Somewhere in the midst of her rambling diatribe, Karen had come to the full realization of just how important Mickey De Angelo was to her. While her f...elings for him paled in comparison to those she held for her newborn, she became keenly aware of the fact that her feelings for Mickey eclipsed her feelings for everyone else in her life. 'This is crazy!' an extremely distraught and near panicked Karen internally fumed. 'Absolutely crazy! I mean, here I am, telling the man I love that I was not. I was warned. I was told that you jumped over, around and through every obstacle we have in place to get where you seem to be. Since these people have been terrorizing young scholars for years, the fact that you filtered through their impediments makes you special. Let's talk about your degrees..."Nikki was waiting in the reception room when I walked out. My feet were like six inches above the floor.That event provided some of the lift I need right now to get over the fact that an important. Two men had called upon her father to discuss a major transaction at the bank, where he was a director. The men were all sitting on the front porch, sipping tea and talking business. Thad, as he frequently did, sat with his father, listening.She didn't recognize one of the men, but the other was Mr. Randolph, a long-time friend of her father, Phillip Markham. Gwen was oblivious to the business meeting, however. Her eye was on the weather, and her mind was daydreaming about white carriages,. I had a good BA. Daddy did not want hisinheritance squandered. He had determined my qualifications for businessshould equal or better his. Oxford and my BA had followed private school.And yet I was shallow and unqualified compared with Kate who had had none ofmy privileges but, now twenty-seven, had been indispensable to Daddy andwas, if truth were told, the one who should have inherited the firm, whichshe was the inspirational leader of, and brains behind.Among Kate's accomplishments was a.