Page 16 of Bastain

It had taken him all of the last hour to realize that he’d fallen in love with the woman. She and he had never even touched one another, yet all he could think about was having her in his arms. She wasn’t at all like Debra, not even other women that he knew. And he’d bet anything that if he were to ask her to sign a prenup, she’d tell him no. That she didn’t want his money anyway.

Smiling to himself, he tried to think of something to get back in her good graces. So far, all he could think about was him down on his hands and knees like before. He’d do that too if he thought that it would make a difference. She was all that he wanted in a wife, and the sooner he proved it to her, the better he’d be.

“I have to get her to like me again.” Mom told him that it might take some doing. “I know. I’ll take any help that you can give me. I think…I know that I’ve fallen in love with her, and she more than likely doesn’t want anything to do with me, but I’m going to try. With your help.”

“Oh, son, I’ll do what I can.” She laughed a little. “Try very hard to keep your mouth shut, and we might be able to make this work for the two of you.”

“I’ll try.” He would too with all his might. Going up to his room later, he was happy that at least he had a house for her. She might tell him it’s too big, but he was happy to have gotten something so special for the three of them. Because he knew as surely as he was standing there that Trinity would want his mom in the same house as she was in.

Sitting on the edge of his bed, he looked around the room. It had his old furniture in it, and there were things that he’d just left in the boxes when he’d moved in. The room was a mess, and he knew he could do better than it looked right now. Pulling out his phone, he called Mark.

“How about I have a look around your antique shop?” He told him that was where he was now. “Good. I have a house full of things that are old and in need of replacing. The sooner I can make the house look better, the better I’ll feel.”

“Come on down. I have an antique dealer here now, and he’s telling me that things aren’t worth as much as she has them priced. I don’t believe him.” He said that he’d not either. He just wanted a good deal. “I think the same thing. I’ll wait for you. I think I’m about done here with this man.”

“I’m on my way.” He changed his clothing from his suit and put on a pair of jeans and a t-shirt. He knew that shops like Tilly’s would be dusty, and he wanted to keep his new suits clean. As he was pulling up in front of the shop, the name of it was Antiques from Olden Times, and he was excited. It occurred to him that Trinity might not care for antiques, but he was willing to change them out again if she didn’t. He felt like, for the first time in a long time, that his money was there for a reason and that was to make someone happy. It certainly hadn’t him.

Wandering around the place, he could see some of the larger pieces in his home. The bedroom suite that he loved would be perfect for the master suite, as it had three dressers, a tall boy, as well as several chairs that would surround the fireplace in his room. Just as he was going to make an offer on the set, Mark told him that he’d give it all to him.

“I’m going to have to sell it off anyway, and this way I don’t have to deal with it. I have enough money right now that I can live the way I want and never have to work another day in my life.” He told him there were just too many pieces that he wanted for him to get nothing. “All the better. The sooner I have this part of my life taken care of, the better I’ll feel. I want my ex-wife out of my life so that I can move on to something better. Your brother is going to be buying my house, so I’m giving him a good discount.”

“All right then, that’s settled.” He was handed a thick pad of sticky notes to mark the things that he wanted. “How about this? You tell me what you want for the building, and I’ll buy that and the contents for one price. That way, we both make out, and I don’t have to make any decisions right away. You’ll have one less thing that you have to worry about as well.”

“Deal.” The two of them shook on it, and Mark looked genuinely happy. He felt good, too. He could outfit his home with the things in the building, and he would have one more building in the downtown area that he could work with. Since it looked like it had at one time been a house, a large one at that, he figured that he could move his offices to this place and be in a better location for anyone trying to find him. He looked around at all the things he’d yet to mark and knew that his brothers wouldn’t object to taking some of the pieces too. There certainly were enough bedroom suits in the place now that he’d had time to look around.

It took them most of the afternoon to come to a decision on the price. Mark really just wanted to get rid of anything that Tilly had been working with, and he didn’t want to lose a good friend because he’d felt like he’d taken advantage of him. Mark was a good man, and he hoped that someday they could be good friends.

At six, he decided that he couldn’t put it off any longer. He needed to go and see Trinity and tell her what a fool he’d been. He was going to grovel as much as he could just so she’d allow him to see her again. Then he was going to talk to her about how much he loved her. Every time he thought of how broken his heart was, he knew what a fool he’d been in talking to her the way that he had. He had a lot of making up to do.

Picking up some subs, hoping that she liked Italian subs, he made his way to the hospital. She’d been going to physical therapy for the last few days, so he wasn’t surprised that she wasn’t in her room again. As soon as she was brought in, having cleared it with the nurses, he told her that he had dinner for them. She didn’t say a word to him while they were moving her to the bed again. She did look worn out, and his heart hurt for her.

“I thought I told you not to come back.” She didn’t raise her voice again, and he thought that was scarier than her shouting at him. “I don’t want you here. I’ve already spoken to your brothers, and they’re going to see me. If you have something on the case, then that’s the only way I’m going to see you.”

“I came to talk to you about your aunt and uncle.” He told her that the tests hadn’t come back yet on her mentality, but he expected her to be able to stand trial on her own. “She’s already gotten herself a court-appointed attorney, and Mark isn’t going to be helping her in any way. In fact, he’s selling his house to Dayton and the shop that Tilly had to me. I’ve purchased the antiques that are in it as well.”

“Why?” He told her about his house and how the furniture in it was a little old. “Aren’t antiques old as well?”

“Yes. I meant that these pieces are in better shape than the ones I have in my house. I want to put antiques in it rather than buying something modern.” She nodded once, but still wasn’t cutting him any slack. Not that he deserved it. “What do you think of antiques? Or would you rather have modern things around you?”

“I helped Aunt Tilly pick out some of the pieces that she has in there. Mom and I would go with her to auctions to help her bring things back there. There are some really beautiful pieces in the shop.” He said that he knew and had been taking pictures of the ones that he was going to use in the master suite. “The large four-poster bed with the three dressers? That’s my favorite piece. Not that you’d care.” He didn’t say anything, but that was the exact pieces that he’d figured for his room. “Why are you here?”

“I love you.” She snorted at him and turned away. “I think I fell in love with you the first time you did that to me. I’ve never had anyone snort at me before. Mom does it now, too.”

“I suppose you’re going to blame that on me, too.” He told her he thought it was endearing. “Something is wrong with you. What’s happened to the man who was in here two days ago? You can’t be him.”

“It’s me.” He asked if he could sit down on the bed, and she gave him permission. “I have no idea what made me fall in love with you. You’ve been prickly since I met you. But I have. My heart beats only for you, and my blood runs cold at the thought of living the rest of my life without you in it.”

“You’re being weird.” He nodded and watched as her hands folded in around each other. “We’ve done nothing but fight since I met you. I get along better with my landlord’s cat, and she hates me because I don’t like her. I don’t like cats at all.”

“We have one in the barn right now. We need it to keep the mice down.” She looked away and said nothing. “I can get rid of her when her babies are big enough, but for now I’m tolerating her.”

“Like you are me?” He reached out and pulled her chin around so that she would look at him. Once she was looking at him in his face, he smiled. She was so beautiful, and he told her so. “I’m beaten up, is what I am. I think I have been since you met me.”

“Pretty much. But right now you’re on the mend, and I couldn’t be happier.” She didn’t look away as he thought that she would. “You’ve already healed a great deal since you’ve been in here. I noticed, too, that your stitches are gone from the few scratches on your face.”

“They’ve healed.” He could see that. “I still don’t know what you’re doing here. I don’t love you. I’m not even sure that I like you all that much.” She turned away again, and his heart broke. “Why would you think, after the way that you treated me, that I could love you? You’ve been pushing me away from you since the first time we met.”

“I know, and for that I’m sorry. I’m sorry for a lot of things.” He turned on the bed and looked around the room. “I have a room for you at the house. Mom said that she’d live with you, and I thought you’d both be comfortable in something larger.”