Page 2 of A Christmas Wish for the Village Midwife

‘I know; people take babies abroad all the time, but she’s so little.’

Zoe looked up at him.

‘Louisa’s a good baby, and it’s only a short flight. I’m sure it was fine. At least she’s not walking yet, because wanting to get around might have made her a lot more restless.’

‘Eight months…’ He smiled as his gaze turned to the board too. They’d both spent much of the last half hour watching for Billie’s flight to land. ‘Eight months already since she was born. Where did that go?’

‘It’s November next week… already – where did that go? Seems like five minutes since last Christmas and here we are counting down to another one. I swear time is moving faster than ever these days.’

‘Ah, that old chestnut.’

Zoe grinned. ‘I sound like an old lady, don’t I? And if you say that’s because I am an old lady, I will have to slap you!’

‘I wouldn’t dare!’

‘Is that the flight…?’ Zoe frowned at the board.

Alex strode forward to get a closer look, though they could both see perfectly well from where they’d been. Rather than say so, she followed him. Pent-up energy and impatience radiated from him, in every angle of his limbs, in the way his shoulders were tensed, despite his jokes. He tipped a second cup of coffee up to drink the last of it and then marched to a nearby bin to throw the cup away before joining her again. ‘It’s landed. She should be out soon.’

‘Hopefully,’ Zoe said, thinking that disembarkation, passport control and luggage retrieval would probably make his reunion with his daughter and granddaughter a lot less soon than he’d like. ‘There will probably be time to go and sit down for a while. Now we know the flight is in, we can stop watching the board. She’s bound to be at least thirty or forty minutes. And she’ll probably text us when she’s through passports.’

‘I know, but I’m OK here.’ He glanced down at her, uncertain for a moment. ‘You’re all right? You’re not feeling light-headed or⁠—’

‘I’m fine,’ she said. ‘No funny turns. You don’t have to worry about those now I have my medication.’

‘I know, but I do.’

‘If I need to sit down, I’ll be sure to say. You worry too much about everything.’

‘Probably. But you mean so much to me, and…’

His gaze went back to the board, though there was nothing new to see. Zoe didn’t ask him to finish his sentence. She knew what he’d wanted to say, and why he’d be afraid to say it. He’d lost his wife, and he’d imagined for the longest time he’d never love again. Now he had Zoe, and she understood that loving her scared him because he could never be certain she’d always be there. He’d thought that before, and his wife had died, and they’d both been far too young for such a tragedy. It also explained why he was so overattentive to his daughter, Billie.

Zoe curled her spare hand around his and gave it a reassuring squeeze.

‘I don’t know why I should be so jumpy,’ he said, his eyes not leaving a now growing line of people coming through customs and out into the main exit.

‘It’s the first time she’s been away since you moved to Hilltop. She’s gone on her own with Louisa, and that’s a first too. You’re bound to be worried.’

‘I was when she went, but you’d think I’d be all right with her about to come back. If anything I’m worse! I’m stupid, aren’t I?’

‘Not a bit.’ Zoe glanced down once more at the flowers in her arms, realising she’d been as apprehensive as him and wondering what had affected them both so. Though she’d tried not to admit it, even to herself, part of her own apprehension might have been guilt. The fact was, she and Alex had shared a blissful week alone at Hilltop Farm, and it had shown her just what life might be as a couple without the distractions of his adult daughter and baby granddaughter sharing the house with them. And though she adored both Billie and Louisa, she’d loved the peace. She’d loved being as spontaneously intimate as she liked with Alex, being able to come home from work and simply relax without feeling the need to offer help with some problem Billie might have, or with the care of Louisa, and she loved that when Alex had done all his chores and wrapped up business for the day, it was just the two of them, and they could do whatever they liked with their time without having to consider anyone else. And she loved that they’d felt like a couple newly in love, which was what they were, almost like newlyweds – which they weren’t, but Alex had begun to hint at getting married again. Most of all, she loved that they’d been able to talk openly about things they often had to wait to discuss when they could grab the odd half hour with Billie missing. Considering she was a naturally introverted girl with few friends in the area, that wasn’t very often.

She wondered if any of this had occurred to Alex. If it had, perhaps that explained his current state of agitation too. Maybe he’d felt it without recognising it quite so obviously. Zoe was looking forward to seeing Billie and Louisa, but she was already missing what she and Alex had shared while his daughter had been away.

‘Do you think she made the flight OK?’ he asked, craning to see through the steadily growing crowd of arrivals. ‘Do you reckon these people are all from her flight?’

‘She would have messaged us if she’d missed the flight,’ Zoe said.

‘Of course. I was just wondering because she’s not out yet.’

‘She’s got to pick her pushchair and suitcase up from the baggage hall. It might be taking her a while to do that.’

‘It’s a shame we’re not allowed to go through and help,’ he said. ‘Stupid rule, expecting a young girl to do that on her own. Relatives ought to be able to go through and help, like you can at train stations.’

‘She’s fine. I’m sure there’ll be someone at the carousel who can help if she needs it. She’s got to get used to doing this stuff by herself.’

He turned to her with a vague frown. ‘Why? She’s got us.’