Page 42 of Christmas for the Village Midwife (The Village Midwife #2)

After many complaints that they were leaving, offers of Christmas Eve get-togethers at some house or other, and affectionate goodbyes, Zoe and Alex finally made it out of the church.

They hadn’t been outside since the service had begun a few hours earlier and were both shocked at just how fast the weather had worsened.

Where the snow had been cleared was inches deep again.

‘Here’s your white Christmas.’ Alex pulled his collar up and clamped a woolly hat onto his head. ‘This is mental. I don’t think I’ve ever seen it like this.’

‘What time is it?’ Zoe asked. ‘I don’t want to take my gloves off to look at my phone because I think my fingers might get instant frostbite and fall off.’

‘Just after nine.’

‘Later than I wanted to be.’

‘Later than I wanted it to be too. Billie won’t be pleased, but there’s not a lot we can do about it now.’

‘I’m sorry, but I still have these presents to drop off at Emilia’s house. I know we’re already late, but do you mind if we call in? We don’t have to stay.’

‘You’re right, we’re already late, so what difference will ten more minutes make? Come on.’

Grabbing her hand, he led the way. It was slow going, and they both walked with their heads down, partly to watch their feet to make sure they didn’t slip and partly to avoid a face full of driving snow.

‘I’ll be glad when we’re home and warm,’ he said as they arrived at Emilia’s gate. ‘Next year, don’t even think of talking me into a Christmas Eve carol service.’

‘You loved it really.’

‘I did. I’m just not loving this bit.’

Just as they trudged up the path, the lights went out on the lane. Zoe looked sharply at Alex, barely able to make out his features in the sudden gloom.

‘Snow must have brought a power line down.’

Zoe glanced at the house and could see there were no lights on in there either.

‘They’ll be out to fix it as soon as they can, I would imagine,’ Alex said reassuringly.

‘How’s anyone coming out to fix anything in this?’

‘They’re equipped for this sort of event,’ he said in a voice so confident that Zoe did feel reassured, even if she wasn’t quite sure how he’d know so much about it. ‘It won’t be out for long.’

Almost feeling their way, darkness and snow reducing visibility to a point that made looking useless, they made it to Emilia’s front door. Alex gave the knocker a firm rap – a sound that would have ordinarily echoed back through to them but was muffled by the snow.

‘I hope they’re in and not out in this,’ he said with a look of faint worry.

They gave it a minute, and when there was no answer, they knocked again.

Nobody came to the door. Zoe went to a window and tried to look inside, but with no lights on, it was pointless.

Even if anyone was home, she couldn’t see them.

When she pressed an ear to the glass, she couldn’t hear movement either.

‘I don’t think they are in,’ she said, coming back to Alex on the doorstep.

‘They picked a fine night to go sledding,’ Alex said. ‘What do you want to do? You want to go back to the church to see if they’ve turned up there and we’ve somehow missed them on the road? I wouldn’t be surprised if we had in these conditions.’

‘I don’t think they will have done. They weren’t all that bothered about staying after in the first place, so why would they have gone back this late, knowing the event would be almost over?’

‘Who knows? It was a suggestion I made because I don’t have anything else. Are you worried about them?’

‘Not Emilia and Brett, but I am worried about Georgia. She’s really close to term, and I don’t like the thought of her being out.’ She pulled a glove off and got out her phone. But then she frowned at it.

‘What’s the matter?’

‘I was going to phone one of them to see where they are, but I don’t think…’ She switched her phone off and then back on, watching the opening logo on the screen for a moment before her usual display appeared. ‘I don’t think I can get a signal.’

Alex got his out and nodded. ‘Me neither. It must be something to do with the weather. Like the blackout.’

‘So we can’t phone them then. Where the hell could they be?’

‘Would they have gone to see anyone else in the village?’

‘They don’t really know anyone all that well, and everyone they might know was at the church.’

‘I don’t know what to say. I don’t think there’s a lot more we can do. If it matters that much to you, Zo, we can come tomorrow first thing and drop their gifts in. Before lunch or something.’

‘There’s nothing else for it, so we’ll have to.’ Zoe looked up at the door and knocked one last time in the vain hope they were in after all, but was met with silence once again. ‘That’s it then,’ she said. ‘We’d better go home before we get stranded.’

‘Stranded in a blizzard with no lights and no phone signal – sounds appealing, doesn’t it?’ he said. ‘I agree – let’s get back. I like a bit of festive snow as much as the next man, but once we’re home, nothing is getting me out again in this.’

As they started for home, it quickly became apparent that it was going to be more of a struggle than either of them had imagined.

Alex was all for going back to the church to see if Victor was still there with his Land Rover in the hopes he could get them back, until Zoe reminded him that doing so might present troubles of its own.

Firstly, they were relying on the fact that he would be there and hadn’t already left, and, secondly, even if he was there, his car would be too full for them both because he and Corrine had Melanie and their other daughter, Penny, with them.

They couldn’t even phone anyone to find out if there was someone else who could help, but Zoe had faith that if they took care, they’d be fine.

After all, she reasoned, it wasn’t as if they lived in the tundra.

This was England, and people didn’t get lost in the snow or frozen solid where they stood.

And so they walked, frustratingly slowly, with numb fingers and toes and dripping noses, feeling their way in the dark.

‘I love Kestrel Cottage,’ Zoe panted at the halfway point. ‘And I love Hilltop, but after this I might move downhill to the village proper because I don’t fancy doing this again next winter.’

‘We haven’t got through this one yet,’ Alex replied through gritted teeth. ‘One thing at a time.’

Zoe stumbled and then felt his hand close around hers to steady her. ‘All right there?’

‘I’ve been better.’

‘Me too. Just keep thinking about that wine when we get back.’

‘I think the wine we had before we started out is causing more than enough trouble for us now. I might lay off it. In fact, I might just collapse into bed and you can wake me when it’s Christmas.’

‘And miss all the fun?’

‘Right now, sleeping looks like a lot of fun. Ugh…’ She gasped as the wind changed direction to drive fat, wet snowflakes into her face.

‘I don’t know about the mulled wine we had earlier being the problem,’ Alex said. ‘I’m definitely sober now.’

Zoe had no idea how long it had taken them to get to the top of the track.

There was no moon and barely any light at all.

Even when the lights of either Hilltop or Daffodil or Kestrel Cottage ought to be visible, they could see none of them.

Zoe could just make out a squat, fuzzy shape across the nearest field, which she guessed was Daffodil Farm.

‘I think it’s this way,’ Alex said, pointing to a spot further along the ridge. ‘If that’s Daffodil, I mean.’

‘I think it is,’ Zoe agreed. ‘We should be able to see Hilltop soon if we walk along a bit.’

‘If we don’t, we might have to go to Daffodil instead and see if Victor wouldn’t mind running us over to mine.’

Zoe hadn’t wanted to disturb the residents of Daffodil Farm, especially when they had family visiting, but she couldn’t argue with the logic.

A few minutes later, Zoe thought she could see the vague outline of Hilltop.

‘Either that’s a mirage,’ Alex said, squinting against the driving snow, ‘or that’s home. I’m hoping for the latter.’

‘Me too.’

They picked up the pace, despite the treacherous ground beneath them, both eager to be indoors, finally able to get dry and warm.

When they reached the gate, they saw a light in the downstairs window, as there had been a few nights before, but this time it came from a group of candles, lit by Billie.

There were no other lights on in the rest of the house.

Alex unlocked the door, and they tumbled over the threshold together, both of them laughing with delirious relief.

Billie was in a fleecy dressing gown, sitting in the old rocking chair in the corner of the kitchen with a crossword puzzle and a torch. Grizzle had been at her feet, but at the sight of Alex and Zoe, he leaped up and began to bark, dancing around them with his tail whirring.

‘All right, all right…’ Alex chuckled. ‘Give us a minute!’

‘Where have you been?’ Billie demanded. ‘I didn’t know what to do! I couldn’t get a phone signal, and the lights went out, and you weren’t?—’

‘The power’s gone off in the village too,’ Alex said. ‘And our phones were out of action. We’ve had to walk, and it’s tough going out there, so…sorry you were worried.’

‘I didn’t know what to do. I was going to go to Daffodil if you weren’t back in the next half hour.’

‘No need now,’ he said, going over to his daughter and giving her a hug. ‘We’re all present and correct. I could do with a brew, though.’

‘You’ll have to boil a pan on the stove,’ Billie said. ‘I had to earlier.’

‘I’m sure there’s a back-up generator somewhere in the barn,’ Alex said, undoing his boots. ‘Ann left it behind. Not sure if it’s any good, but I could look. When I’ve warmed up, that is.’

‘Do you even know how to connect it up?’ Billie asked.

‘Well, no, but there’s YouTube. I bet there’s something on there.’

‘Hmm,’ Billie said wryly. ‘And how are you going to watch YouTube? We’ve got no power, no phone signal and no Wi-Fi.’