A Winter Affair (19 page)

She slept badly, tortured with images of her children so far away. She always gave them stockings, though of course she hadn't this year. Kit said it was his favourite thing of the day and she wondered what their day would be like. At least they had each other and that was a comfort. She closed her mind to thoughts of Harvey.

‘Don't think,' she kept saying to herself, ‘just don't think.'

She had just dropped off when she heard Theo coming back, stumbling into his room. She didn't bother to look at the time.

Christmas Day dawned bright, with a fresh blanket of snow clothing the trees and roofs and covering the ground. Lawrence and Theo dug out the cars. Bert jumped around barking and trying to catch any stray snowflakes in his mouth.

Travis, Radley and Pippa, who were not very strong skiers, were leaving later with Lawrence to meet up with their guide to ski the lower runs. Ken said he'd go up with Debra, and Lawrence said he'd drop them at Medran when they were ready and go on and do a couple of runs himself, so if Eloise wanted to spend the morning skiing she could.

‘I hope you're coming with us, Eloise,' Theo overheard him, pulling on his reindeer headdress, complete with bells and a red nose.

‘Oh yes do, then we can gossip,' Gaby said eagerly. ‘We've hardly had time to talk at all.' She had a wreath of silver tinsel round her fluffy hood. Jerry was looking rather self-conscious in a red Santa hat. Not to be left out, Eloise put a couple of gold stars on her beanie and they all set off, with Eloise driving them down in the jeep.

‘We're meeting up with some others after lunch, Bert's staying here with Vera, a whole day's too cold for him,' Theo told her. ‘It's just us, the intrepid ones, this morning.'

Eloise smiled at his enthusiasm. She'd got her ski legs back and she'd ski with them this morning, and then see what happened at lunchtime. If Theo went off with friends, she might continue to ski with Gaby.

The snow was new and soft and many of the skiers were dressed like Santas or reindeers. Two colourful characters had a sledge and were handing out chocolate bars, there was much laughter and nonsense, and Gaby, her eyes shining, said to Eloise that it was the best, the maddest Christmas she'd ever had.

Theo suggested that they ski at Vallon D'Arby where the powder snow would be magical and they might not get the same conditions again while they were here.

‘I'll just check it's safe after the heavy snowfall,' Theo said, going over to a ski guide waiting with a group of clients, who agreed it should be fine, but as always to take care.

Jerry, who'd become much more animated away from the rest of his family, laughed when he heard this. ‘Course, it's safe, they'd have closed the run if there was any danger, you know how cautious the Swiss are. Lead the way.' He stamped his skies on the piste like an impatient horse.

Eloise caught sight of a warning sign, a series of flags denoting the level of danger. She couldn't remember how to read them, but Theo would know, she called out for the others to stop and check them, but they just waved and sped on, she pushed on, not wanting to lose them as she hadn't skied on this particular slope for some time.

They skied round the back of the lake in the new snow, leaving the busy slope behind. The slopes here were almost empty as it was a secret place not easily found by people that didn't know it. It was beautiful and still, bringing a peaceful silence, enhancing the power of nature.

Eloise increased her speed easily, catching up with Gaby who was a competent but more cautious skier than the rest of them. Theo stopped before Eloise reached him, standing on the top of the slope, taking in the scene. Two snowboarders came up behind them, paused an instant before starting down, both skiing in unison as if performing a graceful dance. Theo watched them, glancing round again at the fall of the snow.

‘What are you waiting for?' Jerry, who'd been just behind him, pushed past him to follow them down.

Theo stayed where he was, his face half hidden by his ski goggles, holding back, which was so unlike him, he was usually the daredevil, king of the slopes.

‘What is it?' Eloise asked.

‘You two wait here,' he turned to her and Gaby, his voice firm. ‘When I'm almost down, follow me one at a time. That guide said it would be okay, but there's been a big snowfall overnight and the snow's quite heavy here. I think it would be safer to go down this bit one at a time, just in case we set off anything. I'd have liked to have waited a moment longer after those boarders went but Jerry has already gone.'

‘Surely there won't be an avalanche today, it's so sunny,' Gaby said, determinedly not looking at Jerry who had stopped just beneath them, urging them on and trying to get her attention by waving his ski poles in the air.

‘We'll do what you say, Theo,' Eloise said, not at all nervous but not wanting to ridicule him by teasing him for his fear in front of the others.

Theo moved away from them, turned and started down to join Jerry. ‘Wait a moment, Jerry,' he called to him but Jerry just laughed.

‘Come on, slowcoach, race you,' he dared him, setting off at speed.

Eloise and Gaby watched them go a moment, getting ready to follow them. But there was a strange whoomping noise, and they saw just beneath them the snow begin to slide.

‘Watch out,' Eloise screamed, her voice lost in the noise of the tumbling snow. It rose like a cloud in front of them, taking a few small trees with it, a wall of white that hid the others from sight.

‘Oh God, will it catch them,' Gaby clutched at Eloise's arm.

Eloise started screaming and shouting, ‘Avalanche, avalanche.'

All around them was silence, the fall of snow settled, and for a moment the silence was terrifying, as if the two women were the only two people left in the world.

Eloise was rooted to the spot, staring at the white mound of snow beneath them.

Gaby turned to her whimpering, her face stark with fear.

Eloise forced herself to take charge and overcome the cold fear that had gripped her. She must not think the worst, but all she could see was white snow and the trees. Theo and Jerry had disappeared.

‘Are they dead?' Gaby whispered.

Eloise struggled with a surge of terror; she took off one of her gloves, dropping it in the snow and searched in her pocket for her mobile to ring for help. They heard a shout, and to their great relief a group of skiers with a guide appeared at the top of the slope.

Gaby waved frantically at them. ‘There's been an avalanche,' she screamed, trying to struggle up to them.

The guide skied down to join them, leaving his clients behind. ‘Is anyone caught in it?' he asked, taking in the scene when he reached them.

‘Two of our friends went down just before it… and oh, some snowboarders, but they were quite a bit ahead,' Eloise said, relieved that they were no longer alone.

Gaby clung to the guide who was pulling a mobile out of his pocket. ‘We can't see them; they must be under the snow. We have to find them.' She was crying now.

‘Let him call for help, Gaby,' Eloise said. ‘They might have outskied it and be waiting for us further down.' It was so hard to take in. One minute they had been in heaven, the snow like silk under their skis. Now they were in hell, terrified the two men were dead or gravely injured.

The guide telephoned for help, and far below them they heard a shout.

Eloise moved closer to look. She could see a figure waving a pole, but it was too far away and covered with snow to make out if it was Jerry or Theo, or indeed someone else.

Gaby saw him. ‘Jerry, Jerry?' she screamed.

Telling them to stay where they were, the guide skied down to the figure. Gaby, disobeying him, followed, and Eloise, determined to know the worse, snatched up her glove, shoved it in her pocket and skied down too.

To her enormous relief she saw it was Theo, covered in snow, the red nose of his reindeer hat still visible. He was saying something to the guide while undoing his backpack and pulling out a shovel. The guide had already taken off his backpack and was pulling a probe out while asking Theo if he was hurt.

‘If Jerry activates his transmitter and it's on him, we'll find him,' Theo said when Eloise and Gaby reached him. His face was clenched with terror as he searched the piles of snow around him. ‘Unless he outskied it. There's a possibility he managed that, I suppose, but he should have waited.'

‘Where's Jerry?' Gaby was sobbing now.

Eloise put her arm round her. ‘Theo is here and Jerry was skiing close to him, and look they've started digging,' she said to comfort her, forcing herself not to think that he was lost. The beautiful snowy scene before them was as still as if it were a picture.

Gaby, still crying, began frantically poking through the soft snow with her ski pole.

Eloise said a silent prayer of thanks that Theo was alive, but she felt so useless, so afraid that Jerry was trapped under the snow, dead or badly injured. She pulled out her mobile; she wanted Lawrence, needed his strength. Dialling his number, she hoped he'd pick up and not be out of range.

‘Eloise?'

‘Lawrence we're at Vallon D'Arby, there's been an avalanche, Jerry has disappeared, the rest of us are fine.'

‘Oh, God, when?'

‘Just now, but there's a guide with us, he's called the rescue service. There's a great pile of snow beneath us, Jerry could have skied through it, but we don't know.'

‘I'm not far away, I'll come over. Stay safe and keep out of the way in case there's another.' He rang off and the two women stood there, clinging to each other.

Theo, looking slightly ridiculous in his reindeer hat, appeared to hear something and pointed to a patch of snow a few feet from them. He and the guide began to dig frantically. Eloise wondered if she could help, she'd been to a talk a long time ago about surviving an avalanche and remembered that being tumbled by the falling snow was often the killer, the next being running out of air, poisoned by carbon monoxide.

Gaby was sobbing as if her heart would break. ‘What can we do? If only more people would come, dogs that would find him,' she cried.

‘I think they've found where he is, or at least his transmitter, they've just got to get him out.' Eloise struggled to bank down her terror of what they would find. Was it Jerry or just his rucksack torn away from him? Or it could be one of the snowboarders that had gone down just before them. What if Jerry hadn't been able to activate his transmitter and they were not able to find him in time? She couldn't bear to think about it, such an ending to a day, which started with so much promise.

The two skiers who'd been with the guide now made their way cautiously down to them. They were French, middle-aged men and offered to help, dig with their guide and Theo, but the guide told them it was safer for them to wait, so they stood there silently as if mourning over a grave.

‘Many killed on ski slopes,' one of them remarked, causing Gaby to cry out. The man just shrugged as if it was a fact of life

‘Very dangerous,' the other agreed. ‘How many lost?' he asked Eloise, who tried to comfort Gaby by telling her not to listen to them.

‘We don't know how many people were caught, but we are worried for our friend. But we hope for the best, he could have outskied it,' she added, more for Gaby's sake.

The man's answer was lost by the clattering throb of a helicopter hovering overhead, and Eloise saw to her great relief the ski patrol were coming over the slope towards them and the helicopter then circled and moved off.

‘Why won't it stay with us?' Gaby cried, stretching out her arms as if trying to claw it back.

‘It's OK; they are probably just assessing the situation, checking where we are and leading the ski patrol to us. Look,' she pointed to the ski patrol, ‘here's the rescue team. They'll soon have Jerry out.' Eloise put her arm round Gaby, though she too was worried.

The ski patrol quickly took charge, Eloise told them about the snowboarders, but they said they'd escaped it, the helicopter had seen them much further on. They took out their equipment and, with sensors, tried to check for movement and began digging where they picked something up. The ski guide stepped back and, after a quick discussion, returned to his clients, suggesting they ski down. Now help was here there was no more he could do. He asked Eloise if she and Gaby would like to come down with them.

Eloise refused; Lawrence was coming and she must stay here to support him and Theo, who was digging frantically now, aware time was running out.

‘Thank you, I'll stay… but,' she turned to Gaby, ‘perhaps it would be better if she went… in case…' No, she
must not
think that a body would be found, and certainly must not say as much in front of Gaby. ‘Would you like to go with them, Gaby,' she said. 'I'll stay here and I'll text you with any news.'

‘No… I must stay,' Gaby said. ‘I must know what's happened to Jerry.'

‘If you're sure,' the guide said, sensing the impatience of his two clients, perhaps nervous another avalanche was imminent.

‘Yes, thank you and thank you so much for helping.' Eloise tried to smile, but her face was stiff with fear and cold. She turned to Gaby, ‘Are you really sure you don't want to go down with them?' She thought it would be better if she did, in case Jerry was not found in time.

‘I want to stay,' Gaby said, though her face was clenched with fear.

‘As you wish.' The guide pressed her hand to offer her courage, his two clients bowed to them and they set off. After they had gone, Eloise wondered if she should have asked them to telephone Debra, if Gaby had her number, but Lawrence might have done that already.

She heard her mobile ring and she scrabbled for it in her pocket, nervous of dropping it in the snow. It was Lawrence.