Page 40 of Christmas for the Village Midwife (The Village Midwife #2)

After a quarter of a year in Thimblebury, Zoe recognised nearly everyone going in, though there was still the odd surprise.

She wondered if people travelled in from outside the village to join them – it was a pretty church, after all, and Christmas Eve was often a special occasion for many that provided a moment of spirituality they scarcely felt during the rest of the year.

If they had, she had to admire their tenacity because all the reports she’d heard said the roads through the hills and into the village were treacherous now.

‘Have you had your cough sweets?’ Alex asked.

‘Huh?’

‘To get your voice ready for all that singing?’

She smiled. ‘You’re daft.’

‘It’s been said. Come on then.’

Among the surprise attendees were Emilia, Georgia and Brett.

Zoe did a double take as, after being greeted by the vicar, she went inside and found them sitting on a pew close to the doors.

Given the fuss Emilia had made about Christmas – and not in a good way – and the fact she’d told Zoe earlier that day she had no intention of coming, Zoe was especially surprised to see her there.

She wondered if it was simply to keep up appearances in the village, as Fliss would have done, though Emilia hadn’t been all that bothered about appearances since she’d been here.

Perhaps some of what Zoe had said had registered with her after all.

She went over with Alex. There was no room to sit with them, otherwise she would have done.

Instead, there was an awkward moment where they all said a courteous hello, and then Zoe waited for a conversation to begin that never came.

After a few stilted moments, she gave up.

‘Maybe I’ll see you afterwards for the mulled wine. ’

‘No wine for us,’ Emilia said with such obvious bitterness that Zoe wondered if she’d heard properly.

Georgia flushed. ‘Hopefully. I won’t be having any, of course, and Em doesn’t drink much, so we might have a quick word with people, but we won’t stay.’

‘I don’t think there’s only wine,’ Alex said. ‘I think there’s going to be hot chocolate and eggnog and that sort of thing.’

‘I’ve got things to do,’ Emilia said. She looked at Georgia. ‘You can stay if you want to, of course.’

So much for the afternoon she’d spent in her company, Zoe thought. She’d left Emilia hopeful they’d bonded somewhat over their shopping trip and the personal things they’d shared, but if they had, it had all been forgotten now. Or perhaps it had never felt that way to Emilia at all.

Georgia gave a small nod but didn’t give any clue either way.

‘So…’ Zoe said into the gap, ‘we might see you later…’

Once the encounter was over and they’d walked away, she heaved a silent sigh of relief.

‘What was that ?’ Alex whispered as they searched for a seat.

‘You saw it too then? I wondered if it was just me.’

‘Definitely not just you. If I was a boxing referee, I’d be reading them the Queensberry rules right now.’

Ottilie was further down the hall towards the front, waving them over.

Zoe saw her and waved back, tapping Alex. ‘There…I think Ottilie has saved us a seat.’

Ottilie and Heath had Flo with them as well as another couple Zoe had never seen before.

‘This is Heath’s mum and dad,’ Ottilie said. ‘Lori and Colin, this is Zoe and Alex.’

‘Pleased to meet you,’ Zoe said, while Alex shook hands, and then they took a seat. ‘It’s getting full, isn’t it?’

‘Always is,’ Flo said. ‘The only time I see all the heathens in church is today when there’s mulled wine afterwards.’

‘You don’t come to church either,’ Ottilie reminded her.

‘Only because my knees play up when I’m sitting in the cold.’

‘Right…’

‘I would,’ she said. ‘But this lot…Christmas Eve and when someone dies, that’s it.’

‘Well,’ Ottilie said with a smirk, ‘there’s a festive thought.’

Flo folded her hands on her lap. ‘Only saying what’s what. No point in talking if it’s not plain.’

‘I like a Christmas service,’ Lori said. ‘I think all the singing is magical, especially on Christmas Eve.’

‘You would,’ Flo said brusquely. Zoe tried not to smirk this time. She’d never met Heath’s mother, but she’d heard all about Flo’s thoughts on her.

‘Here’s Magnus and Geoff,’ Ottilie said. She waved, but Flo seemed as unimpressed by their arrival as by her daughter-in-law’s company.

‘That puffed up so-and-so,’ she huffed. ‘Done nothing but crow since he won the gingerbread prize. I can’t even go in the shop now.’

‘He hasn’t been that bad,’ Zoe said, but now she had to laugh at the look on Ottilie’s face. ‘All right, I admit he has been milking it a bit, but he’s been waiting a long time to win it, hasn’t he? And his entry was actually brilliant, so…Oh, here’s Corrine and Victor! Who’s that with them?’

Ottilie’s face lost two shades. ‘Melanie. Their daughter,’ she added.

‘I thought she’d left the village.’

‘She has, but she’s bound to come back to see her parents occasionally. And it is Christmas…’

‘I wouldn’t worry,’ Flo said with something that sounded a bit too much like triumph in her voice for Zoe’s liking. ‘I doubt she’ll be coming to talk to you, season of goodwill to all men or not.’

Victor and Corrine’s other daughter, Penny, followed them in with her husband Leon.

Corrine sent a slightly awkward smile the group’s way, and Victor looked even more uncomfortable.

It was a shame because they usually all got on so well, but Zoe supposed it was only natural things might be more difficult with the arrival of someone who’d parted from Ottilie on what some would call bad terms. Ottilie had always said she held no grudge, and neither did Victor or Corrine, but Melanie was an entirely different matter.

‘As long as Damien doesn’t turn up,’ Heath said in a low voice. ‘That would put the tin lid on things.’

‘Damien’s the ex, right?’ Zoe asked.

‘I doubt him or Fion would be that daft,’ Ottilie said, nodding to Zoe, though she looked uncertain all the same.

Lavender came in next with her husband, and as Zoe watched, she could see the tension between her and Emilia as soon as they saw one another.

‘I wouldn’t hold your breath for any improvement in relations there,’ Ottilie said, following Zoe’s gaze.

‘I’m hoping she’s forgiven me,’ Zoe said. ‘She wasn’t happy about me going off earlier.’

‘She grumbled a bit, but she understood your situation and she seemed to be all right with that. You’ll have to make it up to her over New Year’s. She’ll be having a party, and if I were you, I’d drop everything to go.’

‘Otherwise no two-scoop specials afterwards?’

‘I wouldn’t hold my breath for many more of those anyway. I wouldn’t be surprised if one of them isn’t gone by the new year.’

Zoe stared at her. ‘You think it’s got that bad?’

‘One doesn’t let go of grudges easily, and the other doesn’t care who has a grudge against her. Neither of them are very good at backing down. One could probably get a job anywhere at a pinch, and one doesn’t need to work really. Why would either of them put up with it?’

‘Do you think we have to do something?’

Ottilie shrugged. ‘Like what?’

‘I don’t know. Talk to them both, try to mediate.’

‘Good luck with that. I don’t think you could find two worse people for that.’

Zoe had to admit Ottilie had a point. It was like Lavender and Emilia were enjoying the conflict because neither of them wanted to give an inch.

She might have been tempted to suggest that Lavender should back down because she was, after all, employed by the surgery and, therefore, by Emilia, but Ottilie was spot on – Lavender didn’t need that job.

She cared about it and she enjoyed it – at least she had when Fliss had been the senior GP – but there had to come a point where it wasn’t worth the constant warfare.

‘I wish they’d sort it out, that’s all. I feel like we’re all caught in the crossfire all the time. ’

‘Maybe it will settle after Christmas,’ Ottilie said.

‘You just said you think one of them will go.’

‘Well, I can only be wrong or right, can’t I? For the sake of today, let’s choose to be optimistic after all.’

Simon and Stacey came in next. Chloe wasn’t with them, but Stacey had Mackenzie in her arms.

‘He’s getting so big so fast,’ Ottilie said, an unconscious hand going to her own belly. ‘Right now, I feel like this will never end…’

‘And before you know it, you’re waving them off to their last day at school,’ Lori said, giving Heath a fond look. ‘It flies – enjoy every moment while you can.’

‘Some of us never had that luxury,’ Flo snipped. ‘Some of us had their grandsons whisked off to Manchester without a by your leave.’

‘Florence,’ Lori said, eyeing her solemnly. ‘You know I’ve never said how sorry I am that you missed out. I’m going to say it now. I’m sorry.’

Flo’s mouth dropped open, and she stared at Lori.

It seemed for the first time in her life – certainly the first time Zoe had ever witnessed – she was speechless.

Heath looked quite moved, while his dad gave a vague smile and Ottilie looked confused by the whole thing.

Zoe exchanged a glance with Alex, seeing amusement in his eyes.

They’d dissect the evening later together, and it would be interesting to see what he’d made of all these interactions, but, for now, it would have to wait.

The doors to the church closed, so all the drama going on along the pews would have to wait.

‘Welcome!’ the vicar said, holding up his arms like he was playing to a packed-out Wembley. ‘May all the blessings of the season be upon you. If you’d like to turn to the first hymn in the programme, we will begin.’

‘Hymn?’ Alex whispered to Zoe. ‘I was promised catchy Christmas carols, not hymns.’

‘It’s a nice hymn,’ Zoe said, looking at the page. ‘It’s sort of Christmassy. I’m sure the carols will come later.’

They began, and Zoe wasn’t a bit surprised to hear Alex had a good voice.

She’d already considered him just about perfect, so of course he could sing too.

For her part, she could hold the tune well enough, but she didn’t imagine anyone would be signing her up for the choir.

But what most of them lacked in technique, they more than made up for in enthusiasm.

Even Flo was belting it out, despite looking sourly up and down the pews as she did, while Heath’s parents seemed to be having the time of their lives.

Their voices echoed around the space, and there was an immediate sense of community in the air, so tangible it took Zoe quite by surprise.

For a startling instant, she understood how everyone belonged here, how easily the people of Thimblebury took even those who had only recently arrived to their hearts.

She’d never been a part of something so open and welcoming, and for all the problems, for all the drama in people’s lives, that warmth was one constant.

She’d wondered since her arrival if she could ever feel truly at home here, and not even meeting Alex had completely settled the question.

But this evening, sharing this song with the rest of the village in their beautiful church, she finally had her answer.