UNBROKEN

FIFTY THIRD INSTALMENT

Grant came home one day and told me that he had to go on a 6 month around Australia trip. I was devastated as I really hadn't made any real friends and my family where so far away. He had organised for Ava and I to go back and see Mum. We were going for 3 weeks this made my day.

The day before Grant was to sail I took Ava over so I could do some fishing.

This day I caught a huge Snapper and I didn't want to take it off the hook so Ava and I walked to the submarine and were greeted by all the boys. "Ha! While Grant is hard at work this is what your doing?" Laughed a guy called Jamie. Jamie was do handsome. He was over 6 foot tall dark skin and brown eyes and he loved Ava and treated me like a sister. "I can't take it off" I replied with a giggle. Funny I could catch fish and gut them but taking them off was another thing all together. Jamie called down to Grant and he surfaced not long after. Here I was holding on to fishing rod and the fish was flapping everywhere. Grant walked of and laughed at me then laid the fish on the top of the submarine put his foot on it and pulled out the hook. "It's fish tonight and for a month" Grant joked. It was no joke though I really couldn't have eaten all of this fish in a month it was huge. I told Grant to give it to the chef and he could cook it for them when they sailed. I kissed him goodbye and said "I'll see you later".

The day Grant left was a bit emotional as I knew it would be 6 months before I saw him again and even though we were going home to see Mum I would come back to an empty house apart from Winnie. I organised with Chantelle to house Winnie for my whilst I was away. She had got to know Winnie and Winnie was comfortable with her. Chantelle was excited as she still lived in the same street I had moved from and was worried as her husband would be away too.

Ava and I took Grant to the base and stayed on the wharf to wave them all off as we had many times before. Now it was time to go and pack our bags ready to see Mum and Barry. We were flying home on a free flight from RAAF Base Pearce. It was a Hercules that we would flight on. We drove up to just outside the RAAF Base and stayed with one of Chantelle's friends for the night as we had to be at the base early.

The next morning carrying our bags and holding Ava's hand we walked over to a hanger, just outside the hanger was the massive Hercules. We were handed a white box each and inside was a meal and a popper. This flight was going to be at minimum 10 hours as we had to stop off at Adelaide. I had never been inside a Hercules before. They are massive. There are no actual seats inside this plane there are nets set as chairs. Everyone was handed ear muffs as the noise was obviously going to be bad. Ava and I took a seat on the nets hung as seats and she cuddled up close. It must have been overwhelming for her as this was not a normal plane. We did have seat belts though a fat lot of good they would do if you had an accident as you would be flung out of the nets. The safety talk was something I hope I never have to hear again and I will never forget.

The flight crew were all males and not used to having women and children on board I would say. "Ladies and gentlemen" one I of the flight crew started off "if we go down on land then kiss your ass goodbye, however if we crash into the ocean and by some miracle do not break up in to little pieces behind me you will see a life raft, make your way too it" he finished. I was glad to say that I had already put Ava's ear muffs on so she didn't hear this but I did and it did not give me a lot confidence.

We finally took off and to be honest the flight was pretty smooth, though it felt like the plane was flapping its wings up and down. The noise was unbearable without the ear muffs. Windy and noisy, best to kept them on if you ever find yourself in a Hercules. The ear phones I was give had a micro phone thing on them and I could hear the banter between the flight crew. It was quiet amusing. They were picking on a larger lady on the plane and I said out loud to myself "that's terrible, how rude" what I didn't realise was that they could hear me if I spoke also. "Who's that?" Someone said then I had a person tap me on the shoulder and then I hear the voice inside my head phones say "I'm sorry madam we didn't think anyone was listening" I didn't say anything for the rest of the trip. Ava slept for a lot of the trip so that was good for her as there are only so many things to do on this sort of aircraft and trying to read her a book was not one of then it was completely useless as she couldn't hear a word I said. She was so very well behaved.

We finally landed just outside Sydney at a RAAF Base. Mum was there to great us. Grant had organised a pass for her so she could come on to the base. As soon as Ava saw Mum she took off "Nanny! Nanny!" She was screaming and crying. She had missed Mum so much. You can imagine how emotional it was.

A few days after we landed it was Barry's 18 birthday. Mum had organised a huge party with a lot of our friends and family coming. The big night arrived and Barry's new girlfriend Rhonda arrived. I had never met her before but instantly fell in love with her. Rhonda was Lebanese with beautiful dark skin, dark hair and dark eyes. The moment Ava saw Barry she ran to him and hugged his legs "Happy Birthday Uncle Ba" Ava said. Barry introduced her to Rhonda. "Aunty Rhonda" Ava said. We all laughed and I went to say "No Ava" but Rhonda leant down to Ava's level and said "yep! You can call me Aunty Rhonda beautiful". This is the moment I fell in love with Rhonda such a beautiful soul.

That night was fantastic seeing most of my family and some of Barry's friends was amazing. We had a BBQ and lots of drinks then when everyone had gone home we decided we would go out to Penrith with friends we had known forever. Richard was born 1 year exactly to the same minute before me and he and is brother and sisters where like my own and his Mum was like a second Mum to me and she happened to be Mum best friend in the entire world. I asked mum if it was ok if I went and she watched Ava. She agreed and for the first time in along time I got to go out. We all pulled in a taxi as we had had way to much to drink and went on the long trip to Richards. When we arrived it was early in the morning and the boys brought out more alcohol. I wasn't a big drinker but they made me blue lagoons and wow they were nice. Before I knew it the entire bottle of blue vok was gone and I was in the toilet being extremely ill. The toilet bowl was blue almost like they had used blue loo but this time it was just the blue vok. I finally got it all out and by this stage my second mum was looking after me and out me in the spare bed to sleep it off. Wow what a night.

The whole time we were with Mum was so relaxing. Mum fussed over is and my Great Uncle J was living with her also. We shopped at the markets and spent a lot of time together. The day had come for us to leave and I was devastated and so was Ava. Mum drove us back to the RAAF Base and we had to say our good byes. You can only imagine how hard this was. Ava cried for hours after we left and so did I.

When we arrived back in WA we got in the car and drove straight over to Chantelle's to pick up Winnie. Winnie was so excited to see us she ran at me and knocked me over the drooled all over me. This made me laugh so hard as Ava tried to push Winnie off me. I told Ava to go for a ride on Winnie so she climbed up in her back and Winnie walked around as she had many times before with this little girl straddled over her back.

We finally got back to our house and I bathed Ava gave her dinner and put her to bed. Then I sat down on the lounge feeling very lonely.

Grant called a few times from the different ports he stopped in and once he called and told me he was in Cairns and was going diving the next day with a few people he had met. I knew this meant he had met them at the pub with the other boys.

I had started working at a bank so my work was full time and meant that Ava was in Daycare a lot. I would drop her off at Daycare then travel the hour to work, finish up go and pick her up, go home feed bathe and put her to bed. This was my boring existence. I had won a glamour shoot experience and was so excited. I booked in for the Friday afternoon. I was treated like a star, someone did my make up and my hair and styled me for 4 different looks. I felt so glamorous. Ava was with Chantelle whilst I had this. This is where I met Kelly. Kelly had strawberry blonde hair and pale skin, she was quiet beautiful. "Hi! What's your name" she said "Emily, nice to meet you" I replied. "What are you doing tonight" she asked. " nothing I have my little girl at home and my husband is away", "so is mine, let's go out" she said. "Sorry I don't know many people and wouldn't be able to get a sitter" I responded though this girl seemed like she would be fun to go out with even though I really had never been OUT before. "I've got a sitter I've been using forever and I'm sure our kids would get on really well, you can use mine and that final. You can't go home looking like THAT you have to show it off and make the most of it". She wasn't taking no for an answer so I decided that I would take Ava to meet the kids and the sitter and if I felt comfortable I would go out for a little bit.

Ava loved Kelly's children and the sitter so I went out with Kelly. When we got to the local everyone knew her and she introduced me to everyone. I was a little put out as I didn't really like being around strangers and I didn't like leaving Ava, this was the first time I had ever left her with a sitter. I stayed for a few hours then thanked Kelly and went back to get Ava and went home. I did have a good night thought being out with people my age and just having fun.

The Day Grant arrived home...