Rafael was startled by his image in the mirror. A few hours earlier, he’d been handsome in his traje de luces, but now he looked haunted, as though his dear Magdalena were already dead.
“She’s going to need blood, isn’t she?” Santos asked on their way back to the emergency room.
“Yes. Ask where you can donate.”
“Aren’t you going to donate blood too?”
“That’s not a good idea.”
Santos grabbed his arm. “You’re not HIV positive, are you?”
“No, but I still shouldn’t give her blood.”
“A Gypsy’s blood wouldn’t be my first choice for a transfusion, but blood’s blood, isn’t it?”
“Yes, but she doesn’t need mine.”
Santos just shook his head in disgust and asked where he could donate blood for his sister. Fox was too young, which he took as an insult, and sulked along behind him.
Maggie didn’t wake for hours. She recognized the spare décor of a hospital room and saw Rafael seated nearby with his head in his hands, but she couldn’t recall how she’d gotten there. Her nose itched, and when she raised her hand to scratch, she saw the thick bandages encircling her wrists.
“Rafael?” she called. Her throat hurt, and she spoke in a painful whisper.
He jumped out of the chair to come to her. “How do you feel?”
She tried to sit up but felt too weak and sank back into her pillow. He pushed the button to raise the head of the bed. He looked to be on the verge of tears, and she didn’t understand why he’d be so depressed. “Were we in an accident?”
He pushed her hair off her forehead and kissed her brow. “What do you remember?” He gave her a sip of water.
She closed her eyes to think. “Santos took Fox and me sailing. On the way home, we stopped so they could eat, but I was waiting to have dinner with you. They had these huge plates of shrimp and crab, lobster claws.” She looked up at him. “I thought we’d made it to the beach house, but I don’t recall what happened there.”
Rafael had spent most of the night searching for a way to explain Carmen’s assault. Fox would have just spit it out. Santos would add their grandmother often mistreated them, but he still wanted to soften the murder attempt somehow. Unfortunately, there was no reasonable way to cushion an insane attack. As calmly as he could, he told her what he’d found at the beach house.
Maggie’s eyes grew wide with disbelief. “The woman’s my grandmother.”
“Yes, she is. She told me I should have died. I don’t know how many people she intended to kill. She’d drugged you and just sat there sipping hot chocolate while Santos and I worked to save you.”
Maggie understood Carmen’s comment even if he didn’t. She must have known what her son had hoped for him. They were lucky Carmen hadn’t gone on a murder spree while Miguel was still alive and could have benefitted from a heart transplant. Maybe she’d been marked like Rafael all along. She needed another sip of water.
“How long do I have to stay here?”
“You lost so much blood you needed several transfusions. I doubt they’ll release you before tomorrow.”
Dr. Moreno peeked in the door. “Good, you’re awake. I’m so sorry this happened to you, my dear.” He approached the foot of her bed. “Carmen has always been high-strung and harsh in her judgments of others, but I never anticipated violence. She’s been admitted to a psychiatric hospital for evaluation. Your aunt became hysterical when she arrived home and discovered what had happened. Fortunately, her ex-husband has stayed with her. Apparently they’ve become close again.”
Maggie felt too weak to take any joy in Cirilda’s rekindled romance. By the time Santos and Fox came in, she could barely stay awake. “Thank you for helping to save my life.”
“Any time,” Santos replied. “I want you to come home with me. I’ll take a lot better care of you than Rafael would. Did he mention he refused to donate blood for you? I thought you’d lost every drop you’d had, but he wasn’t overly concerned.”
“Let it go, Santos,” Rafael cautioned.
“Why? So you can play hero?”
“He is the hero,” Fox insisted. “If he hadn’t arrived when he did, Magdalena would have bled out, and we’d be planning her funeral.”
“Still, he should have donated blood,” Santos insisted.
“I’m sure he had a good reason not to,” Maggie uttered through a yawn.