The concern over the finances of the small business operations which had compelled him to bring his stuffed briefcase along to the house of his ailing father was no longer present, was it! Creagon Davenport was now solvent. He now had no money worries. He was now his own man. He could either fold his own firm or merge it into the bigger Davenport Electronic company. He was sure Melissa wouldn't object to the latter. Melissa had already told him she was going to be counting on him to run the business. It was funny, but Melissa hadn't even mentioned what part she expected John to play. But, then, there was plenty of time to get into that, wasn't there? William Davenport, after all, had only been buried a few hours.

And, wasn't it strange trying to image a world without William Davenport off somewhere lurking in the wings? Somehow, Creagon had actually expected the old man to go on forever. Creagon hadn't even thought of the possibility of his father's death. He had certainly never wished it on the old man, no matter how much of a bastard his father had been. Perhaps, though, the only reason Creagon hadn't wished for his father's death was because he hadn't expected it to do either him or Marne any damned good. Creagon had believed his father's threats of complete disinheritance. Creagon had quite accepted the idea that he would have to struggle his whole life to get the things he wanted; and, then, his father had said he wanted to see him.

So, what had changed his father's mind? Would anyone ever know? Maybe the elder Davenport had simply sat down one day and taken account of the mess he had made out of his family. God only knew; because it was obvious William Davenport had taken the secret to his grave with him. While he had asked to talk to both Melissa and Creagon in the end, he had gone way too fast to get that last final wish. He had only muttered something about being sorry to Melissa. Had he been delirious or cognizant of what he had been saying? Was he really sorry?. If so, why did the bastard have to wait so fucking long to realize it?