Scarlett

Being in this family there's one thing you can count on and that's how fast time passes when we're with each other. Every holiday and leisure day we use goes towards family adventures, filled with memories that are made up entirely of laughter and heated arguments.

"We're running behind everyone!" Uncle Hudson shouts at everyone. "Hamilton, so help me if I see you eating another one of those cupcakes I'll slice your dick off."

My eyebrows flew up.

Aunt Dawn slapped his chest subtly. "Relax, honey, any louder and you'll wake Mason up."

"Sorry, baby." Hudson chuckles awkwardly.

Outside were people gathered up, from family I've never met or heard of to complete strangers that I was informed were friends of everyone else. Because my family might be too much for the average person who hasn't already met them, I chose to save my own friends the trouble of meeting them on such a stressful day for most.

Clearly Uncle Hudson was frantic and he has no issue yelling at someone he doesn't know. In fact I'm sure deep down he enjoys it, especially since one of his favorite celebrity friends is Gordon Ramsay, he probably learned a thing or two from him.

Grandfather Richard walks through the door, opening it dramatically so everyone in the world would know he's here. "I've arrived."

"You're a useless old man, I asked you to help and you just show up thinking that's all you need to do?" Uncle Hudson crosses his arms shaking his head. "I'm disappointed."

The dynamic of their relationship always amazes me, ever since I was little they've always been either going back and forth, or favoriting each other. You would think Uncle Hudson was his long lost son the way they speak to one another.

Grandfather rolls his eyes. "Please, all that matters is that I am here, they won't remember any of this. So relax a little, son."

"Tell that to Sage when she walks in the door and this place is MEDIOCRE!" Uncle Hudson slams his clipboard down.

Aunt Dawn shook her head, embarrassed. "I'm sorry father, Hudson can be a little too passionate."

"I wonder what the first clue was, when he called me a useless old man or when he threw that piece of junk onto the ground like a drama queen?" Grandfather continues his way towards the bathroom. "I'm going to fix myself up for a moment."

Uncle Hudson took a deep breath, then grabbed his clipboard and went back outside to finish up with the rest. Aunt Dawn and I set up the buffet table, making everything look appetizing and pretty.

When we were done, she stayed inside to fix up the flowers and I went outside to help out everyone else. Quickly I glanced at the clock and noticed we barely had time left, but everything did look put together enough where I'm sure it wouldn't be noticeable that anything was missing.

But that didn't matter to Uncle Hudson who was yelling at Uncle Hamilton to clean up the scraps that were on the floor next to him. While Aunt Heather ignored and did what she was told to do, hoping to not be bothered.

I took my phone out and slid my screen to my camera, taking a few shots of the marvelous creation that was put together by a crazy man. One who clearly was suited for the job despite his shortcomings.

"Amazing how much time has passed, huh?" Grandfather walks up to me. "You'll be starting high school in a few weeks, such a shame, you're growing far too quick."

This made me smile, Grandfather has been saying this all summer. "I'm still pretty young, I can't even drive yet."

"You can't drive legally yet, but I'm sure knowing your reckless father he's had you driving around the estates." He lifts a brow. "Don't you dare lie either."

I chuckle. "It's not like we go anywhere, it's just practice until I get my permit."

"Uh huh, well stop growing up." He sighs. "All of you need to, even myself, I've missed so much time being a horrible parent."

I frown. "You're not horrible, everyone loves you, probably the most and won't admit it."

"I'm flattered by that, I know it's true but it doesn't get rid of the past." He smiles gently at me. "I am sad to have missed most of your childhood, my first grandchild, but I won't make a mistake with the others."

I nod. "You came into my life right on time."

"Better late than never, my dear." Grandfather kisses the top of my head. "I shall go now, I see Hudson glaring at me and I feel I must remind him who I am."

Chuckling, I waved as he left my side.

After half an hour of rushing through last minute touches, Aunt Dawn brings out Mason, he sleepily rubbed his eyes. Total cuteness overload that little boy was, I can't say his parents weren't responsible for that either. He had Uncle Hudson's eyes and complexion, but had Aunt Dawn's dark hair and face.

Suddenly Uncle Hudson went from tyrant to dad. "Baby Mason, hello little guy, how was your nap?"

I watched as both parents played with the child, waking him up with tickles and coo's.

Out of nowhere Uncle Hamilton storms from inside. "EVERYONE! They are here!"

"Places! Now!" Uncle Hudson snaps out of dad mode, unconsciously scaring Mason with his loud and serious tone. "Oh baby, don't cry, daddy is sorry."

Aunt Dawn sighed. "You're an idiot."

"Hush everyone." Grandfather goes on his knee and tries to find an angle for his camera. "This is a special moment for the family album."

Before they could calm down the baby, we all watched as the back door opened and Sage walked through. Wearing a flowy chiffon dress my Dad bought for her a few months ago, she was waiting for months until the weather was nice enough to wear it. Her eyes lit up with excitement as she noticed what was behind us.

Dad squeezes through behind her, gently nudging her to go forward. Nestled between his arm and chest, my little sister, Aspen.

"Que banner!" Hudson shouts.

Whoever was in charge quickly drops the banner and everyone together shouts out. "Happy Birthday Aspen!"

"Wow, oh my gosh, you all!" Sage throws her hands onto her mouth, in shock.

Both parents looked at each other, clearly extremely happy with the results of this birthday party. I wasn't shocked though, we went a little above and beyond for a one year old. Behind us was a tiny amusement park, definitely all kiddie rides and games.

Uncle Hudson said that although she'll never remember it, at least everyone who went will.

Dad holds Sage's hand and walks downstairs, Aspen was staring at everything in awe. She wore a similar dress to Sage, it had ruffles and a perfect pink color. Her brown hair was put up into a small ballerina bun.

She begins to wiggle out, wanting to explore the strange but cool place. Dad puts her down and watches her immediately run off somewhere. Sage begins to follow her while Dad made his way towards me.

We give each other a hug, and he ruffles my hair. "Hey there, kiddo, I don't know why you won't stop getting more beautiful but it needs to take a halt before those high school horndogs try to take you away from me."

"Dad." I rolled my eyes. "You're sending me to a stupid all girls school."

Dad sighed and I became confused, the moment he placed me in that school he threw a karaoke party at our house. "After heavy convincing from Sage—"

"What about me?" Sage walks towards us.

Dad wrapped his arm around her. "Where is Aspen?"

"With Dawn and Mason, staring at the bubble machine." Sage chuckles. "Out of a whole entire park our daughter is only concerned about a cheap machine they bought at Walmart."

Dad chuckles. "Whatever makes her happy."

"'After heavy convincing from Sage'..." I repeat his sentence, reminding him of the topic we were just talking about.

Sage looks at me and tilts her head. "Oh yeah, I'm sorry, what's happening?"

"After heavy convincing from Sage," He looks hesitant but continues. "you're still going to one of the top tier schools, it just won't be all girls."

My eyes widened. "What did you say?"

"You're going to a mixed gender school!" Sage shouts, throwing her arms around me.

I scream, hugging her back. "No way!"

"Yes." Dad crosses his arms. "What an unfortunate time to be a father."

We separated and I'm still jumping for joy. "How'd you convince him?"

"Uh..." Sage blushes.

Dad grins and looks at her. "By helping me relive the night we made Aspen."

"DAD!" I cover my ears and frown.

Sage gasps. "Greyson! Your daughter doesn't need to know about our sex life."

"Please, that was the last thing on your mind that night." Dad chuckles, pointing at her with his thumb. "I married a wild one."

I frown. "STOP!"

"Greyson!" Sage shouts. "What are you doing!?"

Dad looked at Sage and threw his arms up. "I'm trying to ruin sex for my daughter! What does it look like Sage!?"

"Oh..." Sage gives me an apologetic smile. "your father is a gentlemen in the bedroom?"

Dad facepalms. "Don't sell it on her! Make it traumatic!"

"She's still a child!"

Dad scoffs. "She lived with Bianca most of her childhood, Scarlett knew more about sex at eight than I did at fifteen! I don't care what I have to do, I will not let her get seduced by those grubby fingered smooth talkers!"

"She's a mature young lady, she's not dumb enough to fall for guys like that." Sage defends me.

In Dad's defense my Mom did tell me some explicit things on more than one occasion, luckily I was too young to remember everything. Not to mention most of it was a confusing topic, I'll never forget the way she spoke about a one night stand she had and how he didn't know where to 'put it in'.

There's no need for them to disgust me into not going that far, my Mother did more than enough.

I scoffed. "We don't need to talk about this anymore, I'm not interested in boys."

"So girls?" Dad asked. "Are you into women?"

Sage smacks his arm. "Greyson leave her alone, so what if she does?"

"I don't care about her sexual orientation," He frowns. "I care who I'll have to watch out for, even women can be heartbreakers Sage."

"Aspen face plummeted into the sandbox, she's crying up a storm, might want to check up on that." Aunt Dawn intervenes, holding a large stick surrounded of purple cotton candy.

Both parents looked at Aunt Dawn confused, I couldn't help but join in on her comment and the way she casually informed us. Focused completely on her snack instead of worrying about the birthday girl.

Sage and Dad storm off towards the direction, I begin to follow when Dawn pulls me back.

"I lied." Aunt Dawn stares vacantly at me, then focuses back on the purple goodness. "She's dancing with some cartoon character."

I arched a brow. "Huh?"

"Figured the parents were laying it on you, wanted to save you the embarrassment from my brothers paranoia." She finishes it up and pouts, but throws the stick into the garbage. "You're his first daughter and one he was blessed to have after thinking you were dead. He's going to be a little uptight with the knowledge that one day you'll actually leave him, for good."

I sigh. "I'm not leaving anytime soon."

"You say that now but what if you have a boyfriend...or girlfriend?" Dawn studies me. "Or both?"

My cheeks flush. "I'm not interested in dating."

"That wasn't a 'no'." She grins. "Greyson's got his work cut out for him."

I scoff and went on my way to meet with the rest, immediately I see Aspen in the distance and she was happily dancing off-beat to some kids song. Sage and Dad both smiling, recording the memories for the future.

When I was little Mother didn't record much of anything I did, with her 'pending demise' she preferred to live in the moment. Completely forgetting the possibility that I'd want to see what she did.

On moments like this I feel a tinge of envy towards my sister, how she'll remain a child for as long as she wants because her parents are straight out of a fairy tale. Given, we share the same Dad, but I'll never know what it's like to grow up with him completely.

I'm grateful at the same time, my Mother may not have been an ideal candidate as a parental figure but she never tried to hide it. And I know deep down, despite me not getting that love, she gave it to me the best she could. Which, for someone like Bianca, is unheard of even towards her own side of the family.

"Snap out of it kiddo." Dad wraps his arm around me tightly. "You see your sister over there, she has not a clue whats happening and she's having the time of her life."'

I chuckle. "Of course she is, anything that's strange is fascinating to a child."

"Shit, I'm fascinated and I'm over thirty." He unhooks his arm off of me and nudges my arm. "You've got to start letting lose, I know you were pretty mature from an incredibly young age but you've got me now and forever. Let me be the adult and you be a kid, and before you start blabbering about you being a teenager. I want you to understand I could care less. I've said it to you before but you'll always be my little girl."

I averted my gaze away from him trying to compose myself, Mom was right, he did speak like a parent out of a Disney movie. "Shut up."

Without warning he hoists me up and begins to carry me. "We're going for it!"

"Dad!" I scream. "What are you doing—No! No! Let go—"

Suddenly we are submerged in a large body of water and I am in complete shock, as I rush towards the surface. Once I reach the top the first thing I see is a group of people staring at me, Sage with a look of concern.

"You're so, UGH!" I shout, infuriated.

Despite my frustration, Dad gave me a large smile and splashed me.

Before I could say anything, Grandfather laughed. "Wow, I might be a little to old for this but perhaps this old man could go for a dip as well."

"I second that motion!" Hudson yells excitedly.

Grandfather kicks his shoes off and looks to his right, Dawn standing next to him and with a large smile he grabs her and pulls her into the water with us. My jaw immediately dropped as a large wave hurdles towards Dad and I, splashing both of us instantly.

"Father!" Dawn shouts, also in shock. "Seriously!?"

Grandfather and Dad looked at each other, both wearing huge grins.

Then Dawn splashes Grandfather, while trying to push Dad deeper into the water. "Revenge will be sweet!"

"Ah! Dawn, I'm sorry!" Dad laughs out loud.

I stared at the two siblings and their father, that's when I decided to join forces and get payback for what Dad did to me. So I swam towards him and pushed him to the best of my ability, both of us laughing in the process.

After a few minutes of trying to dunk one of the men, only for us to be dunked instead, Sage calls us up to dry off.

We all wrung out our clothing to the best of our ability, Heather and Hamilton sent us away into separate bathrooms where she set up some clothes for us. Aspen seemed to think it was funny as she watched us walk away and into the house.

So of course I splashed her with the residual water on my hand.

Once I reached into the bathroom the first thing I did was threw off this dress into the hamper and hopped in the shower to wash off the chlorine. As soon as I finished, I dressed into the large shirt and shorts left for me.

I walk out and headed towards a nearby guest room, before I head back out I just needed a second to relax. Maybe take a small nap until it's time for presents or cake, Sage and Dad wouldn't mind. I've been up since the sun rose helping out Uncle Hudson set up, when it comes to his events he is ready to start bright and early.

Entering the room I am surprised to see someone seated on the edge of the bed, he was slumped forward, leaning onto his head. He hears the door knob revert back to it's original position and entangles his forest colored gaze into mine.

That was the moment I was more than the daughter of Prince Charming and the Evil Queen.