“No thank you. Did you put something in it tonight? It didn’t taste as good as it usually does.”
“No one else mentioned it.”
“You fix warm milk for everyone? That’s really so thoughtful. I didn’t realize you did that.” Eden yawned sleepily. “I really don’t need the milk to get to sleep. Good night.”
For the last two weeks, Eden had drunk every last drop of the milk Yadira had brought her and the housekeeper had expected that night to be no exception. The injured men had been trained to expect warm milk too, and with the sleeping powders with which it had been laced that night, none would stir before morning. Rebecca’s milk had been drugged as well and she would not awaken either.
After Yadira had taken care to see that she would be the only one in the house to be awake and alert that night, she would not allow Eden to foil her plans. She had waited as long as she could for the babe’s sake, but fearing it might soon choose to be born during the day when Julian was there, she dared delay no longer.
“As you wish,” she agreed softly as she stepped away from the bed, but in a few minutes she returned with the bottle of chloroform, and a towel. She had a razor-sharp knife in her apron pocket, but she would not use it until Eden was unconscious. When Eden opened her eyes and regarded her with a sleepy stare, Yadira could not resist taunting her with what was to come.
“I know Alex fathered your babe. He refused to give me a child, but I intend to raise yours.”
Frightened by Yadira’s malicious tone, Eden tried to sit up but her body was slow to respond. Her limbs felt too weak to support her weight and her mind was not at all clear. “We’ll talk about this tomorrow, Yadira. It’s too late tonight.”
Yadira’s laugh was as husky as her speaking voice. “You’ll not see tomorrow, but I trust you will die happy knowing that Alex’s baby will.”
While most of what Yadira said was blurred by the sleeping powder that had sapped Eden’s strength, she heard the word die distinctly. Yadira had opened the bottle of chloroform, but with a strength born of terror, Eden knocked it out of her hands, spilling it all around them. The sickening scent of the anesthetic filled the room instantly and both Eden and Yadira began to gag.
Eden tried to get away from the housekeeper, to leave her bed by the opposite side, but Yadira reached out to grab her arm and yanked her back. Incensed that her plan had not gone smoothly, the housekeeper grabbed a pillow and forced it down over Eden’s face. She had meant to render her unconscious with chloroform, slit open her belly to deliver the child, then let Eden bleed to death.
If she had to suffocate her instead, it would make no difference. Her story would still be the same: that Eden had gone into labor during the night, died of heart failure, and that she had had to act quickly to save the child.
Eden did not need to know the details of Yadira’s grisly plan to realize she was in grave danger and that spurred her to fight as hard as she could. She clawed at Yadira’s arms, but she was too weak to cause her any pain. On the edge of blacking out, she slid her hands down the housekeeper’s apron, and she felt the knife in her pocket. Eden struggled with her last ounce of strength to get a hold of it and did, but deprived of oxygen, her grasp was too feeble to make good use of the weapon.
When Alex appeared in Eden’s mind, she knew she was dying and that he had come for her. He was dressed as he was in his portrait downstairs and he looked young and strong. She reached out to him, still holding the knife. He whispered that he loved her as his hand closed around hers. His image faded away as she lost consciousness, but when the pillow slid from her face, she was still wearing a peaceful smile.
Raven had been even more anxious than Sarah to reach his plantation, and when darkness fell before they could enter the Rio Bueno, he dropped anchor off shore and took her and Dr. Endecott upriver with him in a life boat. While it was late, the trio was certain the occupants of the house would not mind being awakened, and they hurried up the steps.
Raven lit the lamp on the table just inside the front door, then carried i
t to light their way up the stairs. “Let me check to make certain Nathan is still using this room.” He peeked inside, and finding his father-in-law asleep in Alex’s bed, he motioned for Sarah to enter. Certain Nathan would be thrilled to see his wife, Raven waited as she sat down on the bed and shook his shoulder. When the sleeping man did not immediately awaken, both Raven and Clifton Endecott followed her into the room.
Raven set the lamp aside and spoke to Nathan himself. When the man still did not respond, he turned to the doctor. “Could Julian have given him something to help him sleep?”
Cliff examined the cup on the nightstand and nodded. “That’s what this smells like. I’m sorry, Sarah, Nathan probably won’t be awake until morning.”
While obliviously disappointed, Sarah leaned down and kissed her husband’s brow before turning away from the bed. “I’d like to see my daughter.”
“Let’s go through here.” Raven took them into Eleanora’s room, knowing the doctor wanted to see the men who had been convalescing there. A lamp was burning low in the corner, but even in the dim light he realized as soon as his companions that the men were all sleeping far too soundly. “What the hell is going on here?”
“Where’s Eden?” Sarah asked with growing alarm.
“Come on.” Raven dashed from Eleanora’s room and sprinted down the hall. The instant he came through Eden’s door the last traces of the spilled chloroform assailed him but it did not slow his step. Eden lay sprawled across her bed in an unnatural heap, but it was not until he rounded the end of the bed that he saw Yadira’s lifeless body on the floor.
The doctor had been following close behind and turned back to block Sarah’s way when he caught sight of the dead housekeeper. “Wait, you don’t want to see this.”
Unwilling to be shoved aside, Sarah lurched past him, but then she, too, came to an abrupt halt. “Who is that?” she whispered hoarsely.
“Yadira Morales, the housekeeper,” Raven answered. Yadira lay on her back. The knife that had slit her open from navel to chest was still embedded in her flesh and there was no need to feel for a pulse to know she was dead. Taking care not to step on her blood-splattered skirt, Raven sat down on the bed and pulled Eden into his arms.
“She’s been drugged too,” he announced when his first efforts to wake her proved fruitless.
Cliff Endecott took Eden’s wrist to take her pulse, and once satisfied it was strong, he turned both her hands over and studied them carefully. “While it certainly looks as though Eden stabbed Yadira, there’s no blood on her hands or nightgown. The men are all asleep in their beds, but Yadira certainly didn’t commit suicide. Who could have killed her?”
“There must be someone else in the house,” Sarah whispered as she cast an apprehensive glance toward the door.
Eden moaned softly then, and Raven shifted her position slightly and tried once again to wake her. In a moment, her lashes fluttered slightly, then she opened her eyes. When she recognized Raven, she broke into a delighted smile. “I never said that I love you, but I do. I love you very much.”