Page 48 of Note to Self
“No, sweetheart. Not me. It was you he stabbed.” Trent’s voice is thick with pain and tears. “I thought you were going to die. There was so much blood.”
Before I can ask any more questions, a nurse comes in and fusses around with the machines, then fills in the details on a tablet. “It’s good to see you awake. How’s your pain, Merlin? On a scale of one to ten.”
Now he mentions it, the pain in my chest and shoulder registers. It’s not too bad, more a dull ache, more than when I broke my collarbone playing rugby, but bearable. “Um, about eight, I think.”
“Okay, that won’t do. You can press this to administer your pain relief. It won’t let you OD on it.” He smiles and walks out through the gap in the drawn curtains.
I lie back down and close my eyes. “Tell me what happened.”
Trent sighs, the emotion catching in his throat making it wobble. “Um, Marc was arrested, and he’s in police custody. They want to talk to you. Brodie has already given his statement. He, um, Marc claims he was threatened by you and it was self-defence. He was the one with the knife, though. So how does that make him the victim? I don’t get it. Luckily, neither do the police. Footage on the town CCTV shows him checking out thegallery yesterday, both the front and back entrances. They will be pressing charges.”
“So, why am I in a hospital bed, and how long have I been here?” I look at my mum. “This wasn’t how I planned to introduce you to Trent.”
“It’s only been a day. They needed to anaesthetise you so they could clean up the sites. He used a serrated knife that left some very messy wounds. Two were deep, penetrating your shoulder and your lung. The third was more of a slash, but it was quite deep. You’ve had surgery to repair the wounds,” my mum says in her no-nonsense manner. She’s never been one to fudge the facts, but I don’t like the tremor in her voice.
“I’m so sorry, Merlin. I can’t believe he did it. I don’t even know why. He never really liked me.”
“That’s not true, Trent, dear. He would never have been as jealous as this if he didn’t have feelings for you,” my mum says.
As Trent tells my mum about his life before he came to Calston Cove, I close my eyes, and it doesn’t take me long to succumb to sleep.
When I wake up again, it’s night. As my eyes adjust to the dark, I find Trent asleep in what must be the most uncomfortable chair in the world. “Trent,” I whisper a couple of times. He opens his eyes. “Get up here with me.”
When he looks like he’s going to protest, I extend my arm, motioning him over with my hand. “Please, I miss you.”
He lies beside me with his head in the crook of my good arm. “I was so scared. I thought he’d hit your heart. The whole place turned into pandemonium. Drew and Brodie tackled him to the floor. He was in such a rage that they were all but sitting on him. Merrick wouldn’t let me get to you. However much I fought him, he held tight.”
His tears fall again, but at least this time, I can hold him until he falls back to sleep.
“You are the most stubborn man in the world,” I shout at him from the back door of the house. “What part of no heavy lifting didn’t you understand?” While Merlin took everything carefully to begin with, boredom and desire to get back to work won, and now he’s out in the nursery.
Merlin grins and flexes his biceps. “Looking good, hot stuff.” His gaze roams over my bare chest and the low-hanging sleep shorts.
“Sweet talking won’t work with me.” Which is a total lie. He’d only have to stalk over to me, and I’d beg him to fuck me.
He laughs, a good belly laugh that makes my heart swell with love for him. The last three months since the show and his injury have been a whirlwind. The show was a massive success. Most of the paintings were sold, and I have a full diary of commissions.
Marc’s sentencing is still to happen, but that should be any day now. There was too much evidence against him to claim self-defence, and he’s charged with grievous bodily harm with intent. It means he could be looking at a long time in prison. He finally admitted his intent and pleaded guilty. All we need to do is put this behind us and never talk about him again.
But right now, I need to stop Merlin from overworking his arm and shoulder. Ivan is here, and he promised to keepMerlin away from all the heavy work. For some reason, he’s now letting him do as he wishes. “Ivan, do I have to phone Brodie?”
The nursery is going to be open in just a few months. We’re planning on Easter weekend. Which is why Merlin is working way harder than he should be. He drops the bag of compost or whatever it is and strides up to me. “You know I’m more than capable of throwing you over my shoulder and spanking your arse.”
As much as I like the idea, now is not the time. “I don’t think Ivan would want to watch that.” I roll my eyes. “But please, love, cut down on the heavy work.”
Merlin’s phone rings, halting any further conversation. As he pulls his phone from his back pocket, I step back. I’m dreading who’s on the line.
“Hello.” Merlin’s face rigid, and his eyes are fixed on me.
“Thank you, thanks for letting me know. Yes, you’re right. It’s good news.”
Memories of the past and the way Marc behaved and acted towards me come rushing back to me. If I’d left him but never come here, would he still have acted so obsessively, or was it the fact that I don’t need or want him because I have Merlin? It’s something I’ll never have the answer to.
“Trent,” Merlin says, and by the sound of it, he’s been trying to catch my attention for a couple of seconds.
“Sorry, what did I miss?”
“He got five years. He could be out earlier, after three years, but he’s gone, baby. He’s never coming back.”
