Page 35 of A Winter Wedding Adventure (Adventure Weddings #2)
Kira burst out of Mattia’s room, racing for the stairs, but she stopped short when her gaze snagged on the door to her own room – off its hinges and teetering on a pile of snow, in the hallway.
‘Che cazzo!’ she heard behind her.
Stepping slowly towards the rubble of snow and rocks, she caught sight of her own suitcase, bent and knocked open, stuck halfway out of the doorway.
Shards of glass and wood from the window frame were scattered at the sides.
The beds must have been under there somewhere, but they were buried to the last inch.
A squeeze of her hand brought her racing thoughts back to the present.
‘I’m even more glad you were with me.’ The thought of what might have happened if she’d gone to bed alone instead of making the reckless choice to share the last hour with Mattia made her legs wobbly.
‘It was only this side of the building.’
‘You should stay back,’ was all she said in reply. ‘There’s glass. Get some shoes on! No wait, go downstairs. I don’t know if the floor is stable.’ An alarming creak sounded from somewhere in the guts of the building.
‘What about you?’
A door flew open at the end of the hall and a white-faced Carla emerged. ‘What’s happ—’ She shrank back when she saw the rubble pouring from Kira and Ginny’s room.
On a hiss and a crash, a secondary snowslip threw powdered ice into the air around them and Carla ran for the stairs with a squeal. The wedding guests had all been given rooms on the other side of the hotel with a view, meaning they were probably safe?—
A terrifying thought occurred to Kira and she raced for the stairs after Carla, hoping Mattia was following her down to safety. Rushing through the hallway on the ground floor, she skidded to a stop in front of the door marked ‘Privat’ and pushed it open.
‘Yolanda!’
The staff area was a mess, the back wall of the chalet caved in.
The door to the bedroom hung open and Kira hurtled inside to see a mass of snow.
She’d never had to do this outside of training, but the dread didn’t allow her to hesitate.
She scanned the room, guessing where a bed might have been, and with no tool available, she used her hands to shift the snow as quickly as she could, her lungs stinging with the exertion.
She registered voices behind her, but she knew every second counted when there might be a person trapped under the snow.
‘Is Yolanda out there?’ she called out, panic rising in her throat because she hadn’t moved nearly enough snow yet. ‘Someone come and help me!’
‘She’s not in the kitchen!’ she heard Joe calling and then another pair of hands joined hers – fine, small hands with a giant diamond on the left ring finger.
‘Make sure everyone else is accounted for!’ Kira yelled back to Joe, just as her hand struck something harder and smoother than the snow. ‘Here!’
She and Alessandra worked frantically, uncovering part of the bedframe. Kira punched at the ice to dislodge it and as she dug down, her hand found fabric. Please let it just be bedclothes. Let her be somewhere else – safe!
With a grunt of effort, she hauled away a drift of snow and choked to see Yolanda’s uniform shirt. ‘Her head! We have to clear her head! Someone call the emergency services!’
‘I’m already on the call,’ came a calm response.
Another pair of hands joined them and a moment later, Yolanda’s face emerged from under the snow – pale and still.
‘Keep clearing the snow off her and get blankets! Does anyone else know CPR?’ As soon as Yolanda’s chest was clear of snow, Kira was already climbing into position, checking for breathing and trying not to panic when there was none – and no pulse.
Her focus narrowed and she locked her fingers to begin chest compressions, shutting out everything except the numbers counting up on her lips, refusing to wonder how long it had been since Yolanda had last taken a breath.
Kira reached thirty and leaned down to deliver a rescue breath. With a sudden jerk, Yolanda’s mouth dropped open and a strangled cough emerged from her throat. Kira’s blood rushed with relief, so hot and sharp that her vision blurred with tears.
‘Get her on her side. More blankets! We have to keep her warm. Is there someone coming to help?’
Yolanda continued to breathe in choking gasps, but Alessandra soothed a hand over her hair as blankets were piled on top of her and the remaining snow cleared.
‘There’s a paramedic coming with a helicopter. They’ll be about ten minutes.’ The same calm voice from earlier reached through Kira’s adrenaline fog and she looked up in confusion to see Mattia standing in the doorway, his pullover on backwards and her own phone in his hand.
Kira would never have expected Mattia to keep his head in a crisis, but it seemed everyone had been underestimating him for a long time – including himself.
Her coat fell around her shoulders and he was suddenly closer, urging her in the direction of the hallway.
‘We’d better get outside in case there’s damage to the building,’ he said to the rest of the group. ‘Joe, can you and Rav move Yolanda?’
The front door was impassable, but the side door was free, although the sauna had disappeared under a pile of snow. The beleaguered wedding party stumbled out into the clear night to await rescue, dragging out a chair for the weak and shivering Yolanda.
When the shock of the cold entered Kira’s lungs, the enormity of what had happened over the past half hour flooded her synapses and she shivered uncontrollably.
‘I-I’ve never had to d-do that before in r-real life,’ she stammered.
‘Only in training.’ None of her expeditions or tours as a guide had ended as disastrously as this wedding.
The whump-whump of a helicopter sounded overhead, lights flashing as the aircraft banked in search of the nearby helipad. It was over. Everyone was safe.
She hadn’t noticed Mattia’s arms settle around her, but then her forehead was pressed to his chest and his fingers were at the back of her neck. He was muttering something, low and smooth and rhythmic and it didn’t matter that she didn’t understand the language.
‘Shhhh, Kira,’ he said on a sigh, the concern in his voice tipping her off to the hot tears streaming down her cheeks.
‘Alessandra was amazing,’ she choked out. ‘She was supposed to be thinking about bows and favours and that shit and instead she s-saved a life. H-how awesome is that?’
The bride was now enveloped in the groom’s arms, her hair damp and bedraggled, her expression pained. Rav and Carla were crouched by Yolanda, supporting her and keeping her wrapped up tight while they waited.
‘ You were supposed to be here to help with bows and favours and shit, but lucky for us, you’re an adventure guide and not a wedding planner.’ Mattia’s arms tightened around Kira. ‘The right place at the right time. Exactly the right person – just as you are.’
Closing her eyes and letting the strain of the evening wash through her, trusting that Mattia would hold her up when her legs grew wobbly, she marvelled that he was the right person at the right time as well.
Only this, the strangest set of circumstances, could have brought together a grumpy adventure guide and a sensitive, clumsy opera singer to grow an intimacy she would never have thought possible – one she would never forget.
Wavering lights in the distance announced the arrival of their rescuers, but Kira clutched Mattia’s arm, refusing to move for a moment longer. He might be the right person, but how long did they have this ‘right time’ magic? Would he still hold her when they arrived down in the valley?
What if he wanted to stay in touch? Could she risk all the uncertainty of that?
‘Kira!’
She snapped her head up, startled by the voice she knew well, the familiar figure jogging in her direction. He paused, taking in Mattia, his expression contorting with alarm.
‘Are you all right?’
Reluctantly stepping out of Mattia’s arms, she approached her friend and threw her arms around him. The tight – almost too tight – hold made her heart squeeze, but not the way her loopy heart bumped in her chest when Mattia looked at her.
‘I’m all right. What are you doing here?’ she asked as two paramedics rushed past to take charge of Yolanda, preparing a stretcher to load her into the helicopter to be evacuated first.
‘We drove up yesterday as soon as I heard you were stuck here. I discussed the situation with the mountain rescue team. I was coming up to get you today, as soon as it was safe.’
She hugged him tight again, remembering all the reasons why Great Heart was her family. ‘I didn’t need rescuing, but it’s nice to know you had my back.’
‘I’m not surprised you were the one doing the rescuing,’ he said with a gruff laugh. His smile dimmed when he looked over at Mattia. ‘But who is he?’
She extricated herself and gestured awkwardly in Mattia’s direction. ‘This is… the opera singer.’ How inadequate that introduction was.
‘The opera singer?’
‘Mattia, this is my friend Andreas.’