by T A Williams
He hesitated a bit longer and then, instead of following her back towards the band, she felt his arms reach out and encircle her waist right there where they were standing. She stretched up and let her hands meet behind his neck as she rested her head against his chest, both of them moving slowly in time to the music as they danced on the beach in the starlight. She relaxed against him, loving the feel of him against her, loving this wonderful romantic spot and, deep down, knowing she loved this poor, heartbroken man.
When the music finished, they stayed like that, holding each other, rocking gently from side to side until he removed one of his hands and gently caught hold of her chin, raising her face towards his. She looked up into his eyes, hardly daring to breathe as he leant towards her.
Finally, at long last, their lips met and they kissed. It wasn’t a long, passionate kiss, but a soft, gentle kiss that reached right down through Sarah and turned her knees to jelly. She felt herself slump forward against him, his arms tightening to support her as she pressed against his powerful chest, loving the feel of his lips, his hands, his whole body against her. She could have stayed just like that for ever, but, after not nearly long enough, he stepped back, still supporting her in his outstretched arms. The starlight reflecting in his watery eyes betrayed the depths of his emotional turmoil.
After a long silence, he cleared his throat. ‘Sarah, I’m going to need some time.’
She pulled herself tight up against him once more and snuggled her head against his chest.
‘Take as long as you need, Miles. I’ll wait. As long as it takes.’
She felt his lips on the top of her head as he kissed her softly. Then he released his hold upon her, stepped back, turned and headed off up the beach towards the hotel.
Sarah stood there, alone but not unhappy, for what felt like a long time, long enough for the sweat on her body to dry and her heart to slow down to normal once more. Finally, as a distant bell chimed twelve, she surfaced once more and looked back towards the restaurant. The band were playing an Italian version of ‘Jailhouse Rock’ that would probably have had Elvis spinning in his grave, and she could see the outlines of the members of the group all up and dancing, celebrating their great achievement. As for her, she wasn’t going to start celebrating yet, but she knew a watershed had been reached.
Chapter 14
Sarah woke with a start. Something was wrong, very wrong. Her bed, the whole room, was shaking and she could hear a distant, mournful, grating groan that seemed to reach up from the floor, threatening to engulf her. She lay there for two, maybe three seconds before the horrifying realisation dawned upon her that this was an earthquake. She leapt out of bed, trying to remember things she had been told about earthquakes. A sudden thought came to her. Get under a doorframe; that way there was less risk of the ceiling collapsing on your head. She ran for the door, skidded to a halt as she realised she was naked, and turned back to the bathroom, pushing the door open and bracing herself in the opening.
The tremor was over almost immediately. It could only have been a second or two later that all movement stopped and profound silence descended upon the hotel. Sarah found herself shaking like a leaf. She was truly terrified, and if she hadn’t had a job to do, she might just have stayed there, rooted to the spot. As it was, she forced herself to overcome her fear, dressed hastily in shorts and a T-shirt, stepped into a pair of sandals, stuck her phone and purse into her pockets and let herself out into the hall. She knew she and all the guests had to get outside in case of a second, more powerful shock. She ran down the corridor, banging on doors, just in case anybody had managed to sleep through it or was as terrified as she had been. She was delighted to see the broad shoulders of Paul just ahead of her, doing the same thing. As they reached the emergency stairs, he stopped and turned towards her.
‘You see that everybody on this floor gets out, Sarah. I’ll go up to the top floor, just in case.’
Before she could tell him to be careful, he had sprinted off up the stairs. Sarah watched him go for a moment and then resumed her run down the corridor. As she did so, people started to appear from all sides, all of them with the same thought. She saw Chuck ahead of her and vaguely registered the appearance of Mike and Jo, emerging from a room together. Ahead of her, she spotted Polly’s head and felt relieved she was safe. They ran down the stairs and out through the lobby until they were in the gardens, well away from the building. Only then did she have a moment to pause and try to get a grip on her emotions.
She had never, ever, in her whole life been so totally terrified as she had been over these last few minutes. The sensation of the earth beneath her feet moving about like a living being, and that awful groaning noise, like something from beyond the grave, had scared the life out of her. She sat down on the springy grass and rested her head in her hands for a few moments until everything stopped spinning and she was able to think again. She looked around. The sun wasn’t yet visible above the surrounding hills, but it was already light enough to see pretty well. She realised she had left her new watch on the bedside table, but she pulled out her phone and checked the time. It was 5.44. She saw that the lawn was now full of people, all just milling around or sitting on the grass in a daze, trying to come to terms with what had happened. She tried to do a head count and was relieved to see a lot of familiar faces among the guests assembled out there. She was particularly relieved when she spotted Paul, standing a few yards away, just wearing flip-flops and a pair of shorts. He looked traumatised and was staring, shocked, over her shoulder away to the right. She turned her head and followed the direction of his eyes and, at first, couldn’t comprehend the significance of what she was seeing.
On the far side of the ornamental fountain, down towards the lake, there was an amorphous pile of debris, a cloud of dust still swirling about it and rising high into the clear air like smoke from a bonfire, only just beginning to settle. Gradually, her befuddled brain began to realise what it was that had traumatised Paul. That pile of rubble and fractured masonry was where, just a few minutes earlier, the old tower had stood. And the tower was the place where Miles had been sleeping. Her hand shot to her mouth in disbelief and then she found herself running across the grass like a maniac, shouting his name, over and over again. Paul beat her to it and they converged by the dusty heap of rubble, staring at it in disbelief. Sarah shook her head in a vain attempt to take in what had happened. The whole building had collapsed on itself. There was no doubt about it. Surely nobody could have survived underneath tons and tons of rocks, plaster, mortar and timber, everything now half-hidden underneath a coating of thick, grey dust.
‘Miles?’ She couldn’t manage more than that single word. She felt Paul’s arm wrap itself around her shoulders and his hand grip her arm. He didn’t say a word, just stood there immobile, eyes rooted to the spot. Finally he came to his senses. He gave her an encouraging squeeze before relinquishing his hold on her and climbing across the jumble of centuries-old timbers and shattered roof tiles until he reached a spot where he could kneel down and start digging with his bare hands. Sarah came out of her trance and joined him there, both of them scrabbling at the rubble, desperately trying to tunnel down in the hope that there might, just possibly, be a void under there where Miles might have survived. Both of them knew that time was of the essence and they worked like madmen, ripping the lumps of rock out of the heap and throwing them back onto the grass behind them.
‘Is this where Miles was sleeping?’ Sarah looked up at the sound of Chuck’s voice. Beside him were Mike and Dan, all of them, like Paul, dressed in little more than shorts. Sarah, still not trusting her voice, nodded and the three Americans, along with Gianluca and others, climbed into the pile of rubble as well and set about helping to clear as much of it as they could. As they worked, they were joined by more and more members of the group and several of the hotel personnel. Sarah gradually became aware of the sound of a siren getting rapidly nearer and then a fire engine arrived, turned in the gate and drove str
aight across the lawn to where they were working. The hotel manager had arrived by this time and he went over to meet them. Within minutes, Sarah and the other volunteers were being shepherded away as the emergency services took over.
Sarah slumped down on the lawn, absolutely dripping with sweat, her fingernails torn and broken, her skin ripped and blood on her fingers where she had cut herself on the jagged edges. She felt a hand on her shoulder and then Glynis sat down close beside her. ‘They’ll find him, I’m sure. Look, they’ve got one of those sniffer dogs.’
As Sarah watched the brown-and-white spaniel climbing over the rubble, tail wagging eagerly, his handler at the end of a long lead, she let her head slump against Glynis’s shoulder in total disbelief. It seemed unthinkable that Miles could just disappear from her life like this. It was all so arbitrary somehow; one minute he was there, the next there was no sign of him at all. Memories of last night, of them dancing silently together, came flooding back and, with them, the tears finally started to run. She felt Glynis’s arm tighten around her and sobbed into her shoulder as if she would never stop. Through her grief, she became vaguely aware of a phone ringing. She glanced up and saw Paul reaching into his pocket to answer it.
She had just dropped her eyes once more when she heard Paul’s voice, shouting into the handset, his tone incredulous. ‘Miles? Is that you?’ Sarah’s brain still couldn’t comprehend what was happening until Glynis physically pulled her upright. Sarah focused as she saw Paul leaning towards her, thrusting the phone into her hand. ‘It’s Miles, Sarah. He’s all right.’ Around her, the faces of the others turned towards his voice. Sarah took a deep gulp of air, still feeling as if she was in a daze.
‘Did you say Miles?’
‘Yes, I said Miles. He’s on the phone. He wants to know if you’re all right.’
Laboriously, Sarah raised the handset to her ear, suddenly feeling totally spent. ‘Miles, is that really you?’
‘Oh, thank God you’re all right, Sarah. I felt the earthquake and saw the plume of dust in the distance. I thought it might be the hotel. I haven’t got my phone with me and I couldn’t remember your number so I’ve borrowed one from a kind lady here to call Paul. Thank God.’ He sounded as if a massive weight had been lifted from him.
‘But Miles, where are you?’ Sarah felt the tears still running down her cheeks, but was powerless to do anything about them. ‘I thought you were dead. Your room’s disappeared.’
‘My room’s what?’
‘The whole building, the tower, it’s gone. We’ve been digging in the rubble. Oh God, Miles, I thought you were dead…’ Her voice dissolved into a croak, the emotion welling up and overcoming her. She was vaguely conscious of Paul taking the phone back off her and then she was sitting on the grass, her arms gripping her knees, her head buried against them, rocking slowly back and forth, crying her eyes out. Glynis’s arm cradled her once more. She crouched there for what felt like an age before she felt somebody else take Glynis’s place beside her. She heard Paul’s voice, speaking slowly and gently, as if to a child.
‘It’s all right, Sarah, he’s all right. Do you hear me? He’s fine. He went for a walk along the lakeside, that’s all. He’s on his way back now. Believe me, he’s all right.’ She raised her head and turned towards him. There were the tracks of tears on his face as well, but he was smiling as he repeated his mantra. ‘Miles is all right.’
Sarah reached up and caught him round the neck with both hands and hugged him tightly, feeling his arms envelop her body, cradling her until the crying stopped. Finally, she released him and straightened up, rubbing her hands across her face. They came away soaking wet. She grabbed the bottom of her T-shirt and pulled it up to dry her face, doing her best to regain some semblance of self-control.
‘Thanks, Paul. I think I’m okay again now.’ She wiped her eyes and reached up to tidy her hair. ‘It was just the shock.’
‘I know. I think I’ve aged about ten years in the last half hour.’ He wiped his own face with the back of his hand. His fingers, too, were cut and bleeding. ‘Feel like standing up?’ He got to his feet and pulled her up until she was standing beside him.
‘So, where did Miles say he was calling from?’ Sarah looked around. Now that the emergency services were satisfied nobody was trapped under the rubble, they were packing up again, before moving on to the next incident site.
‘He told me he couldn’t sleep. He went for a long walk around the lakeside. When I spoke to him he said he was probably just over a mile away. He should be here any minute.’
Sarah heard an American voice behind her. ‘Apparently we got off lightly. The manager was saying the main damage is a lot further to the east of us in the mountains.’ Chuck came across to Sarah, a weary expression on his face. ‘Well, if that was a little one, I sure don’t want to be involved in a big one.’ He caught hold of her and hugged her to his powerful chest. ‘Your boy’s all right, Sarah. You can relax, thank God.’ Before she could respond, he had moved on to spread comfort around the rest of the group. She looked back at Paul and saw him watching her sympathetically. He repeated Chuck’s words quietly.
‘Yes, your boy’s all right, Sarah.’
‘Hey, Sarah, look who’s coming.’ Polly had been on the lookout. Sarah’s eyes followed her pointing finger and spotted the figure of Miles, jogging along the path by the lake in their direction. Her heart soared and suddenly she was running towards him. She reached him just as he came in the gate at the bottom of the ornamental lawns and literally threw herself into his arms.
‘Thank God you’re all right. I thought you were dead.’ She wrapped herself around him, pressing her face into his chest, and felt his arms clasp her tightly to him.
‘And you’re fine. That’s all that counts. Jesus, is that all that’s left of the tower?’ She looked up and saw his eyes trained over her shoulder towards the heap of rubble that marked the spot where he should have been sleeping. ‘I can see now why you were so worried. Anyway, look, I’m fine.’ He turned his face down towards her and his lips grazed hers momentarily. It was the lightest of touches, but it sent a shockwave through her whole body. She buried her face against him and clung on to him as if her life depended on it. Finally, realising her eyes were tightly closed, she looked up, blinked, and saw that he was smiling. He spoke to her quietly. ‘I’m sorry I gave you a scare. I couldn’t sleep so I went for a walk along the lakeside. There’s a place I wanted to visit, something I had to do.’
Sarah had a pretty good idea where he had been, revisiting the place where he and his wife had spent such happy times. What this meant for their embryonic relationship remained to be seen, but all that mattered for now was that he was alive. ‘It’s just as well you did. I got, we all got, a terrible scare when we saw what had happened.’ She reached up to wipe her face and he grabbed her hand in disbelief.
‘Sarah, your hand’s covered in blood.’ He looked down. ‘Both your hands. What on earth happened?’
She glanced down and registered the bloodstains for the first time. ‘Digging. We were digging in the rubble. We thought you were underneath…’
He looked overawed. ‘Well, come on, let’s get you cleaned up.’
Together they walked back up through the gardens to the others. As they did so, she saw the fire engine reverse out and set off up the hill away from the lake. As they reached the others, Sarah saw Paul come forward and hug his brother tightly to him, the emotion on his face clear for all to see. Then they separated and Paul managed a smile. ‘Thank God you’re an insomniac. Miles.’ His eyes flicked across to the remains of the tower.
‘You can say that again.’ Miles’s eyes followed his brother’s. The severity of the event and the serendipity of his escape from certain death was beginning to hit home and Sarah saw him take a couple of steps backwards and sit down on a low wall, his eyes trained, disbelieving, on the amorphous pile of rubble. ‘Wow, what a mess.’ Sarah clearly heard him gulp. ‘That could have been me under there.’
The others crowded round to hug him, kiss him, shake his hand and pat his back, all delighted things had worked out for the best. He did a lot of thanking of the people who had mucked in to help search for him. After a while he stood up again and came over to where Sarah was standing, lost in thought. Very gently he took hold of one of her hands and led her across to where the hotel staff, along with Polly and Gianluca, had set up a little first-aid station, cleaning and dressing the numerous cuts and bruises on the hands and knees of the people who had desperately helped to dig away at the rubble. Sarah took a seat on a stone bench and waited while Polly finished sticking a plaster over a deep cut on Mike’s hand. When he moved off, Sarah held hers out for the same treatment. As she did so, Miles took up a position beside her, and she heard him return the conversation to the prosaic.
‘The good news is that my wallet’s in my pocket and the hotel’s got my passport. The bad news is that everything else – phone, laptop, clothes, toothbrush – is under about ten feet of rubble. At least I’m going into Rome today and I’ll be able to buy everything I need there. I daresay Paul can lend me some stuff until I get there.’
Sarah winced as Polly removed a vicious little shard of broken ceramic tile from the tip of her thumb and wiped the wound with antiseptic. She looked up at Miles and did her best to sound brave. ‘I’ve still got a couple of clean T-shirts, but I daresay they wouldn’t fit you. And a bra, come to think of it.’ As she spoke, the realisation that he and she would shortly be separating struck her hard. The strength of her reaction to the thought of his death had proved to her – and, indeed, probably to most of the rest of the group – just how deep her feelings for him were. Although she knew she would see him again in London on Monday, things would inevitably be very different there. Doing her best to hide her disappointment, she reverted to tour-leader mode and looked across at Polly.