“Before I do this,” she said, “I want to say two things.

“The first is that I am not doing it to hurt you.

I’ve thought about this evening more times than you’d believe and in about half of them I do it to hurt you, and I’m not going to, because there’s a seven-year-old in the next room and this is the first Christmas he’s been old enough to be properly excited about it.

“The second is that I need you to understand that whatever is in here, I don’t need anything from you about it.