Brand New Journey

Chapter 29

Dotty brought the tea into the family room and sat down stating, "Amanda, Darling. I know what you went through with Joe but as you can plainly tell, Lee is not Joe King! Not by any stretch of the imagination except for the fact that he cares for you and the boys very much-"

Amanda sighed and replied, "Mother, did he really come out and say that? Look, I know you mean well and that you only want the best for me, but I need you to please stop pushing! Lee just found out that Kelly is his daughter for real and he's trying to wrap his head around that because he doesn't think he's gonna make a good father-"

Dotty shook her head and exclaimed, "What rubbish! Doesn't he remember Christmas? He spent all that time with Kelly and the boys. They loved having him around."

Clearing her throat she then added, "Besides, I overheard Jamie with Phillip when they saw Lee dressed as Santa? Jamie wondered why Joe never did that with them. Doesn't that tell you something right there? They'll always love Joe but truthfully if he had put a little more effort into this family back then the dynamic in this household would certainly be very different today."

Kelly walked in just then and Dotty noticed and asked, "Honey, what's the matter? You couldn't sleep?"

Kelly shook her head and queried fearfully, "Is that lady gone?"

Amanda pulled her to her lap and nodded remarking, "Yes, Sweetie. You don't have to worry about her any more, all right?"

Kelly remarked sadly, "She wants to hurt me. Why? I'm a good girl!"

Amanda kissed her cheek answering, "Of course you are, Sweetheart. But she's gone now and you're gonna stay right here with us forever, okay?"

The doorbell rang and Dotty rose responding, "I'll get it."

Kelly then asked Amanda, "Where's Lee? I wanna see him!"

Amanda rubbed her back soothingly commenting, "He had to go to work but he'll be by later, all right?"

Dotty returned to the room with Mrs. Michaels in tow which made Kelly pull away from Amanda and run to Dotty pouting, "She's gonna take me away!"

Amanda looked at Dotty and stated quickly, "Kelly, I'm gonna get your juice now and you can finish taking your nap..."

Mrs. Michaels remarked, "I'm so sorry. I'm not here for that at all. I just wanted to see how Kelly was after her ordeal and to drop off some papers for Mr. Stetson."

Dotty asked, "Papers? For what?"

Mrs. Michaels responded handing them to Dotty, "Status change. Instead of guardianship he's a parent now and we need to have it for our files. Is he here?"

Amanda got Kelly's juice out of the fridge and mixed her prescribed medicine dose in with it stirring it and commented, "No, but he'll be by tonight. I'll see that he gets them."

She then gave Kelly her bottle and stated to Dotty, "Can you please take her up? I'm gonna walk Mrs. Michaels out now."

Dotty nodded putting the papers on the counter and picking Kelly up stated, "Of course. C'mon, Sweet Pea."

Amanda kissed Kelly's temple remarking, "Have a good nap, Honey. I'll see you in a bit."

As they left Mrs. Michaels stated, " The DCF wanted you and Mr. Stetson to know how truly sorry they are that someone like Mr. Jones was able to fool the Government and pass himself off as a DCF worker and that they are amending the policies regarding hiring of employees as we speak."

Amanda shook her head and responded, "Well thank you, but you were a victim as well being kidnapped and all. How are you doing?"

Mrs. Michaels shrugged and swallowed answering,"Some nights are rough for sleeping. My husband still wants me to resign but I'm not at that point yet. I still feel as though the rewards to this job far outweigh the difficult aspects of it, you know?"

Amanda sighed and nodded in agreement remarking, "Yeah. We have to learn to separate our work from our personal lives and not let it get to us, although it is hard."

As they walked out to the curb where Mrs. Michaels was parked she queried to Amanda, "How is Kelly holding up, really? Does she know that Mrs. Spinelli was actually her mother?"

Amanda shook her head commenting, "Considering the woman's penchant for danger and Kelly's age, Lee is of course hesitant to tell Kelly anything until she's old enough to handle it. We'll just have to wait and see."

Mrs. Michaels nodded and then stated, "Of course. Tell Mr. Stetson he can drop off the papers at the office when he can. Goodbye, Mrs. King. "

Amanda smiled and remarked, "Goodbye, Mrs. Michaels. And thank you."

Mrs. Michaels pulled away from the curb and Amanda went back inside to finish her tea.

Finding the tea cold by now she rinsed out the cup putting it away and took the papers Lee was to sign over to the couch to look at them.

She then got on the phone and dialed the Agency and Lee's extension.

He answered, "Stetson."

Amanda remarked, "Hi. It's me. Mrs. Michaels stopped by a little while ago."

Lee frowned responding , "There aren't any problems with Kelly, are there?"

Amanda shook her head and answered, "Oh, no. Kelly's taking a nap right now. No. Mrs. Michaels brought by some papers DCF needs you to sign. Are you coming by for dinner tonight?"

Lee nodded, "Yeah. If you want, I can pick something up?"

Amanda smiled faintly and stated, "No, that's all right. I have chili already made. Um, Kelly was asking for you earlier. She's okay but I think she's afraid Eva's still around. I tried to make her feel better by saying she would always be with us. It's just gonna take time, you know?"

Lee nodded and swallowed hard remarking, "Yeah, I get it. Speaking of Kelly, there's something I want to run by you later if it's okay."

Amanda shrugged and asked, "Well, what is it? Can't you tell me now?"

Lee shook his head and replied, "Uh, no. Because I haven't got everything worked out yet. Look, just tell Kelly when she wakes up that I'm gonna be there for dinner, okay? I gotta go. See you later. Bye."

Amanda nodded and remarked, "Bye."

Hanging up, she was puzzled. Why was he being so mysterious, she wondered.

Dotty came down and Amanda asked, "How's Kelly?"

Dotty shook her head and answered, "Oh, she dropped off almost immediately. But I'm not in a good place right now, I'll tell you-"

Amanda worriedly queried touching Dotty's arm, "What's the matter, Mother?"

Dotty grimaced and commented, "If I could have just five minutes with that awful woman, I'd give her a piece of my mind! All the hell she put that child through! Honestly!"

Amanda patted her hand responding gently, "I-I know, Mother. But she's gone and we're all the better for it. Do you want some more tea?"

Dotty sighed and shook her head replying, "No, Dear. I think I'll go lie down now. Oh, the boys have their practice after school but Mrs. Barton's picking them up."

Amanda nodded and answered, "Good. Oh um, Lee's coming for dinner tonight."

Dotty stated as she went up the stairs, " Well of course he is, Darling. His daughter lives here. He'll be around here a lot more, I suspect-"

Amanda chuckled shaking her head as she remarked, "Have a good rest, Mother..."

TBC