The Merger Mogul (23 page)

JB: Were you implying that
Barton Phillips, who was the consultant on that merger, didn’t do his homework
properly?

So this is how
it’s going to be, thought Daniel, attack up front. He gave a brief smile and said:
“I would never speculate about another consultant’s work.  As I’ve said
before, they’re no guarantees with mergers.  Getting together is one
thing, living together is another thing. However, what I’m trying to do now,
that I didn’t do before, is help my clients get through the honeymoon period.”

JB: What’s changed?  What
made you set up your new division of Tennant Consulting? For those of you who
don’t know what’s been happening in the M&A world, Tennant Consulting in
the last few months has set up a new division to hold the hands of their
clients through the post-merger issues.  To quote yesterday’s New York
Times “This is in stark contrast to your “Love ’
em
and leave ’
em
” philosophy of the past.”  What
changed?

Daniel: Well, JB, I
changed.  The way I looked at things changed and those changes caused me
to want to operate differently. In addition to that, we all know that the
M&A market can be cyclical based on recessions, so I felt that we needed to
diversify so that all of our eggs weren’t in one basket.

KT’s phone rang
just as she was washing her dinner dishes. She quickly dried her hands and ran
to the cordless phone which was on her coffee table.

“Hello.”

“KT, is your TV
on?” asked Des excitedly.

“No, why?
  What’s happened?”

“Turn on The
Beacon Live. Daniel’s on.”

KT
automatically picked up the remote, turned on the TV and scrolled through the
channels until she came to The Beacon Live.  She just couldn’t help
herself.

“I’ll call you
back Des,” she said vaguely.

She hungrily
devoured Daniel on the screen. She hadn’t seen him since the day she left his
apartment and she noticed that he looked as if he’d lost a little weight but he
was still so handsome.  She sat down and turned up the volume.

JB: Well you know that nothing
is private for celebrities like yourself, so we understand that you had a
near-death experience and that shook you up.  Is that true?

Daniel: I’d hardly call myself a
celebrity, but yes that is exactly what happened. Last September I discovered
that I had a brain tumor.  Fortunately, it was operable but it gave me a
wakeup call and caused me to begin to re-examine my life. I spent several
months in recovery which allowed me a lot of time to think about my life, the
meaning of it, or if, in fact, it had any meaning. I realized that I didn’t
like what I saw so that was the kick in the butt I needed to snap out of my
purposeless existence and change my lifestyle.

JB: Putting together
multi-million dollar mergers can hardly be considered purposeless.

Daniel: What does it mean if you
gain the whole world and lose your soul? I was losing my soul.

JB: So you’re telling us that
your approach to business and in fact life in general has drastically changed?
Is the fact that you’re never seen out on the town with beautiful women anymore
part of that change?

Daniel:  Yes.  I made
some bad choices and hurt someone that I care about deeply. Nothing was worth
that.

Tears sprang to
KT’s eyes and the ice around her heart melted as she heard Daniel’s words
spoken publicly and sincerely. Who was she to be unforgiving when she’d been
forgiven so much?  She felt deeply ashamed that she had let her feelings
of hurt override her love and compassion for Daniel when she knew that he
wouldn’t have had the strength to resist the temptation on his own.

JB: What’s next?  Will you
be handing out tracts on the street corners of Manhattan?

Daniel (laughing): Not likely!
I’d probably be carried off in a straight jacket.

JB: I’m not much of a believer
that people can change.  So I wonder how long this phase will last.

Daniel: We’ll have to agree to
disagree on that JB because it’s not a phase for me.  At 36 I’m too old
for phases and too young for a mid-life crisis. I have some great people in my
life who encourage me and who hold me accountable to the changes I’ve committed
to. 

JB: Sounds like AA. Maybe we
should all get into some kind of group to keep us accountable.  There
definitely needs to be one for the brokers and mortgage dealers who offered
credit to unqualified customers. So are you planning to retire as The Merger
Mogul and focus on the post-merger side of things?

Daniel: I’ve been giving it some
serious thought.  In fact, as I see the number of mergers that are failing
I’m beginning to wonder if mergers should happen in the first place.

JB: Why is that? Aren’t they
supposed to create synergies, streamline processes, access new markets, all of
that good stuff?

Daniel: In theory, but what
often happens is that the cultures of the two companies don’t always gel and it
can lead to sometimes insurmountable problems after the merger.

JB: So what can we look forward
to from you in the future Daniel?

Daniel: Well, in my personal
life, I would like to settle down soon.  I’m not getting any younger and I
have no heirs. In terms of business, I’m working on implementing oneness in
companies. I got a revelation of that concept when I was recuperating in
Barbados and it confirms something that the physicist David Bohm said which I
read recently. He said: “The most important thing going forward is to break the
boundaries between people so we can operate as a single intelligence.” 
When we can begin to operate as a single intelligence in our companies, then I
believe that we will be able to attain the success that we all desire and seem
to fall so short of with only a few exceptions.

JB: Sounds interesting. 
Maybe when you get that working you can come back and talk to us some
more. 
Daniel,
thanks for coming and talking to
us tonight.

Daniel: Thanks for having me JB.

JB: Well folks that was Daniel
Tennant, The Merger Mogul, saying that he is ready to lose that title. 
And ladies, he’s also looking to lose the title of Bachelor…

Oh, he was, was
he? KT fumed. Was he seeing someone?  Maybe he wasn’t talking about her
when he’d said that he hurt someone. She was confused; she didn’t know what to
think.  What she did know though, was that she still loved Daniel. She’d
never stopped.

Daniel found
the address that Paul had texted him but, because he was so late, he had to drive
past it to find a place to park.  He noticed KT’s car parked in the long
driveway and was glad that she was here already because he figured that if
she’d come and seen his car she may have left. It was Paul and Michaela’s
anniversary and all of their close friends and family would be there. He was
looking forward to meeting KT’s parents and her younger sister. He wondered if
they knew anything about him.  He hoped not. Taking the gift that Margaret
had bought and put in the trunk of his car on Friday, he got out, braced
himself and walked up to the front door. Paul opened the door and welcomed him
inside.

“Hi Daniel,
glad you could make it,” he said shaking hands and clapping Daniel on the
shoulder.

“Daniel, welcome!”
Michaela added joining them.

“Hi guys. Happy
anniversary,” he replied offering the gift to Michaela with a kiss.

“Thank you
Daniel.  How are you doing?  You look as if you’ve lost a little
weight,” she said in her direct way.

“I’m OK just
working too many long hours.”

“I know how
that goes,” agreed Paul.

“KT’s here but
she doesn’t know we invited you,” warned Michaela.

“I just hope
she doesn’t kill me when she finds out,” teased Paul. “Let’s go and face the
music and I’ll introduce you to my parents.”  He led the way to a large
wooden deck at the back of the house. In the distance Paul could see a pool
partially hidden behind some bushes.  It was a beautiful property.

“You’ve got a
great place here Paul,” he said scanning the faces for KT’s.  He didn’t
know if to be disappointed or relieved when he didn’t see hers.

“Thanks. 
We bought it recently at quite a steal in anticipation of children. I don’t
know where KT is, probably in the kitchen helping to organize the caterers or
something.  She and Val, my other sister, insisted that Michaela should do
nothing today. My parents are over here.” He led Daniel towards an attractive,
interracial couple.  KT’s dad was tall and several shades darker than Paul
and KT while her mum was no more that 5’4” and was a beautiful and elegant
blond, whose hair was well maintained and expertly colored to conceal any
gray. 

“Mum, dad, this
is Daniel Tennant, KT’s friend and now mine, who we stayed with in Barbados.
Daniel, my parents, Robert and Barbara Taylor.”

“Mr. and Mrs.
Taylor I’m so glad to meet you,” and he wasn’t being polite.  He had
looked forward to meeting KT’s parents. “I can see where KT got her beauty Mrs.
Taylor, but she told me that she didn’t get your cooking genes.”

Mrs. Taylor
laughed. “I can’t believe KT told you that she can’t cook!  Doesn’t she
know that the way to a man’s heart is still through his stomach?” she teased.

“Well she’s
already got my heart, even if she can’t cook,” Daniel said honestly. KT’s mum
assessed him with fresh eyes and her dad said:

“Daniel
Tennant. 
The Merger Mogul.”
Oh no, thought
Daniel, what has he heard about me? “I saw you on The Beacon a couple of nights
ago.  I’m a retired banker but I still like to keep abreast of what’s
happening in business.  I’d be very interested in hearing more about this
“oneness” concept that you’re talking about.  Sounds like something a lot
of companies could use.”

“I’d be happy
to get together with you some time to talk about it, sir,” Daniel replied,
relieved.

“Call me
Robert.”

“And I’m
Barbara,” his wife added.

“Thank
you.  I was just telling Paul what a beautiful property he has here,”
Daniel started to say when he noticed that something had caught the attention
of the three Taylors. He turned to see that KT was walking from the house
speaking to someone just behind her.

She turned
around fully and stopped in mid-sentence as she saw Daniel.  Her heart
began to race.  “What are you doing here?” she asked abruptly. Daniel was
the last person she expected to see there and she wasn’t prepared for it.

“KT!” her
mother scolded at her rudeness, looking somewhat shocked.

“Hello KT, I’m
fine, thank you and how are you doing?” Daniel used her exact words to remind
her of the time he’d called her apartment and Paul had answered the phone.
Daniel was surprised that his voice sounded so calm because he was almost
floored by how beautiful KT looked, even though slightly thinner, in an olive
and black silk dress draped in some sophisticated style around her body and her
hair loose about her shoulders.  He wanted to bury his face in it and be enveloped
with the fragrance of vanilla. He felt such a surge of love and desire for her
that he had to struggle to restrain himself from taking her in his arms right
there and then.

KT felt a
reluctant smile tug at her lips. “Touché,” she said totally unaware of the
struggle going on inside Daniel. She was too busy trying to control the
emotions coursing through her and to kill the desire to throw herself into his
arms.

“Can we
talk?”  Daniel asked. They only had eyes for each other. KT’s parents
looked at them and then at Paul with questions in their eyes.  Paul gave a
slight shake of his head as if to say “Don’t ask”.

“OK, we can
walk over by the pool.”

“Excuse us,”
Daniel said and followed her down the stairs and over to the pool. KT sat on a
lounge chair out of sight from the deck and Daniel pulled another one a bit
closer and sat facing her.

“How have you
been?” Daniel asked her.

“I’ve been
better,” KT admitted.

Daniel came
straight to the point. “KT, I can’t tell you how sorry I am about what happened
in Barbados. I was serious when I said that it didn’t mean anything.  In
fact, I felt so sick afterwards that I went back to my condo and picked up the
Bible you gave me and started reading John, hoping it would make me feel better
but it just exposed my sin.  That’s when I realized that trying to do
things on my own wasn’t working and I needed God’s help to change, so I asked
him to help me and he has been ever since. I know I don’t deserve it but can
you ever forgive me?” A picture of his father flashed into his mind and with it
brought a feeling of shame that
he
had refused to forgive him when he
had the chance and regret that it was now too late.

“None of us
deserve it, but God forgives us, so how can I do any less? I’m glad that you’re
trying to do things his way now. You’re finally free from the Matrix.” She
threw her arms around him in a hug. Pulling away she asked: “Did you mean what
you said on The Beacon the other night? That nothing was worth hurting someone
you cared about deeply?  Did you mean me?”

“Of course I
meant you KT. I love you and I want to be with you again.”

“I forgive you,
Daniel but I need some time to trust you again. I’m not quite ready to make any
commitments just yet.”

“I can live
with that. So you’re willing to give me another chance?”

“I am.”

Daniel stood
and pulled KT up to stand in front of him. With great restraint he kissed her
forehead and then took her hand to walk back to the party.  KT felt
disappointed that he hadn’t kissed her properly.  What was wrong with
her?  First she told him she needed time and then she was sorry that he
was taking his time. She must be bipolar.