Chapter 12 #3
It was then Zoe noticed the heavily pregnant woman get up from her seat with a wince.
A hand flew to her belly, rubbing it. Zoe watched her carefully.
Her instinct was to go and ask if she was all right, even to ask to check her over, but she wasn’t on duty now, and she had to remember that she couldn’t simply go around examining someone just because they were pregnant and might have a little backache.
If the woman needed help, she was sure she’d ask someone, and then Zoe would make herself known. But still, she watched anyway.
After perhaps thirty seconds of deep breathing, the woman waddled over to the window and began to talk to a boy of about six or seven, pointing at things outside as the boat cleaved a path through the water, and Zoe relaxed, deciding she was probably all right.
Billie was silent for the next few minutes, and Zoe did the same to give her space.
And so she turned her attention to the other families on the boat, enjoying their interactions and trying to imagine what their lives were like at home.
They were lives she might never know, and she was beginning to make her peace with that.
As she watched, her musings turned again to the foster families she’d met on the alpaca trail with Victor earlier in the year.
She’d thought of them often and had kept in touch, but she realised she hadn’t heard anything for a while.
She made a mental note to message when she got home and ask how things were.
‘Oh, Lou Lou, look! It’s Santa!’
Zoe turned at the sound of Billie’s voice and found the man himself standing at the doorway to the cabin, every bit as round and red-cheeked as all the best Santas were meant to be.
He was flanked by a team of elves dressed in red and green and long stripey socks, who, judging by their red noses and watering eyes, probably needed more layers because they looked freezing.
But they kept up the cheery act, and every kid on the boat was round-eyed with wonder at the sight. Some started to cheer and clap.
‘Hello, children!’ Santa boomed.
Amongst the cheering and excitement, there was a sudden wail of dismay, and then some of the adults started to laugh as a man scooped up a toddler and tried to reassure her with hugs and kisses.
‘Not to worry!’ Santa said cheerily. ‘I sometimes have that effect, but I never take offence!’
‘She’s silly!’ a boy said, immediately hushed by someone who might have been his grandma.
Zoe smiled at Billie. ‘You’ve got all that coming,’ she said in a low voice.
‘Louisa won’t say things like that; I’ll make sure she’s always kind.’
‘I don’t think kind comes into it. It’s more a case of saying whatever comes into their heads – it’s what kids do.’
‘Do you think we have to queue up for him?’ Billie asked.
‘No, it looks like they come round to us one by one.’
Zoe’s hunch was proved right a moment later as Santa went to sit with the first family and began to talk to the children, while others gathered around trying to listen in, despite their grown-ups telling them that their turn would come soon enough.
He was flanked by his elves, who each held a glittery sack stuffed with presents.
Louisa, on the other hand, was far more interested in the plaits of the little girl sitting next to her.
‘Ow!’
The girl squealed as Louisa took one in a chubby fist and yanked at it. Zoe rushed to loosen her grip, apologising to the girl’s mum as she managed to pull Louisa away.
‘It’s all right,’ the woman said as she stroked her daughter’s hair to soothe her. ‘They’ll reach for anything at that age, won’t they?’
Billie now seemed to clock something had happened and looked annoyed as she worked it out. Probably at herself rather than anyone else, for not keeping her eye on Louisa.
‘No harm done,’ Zoe said to her.
Billie seemed unconvinced and turned her energy to watching Louisa instead of where Santa was.
Eventually, Santa reached them.
Billie pointed to him. ‘Louisa! Look, it’s Santa!’
Louisa stared at the looming figure, who bent to speak to her and seemed even bigger and more imposing still. It was no wonder that, as he smiled, she stared for another second before screwing up her face and beginning to wail.
‘Oh dear!’ Santa said, nodding at the elves to hand over the present and get him out. ‘It was good to meet you, Louisa. Perhaps I’ll see you again next year.’
‘Not if I can help it,’ Billie said savagely as she tried to comfort Louisa, and despite the situation, Zoe had to laugh. The response was so typically Billie that she only wished Alex could have been here to see it because he would have found it funny too.
‘If that’s the worst that ever happens to him, he’ll be lucky,’ the mother of the plaited girl said to them. ‘Last year, this one here yanked his beard clean off. I didn’t know where to put my face.’
‘I didn’t!’ the little girl said, causing an eye-roll from her mother.
‘You did, and your dad took the photo to prove it.’
Zoe’s laughter grew as Santa moved on to them and began to make polite conversation.
Louisa had stopped crying, but she eyed him with the deepest suspicion as she watched, Billie’s arms wrapped protectively around her.
But it was stopped abruptly at the sight of the pregnant woman she’d noticed earlier suck in a sharp breath as she looked at the floor.
Zoe stood up and immediately spotted the trickle pooling at the woman’s feet.
She pushed her way through the families towards her, leaving Billie to stare as she watched her go.
‘Are you all right?’ she asked, glancing down at the small puddle and then up at the woman’s face. ‘Have your waters just broken?’
‘I’m not sure… yes…’
‘It’s all right, I’m a midwife. Do you feel OK?’
‘Yes. I feel fine, actually. Apart from the obvious, of course. I don’t want to be a nuisance… Will it wait?’
‘I’d like to say yes, but I don’t know. Sometimes you’ve got a while. Is this your first?’ Zoe suspected not, given the older child with her, but didn’t want to assume.
‘No. But my waters didn’t go last time like this. Do you think this labour will be faster?’
‘It might. We should ask them to turn the boat around and take you to shore so you can get to hospital. You might have plenty of time, but I’d be worried about infection now that your waters have gone. Best to be safe. Have you got anyone with you?’
The woman shook her head. ‘I didn’t think I’d need anyone just for this. I mean, Mikey’s with me, of course…’ She pointed to her son.
‘Can you phone someone to come and meet you?’
‘I can drive myself to the hospital.’
‘You don’t have anyone?’
‘Nobody who’s free right now. My partner is away for work, out of the country. My parents live in Scotland. I could ask my in-laws, but I don’t know how quickly they’d be able to get here. My mother-in-law is disabled, and it takes them a while to get out of the house…’
‘Right…’ Zoe cast around for someone who looked as if they might be in charge, but all she could see was Santa and his elves. By now, other people had started to notice their urgent conversation and had joined in, offering help or opinions, and not all of it useful.
‘It was days before I had my second even though my water had broken,’ one woman said.
‘Second labour,’ another chimed in. ‘You’ll be having it on the floor here.’
‘Someone get a mop!’ another shouted. ‘You’ll have people slipping over!’
‘I’ll take you to the hospital, love!’ someone else said. ‘As soon as we get back, we’ll go.’
While Zoe appreciated their concern, she wished they’d leave it to her. ‘I am a qualified midwife,’ she said, louder for those who hadn’t heard the first time. ‘I’ll keep her safe… Sorry, what’s your name?’ she asked the pregnant woman.
‘Katherine… my friends call me Kat.’
‘Can I call you Kat?’
The woman smiled. Zoe was glad to see she didn’t look too worried.
In fact, she was a little shellshocked but otherwise seemed in good spirits.
‘We’re definitely friends now, seeing as you’ve come to my rescue.
I don’t think the baby is going to come any time soon, you know.
I had some pain earlier, but I think it was just a practice contraction.
Well, not pain exactly, but it felt tight, you know what I mean?
A bit worse than normal, I suppose. But nothing terrible that makes me think the baby is coming now. ’
Zoe glanced down at the liquid around her feet. It wasn’t as dramatic as it always was on TV, more a slow trickle and a small pool, and Zoe didn’t think the birth was imminent either, but she didn’t like the fact they were so far away from help and equipment if they needed it.
As she was considering her options, Billie appeared at her side, Louisa in her arms. ‘What do you need me to do?’
‘I don’t…’ Zoe was about to say there was nothing Billie could do, but she realised how negative that sounded and how demoralising it would be for her.
And so she smiled gratefully. ‘I don’t suppose you can go and find the captain and explain what’s going on while I stay with Kat?
If they ask what we need them to do, ideally we need them to turn back and drop us off so we can get her to the hospital.
Obviously, we don’t want to cut short everyone else’s trip, but we also don’t want to have to deliver Kat’s baby out on the lake if we can help it. ’
‘Right,’ Billie said, and Zoe swelled with pride to see the purpose in her step as she marched away to find the right person. It was just another moment she wished Alex had been here for, but there was no time to dwell on it.
As she led Kat to a seat, she noticed one of the elves coming over.
‘Is there something wrong?’ he asked.