Contract with Consequences
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Miranda Lee
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Chapter One
âDONâT you think you should start getting dressed?â
Scarlet glanced up from the Sunday paper which sheâd been pretending to read for the last hour or so. She hadnât felt like talking, especially since the conversation always came round to the radical choice which Scarlet had made this year. Her mother had initially supported her decision to have a child on her own by artificial insemination, but lately sheâd been expressing the opinion that it might not be such a good idea.
Scarlet needed negativity at the moment like a hole in the head!
Okay, so the procedure hadnât worked the first two times. That was not uncommon, sheâd been told by the clinic. She just had to keep on trying and sooner or later she would conceive. It wasnât as though there was anything physically wrong with her, except perhaps that she was getting older. Which was why sheâd decided to do this in the first place.
âWhat time is it?â she asked.
âNearly noon,â her mother replied. âWe really should make an appearance at the Mitchellsâ no later than quarter-to-one. I know Carolynâs planning on serving lunch around one-thirty.â
Carolyn and Martin Mitchell had been their friends and neighbours for almost thirty years. They had two children: a boy, John, the same age as herself, and a girl, Melissa, who was four years younger. Over the years Scarlet had got to know the family well, though she liked some members more than others. Mr Mitchell had not long retired and today was their fortieth wedding anniversary, a milestone which Scarlet knew would sadly never figure in her own life.
Janet Kingâs heart squeezed tight when she heard her daughter sigh. Poor love. Sheâd been so disappointed when her period had arrived this week. It was no wonder she didnât feel like going to a party.
âYou donât have to go,â she said gently. âI could make some excuseâsay youâre not feeling well.â
âNo, no, Mum,â Scarlet said quite firmly, and stood up. âIâm fine to go. Truly. Do me good.â And she hurried to her bedroom, thinking that it would do her good. She could have a few glasses of wineânow that she wasnât expecting. She also wouldnât have to spend the rest of the day defending her decision to have a baby on her own. Because no oneâother than her motherâknew about her baby project. Frankly, she was sick and tired of her mum telling her how hard it was, bringing up a child on her own.
Admittedly, Janet King had first-hand knowledge of the subject, Scarletâs father having been killed in a car accident when Scarlet had been only nine. Scarlet knew full well how difficult life had been for her mother at that time, both emotionally and financially. Difficult for herself, as well. Sheâd adored her father and missed him terribly.
So, yes, she appreciated that raising a child without the support of a partner would be hard at times.
But not as hard as never having a child at all!
Just thinking about such a prospect made Scarlet feel physically ill.
Sheâd always wanted to be a mother, ever since sheâd been a little girl. Sheâd grown up dreaming of one day falling in love with a wonderful manâsomeone like her darling dadâgetting married and having a family of her own.
Scarlet had honestly believed it was only a matter of time after leaving school before that happened. Her plan had been to marry young so that she could enjoy her children. Never in her wildest dreams had she envisaged reaching the age of thirty-four still single and without her Mr Wonderful anywhere in sight.
But that was how her life had panned out. Sometimes, Scarlet simply couldnât believe it.
Shaking her head, she stripped off her dressing gown then turned her attention to the outfit which sheâd already laid out on the bed earlier that morningâa purple woollen tunic dress, black silk polo underneath, black tights and black ankle boots. It didnât take her long to dressâsheâd already showered and blow-dried her hairâafter which she made her way along to the main bathroom to put her hair up and do her make-up.
Neither job took Scarlet all that long. At thirty-four, she had her grooming routine down pat.
The sight of the finished product in the large vanity mirror brought a puzzled frown to her forehead. Why, she wondered for the umpteenth time, had it come to this?
It wasnât as though she was an ugly girl. She was very attractive with a pretty face: cute nose, full lips, blonde hair and a good figure. Okay, so her breasts were on the smaller side, but she looked great in clothes, being tall and slender. On top of that she had a bright, outgoing personality. People liked her. Men liked her.
Despite that, sheâd had a lot of trouble finding herself a steady boyfriend over the years. In hindsight, Scarlet now realised that her choice of career hadnât helped, but that hadnât occurred to her at the time. Not wanting to leave home and the Central Coast, sheâd taken a hairdressing apprenticeship in the salon where her mother had worked, a move which had confounded a lot of people. She had, after all, achieved very high marks in her exams and could have pursued some high-flying profession such as communications or law, if sheâd wanted to.
But becoming a journalist or a lawyer was not what Scarlet wanted out of life. She had other priorities which didnât include more years of studying and even more years clawing her way up the ladder to what some people thought of as success in life. At the same time, she did want an interesting job which she enjoyed.
Despite her teachersâ warnings to the contrary, Scarlet had loved being a hairdresser, had loved the camaraderie with her co-workers and clients. Loved the feel-good feeling which came with completing a colour or a cut not just adequately but brilliantly. She soon gained a great reputation as a stylist and by twenty-five she and her mother had opened their own salon in a small shopping centre not far from Erina Fair. They would have preferred to locate their salon in Erina Fairâthe shopping hub of the Central Coastâbut the rents there were way too high. Because of their loyal clientele, their business had still been a huge success.
But only on the financial front. Scarlet eventually had begun to see that being a hairdresser with mainly female clients was not conducive to meeting members of the opposite sex. Being an only child with no siblings wasnât an asset, either. Maybe if sheâd had an older brother...
Not that she didnât try to meet men in other ways. For years sheâd maintained a group of girlfriends from her school days and they went out regularly together to parties, clubs and pubs where, for some perverse reason, she would always be hit upon by the type of good-looking sleazebag who was only interested in one thingâthough she didnât work this out till sheâd been burned a few times.
One by one, she watched as her girlfriends found nice guys to marryâmostly through their more diverse careers or family connections. Scarlet had been a bridesmaid so many times, she began to dread weddings, not to mention the after-wedding parties where her married âfriendsâ always tried to hook her up with some guy who was usually drunk and was only there to have sex with at least one of the bridesmaids.
When the last of her unmarried girlfriends had found her future husband on an Internet dating site, Scarlet had tried that method, but it had been an unmitigated disaster. For some reason, she still seemed to attract the wrong type who only wanted the one thing.
Scarlet had never been a girl who liked sex for sexâs sake. Not that she hadnât tried it a few times in her younger days; she had. But she had found the experiences so lacking in pleasure that by her twenty-first birthday she vowed to reserve giving her body till she really liked the guy she was with. Unfortunately, sheâd really liked some of the good-looking sleazebags whoâd successfully picked her up during her twenties. Even then, thereâd been no bells and whistles going off for her in bed, leading Scarlet to the conclusion that maybe she needed to be deeply in love to enjoy sex. Either that, or she was seriously undersexed.
By the time she turned thirty, Scarlet had been so desperate to find someone to loveâand who would love her in returnâthat sheâd made the mammoth decision to change careers. She went to college at night, gained her real-estate licence then applied for a job at one of the Central Coastâs largest and most successful agencies.
It had seemed a good move at the time. Suddenly, she was surrounded by lots of eligible young men who thought she was the best thing since they had built the freeway connecting the central coast to Sydney. She had admirers galore, one of whom stood out from all the rest. Jason was an estate agent at a rival agency and a coastieâlike herself. A charming, extremely handsome guy who came from a local family and didnât try to get her into bed on their first date. Hallelujah! When they did finally go to bed, the sex, whilst not quite of the earth-moving variety, had been pleasurable enough for Scarlet to conclude sheâd finally fallen in love, feelings which she assumed were mutual when Jason proposed to her on her thirty-second birthday.
Plans for their wedding were well underway when disaster struck.
It had been eighteen months ago, at their street Christmas party. Jason was unable to go with her, saying he had a work-related dinner at the Terrigal hotel which he was obliged to attend. She was showing everyone her engagement ring and having a wonderful time when John Mitchellâthe party was at the Mitchellsâ house that yearâtook her aside and very quietly told her the most devastating piece of information.
Her first instinct was disbelief and denial. It couldnât possibly be true: her fiancĂŠ was not gay. He couldnât be!
It was the gentleness in Johnâs voiceâand the compassion in his eyesâwhich finally convinced her he was speaking the truth. For it wasnât like John Mitchell to be that nice to her. Deeply distressed, she left the party straight away, sending Jason a text that she had to see him. She arranged to meet him at the park opposite the Terrigal hotel where she confronted him with Johnâs allegation. He initially denied being gay, but she wouldnât let him lie to her any more, and he finally admitted the truth. He begged her not to tell anyone else, as he hadnât fully accepted it himself, and she hadnât, but she broke her engagement.
Christmas that year, therefore, was not very happy. Neither was the New Year. Totally shattered, Scarlet resigned her real-estate jobâshe couldnât bear to run into Jason all the timeâand went back to hairdressing where she hid herself away for the whole year, her spirits very low. She never told anyone the truth about Jasonânot even her motherâsaying instead that sheâd found out he was cheating on her. Her girlfriends were very sympathetic whilst encouraging her to keep on dating. But she simply hadnât had the courage to put herself out there again. Sheâd felt like a fool, and a failure.
Scarlet had been quite relieved when John Mitchell hadnât come home last Christmas. She hated the thought of his looking at her with pity again, or saying something crass like âI told you soâ. Apparently, heâd broken a leg climbing up some stupid mountain in South America and was unable to travel. She was relieved, too, that he wouldnât be at the party today. Heâd planned to come, but his flight from Rio had been indefinitely delayed because of volcanic ash in the air. Fate was being kind to her for once.
Scarlet knew it was silly of her to feel awkward about seeing John Mitchell again. But she did.
To be fair, he was not an easy guy to be around at the best of times. Despite being a very good-looking man, Johnâs social graces left a lot to be desired. Had a brilliant brain, though; this Scarlet knew first-hand, since theyâd always been in the same classes at school, right from kindergarten through to their final exams. But being classmates and neighbours had not made them friends. John had never played with the other kids in the street, despite Scarlet asking him more than once. All heâd cared about was studying and surfingâthe beach was a relatively short walk away.
Scarlet recalled how John had bitterly resented being asked by her mother to mind her on the school bus when bullying had become rife. Admittedly, heâd done it, even to the extent of fighting with another boy who had called her a foul name. Heâd got suspended for a day over that, and a bloody nose as well, which hadnât exactly endeared her to him. Not that he had said anything directly to her. But when sheâd thanked him, heâd scowled. Scowling at her was something heâd done quite often back then. She remembered once going to him for help with a maths problem in high schoolâhe really had been terrific at mathsâonly to be told bluntly to stop being so bloody lazy and work it out for herself. Naturally, she hit backâScarlet was not a girl to accept such rudeness meeklyâscreaming at him that she thought he was the meanest, most horrible boy sheâd ever met and she would never ever ask him for help again, even if she were dying. A rather over-dramatic declaration, but sheâd meant it at the time.
After graduating, John had gone on to Sydney university to become a geologist. Sheâd hardly ever seen him after that. Heâd gone overseas to work once he had his degree, and only darkened his familyâs doorstep around Christmas, when he would stay for a week or two at most. Even then, he spent most of his time surfing by himself.
He did deign to attend the Christmas street-party which they held every year, and where their paths inevitably crossed. And, whilst John wasnât openly rude to her any more, their conversations were hardly warm or communicative. What she knew about his life was gleaned via his mother who belonged to the same quilting group as Scarletâs mother. According to Carolyn Mitchell, her son had become extremely wealthy in recent years after finding oil in Argentina and natural gas in some other South American country. Heâd also bought a house in Rio, so it seemed likely that he wasnât coming home to Australia to live any time soon.
And wasnât getting married any time soon, either, Scarlet warranted. Loners like John didnât get married.
However, Scarlet had no doubt there was a womanâor womenâin his life. Good-looking guys with money to burn didnât do without sex, even if they were antisocial bastards with about as much personal charm as a rattlesnake!
The bitchiness of this last thought startled Scarlet. It wasnât like her to be bitchy.
John Mitchell brought out the worst in her. But she really hated the way he didnât need anybody; hated his self-containment. She couldnât imagine John Mitchell ever having his heart broken. His heart was as hard as one of his precious rocks.
âBetter get a move on, Scarlet,â her mother called through the bathroom door. âItâs twelve-twenty-five.â
After giving herself a vigorous mental shake, Scarlet hurried back to her bedroom, where she quickly hooked a pair of silver and crystal drops through her earlobes, then bolted back to the living room where her mother was waiting for her, dressed in a tailored cream trouser suit with a caramel-coloured blouse underneath.
âYou know, Mum,â she said, looking her mother up and down. âYou donât look a day over fifty.â Yet sheâd turned sixty-two last birthday.
âThank you, darling. And you donât look a day over twenty.â
âThatâs because I have great genes,â Scarlet replied.
âTrue,â Janet agreed, though the thought did occur to her that maybe her daughter had inherited one particular gene which wasnât as desirable as a youthful face, good skin and a slender figureâshe herself had found it very difficult to get pregnant, which was why sheâd only had the one child. It surprised her that a girl as intelligent as Scarlet hadnât asked her about that. But she hadnât, and Janet wasnât about to mention it. Not today.
âCome on, letâs go,â Janet said instead, and picked up the present from the kitchen counter. Inside the rather exquisite red box was a ruby-coloured water jug and matching glasses which sheâd found in a local antique shop and which she knew Carolyn would love. Martin probably wouldnât, but then Martin was one of those men who didnât enthuse over anything much. Except his grandson. There was no doubting that Melissaâs little boy, Oliver, was the apple of his grandfatherâs eye. âI wonât need a jacket, will I?â Scarlet asked her.
âI shouldnât think so. Besides, itâs not as though you have far to walk if you do get cold.â
âYouâre right. In that case, I wonât take a handbag, either. Here, let me hold the present whilst you lock up.â
They went out the front way, Scarlet glad to see that the early cloud had lifted, letting the June sun do a decent job of warming up the air. Winter had not long arrived down under, but it had already been one of the coldest in a decade. And the wettest. Fortunately, the rain had stayed away today, which meant they wouldnât be confined indoors at the party. By the look of the number of cars already parked up and down the street, this was going to be a well-attended affair. There was nothing worse, in Scarletâs opinion, than having lots of people jammed into a couple of rooms. Admittedly, the Mitchellsâ two-storeyed home was very spacious, with large open-planned living areas. But even so...
âTheyâve been lucky with the weather,â she remarked to her mother as they walked together across the road.
âIndeed. I...â
Whatever her mother was going to say was cut off by the Mitchellsâ house. The front door was reefed open and Carolyn ran out, looking flushed but happy.
âYouâll never guess whatâs happened,â she said excitedly. âIâve just received a call from John. His plane was able to take off last night after all. Admittedly, a few hours late, but because of favourable winds they made good time and landed at Mascot a couple of hours ago. He tried to ring me earlier but I was on the phone so he hopped on a train. Anyway, heâs going to be arriving at Gosford station in about twenty minutes. The trainâs just pulled into Woy Woy station. He said heâd catch a taxi, but you know how scarce they can be on a Sunday. So I told him to wait outside the station on the Mann Street side and Iâd get someone to pick him up.
âOf course, he said that I shouldnât bother, but I said what tommyrot, that if he could fly here all the way from Brazil we could at least pick him up from the station. But once I hung up, I began thinking who I could ask. I couldnât very well leave my guests and I didnât like to ask Martin. Then I saw you two through the front window, and I thought who better than Scarlet? You donât mind, do you, dear?â
What could Scarlet possibly say?
Scarlet forced a smile and said, âIt would be my pleasure.â
