were quashed when Luca did what little talking was required.
‘You need two stitches on your …’ Luca tapped his own eyebrow by explanation, then gave a small wince as the doctor said something else to him. ‘He says he can give you an injection to make it numb before he stitches you, but that will hurt as much as if he just goes ahead and puts in the stitches without it.’
‘No injections!’
‘Il donatore il suo anestetico locale’ Luca fired at the doctor in rapid Italian. Too quick for Meg to grasp. ‘What did you say?’ Meg asked as the doctor nodded.
‘I said that he was to numb it first for you.’ ‘Well, that’s not what I want. Can you please tell him to just go ahead and do the stitches?’ Meg countered. ‘But it will hurt.’
‘So will the anaesthetic,’ Meg pointed out, ‘and next time you decide to act as a translator for me, please, allow me to answer for myself!’ As Luca opened his mouth to argue, Meg got there first. ‘What is he saying now?’
‘That he will use the finest silk, and that with make-up the cut will not show. After he has tended your wound you are to bathe and sleep.’ He checked his understanding of the order of events with the doctor, who was setting up his tools, then elaborated. ‘You are to bathe, have a light supper and then sleep—he will come and check on you again some time over the weekend. I’ll have the housekeeper run you a bath.’
‘I’d prefer a shower.’ Meg screwed her eyes closed as the doctor poured out antiseptic and proceeded to clean her wound.
‘Would you?’ Luca snapped. ‘Or are you just determined to contradict everything I say?’
‘Yes to both,’ Meg answered cheekily. As Luca let out a hiss of indignation, she caught his eyes and gave him a tiny glimmer of a smile, which, after a beat of hesitation, he reluctantly reciprocated. ‘Let’s just get this over with.’
The stitches hurt, though not that much, and Meg bit hard on her lip as the needle went in and out. When Luca reached for her hand to comfort her, she pulled it back, preferring to see this through by herself.
‘You are very brave,’ Luca commented once the doctor had gone and finally they were alone. ‘Not many people would sit there so still. In fact.’ His voice trailed off—the only other person he could think of who would react as Meg had, who would barely offer a reaction as their wounds were tended, was his mother.
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