In her naiveté she came up with a plan to force their acquaintance by leaving the arts funding entirely in Helena’s hands while she took her sabbatical. Her hope was that it would result in them working together and finding common ground on which to build a relationship but it had backfired. Putting them together without her presence as a buffer between them had been the catalyst for the catastrophe that followed.

In retrospect Peggy realized that all those times she’d praised Bette’s superior business acumen or Winnie’s maternal astuteness Helena had taken it as a reproach of her own lack thereof which only served to power the enmity taking possession of her already damaged heart.

Peggy was now faced with the knowledge that her single minded determination may have caused Helena to loath everything she held dear and the enormity of the anguish she now suffered was partly of her own making. She had set the course that led to the total ruin of her already flailing relationship with her daughter.

She was so focused on controlling Helena and molding her into what she expected of a daughter, a spouse, a mother, a sister, a business woman, an heir, and the guardian of her legacy that she didn’t realize that her words and actions only served to push Helena further away and deeper into the depths of depravity.

As she got out of the tub and prepared for bed she pondered on the day. She had no regrets for the actions she’d taken against Helena. She knew it was in the best interest and well-being of her grandchildren to limit their exposure to the toxic relationship that had developed between Helena and Winnie. She knew that if she hadn’t taken power from Helena to control Winnie’s theater company that Helena would find a way to use it to threaten Winnie’s livelihood. She knew that she had to secure a home for Winnie and the children and support the lifestyle they were entitled to. She knew that she had to remove Helena from the helm of the Peabody Corporation. She knew she’d made the best choice in selecting Bette Porter to succeed her. She knew that she had to remove any ability for Helena to use the Peabody name and the Peabody billions to advance her destructive campaign.