Page 13 of An Immaculate Deception

The most puzzling part of it is the vanity. A wood and leather jewelry box sits on it, with delicate bronze handles. Beside it, a handmade small cedar box and a bell-shaped perfume bottle.

I now know what bothers me about this room. It carries the unmistakable imprint of a woman’s presence. The vanity, the jewels, the bed that’s big enough for two, with its soft, lovely sheets that are nicer than those of the room he put me in. I go to it and run my hand over the sheets.

It’s not warm.

Of course it isn’t. It’s room temperature. How silly of me. And yet…

I look around, searching, and then I catch it: a sweet fragrance in the air. I pick up the perfume and spray a small amount onto my wrist. Lavender with notes of vanilla and rose.

A cold feeling slips down my spine. I think about how Leandro always visits me, or we meet in town. How he told me not to visit him here yet, saying the Fazenda Santa Tereza was still in rough shape and that as soon as renovations were further along, it would be suitable to receive guests.

And now, circumstances have conspired to bring me here against his design.

Is there a woman living here with him, at the fazenda? If not living here outright, then perhaps someone who visits a lot?

A woman Leandro has kept secret from me?

Someone who comes so often that she left her belongings here and infused her scent into the room, left invisible marks on the bed?

Could that be why he looked so out of sorts when he first saw me here upon my waking? Because he knew his secret would be discovered?

Could that be why he hasn’t proposed yet? Because he loves someone else?

A wave of unease suddenly spills over me. A deep ache shudders through my muscles from my backside up to my neck, and I squeeze my eyes shut. Chills climb up my spine and my insides go cold. A dizzy spell, a weakness, takes over my body and my knees buckle.

The perfume bottle slips from my hand. It crashes with a loud clatter, and dark liquid pools at my feet. The pungent odor sucks all air out of my lungs, so potent as to sear my nostrils and make me dizzy to the bone. Like the sour fumes of the marshy River Styx, where mud-caked sinners rip one another to vicious tatters in the foam. My vision blurs and the world spins. I step forward to steady myself against the vanity, but my heel slides in the slick pool beneath and the floor caves. I throw out my arms and hit something on the way down. A sea of gold and silver glimmers about me as I fall. A tangled cry escapes my throat.

7

Leandro finds me on all fours, surrounded by scattered jewels, broken glass, and a pool of liquid, as I attempt to escape the nauseating miasma.

He rushes to my aid. My mind has righted itself: Up is up, down is down. The dizziness, muscle pain, and vertigo are gone. But the nauseating scent still sours my gut. I take in the awful mess I’ve made. There’s glass everywhere, a spreading pool of liquid, and scattered jewels. As I fell, I knocked over the jewelry case and it hit the floor, spreading its contents all over: opal and ruby earrings, silver bracelets, a pearl necklace. I am appalled.

“Are you unwell?” Leandro asks, wide-eyed, as I try to collect myself.

The housekeeper hovers in the corridor behind him, hand to heart. Aside from the mess I made, the room is in order. The bed is made, the lace curtains are pulled neatly aside with a black trim. The only disordered element is me.

“I apologize. I came in here for a moment, then felt faint, and accidentally knocked over the jewelry box and perfume bottle. Must be the…”

Pregnancy. My sensitivity to smell must be because of the pregnancy. The muscle pain and backache were the same as when I woke up from the carriage accident. Doctor Lobo said these aches are to be expected for the next few days.

“There’s nothing to be sorry for, sinhá,” the housekeeper says. “It’s normal to feel faint on a hot day like today. Let me get you a little sugar water, it’ll sort you right out.”

She disappears into the corridor with bouncy steps, leaving me alone with Leandro.

“Why…” Leandro starts, “why did you come in here?”

I explain that I was looking for a mirror and the perfume scent made me ill at ease. I feel much better once we’re in the corridor and he has shut the door of the room. There was a palpable, heavy presence in that room.

“Has your discomfort passed now?” Leandro asks.

“Yes, mostly.”

“At any rate, we must tell Doctor Lobo about it.”

“Yes,” I say, not because of me so much, but because of the baby. Doctor Lobo said there should be no concern, but each bout of unease, each pulse of pain renews my fear: Is the baby also feeling unwell?

“Leandro.” I place my hand gently on his arm and he stills. We’re now at the top of the stairs that lead to the first floor. “Those jewels, the perfume.” I make my voice as soft as possible, so as to not sound accusatory. “I was wondering who they belong to?”