Family Matters

Chapter Fifty Six

"I think it's broken" Roman said as he watched Kade and Kade frowned.

"Who put it away last?" He asked.

"Ares" Roman and Max said in unison and Kade sighed.

"Of course..." Kade muttered but his eyes brightened when the camera finally turned on.

"What's that for?" I asked.

"Every year at the end of the summer we take a family photo together " Kade explained and I nodded my head in understanding.

"We just have to wait for Lance and Dad to come home then we can take the picture" Lucas said.

"For now, let's get you some breakfast" Roman said and lead me towards the kitchen.

After eating breakfast, I headed up to my room and stepped in front of my mirror. Leaning in, I used my fingers to tilt up the corners of my mouth into a smile.

I wanted to at least try and perfect my smile, after all, this would be my first year in the family photo album.

I tried many different kinds of smiles, ones with teeth showing and no teeth. Wide smiles and small smiles but none of them looked right to me.

"What about this one?" I asked smiling at Bubble who was laying on my bed just watching me as I continued to practice my smile.

She just blinked at me and I sighed as I realized how crazy I must have sounded to be asking a cat about my smile.

Looking back into the mirror, I mimicked a smile with a wink while flashing a peace sign that I had seen a cartoon character do on TV once. Deciding that it was too much, I stopped and sighed.

I guess I would just have to take this picture and how my smile came out, that would just be it...

The day had passed by relatively quickly and once Papa and Lance were home, Kade went around to gather us up in the backyard.

The camera was set up on a tripod and Kade was instructing everyone on where to stand.

"Maxi, you have to be in the front with Ceres since you guys are the shortest. Ares, your foot is sticking out weird fix that please. Lance, a smile won't kill you" Kade continued to make various demands until everyone seemed to finally get it right.

"Okay, my pretties. Let's take this photo!" Kade cheered as he rushed over to us.

"Don't you want to get your good side?" Papa asked jokingly and Kade frowned.

"What do you mean my good side? All my sides are my good side" Kade said as he twirled a bit to show his sides off and I couldn't help but giggle at that.

"Did you set it to countdown?" Lucas asked as we were all standing awkwardly and Kade gave an embarrassed chuckle.

"Uh...no" he said and went back to the camera before rushing over to us but Kade tripped on something and went falling into us just as the camera flashed.

I groaned when feeling the crushing weight of Kade on top of me.

"Ow, Kade what the hell?!" Max yelled. Max and I had gotten the majority of the impact from Kade's fall while everyone else was just the result of the domino effect.

"I'm sorry! I don't know what I tripped over" Kade said as he got off of us and turned to see what he tripped over but saw nothing there.

"Well, it did rain last night so it might have just been that" Roman reasoned to help ease Kade's embarrassment but Kade just frowned.

"Of course this would happen..." Kade muttered.

"I kind of like it" I looked over to see Papa looking at the camera with a smile on his face.

We all walked over and in the photo, the camera had captured everyone's surprised faces and Kade mid-air just before he crashed into us.

"I think it describes us perfectly" Papa said and Kade frowned.

"No way! This is our first year having a photo with Ceres and you want to put something as embarrassing as that into the album?!" Kade said.

"So, let's have two photos this year" Lance suggested and Kade seemed much more compliant with that suggestion.

Once again, we all went back into our positions and this time, Roman was the one who set off the timer.

Putting on my best smile, I counted down in my head and hoped that once the camera flashed, my smile would be reflected decently in the picture.

"Okay, this one is much better" Ares said as looked at the photo.

"And I didn't have to get socked in the face this time" Max said sourly and Kade just apologized once again.

When I was given the camera to take a look at the picture, I smiled when seeing the photo.

If someone had told me years ago, that I would have met this wonderful portion of my family that I never knew I had, I wouldn't have believed them at all.

The happiness that I've experienced in this past year from living with everyone was immeasurable and I would definitely make sure to pay everyone back for their kindness to me.

Part of me wished that Mama hadn't done what she did so that she too could experience this happiness, rather than spending the last moments of her life in depression and sadness.

"Ugh, my hair is messed up from me falling. We need to retake this" Kade said from over my shoulder.

"Nope, I'm done with pictures for today" Max said as he went back into the house.

"Nooo, come back!" Kade cried as he chased after Max and Roman let out a weary chuckle.

"Hopefully next year will be a little more normal" He said and I smiled.

When Roman mentioned next year, it just reminded me that I still had so much time with my family ahead of me and I definitely couldn't wait to see what the future would bring us.

Next year will probably be even more hectic than this year knowing my brothers, but it'll be another fun year of memories that I'll forever cherish.