AS WE APPROACHED, I saw Jane pacing nervously outside Momma’s door.

“What happened?” I asked, rushing ahead of Suzanna.

Jane’s dark eyes overflowed with tears, leaving her cheeks damp. “Oh, Miss Alex, she was talking. She was good… so good.” She reached for my hands. “And then she got upset. She wanted to talk to you. I didn’t know you was coming. She pulled at her IVs. Alarms and lights. They all came running in… They gave her more medicine.”

“She was talking?”

Jane nodded. “Yes. I told her you were here. She thought she’d dreamed you.” A hint of a smile blossomed behind her sadness. “I told her that you was real. You are.”

“What’s this all about?” Suzanna asked, coming up to us.

Jane stood taller and wiped her cheeks.

“Momma was awake and talking,” I explained.

“And you’re upset? Why? Why aren’t we in there? What did she say?”

Jane turned toward her. “She asked questions.”

“What questions?”

“She asked who visited her.”

“Oh, Jane…” I said. “She’s going to be better.”

Jane nodded hopefully.

“What did she remember?” Suzanna asked. “Was she hallucinating?”

I turned. “Why would you assume she was hallucinating?”

“Dear, I’m not assuming. I know how delusional she’d been.”

Jane spoke to me. “Miss Collins, whatever they gave her knocked her out real fast. I’m worried it’s hurting her.”

I looked past her into the room. There were three people standing around her bed. “I’ll find out.”

Suzanna reached for my arm. “They are doctors and nurses. I’d assume they know more about her care than a maid.”

“Excuse me?”

“What?”

“Suzanna, thank you for coming here with me. I’d like some privacy as I speak to Momma’s doctors.”

“I didn’t come with you. You wouldn’t be here without me.” She adjusted the purse hanging from her wrist and turned back to Jane. “Why are you here? Do you not have enough work at the manor to keep you busy?”

“She has plenty of work. I asked her to come here. Momma asked for her.”

“She asked for you?” Suzanna asked, her nose wrinkling on the last word.

“Yes, ma’am, she did. Miss Collins, you let me know what I can do for your momma.”

I reached for her hand. “Jane, come with me to talk to the doctors. You were there. You can tell them what happened.” I turned to Suzanna. “Be a dear…” My tone dripped with sugar, sweeter than Southern sweet tea. “…give us a minute. There’s a beautiful courtyard. If you go and have a seat, I’ll have a nice cup of coffee sent out there. Once we know what’s happening, I’ll come get you.”

“Bryce would not be pleased.”

My eyes opened wide and hands flew to my chest. “I’d hope not! I’m sure someone as empathetic as your son would be devastated that my momma was on the edge of recovery and took a downward spiral.” I leaned closer. “That is what you meant? Wasn’t it?”

“Well…”

I waved to a man in an all-white uniform. “Sir, could you please get my future mother-in-law a cup of coffee with cream and two sugars? She’ll be in the courtyard.”

“Yes, ma’am.” He turned to Suzanna. “May I show you the way?”

Her chin lifted. “Alexandria, I’ll be back in ten minutes.”

“I can’t wait.”

I reached for Jane’s hand and tugged her into Momma’s room. The bottom of the door scraped against the floor as it opened.

“I told you—” A man spoke without turning.

I stood taller. “Excuse me. Are you speaking to me?”

The man spun. “Oh, Miss Collins…”

“What happened?”

“Your mother had another incident. We had to medicate her.”

“Have you tried to find out exactly what happened?”

“She was talking,” Jane volunteered.

“We don’t need to ask. Your mother is closely monitored. The alarms told us all we needed to know.”

I took a step forward and gasped at the ties once again around her wrists. “Undo those restraints. What is your problem?”

“She was trying to remove her IVs. You don’t seem to understand that these are for her own good.”

“She is unconscious. Remove them now. I’ll sit with her and assure her compliance.”

“Ma’am, with the amount of medication she was given, she won’t be regaining consciousness for quite a while.”

My skin tingled as the incompetency unraveled my last nerve. “Then remove the restraints now.”

I looked at Jane as the male nurse begrudgingly released the Velcro restraints. Immediately, we both rushed to her sides and massaged her wrists. “Is there anything else you need to do to help her?” I asked indignantly.

“No, I’m just being sure…”

“We have it covered.”

“Ma’am?”

“Go. Tell Dr. Miller I want to speak to him and let my future mother-in-law in the courtyard know that plans have changed. I need to stay here until Dr. Miller arrives.”

“Ma’am, the doctor isn’t scheduled to be here until later this afternoon.”

I pulled a chair beside Momma’s bed. “Not a problem. I’ll wait.”

Once we were alone, Jane leaned close. “Child, I can stay.”

“We can both stay.”

“What about the party?”

“The guests don’t arrive until six. I’ll be back by then.”

“I thought you said Mr. Spencer wasn’t going to let you come here today?”

“I’m here. He wants me over at Carmichael Hall.”

Jane grinned. “But you’re staying here?”

“Yes, Jane. I am.”

Her smile broadened.

The news didn’t go over as well with Suzanna.

As she entered the room, it was obvious that it was her first visit. Her hand flew to her lips as she took in my momma, the bed, and the monitors. “Oh…”

Her feigned show of sensitivity didn’t move me, nor did her list of reasons that I needed to return to Carmichael Hall. Though I knew my decision would come back to haunt me, I stood my ground.

“Something significant happened. I can’t play nice at the party without knowing the doctor’s thoughts.”

Even while on phone calls with Bryce and Alton, I didn’t falter.

“Jane, I do have one favor.”

“Anything.”

“Can you do anything to get Chelsea away from Montague Manor until closer to the party?”

Her gaze narrowed, but she didn’t question. Jane had been at Montague too long. A moment later I heard her make a call. I wasn’t sure to whom she spoke, but once she was done, she turned to me.

“Miss Moore will be busy today. She’s going to help organize the deliveries. We’ve got a mighty big party happening and we need everyone’s help.”

“Will she still be at the manor?”

“No, Miss Alex. Miss Moore will be all over Savannah confirming the suppliers. It would’ve been me, but I’m busy.”

I took a deep breath. “Thank you.”

Once I’d upset everyone, I settled next to Momma on one side of her bed and Jane on the other. Even with the steady beeps of the monitors, cold room, and blind-covered window, it was the most relaxed I’d been since I arrived. I was with the only two people who cared for me—and whom I cared for—at Montague Manor.

“Was she really coherent?” I asked, keeping my voice low.

“She was,” Jane whispered. “The other day, while I was out working with suppliers for the party, I stopped by Dr. Beck’s office.”

“You did?”

She nodded. “I don’t know if it good or bad. The test… it didn’t show any poisonous metals. He thought with the old house, maybe lead, but no. Everything show that the medicine in her… it was what he prescribed her.”

My heart sank. “So she did overdose?”

“I don’t think it’s that simple. I told Dr. Beck, just like I told you: she didn’t have the pills. I did. I still have them. Dr. Beck didn’t give her more. The medicine they found in her with those tests was the same as what he’d prescribed. I just don’t think it was hers.”

“What about her preventive medication? They say she stopped taking it.”

Jane shook her head. “She took it every day. I know what they say, but many mornings I watched her take it, even after she start having problems. I made sure she took it. I don’t understand why…”

I took a deep breath, letting Jane’s words penetrate my thoughts. Alton was a fucking genius. It was the perfect overdose: slip Momma more of the medicine she already took—a lot more.

After he and I had met with Dr. Miller, the minute I had my school-approved tablet, I’d looked up the side effects of opioids: headaches, dizziness, vomiting. Essentially, too much Vicodin and Momma would think she was having a migraine. Increase the dosage and get the added benefits of anxiety, shakiness, and erratic behavior. Combine that with alcohol, another depressant… memory and sleeping issues. Take away her preventive headache medicine. It was the perfect storm.

“This morning, was she really that out of control? Did they need to subdue her?”

“I’ve seen your momma more upset, a lot more. If they let me, I would have talked to her. She just wanted you.”

Her words gripped my chest, squeezing my heart. “I-I…”

Jane reached for my hand. “She needs us.”

“I’m trying.”

“Is it wrong,” Jane asked, “that I’m worried about her, more worried about her here?”

I swallowed. “No. I am too.”

I wasn’t sure how Nox’s people planned to help my mother and get her out of here, but with each passing minute, I was thankful they were. I was also worried that they wouldn’t succeed. Looking at my momma, I feared that if they failed, she was out of options.