Page 77 of A Christmas Wish for the Village Midwife

‘I’ll bet.’ Fliss winked again.

Whatever the punchline to the joke was going to be, Zoe wouldn’t get to hear it. She was distracted once again by Billie getting out of her seat and heading for the exit. She and Alex swapped a look of confusion before they both made their awkward apologies to the people around them and followed her out.

Billie was already on her way down the lane, heading towards Ottilie’s cottage – at least it looked that way to Zoe. Alex jogged after her, Zoe running to catch up.

‘What’s the matter?’

‘I don’t want to stay,’ Billie said.

‘You’re worried about Louisa? She’s fine with Ottilie. They would have phoned if there was a problem.’

‘I didn’t say there was. I’m not worrying; I just want to go home. I’m not stopping you two from going back to the show.’

‘We can’t go back in, not if you want to go home. How are you going to get there?’

‘I’ll walk. Or maybe Heath will take me.’

‘Heath’s had a drink; he can’t drive you.’

‘It was one snowball.’

‘He probably had another couple if he didn’t have anywhere to be,’ Zoe said. ‘Come back in – the play isn’t even that long; we’ll be done in an hour, and then we can all go home together. It’s dark as anything on that road, and the wind’s getting up – there’s no way you can go up on your own with Louisa.’

‘I’d be fine.’

‘You might be, but nobody is going to let you. We’d be worried to death for a start.’

‘I don’t want to go back in.’

‘Why not?’ Alex asked helplessly.

‘I just don’t want to.’

‘But why? It’s a bit silly, but it’s not that bad.’

‘It’s offensive.’ She looked at Zoe. ‘I would have expected you to see that, even if Dad didn’t.’

‘Offensive?’ Alex blew out a breath. ‘Come on now – it’s daft, but it’s just harmless fun.’

‘It’s a bit old-fashioned, I’ll admit,’ Zoe said, ‘but you have to remember that most of the people involved are older. They’ve grown up in a different age where that stuff doesn’t mean any harm to anyone.’

‘It doesn’t make it OK. People use that excuse all the time, but it’s bullshit. That’s like saying we can still hang people because we used to.’

‘That’s a bit much, Bill…’ Alex let out a light laugh and immediately earned a glare from his daughter. ‘I only mean to say that’s quite a stretch of a comparison,’ he concluded, clearly recognising that he shouldn’t have finished his argument at all.

‘I thought you’d enjoy a night off,’ Alex continued after a moment. ‘I thought… we thought you’d enjoy a night out doing something different.’

Billie looked up and flung a hand back at the hall. ‘You thought I’d enjoy that?’

‘Well, yes… It’s nice; it brings the community together.’

‘If you think Royston Vasey is a good example of a community, then yeah.’

‘That’s not fair!’ Heat flared in Zoe’s cheeks. Whatever anyone thought of what was, admittedly, outdated humour, Billie’s comparison was unreasonable and downright mean. ‘It’s not your taste, and that’s fine, but don’t make out like the people here are horrible, just because they don’t laugh at what you laugh at. Whatever you might like to think, humour is subjective, and it does depend on the generation you belong to. Nobody means any harm; they just find things funny that you apparently don’t. They’re good people, and they’ve been kind to all of us since we arrived here.’

‘I can think of a lot of worse places to live,’ Alex added.

‘I can think of better places too,’ Billie shot back. ‘Better places for Louisa to grow up.’