“Stop keeping secrets from me. You didn’t tell me that you saved my life, you sure as hell never told me that you’re a damn genius, and you didn’t tell me you’re pregnant.”
“What!” She tried to sit up in bed, only to fall back when she couldn’t contain the laughter erupting from her chest. “I only told her that to give her the will to live,” she tried to excuse the lie she’d told.
Cash wasn’t going to let her off that easily. “Mag has told anyone who will listen that she’s expecting her first great-grandchild.”
“You have to stop her. If my brothers hear that rumor, they’ll kill you.”
Seeing she was getting upset, he decided to ease her worry. “I’ll talk to her,” he assured her. “In a couple of days,” he clarified. “We don’t want to set her recovery back, do we?”
“No, I don’t want to do that,” she said suspiciously.
“Good. That’s settled, then.”
“Do they know what happened to Mag? Was it another stroke?”
“No, it wasn’t a stroke or her heart. She was poisoned.”
“Food poisoning?”
“No, not food poisoning. I wrote down what it was called.” Cash took the piece of paper out of his pocket and tried to say the large name. Giving up trying to pronounce it, he instead gave her the paper.
Rachel looked down at the paper, turning deathly white.
“What’s wrong?” Cash’s hand went to ring for the nurse, but she placed a hand over his.
“Cash, did they tell you what this was?” she asked shakily.
“No. I haven’t had time to check it out; I’ve been with you.”
“It means species unknown.”
“Well, I knew that much. The closest they could come to was the family it belonged to.”
Her voice went low. “This is the plant I’ve been working with…”
“Could she have been poisoned from touching it?”
“No, it had to be ingested. I don’t understand. I only found that plant in one spot on the mountain by a small creek that gets runoff. No one goes there but me. I brought back some of the plants to use on my experiment, but they are all at Mag’s house. All five…” Her voice broke off sharply.
“What?”
“A few weeks back, I went into the sunroom and a few plants were missing. There was a broken pot. I thought Mag had broken it and cleaned it up. I didn’t check with her. Oh, God, Cash. I should have asked her, but I didn’t think to. There aren’t any small children around and—”
“When did the plants disappear?”
“I don’t remember… Maybe the day you were working on your truck outside, and you came in without your shirt on?”
Cash smiled at what she had remembered about that day. It wasn’t all he remembered, though. “That was the day Pastor Patterson and Brooke were there.”
“Are you saying Pastor Patterson tried to poison Mag?”
“Not Pastor Patterson, Brooke. I think Brooke tried to poison Lily.”
“How would she even know it was poisonous?”
Cash thought a moment, “Does that notebook your always writing in tell that it’s poisonous?”
“Yes.” Rachel whispered. “I always write down everything in that notebook.” She remembered back to that day, Brooke had stayed away from the table for an extended length of time.
“Why would Brooke try to poison Lily? She doesn’t like us, but I don’t think she would try to kill one of us.”
Brooke was a mother, for God’s sake. What kind of person would do what Cash was suggesting?
Cash remained quiet.
“I see. I’m not supposed to keep secrets from you, but it’s okay to keep them from me.” Rachel turned her head on the pillow, hurt.
She heard a loud sigh before Cash answered, “Shade and Brooke knew each other from high school. From what I understand, she has an obsession with him. She hurt Evie in the past because she resented her close relationship with him.”
“Brooke hurt Evie?”
“Yes, they’re sisters. Evie no longer has a relationship with her because of her sister’s destructive behavior.”
“That’s why she switched churches,” Rachel mused.
“Yes. This is confidential, what I’m telling you. Shade is a very private person.”
“I won’t say anything. Thank you for telling me,” she said sincerely, feeling terrible she had made him break a confidence.
Cash squeezed her hand. “The doctor said he’ll release you in the morning.”
“I have to stay the night?” she complained.
“Yes. Now lie back and get some sleep.” She wanted to argue with him, but she was tired, already closing her eyes.
“Cash?”
“Yeah?”
“Will you stay?”
“I’m not going anywhere, Rachel.”
*
When Cash opened Rachel’s hospital door, Shade was waiting on the other side.
“You got my text,” Cash stated.
“Yes. You sure Brooke is the one responsible?”
“We have no concrete proof of the poisoning other than she was there the day the plants disappeared from Mag’s house, but I found the motel her and Lewis were using. She was manipulating the stupid bastard.”
“She’s an expert at that.”
Shade’s grim visage had Cash questioning him.