Stay a While

Part 15

"Don't you think that's enough television, sweetie?" Gertrude asked, her hands clasped in front of her. "Darling?"

"I like this cartoon." Amelia replied unwillingly. 

"I understand, but you've been staring at the screen for a very long time. You know, a young girl such as yourself has many other ways to occupy herself with." Lindsey saw a little bit of his own mother in Gertrude; she was an elderly woman, she was always calm and polite. However, she was also very old fashioned, she didn't quite understand that the times were different. "Ms. Amelia, please, turn the TV off. Your daddy has bought you all those toys and I barely ever see you pick one up."

"But I want to watch TV!" The girl raised her voice, which Gertrude didn't appreciate. 

Gertrude had been with the Buckingham family for about two and a half months now. She had no problems with Danny, he more or less did as he was told, but Amelia was a little more capricious. The five year old listened to her parents, but not to the housekeeper. Gertrude had already brought the issue up with Lindsey, but he didn't say much to that or took any action. 

"Don't raise your voice at me, little lady."

"What seems to be the problem?" Lindsey asked, having heard the voices from the family room.

"I'm sorry, Mr. Buckingham, but your daughter has had her eyes glued to the television for too long. It's not healthy. I could take her outside, but she never wants to. She doesn't want to play with her toys either." Gertrude sighed, fixing her apron. "I don't want to yell and I won't, it's not my place. But I think you should speak to your daughter."

Lindsey had a feeling, he was quite sure about what had caused the sudden change in Amelia's behavior. "That's enough, baby girl. Why don't you run up to your room and pick something out for us to do?"

Amelia didn't hide her displeasure of having to turn off her favorite cartoon, but she did it anyway and stomped her little feet up the stairs. 

"Thank you." Gertrude said, heading back to the kitchen.

"Hey, uh..." Lindsey followed after her, scratching the back of his neck, his other hand in his jeans' pocket. "She doesn't mean anything by it. Don't take it personally. It's just that, before you, we had someone else working for us and she had a strong bond with Amelia. They were best friends, really. I think, Amelia just misses her."

"That doesn't excuse your daughter's behavior."

Lindsey sighed, cocking his head back. Every time Gertrude referred to Amelia as his daughter, he felt as if it was her taking a jab at him, making it sound as if he was not a good father.

"Alright, I'll talk to her."

"Dinner will be ready in about an hour." Gertrude said, changing the subject. "Mrs. Buckingham called, she won't be home until late."

Their lives changed a lot since Stevie had left. They rarely got together as a family anymore. Lindsey was more at home than Katherine, she'd suddenly become very busy, staying at work several hours longer than she was supposed to. Amelia had developed an attitude problem, but the cause of it was quite obvious. Danny befriended a boy, who'd recently moved in next door with his parents and Danny wanted to spend most of his time with his new friend. Lindsey was mostly alone and he was becoming very lonely.

Lindsey remembered his promise to Amelia and he was walking towards the staircase, passing the telephone. He stopped. He'd called Stevie twice without an answer on the other end of the line. She hadn't tried contacting him either, but he understood. Lindsey lingered, should he or shouldn't he? Deciding that he should, Lindsey reached for the receiver and dialed Stevie's home number. He wasn't surprised that she didn't pick up, but it did make him wonder if she hadn't returned from her parents yet or had she decided to ignore him.