Glamorous Illusions Read Online Free Page A

inexplicably sad to let it go. I shook the necklace in frustration. It felt foolish to be so attached to a thing. But it’d been such a sweet surprise, such a fun mystery… I’d spent nights dreaming that there was some wealthy, distant relative, and we would be his beneficiaries when he passed on, bestowed with a fine house, fine clothes, fine carriage…
    I took a long, deep breath. I was no longer a mindless adolescent, dreaming of escape. I was an adult. Life was good, but harsh and demanding, too. I snapped the hinged box shut and rose. Quickly, I wrapped it in a handkerchief and tucked it under my arm, flinging aside my curtain. Mama was back at the east window, watching Papa. “I’ll be back soon,” I said.
    She didn’t turn. She didn’t respond at all. Even though I assumed she knew exactly what I was about to do.

    The bell on the mercantile door tinkled as I walked in, and Mr. Donnelly looked over his spectacles at me from across the counter. “Well, if it isn’t the other lovely Diehl. To what pleasure do I owe having both of you come to call in one day?”
    I grinned and pretended ignorance. “Papa’s been in already too?”
    Mr. Donnelly chuckled. “Now Alan’s a handsome man, but…” He lifted a brow, and then the merriment left his face. “How is he today, Cora?”
    â€œStubborn as an ox.” I glanced around, making sure we were alone in the store. “But he seems to be stuck in a corral he can’t escape.”
    â€œOh?”
    â€œWe need to get our spring wheat in the ground. I’m guessing we can’t do that because Papa hasn’t been able to pay his bill to you.”
    The man’s eyes held a weary mix of regret and guilt and frustration. “You know it wouldn’t be right to discuss that with you, Cora,” he said.
    â€œI understand. Then I wondered if I might pay down his bill with this.” I pulled the box from under my arm and unwrapped it on the sleek, shiny wooden counter.
    He whistled lowly. “Jasper’s, huh?” He pulled it closer and flipped open the lid. He cocked his head and then turned so the necklace sparkled in the light from the front windows. “My, my,” he mumbled, lifting the pearls to his teeth to test if they were real. “My, my.” He turned back to me. “Where did this beauty come from?”
    I shrugged my shoulders. “Jasper’s, New York, just as it says on the box. I know nothing more than that. It showed up on my sixteenth birthday, with no return address. I never found out more.”
    â€œWell, it’s a treasure, to be sure. If we lived in Butte or Billings, I’d gladly take it off your hands but—”
    â€œPlease, Mr. Donnelly,” I pleaded, desperate now. “It’s our only hope. If we don’t get this crop in the ground, if there’s not another harvest, we’ll lose the farm. I won’t be able to get back to school and finish my credential, to say nothing of Mama and Papa’s struggle. Please.”
    He was staring at the necklace, thinking. I knew I’d pushed him into an uncomfortable corner. But I had no choice.
    â€œPlease,” I whispered.
    He turned miserable eyes up to me. “Cora, honey, there’s not a farmer on this side of the mountains who will turn in a cash crop this year. It’s just been too dry. They’ll all be busting their backs, trying to break even. But your folks…”
    He couldn’t say more, but I understood what he meant. They were so behind with the new mortgage on the farm, they didn’t have a prayer of breaking even. It was the farmer’s cycle—go into debt all year, pay it off come fall harvest, begin again. But Papa was in deeper. Because of me and my schooling. Which explained my father’s morose behavior.
    â€œTake it, then,” I begged. “Apply its value to his debt.”
    â€œI