Marion Lennox - A Child In Need

The first book in the Parents Wanted series, 2000

MY PERFECT woman

Yeah, Nick. You must have someone pictured in that cool, calculating head of yours. If you were ever to consider marriage

Ha!

No, but say your career depended on it. Say you really needed a wife. Who would it be? Nicks fellow lawyers were clustered around the bar late on Friday night, and they werent letting him off the hook.

So Nick thought about it-but just to humour them. There was no way this could ever be serious.

Okay. Wife requirements coming up. He frowned. Anyone I married would have to be independent. I dont need a wife so she couldnt need a husband.

There was a hoot of derisive laughter and the questioning intensified. We guessed that much. Independent. Okay. What else?

Beats me. Nick gave a mental shrug. This was stupid. Marriage wasnt on his cards at all. But if it was

Shed have to be really something, he said slowly, thinking it through. Tall and gorgeous. Of course.

Oh, of course, his friends agreed, rolling their eyes. Cat-walk gorgeous.

Trophy-wife gorgeous, Nick agreed. After all, thats the only reason Id be marrying.

And smart?

Absolutely. Professional something. A lawyer or a doctor, maybe. So shed have her own life.

Rich?

Yep. Theres no chance Im supporting any woman!

Thats a bit unfair. You make a mint.

And thats the way I like it. Wealth. Position. Travel. What else is there in life?

How about kids? they asked curiously.

You have to be joking! That was emphatic. No!

Now, how did we guess that? His friends now had their summary. So Gorgeous. Intelligent. Rich. Independent. Wanting no ties. Cold as ice? Something like you, in fact?

Am I cold? Nick asked mildly, but he knew the answer. Of course he was cold. Nick Daniels kept his emotions to himself. He didnt get involved. Not after what hed been through.

So this conversation was ridiculous. Marriage for Nicholas Daniels was never going to happen.

It must be getting close now-or has John popped the question already?

Shanni McDonald laughed and shrugged. They were a strange partnership, these two. Shanni, kindergarten director at twenty-seven, still looked about sixteen. Her assistant, Marg, was in her fifties, but they worked together brilliantly. There was only one disadvantage as far as Shanni was concerned. Margs age meant she was never backward in asking the hard questions.

So now she was waiting for an answer, and there was only one to give.

Not yet.

He will. I can feel it. And youll agree. Cos he has to be your perfect man.

I guess.

Isnt he just what youve always wanted? Marg demanded. Dont you have a list? She held up one finger after another. Lives locally and never wants to move. Loves animals and kids. Family man. Loves the country. Has room to stable horses and house half a dozen kids. Your families like each other. Everythings right, then. John fits everything on the list.

I guess he does, Shanni said, and tried to stop the note of doubt creeping into her voice.

But Marg was astute enough to hear it. So whats wrong?

Shanni caught herself and shrugged. Nothing, I guess When he pops the question Ill be the happiest girl in the world. After all, he is my perfect match. Where could I find a better partner in life than John?

THE man who just might interfere with her wedding plans wasnt talking marriage now. Nick had other things on his mind, all bleaker than the thought of an unwanted wife.

I dont want to be a magistrate in Hicksville. I dont wish to be within a hundred miles of this place-so why on earth am I here?

It was a good question, but there were sensible answers. Nick Daniels had one burning ambition and one only-to make high-court judge. Historically, once a lawyer joined Queens Counsel he could be appointed a judge without leaving the city, but that was hard to do now. There were new rules. No one wanted the country magistrate positions, and there was only one way to force aspiring judges to take them on.

If you want the plum job, then you need to do the hard work first, Nick had been told by the head of his chambers. Politically theres no other way. Theres a job going as local magistrate at Bay Beach. Great little fishing town, four hours drive from Melbourne. Youre not married-youve no kids-no ties to keep you in town. Put in the hard work there, boy, and well see what we can do.

For how long? Nick had been aghast.

Two years.

Two years!

You never know. Abe Barry had sucked his pipe and had surveyed his hawk-like junior with the beginnings of amusement. Nick was too darned clever by half. If he didnt get shot of him soon Nick would be edging him aside as chamber head before he knew it. You might even enjoy a spot of rustic idyll. You could apply for a county court judge position and stay there for life!

In your dreams!

No. In your dreams, and I know you dream of the big one, Abe had told him, the steel in his voice telling Nick he had no choice in this. But theres only one way to get it. Youve had a taste of magistrate work already so you know the ropes. Now take yourself off to the country and show us what youre made of.

What Im made of Nicks hands clenched the wheel of his sleek little sports car until his knuckles showed white. Magistrate at Bay Beach! It was an uninspiring name for an uninspiring place. Nightmare stuff.

Accustomed to big-time criminal cases, now hed be dealing with parking infringements, fines for illegal fishing and not much else. Though it served as a base for a much larger fishing and farming community, Bay Beach township had less than a thousand inhabitants.

Sofishing and farms! What qualifications did he have for judging farming or fishing disputes? What did he know of either?

Farms gave milk, steak, or wool which was exported to Italy and returned as Nicks superbly tailored suits. And fishing Fishing produced salmon and caviar. That was the end of Nicks interest in farming and in fishing. Period.

Two years as country magistrate Two years of purgatory! He rounded the headland, still groaning. Bay Beach lay before him, its whitewashed stone cottages glistening in the morning sun. The fishing fleet was coming in-at least, it must be the fishing fleet. There were six boats heading into harbour, and surely there couldnt be many more boats than six in this ends-of-the-earth place?

Ill go stark, staring crazy, he told himself. The sea air was blowing warmly on his face but he hardly noticed. His skin was so tanned he didnt fuss about protection, and his deep black hair was combed into submission so firmly the sea air didnt shift it. He sniffed-and wrinkled his aquiline nose in disgust. Salt! And cow dung! Ugh! Give him petrol fumes and city pollution any day!

Another bend in the road and the town limits came into view. There was a petrol station on this side of the town boundary and, on impulse, Nick pulled in. He had to fill the car with petrol, and he might as well do it now-give him a few more minutes before he entered this dump!

He pulled up to the bowser, looked idly over at the youth pulling petrol at the pump beside him-and his life changed for ever.

I need to go to the bathroom.

Shanni sighed and rolled her eyes as three-year-old Hugh made his life or death announcement. It was Friday morning-thank heaven-the end of a week which seemed to have gone on for ever.

Marg, can you take Hugh? Her assistant at Bay Beach Kindergarten was preparing milk and fruit. This would be Margs fourth trip to the toilet during reading, and the way they were going milk and fruit wouldnt be ready until lunch-time. But needs must.