Page 75 of A Christmas Wish for the Village Midwife

Ottilie handed Anthony to Heath. ‘I’ll get you a drink, Flo. We’ve still got some of that scrumpy you like… that’s nice and flat, and it’s got a kick to it. Will that do?’

‘It’s not gone off, has it?’

‘No,’ Ottilie said with patience that Zoe marvelled at. ‘It hasn’t gone off. Hang on a minute.’

Alex checked his watch. ‘We should be going.’

Zoe drank the rest of her snowball. They still had twenty minutes until she had to be there, and it would only take five for them to get to the hall, but he’d said what she’d been thinking – it was time to make an escape. Ottilie and Heath knew how to handle his cantankerous grandmother, but Zoe found her trying at the best of times. She often thought it said a lot for Ottilie’s gentle nature, and the fact that she was far more patient than Zoe could ever be. She got up with her empty glass.

‘I’ll just go and let Ottilie know and make sure she’s all right with anything Louisa might need.’

Ottilie was staring into space when Zoe found her in the kitchen.

‘Hey… everything all right?’

‘Huh…?’ Ottilie blinked and then smiled. ‘Oh, yes. I was just having a mum moment.’

‘What’s that?’

‘Baby brain. Does it ever go away? I feel as if I can only think in cotton wool some days. I have to admit it worries me, the thought of going back to work like this.’

‘You’ll be fine. I’m sure everything will sharpen up when you’re using your noggin a bit more.’

‘It is true that the most taxing conversation I have these days is checking with Heath that he’s changed Anthony’s nappy before we go to bed. Unless you count the mad, one-sided conversations I have with Anthony. I’ve got goo-goo gaga down to a fine art. I could teach a degree in it.’ She reached for the cider and poured some into a glass.

‘We don’t have to leave Louisa if it’s too much for you⁠—’

‘Oh, stop it! Would you just bugger off to your panto? We’ll be fine. It’s for a couple of hours at most – even I can manage that. And Flo’s here now. She can be snippy, but she is good with kids.’

‘I’ll take your word for that. I’d run a mile at the thought of her babysitting me.’

‘It’s lucky neither of ours can run then, isn’t it?’

‘I’d crawl. I’d shuffle on my belly if I had to.’

Ottilie laughed and reached to pull Zoe into a hug. ‘I’ll see you later. Have fun at the panto. Between you and me, I’d rather be here with two babies than sit through that.’

‘In about an hour I might agree with you,’ Zoe replied. ‘Thanks again for this. She might not know it, and it’s hardly the event of the century, but I think Billie really needs this night off from motherhood.’

‘I’m sure you’ll all have a lovely time.’

Alex came in with his and Billie’s glasses. ‘Where do you want these?’

‘In the sink, thanks,’ Ottilie said.

Alex dumped them and then turned to Zoe. ‘All sorted? Ready to go?’

‘Ready,’ Zoe said. ‘Ready and looking forward to it.’

As promised, they’d arrived early to help Magnus with tickets and seating guests, and even though it was the time they’d agreed, he looked distinctly harassed as he rushed over to meet them at the door.

‘Oh, thank goodness… I thought you might not come!’

‘Well, we’re here and reporting for duty,’ Zoe said. ‘Everything going all right? No divas throwing tantrums backstage?’

‘No, but Fliss’s costume doesn’t fit… though it did last week, so goodness knows what she’s been eating. And half the glitter has come off Charles’s wig… the front door of the house keeps falling down, and Stacey’s already pissed. Geoff told her not to open the wine this early, and she knows how⁠—’

‘Breathe!’ Zoe put a hand on his shoulder, and Alex went around the other side and did the same.