Family Portrait (Fam Series #1)

Chapter 68 - List Management, Carlton

4 months later.

Adeline -

Hi. It's been a minute.

I apologise for forgetting to update my journal again. It's probably starting to look pretty patchy. Unfortunately, I just haven't had the time.

I went into premature labour the night Ashleigh slept over, I was only around 5-6 months pregnant, so our newborn daughter had to stay in the NICU for a few weeks, on life support. Doctors were unsure of what caused the early onset of labour, or why their attempts at preventing it failed.

And so, at 5:07am, in the maternity unit of the St Vincent's Hospital in Fitzroy, our daughter Charlie Hannah Curnow-Plowman was born. I don't know what made me add my surname to her name. I think since I reunited with my brother, I've began to start accepting who I am a bit more. My brother isn't dead and my mother didn't kill him. There's nothing to be ashamed of anymore, besides my dad's side of the family, however, Andrea didn't take his surname.

Ashleigh was by my side the entire time I was in labour, because I was too terrified to be alone after what happened when I went into labour with the twins, almost three years prior. I've honestly never seen Ashleigh so supportive and care focused. Normally, she's all about her current agendas and forgets to take the other person's feelings into account.

Charlie wasn't at the birth, because we couldn't get ahold of him with his phone at home, and we didn't have Jack or Olivia's number to call, so when he got home and saw Ashleigh's note taped to the TV about me requiring a hospital, he got into a mad panic, thinking I'd lost the baby again. But thankfully, that didn't happen and he got to meet her. With that, so did his teammates Jack Silvagni (we made sure Ashleigh was getting lunch during his visit), Caleb Marchbank (not sure whether I like him or not and vice versa) and Cam Polson, who was pretty quiet the whole time and didn't say much. I also told Charlie to invite Lachie to the hospital to meet Charlie Junior, who we usually refer to as CJ. It's oddly awkward talking to Lachie now. There's so so much stuff in the past eleven years for us to address, but neither one of us know how to bring it up. He offered to put me into contact with mum, but I said no, not wanting a bar of either of my parents.

In the midst of the last four months, Charlie played his first few games for Carlton, and immediately became a fan favourite and big name in the AFL. His Instagram followers exploded and, once he announced CJ's arrival on there, tagging me, I had so many follower requests my Instagram app crashed. So much so, Charlie persuaded me to make a public Instagram for his fans/AFL fans in general. It was so weird, opening myself up to the masses like that. I made sure to keep my surname hidden as well, as I didn't want uneducated fans to make Charlie and I's relationship a story of meeting each other through my brother. People just assumed, because we have three kids and own a house, that we were already married.

Ashleigh recently got a job, a placement type job as an intern at Channel 7 for sports reporting/journalism through her La Trobe degree. Speaking of placement, she was also offered a position at a very popular and well known law firm in the city for her legal Melbourne Uni degree. I don't know how the hell she's managing to balance both degrees out at different schools. Everyone we know thinks she's insane.

Jayden recently moved into Zaine's townhouse in West Footscray after living his life in squalor and serious disadvantage in Corio/Norlane, one of the worst areas in Victoria. According to Zaine, when Jayden went to take a shower, he was shocked that the water was hot, and clean, clear liquid. He also couldn't believe Zaine had a refrigerator that worked, that the paint was still on the walls and that his bed wasn't a torn up dirty mattress on the disgusting filthy floor. So, what may be a tiny townhouse to some, is an absolute palace mansion to Jayden Sayers.