Page 50 of A Winter Wedding Adventure
Mattia concluded later that morning that people who lived in cold climates couldn’t be very religious. First, he had to fight his way from the car park where that hellish snowmobile had dropped him off, through biting wind and ice particles as sharp as his nonna’s tongue. After slipping and sliding across the treacherous road – where cars were inexplicably still zooming along, leaving zigzags in the snow from the deep tread – he then had to trudge through a foot of the white stuff to reach the little chapel made of dark slats and wooden roof tiles, a little bell tower on one end.
Once he’d finally stumbled up the steps, throwing the door closed behind him and leaning on it against the wind, his relief lasted only a moment, until he noticed the chapel was also freezing. If the priest intoned for too long, parishioners would get frostbite. They’d better hope he’d managed to save their souls first.
Alessandra and Ginny were hard at work, tying bows and unrolling white gauze. Carla had a pair of tiny scissors, performing keyhole surgery on the enormous floral bower that barely fit in front of the modest wooden altar, and the other member of their party at the chalet, Hugh’s girlfriend Tonya, sloshed wine into glasses and appeared to be speaking without the necessity of breathing.
‘…such a great idea. The hydrangeas give it a boho touch and I love the ivy and the pine cones. Oh look! Your friend is standing under the mistletoe!’
He scooted out from under the little bunch of leaves before anyone got ideas. He’d had enough of kissing today. Well, not enough of the action of kissing, but certainly enough of talking about it.
After flying so high, his thoughts mush and his heart pounding as Kira tugged him into the privacy of the storage room with her, he’d crashed and shattered just as quickly when he’d realised he’d misunderstood. She could have stopped him before he’d made a complete fool of himself. Instead, she’d kissed him back just enough to make him question everything, before calmly explaining that it shouldn’t have happened.
The worst part was, she was right; it shouldn’t have happened. His heart simply disagreed – strongly. He was used to listening to his heart.
‘Don’t talk to me about mistletoe,’ Ginny mumbled. ‘I have to go in a minute and collect our haul from Mayrhofen.’
‘You can never have enough mistletoe at a wedding,’ Tonya continued, taking a sip of wine – a large sip.
‘I only wonder that I thought three bunches would be enough,’ Ginny continued. Mattia thought perhaps she was being sarcastic, but her tone was so even, he couldn’t tell. ‘But don’t worry,’ she said brightly, brushing a strand of hair out of her face with one gloved hand. ‘The church and the chalet will be dripping with it when I’m finished.’ Definitely sarcastic.
‘Good,’ Alessandra said breezily, ‘since I want to get lots of photos of all the guests kissing under it.’
‘I’ll make sure the photographer knows,’ Ginny said as she eyed the enormous bow of gauze tied around the chair in front of the altar, making minute adjustments. ‘Her flight is delayed, but she’s due in this evening.’
‘Oh? I thought the photographer was that grunting mountain man who came to the ice cave with us?’ Tonya asked, with emphasis on ‘grunting mountain man’ as though it were a compliment.
Ginny laughed. ‘No, he was just here because Beatrice was booked up until yesterday. He’s a nature photographer from our sister agency, Great Heart Adventures, but he doesn’t do weddings. He only agreed to yesterday’s job because it involved an ice cave.’
‘A shame,’ Tonya said with a pout, pouring Mattia a glass of wine. ‘Is this sort of the hen party?’ she asked with a giggle. ‘While the boys are up there drinking – I mean skiing?’
A shiver made its way down Mattia’s spine. Through the window, he saw the fat flakes of snow still falling and wondered what it was like up on the mountain right now. Sidling towards the electric radiator in one corner, he turned the thermostat up as high as it went.
‘Tonya, maybe you could take over from me here?’ Ginny asked so brightly, another person might not have detected the tightness in her tone. ‘We need to hang the gauze just like this along all the pews. And now I’m really sorry, Alessandra, but I have to go get the mistletoe. Will you be okay here for an hour or so?’
‘Hmm?’ She looked up from the spray of flowers she was carefully binding onto the end of the pew. Her distraction sent Mattia’s alarm up another few notches.
He approached Ginny. ‘Go. I’ll make sure everything’s okay here.’
The relief in her expression was easy to read. ‘Great. Can you make sure she eats something?’
‘Of course.’ Trailing Ginny to the door, he tapped her on the shoulder before she could leave. ‘Do you think everything is okay, or should I talk to her?’
‘It’s pretty normal so far,’ Ginny replied. ‘Brides always forget to eat.’
‘And grooms go drinking on ski slopes?’
Ginny peered at him, her smile dimming. ‘Kira will have that in hand.’
He nodded. ‘I suppose you’re right. If anyone can have that group in hand, it’s Kira.’
‘I’m sure they’re all scared of her.’
His gaze snapped to hers. ‘Kira told you about yesterday?—?’
Ginny nodded, giving him a conspiratorial smile. ‘Don’t worry. Your secret is safe with me.’
His chest expanded, imagining Kira seeking advice from Ginny because her feelings were as mixed up as his. ‘Good, because she was worried and I don’t want to get her into any trouble.’
‘No,’ Ginny said with a chuckle. ‘I’m sure she couldn’t help it that she got an eyeful.’
