"Daddy!"


"I'm your father, Jillian, but that doesn't make me blind."


She sighed deeply, now sorry for the self-imposed rules she had set for herself. "Yeah, she's all that but she works in the oilfield."


"I work in the oilfield, Jillie, and you love me."


From her table, Junior listened to what Maria was telling her, but she was looking over one blonde's shoulder to the other blonde sitting three tables away. "Wait a second, could you repeat that last statement?"


"I don't want to talk about it here, Junior, but she changed the will and these are her new wishes."


"Maria, you can go back to her and tell her I'm never going to agree to this. You can't go back again, isn't that the old saying?" Junior turned her pale blue eyes to her dinner companion not believing what the woman was saying.


"It's you can't go home again, darling, and these are her wishes. As her attorney, I'm obligated to tell you about them." Maria removed her own vial and drained it; the next part of the conversation was going to send Junior into a tizzy.


"And I'm telling you, just because someone leaves you something in their will does not mean you are obligated to take it. Susan has other family, I'm sure they are more qualified to take on this job than I am, talk to her."


"Honey, I can't do that."


"Dammit, Maria, I don't want this and Susan is the least of it. Forgive me if not wanting to raise the children she had with that twit half brother of mine. It just isn't something I am anxious to do. You go back to her and tell her no."


"I can't do that, Junior."


"Why in the hell not?" The voice was becoming a controlled whisper but Maria could tell Junior was pissed. Susan Baxter had been the one woman that had broken through all of Junior's walls in college. The heir to an oil empire had fallen hard for the small town girl that wasn't interested in the Baxter fortune, and it had drawn Junior in.


Just before they had graduated, Susan met Junior's half brother on one of his trips to the campus to borrow money. It just so happened that her parents were also up visiting for the weekend and Susan was going to tell them she was in love and of her plans for the future. When Quinton Baxter walked into the room, Susan's parents assumed this was the wonderful Baxter she had just finished telling them about. Considering Quinton's feelings toward his sister, he had played it up as much as he could. A long talk with Susan later that afternoon, and he had her believing a line about Junior that had turned her head and closed her heart.


For Susan it felt like she was drowning in emotion, and before she got her head above water she was married with the last name of Baxter, but not to the one she had fallen in love with. The last time Susan had seen Junior was as she was making the trip back down the aisle to leave the church the day she and Quinton got married. A year later she and Quinton had their first child and with ten years of marriage had come two more.


"She's in a coma, Junior, that's why I'm here. I'm sorry to have to tell you like this, but I didn't want Sally telling you over the phone." Instead of ranting anymore or asking any questions about what she was being told, Maria was surprised when her dinner companion looked at her watch.


"Hot date?"


"No, I'm noticing that it's April first and this is the worst joke you have ever played on me. Keep it up and I'll have your pool filled with frogs or something." Junior laughed thinking she was off the hook.


"I wish it was a joke, my friend, but this one's true."


"What happened to Quinton?"


"He died at the scene and the doctors don't expect Susan to hang in much longer." Taking a moment for the information to process, Junior nodded her head and called for the check. They agreed to meet at the hospital where Junior would make arrangements for her brother, and his wife when the time came.


Jillian watched her walk out, wanting to follow Junior and ask her what was wrong. Something had happened from the stony look on Junior's face as she walked by not saying good-bye. As the elevator doors closed an idea occurred to Jillian and morning couldn't come soon enough.


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Junior looked at the woman on the bed hooked to a plethora of machines, her chest rising and falling in an artificial, rhythmic fashion. She looked so much older than the girl Junior had known in school. And if she admitted the truth - after she had walked out of the church on their wedding day, Junior had not given Susan nor Quinton much thought.


"How did it happen?" Junior asked Maria who was standing on the other side of the bed.


"Quinton had one too many and hit a truck head on. Neither one of them had their seatbelts on, which contributed to the amount of damage their bodies sustained. Not that they would have lived, but we'll never know now. It's funny, but it was like she had an idea something like this was going to happen. They didn't get along for so long that they lived almost separate lives until two years ago. I think it was then that Susan resolved herself to the life she had picked and tried to work it out. In my opinion it was then she finally convinced herself that you weren't coming back. About two weeks ago she came to me, filled out the papers and gave me a letter for you when the time came." Maria handed the envelope over to Junior, and her friend put it in her suit pocket instead of reading it.


"I'm sorry this happened, but all the love I had just died so long ago that's it's hard to remember it now."


"We all make mistakes, Junior."


"And all of them are forgivable after time. The problem is that some of them are unforgettable, at least the pain isn't." With one quick pat on her old lover's hand, Junior walked out and like she had so many years before, never looked back. Junior never heard the doctor pronounce the time of death as Susan's heart just stopped beating a short time later. She had waited long enough to feel Junior close to her before slipping away.


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From the fortieth floor of the Baxter Oil Building downtown, Junior sat behind her desk looking out at the skyline. Sitting behind her on the desk that once belonged to her father was another vodka with ice, a bolster of courage to open the letter in her hand. Had she known this was waiting for her back in the city, she would have stayed on Pegasus. With one clean swipe of the antique dagger she used as a letter opener, Junior opened the last thoughts of Susan Baxter.


My Dear Junior,


It seems like forever since I've seen you and hopefully when you read this we will have lived enough years to heal the wounds I have caused us. That is where I should begin I suppose. I'm so sorry Junior, for all the times I laid in your arms and told you how much I loved you only to betray you so deeply in the end. I have no excuse and believe me there hasn't been a night that passes that I don't wish I had made different choices so long ago.


In all my mistakes, the three that I don't ever regret are my children. They are my true treasures and I want you to take care of them if I am not able. Even if Quinton should outlive me, please honor this one wish. I know with you they will be loved and cared for, and will have opportunities no one else could give them. It's not the money I'm speaking of, but the kindness that made me feel like the luckiest woman alive once upon a time.


Again I am sorry for all the hurt I caused you. I am being selfish but I want you to forgive me. I love you Junior. I never stopped. Take care of my babies and tell them I'll always be looking out for them.


Yours,


Susan


The next morning Sally found the letter lying on the floor close to the hand that was hanging over the chair. Junior's legs were stretched out in front of her and the glass on the desk was empty. Sally said a quick prayer for forgiveness for the woman that had died, even though there were days when she had wished that fate upon her for the hurt she had caused Junior. The last time Quinton Baxter had walked into this office was when he had come to collect the check for his share of the pie. Old man Baxter had only one heir could rule the empire and it wasn't his son. For that reason Quinton had never forgiven his half sister.


"Come on, Junior, we have a busy day ahead of us." Sally put the coffee cup down along with the morning paper and important messages that had already come in.


"Try not to sound so chipper and I might not have to kill you."


"With an attitude like that, Junior, you're never going to find a young woman to wake up with."


"And why in the hell would I want that, when I have you to wake up with?" Junior stood up from her chair and pulled her assistant into her arms and dipped her back. The older woman laughed, glad to see the sense of humor was still intact.


"Get into the shower with you. I left a change of clothes in there," Sally called out as Junior stepped into the private bath in her office. "Anything else?"


"Yeah, could you cancel my appointments for this morning? I'm going to drive down to see Daddy and break the news to him. Let's hope this isn't one of those rare occasions when he gets up wanting to read the paper."


"Honey, unless someone wraps it around a Jack Daniel's bottle, your father is not up reading the paper." Sally snorted when the pants Junior had on flew out of the bathroom and hit her in the head.