Poker Face ✔

Chapter 72

I moved myself to San Francisco, right across the country away from the Ashtons.

There I earnt my money via poker games, which after a few months of heavy gambling got me a good size apartment in the city.

It was when I was four months pregnant when I received my first ultrasound that confirmed that I was pregnant with twins.

I wasn't prepared for one baby let alone two, but I just had to make twice as much money to support myself and them.

I remember when I was six months pregnant, watching the news on TV. I enjoyed keeping up with my family through newspapers and Chris's postcards.

"Daniel Ashton has been charged after the kidnapping and beating twenty-six-year-old Latino man over a drug scandal" the news presentor announced "his hearing will take place later this year"

Daniel Ashton.

I hadn't heard that name is a while by this point.

My father was a sloppy man; he was one of my only relatives who actually got caught. Getting caught was to be expected from him.

***

I remember when I went into labour; six pm on a Friday, whilst I was watching TV in my apartment. I took a cab to the hospital where I spent twelve hours in labour and then had a
C-section.

I always thought that either Aunt Kat or Michael would deliver my children at home, not some doctor at a hospital in San Francisco. It wasn't as lonely as it sounds, afterall I had two kids by the end of it.

I gave birth to Milo and Clementine on July 26th 2011 - both weighing six pounds eight ounces. Milo looked like Gabe, Clem looked like the both of us.

They were beautiful and no one was there to see.

Around that same time, Michael and his wife Kaitlyn-Rose had just gotten pregnant and were expecting triplets.

I couldn't help but think that it should have been Aunt Kat delivering my kids. That's the way it was always supposed to be, after all.

So that concludes the 2010-2011 saga.

Later that year, dad's trial began and he got twelve years with a non-parole period of six. He should have gotten longer, but my family were the best lawyers you could find.

And that was my life for the next six years; homeschooling during the day, making money during the night by playing poker (with a nanny watching them). I wanted to be present in their lives, unlike both of my parents. So I only ever worked nights.

I taught them everything that they needed to know about the world, as well as everything my family had taught me. I was a twenty-one-year-old mother but then again most of my family had children young.

Milo was a little firecracker, he just walks into any situation without thinking about the consequences - I just know that its gonna get him into trouble some day.

Clem on the other hand was a little more cautious, I don't know where she gets it from.

***

"In other news missing person, Chace Matthews has been recovered after being missing for nine years" Lynda Marie from Channel twelve announced.

The name Chace Matthews was one I hadn't heard in years at this point.

"Holy...." I trailed off as sitting in front of the TV.

"Allie I-" the nanny started as entering the living room, which I just wave her off.

I went by the name Allie - the names Ta, Taylor and Taylorina had too many memories attached to it. Allie was the childhood nickname given to me by the Jeremiahs. I guess it just stuck.

"The now twenty-three-year-old reveals that he ran away due to his father's physical and verbal abuse and had been staying with friends in Brooklyn...when asked why he never came back, he responded that it was out of fear" the news presentor went on.

"Jesus" I gasped.

"Matthews has been charged for assault after beating his brother in the family's front yard...Matthews has been released on bail...the date of his hearing is still unknown"

"What was that about?" Becky the Nanny questioned.

"I know him" I admitted with wide eyes, "we were friends...A long time ago"

"Okay, well you can head off if you like," she told me "I can handle things from here"

By that point it was 2013. My kids were two years old and I was twenty-three.

That's when it hit me; my family are just people that I used to know.

Katie's celebrating her twenty-first birthday, along with Zac and Chris.

Oh my little Chris, stuck in that hell hole. I sent him a postcard, nothing on it just the city of San Francisco on the outside. When the kids were born, I attached a photo to that postcard with 'Twins! Meet Clementine and Milo' written on the back.

He sent me a few little things over the years and I did the same. He sent me photos and small items like my favourite coat or a small scale painting he had done.

I kept up with my family; mostly through news reports and Chris's small updates.

Chris is a paraplegic and so as a result he's indoors alone all day and night.

I was his hobby and he was mine.

***

Fast forward to 2017; both kids are six years old, being homeschooled by me in our home in San Francisco.

The kids and I went to China town during their summer vacation. When we got back that's when I found the last postcard that Chris would ever send me.

"Jesus" I gasped dropping my suitcase onto the floor as we entered the apartment.

"Mum?" Clementine questioned in fear.

"What's the matter?" Milo asked as I re read the postcard.

The post card said:

Nate Ashton,
May fifth 1953 - August twenty-fifth 2017.

The man had died two days prior to me receiving the card.

"He's dead" I said slowly "that's it...its over he's dead"

"Who?" Milo asked.

"Uncle Nate" I explained whilst keeping my eyes on the postcard.

"Who?" Milo scratched his head.

"You mean the man that you told us was sick?" Clementine questioned.

I nodded.

My heart sank; I didn't want to believe it but the day had finally come.

"What are we gonna do?" Milo asked impatiently.

Without thinking I picked up my suitcases and the kids picked up their mini ones and we leave.

I couldn't do it; I couldn't miss my uncles funeral - the man raised me like his own, loved me despite everything. He did everything in his power to keep me safe, not because I was next in line but because I was the daughter of Daniel Ashton. Uncle Nate loved my father and I, like I loved my own children.

Now he's dead; Ethan and I get the business and everything changes.

I wondered where he was when he died. What his last words or even last thoughts were. Was he scared? Was he weak or immobile? Was anyone with him?

These are the questions that go through everyone's minds when they lose someone they love.

I felt sick; but I took slow, deep breaths to control myself.

"Deep breaths mum" Clementine half smiled as we sat in the plane.

"Yeah" I nodded "deep breaths"