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‘That sounds interesting,’ Cathy replied.

‘What do you think that means?’

‘I don’t know. But I know how you can find out.’

‘True. But it seems much easier to say that than actually do it.’ Angela was still hesitant.

‘Do you want some privacy?’

‘No, it’s OK.’ She pulled the box towards her, slowly undid the ribbons and peeked under the lid. What she saw didn’t make sense, but it did explain why the box was so light. It was just a bundle of papers.

‘What is it?’ Cathy leaned forward eagerly.

‘I’m not really sure.’ Angela unfolded the first piece of paper. She recognised the logo immediately — one of her main feed suppliers, and what looked like her account, including the large sum she still owed. She scanned the page, confused until she flipped it over. The bold black words trapped her breath in her throat for a moment: paid in full. Is this what he’d meant when he’d said it was really for her animals, and not her? With a hand that started to shake, she reached for the next piece of paper and slowly unfolded that. There it was again, those three beautiful, bold words — this time in bright, Christmas red.

‘Ange, are you all right?’

She ignored her mum as she dumped the box out on the table, rapidly rifling through the papers. They were all there: her feed suppliers, the bedding, medical equipment, cleaning gear — even the bill for the special waste bins had been paid. It looked like every bill from her blue folder of misery had been taken care of.

It was the last bit of paper that choked her the most, bringing hot tears to her eyes that she fought not to shed. At the top, Jake’s badger logo smiled out at her, and the figure at the bottom made her hands shake so much that she dropped the gift.

‘Can I?’ Her mum picked up the bill and read it. ‘Wow. Is this what I think?’

‘Yeah.’ Angela’s voice was rough and choked by tears. ‘He cleared all of Bill’s accounts — and put extra in at Jake’s. He’s given me a vet fund, Mum. A good one.’

‘Wow. I’m not sure anyone could have given you anything better. Are you going to open the other one? The one from the bird?’

‘Yeah.’ She laughed, still not sure what to think about all of this. ‘Let’s see what Mallow “made” for me.’ She unwrapped the parcel to find a canvas that was covered in brightly coloured splodges and streaks. It was a bit abstract for her liking, but the colours were quite pretty.

‘I don’t understand.’ She turned it over for her mum to see, and spotted an envelope taped to the back of the canvas. Inside was a memory stick, and she reached for her computer. There were only two files on the stick, and she opened the video labelled “play me first”. She laughed when “Frosty the Snowman” filled the air, and Mallow appeared on the screen, dancing across what looked like Rick’s coffee table, in front of a blank canvas leaning against a mini-easel.

She skipped along a line of brightly coloured bottles, pausing every so often to tap one. Each one she tapped disappeared from the screen, only to reappear as its coloured contents were poured onto a plate. After a few moments, Mallow appeared back on the screen, this time holding a paintbrush, and Angela clapped her hands in delight as the bird carefully dabbed the brush in the paint and splodged it onto the canvas. After a few careful splodges, the video sped up, playing back in faster-than-life speed as Mallow daubed against the canvas. After a while, she stopped and disappeared, coming back with a ball. Rick’s hands appeared briefly, moving at high speed to take the canvas off its easel and lay it flat. The ball shot across the canvas, explaining the coloured streaks, and was followed by a delighted Mallow, who left bright yellow footprints.

She watched, laughing, as the painting that was sitting on her kitchen table came to life on the screen in front of her. When the video finished, she clicked open the second file — a document that was blank apart from the words “click here”.

She did as she was bid, and laughed when Mallow’s face appeared again. It was a website, all about Mallow and her art. There were lots of videos, but what caught her attention was the “shop” button. She clicked on the link and was taken to an auction site. She gasped when she realised that some of them were being bid on to the tune of over a hundred pounds! She scrolled to the bottom of the page and lost control of her tears. The words blurred and she grabbed for her mum’s hand. ‘Tell me that says what I think it says . . . please.’

‘If you think it says that all the money raised by Mallow’s paintings and videos is being donated to Bill’s Wildlife Sanctuary, and that the donation figure is currently sitting at close to three thousand pounds, then you’re right.’

‘Oh wow, Mum.’

‘Yeah, I know.’

‘I think I need to go find him.’

‘You could call him?’

‘I think this conversation — whatever it is — needs to be face to face.’

‘Yeah, I think so too.’ She smiled as Angela started to gather things together, pulling on shoes and looking for her coat and gloves. ‘Go on, go. We can finish our wrapping later.’

‘Thanks, Mum.’ Angela raced out of the door.

* * *

Ryan blew on his fingers through his gloves, trying to get some feeling back into them. His arse was going numb too, which was probably a good thing — the wall outside Bill’s definitely wasn’t comfortable. But he wanted to give Angela time to open the gifts, and he really, really hoped that once she had, she’d want to talk to him. And if she did call him, wanting to talk, he wanted to be right there for her, not make her wait.

And if she wanted to talk in person, he didn’t want to waste another second. So he pulled his scarf up around his ears a bit more, shoving his hands deep into his pockets.