My breath caught as I opened the door. The main lights were all switched off, but the whole of downstairs was bathed in the warm glow of twinkling fairy lights. I stepped further in and closed the door noticing that the new lights were all artfully wrapped around a potted Christmas tree which was sitting in place of where the television had been, a little distance away from the log burner.

The significance of the position of the tree wasn’t lost on me. It was where the family tree had always been displayed, although this of course, wasn’t the original family tree. Ned and I had planted that a couple of weeks ago. Ned…

Positioning this new tree and covering it in lights must have been the reason behind his insistence that Maya and I didn’t rush back. If he was responsible for the pretty sight, then I realised he had wanted to keep me away from Wynter’s Trees for as long as possible, but not for the reason I had originally thought. He must have been planning to surprise me, and if that was the case, he must have forgiven me for my mistake. But what exactly had prompted this dramatic turnaround and change of heart, I wondered, assuming I’d read the situation right?

My mobile bleeped as a text message landed and I quickly dumped my bag and pulled my phone out of my pocket.

Wren is doing really well. Sorry it’s taken a while to let you know. It’s been a bit touch and go but she’s much better and, she’s still pregnant! It’s early days and she’s got to be careful but we’ll be back at the huts soon. Thank you for all your help yesterday. Theo x

I must have read the message a dozen times to make sure I’d understood it properly. Wren was okay and, most importantly, she was still pregnant.

Maya’s kindness, coupled with the discovery of the beautiful tree had been enough to form a lump in my throat and a prickle of tears behind my eyes, but this much anticipated and reassuring message from Theo completely burst through my already weakening defences and my body was wracked with sobs.

They weren’t refined tears either, but the noisy, messy kind and I gave in to them completely. I felt so relieved for Wren, and so wrung out after undoing the mess I’d made over the trees, that a few tears would have been justified, but I knew the emotional outpouring I finally succumbed to was about so much more than any of those things.