Baby It's Cold Outside (6 page)

‘Esme,' a shout made me jump. It was Harry. Of course it was Harry. She had a knack of showing up whenever I needed her. She was below me, on the ground, waving madly and talking to Willie. He'd been reluctant to let me up, but Harry had obviously worked her own brand of Jedi mind trick on him, because he was already wrapping another belt round her waist and plonking a helmet on her head.

Harry began scaling the sloping side of the mound, more nimbly than I had. Soon she was by my side.

‘There's someone in a car under the snow,' I gasped at her. ‘I've found two walkers but I need your help for this.'

Harry nodded, taking it all in immediately and not looking fazed in the slightest.

‘Okay,' she said. ‘We can do this.'

She turned away from me, then thought for a moment, turned back and gave me a quick hug.

‘I'm glad you're all right,' she mumbled.

I gripped her hand.

‘It's harder, isn't it?' I said. ‘If they're inside.'

Harry nodded.

‘Nothing we can't handle,' she said through chattering teeth, taking my other hand so we faced each other. I was aware of Penny watching me intently, but no one else paid us any attention. They were mostly watching Willie, who was on his radio. From the way he was looking up, I guessed he was talking to the helicopter. Everyone looked very grim-faced.

‘Don't worry about them,' Harry said. ‘Concentrate.'

Together, we reached out with our minds. I was so much stronger with Harry by my side, but it still took a while for us to find a small energy – a tiny pulse that meant someone was alive under the snow. There was no voice this time, just a faint beating heart.

Harry felt it at the same time. She pulled me over the icy surface to where the pulse was stronger.

‘Unconscious?' I said.

‘I guess so,' Harry agreed.

‘I think it's just one person,' I said.

But Harry frowned.

‘I'm not sure,' she said. ‘There's something else.' She was concentrating hard.

‘There's definitely someone here, though,' I said. ‘Let's get them digging.'

I waved to Penny.

‘Here!' I called. ‘The car is here. There was just one passenger, I think.'

‘And a dog,' Harry said in a rush. ‘It's a dog,' she said to me.

The mountain rescuers flocked round and started digging, using shovels this time. Harry and I stood still, our arms around each other, watching.

It felt like time slowed down as the team dug, but eventually one of the men shouted.

‘We've got the car! It's upside down.'

The rescuers huddled round, obviously working out the best way to get the driver out.

Down below us was a hubbub of activity. I could see people in their yellow jackets going from house to house along the road closest to the avalanche, knocking on doors and hustling groups of people down the street towards the town square. I felt a flicker of fear. What was happening? Why were they evacuating?

‘Harry?' I started. She turned to me, her brown eyes large in her white, scared face.

‘Harry!' another voice called. We both looked down at the ground. Louise stood there, wearing a fluorescent vest and waving madly.

‘She came down with me to help out,' Harry said, a flash of pride in her eyes. ‘She'll have been organising everyone.'

‘You need to come down,' Lou called. ‘It's not stable.'

Harry and I exchanged a glance.

‘We'll be down in a minute,' Harry shouted. She looked over to where the team were clambering into the hole they'd dug in the snow in an attempt to free the driver.

‘Now!' Louise shouted. I caught the fear in her voice.

‘Harry,' I said again. ‘I think we should go down.'

Below, Willie was talking into his radio. Bobby stood up from where he was crouching near the hole, and came over to us.

‘We're all going down,' he said. ‘Except a couple of people.'

‘What about the driver?' I asked.

‘And the dog,' Harry said. I gave her a look and she shrugged.

‘Go down,' Bobby said firmly. ‘The chopper says the snow is shifting. That lot could all come down. You need to go.'

My legs started shaking violently.

‘Come on H,' I said, tugging her hand. ‘Let's go.'

We joined most of the rescue team as they trooped down the steep side of the heap of snow. There were ropes to hold on to now, but I still lost my footing a couple of times. I was exhausted, emotional and shaking like a leaf.

As we reached the bottom, Louise rushed over.

‘Oh thank god,' she said, throwing her arms round Harry's neck. ‘Well done you two. They've got him.' She pointed up at the slope where Bobby and Penny were reaching into the hole and pulling out a motionless body, with the help of a couple of colleagues. It was a man, his face covered in blood.

‘He's alive,' Willie said, coming up behind us and shepherding us towards the trucks.

‘We got him just in time.' He opened the door and helped Harry climb in. ‘That whole mountain's going to fall.'

Louise followed Harry into the truck. I took a step towards them, but my legs wouldn't work. Above me, I heard the same deep rumbling I'd heard before the avalanche. Terrified, I tried to scramble into the truck – and then everything went black.

Chapter 8

I woke up on a camp bed covered in a scratchy blanket. Disorientated, I sat up, and looked round me. I was in a corner of the town hall. There were people everywhere, sitting around chatting, drinking tea from a table manned by the ever-dependable Millicent Fry. A general buzz of conversation filled the air.

‘You're awake,' Jamie sat down on the bed and folded me into his arms. I sank against him.

‘You're here,' I said, so pleased to see him that I started to cry.

‘Oh sweetheart,' Jamie said, brushing my hair back from my face and kissing me. ‘It's okay now. Harry told me what you did – you saved all those people.'

It all came back to me in a rush; the avalanche, the mountain rescue team, the man with the blood all over his face…

‘Did the driver get out,' I said, sniffing.

Jamie nodded.

‘He's hit his head quite badly, but he's okay,' he said. ‘And the walkers are both fine too. And the dog. They would all have died if you hadn't been there.'

I tried to smile, but I couldn't stop crying. Jamie pulled me closer and handed me a tissue.

‘The rest of the mountain came down,' he said. ‘Just after you fainted.'

‘I fainted?' I'd never done that before.

‘You've hurt your wrist,' Jamie said.

I pulled my arm out of the blanket and looked at my wrist which was bandaged.

‘It's just a sprain, don't worry. You can ditch the bandage before Saturday. You hit your head too,' Jamie said, stroking the back of my hair. I winced as he touched a tender spot on my head.

‘Tansy patched you up.'

I wiped my nose and looked at Jamie.

‘Tansy's here?'

‘Louise rang to tell us what had happened,' he explained. ‘You can't keep Tansy away from a crisis – she's been telling everyone what to do.'

He pointed to the opposite side of the room where Tansy was talking to a paramedic while she efficiently bandaged a woman's wrist.

‘Were more people hurt?' I asked.

Jamie stroked my arm.

‘They evacuated all the houses but some people panicked when the second avalanche happened. It's just cuts and bruises really – running on snow isn't the best idea. A couple of broken arms and one guy broke his leg.'

‘But no one died?'

‘Thanks to you.'

‘Where's Harry?' I said, suddenly realising I couldn't see her. ‘Is she okay?'

‘She's at the café with your mum and Suky,' Jamie said. ‘They've been dishing out drinks and cakes.'

I wondered if that had been all they were dishing out or if they were serving up a few enchantments along with their sweet treats.

‘I'm going to ring your mum now,' Jamie said, digging his phone out of his pocket. ‘I'll tell her you're okay. Then we should think about getting home. Dad's here somewhere. He brought the Range Rover so he can take us all home.'

‘Your dad's here?' I said in surprise. ‘Has he met Tansy? Does he know about Parker?'

Jamie looked down at his knees.

‘Not yet,' he said. ‘He's met Tansy before, when Mum and Dad came over to Kenya so I couldn't really pretend she was anyone else. But I asked Tansy not to say anything about Parker. I need to tell them myself. Luckily they've been so busy there's not been time for small talk.'

‘You'll have to tell him soon,' I pointed out. ‘Today. Now.'

‘I know.'

He kissed me gently on the lips.

‘I love you,' he said. ‘Never get caught in an avalanche again.'

I felt a bit lost sitting there, watching Tansy bandaging people and laughing with the paramedics and mountain rescuers who were milling around. She looked more like a local than I did. I spotted Jamie's dad – Dr Brodie senior – and waved to him. He blew me a kiss but didn't come over. He was busy talking to a heavily pregnant woman who was pale and sipping from a cup of water. I smiled to myself. Jamie might say that Tansy couldn't walk away from an emergency but he was just the same – and so was his dad.

‘How are you feeling?' Penny pulled up a plastic chair and sat down to next to me. She'd shed her outer layers and looked younger and fresh-faced in a thin fleece over her waterproof trousers. Her long blonde hair was pulled back in a messy ponytail and she looked like a surf chick who had got lost.

‘I'm fine,' I said feeling a bit sheepish. ‘I fainted.'

Penny looked at me, her green eyes holding a hint of mischief.

‘You don't have a photographic memory do you?'

I shook my head, then winced because it hurt.

‘So what, are you psychic or something?' she said, grinning.

‘Something like that,' I said. I wasn't going to give her all the details, no matter how nice she was being.

Penny smiled again.

‘It's pretty cool,' she said. ‘Well done. We'd never have got them out in time without you.'

‘What's the deal with the mountain?' I asked her, swinging my legs round to the side of the bed – I wanted to get up. ‘Is it safe?'

Penny gestured to the people who were gathering their belongings and starting to drift

‘We've shored it up with some heavy-duty netting,' Penny said. ‘We're confident it's safe for now.'

I shuddered.

‘So everyone's going home,' I said. ‘Everything's back to normal?'

‘Except for the road, of course,' Penny said. ‘That amount of snow means it'll be blocked for days. A week, maybe.'

I stared at her as the enormity of what she was saying began to sink in. The road – the main road – the only road in and out of Claddach – was blocked. We weren't able to leave – that meant Tansy was here for at least a few more days than she'd planned to be. And, worse than that, no one could get to us. My wedding dress, Harry's bridesmaid dress, our catering supplies, Chloe, Frankie, my lovely dad, the registrar – oh god, the registrar – were all outside Claddach with no way of getting in. It looked very much like the wedding wasn't going to happen.

I cried all the way home in Jamie's dad's car. Tansy sat in the front with my future father-in-law, telling him about the work she did in Boston. He seemed impressed and asked her all sorts of questions as he negotiated the Range Rover up the hill through the snow. The plough had been out but it was still hard going.

I stared out of the window, hot tears falling down my frozen cheeks, and listened to Tansy charming the pants off my future father-in-law.

It seemed crazy that just twenty-four hours ago, Jamie and I had left Edinburgh full of excitement about heading up to Claddach. It had been snowing there too. A light covering resting on the pavements as we walked to the station. The castle glowed against the leaden sky, looming over us as our train pulled out of Waverley.

‘Goodbye Edinburgh,' I'd called when we crossed the rail bridge. ‘Next time I see you, I'll be Mrs Brodie!'

Thinking about that now, I let out a sob. Jamie looked over and squeezed my hand.

‘It'll be okay,' he said. ‘We'll sort it out.'

I gave him a quick smile, but there was no warmth in it. The weather, the avalanche, the road, the ex-fiancée, the newly discovered son – it was all too much for me.

We got home before Mum and Harry. I was shivering violently and Jamie hugged me close as we peeled off our outer clothes.

‘I'm going to make everyone a cup of tea,' he said quietly. ‘Then I guess I'll go and tell Dad that he's got a grandson.'

For the first time, I realised Parker wasn't there. Shows what kind of rubbish step-mum I'll be, I thought in misery.

‘Where is he?' I asked, wiping away my tears. I didn't want Tansy to see I'd been crying.

‘With Eva,' Jamie said. I followed him into the kitchen while Tansy and Dr Brodie went into the lounge, still chatting about Tansy's hospital in Boston.

‘I bet Eva's loving that,' I said. Eva and Allan's only son had been killed in an accident when he was a teenager. After he'd died, they'd left their native Yorkshire and come to live in Claddach. Eva – who was a witch too – joined Mum and Suky in the café, while Allan's art career boomed. But their hearts always ached for the son they'd lost and their home became a sanctuary for a series of foster children, runaways and troubled teenagers. Eva would enjoy caring for little Parker, with his love of science and his funny way of talking.

Jamie poured water into the kettle.

‘She was thrilled when I asked her,' he said. ‘Parker was drawing pictures of his house back in Boston when we left him.'