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Memphis, Tennessee

Dece to the details of her appearance as she hadn&039;t done for months Her personal maid had run off weeks before, and she had neither the wit nor the will to hire another So she spent an hour with the curling rods herself - as she had in the years before she&039;d been kept so lavishly -her freshly rinsed hair

It had lost its bright gold luster over the long, bleary autu back its shine, what pots of paint to select to put false color in her cheeks, on her lips

She knew all the tricks of the trade How else could she have caught the eye of a inald Harper? How else had she seduced hi her his ain, all of thee hi that must be done

He hadn&039;t come, in all this time, in all these months, he hadn&039;t come to her So she&039;d been forced to send notes to his businesses, begging hinored after all she had done, all she had been, all she had lost

What choice had she had but to send rand Harper House where his pale wife reigned Where a iven him all he could ask, all he could want? She&039;d traded her body for the comfort of this house, the convenience of servants, for the baubles, like the pearl drops she fixed on her ears now

Small prices to pay for a man of his stature and wealth, and such had been the liive her But he&039;d given her ained for The loss of it was more than she could bear

Why had he not corieve with her?

Had she complained, ever? Had she ever turned him from her bed? Or mentioned even once the other woiven him her youth, and her beauty And, it seemed, her health

And he would desert her now? Turn away from hernow ?

They said the baby had been dead at birth Stillborn, they said A stillborn girl child that had perished inside her

Butbut

Hadn&039;t she felt it row vital under her heart? In her heart This child she hadn&039;t wanted who had becorew inside her

The son, the son, she thought now as her fingers plucked at the buttons of her gown, as her painted lips formed the words over and over

She&039;d heard him cry Yes, yes, she was sure of it So for her to come and soothe him

But when she went to the nursery, looked in the crib, it was empty Like her as empty

They said she was , she saw the way they looked at her But she wasn&039;t mad

Wasn&039;t mad, wasn&039;t mad, she told herself as she paced the bedroom she&039;d once treated like a palace of sensuality

Now the linens were rarely changed, and the drapes always drawn tight to block out the city And things wentHer servants were thieves Oh, she knew they were thieves and scoundrels And spies

They watched her, and they whispered

One night they would kill her in her bed One night

She couldn&039;t sleep for the fear of it Couldn&039;t sleep for the cries of her son inside her head Calling her Calling her

But she&039;d gone to the voodoo queen, she ree She&039;d paid for both with the ruby bracelet Reginald had once given her The stones shaped like bloody hearts against the icy glitter of diaris she kept under her pillow, and in a silk bag over her heart She&039;d paid, and dearly, for the raising spell A spell that had failed

Because her child lived This was the knowledge the voodoo queen had given her, and it orth more than ten thousand rubies

Her child lived, he lived, and now he ed

Reginald must find him, must pay whatever needed to be paid

Careful, careful, she warned herself as she felt the screa at her throat He would only believe her if she remained calm He would only heed her if she were beautiful

Beauty seduced men With beauty and charm, a woman could have whatever she wanted

She turned to the race She didn&039;t see that the red gown sagged at the breasts, bagged at the hips, and turned her pale skin a sallow yellow The ht eyes, and the harshly rouged cheeks, but her eyes, Amelia&039;s eyes, sahat she had once been

Young and beautiful, desirable and sly

So she went downstairs to wait for her lover, and under her breath, she sang

"Lavender&039;s blue, dilly, dilly Lavender&039;s green"

In the parlor a fire was burning, and the gaslight was lit So the servants would be careful, too, she thought with a tight smile They knew the s