Phoenix Golding lay on the bed, utterly drained. Her wounds had become inflamed and were healing slowly in the heat. Meanwhile, Vernon Spann was off enjoying himself, and Jacqueline Spann pretended not to see, ignoring her completely. Phoenix didn't even have the strength to curse.
All Ulysses Spann did was cry, completely useless. Phoenix Golding was both furious and worried that her young son would suffer. Her inner turmoil made things worse, and her fever refused to break for days. She had wasted away, becoming a shadow of her former self.
Fortunately, she still had her mother. Her mother would sneak over behind her father's back to clean her wounds and brew some herbal remedies for her. It was a miracle she survived. The fever eventually broke, but she was left profoundly weak. The ordeal had taken a serious toll on her, and it would likely take half a year for her to recover.
