Amelia’s New Job

At precisely 7pm as was his habit William entered the door of his home looking forward to the supper his housekeeper usually had on the table prepared for him. Esme Brun had been with them for a long time now. She was plain to look at but dressed each day as if she were going to meet royalty and she kept the house spic and span and cooked the most delicious food. She’d been with them since Agnes had found her wandering around London looking for work and William expected some day, she’d announce she was going back to France to retire. She treated Amelia more as a daughter than the mistress of the house after the death of her mother and Amelia returned the love in turn.

William heard happy conversation in the kitchen and understood his daughter had returned from her trip to Sweden. There was a special bond between father and daughter. Amelia had clung to him as a child fearful that with her mother deceased, she could possibly lose her father so she watched his every move and as a child would suddenly wake in the middle of the night to hasten to William’s bedroom and listen to his breathing in sleep and only when satisfied would she go back to bed and sleep soundly. William remembered her telling him this when she was in her early teens, and he was glad he’d given her all the time it was possible to give while trying to run his travel empire.

Fortunately, he had good managers in each city but was constantly travelling to see they remained on top of their game. As soon as she was old enough to accompany him, he’d taken Amelia with him on those trips, and she’d drunk in all the conversations between the parties and watched carefully as contacts were made and contracts entered. Her desire for knowledge of the industry was kindled at a young age and she’d acquired all the books on the trade with a special interest in government regulations and contract law.

She had no interest in the usual pursuits’ teenagers were interested in and William sometimes feared she was not getting enough social interaction with her own age group. He did his best to encourage her to broaden her interests, but she knew how to get around her father, and he had to accept she’d matured long before her peers and decided on her course in life. It was now up to William to facilitate her life ambitions. He deposited his briefcase in the office and headed for the kitchen.

Amelia rushed to his side and hugged him when he appeared in the kitchen and Esme smiled with satisfaction. Esme felt she was part of the family and responsible to look after these too in the absence of her benefactor Agnes. She’d been penniless and considering her options to survive when she knocked on the door of this house as a young woman and begged for work. She crossed herself and muttered may her benefactor’s soul rest in peace before ordering them to the table to sit while she served their food. William had always invited her to join them at the table and eat with them, but Esme had refused. It was not appropriate in her mind, so William had accepted this was her culture and accepted her hovering over them as they ate.

After supper they retired to the lounge and William began to quiz his daughter about the trip to Stockholm. He’d suggested Amelia take her cousin and hoped they’d meet up with some of their own age and have fun. He still wanted his daughter to be more socially outgoing. Amelia went through the whole week activities and dwelt on Sophia finding a long-lost friend from high school as a fellow traveller and how this had quickly developed into a budding relationship. She told the story about how this trainee doctor in his high school years had asked Sophia to a school dance night and how uncle Trevor had put him through the inquisition and how Cousin Adam had followed them around all evening to make sure his sister was safe. William had not heard this story before and found it amusing. He turned to his daughter smiling.

“And did you find a long-lost friend to accompany you around Ame?”

“No dad. Nice try! But I did meet a very interesting young man who pretended to be an experienced tour guide. I got his number right up front but there was something about him that intrigued me, so I hired him for the duration of our time there. Stay here I want to go to the bedroom and get my notes as it’s a good story and I want to share it all with you.”

She sped off to her bedroom and returned quickly with a large notebook which she opened and scanned quickly. Then she methodically reported on the life story of Niels Larsen and each day of their investigation of Stockholm and its surrounding countryside. William smiled as he saw his daughter’s excitement. It had been worth the money spent on her first solo trip abroad and he was particularly amused at Amelia’s description of her cousin who was obviously taken up with her young doctor. He was impressed with his daughter’s description of this Swedish young man. He cleaned kitchens half the night, lived in a hotel room not much bigger than a broom cupboard and hustled tourists all day with his photographic memory of the brochures on history and tourist places of interest. He turned to his daughter as she paused exhausted from her rapid-fire report on the trip.

“So, you found yourself a young man of interest at last daughter?”

Amelia was aghast.

“No dad, you got it all wrong. I just would like to see him get a chance in life. He’s smart, hardworking, and ambitious. And he’s strictly honest. Hard to find that these days.”

William smiled. He never seen his daughter interested in a young man before and wondered if her interest was as she’d expressed it.

“And how do you think we might be able to facilitate this chance in life for Mr. Larsen Ame?”

Amelia studied her father carefully trying to figure out what was behind his question. Did he feel she had an interest is Niels? Of course she didn’t. But she was intrigued by him and wanted to see him find success in life. But it was only sympathy nothing more.

“Do you have work for him in one of your agencies Dad? I think he could sell ice cream to the Eskimos so it could be mutually beneficial.”

“How is his English?”

“Swedes commence learning English in elementary school so he’s quite fluent. Obviously, he has the continental flavour to his English but so does Esme and London is full of English dialects spoken around the world now so that would not be a disadvantage.”

“Well, I was going to talk with you tonight about your future. It seems you’re quite committed to eventually taking over Thomas Travels when I retire and now you’ve completed your undergraduate work you have the option of further education or joining me in administering our little empire so what do you want to do now Ame?”

“I’m ready to take on whatever you feel I can handle dad and I’ll not let you down. I know I’m not ready for the big decisions, but you let me follow you around and I can and will learn over time. I have spent a lot of time on tour with you but never been part of the decision making. You’d have to be patient with me as I’m young.”

William reached over and hugged his daughter.

“I’ve always had confidence in you Ame. You are much more mature than you realize I just wish you had more social interaction with your peer group and hoped this trip abroad by yourself would help you appreciate how important this is. It seems like that has accomplished what I intended. Your cousin seems to have benefited from it too.”

They both laughed at this reference to Sophia’s new interest in her doctor.

“OK you’ll travel with me from now on and be part of the decision-making process. But first I’m giving you an assignment. Make a proposal as to where this young man might be useful in our business here and how this might be accomplished. I’ll take your recommendation on his honesty and ambition. He’ll need documentation to enter the UK so I can look at him, he’ll need a place to stay for a week while I consider how he can be used. Do you have his contract address in Stockholm, and do you think you will need a ticket to go and talk things over with him to see if he’s willing to work in another country? Do a background check to see if he gets along with people. You can be the smartest person in the world but if you don’t get along with the people you work with or in the community you won’t go anywhere.”

To be continued.

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