“You might.”

“Shouldn’t we use my milk? Adan Jr. could—”

“Of course not. Who knows what remains in your body?”

“Remains? But—”

“Do not concern yourself with what the baby will be fed and not fed. It’s all well taken care of. Concern yourself with yourself.” She blinked her usual smile and then said, “In a way, you’re lucky this happened to you. I would have been long gone after you so blatantly disobeyed my orders and not here to help you recuperate.”

I said nothing, but I thought that if being happy had anything to do with recuperation, I would never recuperate. She waited a moment and then left. Leaving the hospital, the trip home, and confronting all of this had exhausted me. That, with the effect of the pain pills, quickly put me to sleep. When I woke up, there was some lunch on a tray on the small table and a pile of magazines and books on the dresser. I laughed at the food I was now being given. There was a large cheese and ham sandwich, a Coke, potato salad, and a rather large piece of chocolate cake. Apparently gone was any attention to my so-called nutritional diet. Whether I gained too much weight was no longer Mrs. Newell’s worry.

I was hungry and did eat most of it. Then, like some prisoner in solitary confinement, I began to walk in a circle around my small room. I knew that exercise was important, and I was determined to get as strong as I could as quickly as I could. Teresa was surprised to see me shuffling along when she came to get my tray.

“Hi,” I said, happy to see a friendly face.

“Mrs. Newell sent me for your tray, but she said that after today, you have to go to the kitchen yourself for your meals.”

“Good. At least she’s letting me walk that far,” I said. “I’m not afraid of making my own food and caring for myself, Teresa. I didn’t have someone else doing that for me until I was treated like a member of my aunt’s family and not one of her servants.”

“I’m sorry for your troubles, dear. I’ll help you as much as I can.”

“Don’t put yourself in any jeopardy for me, Teresa. I’ve managed to cause harm to enough people as it is,” I said.

“I’m sure you don’t cause anyone harm, Miss.”

She smiled, took the tray, and left. It amused me to know that part of my hard existence now was to be caring for myself. Did Señor Bovio and his favorite private-duty nurse really believe I had become that spoiled?

Back to walking, I thought, and circled the room until I had to go to the bathroom. Having so much time to myself permitted me to think more and more about what had happened. Why was Fani so two-faced? When I had first met her, she seemed quite independent and unconcerned about anyone’s opinion of her. And what about all that business with her own parents? Why did she confide in me if she would betray me like this? These questions and my disappointment in her buzzed like angry bees in my brain.

Although I was still weak and even groggy from my pills, I decided to go out to the phone in the kitchen and try to call her.

The hacienda was very quiet. It was that time in midday when everyone could take a rest. I shuffled along and entered the kitchen. There was no one there, but a chicken was in a pot defrosting for the evening’s meal. I didn’t imagine it was for me. Of course, Mrs. Newell and Señor Bovio would have to be fed, I thought. I tried Fani’s home number first, thinking she might still have not returned to college. To my surprise, she picked up on the second ring.

“It’s me,” I said. “I’m back in the Bovio hacienda.”

“Good for you. I was just putting my stuff together. I’m driving back to Los Angeles; otherwise, I’d stop by.”

“I don’t want you to stop by, Fani.”

“Huh?”

“Why did you make up that lie about me? Why did you say I might have taken drugs at your home?”

She was quiet for a long moment. I thought she was deciding whether or not to hang up on me. “Who told you that?” she asked.

“Señor Bovio.”

“I didn’t say that ex

actly,” she said. “All I said when he asked me was that I couldn’t swear one way or another about you.”

“What?”

“I didn’t know if you had done something with Edward when you and he were alone. I couldn’t swear to your not doing it, could I? I knew he was doing some drugs at college.”

“You never told me that.”

“I told you he was depressed about Jesse and everything.”

Tags: V.C. Andrews Delia Horror
Source: readsnovelonline.net