‘Right?’ I giggled. ‘Seriously though, thank you for ferrying these. I really appreciate it and I’m sure Theo was grateful too.’

I had known Liam and Chelsea were going to be coming to Wynter’s Trees for the evening because Liam had offered to help in the grotto, and as they didn’t live too far from Wren and Theo, I had capitalised on the opportunity to ask them to collect more stock.

‘He was,’ said Liam, looking pointedly at Chelsea. ‘But not for long.’

‘What do you mean?’ I asked, ripping into one of the boxes and starting to unpack it before the hut filled with customers again. ‘What happened?’

‘She happened,’ Liam tutted.

Chelsea pulled another hat out of her bag, plonked it on my head and quickly set about artfully filling the shelves with the mugs and jugs I was unpacking.

‘Who’s she?’ she frowned. ‘The cat’s mother?’

‘No,’ Liam laughed. ‘Mine, apparently.’

‘What did you do?’ I asked, narrowing my eyes at my old adversary.

‘I just told him a few home truths,’ she said with a shrug as she jutted out her chin. ‘I told him he can’t keep cosseting Wren. There’s nothing wrong with her now, but if he doesn’t stop fussing, he’ll make her paranoid when what he should be doing is helping her to ease back into things and letting her get on.’

‘I see,’ I said.

I was glad I hadn’t been around to witness how that had been received. Chelsea obviously knew about the baby but had no qualms when it came to making her feelings and opinions known, even though the subject was a delicate one.

‘I wasn’t being harsh,’ she said, shooting Liam a look.

I guessed he’d said different.

‘He just needed telling.’

‘You were right,’ I was surprised to hear Liam say as he stepped aside to let a customer in, ‘but you could have put it better.’

‘Subtlety was never Chelsea’s strong point,’ I said in a mock whisper.

She gave me a look.

‘Anyway, it worked.’ she sniffed. ‘Theo will be popping in tomorrow and then he’ll be here all day Saturday and Sunday and Wren will be in for a while from Monday.’

‘Crikey,’ I gasped. ‘Your words really did hit home, didn’t they?’

Chelsea looked well pleased. I had been more than prepared to carry on selling, but I knew she was right about it all. It wouldn’t do Wren any good to be fretting at home and it wasn’t as if manning the huts meant she had to be on her feet all day. Everyone would keep an eye on her and I could still help out if it got really busy.

‘Right,’ said Liam, ‘I better get to the grotto. The queue is out the door already!’

‘Now you have an elf of your own,’ I nudged, as Chelsea watched him go.