‘A helicopter will be with you in five minutes,’ she said.
Stefan ended the call and smiled at the boy. ‘It looks like you are going on a helicopter ride.’ Despite his best efforts to keep him awake, Louis became quiet, and his head soon lolled and flopped against Stefan’s shoulder. The five minutes felt like an eternity, but at last the pulsing noise of a chopper’s rotary blades sliced through the night. The noise got louder and red and white lights flickered in the night as the craft approached. Stefan held out his mobile and waved it above his head so that the glow from the screen would alert the pilot as to his position without blinding them as his torch light would have done.
Soon the helicopter shone a bright white light beam onto the hillside. The noise now made Stefan’s ears ache, and the gusts of freezing wind churned by the rotors as the helicopter landed almost knocked the breath out of him, but Louis didn’t even open his eyes. The paramedics – a man and a woman – jumped down. They were carrying a stretcher and a medical kit, and ran towards him.
‘What’s the status of the casualty?’ the woman asked when she reached him.
Stefan mentioned the boy’s injured leg and his broken arm. ‘I think he’s got hypothermia too. He’s become drowsy in the past few minutes,’ Stefan added as he lowered a sleepy Louis onto the stretcher. The paramedics checked Louis’s breathing, examined his arm and his injured leg, and covered him with a blanket.
‘You’re coming too,’ the medic told him, as he gave Stefan his parka back and gestured to the helicopter.
Stefan recoiled. ‘I’d rather make my way back to the farm. I must tell Louis’s parents that he is safe and on his way to hospital.’ He hadn’t flown in a helicopter since the crash in Mali, and he’d rather walk miles on his own in the dark than climb on board.
He took another step back but the medic shook his head. ‘There’s no need. We’ll radio the emergency services and they’ll let them know. We don’t want you getting lost or injured on your way back down and having to respond to another emergency tonight. Get in.’
Every second he delayed getting in the chopper put Louis at risk, and this time he had no choice other than to comply. The noise and vibrations of the craft reverberated inside him, all the way to his core. His heart thumped, his stomach churned and cold sweat pearled on his forehead, and his hands shook as he clipped his belt on.
The pilot turned round and gave him the thumbs up, and Stefan nodded back. A few months before, he had been in the piloting seat, and now the thought of a ten-minute flight gave him a panic attack…
He had to get a hold on himself. He focussed his attention on the medics as they checked Louis’s vitals, and when the helicopter lifted off and took to the sky, he shoved his hands in his pocket and fiddled with the wig and the fake beard, but he was so tense it felt like he was about to snap.
They were a few minutes into the flight when Louis opened his eyes and looked around, fear and confusion in his eyes as he took in his surroundings.
‘Where am I? What’s going on? Where’s my mum?’ His voice wobbled as he moved restlessly on the stretcher.
‘We’re taking you to hospital so the doctors can take a look at you,’ the female medic said, shouting over the noise of the engine.
‘I want my mummy. Now!’ Louis’s eyes filled with tears and his face twisted in pain. He needed something to distract him until they landed.
Stefan leaned over. ‘Listen, pal, your mum and dad will be at the hospital soon after we get there. In the meantime, I’m here with you… and if you’re a good boy I’ll let you in on a secret. Can you keep a secret?’
Louis looked at him and nodded. Stefan took his wig, hat and beard out of his pocket and slipped them on, and Louis’s eyes almost popped out in shock. ‘You’re… Santa?’
‘Not the real one but Santa couldn’t come to the fair today and asked me to stand in for him. It was me today in the grotto, but you mustn’t tell anyone – not even your brothers.’
‘The real Santa let your borrow his clothes?’ Louis’s eyes filled with wonder.
‘He did.’ He wasn’t exactly lying… and if he was, it was for a good cause.
Opposite him, the medics smiled.
‘Can I let you in on another secret? I haven’t been in a helicopter for a while and I’m feeling a bit nervous.’ Terrified would be a more accurate description of his state of mind right now.
‘Are you scared you’ll have another accident, like the one you had in Africa?’ Louis looked at him with concern. How mature and concerned he sounded.
Stefan nodded.
‘Then I’ll hold your hand. Don’t be afraid. Everything will be all right.’ And the little boy sneaked his hand in his and gripped his fingers tight.
The medic tapped on his arm and smiled. ‘Are you all right?’
‘Yeah, I am now.’ Still holding Louis’s hand, Stefan smiled back and reclined against the seat. His fear about flying slowly subsided. It would be fine. This wasn’t Mali. No armed thugs lay in ambush, waiting to shoot them down. They were on their way to the hospital, and he would soon be with Cassie.
Chapter Forty
Cassie smiled as she admired the feast laid out on the kitchen table. There was fresh bread and a pot of that pâté Salomé said French people were crazy about, a platter of king prawns and smoked salmon, three kinds of French cheese and a mixed salad. A bottle of champagne chilled in the fridge together with a deluxe Yule log from Salomé’s bakery. She had decorated the kitchen with fresh sprigs of pine and holly, lit a fire and the fairy lights in the drawing room, and plumped up all the cushions she had made in the past few weeks.
There may be no tree, tinsel or baubles, but Belthorn was ready for Christmas… And so was she. She had taken a bath, washed her hair and put make-up on, before slipping on a slinky black satin dress with a low-cut front that Cecilia had lent her and her black pumps. There would be no dungarees, Doc Martens boots or bandanas that evening, only softness and seduction. At least that was the plan.
Cassie checked the clock. Seven already. Where was Stefan? She should have called at the fair to remind him not to be late, but she’d had too much fun shopping and chatting to her friends at The Studio that she had left it too late and the community centre was closing when she drove past. And then she had driven back to Belthorn in a hurry to get everything ready.
The sound of a car engine broke the silence. At last, he was back! She rushed to the hallway to open the front door, and her spirits plummeted. It wasn’t Stefan’s Range Rover that stood in front of the house but Piers’s SUV.
She may not want to see him on her own, but they had unfinished business, and it was too late to pretend she wasn’t in, so she stood on the threshold in the freezing cold.
‘Hello, gorgeous.’ He smiled his usual boyish smile as he climbed out of his car, combed his fingers in his mop of light-blond hair and gave her a long, slow stare.
‘You’re a sight for sore eyes,’ he added in a hoarse voice as he took a few unsteady steps forward. He reeked of beer. How could he even drive when he’d been drinking?
She had no intention of letting him come into the house. ‘Stay here while I get the paperwork and the keys,’ she said, retreating into the hallway and pushing the door closed.