Page 4 of A Christmas Wish for the Village Midwife

‘We had a night out. Beatriz and Antonio were dying to babysit Louisa. It was weird being without her at first, but it was OK. Nice to catch up.’

‘Your Spanish held up after not using it for ages?’ Alex spotted the car and clicked to unlock it with the key fob.

‘Si,’ Billie said. ‘Claro…’ She rolled her eyes. ‘El burro sabe más que tú.’

He laughed. ‘Fair enough. Sorry I asked.’

‘What’s that?’ Zoe asked.

‘Something along the lines of the donkey knows more than you.’ Alex shook his head at Billie with a grin. ‘It’s something Luis’s dad used to say from time to time, usually when he thought I was stating the obvious. He never did mince his words.’

‘He still doesn’t,’ Billie said.

‘Yes,’ Alex replied in a dry tone. ‘Probably why you always got on so well with him.’

‘Antonio and Beatriz asked if I was going to teach Louisa Spanish,’ Billie continued. ‘They said I should. I hadn’t really thought about it, but they might be right – if we’re going to be there a lot, she should know how to talk to them in their own language. And she’s half Spanish, after all.’

‘So they’re wanting you to go over more often?’ Alex asked, the lightness of his tone disappearing again.

Zoe recognised a new anxiety, one he’d aired to her in Billie’s absence.

‘They asked me to go for Christmas⁠—’

‘What?’

‘Calm down, Dad. I said no. I told them it’s Louisa’s first Christmas, and she’s spending it here with you.’

‘What did they say to that?’

‘They were a bit hurt, to be honest. I mean, they didn’t say, but I could tell. I suppose they thought I’d forgotten that they’re Louisa’s other grandparents, and they don’t even have Luis now, so it would have been nice for them to have us there to take their minds off that. But I know you’d have been upset.’

Alex was silent as Billie got Louisa out of her pushchair and handed her to Zoe while she folded it up. He glanced at Zoe, as if seeking some kind of silent approval before he aired an idea, though she could hardly approve what she didn’t know.

‘Maybe,’ he said slowly, ‘we could ask them over to stay with us. That way we all get to see Louisa’s first Christmas.’ He looked at Zoe. ‘That would be OK, wouldn’t it?’

She could hardly say no, but she wouldn’t have done anyway and so answered with a firm nod.

‘Are you sure?’ Billie asked. ‘It would be really different to how we normally do things.’

‘Perhaps that’s a good thing.’

‘It was really different last year,’ Zoe said, ‘at least I imagine so because it was my first Christmas with you.’

‘Yeah, and you had to deliver Georgia’s baby in that mad snow,’ Billie said. ‘It was really different last year!’

‘Really different might end up being our normal,’ Zoe said with a smile. ‘I think the next few years will bring lots of changes anyway, if only with Louisa growing up and being a bit older for each one.’

‘But you don’t mind me asking them?’

‘Of course I don’t mind. I’d love to meet them.’

‘They’re so nice,’ Billie said. ‘And they speak really good English too.’

‘That’s a bonus then because I don’t speak any Spanish.’

‘They have to because that’s their job – they put on tours around the area.’

‘Oh?’ Zoe fastened Louisa into her car seat as Billie got in at the other side to sit next to her. ‘What kind of tours?’