"Well, sod him!" she threw the letter down.

"Jean!" her mother admonished, "language!" She picked up the letter and saw what had elicited the curse.

"Oh, oh sorry love," she put her arm round her daughter, "What a thing to do."

Jean had waited for her boyfriend, her fiancé though she never had a ring just a promise, to come home from the war to marry her and start a family. Now here she was, twenty-three, and in the eyes of the local busybodies at the church, an old maid. The letter from him said he was sorry but he had met someone else and married her. She was more angry than upset, his letters hadn't been 'love letters' when they had arrived, and she had had a feeling.

"Well, the convent, I guess. No need for you and dad to do up the cottage for us."

"Jean, don't be daft," her mother laughed, "you're bright and beautiful, young and feisty. If that's the way it is with Christopher he wasn't the one for you. I know you've been courting since school but, no, love," she kissed her temple, "there's someone special out there, for you, I've always said so."

"Mum," Jean grumbled, "this is Ballarat …"

"Plenty have looked at you."

"Yeah, like Patrick Tyneman, but we all know what he's like, likes to try out the goods first." She scowled. "Anyway, I'm going to work, I don't want the sack for being late to the shop."

"Have a good day, love." Mrs Randall gave her daughter a squeeze and watched her saunter down the drive. Truthfully, she hadn't been sure the Beazley boy was the one for her daughter, he didn't have ambition – Jean needed someone with ambition or fire in their belly. Somewhere, out there, was that certain someone. And she would still do up the cottage, Jean could have her own space, she was twenty-three, now, too old to be living with her parents. She didn't want her to become one of those old maids that looked after aging parents and didn't have a life.

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As she walked to the greengrocers', a job she had taken just because it was there and she needed something to occupy her time until Christopher came home, she mused on what she had read, and what her mother had said. Maybe, during her lunch-hour she would have a look in the paper for another job, one that would give her more satisfaction than weighing out carrots and sympathising with customers that were struggling.

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Lunchtime came and as she went to get the paper she noticed a group of girls looking at the adverts in the window.

"I could do that," one giggled.

"You know nothing about children," another pushed her aside.

"I can housekeep."

"You can't even iron, look at the state of your blouse."

Jean waited for them to move and then tried to see what they were looking at.

"WANTED:

CAPABLE FEMALE TO CARE FOR SIX CHILDREN AGED 12 TO 5 MONTHS. HOUSEKEEPING DUTIES, RECEPTION DUTIES FOR DOCTOR'S SURGERY. ABLE TO SEE TO ACCOUNTS AND APPOINTMENTS. APPLY DR L R BLAKE, 7 MYCROFT AVENUE."

Well, she thought that was better than serving in a grocer's shop. Accounts she could do, she did them for her parents' farm and the greengrocer, she could housekeep, she was organised, and she knew how to care for babies. Her older sister had two children and she had babysat and cared for them when they stayed with their grandparents. She had half an hour left, plenty of time to head up to Mycroft Avenue and state her claim.

She'd known old Dr Thomas Blake, everybody in Ballarat had. She used Dr King, Dr Blake had a reputation for not suffering fools. She didn't consider herself a fool, far from it, but her family had always used Dr King, or his predecessor.

The house, from the outside, looked well kept, but she thought the begonia in the hanging basket could do with a prune and watering, and the cushion in the rocking chair needed washing.

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"Yes?" the woman who opened the door looked her up and down.

"I've come about the position," Jean lifted her chin defiantly.

"Position?"

"Nanny and housekeeper, this is Dr Blake's residence, isn't it?"

"Er, yes. You were quick?"

"I have the time," Jean looked at her watch.

"I suppose you'd better come in," Mrs Hastings stepped aside. Too young, she thought, only after his money.

Jean looked around the hall and waited. A face, a child, peered round the corner.

"Hello."

"Hello."

"I'm Lottie, who're you?"

"Jean Randall, are you Dr Blake's daughter?"

"His ward." Lottie smiled. "What are you here for?"

"Dr Blake has advertised for a nanny and housekeeper, I thought to apply."

Another child appeared, a boy.

"This is Will, he's another ward."

"Hello, Will." She smiled.

"Can you cook?" he asked, Lucien said his stomach was a bottomless pit.

"I can, and bake biscuits and cakes."

"Really?" his eyes grew wide.

She nodded.

Mrs Hastings appeared with the doctor behind her. He was even less impressed with her when she said she had no idea who the caller was, just that she was a young woman.

"Dr Blake," he held out his hand, which she took and shook gently.

"Jean Randall."

"I see you've met Lottie and Will."

"I have, and most polite they are, doctor."

"She says she can bake biscuits and cakes, doc." Will grinned.

"I see, and this is something you'd like?"

Will nodded.

"Hm, well, would you come into the study, Miss?"

Jean nodded.

"Miss Randall."

She grinned back at Will and he waved, then crossed his fingers. Anyone that pretty who could bake sweet treats had the job, as far as he was concerned.

"Scoot!" Mrs Hastings hurried them away and went to clear away the lunch pots.

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Lucien sat behind his desk and motioned Jean to sit.

"I didn't expect such a quick response to the advert, Miss Randall," he smiled.

"I was on my lunchbreak and saw a group of girls wondering if they had the skills you require, Dr Blake."

"Ah, I see, and you, do you think you have those skills?"

"I can cook, bake, clean, do accounts and I have experience of looking after babies – my sister has two and I have helped my mother care for them when she leaves them with us."

"Accounts?"

"My parents run a farm, I do the accounts for them, I was always good with numbers, and I count up the takings at the grocers at the end of the day, and do his weekly accounts – that's where I work at the moment."

"And how do you like working there?"

"It's alright," she admitted, "but I would prefer something that uses more than a smile and … well …"

"I see," he smiled. He thought she felt trapped, perhaps waiting for her beau to return, a question he had to ask. "Is there someone coming home for you, Miss Randall?"

She shook her head. "He found someone else," she chewed the inside of her cheek.

"Well, you've met Will and Lottie, there's Curtis, Suyin and baby May. Li is the only one who is my child, the others I found with her in an orphanage in China at the end of the war. I was looking for her and when I found her …" he told her their story, briefly.

"From that, doctor, they seem quite resourceful."

"Indeed, I am surprised that May survived, with the state of the place they were in and the provisions they had."

"And how are they?"

"Physically, a little less nourished than I would like, but better than when I found them. May is small, always will be, I think, but she has rallied and is making good progress. Emotionally? Things have happened fast for them, from me finding them and taking them from the hell hole they were in, only time will tell, and they will need a kind smile, an ear, love and understanding, and time, much time."

"And you, doctor? What do you need?" She thought maybe he could do with a kind smile, a listening ear, too.

"Someone to care for them, to run the house and surgery, see to appointments, send out the bills …" He studied her, "I need someone strong, resilient, someone who can think for themselves."

"I can do that," she nodded, "ask the grocer, Mr Davidson, or my mother."

He looked at her, all self-assurance masking the hurt she felt after being ditched by her beau, but she had an inner strength he thought.

"I don't expect you to soft soap the children, they still need to be guided to be good people …"

"I understand."

"Perhaps you'd better come and meet the others." He stood and indicated she should precede him out of the study. "If you wish to live in, Miss Randall, we have a room you could have." This was an afterthought, but if one of the children needed that kind heart in the night … he'd been woken some nights by one or another having a nightmare.

"That sounds like an excellent idea, doctor, I would be able to make an early start each morning, with breakfast, at least. Five children and a baby to get up and dressed … school?"

"Eventually," he agreed, "but it must be the right school. I went to Ballarat West …"

"It has a good reputation."

"And for the younger ones?"

"Hm, perhaps you should look around, first."

"Of course. You?"

"Wendouree Grammar."

"Very good. Perhaps you would be able to help them with their schoolwork?"

"I should certainly try."

"Lovely, ah, here they are," he stepped into the living room.

"Daddy?"

"Li, Curtis, Suyin," he pointed at each one, "Will and Lottie you have already met. Miss Randall thinks she would like to be your nanny and the housekeeper."

"Perhaps you could leave us to get acquainted, doctor, before we come to a decision." Jean held out her arms for the baby.

"Right, well, if you think so …" he hummed and looked around.

"Go on, daddy," Li smiled, "we won't eat her."

They watched him go, Curtis, as was his wont, eyed the stranger much as he had done when he first met Lucien.

Jean sat May on her knee and looked round.

"So, tell me about yourselves. Dr Blake has told me how you all came to be here …"

"He's been very kind," Lottie smiled. "He didn't have to take us."

"It's all been very quick," Curtis hummed. "They couldn't find our families so he said we could live with him."

"Do you like living with him?"

"Yes," Will grinned, "this house is great, and we have nice rooms. I share with Curtis, Lottie is on her own and Li shares with Suyin."

"Lottie and I decided that," Li nodded, "'cos Suyin is so young, about five, we think. She was in the orphanage from being a baby. May was born there."

"Your father says May's mother died … how are you, after that?"

"She was very sick," Lottie sighed, "and very sad. The other nuns weren't kind to her."

Jean recalled what Lucien had told her about May's mother.

"Yet it wasn't her fault, from what your father says, Miss Li."

"That's what he told me, and he said she was at peace and he would see May was looked after."

"So, what would you like from me, as your nanny and housekeeper."

"You said you can bake biscuits and cakes," Will looked hopeful.

"You can't live on biscuits and cakes, Master Will," she teased, "but I will bake for you all."

"We'd like you to look after May. We love her …" Lottie chewed her bottom lip.

"… but you are still children, I understand. I have looked after my niece and nephew when they have come to stay with my parents, and I think Miss May will be fine. Good food and fresh air is what she needs."

"And love?"

"You all need that, everybody needs that, Miss Lottie." She looked at Suyin. "And you, Miss Suyin, what would you like?" she asked softly.

Suyin tipped her head and took her thumb out of her mouth. She stood up and went over to Jean and held out her arms.

"Cuddles?" Jean lifted her with her free arm onto her knee with May, "cuddles are always available."

The older children looked round at each other and nodded.

"When can you come to us, Miss Randall?" Li stood up.

"Well, I have to tell Mr Davidson I am leaving the shop, so, the end of the week. That's how much notice I have to give."

"I think that sounds great," Will laughed.

"I think, Will," Curtis nodded, "that Miss Randall will be a good nanny, and she will help the doc, too."

"That would be part of my duties, Curtis."

"He's done everything for us," Curtis looked around, "my father always said looking after children was women's work, he's done it all."

Lucien was standing out of sight, listening in; to make sure she didn't upset the children and to see their reaction. He already thought she would be the right person, even though he hadn't seen anyone else. Curits rarely talked about his father, he'd spoken to Lucien in the quiet of one evening, but that was about it, and it seemed he found his own father rather distant.

"As a doctor he would know how to look after a baby, but most men have that mindset, in my experience. Even my own father said it was up to mother to look after me and my sister, though he is a good man, a hard worker and kind." Jean smiled.

"Can we show you round, Miss Randall?" Li stood up.

"That would be nice," Jean let Suyin slip to the floor and took her hand, settled May on her hip and followed the children up the stairs.

They showed her their rooms, and the bathroom.

"That room is empty," Li pointed to a room between Lottie's and hers.

"Then, if you don't mind, I shall take that one."

"You'll stay here?" Curtis gasped.

"Dr Blake said I could live in, it would be easier to get you all up and breakfasted each morning, don't you think. And if anyone has a nightmare I'd be there, for you."

"I think that would be lovely," Li nodded, and the others joined in.

Downstairs they showed her where the surgery was, Lucien's room and the closed doors to the studio.

"Daddy says he will open it, it was his mother's room, where she painted," Li put her hand on the door. "May is in with him, in a cot."

Jean thought if the cot would fit in the room she had seen for herself, she could have May in with her. Eventually she could share with Suyin and Li could share with Lottie.

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Mr Davidson had known from the start that Jean wouldn't stay with him forever, but he was sad to see her go. She was a good worker, his shop was always neat and tidy, his accounts accurate, he never needed to check them, and she was polite to the customers.

"If the doctor doesn't have an account with a greengrocers', Mr Davidson," she smiled, "then I shall suggest he has one here."

"Right, well, that would be good, Jean." He agreed she could leave at the end of the week, but could she make sure his books were up to date, first?

"As always, Mr Davidson," she laughed, "Friday at five."

"Lovely."

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"You've done what?" her mother gasped when she told her she had resigned from the shop.

"I've found a better position," she hung her coat up and sat at the kitchen table.

"How?"

"It was advertised in the newsagents' window. Rachel Harrison and Jane Forrest and a few others were laughing when Rachel said she might apply, only Jane said she knew nothing about babies and couldn't iron to save her life."

"So where is this position, and what do babies have to do with it?" Mrs Randall wondered what trouble her daughter had got herself into.

"Dr Blake wanted a nanny and housekeeper, someone to run the surgery, do the accounts and see to the appointments. He's got six children …"

"Six!"

"One's his, the others are his wards. He found them in an orphanage in China when he was looking for Li, his daughter. He didn't think he could leave the others, it wouldn't be right, so he's taken them on as wards. There's Curtis and Will, Lottie, Suyin and baby May. Will wants me to bake cakes and biscuits." She grinned.

"Oh Jean, it's an awful lot for you to take on." Her mother sighed.

"You saying I can't do it?" Jean pouted.

"No, I'm not saying that, but we don't know Dr Blake."

"We knew his father, even if he wasn't our GP. He's a good man, mum, taking on five children he could have left at a children's home, especially the baby. Li says he's done everything for her, and Curtis says his father had said that bringing up children was women's work, but Dr Blake did it, anyway. They're very resourceful. When he found them they were alone, no adults, May's mother had died the week before, and they were scrabbling around for food, he's really proud of them."

"Are you sure, Jean?"

"I am, mum; it will be a challenge. Dr Blake says I am not to soft soap the children, they will need a guiding hand. He let me see them on my own, but I think he was listening, to see I didn't upset them, I suppose, though Miss Li said they wouldn't eat me," she laughed softly at this memory. "There's a lot to do in the house, they have a housekeeper, she came with the house, but I don't think she likes children, and she wasn't very welcoming when she opened the door, didn't even ask my name."

"You could have been an axe wielding murderer," Mrs Randall frowned, "and with children in the house, too."

"Quite."

"When do you start?"

"I finish at the greengrocers' at the end of the week. I'm going to live in, there's a room between the two older girls."

"Live in?"

"Six children, mum. After all they've gone through I expect nightmares, or at least disturbed sleep and the doctor will be busy, with the surgery. I can get them up in the morning, take them to school, when he finds the right ones for them."

"I assume he had a wife?"

"She died, at the fall of Singapore, he spent the war in a prison camp. I don't think it's just the children that need looking after."

"You be careful …"

"Want to go and see him? He said you could, when we talked about me living in, to see he is an honourable man."

"I think I will, love. I know you are twenty-three now, but you are still my child."

Jean rolled her eyes, but it was no more than she expected.

"Oh, mum?"

"Yes."

"You know the pram, the one we had for Danny and Amy."

"Yes?"

"It's ok, though, isn't it? Only there isn't one for May …"

"The baby?"

Jean nodded.

"Alright, but you need to give it a clean."

"That's ok."

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So Jean moved in. She took all her things down in the pram after her mother went to see Lucien and, as he said later, interview him as a prospective employer for her daughter.

"I'm glad she did, Miss Randall," he mused on her first evening, "it showed me you come from a caring family."

"I think she was worried I might have bitten off more than I can chew."

"When my wife was alive we both looked after Li, she was our daughter not just hers."

"Hence the reason you were able to feed and change Miss May."

"Hm," he nodded. "Thanks for the loan of the pram. Sitting May out in the fresh air will be good for her."

"If we walk down into town I can sit Miss Suyin in it as well, we used to with Danny and Amy."

"You can drop the 'miss'," he smiled, "I know it's respectful, but … well it's a little old-fashioned, don't you think?"

"As you wish, and on that, could I be known as 'Jean'? 'Miss Randall' makes me feel like an old maid."

Lucien thought there was nothing further from the truth in that, so 'Jean' it became.

"In front of the patients …"

"Always Miss Randall," she agreed.