A Winter Affair

by Minna Howard

  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.

  Twenty-Three

  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 E
loise, 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.

  ‘Has help arrived? I’m trying to get to you. I’m at the top now, tell me where you are.’

  ‘Wait, I’ll ask. A helicopter came but now it’s gone, but the ski patrol are here digging for someone – we hope it is Jerry. Theo is helping,’ she added, wanting to reassure him that Theo was safe. ‘Do you want to talk to him?’ she added, watching Theo, his skis and jacket off, digging with great energy.

  ‘If you’re sure he’s not hurt, I’ll just get there. Tell me exactly where you are.’

  She went closer to the patrol and asked him their location. Without pausing with his digging, the man told her and Lawrence said, ‘I heard him; I’m on my way. Ring if there are any developments.’

  Eloise imagined him making his lonely way here, his mind tortured by wondering if Theo really would be all right, or whether he may have some sort of delayed injury. She thought of Kit and Lizzie, young and vital but who could be wiped out by some freak accident in an instant. As soon as she got back she would ring them, she was going to anyway for Christmas, but she could not wait to hear their voices to reassure herself they were OK.

  How fragile life was, and what of Jerry, would they find him alive? Time was surely running out before he suffocated, or he could already be dead, killed by the force of the snow, but she must not think like that, imagine the worst until she was faced with it.

  She had never imagined such a Christmas: she and Gaby standing here watching the patrol desperately digging in the hope of finding a man who moments before had been full of energy, racing down the slope, revelling in the snow.

  Gaby was crying beside her, her ski goggles on the top of her head, her tears falling unchecked. ‘I didn’t love him,’ she said. ‘I used him to get my degree.’

  ‘But you did care for him, Gaby.’ She leant over and hugged her. Both of them were still in their skis. ‘You were kind to him and he was happy with you,’ Eloise tried to reassure her, guessing how hard it was for her to manage her own guilt at using him when now he could be dead or badly hurt.

  ‘Yes, but I wouldn’t have married him, Eloise. I agreed to say we were engaged so his family wouldn’t be shocked, but he’s behaving as if we really are. I’m twenty-one, I want to get a good career, and perhaps marry and have children when I’ve got everything on track. He didn’t understand that.’ She wiped her eyes with the back of her hand. ‘He’s never known what’s it’s like to be poor, really poor, like we were when Dad died. We had a roof over our heads, but Mum had to juggle with bills and work so hard.’ She sniffed. ‘I did try to get a grant, but it wasn’t enough, which made Mum worry. I don’t want to be poor like that, and I want to help her so she won’t need to be with shitty men like Roger.’ The words poured out of her.

  ‘I understand, Gaby.’ She held her close. Eloise was finding it difficult to keep positive, and time ticked on and there was no sign of Jerry.

  Suddenly, there was a shout and Lawrence and two other men skied into view. Eloise turned to greet them. They skied down to join them, Lawrence’s face twisted in concern.

  ‘Any news?’ He glanced at the ski patrol working a few feet away.

  ‘Not yet.’ She longed to hold him, take away his fear, a fear that ate into her bones that Jerry was dead and Lawrence would have to break the news to Debra and the rest of them. But his eyes were on Theo, watching him dig, his face taut with concern as if he could not believe that his adored son had escaped and was alive.

  ‘And you two, are you all right?’ He put his arm round her for a moment. ‘You weren’t caught in it?’ He turned to Gaby, ‘Either of you?’

  ‘No we were behind them, behind it.’ Eloise forced herself not to fall into the comfort of his arms.

  ‘I’ll join them,’ he said, moving away from them and skiing down to join the rescue group, his two friends following behind. Theo leant against him a moment, Lawrence hugging him before he and his two companions took shovels from their own backpacks and began to dig.

  At last there was a shout and more frantic digging. Eloise and Gaby who’d kept out of their way, as they’d been told to, hurried closer.

  ‘Bloody hell, get me out, it’s cold down here,’ Jerry said, his voice like music though there was a crack of panic in his tone.

  ‘Oh Jerry,’ Gaby sobbed.

  The men pulled him out.

  ‘And you’ve still got that stupid hat on,’ he said to Theo with an attempt of a laugh, holding on to him for balance.

  ‘Are you hurt?’ Theo regarded him anxiously as if he expected bits to fall off him.

  ‘Don’t think so,’ Jerry gingerly flexed his limbs. ‘Bloody cold though. I remembered to make a hole so I could breathe, but very glad to see you all.’ He glanced round at them, tears in his eyes. Gaby, almost falling in her hurry to get to him, cried even harder, clinging to him as if he might slip back under the snow.

  Lawrence, relief in his face, questioned Jerry on his state of health, and then after conferring with the rescue team, it was decided he could not ski down – one ski was lost anyway – and it would be prudent to go to hospital to be checked over.

  ‘I don’t need to go to hospital, I’ll be fine after a hot shower and drink,’ Jerry said, ‘though I could do with another ski.’ He tried to sound upbeat, but Eloise could see his exhaustion and
knew he couldn’t manage the journey back.

  Lawrence insisted that he went to hospital to make sure he wasn’t suffering some delayed shock or an injury to his head or his heart. ‘Your aunt would say the same,’ he added firmly. ‘I’ll come with you and Theo.’ He turned to Theo, ‘Are you really all right?’ He put his hand on his shoulder, his face anxious. ‘Perhaps you should have a check-up while we’re there.’

  ‘No I’m OK,’ Theo said. ‘I was knocked over and rolled about a bit, but nothing like Jerry.’

  ‘You never said you were knocked over, I thought you escaped it?’ Eloise said. He’d been covered in snow, but she thought he had just fallen. She was fearful now that he too might be hurt but in his concern for Jerry had disregarded it.

  ‘We’ll get you checked too, better safe than sorry,’ Lawrence said firmly, holding on to his arm as if he might escape.

  ‘I’m fine, just wet.’ Theo leant against his father, craving comfort. ‘I don’t know what happened. The guide said it was safe,’ he said now as if finally taking in the seriousness of what had happened. Lawrence held him closer, murmuring reassurances.

  Eloise remembered the flags she’d spotted. Were they spelling a danger of avalanche and Theo hadn’t seen them, or worse still had he disregarded their warning? This was not the time to say anything, but it worried her that he could be blamed for taking them all into danger.

  The ski patrol called for a helicopter to take them to the hospital. Theo walked to it with Lawrence’s arm still round him and Jerry, with Gaby hovering round him silent now, staring at him as if she could not believe he was alive.

  As the two men were helped in, Lawrence tried to telephone Ken; he had not been able to get through to him or Travis. If Ken and Travis were skiing they might not hear their phone; he didn’t have Radley’s number, nor did he want to ring Debra. He didn’t like to leave a message on voicemail, but Ken didn’t pick up and he had to say something. ‘Hi Ken, it’s Lawrence. Jerry and Theo have been involved in an accident, but they seem fine. We’re just going to go to the hospital to make sure. I’ll try and contact you when we get there. Ring me when you get this.’