Page 70 of A Christmas Wish for the Village Midwife

‘There’s still a dress run to go. Magnus keeps losing it when we mess up – that’s pure entertainment in itself. And of course nobody’s taking it seriously enough for him because it’s just a daft village thing, so he keeps losing his mind about that too. He’s threatened to sack Fliss at least half a dozen times, and you can imagine how funny she finds that. As if you could threaten Fliss with anything – I’ve never met anyone so unbothered in my life.’

‘I’m looking forward to seeing it. We all are.’

‘You’re still doing the tickets?’

‘Yes, with a special seat to watch from when I’ve done.’

‘Alex and Billie are coming too?’

‘I’m not sure about Billie yet. We were going to ask Corrine to babysit, but she and Victor have already got tickets to come and see the show. It depends who else can help out. We don’t really want to leave her out if we can help it, though she says she’s not bothered either way.’

‘I don’t think Ott is going. She might be able to have Louisa for an hour.’

‘But Flo is in the cast?’

‘Not anymore – she fell out with Magnus and told him she wouldn’t do it if her life depended on it. And seeing as Ottilie isn’t daft enough to pick sides with Magnus and Geoff over Flo, that means she and Heath aren’t going to watch either.’

‘How have you heard all this…? Never mind, I forgot who I was talking to for a moment.’

When they got to the kitchen, Simon was in there. He dashed to take the box from Lavender.

‘I’m not that weak,’ she grumbled.

‘No, but where would my chivalry be if I didn’t offer my assistance?’ he replied as he put it down on the worktop and then turned to the table. ‘You’ve outdone yourselves here, ladies; it looks great. Must have taken ages.’

‘It wasn’t that bad,’ Zoe said. ‘And we had a slow afternoon, which helped.’

He smiled. ‘All the babies are taking Christmas off, eh?’

‘I wish! But I had a nice quiet clinic, so that helped.’

The door to the kitchen opened, and Ottilie came in. Lavender squealed and threw her arms around her.

‘Steady!’ Ottilie said, laughing, as she hugged her back. ‘You only saw me a week ago!’

‘I know, but it’s Christmas and you’re here!’

‘It’s weird to be having another leaving do for another pregnancy and for it not to be mine,’ Ottilie said.

Lavender let go, and she went to hug Zoe, but there was something calmer and more pressing in her greeting. ‘How are you doing? You’re OK?’

Zoe could read between the lines. Ottilie wanted to know how she felt about all this, all of it centred around an event that might never happen to her.

‘I’m great,’ she said. ‘Looking forward to Christmas… What’s this about Flo falling out with Magnus and pulling out of the panto?’

‘That…’ Ottilie threw a knowing glance at Lavender, as if it wasn’t obvious where the gossip had come from. ‘You know what she’s like, and Magnus can be a stubborn thing too. He wanted something a certain way, she didn’t agree, the next thing you know she’s at our house making a voodoo doll of him and swearing off his shop for good. Nothing new there either – she says every week she’s going to find somewhere else to get her bits, though God knows where she thinks that will be.’

‘So you’re not going to see the panto?’

‘It’s more than my life’s worth, isn’t it? Flo would never forgive me. If I’m honest’ – she glanced from Lavender to Simon – ‘and please don’t hate me, but I’m not really into pantos. So I know you’ve both got a vested interest in it, but I’m still slightly glad I don’t have to go now. I’d much rather be at home in the warm with Anthony and Heath and something on the telly.’

‘I said you wouldn’t be going,’ Lavender put in. ‘I just told Zoe that. Billie needs someone to babysit Louisa so she can go. I said you’d probably be able to do it.’

Ottilie was trying to hold back a frown – Zoe could tell. ‘Don’t worry about it,’ she said. ‘I wasn’t going to ask – you’ve got your hands full with Anthony; you don’t need two babies to look after.’

‘I could if it wouldn’t be for long,’ Ottilie said. ‘The panto is only about an hour and a half, isn’t it? That wouldn’t be too bad, if you didn’t mind picking her up again straight afterwards.’

‘Let me ask Billie; I’m not even sure she really wants to go. I wonder if she might be glad to have Louisa as an excuse to give it a miss, but I’ll tell her you offered anyway. Thanks, Ott.’