‘Oh aye, said it wouldn’t happen again. I didn’t see Chantal’s brother.’
Zoe decided it was probably just as well. Should she mention to Victor that Grizzle had been spooked by Lennon’s dog too? Should she warn him it might be a tendency? But she decided Victor was an old hand at the farming life and he must have run into situations like this before, so he’d know how to protect his livestock. The second question was, how much of this should she tell Alex, who’d already taken a dislike to Lennon? Even if she tried to keep it to herself, there was every chance it would come up in conversation the next time Alex and Victor chatted – which they did often.
‘Tea’s ready!’ Corrine called from the open kitchen window.
‘Should I talk to Lennon?’ Zoe asked Victor, after signalling to Corrine she’d heard.
‘I shouldn’t think so. I’m sure your dad has had a word. He said he would. Right understanding about it, he was. Said he was very sorry and all that.’
‘I’m sure he was,’ Zoe said. She had no doubt her dad would have been reasonable about it, but Lennon was another matter entirely.
After a brief internal tussle, she decided to watch and wait. After all, Victor had been to see her dad about Lennon’s dog, and perhaps that would be enough to make her dad do something about it. She certainly didn’t want to come across as overcritical of everything he did, and she didn’t want to make him and Chantal feel unwelcome, which they might do if it seemed as though the entire village was queuing up to complain to them.
22
Zoe was in her office catching up on some paperwork when she heard shouting. It sounded as if it was coming from reception, and was that Ottilie’s voice? Leaving her work, she dashed through.
What greeted her was pandemonium. Ottilie was there, baby Anthony in a pram, Heath and Flo with her. Flo was doing quite a lot of the yelling, and Ottilie was trying to calm her down, while simultaneously barking instructions to Heath, who had a blood-soaked towel to his face.
‘Flo – enough! Heath, hold that tighter! Lavender! Ask Shabana if I can have some stuff from my treatment room!’
Zoe stood in mute shock, staring at the scene and wondering if it could be real.
‘What’s happened?’ she finally managed to ask.
Nobody answered, too busy trying to persuade Heath to sit down and Flo to shut up. Patients who’d been waiting to see a doctor were now getting involved too, asking what they could do to help, demanding to know what had happened and if there was someone they needed to take retribution against.
‘What’s going on?’ Zoe asked again, this time going to stand right in Ottilie’s eyeline. ‘What can I do?’
‘Zoe…take Anthony, would you?’ Ottilie replied briskly.
Zoe wheeled the pram out of the way and stood with Ottilie’s son, checking that he seemed comfortable and calm – though how anyone could be calm in that room was a wonder, even if it was a newborn who didn’t know what was going on. Zoe herself had no idea what was going on and felt anything but calm about the situation. When she looked up, Ottilie was leading Heath away, presumably to her old room, while Shabana was seeing a patient out. Flo followed Heath and Ottilie, still demanding to be heard, yelling about fetching brooms and sorting people out herself because she might be old but she wasn’t dead yet and nobody messed with her family.
Torn, Zoe glanced down at Anthony in his pram and then at the retreating figures of Ottilie, Heath and Flo.
At the reception desk, Lavender was picking up the phone. ‘Simon…Ottilie wants to know if you’ve got a minute…’ Zoe listened to Lavender’s side of the conversation. It was clear Simon was oblivious to the drama, though how he could have missed it was beyond her. She also had to wonder how Emilia hadn’t been disturbed, but presumably she had a patient in with her and was ignoring the racket in order to focus on them. ‘She’d like you to check him over, in case there’s something she’s missed…Yes, I know…Looks like someone’s had a crack at him…’
Zoe noticed Shabana listening in. She obviously couldn’t use her room to see another patient while Ottilie was in there with Heath, and as Zoe was desperate to find out what was going on, she turned to the locum nurse. ‘I’m sorry to ask, but I don’t suppose you can keep an eye on Anthony for a couple of minutes while I go through to see what I can do?’
‘I’ll watch him.’ Lavender got up from her chair and went to the pram, peering in. ‘Men…you’re a lot less trouble when you’re this size, aren’t you?’
‘Don’t worry,’ Shabana said to Zoe. ‘He’ll be fine here.’
Zoe nodded her thanks and then dashed through to Ottilie’s old room. At the door, she knocked and then pushed it open. Ottilie was examining Heath’s face. It looked as if he had a badly split lip. It was hard to tell, but Zoe wondered whether his nose had been broken. It looked swollen in any case.
Flo was watching, her expression thunderous. She looked up at Zoe. ‘Ah…come to see what damage your lot has done?’
Ottilie’s head flicked up. ‘Flo, it’s nothing to do with Zoe, so stop it!’
‘He wouldn’t be here if not for her,’ Flo fired back.
Zoe’s heart sank. Slowly, the pieces of the puzzle were slotting together, and she really didn’t like the picture that was emerging. She turned to Heath, who was staring balefully at Ottilie. ‘Lennon did this?’
‘Yes,’ Ottilie said shortly.
‘Oh God…I’m so sorry!’
‘Why?’ Ottilie glanced briefly at her before turning back to Heath. ‘You didn’t do it. He’s nothing to do with you.’
