‘Well? Aren’t you going to say something?’ Rupert asks, uncertainty passing over his features and I gently lift the kitten from the box. Immediately she snuggles into me, letting out a rumbly purr as she kneads at my jumper.

‘Rupert, she’s lovely. I don’t know what to say.’ No one has ever given me a gift like this before. ‘I already love her. And you.’ Rupert crouches down to kiss me, his hand rubbing over the kitten’s tiny head.

‘Her name is Lola. That’s what the breeder called her, but if you want to change it, we can.’

‘No,’ I say, my fingers running over her silky fur, the tiny pads of her feet. ‘Lola is perfect. Thank you.’

‘There’s another present under here,’ Will calls out. He has taken Rupert’s place on the footstool and is rummaging under the tree. ‘It says it’s for Emily.’ He holds out a gift, the firelight making the gold writing of my name glint.

My stomach drops as I take it from him, the kitten making her escape onto Amanda’s lap. Hand delivered. Familiar words scrawled onto a familiar parcel.

‘Where did this come from?’ I say, my voice cracking on the last word. Rupert is frowning, a deep V etched between his eyebrows.

‘Under the tree,’ Will laughs, ‘it was tucked at the back there.’

‘It was in the bag of presents that you left by the front door,’ Rupert says finally. ‘Didn’t you put it there?’

‘No,’ I say testily, ‘I didn’t put it there. Rupert, I put this behind the bin.’

‘Why would you do that?’ Amanda pauses in her stroking of Lola.

‘Who put it in the bag? Did you, Rupert? Please just tell me if you did.’ I can feel the panic rising, the tightness of my chest reaching up into my throat.

‘No, I didn’t. I thought you did,’ Rupert says, ‘Anya probably put it in there, you know how she is. She probably saw it was a present and thought you’d forgotten to pack it.’

I stare at him incredulously, my fingers shaking as I run my hand over my name. ‘No…’

‘Emily, why don’t you just open it?’ Will says, smiling, although there is confusion on his face. ‘Does it matter how it got into the bag? Just open it and see who it’s from.’

I nod, taking a deep breath. It’s probably nothing. Just a gift, it is Christmas after all. Your first Christmas together. And your last. Forcing the words from my mind, I strip off the wrapping paper, gasping as I tear off the tissue paper underneath to reveal the present. It is a photo, in a silver frame, last seen on my mantelpiece and one that I hoped never to see again. It’s Rupert and Caro’s wedding photo.

Chapter Nineteen