedroom into a nursery.

‘I fancy the walk, so if you want to come, we could walk down together, stay for a cup of tea and then I’ll go home, and you can come back here and do your bits. ’

‘Sounds good to me.’