Page 44 of Christmas for the Village Midwife (The Village Midwife #2)

‘It doesn’t matter now. At least you’re here.’

Zoe’s own phone updated more slowly, but a few seconds later it did, and she noticed the missed calls from Georgia and Emilia. Lots of them. And then a text came through.

Where are you? Georgia’s waters have broken.

It was from Emilia. Zoe looked at the time – it had been sent two hours before, when there had been no signal in the village.

Perhaps Emilia hadn’t realised until it had failed to go through, or perhaps she’d sent it anyway in the hope it would reach Zoe when her phone came back online, hoping it wouldn’t be too long. She looked up at Alex.

‘Oh, no,’ he said, reading her expression. ‘What now? What’s wrong?’

‘It’s Georgia. Her waters have broken.’

‘Where is she?’ he asked. ‘They weren’t at home. So does that mean they’re at the hospital? I mean, it’s only half an hour or so to drive. So they don’t need you if that’s the case, do they?’

‘I don’t know; Emilia hasn’t said any more than that. It’s half an hour in decent weather, but this isn’t decent weather, is it? I’m not sure how passable the roads are, but judging by how we struggled to get home, I don’t imagine very. If Emilia was asking, she must have wanted me.’

‘When did she send the message?’

‘A couple of hours ago.’

‘She might have got help since then. They wouldn’t have waited around for you, would they?’

‘I don’t know that either. She might not be progressing very fast – perhaps she’s just telling me so I can keep tabs on things. It might be hours and hours before she’s ready to have the baby, but if her waters have broken, I’d rather be on hand.’

‘Can you be on hand tomorrow? Emilia knows what she’s doing…enough, surely? Do you have to be on hand tonight? There’s no way you can go out in this weather again.’

Zoe shook her head vaguely and dialled Emilia’s number. It was answered immediately, but not by Emilia, by Brett.

‘Hi…it’s Zoe. I’ve only just got the text…what’s happening?’

‘Georgia’s waters have broken.’

‘So the message said. Where are you now? Are you home?’

‘We’re at the church.’

Zoe frowned. ‘But you’d left there…’

‘We went back to find you when it happened, and yes, I know we shouldn’t have let her go out into the snow, but she wouldn’t hear otherwise. Now Emilia doesn’t dare move her. She’s not doing great.’

‘Georgia isn’t?’

‘She’s struggling. In a lot of pain…’

‘She’s in labour?’

‘I don’t know. Maybe.’

‘Can you put Emilia on?’

‘Hang on… She’s just….’

Brett’s voice faded, and then Emilia’s was on the line.

‘Hello,’ she said briskly. ‘She’s started. I can probably manage if you can’t get here, but I’d be grateful if you could. It’s not really my strong suit, delivering babies. Not something I generally have to do a lot of.’

Zoe smiled grimly. ‘I don’t suppose it is. I’ll come. How far along do you think she is?’

‘She won’t let me look. I think she’s a bit delirious, keeps banging on about everyone in the church being able to see.’

‘You’ve got her somewhere private?’

‘Heavens, of course I have! There’s nobody here now but the vicar. I did ask if he could deliver a baby but apparently not.’

‘Hang on,’ Zoe said, fighting an irrational urge to laugh at Emilia’s statement, despite the situation.

Casually asking the vicar if he could deliver a baby like he might whip up a pot of tea and being surprised and annoyed when the answer was no…

It was very Emilia. ‘Make her comfortable…Sorry, I know, stating the obvious. I’m sure you know all that. I’ll be with you as soon as I can.’

Zoe ended the call, and when she looked up at Alex, she could see real concern. ‘Surely you’re not going out? Can’t they call an ambulance?’

‘I’m sure they have, but it’s got to get here. Come on – you know how long it takes. We had the same thing with Billie not so long ago, when she had her fall and she was bleeding, remember? And you were glad enough to have me on hand then…’

‘Sorry…’ Alex looked shamefaced, and she realised her tone had been sharper than she’d meant.

‘No, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean it like that.

You have to understand, this is my job. I could never stand by and let everyone struggle down there.

How could I sit here and be at peace with my conscience?

I could never look another mum in the face again, and what if something bad happened?

It would be my fault.’ She gave her head a firm shake. ‘Sorry, but I have to go.’

‘I’m coming with you then.’

‘Don’t be daft! What about Billie?’

‘I’ll come too.’

‘Absolutely not!’ Zoe pulled the blanket aside and stood up. ‘There’s no way I’m putting you at risk on a night like this. You’re staying here, and I don’t care how much you argue because it won’t change.’

‘She’s right,’ Alex said.

Billie pouted, but she didn’t offer a reply.

And then Alex turned his common sense on Zoe. ‘How the hell are you going to get down to the church? Or have you forgotten how bad it was underfoot when we came up here earlier? It’s snowed more since then as well.’

‘I’ll walk.’

‘You are joking, right?’

‘We walked up here.’

‘Yes, and, again, I’d like to remind you how difficult it was.’

‘The car would never make it.’

He was thoughtful for a minute. ‘Victor might have snow chains or something. We might get down with those.’

‘There isn’t time for that.’

‘We’ll take our chances in the car as it is then. I’ll take it slowly. I’ve driven in snow before…’

Zoe wanted to argue. She didn’t want him to come with her because he didn’t really want to go, and he didn’t really want to leave Billie either. But she could see that if she was going, he was never going to let her go alone.

‘All right,’ she said finally. ‘I’ll go and get my coat.’