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"Daddy!" I screamed and ran to him. Seconds later. Mommy was at my side.

His eyelids fluttered.

"What is it. Taylor? What happened?" Mammy asked him.

"Got dizzy." he said. He tried to rise again and Grimaced, "Pain," he said touching his chest.

"Don't move. Taylor. Don't try to get up. I'm calling for help. Stay with him. Cinnamon," Mommy told me and hurried to the phone in their bedroom.

I lowered Daddy's head gently to my lap. His lips looked blue, but he kept his eves on me and forced a smile.

"It's all right," he said so low I could barely hear him."I'll be all right."

I could barely see him through the glaze of tears on my eyes. "Listen," he said. He beckoned me closer.

I leaned as far as I could.

"I'm sorry about all I said. I'm proud of you, proud they want you. It was the cost, but we'll find a way." he promised. He closed his eyes.

"The paramedics are on their way," Mommy cried coming from the bedroom. "How is he?"

"I don't know," I said. She knelt beside him.

"Taylor. I'm here. I'm with you." she said grabbing his hand and holding it with both of hers. She wiped strands of hair from his forehead. His eyelids fluttered and then opened.

"Sorry," he said.

I couldn't help but wonder what his apology included.

Epilogue

Daddy didn't die, but he was diagnosed with a heart problem serious enough to require a pacemaker. Grandmother Beverly blamed his condition on Mommy, of course. She didn't come right out and say it, but she dropped her hints around the house like rat poison.

"It's no surprise," she remarked when the diagnosis was made. "Not with all he's had on his mind these days."

"Any man who carried his burdens would have dropped dead long ago."

"He was always a healthy man, but ever since I moved in here. I've seen him dwindling, eaten away."

Finally, one night before Daddy came home. Mommy was the one who dropped her fork on the plate and turned to Grandmother Beverly with critical eyes after she made another one of these remarks.

"Beverly," she said. I knew something hard was going to follow because she rarely called her Beverly. "I think you should seriously consider moving out of here, finding your own little place."

"What? You can't be serious," Grandmother Beverly said smiling. "Why, you need me more than ever around here now."

"I need you less than ever," Mommy retorted. "We need our own lives, without any interference and certainly without any static. You don't like this house and you are not happy living here. Because you're not happy, you do everything to make everyone else miserable.

"Maybe if you're living somewhere more to your liking, you'll be more satisfied. We'll have you for dinner often, of course, and you can visit whenever you like,"

Grandmother Beverly nodded.

"I should go. I really should teach you a lesson and leave."

"Please, teach me," Mommy replied softly.

Grandmother Beverly looked at me and I looked down.

"Very well. I'll take one of those garden apartments where Mrs. Sakslives."