"Conflicted? How?" asked Doctor Frances Twist.
"I want to do the right thing, but at times I'm not sure what that is anymore. Especially lately," admitted Benton Knight. "Take the current hostile takeover attempt of Knight Industries for example. In the past, knowing who's behind it and why, I would have gone for a direct confrontation with the... other party."
"By direct confrontation, you mean..."
"If necessary, I would have fought him tooth and claw until I was the victor."
"And now?"
"Part of me still wants to do that. Yet even if I didn't have the edict over me stating that I can't leave Moon Lake until proving 30 consecutive days of mental stability, I know that's wrong, and not just from a moral or legal standpoint."
"How so?" wondered Frances.
"It would set a bad example for Frieda," admitted Benton.
"So if I can ask, since business is a part of your life, what are you going to do?"
"Truthfully? I'm not completely sure. I know who the usurper is. How and why he's doing what he is, and to a point even what his next move will be," Benton answered, referring to the stockholders meeting in January where Jack Crawford now had enough shares of Knight Industries to be enough of a minority voice in the company to attempt talking the others into holding a no confidence vote against Benton. "Yet when I look at Frieda..."
Then Benton Knight grew silent.
"What do you see?" asked Frances, prompting him for an answer.
"I see my heir and want her to take over a company she can be proud of, that was previously managed by a father that she can be proud of too."
"Do you think Frieda's proud of you now?"
"I wish I knew," confessed Benton, sinking into the chair he occupied. "She is proud that I admitted and am trying to correct my recent mistakes, discovered and confirmed that I am bi-polar, and am trying now to get that under control. Otherwise..."
"Is the relationship with your daughter another area you feel conflicted in?" asked Frances.
"Sad but true," answered Benton. "I love and am proud of Frieda as much as a father should love his daughter, but do you know she doesn't even refer to my wife and I as Mom and Dad or anything more familial? It's always Mother this and Father that. She's closer to the household staff than her own parents."
"Do you know why that is?"
"Recent events have led to me re-examining my entire life and the only answer I have to that question is our mistakes. The way we raised her. Thinking of Frieda as an 'asset', socially and business wise. Wanting to make sure she was a prim and proper lady, well groomed for the future in our circles."
"And do you know how Frieda feels about that?"
"She's always been more... down to Earth about that like my brother Lance. Frieda well understands the business and financial end of things, but has never let it go to her head like Amanda and I have."
"I see. So how do you think other's see your daughter?" asked Frances.
Benton Knight had to think about that for a moment before answering. "Like a real person and not a captain of industry or a prominent person like Amanda and myself."
"Which do you think is better?"
"If you had asked me that question before the beginning of this month, I would of said the latter in a heartbeat. Now?" and then Benton just simply shrugged his shoulders.
"And what does the you of this moment think of Frieda compared to the opinions you had a month ago?"
"Frieda is growing up and maturing in ways I never foresaw. Sure, she's smart, but it turns out she's also kind and caring too. Well beyond what many would consider the 'public act' Amanda and I allegedly perform."
"How so?"
"The charitable acts Amanda and I do are genuine, but we've always performed them in such a way that it benefited us. Names in the paper, new social contacts that led to new business opportunities, things like that. I see now that Frieda's have always been straight from the heart. Take offering to build a new elementary school for example. Martha Anderson suggested it to my wife at a coffee shop, but Amanda talked me into it as a way to try to get back into the town's good graces. Frieda would of never found herself in a mess like mine to begin with, and if asked, probably would of just started the ball rolling on building a new elementary school with no press conference or publicity whatsoever."
"So Frieda is..." prompted Doctor Twist.
"No matter how much my lot in life improves, a much better person than I'll ever be," admitted Benton.