Secrets of Amelia

by Andrea Anderson

  “My job is not exactly a piece of cake,” he said, “more often it’s a pain in the ass than anything else. I think if we both know from the start what we are getting into it will be OK. We should promise each other that we will understand the others job responsibilities come first at least for now.”

  When Chad and Amelia came out to fix breakfast, they saw Wilson’s jacket draped over the sofa.

  “I guess Wilson spent the night,” said Chad.

  “I really like him,” said Amelia, “he seems to ground Shelly when she is having a crisis.”

  “Was she having a crisis?” asked Chad.

  “Yes, she was thinking of dropping out of med school because her life wasn’t going well.”

  It looks like she found her anchor.”

  [ Chapter 43 ]

  Amelia was having a mental countdown; she was so excited in only six weeks till Chad would be home for good. She had a large calendar that she kept in the kitchen and each morning made a big X on the date and counted the days. It would be so good to have him there all the time. He called last night to tell her he was going on one last mission. It was going to be a long one and for the last two weeks of the assignment, they wouldn’t be able to communicate with anyone outside the squad except for official orders. He was leaving in the early AM.

  Chad and Amelia planned that they would stay in the apartment and Shelly would keep her room, she was there so infrequently now most of her time was at the hospital or with Wilson. Chad’s job running the fitness centers was set to start two weeks after he returned. Amelia worked some extra hours to save some money so they could go shopping for civilian clothes for Chad and maybe look at some used cars; her old pickup truck was on its last legs. She used to joke with Betty and Shelly saying she was holding it together with chicken wire.

  Shelly and Wilson left to go to brunch because they both had to start work in the early evening, when Amelia’s cell rang. She answered it and smiled it was Deana.

  “Hi Deana, it good to hear your voice is everything alright? Is everybody OK?”

  “Hi Amelia, yes everybody is OK, I’m calling to give you some news.”

  “What news? Deana.

  “Your mothers back.”

  “My mother! Where did she come from? What a shock! What does she want? When did she get back? Is she wanting to stay?”

  “Slow down Amelia. She got back two days ago and hasn’t said where she was, she seems to be in good health. She was surprised to see all we had done to the farm. I think she was impressed. It makes me think she will want to stay here now.”

  “Is that going to be a problem with Roger, you and Matt?”

  “I don’t know. So far it isn’t, but it’s only been two days. Do you think you want to come and see her?” Asked Deana.

  “I don’t know it seems like it was so long ago that she left, and everything is so changed. Did she ask about me?” Asked Amelia.

  “Yes, she wanted to know where you were and what you were doing.”

  “Deana here’s what I think, tell her if she wants me to come and see her, she needs to call me, and we’ll talk first. After all she is the one who left and turned her back on the family. I’m not prepared to drop everything here and run to see her, when she could have cared less what happened to us all those years she was away, God knows where.”

  “Alright,” said Deana, “I will tell her I talked with you and that if she wants to talk to you, she can call you herself.”

  “How are Roger and Matt doing with the visit?”

  “It’s weird, at first, they couldn’t believe it, then they were all hugs and kisses. Then Roger got suspicious. He didn’t come right out and ask her why she came back. He told me he felt a little uncomfortable with it. She wasn’t very remorseful when we told her your father was dead. It was as if she already knew. I don’t know Amelia I don’t read people very well. I guess I’m too trusting. She didn’t say anything about how long she would be staying or where she has been, and Roger hasn’t asked her. I’m not sure if he is waiting for her to open up or just doesn’t give a dam.”

  “Thanks for calling Deana I will wait and see if she calls. I would love to see all of you no matter what the circumstances are but it’s so far. Chad is coming home for good in several weeks and I really don’t want to spend the money.”

  Later that evening Amelia got a call from Lynn.

  “Hi Amelia,” she said, “this is mom, how are you?”

  “Amelia answered very stiffly, I’m fine, how are you?”

  “I’m good, I got here two days ago the place sure has changed.”

  “Yes, Roger and Deana have put a lot of work into it.”

  “Are you going to be able to come out and see me?”

  “How long will you be around?” Asked Amelia.

  “I’m not sure at least a couple of weeks I guess, I would love to see you.”

  “I will think about coming out, I’ll let Deana know, thanks for calling, m m mo.” Amelia couldn’t say it, she hung up.

  Secret thoughts: (I can’t let my mother back in her life just like that with one phone call after all this time. For God’s sake I couldn’t even call her mom on the phone. I think of Ida as my mom after all these years and really didn’t know what to do. I wish Chad were here or at least where I could call or email him so I could ask his opinion on what I should do. I feel strange thinking about her let alone seeing her, in my mind she was dead to me.)

  Amelia wrote to Chad and told him about her mother returning to the farm. I wish you were available for me to talk to you about it. I’m not sure what I want to do I’m so torn. I guess I’ll do what I think is the right thing to do and go there to see her. I will email you each day to let you know what happens. It doesn’t look like it will be a fun trip, at least I’ll get to see Ida and Roger and Deana and Matt and the kids. That will be the highlight of my trip.

  When she arrived at the farm, Amelia’s mother hugged her and kissed her on the cheek.

  “It’s so good to so you Amelia,” Lynn said, “you are a beautiful young lady.”

  “Hello,” said Amelia, a bit stiffly. Amelia fussed over the children and as soon as she could, she got away and went to see Ida.

  Ida was in high spirits and they greeted each other warmly. Ida told her how much she missed her and Chad and how content she was that they were married. Amelia called Deana and told her she was spending the night with Ida. She wrote Chad the next day to say what a great time she and Ida had. It was almost like a girls sleep over we talked a lot about you, and we caught up on everything that’s going on. I told her about mom being back and how I had really mixed emotions about the whole thing. As the sweet woman she is, she tried to help me work through my dilemma. I love your mother dearly. It was so great to see her. I promised that after you are home for good and all settled in, we would take a trip here so you could see her. I’ll let you in on what I think, I think she wants to see us together and see how we get along.

  The next day Amelia went back to the farm. They had just finished lunch when a taxi pulled up, and Jerry got out and came in the house.

  “What are you doing here?” they all asked in surprise.

  “I came to visit what else?” Jerry acted as if he was surprised to see Lynn.

  Jerry and Lynn talked a lot in the afternoon. During their long afternoon talk, Jerry knew he still needed Lynn on his side. He talked to Lynn and told her that the authorities found out about the counterfeit money and were looking for them. If they were caught, it would mean a long jail sentence for both of them. If they could get some money from the farm and get out of the country, they would be safe. After giving that idea some thought, Lynn agreed, she was worried about going to jail.

  At supper, Jerry said, “I think mom and I have come up to a decision. She’s the one who really owns this farm you know.”

  Rog
er spoke up and said, “I knew your coming here was for nothing good. I’m sorry I want the two of you to pack your bags and leave this house.”

  “Hold on here, little brother, this farm is legally moms.”

  “Jerry you can talk about all the cockamamie, bullshit ideas or schemes you come up with, they won’t hold water around here. She abandoned dad and us. She didn’t give two shits about what happened to us. Now you and she cooked up some kind of off the wall story and you think you’re going to come back and waltz right in here and claim the farm and house is still hers? I don’t think so.”

  “She was never considered a missing person, she has not been declared dead, so when dad passed away the house went to her,” Jerry proclaimed arrogantly.

  “It’s not that easy,” said Roger, “she has not been here in years and has not contributed a red cent or one drop of sweat equity to keep this place going. Now she’s going to appear and take over? That’s not going to happen.”

  “Her name was on the deed wasn’t it?”

  “It once was, that has been changed this place belongs to me, Matt and Amelia now.”

  “We’ll see about that. I stopped at the lawyers before I came here, and I think we can come to a settlement.”

  “What kind of settlement?”

  “If Amelia, you and Matt will give mom $25,000, we will not protest the deed you have now. If not, we will begin a long and very costly legal battle, even at that you could still lose everything. If you agree to a settlement, we will go away and you will never hear from us again.”

  “We don’t have that kind of money,” said Roger. “Even if we sold everything we own.”

  “What about the money Deana got from the Lane house?”

  “It was used to put the addition on and buy more livestock and it’s really none of your business.”

  “Look,” said Jerry, “we’ll give you tonight to sleep on it, and expect your answer in the morning.”

  Roger, Matt, Deana, and Amelia stayed up late discussing what to do. There was not really a lot to discuss because even if they wanted to, they couldn’t come up with that kind of money.

  “Let’s rehash this in the morning,” said Roger, “we have to get up early and do our work, then at lunch we’ll tell them.”

  While Roger, Matt and Deana finished their evening chores and when to bed, Amelia sat in the living room and worked on her computer. Jerry and her mother came in and sat down.

  “We want to ask you to try and persuade the others to give us the money,” said Jerry.

  “Why do you think they would listen to me?” asked Amelia, very annoyed at them.

  “Because they think you’re smart and could figure out a way for them to get the money.”

  Jerry I’m not going to do that, even if I could you and dear old mom don’t deserve anything from this farm.”

  Jerry went on and on about old times and how families should help each other and that they were willing to go away over and over.

  Amelia was sick of hearing him. Jerry kept on taunting her and pestering her relentlessly. Make them give us the money we will go away. You need to convince them to do it.

  Finally, she couldn’t stand it anymore and said, “Jerry you’re really making me mad, if I wanted to I could have you out of here and put in jail so fast you wouldn’t know what happened.”

  “How do you figure that?”

  “I saw you kill Roberto and I could tell them to look for the body.”

  “Jerry flew into a tyrant, you little fucking, bitch, you were spying on me.”

  “No, I came to get some things from my room on my way to see Mrs. Brown and I saw you fighting with Roberto from my bedroom window.”

  “I told you mom she was thick as thieves with them Browns. I always hated Chad. He was a goodie, goodie, boy always wanted to do the right thing. We can’t do this, and we shouldn’t do that, and it wouldn’t be right,” Jerry mocked. Once when we got into a fight, he sucker punched me, and almost broke my jaw.

  Jerry was livid, but he knew Amelia was telling the truth he remembered because he saw the light on in the upstairs room and thought it was Rosalie looking for valuables to take with them.

  “Suddenly he shouted in a vindictive voice, “Should I tell her, mom?” He asked.

  “Tell me what?” Asked Amelia.

  “You won’t tell the cops about me,” said Jerry, “because then I would have to tell them about you.”

  “What about me?”

  “That you are in a very bad place Amelia. Couldn’t you get any other man to marry you, you had to go and marry your own brother.”

  Amelia’s face went white, she looked at her mother, and Lynn nodded yes to confirm what Jerry said. She put her hands up to her face and shook her head as if she didn’t hear right.

  “You’re crazy! You’re lying,” she said, “it’s not true, you are a low down, slimy, shit eating dog.”

  “Mom tell him it’s a lie, please tell Jerry it’s a lie,” she pleaded, screaming.

  “Your father was not your real father Amelia. I was having an affair with John Brown.”

  “That’s a lie, it can’t be true, it can’t be,” cried Amelia hysterically. She shook her head from side to as if she were trying to shake the words she was hearing out of her head. You never said anything before Jerry got here. Why are you saying this now? When were you going to tell me after I had babies?”

  “It’s true little sister, fucking true, you had committed incest and will have deformed babies,” Jerry taunted, “and that righteous asshole you married, will run away from you. You wait and see.”

  With that thought Amelia stood up and almost collapsed, she went bizerk! She and Chad would never be able to have babies now or be together. She couldn’t take anymore. Amelia pushed past Jerry and Lynn and ran out slamming the door. She ran and ran and cried. Her mind was a twisted mess.

  Secret thoughts: (What have we done, Oh God, how can we go on? I didn’t know, I know he didn’t know. How will I ever tell him? I have such pain.)

  Amelia ran blindly crying everything was a blur. She tripped and fell, and her knee was bleeding, she didn’t care. It was a full moon and bright enough to see the path. Maybe a bolt of lightning will hit me and kill me that would be better than hurting Chad. How will I ever tell him? She said out loud. She stopped because she couldn’t run any more, she was worn out. She lay down in the grass and cried she was humiliated and felt the pain of what they said so deeply. She cried until she was thoroughly spent and had no more tears left.

  When she felt more in control, she lifted her head to discover that the path led her to the meadow where she and Chad had their first picnic. Still exhausted she sat under the very same tree where they had spread the blanket the day, they went on their picnic

  Secret thoughts: (My God what are we going to do? I think I have to die.)

  She got up, went to the spring, and drank some cool water. It refreshed her a little. After what seemed like hours of sitting there trying to think, Amelia went to the big outcrop of rock and found Chad’s secret place. She went in and took one of the rocks she knew he had touched and held it to her chest.

  Secret thoughts: (I need to feel him near, hold something he touched, it may be the last time I do that. He most likely will not believe me at first, and then when he does, he might hate me. We were talking about having babies and he wants a family just before he had to go back this time.)

  She sat again and kept thinking until she made a decision. She was not crying anymore, now she was beyond that. She knew what she had to do.

  It was late when she got back to the farm. They had all gone to bed. Thank God, Amelia said to herself I don’t have to face any of them. I wonder what they will think when they find out. They will probably not want to see me either after such a shameful thing they will be disgusted with me. Amelia quietly went in,
packed her things, and called a taxi. She left a note for Deana and Roger telling them she had to go back and that she would go along with whatever decision they came to. She asked the taxi driver to stop by Ida’s house and she put a note in her mailbox. Then she went back to the apartment.

  [ Chapter 44 ]

  Back at the apartment, Amelia was grateful when she read a note from Shelly saying she was going to be away for the next few days. She told Buzz she needed 4 days off and this was only the third, so she had time to plan. She hadn’t slept for two nights now and it was beginning to show. Every time Amelia closed her eyes, she saw her mother saying she was having an affair with John Brown. That makes Chad your brother, she heard Jerry kept saying in her head over and over. Your brother! Your brother! Your brother! She was shaky and couldn’t keep anything on her stomach, she went to work anyway. She was there very early and sat at her desk resting her head in her hands. When Buzz came in and looked at her, he immediately knew something was wrong.

  Buzz asked her, “What happened on your visit, did someone get sick or die?” She burst out crying.

  Buzz said, gently, “Come on into my office, Amelia.”

  When she was settled in a chair next to the desk Buzz asked, “How can I help you Amelia you look miserable.” She broke down, she didn’t want to, she couldn’t hold it in anymore, she had to tell somebody, and she told him all that had happened.

  “Amelia as a man of science, the first thing I would want to know,” he said, “Is

  did they show you any proof?”

  “No,” said Amelia, “I guess my mother should know.”

  “Didn’t you say she went away and left the family?”

  “Yes, both she and Jerry came back to the farm when I was there last week.”

  “This is really a serious problem,” Buzz said. “Let’s do this, just to make certain that what they told you is the truth, bring in something of Chad’s and we will run a DNA test on it and take a sample from you, then we’ll see. I know that doesn’t help for now, let’s see what the tests show to be sure. Try and pull yourself together. Did you talk to Chad about this?”