Glittering Promises by Lisa T. Bergren Read Free Book Online Page A

letters: CORA DIEHL KENSINGTON, ALAN AND ALMA DIEHL.
    I looked to Will, and he said, “Cora, how can you say no? You will find your way.” He waved at my father and me.
    “So that’s it? The papers are all drawn up?” I asked.
    “They are,” my father said, sliding the rest of the papers from his side of the table to mine. “They’re in Italian, for expedience, and will be translated into English once we return. I’ll leave you with Will, who can translate for you, and you may ask any question that arises as you go through the documents with these fine gentlemen. Summon me when you are ready to discuss it.”
    He turned to leave.
    “Father,” I called. He slowly turned around, waiting on me. “There is one other stipulation.”
    He paused. “Stipulation?” he asked, enunciating each syllable.
    “I want you to forgive all of the McCabe debts.” I said it quickly, before I lost my nerve, knowing I was pressing my luck.
    “Cora, I—” Will sputtered.
    “No,” I said, looking to him and continuing to speak to him even as I turned toward my father. “He has been using that to keep us apart. If he’s honest in this endeavor to move forward in a spirit of reconciliation, it shall be no skin off his nose to release you from what was never your burden to bear in the first place.” I took a breath, knowing I was pushing into dangerous territory. “Do it as an act of good faith, Father. If you are truly to treat me as a partner, don’t sour that relationship by holding the man I love over a fire he can’t hope to escape. It was Stuart’s debt, not his. You lost in that gamble.”
    “Cora, I—” Will tried to interrupt.
    But I was emboldened, feeling the power unfold within me. This was the right thing to do. The honorable thing to do. And I would see it done. “Please. Release Will from his bonds, Father. And honor what you agreed to pay him, if he completes his task as the bear of this tour. Despite what you think about our relationship, he has served our group well in leading us.”
    My father’s eyes narrowed, and he sniffed, then readjusted his hands over the glass knob of his cane. I reminded myself to breathe. I couldn’t portray every confidence in my entreaty if I fainted dead away.
    “Very well,” he said at last. “But anything of Stuart McCabe’s of value, including his apartment, goes against the debt,” he said to Will, drawing himself up straighter. “Men may accuse me of generosity, but never of stupidity.”
    “That’s fair,” Will breathed.
    With that, my father turned on his heel and left the room. The banker and lawyer looked from his departing back to us, waiting expectantly.
    “ Un momento ,” Will said to them, holding up a finger and turning toward me with a smile.
    I looked up at him in delight, wondering if this day could possibly become any more miraculous. He gazed down at me with wonder. “Oh, you marvelous girl, you. Did you just manage to do what I believe you have?”
    “I think so,” I said with a nod, taking his hands in mine and squeezing.
    He shook his head in awe and then reluctantly let go of one of my hands to lift the pages of the agreement. “I’ve glanced through them already. I’ll translate every word for you so you can judge for yourself. But if you sign those, what your father said was true. You are about to become the wealthiest woman in America.”

CHAPTER 6
    ~Wallace~
    “It is outrageous,” Andrew thundered in the library, pacing before the cold fireplace. “You’ve given a girl—a girl that knows not the first thing about business—control of the Dunnigan mine? Are you mad?”
    “Watch your words, Andrew,” Morgan said.
    But Andrew ignored his father, swearing under his breath and shaking his head. “I have an MBA from Harvard ,” he spat out. “All these years, you two have bred me to believe that if I sowed the right seeds, married the right girl,” he said meaningfully, “the combined family fortunes would be managed by