Free Snow Angels, Secrets and Christmas Cake by Sue Watson

snow storm erupted; I discovered baubles I’d long forgotten and a fairy that had once stood on top of the tree. I smiled, Tamsin and I had made that fairy together from paper and foil. It was a lovely Christmas memory, a little sparkle in the darkness of everything that was happening around us. I put each decoration back carefully in its paper tomb. They’d obviously been put away one Christmas and never been out of the box since.
    I explored further in the huge cabinet and, lo and behold, there was my grandparents’ dusty old tree. ‘It’s meant to be,’ I said under my breath. I put the box and the tree in the pile of things to go back to my place; this would be the first year since Steve had died that we would have a tree. Jacob would love it.
    I wandered into the kitchen and my eyes filled with tears as my sister’s great loss hit me. This room had been her pride and joy. Tamsin had loved being in this kitchen where she’d been the star of her own show. Another family would sit here now, someone else would drink wine on her island, cook unpronounceable French meals on her Aga and fill the air with the fragrance of fresh coffee.
    I stood there for ages until Heddon and Hall appeared in the doorway and I was filled with such gratitude I hugged them both. ‘Thank you so much for coming, it will mean a lot to her.’
    ‘She’s a wonderful woman and has been very good to us over the years, we owe her,’ Heddon said. ‘I’ll go and give her a hand.’
    Orlando put his arm around me. ‘She’s got bags and bags of stuff,’ he said, nodding in the direction of the sitting room. ‘Are you in that little white van with cakes all over it?’
    I nodded. At this point Gabe appeared, he was covered in snow, stamping his boots on the Amtico flooring while Mrs J’s voice chastised him, saying something about ‘her ladyship’s disapproval’. I had to smile – Gabe shrugged and carried on; he didn’t give a toss.
    ‘I can take a lot of the stuff in my truck,’ he said, like a knight on a charger. He was big and broad and dependable and I could see why the housewives of Chantray Lane all had the hots for him. If he wasn’t so unkempt and didn’t smell so strongly of Monster Munch I’d have fancied him myself, he definitely had something. I wasn’t alone in my thoughts either, glancing at Orlando who was licking his lips and looking Gabe up and down.
    Gabe rubbed his big hands together. ‘I’ll load it up. Come on Orlando let’s get humping,’ he said over his shoulder.
    Orlando shuddered with delight and raised a perfect HD brow. ‘I’m coming, you big brute,’ he called after Gabe, then as he was leaving, winked at me and whispered, ‘every cloud and all that.’
    ‘Tamsin’s paid a fortune for Christmas decorations we haven’t even used yet,’ said Heddon, who wandered back into the kitchen clutching a white hankie to one tearful eye. ‘We had merely scratched the surface last night with our switch-on it was only Phase One of Project Christmas. There is a stunning, white, life-size reindeer, a collection of exquisite angels... giant snowflakes, a veritable landscape of ENORMOUS baubles... and...’ he was clearly quite upset.
    ‘I’m not sure I can fit all that into my van,’ I sighed, resting my head on my hands on the worktop.
    ‘Don’t even think about it, my lovely, Orlando and I will put it all in the spare downstairs room here, it’s fine for the next fortnight. If it’s still here after that, we’ll store it in our shop until she needs it.’
    I thanked him and as Gabe, Orlando and the kids began loading things onto his truck, I packed Tamsin’s designer clothes. I was stuffing hundreds of pairs of colour-and-season-co-ordinated shoes into my van when I felt someone tapping my shoulder – it was Tamsin.
    ‘Sam... please don’t put November in July’s pile. Can you imagine the chaos and confusion that will cause?’
    ‘Carnage,’ I said, pushing her into the van and slamming