Chapter 63

But it didn't matter that Yvonne refused to eat any of the food Xyla had piled on her plate. After all, she did help herself to the dishes all the same. All Xyla had to do was wait for the Hortons and Yvonne to show signs of nitrite poisoning. Wendy silently observed Xyla's gestures. As it turned out, things were playing out exactly like she had expected. She didn't understand Xyla's motive. The Hortons might have doted on the original Wendy, but they were generous toward Xyla as well. There was no reason the latter should harbor such a grudge against good and kind people like them. "Wendy, have something other than vegetables." Jacob was in the middle of a conversation with Sandra when he noticed Wendy had not helped herself to the braised beef despite having slaved away in the kitchen for this meal. He gave her a piece in silent prompting. "No, thank you, Mr. Horton. I'm not a huge fan of beef," Wendy said, shaking her head. She had endured the relentless summer heat to cook up