Page 87 of A Christmas Wish for the Village Midwife

‘Me too…’ Billie began to follow Zoe as she left to fetch them. ‘Want a hand to carry them over?’

‘I’ll manage – they have little trays. Stay with your dad… If you leave him, he might wander off.’

‘Cheek,’ Alex said, and Zoe blew him a kiss before walking over to the stalls.

She was getting her money out when there was a squeal from behind her, and she turned to see Kat, the woman she’d helped on the Santa cruise, wearing a huge grin as she launched herself at Zoe.

‘Oh my God! Fancy seeing you here! Dave, this is Zoe! You know, midwife Zoe who took me to the hospital!’

Kat’s partner came over and shook Zoe’s hand. ‘Thanks so much for what you did.’

‘Oh, it was nothing,’ Zoe said. She looked around and spotted their older son, Mikey, with another couple, who also had a baby wrapped in a huge fleece with them.

‘That’s my mum and dad,’ Kat said. ‘Mum… Dad! Come here!’

The couple wandered over with the children and thanked Zoe as Kat’s partner had done, while their son Mikey offered a shy wave of vague recognition. ‘Where’s Billie?’ he asked.

‘Over there…’ Zoe pointed. ‘Why don’t you go and say hello?’

The grandparents handed the baby to Kat and then took Mikey to see Billie and Alex. From the corner of her eye, she watched them chat for a moment, the grandparents admiring Louisa and Billie bending down to talk to the little boy. And then she turned back to Kat and the bundle in her arms. ‘So this is Skye? In the flesh, finally! Hello!’

She brushed off the pang of longing as she peered at the face swaddled in the fleece. Skye was perfect. All babies were perfect to Zoe, but some were undeniably beautiful, and Skye was one of them.

‘She’s good as gold,’ Kat said. ‘I hope it stays that way. I’m waiting for the reality check to hit us.’

‘Was Mikey a good baby?’

Kat laughed. ‘Not remotely!’

‘That’ll be it then,’ Zoe said with a smile at the newborn. ‘You’ve earned a good one. I’d say enjoy it.’

She looked up to see the others all coming to the stand. Alex introduced himself and then looked at Skye with such tenderness that Zoe’s resolve around their own question of a child almost crumbled there and then. To see him look at their own like that… it would be all she’d dreamed of. At least, once upon a time it would have been. But things had changed, and it wasn’t a dream so easy to make real, and she needed to remember that.

As the queue went down, they continued their polite chat, and then, once Zoe had got their drinks, they parted ways with a promise to stay in touch.

‘They seem like nice people,’ Alex said as they returned to the reindeer, and Kat’s family went to the car park to leave.

‘They do,’ Zoe said. ‘I feel lucky to have met them.’

‘Not half as lucky as they must feel to have met you.’

Zoe looked up to see tenderness that dwarfed what she’d seen in his eyes a few moments ago as he’d admired Kat’s baby.

She blushed. ‘Don’t be silly.’

Billie gave a loud tut and took Louisa from his arms. ‘Do you two need a minute to do whatever this is…?’

Alex laughed. ‘No, we’re good! Come back – don’t get all embarrassed!’

‘Anyone would be embarrassed by that,’ Billie said. ‘No offence, Zoe,’ she added. ‘I don’t blame you; I blame him.’

Their conversation was interrupted by a commotion on the field, and from the foggy gloom emerged a portly, bearded figure dressed in a red suit.

‘Ho ho ho! Merry Christmas!’

He made a beeline for the family standing closest to the fence, which happened to be Alex, Zoe, Billie and Louisa. ‘Come to see my helpers! I’m just getting them ready for their big flight!’

Zoe glanced across to see Louisa suddenly wide-eyed as she stared at Santa Claus. There was a pause while she decided how she felt about him, and then, just so everyone knew she hadn’t changed her mind one bit since the last time she’d tangled with Father Christmas, she let out a howl.