by CP Ward
Mr. Dawes made his excuses and left her in the dining hall. A group of the Silver Tours gang was sitting around a long trestle table, and Jessica smiled at what she had planned. Nearby, Theodora was sitting with her sisters. She mouthed, ‘Have you asked him yet?’ but Jessica shook her head and carried on. Behind them, on a long table right in front of the buffet counter, some of the teenagers from the school party were tucking into heaped plates of roast beef, mashed potatoes, and a pumpkin and maple syrup pie that looked mouthwatering. A couple of kids noticed her and sniggered, but Jessica was riding a wave of confidence so she gave them a smile and carried on her circuit of the dining room, looking for someone to eat with.
There was no sign of Kirsten, but at a staff table in a corner she found Mildred sitting with Charity from housekeeping. They waved her to a free seat, and seeing no better option, Jessica gave them a thumbs-up. As soon as she had gotten a plate of food and sat down, however, Charity sidled closer.
‘I know this might not be the right time,’ she said, manicured eyebrows rising menacingly, ‘but I wondered if your grandfather has mentioned me?’
Jessica shook her head. ‘I’m afraid not. I haven’t seen him all day.’
‘He’s gone on a snow-shoe trek,’ Mildred said. ‘Poor James got lumped into carrying him up the mountain.’
At the mention of James, Jessica felt herself blushing. ‘He must be strong,’ she said, the words feeling worryingly coquettish on her tongue. ‘I mean, Grandpa might be ninety-two, but he must still be pretty heavy.’
Mildred patted her wrist, giving Jessica a knowing smile. ‘Built to carry reindeers over streams, that one,’ she said. ‘He’ll be fine.’ Then, with a smirk, she added, ‘Before we worry about any proposals you might have, dear, we need to deal with the present one.’
Jessica was sweating but Charity seemed oblivious. ‘I mean, I feel weird asking this,’ she said, ‘but I think he might propose.’
As she said it, Mildred leaned close, the white bobble on the Christmas hat perched on top of her ornate hairpiece bouncing up and down. ‘Charity found a ring.’
‘What?’ Jessica was relieved that the attention had shifted away from her, even if the thought of her grandfather remarrying again at ninety-two—and just three months after the death of his last, much younger wife in circumstances many still considered suspicious—filled her with a sense of horror which left her unable to eat.
‘In his drawer. I mean, it looks like some kind of antique, but why else would he have it?’
Mildred turned to Jessica. ‘Charity’s job is to tidy up, of course.’
Charity leaned forward, the bob on her Christmas hat dangling dangerously close to Jessica’s bowl of minestrone soup. ‘I wasn’t going through his drawers, if that’s what you think.’
‘I didn’t—’
‘There are some near the door where we keep the cleaning stuff. I found it in among the furniture polish, in this little old box.’
‘He was hiding it where she would find it,’ Mildred said.
Jessica just wanted the conversation to end so she could go back to her room and pull the pillow over her head.
‘It was so obvious,’ Charity said. ‘But I mean … I can’t.’
Mildred was shaking her head. ‘It’s just impossible.’
Jessica thought she had misheard. ‘You mean, you’re not interested in my grandfather? You do know he’s extremely wealthy? For better or worse, his fortune has shaped my entire life.’
Charity gave a sad smile. ‘I’m not a materialistic woman,’ she said. ‘My poor late Alfred was careful with his money and invested well. I really don’t need to work. I only do it because Demelza cooks the best mince pies in Scotland.’
The two women looked at each other and gave a conspiratorial snigger. ‘I’d marry him,’ Mildred said. ‘Absolutely. A shame he’s not interested in me.’
Charity turned back to Jessica. ‘I mean, what do I do? How do you say no to Ernest Lemond?’
‘Um, you just say “no”?’
‘But he’s a TV great. Shouldn’t I be flattered?’
‘Well, I suppose.’
‘And you know, he’s proper old. If I turn him down, the shock might kill him.’
Jessica shook her head. ‘If none of his recent adventures have done it, I think you’re safe. I reckon he’s good for a hundred and fifty at least.’
‘But what if he does pop his clogs? The whole world will hate me.’
Mildred patted her on the arm. ‘Perhaps we should wait for Jessica to find out.’
‘What?’
Mildred leaned forward. ‘You can do it, can’t you, dear? Just ask him if he likes her, what he’s planning to do. Just so poor Charity here can prepare herself.’
‘He’s only due to stay until January, so perhaps I can avoid him until then,’ Charity said.
Jessica couldn’t help but chuckle. It all seemed so ridiculous, but she had never seen the two women so serious. She caught Theodora’s raised eyebrow across the room and flashed the old woman a smile. Grandpa clearly had quite an effect on women, even at his advanced age.
‘I’ll see what I can do,’ she said, quickly finishing off her dinner. ‘Sorry, but I have to go and fix a blocked sink on the second floor.’
Tired of so much demanding company, Jessica headed back to her room. She found herself looking forward to seeing Kirsten. She wanted to apologise again for accusing her of stealing, and to let her know about what she had found in the storeroom. Kirsten, for all her eccentricities, was a lot more calming than the other people around her.
The moment she opened the door, though, she knew something was wrong. All of Kirsten’s things were gone and a Christmas card stood on the kitchen table. Jessica scooped it up. The picture showed a forlorn little robin sitting on a snowy holly branch.
‘Dear Ms. Lemond,’ Jessica read. ‘I’m sorry if I disappointed you. It wasn’t my intention at all, but I guess if you think I’m a thief, then in your heart I’ll always be one. I’ve gone away. I won’t be back. I thank you for all your kindness over the last few months and for giving me the wonderful opportunity to come with you to Scotland. The motorcycle was quite the thrill, wasn’t it? I’ll settle for a slower ride home. Don’t worry about me. I’m not large enough to be a satisfactory meal for a mountain lion. See you again, Kirsten.’
Jessica groaned. ‘You’ve got to be joking,’ she muttered aloud. So, Kirsten had run off somewhere. The message contained all the usual awkwardness that Jessica was beginning to find charming.
She put the card into her pocket and headed back upstairs to the lobby. Mildred had returned to her spot on the reception desk.
‘Have you seen Kirsten?’ Jessica asked.
‘No, dear, not since this morning.’
‘I think she might have run off somewhere.’
Even as she said it, Jessica hoped otherwise. Through the windows, snow was pelting down, a vicious wind piling it into corners of the car park, leaving several vehicles entirely buried. Mr. Dawes had told her that for all the area’s charm, when it decided to really snow, there was nothing to be done but drink hot chocolate, sing karaoke, and ride it out.
She wandered through the lobby area, looking for other members of staff. When she saw Barry talking on a phone, he lifted a hand and refused to look at her, snapping that he was busy with the ‘uncooperative snowplow people’.
In the rental shop near the side door, she found Ben, just closing up the shop for the night.
‘Ben, have you seen Kirsten?’
At the mention of Kirsten’s name, he looked away. ‘She broke up with me,’ he said.
Jessica stared. ‘What? You were a couple? How long?’
Ben sighed. ‘Since yesterday. I thought she liked me.’
‘What happened?’
‘She showed up this afternoon and told me I was wrong about her, that she was nothing like I imagined. I thought she was a mouse but she was really a lion.’
‘She a
ctually said that? Sounds like Kirsten all right.’
Ben sniffed. ‘She said I was better off without her. I thought she’d chosen Clifford over me, but when I saw him in the dining hall he told me she’d already been to see him. She’d said that while she appreciated his advances, they’d only ever be friends.’
‘Well, that’s nice and everything, but do you know where she went?’
‘She said she was leaving.’
Jessica nodded at the snow pattering against the window. ‘And how was she planning to do that?’
Ben shrugged. ‘She told me not to worry, that she was a practical girl.’
‘Changing a toilet U-bend is a little easier than escaping from a snowed-in ski lodge,’ Jessica said.
Ben was giving her a strange look. Jessica wondered if he was going to say something profound, but then his mouth wrinkled and he started to cry. ‘I loved her,’ he said, opening his arms for Jessica to pull him into a hug.
‘Don’t worry, it’ll be fine,’ she said, patting him on the back, wondering if this was what it felt like to be the mother of an emotionally charged teenager. Who could have known Kirsten would be such a heartbreaker?
The side door opened and Mr. Dawes, caked in snow from head to foot, stepped inside, the wind whistling around his shoulders. Snow blew in around him, and he squeezed the door shut, then pulled off his jacket and shook snow out on to the big mat in front of the door.
‘Blizzard come in,’ he muttered. ‘Brutal out there. What happened to the boy?’
Jessica smiled. ‘He’s heartbroken.’ Then, to Ben, she said, ‘Don’t worry, plenty more fish, isn’t that right?’
‘Shooting fish in a barrel once the mistletoe comes out,’ Mr. Dawes added with a gruff laugh. ‘Handsome lad like you. If I’d had half your looks in my youth I’d have spent half my life in the—’
‘Kirsten’s missing,’ Jessica interrupted. ‘I found a goodbye note in our room. You don’t think she’s gone outside in this, do you?’
‘Sensible girl like that, no chance.’
Outside, the lights strung through the bushes were slowly getting buried. The tree in the middle of the car park still glowed, but its lights were obscured by accumulated snow. Jessica couldn’t help but smile. It was all very Narnia, very Box of Delights, very … Dickensian.
‘She has, I know it,’ she said. ‘This would be exactly her thing, to be some Victorian heroine struggling through the snow. The problem is, the only thing she knows about blizzards is what she’s read in her books. She’ll freeze to death out there.’
Mr. Dawes gave a grim nod. ‘We’ll need a search party. I just came back along the main trail and didn’t see her, nor no tracks. Let’s go see what we can find. Lad, ready to be a hero?’
Ben wiped his eyes and nodded. ‘I’ll do anything for her.’
‘That’s good, because if she’s sheltered in a mountain lion’s cave we’ll need someone to go in.’ At Ben’s startled expression, Mr. Dawes cackled. ‘Don’t worry, lad. Ain’t none of them nested this close to the road.’
‘Huh….’
‘I think he’s joking, Ben. Follow us.’
They headed for reception. Barry was off the phone, but was running backwards and forwards in front of a bemused Mildred, flapping his hands, his Christmas hat and the bowler beneath bobbing up and down like a concertina with his toupee, which had come unstuck.
‘Tomorrow afternoon,’ he muttered. ‘What good is that? We have guests due in the morning. How are we going to get them safely up to the hotel? It’s all falling apart. The conglomerate will go into a frenzy—’
‘Kirsten’s disappeared,’ Jessica said. ‘I think she might have run off somewhere.’
Barry stopped. ‘What?’
Jessica grimaced. ‘Well, you know that thief that you were talking about … I thought it was her. I found some chocolate bar wrappers in our room.’
‘I gave them to her!’ Ben wailed, so dramatically that it made Jessica jump. She was beginning to understand the attraction between Kirsten and the unassuming kid who worked in the rental shop. ‘If I’d known it would cause so much trouble I would have bought her some crisps or something.’
‘Did you pay for them?’ Barry snapped.
‘Of course I did.’
‘Then who—’
Jessica put up a hand. ‘We’ll worry about that later. My friend is out in the snow.’
Mr. Dawes turned to Barry. ‘Is James Wilcox here tonight? Only way we’re getting through this is on a sled.’
‘He went out with Mr. Lemond,’ Barry said. ‘They were planning to hike up to the peak.’
‘In this?’ Mr. Dawes said. ‘Madness.’
‘My grandfather’s middle name,’ Jessica said.
Barry, not understanding the joke, frowned and shook his head. ‘But it says Cyril on his health insurance form—’
Mildred patted his arm. ‘Relax, she was just—’
The front door swung open, and a snow-covered figure stepped inside. James pulled back his hood, showering the mat with snow.
‘Wow, shows how the weather can change,’ he gasped, cheeks red and chapped, his breath rising in a cloud of steam. ‘We’d barely made it halfway up when the snow came in.’
He stamped his snowshoes and patted down his jacket. Some lumps of snow landed on the carpet just inside the lobby, and Barry shook his head.
‘How many times have I said … where’s Mr. Lemond?’
‘Here!’ came Grandpa’s cheerful shout from behind James’s shoulder. Grandpa’s head appeared, covered by a wide jacket hood, a Christmas hat pulled down to just above his eyes. James pulled straps off his shoulders and lowered what appeared to be a giant child carrier to the ground. Mildred came out from reception to help Grandpa up into a chair, leaving a snowy trail on the carpet from Grandpa’s ski wear. Barry, eyes wide, was literally turning in circles like a drill about to break ground.
‘Brutal out there now,’ James said. ‘I need to get back to the farm, but I’ll have to wait until morning.’ He glanced up, saw Jessica and gave her a regretful smile. ‘I’m afraid I’ll have to cancel our lesson tomorrow.’
Inside Jessica felt crestfallen, but she tried to hide her disappointment with a smile. ‘It’s all right,’ she said. ‘I’m still aching from yesterday as it is. By the way, you didn’t see Kirsten on your way in, did you? She’s gone missing.’
James started to shake his head, but Grandpa lifted a hand. ‘We saw those tracks, didn’t we? You thought it might have been a fox or something but they were too buried to tell.’
James nodded. ‘Heading down towards the main road. Not like a fox to go that way, but we did wonder. You say Kirsten’s out in the snow?’
‘Yes. We had a … ah … a disagreement.’
‘She’ll die!’ Ben cried.
Mr. Dawes told him to hush. ‘If she’s got a jacket on the lass’ll be fine. Down towards the main road, you said?’
‘Straight down the drive.’
Mr. Dawes nodded. ‘Said she’s a practical girl, didn’t you?’ he said, turning to Jessica. ‘You know what’s down that way, don’t you?’
Jessica shook her head. ‘What?’
Mr. Dawes grimaced as though about to reveal some deep, dark secret that only locals could possibly know. With one squinting eye and half his mouth turned up in an expression that suggested both fear and disgust, he spoke.
‘The bus stop.’
27
Rescue
Grandpa wanted to come, but between Mildred, Barry and Jessica, they managed to dissuade him. Both James and Mr. Dawes thought it couldn’t hurt, while Ben was still enamoured with predicted grief. In the end, with Mr. Dawes too tired and Ben too distraught to be of much help, a rescue operation fell to James and Jessica. With jackets, hats, gloves, and snow boots on, they headed out into the snow.
Up near the lodge the wind would have taken away anything they wanted to say, but they had only gone a few steps before Jessica began to feel
the build-up of tension between them. James said nothing, walking a couple of steps in front, occasionally turning back to check she was following. The snow was knee deep in places, although the wind had blown it into thick drifts around the car park’s edge. Jessica couldn’t help but let out a cry of excitement as she stepped off a flowerbed and found herself up to the waist in soft, powdery snow. James looked back, his smile the only thing visible under his hood, then reached out a hand to help her out. Even through gloves, Jessica felt a thrilling tingle at their touch.
Once they were through the car park and onto the main driveway, the trees blocked most of the wind. The snow was a little shallower here and they walked side by side, following depressions in the snow that might have been footprints made a couple of hours before.
‘I imagine this wasn’t what you had planned for your evening,’ Jessica said at last, finally breaking the awkward silence as they followed the lights strung in the trees alongside the drive, the lodge receding behind them.
James looked up and smiled. ‘All in a day’s work,’ he said. ‘I was planning to go back to the farm tonight, but the reindeer will be fine. They’re all in the shed, and it’s got proper bolts on it this time.’
‘That’s a relief.’
‘I apologise if we scared you the other day.’
The first day they had met felt like forever ago. Jessica laughed. ‘We must have looked like such city kids.’
‘Well, kind of. Life up here takes a bit of getting used to.’
‘I imagine.’
‘No shops for miles, no phone reception.’
Jessica grimaced. ‘I … I heard about your wife.’
James closed his eyes for a moment. ‘Mr. Dawes told you?’
‘Yes.’
‘There’s a surprise. He’s always looking out for me. Acts like my grouchy old uncle. He thinks I can’t take care of myself.’