Cattle Baron: Nanny Needed by Margaret Way

now. He can lie beside us while we eat?” She waited for approval, in the next breath realizing she should have looked to the baby’s parents.
    “Well, we can give it a try.” Cal was as surprised and grateful as Dee. “You’re joining us?” He looked to his uncle.
    “You go, Eliot.” Janis MacFarlane all but spat the words, as though she would be better off without him. “Ms Wyatt is right. I need to rest.”
    “See you soon,” Cal MacFarlane said smoothly, but with a saturnine edge to his voice.
     
    A fearful worry from birth, little Marcus, to all appearances, was thoroughly intrigued by the new woman in his life, especially her warming, glowing red hair. He lay on the floorbeside Amber in his bouncinette, which she kept rocking from time to time with a little movement of her foot.
    This is nothing short of a miracle , Cal was thinking. It was clear the beautiful Ms Wyatt loved babies and babies loved her. Maybe the gentleness of her manner, the soft crooning voice—she had a lovely voice, which would have worked well for her on television—and the beauty of her person was central to the big turnaround. He could see his uncle was so grateful he had tears in his eyes. Like little Marc, Eliot had taken a shine to their guest. The real tragedy was that Jan wasn’t trying an inch. She was tremendously self-involved. In his judgement, it was part of her character. So when did the baby blues end and this post-natal depression begin? As a condition, it was a curse. But did every sufferer set out to be nasty to everyone they came in contact with? Was Jan by nature nasty? Cal didn’t think nastiness was specific to the condition they kept going on about. He was no expert on such matters, but he knew Jan had held down a very good job in the world of finance before her marriage—she was highly intelligent—but directly after the civil ceremony she had begun acting as if she had married into royalty. How Eliot had never spotted her social ambitions during their all too brief courtship he didn’t know. Not that he was any expert either at spotting the flaws in women. Brooke was trying pretty hard to make a comeback. No chance!
    “Just a moment of madness, darling. I was so lonely without you and Chris was there. Love had nothing to do with it. It was just sex, which was pretty damned ordinary. Nothing like you and me.”
    Talk about an excuse! At least Brooke had her own money, the only daughter of a fellow station owner. Jan had expected that she and Eliot would settle down in Melbourne, where she could swan around enjoying Eliot’s not inconsiderablefortune. The honeymoon had lasted six months of luxurious world travel, but he knew how much his uncle had missed Jingala. He was a MacFarlane. It was in his blood.
     
    Lunch consisted of a delicious tomato and goat’s cheese tart with wonderful flaky puff pastry, and a beautifully crisp green salad with just the right dressing. It went down well. Baby Marcus remained calm and at peace as though all he ever needed was to be with people, having his bouncinette gently rocked. With coffee Dee, aided by her well-trained, part-aboriginal helper, Mina, a gentle, pretty young girl aged around sixteen, served another delectable tart, nectarine this time, oozing fruit, with a scoop of ice cream. Normally Amber didn’t do sweets for lunch but this time she made an exception.
    “So what now?” Cal asked, readying himself for just about anything. Ms Wyatt might very well elect to bring the baby on their tour of the station. Talk about a woman who used her own initiative!
    Unaware of his wry admiration Amber looked down at the baby in the bouncinette, a considering expression on her face. “I think our little Marcus might sleep. Look, his breathing is giving way to a nice easy rhythm. Isn’t that lovely? I wouldn’t even take him out of the bouncinette. What do you think, Dee?”
    “I’m with you, love,” Dee answered with a nod of approval, as though she had known