Lost Daughters Read Online Free PDF Page B

felt.

CHAPTER 4
    M ONA CAME TO VISIT THE DAY AFTER THE PAGEANT TO SHOW OFF THE crown she’d won and to invite Loretta to spend that Sunday afternoon at the mall with her to help her spend the two-hundred-dollar first prize.
    Even in makeup, a hairpiece, and a cute blue denim dress, Mona was still an absolute plain-Jane. Loretta gave her best friend a hug and congratulated her, and eagerly accepted her invitation to go shopping. That made Maureen feel better, but Loretta was still angry.
    Mona treated Loretta to a steak and lobster lunch and bought her the latest Prince CD, but even those generous gestures didn’t make Loretta feel much better. She couldn’t stand the thought of another female, no matter who that other female was, getting what she wanted. When Loretta returned from the mall with a scowl on her face and went straight to her room to sulk in private, Maureen assumed she was still upset.
    Maureen waited a few minutes and then she went to Loretta’s room and cracked open the door. Loretta was lying on her bed with her face buried in her pillow. Maureen couldn’t stand to see her baby hurting, so she racked her brain for something to say that might help ease her pain. “This is probably the only time any of those girls will ever be in a pageant. Someday you’ll be so rich and famous everybody will be fightin’ over you. You’ll be on top of the world, but those other girls will just be housewives sittin’ on a porch with a cat,” Maureen offered. “Mona will never win another beauty contest, so she deserved to win this one. At least she was nice enough to let you help her enjoy her prize money. Don’t forget, you thought that this pageant was just a creep-show anyway.”
    A few moments passed before Loretta sat up and faced Maureen. She had been crying. She sniffed and wiped a trail of tears off her face with the tail of her pillowcase. “You really think I’ll be rich and famous someday, Mama?” Her voice sounded like it was coming from beyond the grave.
    â€œI know so!” Maureen said firmly. “You’ll be all over the place. Even on TV with Johnny Carson and Phil Donahue.”
    Despite the fact that Loretta was extremely self-centered, she was still a good daughter as far as Maureen was concerned. Therefore, she deserved only the best, and Maureen planned to do everything in her power to help Loretta reach her goals. Since Loretta might be the only child Maureen ever had, she couldn’t bear to lose her or see her unhappy. Because of the loss of Loraine, Loretta had become two children rolled into one. How could Maureen not do twice as much to please her?
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    A few weeks after the beauty competition, Loretta told Maureen that she wanted to be a model. After that beauty contest fiasco, Loretta needed to find a way to restore her self-esteem.
    â€œThe girls in the big-time magazines make more money in a day than a lot of people make in a month,” Loretta told Maureen, waving the latest edition of Seventeen magazine in Maureen’s face.
    â€œYou’d have to go to New York to work for the big time magazines,” Maureen pointed out.
    â€œI can get started down here,” Loretta argued, a pout already forming on her lips.
    Maureen shook her head. “Modelin’ would take up too much of your time right now. I don’t want your grades to suffer. School is goin’ to be out in a few months and you need to study real hard now.”
    â€œIf I wait until school is out, I’ll have to compete with a thousand other girls for work. Mama, let me try it now for just a little while. If my grades slip, I’ll give it up. Just think of all the extra money we’ll have comin’ into the house. You won’t have to be dodgin’ all those bill collectors you’ve been dodgin’ all these years.”
    Maureen gasped. “Well, the only reason I have to dodge bill collectors in the first