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Author's Chapter Notes:
This chapter is dedicated to Lacey. I know your birthday is tomorrow, but I hope you don’t mind that the chapter is posted a day early. Happy Birthday, honey!



Thank you, Debbie, Devin, Amelia-Jane, Kimber, jt, DaniD, Klai, lys and Vette, for reviewing. I’m happy that you’re all enjoying the story. And of course, to MarzBar, for betaing this chapter for me.



Nance is a tropical fruit that grows in trees in Mexico and Central America. In my country, it is said that if the fruit is boiled with water and then a woman takes ‘baños de asiento’ (sitting baths) in that water, the way you’ll read in the chapter, it’s supposed to have the property of contracting the vaginal walls, so it would make it seem as if the girl is still a virgin on her wedding night.
Chapter 28

Tegua’s cottage, the next day, at noon

“I don’t think I can endure three days of this, let alone three months. Tegua, there has to be some other way?” Aimée whined, as she took the heavy shawl off her head. “You know money won’t be an obstacle once I am Angel De Alcazar’s wife.”

“Girl, you should have thought of that before losing your virginity to a man that was not your husband, shouldn’t you? This is not a matter of money, anyway. I can help you, but if you are not willing to follow my instructions, the door is right there.” Tegua had to bite the inside of her cheek to stop a chuckle when Aimée didn’t even try to move. This was the most fun the curandera had had in ages and this girl was truly crazy if she thought she’d trade it for a little more money, the girl was already whining and all she’d done was walk under the noon sun, she couldn’t wait to find out how she would react when she found out what the treatment entailed.

“All right then, take off your undergarments, there’s no need to remove your other clothes, and then stand by that basin,” Tegua pointed to a corner of the room, as she walked over to the stove, where she removed a pot from the heat and then brought it to where Aimée stood. “Let me warn you before we begin that if for some reason you discontinue the treatment or do not follow each and everyone of my instructions, it won’t work. So, don’t come crying to me afterwards because you will regret it.”

“Are you threatening me?” Aimée said, disbelievingly. How dare this woman treat her like this? Argh, if she didn’t need her help at the moment, she’d make her eat her words!

“Threatening you? Oh, please, girl, Tegua doesn’t threaten, but if you make me waste my precious time…well, you’ll see what will happen to you then,” the curandera replied, a malicious smile drawing in her face as she stared at Aimée intently.

Aimée tried to contain the shiver of pure fear that ran down her spine when she saw that smile. What was she getting into here? Was it worth it? ‘Don’t be a fool, Aimée, of course it’s worth it,’ a voice that seemed to surge from deep within her responded. ‘Anything you have to go through is worth it if in the end you become Mistress of Campo Real and everyone realizes you are the most valuable of the Summers sisters, as if there should be any doubt about that.’

Knowing that she didn’t have any other options, at least for the moment, Aimée nodded her understanding, resigned to the idea that she would have to do things as Tegua said or else she could say good-bye to her dreams of grandeur. There wasn’t anything she wasn’t willing to do to avoid ridicule or being looked down on by her perfect sister.

‘Oh, dear God, this has been just too easy,’ Tegua thought, smiling inwardly as she poured the yellowish water from the pot into the basin and motioned Aimée to sit.

Aimée sent her another pleading gaze, before sighing heavily as she sat on the basin. The water was almost scalding hot and oh, God, what was that feeling? “W-what’s this?” she asked shakily, afraid of what the answer would be.

“Oh, it’s just nance’s water,” Tegua replied.

“S-should it be this h-hot?”

“It has to be hot or it won’t work and you want it to work, don’t you?”

Aimée nodded. “Hmm, what’s t-the tingly feeling?”

“Oh, it just means it is working, nothing to worry about. I should tell you that the treatment works best if you’re concentrating on what you want in the meantime and not talking,” Tegua said off-handedly as she walked back to the stove.

Aimée followed the woman’s movements on the kitchen; apprehension filling her as the tingly feeling seemed to spread to her whole body. Oh, God, what had she gotten herself into?

Tegua had always found it hard to believe that there could be girls that thought they were entitled to anything just because they were beautiful, that didn’t care whom they might hurt to get what they wanted, and that didn’t think of the consequences of their actions until it was too late. But she had the living proof in her house now. She almost felt sorry for the girl. Almost. She was in for a very rude awakening when she realized that beauty by itself was nothing but an empty shell and that a woman needed much more than that to be considered worthy.

She gave infinite thanks to the heavens that William had given up on the idea of marrying this girl, not that that marriage would ever had come to fruition, but it would have made things much worse than they were going to be. As it was, she still wasn’t sure of how their involvement would affect future events. So in the meantime she could just hope for the best for her darling boy and have a little fun with a girl that deserved all that was coming to her.

* ~ * ~ *

Two weeks later

“You can’t do this to me, not after all I’ve done for you!” Snyder yelled.

“You have to understand, Mr. Snyder, that this is not my decision to make. My son is the one making all the decisions now and he decided he’s going to take care of the Campo Real’s administration. However, he said you can remain in the hacienda as First Foreman, with the same salary you’ve been earning until now, of course,” Darla replied, trying to appease the irate man the best that she could. Angel hadn’t said anything about his salary, but she was willing to pay him from her own purse if needed and well, there was no need to tell him about William, yet. After all, many things could happen in three months and hopefully one of those would be that her husband’s bastard would never set foot in Campo Real again.

“Oh, no, doña Darla, that’s not the way things work. I’m privy to many things that I’m sure you wouldn’t like your son to know, so if you want me to keep quiet…well, I think doubling my salary and handing me the deed to that very nice piece of land near the eastern pastures I’ve had my eye on for a while, might be a good start for all the inconveniences I’m being subjected to, don’t you think?” The man smiled evilly, knowing that there was no way that doña Darla would refuse. “You don’t need to answer me now, doña Darla, I can wait up until your son’s wedding; after that, well...” He shrugged. “After that I’ll tell your precious son all I know about you. Good morning, doña Darla.”

As soon as the man left the study, Darla sat on the chair in front of the desk, feeling completely defeated. There was no way that she could comply with Snyder’s request for the deed to that land. Angel would never agree. Oh, God, what was she going to do now? She knew that Snyder was not a man whose threats should be taken lightly and even if it would be his word against hers, there was still the matter of the damned letter that Rodrigo had left. If only she could find it, but she didn’t have the slightest idea where to start looking.

Precisely at that moment, someone knocked on the study door. “Come in,” Darla called and a few seconds after a brunette girl holding a tray entered the room.

“Good morning, doña Darla. I brought your morning tea.”

Cordelia Chase, Snyder’s niece, how could she forget about her? Things might still work for her. Who better to help her find the letter than someone that had access to her uncle’s room without anyone suspecting of her? “Oh, Cordelia, I’m so glad you’re here,” Darla smiled for what had to be the first time that day. “I wanted to talk to you about that position of lady-in-waiting you were asking me about the other day.

The girl entered the room, hope blossoming in her chest. She couldn’t believe her good fortune. Finally, after so many years of asking, doña Darla had decided to give her the opportunity to prove herself. And if by doing that, she could be closer to Angel De Alcazar, well, that was just a bonus. If only he weren’t getting married.

“I’ve been thinking that with all the preparations for my son’s upcoming nuptials, I might be in need of your services full-time,” Darla said smiling. “I need someone I can be sure I can trust and that is completely loyal to me. Do you think you would be interested in the post?”

“Oh, doña Darla, of course I’ll be interested. I don’t know how to thank you. You won’t regret giving me this chance, I promise,” Cordelia said.

“I hope you know that as my lady-in-waiting I expect you to swear full allegiance to me, not your uncle or my son or anyone else for that matter, is that clear?”

“Of course, doña Darla,” the girl replied. “You don’t need to worry about that. I don’t know how I could ever repay you for giving me this opportunity.”

“Oh, don’t worry about that, Cordelia, I’m sure we’ll be able to figure something out eventually,” Darla said with a saccharine smile. She knew exactly how this girl was going to pay her for the favor.

tbc

I’m sorry for the lack of Spuffy in this chapter, but I didn’t want to leave you with a cliffhanger. I’m not sure if I’ll have time to write this weekend, since my birthday is on Monday and I’ll probably be very busy. I promise I’ll try to update by next Wednesday or Thursday.





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