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Jack chuckled. ‘Tea. Milk, no sugar, thanks.’
‘Good. And I hope you like flapjacks or I’m going to have a riot on my hands.’
‘You seem very organised here.’
Martin nodded. ‘This church has been taking people in for the last eight hundred years. Wars, famine, fires... Now floods. I’ve never seen anything like this, though, and I’ve been here fifteen years. Half the village is flooded out.’
‘How many people do you have here?’
‘Just a couple of families staying overnight. We’ve found everyone else billets in people’s homes. But everyone eats here, and we have an action committee...’ Martin shrugged, grinning. ‘That’s Cass’s baby. I confine myself to tea and sympathy.’
Jack reckoned that Martin was downplaying his own considerable role. ‘And hospitality.’
‘We’ve never turned anyone away before, and that’s not
going to start on my watch.’ A trace of determination broke through Martin’s affable smile and was quickly hidden. ‘Anything else you need?’
‘A phone? I’d like to call home.’
‘Yes, of course. The landline at the vicarage is still working; you can use that.’ Martin turned, making for the door. ‘Come to the kitchen when you’re ready and I’ll take you over there.’
CHAPTER TWO
MARTIN OPENED A side door that led out of the kitchen and they walked along a paved path, sheltered by makeshift awnings that boasted a few scraps of soggy coloured bunting hanging from the corners. Then through a gate and into the vicarage kitchen, which oozed warmth and boasted a table large enough to seat a dozen people.
Lynette was red-haired like her sister, her features prettier and yet somehow far less attractive. She was heavily pregnant and Jack’s first impressions were that she was in the best of health. Although she’d been having minor contractions, she seemed stubbornly positive that the baby wasn’t coming yet. Jack begged to differ, but kept that thought to himself.
He left Lynette on the sofa by the kitchen range and sat down at the table, where a cup of tea was waiting for him. ‘I’ll be able to examine you a little more thoroughly when your sister gets back with my medical bag.’
‘Thanks. But there’s really no need to worry. First babies are always late, aren’t they?’
Sue, the vicar’s wife, frowned. ‘Not necessarily. My Josh was early.’ She pushed a large plate of flapjacks across the table towards Jack. ‘If I eat another one of those I’ll be sorry when I get on the scales. I wish the Monday Club would stop cooking...’
Lynette laughed. ‘Not much chance of that. Mrs Hawes doesn’t like to see anyone going hungry.’
Sue sighed, looking up as someone rapped on the glass pane of the back door. ‘It’s open...’
The door swung inwards and two bags were placed inside. Then Cass appeared, her hair wet and slicked back from her face, holding her muddy boots in one hand and her wet jacket and overtrousers in the other. Sue relieved her of them and disappeared to put them in the front porch.
‘You got two across?’ Jack bent to inspect the contents of the bags.
‘Yeah, we got a line over about quarter of a mile down from the bridge. Mimi’s okay and she’s going back to the hospital with what’s-his-name.’ The corners of her mouth quirked into an expression that would have been unfathomable if Jack hadn’t been able to guess the situation. ‘She sends you her love.’
Jack nodded, drawing a stethoscope and blood pressure monitor from the bag. ‘Right, ladies. If you’re comfortable here, Lynette, I’ll get on and do a more thorough examination.’
* * *
He’d given Lynette one last flash of those tender eyes and smiled at her, pronouncing that everything was fine. Lynette hadn’t even noticed what he hadn’t said, but Cass had.
‘She’s in the early stages of labour, isn’t she?’ Cass had shown him through to the small room behind the church hall, which had been earmarked as his sleeping quarters and already boasted a hastily erected camp bed in the corner, with sheets and blankets folded on top of it.
‘Yes. Although this could be a false alarm...’
Another thing he wasn’t saying. ‘And it might not be.’
‘Yes.’ He scrubbed his hand back across his scalp, his short dark hair spiking untidily. ‘I have everything I need, and I’ve delivered babies plenty of times before.’
‘Really?’ Jack was saying everything she wanted to hear, and Cass wondered how much of it was just reassurance.
