Amelia Meets Her Match

A year had passed, and Niels had mastered the computer systems and learned how to deal with clients, so the business community were happy to see him every time he did the rounds to see they were satisfied with Thomas Travels service. He had reached out to new business contacts and his charming manner had bought them in as part of the client base.

Bill was most impressed with this young man. He worked overtime and refused to be compensated for that time as he felt indebted to the Thomas family for giving him opportunity he could never have dreamed of as a child.

They had to hire additional staff for the office to handle increased bookings and William was amazed at the turnaround in that agency profitability. Niels was not yet ready for managing an agency. He had a long way to go still but William could see possibilities for this young man’s advancement in future. On Bill’s soon retirement he would send another manager to Portsmouth who could continue to build the business and maintain contacts and Niels would be sent to another city with a higher population and more opportunity for further business expansion.

William was delighted with his young daughter’s performance. She was quick to grasp business opportunities he worked on as he moved around the country and took a keen interest in everything her father did. Amelia felt privileged to have such an astute businessman as her mentor as she learned the principles and practices of administration. She knew it would be years before she could take over the reins of this expanding corporate entity, but she poured her soul into the business as she followed her father around and the experienced managers she encountered as she moved around with her father gradually built respect for the boss’s daughter.

She was also learning the value of socializing to keep up with new attitudes and opportunities in the industry and William encouraged her to attend every business convention where she could learn from in her journey to eventually take over from him when he retired. She found these opportunities to mix with the movers and shakers in industry was exhilarating and pleasurable as she learned more about how the different parts of society and business related together.

It was most enlightening to be given a glimpse into the political world and how important lobbying was for the industry before those who made the laws messed up social order. And those she encountered were impressed with her knowledge and drive.

She began to receive interests from those at the top of society who saw in her an asset to their own career paths. At first, she didn’t understand what they were looking for but when direct approaches began in earnest for her to consider them as a marriage partner, she fled in alarm to her father. William chuckled. Perhaps she should be thinking of a partner for life so she in turn could appreciate the pleasure of family as he had. He said she should carefully evaluate proposal opportunities that came her way, but the most important thing would be love in the home not just a business merger.

Five years had passed since William had taken his daughter into the business as his understudy and over that time, he’d slowly delegated some of the easier parts of overall management to her. He’d corrected her as she’d made mistakes, and she appreciated her father’s supervision having a deep desire to learn.

Amelia was now twenty-four years old. A lot had transpired since she finished her undergraduate degree. Their beloved housekeeper Esme was struggling with health problems and embarrassed at her inability to handle all the work she indicated she’d return to France and stay with her widowed sister in their ancestral village. William knew she’d never survive in that place and insisted she stay on, and hastened to bring in a series of younger women to work under her direction until she found one who had the patience to put up with this forty-eight-year-old woman with her perfectionist personality. Esme continued to Mother William and Amelia and they loved this woman as part of their family.

Cousin Adam had had a lavish wedding with an industrialist’s daughter, and it had been a major event in London. Sophia had shocked everyone by leaving home secretly to be with her doctor who’d been transferred to a hospital in the north and become sick from overwork. There’d been a shocked response from Sidney Claridge who wanted their now steady relationship to be properly acknowledged by her parents and siblings and he’d immediately contacted Sophia’s father Trevor to report her arrival and seek his advice. Trevor was quite resigned to the fact the two of them would eventually marry so advised Sidney to get a court ceremony there and the family could come later for a proper celebration. Sidney took time off immediately and had a proper acknowledgement of their marriage before he allowed her to move in with him in his crowded apartment. Sophia then took him under her wing and saw he got enough sleep and proper meals and fought with hospital administration to see this was done.

William informed Amelia there’d be a change of plans and he’d cancelled a trip to inspect one of their distant travel agencies. With the business now expanding into more centres William was now a wealthy man but competition in the business was increasing with powerful interests from abroad moving into this lucrative market in the UK and they already had established presence in Europe and America that worked together around the world putting Thomas Travels at a disadvantage. To expand further would make it almost impossible for William and his daughter to keep track of it all.

Amelia suggested they adopt a franchising model instead of complete ownership. That way local managers could became the principal who owned the agency by buying in and therefor had an incentive to see it was run profitably. The name Thomas Travels being well known was an asset for them and linked with the other agencies of the same name would be an advantage to each principal owner and William would receive royalties for the use of the brand and only need to ensure each agent maintained the common core principals like code of conduct and mission statement. That way they would not have to seek out opportunities to start their business in new places. People would come to them to apply for a franchise.

William at the head office would produce common promotional materials for each franchise to use and care for media marketing of the brand on behalf of all. William had long ago abandoned the idea of owning premises as it was now more profitable to rent space in shopping centers where crowds of people concentrated. The owner of the franchise would now pick up responsibility for running their own financials and pay royalties for the brand and marketing.

The cancellation of their current itinerary was for a specific purpose. William wanted both to attend a convention of travel agents coming together to discuss the invasion of their industry from powerful competitors abroad and ways to preserve their local businesses from being absorbed by these multi-nationals. The evening before the convention both were dining at the hotel hosting the convention and Amelia picked up a brochure outlining the program and list of speakers. William smiled as he saw his daughter begin her methodical examination of the materials as they waited for their food to be delivered. Suddenly she looked up.

“Dad did you know Niels would be delivering one of the speeches? I could never imagine how they’d have picked him up for such an event.”

“Yes, as a matter of fact I recommended the organizers look at the young man and invite him to submit a paper for them to consider for presentation at this conference. This young man has been taking night and distance learning classes since he arrived in the UK and has studied hard despite me moving him around the UK. He is considered very bright in academic circles. I wanted you to see just how important your find was when you visited Stockholm five years ago on tour and convinced me to bring him here. We will be very lucky to hold this man in the Thomas Travel orbit now as he’s ambitious.”

Next day William and Amelia presented their credentials at the door of the convention centre and received their identity badges so they could pass in and out of the auditorium as they wished. It was a member only event. Amelia hovered around the door looking for Neils. She’d not seen him in her travels for a few years now and was curious to see this new wonder-man to be one of the presenters.

Eventually he appeared at the entrance in company of two other participants in deep conversation. His eyes scanned the milling crowd inside the auditorium and spied William and Amelia. He excused himself from his companions and sped over to greet them. Amelia was taken back at the transformation this man had gone through since she saw him last. He was now cultured and urbane but retained his continental English accent. He hugged William and greeted him warmly then turned to Amelia showing uncertainty as to how she would react to him now. She spontaneously moved forward and hugged him, and he beamed with pleasure.

“Thank you for that Ms. Thomas. I owe you for the opportunity you gave me to come to the UK and to be able to make a presentation today. You will never know how much you mean to me for what you did.”

Amelia’s heart was all aflutter. She’d never felt this way before when some family member had given her a hug and she suddenly realized she was hugely attracted to this man and had been since their first meeting.

“Oh Niels. Why this Ms. Thomas thing. We have known each other for a long time now and I want to be called Amelia. Can we catch up sometime so I can learn what you’re up to now?”

William smiled happily. He was anxious to see his daughter settle on someone as a life partner and long ago had Niels in mind as a suitable person to complement her skills. But it had to be her choice. He spoke to Niels.

“Would you like to sit with us during the convention. I would welcome that.”

“Thank you, sir. I’d like that very much.”

As William led the way looking for a suitable seat Niels took Amelia’s arm and followed. Amelia felt a warm glow in his touch and for the first time in her life she felt comfortable with a man who was not her father by her side. She wanted this man to be her partner for life now and had a feeling he felt the same way about her.

Conclusion.

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