Page 25 of A Winter Wedding Adventure (Adventure Weddings #2)

Conditions were just as poor down in the valley as at the top of the mountain and Kira grimaced as she shepherded the groaning, bleary-eyed groom through the car park at the ski area to the minivan, through ice and slush and a layer of fresh snow as thick as whipped cream on an apple strudel.

What a week for a wedding. If Alessandra believed in bad omens, there had been a ton of them. Kira was without a doubt the most awful wedding planner in the history of the profession. Instead of Ginny’s perky helpfulness, she was brooding just as darkly as the groom.

Leaving Hugh and Rav to get him settled into a seat, she took out her phone and called her colleague.

‘I am never a winter wedding ever again,’ Ginny said instead of a greeting.

‘It took me an hour to get here. Google told me twenty-six minutes. Google obviously thinks I am a competent driver in snow. I thought Google was supposed to know more about us than we do about ourselves. It should have fucking known.’

Kira would have laughed, if she weren’t so strung out herself. ‘You’re on your mistletoe mission? Where are the others?’

‘Yes, I’m in Mayrhofen collecting the damn greenery. And that’s another thing. The florist is so busy, she’s still binding up the bunches, so it’ll be at least another hour before I’m back. Alessandra and the others are decorating the chapel. I left Mattia in charge.’

‘You—’ Kira choked.

‘What else could I do? Alessandra has bride fog.’

‘Bride fog, jitters, existential crises – I think weddings must be a kind of mental illness,’ Kira muttered.

‘We’re just in the “mental illness” phase of the preparations. It happens every time.’

Kira cursed under her breath. ‘I’ll head to the chapel to check on the others.’

‘Wait, you’re done skiing already?’

‘Yep,’ she said in a clipped tone. ‘We’re done. I can’t see a thing up there and Joe… needs to get back to Alessandra.’ He could be the bride’s responsibility and not Kira’s.

‘Aw, that’s sweet. It’s probably a good idea, since Alessandra was spacing out a bit. It’s claustrophobic having the whole wedding party around all the time and they should probably talk before tomorrow.’

Kira’s stomach churned, remembering Joe’s words, Ginny’s strange ideas about nurturing doubts and the precarious state of this entire event. ‘What if they talk things through and call the whole thing off?’

‘That doesn’t happen in real life,’ Ginny insisted. ‘If they got this far, it’s the real thing.’

Kira gritted her teeth, desperate to contradict her, but she knew she’d wish the words unsaid again, if she uttered them. ‘All right. But don’t you worry anyway. You get the mistletoe; I can handle a few guests and a lot of snow.’

‘I am soooo glad to have you here,’ Ginny gushed, making Kira swallow a sigh.

‘Even if it takes you three hours, drive safe, okay? Your hire car will have winter tyres, but there might be chains in the boot, if you feel really insecure.’

‘That’s assuming I can work out how to put the chains on.’

Ginny ended the call with a grumble and Kira checked to see that her charges had fastened their seat belts before she pulled out of the car park, the tyres spinning out once or twice as she manoeuvred.

Even with, the glass was pelted with snow and traffic inched along the narrow road through the valley.

When she’d parked safely in the usual spot by the stream, she released a huff of relief, peering grimly up at the mountainside.

How different it looked from two nights ago when she’d arrived with Mattia.

If he’d stepped out into this snow and twirled, his tailored trousers would have been soaked up to his knees and his fancy leather shoes would have resembled snow cones.

But she was struck by how vividly she remembered him standing under the lamp, his long, fine coat whirling around him as he held his arms out. If Christian hadn’t left her so publicly that day, if they’d gone through with everything as planned… Her skin prickled and she shook off the feeling.

‘Stay there,’ she ordered the three men as she shoved open the car door. ‘I’m going to check on the others at the chapel.’

‘Alessandra will kill me,’ Joe moaned, his tone pained.

‘If you didn’t want her to see you like this, maybe you shouldn’t have got yourself into this state.’

‘She’s seen him in worse,’ Rav commented with a laugh.

Kira glanced doubtfully at him. ‘And she still wants to get married?’

Rav’s smile died and Kira cursed herself for nudging the can of worms open a little more. She did not want to talk to Rav about this, not when Joe’s words had made her think of her own past from a different perspective.

‘I’ll be back soon.’

Battling her way to the chapel, the first thing she noticed was a satin banner with gold lettering that she assumed was supposed to be fixed above the entrance, but was currently flapping in the wind.

Catching the loose end, she tilted her head to read Joseph and Alessandra, Always and Forever 31.

12 . There were numerous discoloured patches where snow had soaked the material. She hoped it would dry pristine.

With a frown, she untied the other end to save the splotched ribbon from further damage before tomorrow. If the weather didn’t improve, not only the decorations would suffer. She hoped Alessandra had chosen a pair of white snow boots to match her dress.

After the comments about bride fog, her increasing reservations about the bridal couple and the knowledge that Mattia had been left in charge, Kira grasped the door-handle hesitantly, wary of what she’d find inside.

But when she spilled into the tiny wooden chapel, tracking clumps of snow with her, her mouth swung open in surprise. Outdoors, there might be a storm raging strongly enough to herald the apocalypse, but inside…

The air was warm and scented with pine and orange and a hint of spices.

The overhead lamp was off and only wall sconces complemented the muted daylight struggling through the windows.

The soft ambience seemed to show up the gold and silver touches everywhere Kira looked.

The simple, wooden pews were artfully draped in white; tiny bouquets of flowers with a single twig of pine decorated the ends.

And at the front of the church, an effusion of flowers and leaves where she could already imagine Joe and Alessandra standing to face each other, a matching dusky rose in Joe’s buttonhole and a floral coronet with a long veil for Alessandra.

She gulped. It was almost enough to convince her that Ginny was right and this wedding would go ahead come rain or shine – or catastrophic snowfall, in this case.

‘Kira! What are you doing here? Did something happen? Where’s Joe?’

She nodded quickly. ‘He’s fine.’ At least he would be, once the substances were out of his system. ‘Nothing happened. It’s not very pleasant up there in this weather.’

To Kira’s surprise, Alessandra laughed. ‘My mother tells me rain on a wedding day is auspicious. I believe it must be doubly true for snow. Come and take a look at… everything!’ Alessandra’s smile was bright with excitement and Kira was not looking forward to bursting her bubble.

‘Alessandra this is… a wonderland!’ She wasn’t even being sarcastic.

Tonya turned from where she’d been looking out of the window, wine glass in hand. ‘A winter wedding wonderland!’

Kira glanced warily at her glass, wondering if two members of the wedding party would need to sleep off their morning drinking.

The door behind Kira flew open on a flurry of snow.

She jumped out of the way as the tall form of Mattia shuffled into the church backwards, Carla trailing behind him with a giggle.

He turned with a flourish, a wide smile on his face – which dimmed as soon as he saw Kira.

Ouch . Just when she’d thought she might belong in this picture, even if only as the adventure guide and wedding dogsbody.

‘Everything okay?’ he asked.

‘We found pizza!’ Carla announced, taking the enormous box from Mattia’s hands.

Alessandra lifted her nose and her eyes widened, rushing to the door. ‘Santo cielo, I am suddenly starving ! What time is it?’

Carla laughed. ‘Matty said you’d be hungrier than you thought.’

As if on cue, Kira’s stomach creaked in complaint. She willed away the blush of embarrassment at the inappropriate rush of jealousy she was experiencing. How utterly ridiculous.

‘Kira?’

She obviously still wasn’t used to the sound of her name in his voice – the rich, low syllables and the lilt of the ‘r’ in his accent. The tone that sent her thoughts instantly to kissing in cupboards and secret, meaningful looks.

‘Yeah, everything’s fine – or it will be.’

She was distracted by Alessandra tearing out a piece of pizza and shoving a third of it into her mouth, collapsing into the rearmost pew with a dramatic sigh. Carla and Mattia shared a conspiratorial smile that punched Kira in the gut.

‘I can’t vouch for the quality of the pizza, but it was the only place open and we had to pass the South Pole on our way,’ Mattia said with a satisfied huff.

‘You’re my hero, Matty,’ Alessandra cooed.

‘Carla too,’ he said affably. Glancing at Kira, he added, ‘I didn’t dare go alone in case someone had to call for a rescue.’

Confused about a message he seemed to be trying to send her with his eyes, she asked, ‘Who would you have called?’

‘You?’ he said hopefully. ‘Are you hungry? Do you want some pizza? I got party size.’

‘ Look! ’ Alessandra cried all of a sudden. Pointing one manicured nail at the door of the church, she finished chewing and continued, ‘You’re under the mistletoe. You know what that means. Let me get my phone. I want to capture the first mistletoe kiss at my wedding!’

Kira’s stomach sank to her toes. It was unfortunately true: Carla and Mattia stood in the doorway of the church, just beneath the little bunch of bright green leaves with white berries.

They seemed to have bonded over the pizza.

Despite what had gone wrong with their relationship, Carla seemed to be a nice person – friendly and a little shy, but that would be perfect for Mattia.

They knew each other well, wanted the same things.

They made sense together. Surely he would be starting to realise that.

‘Eh…’ His throat bobbed with a swallow. ‘I don’t think?—’

‘If you don’t kiss, then neither of you will get married for the next year. I’m sure I read that somewhere.’

Kira stifled a snort at the weak threat, but Carla looked stricken. She bit her lip and glanced up at Mattia.

Kira gritted her teeth. ‘Oh, just kiss her. As soon as you’ve finished eating, I think we should call Norbert and head back up to the chalet.

’ She turned away, fiddling with one of the bows at the end of the pew, hoping they interpreted her behaviour as contemptuous and not ragingly jealous.

When she accidentally unravelled the bow, she snatched her hand back.

Behind her, Mattia cleared his throat and there was a muffled ‘hmph’ followed by a deep sigh.

‘That was a poor excuse for a kiss,’ Alessandra grumbled, Kira’s cue to turn back around – to find Mattia’s unnerving gaze on her. ‘But I suppose you have an audience. Are the boys already up at the chalet? I suppose we’re finished here until Ginny brings the mistletoe.’

‘Um, Alessandra…’ Kira trailed off, hesitating over the explanation. Leaning closer to where the bride was looking up expectantly, her second piece of pizza heading towards her mouth, she whispered, ‘Joe’s drunk.’

‘What?’ Mattia bellowed behind her.

Shit, she’d forgotten about his superhuman hearing. Alessandra held up a quelling hand in his direction.

‘Perdio!’ she exclaimed. ‘The day before our wedding! He’s lucky he didn’t break his leg! Or maybe I’ll break it for him!’

‘I don’t know that he—’ Kira sighed heavily. She wasn’t even sure why she was defending him. ‘He might have sobered up by now anyway. They’re in the van in the car park waiting for us.’

Alessandra threw the crust of her pizza slice into the box and meticulously cleaned her fingers, before rising with a long breath through her nose. Stuffing her arms into her enormous, puffy jacket, she lifted her chin and stalked towards the door.

‘I’m going to talk to him,’ Alessandra declared, her voice wavering.

‘If you just wait—’ Kira began, that I’m going to ruin this wedding feeling solidifying inside her again.

‘I’ve had enough of him not taking this seriously.

Nobody is forcing him to marry me and if he doesn’t want to, all he has to do is say it!

’ She swung open the door, flinching at the howling wind and swirling snowflakes, but she sailed through it and even managed to slam the door as an extra exclamation point.

When Mattia didn’t move, Kira gestured frantically at him. ‘Go after her! It’s a freaking snowstorm out there!’

‘What about you?’

‘I don’t need you to hold my hand while I cross the road,’ she snapped. ‘I’ll help Carla bring this shit back to the van.’

She expected him to hurl back a gritty Fine! and stomp angrily to the door, as people usually did when she pushed them away. But he simply studied her, for long enough that she started to worry he could hear emotions.

‘Go,’ she repeated, but her voice had lost its belligerence and sounded alarmingly like pleading. ‘I’ll call Norbert to pick you all up. He can come back for the rest of us.’

He considered her request once more, brows raised, his earring winking in the soft light. Then he nodded, his jaw tight. ‘I’ll make sure she gets back to the car safely.’

Winding his colourful scarf once more around his neck, he braced himself and headed back out into the snow.