Joy McDonald was not what Jean expected at all.
At first she saw her a nuisance - a pretty little thing who sought to distract Lucien and ruin the doctor's reputation by printing whatever impulsive thought came to his mind. As the journalist visited more and more, however, Jean was grateful for her presence. If the doctor liked Joy, he had more reason to stay, more reason to settle into the role of the country doctor that he tried to shuck off the moment his father passed away. Joy McDonald brought Lucien happiness and Jean could turn a blind eye to… whatever might happen between them. After all, she was just the housekeeper and Joy was a woman of her own making; maybe the doctor would actually listen to a woman like Joy.
'You can't fix everyone, Jeannie,' Christopher told her in the past, when her heart was heavy and aching to help those who came to her for answers - or just a good cup of tea in the kitchen. No, she couldn't fix everyone, but she could certainly try. Lucien was worth the effort and so she tolerated Joy's visits.
And then China, and then the letter.
"Yours, with much affection" and Joy's sudden return had Jean spinning - her thoughts whirling as she tried to pinpoint the time when Lucien shifted from being "Thomas Blake's son" to "Lucien, her friend". Joy and her had their banter - Jean's usual warning of sullying the doctor's reputation, but since his return from China, all Jean wanted was for him to stay. If Joy was the reason he'd stay and put down roots in Ballarat, Jean could put aside their differences and embrace the journalist as a… somewhat ally.
Joy's untimely end - Jean thought it cruel that Lucien was surrounded by so much death - rattled that fragile root system Lucien had tentatively put down since coming home, and Jean walked softly in the days following her death to give Lucien the time he needed to mourn. Jean herself mourned the loss of a potential acquaintance; she wasn't naive enough to assume that they'd ever be friends, but Joy had be a bright spot in a dark world and Jean found herself missing the journalist's presence. Much like Genevieve, Joy taught Jean to seize the moment - live life to the fullest and go after what she wanted because life could be cruelly short and who knew what tomorrow brought.