Page 7 of A Christmas Wish for the Village Midwife

‘What about her?’

‘Their house is best for Louisa because they love her being there, and we can get everything we need easily. So I think we should go there. Maybe we can go to Greece when she’s older.’

It seemed Alex had admitted defeat for now because he didn’t argue. ‘Do you want to stop for food, or are you happy to wait until we’re home?’

‘I’m hungry, but if we stop, Louisa will wake up and she’ll be cranky. If you see a drive-through, I wouldn’t mind something.’

‘Right.’ Alex turned back to the road. ‘Drive-through it is.’

2

Zoe had driven this road into the village a few times since the day Ottilie had brought her in to look around Thimblebury to see how she thought she might like it. That was twelve months ago, give or take, and yet it seemed simultaneously like a lifetime and also no time at all.

That day, it hadn’t been so different from today. The sun had been shining through the leaves, and though the trees had been heavier with them, the colours had begun to turn to their autumn shades. Zoe had been bowled over by the beauty of the landscape then, as she had been every time she’d driven down it since, and today was no exception. It was colder today than it had been then, and there were fewer leaves left clinging to the branches of the trees, but the hillsides were still thick with wild grass and shrubs and dotted with sheep. Louisa was asleep in her car seat as Billie chatted to Alex about what she’d been doing during her week away.

‘They’re so busy at the moment,’ she said. ‘They’ve taken on two new tour guides. One of them is English, actually. He can only do three months for them, which is a shame because the tourists love him. I don’t know what they’ll do when he leaves. I suppose they’ll have to look for someone else. I don’t know if it will be someone English or not.’

‘Sounds as if things are good for them, and I’m glad you’ve enjoyed yourself.’

‘It was nice to get some sun.’

‘We have sun here!’

‘It’s never warm.’

‘I hope that’s not the case because I’m kind of relying on it being warm from time to time so I can rent out my camping pods.’

‘No, but you know what I mean. It’s never as warm here as it is in Spain.’

‘Sometimes it was too warm there.’

‘I love it. It’s never too warm for me.’

Zoe listened as she watched the landscape flit past. It wasn’t often that Billie was this animated about anything. She wondered if this was how she’d always been before, back when she still had her mum and Louisa’s father in her life. Had those losses made her into the only version of Billie Zoe had ever known?

‘Summer wasn’t too bad in the end,’ Alex said.

‘No,’ Billie conceded. ‘I guess not. It was fine if you just wanted to walk and stuff. The trouble is where we live, I think. The hill is just so windy. How’s Griz? Has he been good?’

‘He’s missed you. We tried to explain where you were, but he wasn’t really getting it. He’ll be glad to see you, probably go mental.’

‘I missed him too. Beatriz and Antonio still have Chico.’

‘That old horse? Bloody hell, he must be ancient!’

‘Yeah, they can’t ride him now. They just care for him. He has a great life though, just galloping around.’

‘He gallops? I’m surprised he can still walk!’

‘He’s pretty quick for how old he is. I took Louisa to see him, but she was a bit nervous. Don’t worry, I didn’t let her put her hands by his face or anything – I just showed her.’

‘I suppose he seems massive to her,’ Alex said.

‘Yeah. Oh by the way, that bar you and Mum used to like changed hands. It’s a karaoke place now.’

‘That’s a shame. It used to be your mum’s favourite.’

‘I know. I felt sad when I saw.’