The tension was thick when Kendal entered the board room and took her seat. Erica was sat at the opposite end of the long conference table, Helena and Chris who had joined her, were looking particularly smug.

Randi and Madison were sitting alongside Kendal. Madison couldn't help notice that Kendal seemed a little side-tracked.

"Was Bianca all right?" she asked.

"Yes… I mean no, I didn't see… I mean I didn't go and see her." stammered Kendal. "I'll give her a call this evening."

"So what's the matter?" Randi asked. "You seem distracted?"

"Um… well I have just had a very interesting phone conversation which I shall talk about in a moment." said Kendal rather cryptically.

"So are we starting?" asked Helena in her usual brusque tone.

It was supposed to be just another financial review meeting but everyone at Fusion knew about Kendal and Erica's bet, and everyone knew today was the day to announce the winner.

Kendal looked across the table at her mother before she opened the file in front of her. As usual they went through the various beauty ranges discussing how they were performing and any new promotions that were being pushed. The Mother and Baby line was seeing a decline, but that could be explained by established customers turning to the Origana range instead. Fierce was adding a new double shade lipstick to its range and increasing the colour palette with four new shades which would be launching for Halloween. The perfume ranges, Fusion, and Fusion Gold were seeing steady results after a recent magazine campaign and there was a slight up sale of the Getting Rouge nails range after it came second in a magazine trial.

Kendal had left Midnight shadow and Origana until the end.

"I am pleased to announce that the Origana range had exceeded sale of four hundred and thirty thousand dollars since its launch three months ago." she said. "This is well over the projected figures and there is still room for growth. I understand you want to launch a winter range in time for Christmas."

"That's right." said Erica. "We are looking to focus on the scent of 'Winter Berries' and rebranding with red packaging. And so as not to complicate our audience and to keep with our simplicity theme we are will use the name Origana Winter."

"Do you have the costs?"

"Malcolm has given me the figure fifty thousand, but that doesn't include the publicity launch which I estimate will add another fifteen thousand to the bill."

"Well it's not like you can't afford it." said Kendal, not quite able to keep the bitterness from her tone.

She turned over to the last sheet of paper in her file.

"And finally we will look at our newest range Midnight Shadow. Initial sales have been good and it is predicted we will exceed sales of two hundred and fifty thousand before the end of this quarter."

"That's excellent." said Erica, and she gave her daughter a wide smile.

Kendal frowned at the unexpected show of affection.

"Clearly it will not be the runaway success my mother has achieved with her Origana range, but then it was never meant to be more than a low budget staple. So mother, I must announce you the winner of our little wager."

"Honey, don't sell yourself short." said Erica, "And I didn't take on the bet to win. When I came to this company you were struggling and asked for my help. But you couldn't see why you were failing. And it wasn't the product that was letting you down, it was you, Kendal. You had no drive, no passion. You seemed happy to just trundle along in the middle of the road and not take risks. I took the bet to teach you a lesson, yes. I took it to force you to strive harder and think outside the box… and you did and look what happens… success. Your company is a success again because you felt passionate about something and you worked hard to prove it. Kendal I didn't win. We all won!"

Kendal narrowed her eyes at her mother. But then she sighed, Erica was right. After Zack's death she had felt detached from everything and failure just became an excuse not to try. Her mother's presence had changed all that; shaken things up in new and unexpected way.

"I guess you are right." said Kendal, but then she gave her mother a sly smile. "It would seem conflict is a form of motivation. But Mom be gracious in victory. I was wrong to beat you down on expenses when you clearly knew what you were doing. But I would appreciate you keeping a slightly tighter belt in future and consider our other lines. It isn't a complete success if you've damaged sales in our other brands to get there."

"I shall be sure to keep a tighter rein on expenses." said Erica, "And I actually have some ideas for promoting the Mother and Baby line this winter… as the perfect treatment for sensitive winter-dried skin…"

"Sounds interesting." said Kendal. "Madison as you have the lead on that line, maybe you should book a meeting."

"Will do." said Madison, jotting a note in her diary.

"That concludes the meeting unless there is any other business." said Kendal. There was a general shaking of heads.

"Remember everyone tomorrow we are meeting to review packaging for the Christmas gift ranges. Chris I need to see the costing's for the Origana winter launch by then." said Kendal. "Mom, Randi and Madison can you stay, I have one final announcement."

The room slowly emptied while those requested stayed in their seats.

"Before this meeting I had a very interesting call from a Film Producer in regards to the character Midnight Shadow."

"Seriously!" gasped Randi. "

"Who was the producer?" Erica asked.

"I was contacted by Kit Sterling." said Kendal giving her mother a smile, "He offered four million for the film rights and anything else I wanted, his only condition was that we give him free reign with the character and that you, mom, had nothing to do with it."

Erica frowned.

"Well I hope he does a better job with her than he did with my life story." she muttered bitterly.

"What, I love that film!" cried Madison. "It's so inspiring!"

Erica and Kendal didn't look like they agreed.

"It alright mom, I can getting my lawyers to draw up a contract, which will protect our rights to use the name and the character for our own promotions and add a stipulation on the exclusive use of Fusion cosmetics in the production. I want to make sure that if we go ahead we get the best deal possible."

"Only if?" asked Randi.

"Well the character is your creation, both of you. So it's your decision as to what happens next."

Madison and Randi shared a grin.

"Well I'd like to see the movie." said Randi.

Madison nodded.

"It's a yes from me too." said Madison.

…