Laced with Poison Read Online Free Page A

all the doctors were busy in the emergency
     room. None of them was paying much attention to what was happening in labor and delivery.
     Rose had an idea. She decided to switch the babies.”
    Here the women gasped again, and even Crystal was silent.
    “Rose gave the rich woman the other woman’s baby to raise it as her own.”
    “Was it a boy or girl?” an older woman with fading red hair called out.
    “According to Rose, it was a boy,” Jessica said with a look of triumph on her face.
     “I’d say that little baby sure lucked out.”
    Marjorie Porter’s laugh rang out loud and clear. She was wearing a perfectly tailored
     suit that was obviously expensive but also very subdued. Marjorie came from the sort
     of old Southern wealth that felt showing off was for the lower classes. “Honestly,”
     she said in condescending tones, “you don’t believe every single thing someone tells
     you, do you? Don’t you think the old nurse must be demented and made the whole thing
     up?” She looked around the room for approval. “I mean, who would do such a thing?
     It was probably something she saw on television.”

STUNNED silence greeted Marjorie’s pronouncement, then everyone began talking at once.
     Deirdre went from group to group urging everyone into the dining room where the food
     had been set out.
    Emma felt a prickle of envy when she saw Deirdre’s dining room, but then she reminded
     herself that she was perfectly content where she was in her little apartment over
     Sweet Nothings with its darling window seat and view of Washington Street below. If
     she and Brian O’Connell got married, she doubted they would be able to afford anything
     so lavish as the house Deirdre lived in, but with Brian’s architectural knowledge
     and carpentry skills, they would certainly be able to create a nice home.
    A blush crept up Emma’s neck to her face. Here she was fantasizing about marrying
     Brian when they’d barely begun dating. She knew he was beginning to see her as girlfriendmaterial, but he needed time to heal from a failed engagement that had left him scarred
     and somewhat wary.
    Emma glanced around the dining room admiring the beautiful carved marble fireplace,
     the arched windows partially concealed behind plantation shutters and the exquisite
     antique dining table and chairs.
    The caterer, Lucy Monroe, had created a gorgeous spread for the occasion with her
     famous cheese straws taking pride of place. She was one of Emma’s mother’s oldest
     friends. Emma had grown up knowing her as Aunt Lucy, and no Taylor occasion had been
     complete without some goodies created by Lucy. Emma took one of the small plates Deirdre
     had set out and helped herself to an assortment of hors d’oeuvres. She had just taken
     a bite of a deliciously light mille-feuille wrapped around some kind of mushroom mixture
     when Jessica came up to her.
    Jessica’s face was the picture of dissatisfaction—brows lowered threateningly, mouth
     turned down and eyes narrowed. “How dare that woman! Who does she think she is.” She
     glared at Emma as if Marjorie’s outburst had been her fault. “Just who is she anyway?”
    “Marjorie Porter,” Emma mumbled around the bit of pastry in her mouth. She swallowed
     quickly. “Our hostess’s mother-in-law. She’s the heir to the Davenport fortune.”
    Jessica wrinkled her brow. “Why does that sound familiar?”
    “After the Mitchums started the Paris Toilet Company and created the antiperspirant,
     which they named Mitchum after themselves, the Davenports started a line of bleaching
     creams that made them almost but not quite as much money,” Emma explained.
    Jessica snorted. “Still doesn’t give her the right to browbeat other people. I feel
     sorry for poor Deirdre having
that
woman as a mother-in-law. Deirdre and I were sorority sisters—did I tell you?”
    “Yes.”
    “Phi Mu. My mother was a Phi Mu and her mother before her. I always knew I would join
     as