Village Midwife, Blushing Bride by Gill Sanderson

Author:Gill Sanderson
Language: sr
Format: mobi, epub
Published: 2011-08-10T14:19:12+00:00

They both heard the car at the same time. ‘That’s Mummy,’ said Jamie, and trotted off to meet her.

Over the hedge, Connor saw Zoe shut her car door. She looked tired and drained. He was stunned by a wave of protectiveness. No one should look that exhausted. He wanted to scoop her up, have her nestle into his shoulder and sleep until she’d recovered. But as soon as Jamie called ‘Hello, Mummy,’ and rattled the gate, she straightened her shoulders and pinned a bright smile on her face. Connor stepped back, not wanting her to realise she’d been observed. It wasn’t right. She should be looked after at the end of a hard day. She shouldn’t have to start all over again, being cheerful and attentive all on her own to a very active little boy. By the time the pair of them had reached the kitchen—Jamie manfully carrying the midwife bag—Connor had the kettle on and her selfish, useless former husband had been damned to the furthest reaches of the afterlife.

‘Oh, bless you,’ she said. ‘I’ve been gasping for tea for the last ten miles. Did you find the scones? There are some in the blue tin. I must change—I am so hot and sticky.’

He assumed from all this that she expected him to stay on for a bit. Did that mean they were on a better footing again? He was glad, but staying probably wasn’t a good idea given the confusion of feelings he was grappling with.

She came down again wearing faded denim shorts and an old yellow T-shirt. Comfort clothes, he diagnosed. ‘Thank you for looking after Jamie,’ she said, flopping down on the sofa.

‘It was no trouble. I enjoyed it.’ He sat down in his own shabby, yet comfortable armchair and found himself grinning. He might not be able to see the sunset from here, but he couldn’t fault the view of Zoe.

‘Uncle Connor taught me to climb on the frame safely,’ said Jamie, not looking up from where he was causing a couple of Lego men tied together with string to scale a pile of books.

‘Oh, good,’ said Zoe faintly.

‘I was right under him all the time,’ Connor reassured her. All the same, Jamie was a lively kid—however difficult she found it, Zoe had to make more of an effort to let him find his own feet. He gave an inward sigh, not seeing how he could get out of this. ‘Would you both like to come bouldering again this weekend?’

‘He’ll never forgive me if I don’t say yes.’ She gave him a tentative forgive-and-forget smile.

It was the smile that did it. Connor’s tongue took off. ‘And then another time, I wondered if—can Jamie swim?’

‘He can swim very well!’ she said indignantly. ‘He loves the water.’

‘Then perhaps you’d like to try canoeing.’

‘Canoeing?’

‘There’s a club at a reservoir not too far from here. It’s something I took up when I couldn’t…when I couldn’t climb.’

‘Well…yes, why not?’

Connor shot a look at Jamie, happily absorbed. He lowered his voice.

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