My great grandfather had four children, his eldest was a boy my grandfather and he ran the head quarters which was based in Wellington, his sister is running the Brisbane branch while the twins were both in the Pacific islands as we out sourced internationally for our hotels. Over the many years we have heard of chains that would operate for five years and then next I'd hear it was sold due to what ever the reasoned would be but it would give everyone the inkling of whether it was floating or sinking and due to that we managed make money off the newly built ones that didn't generate enough for us to continue to operate them effectively. All of us including our parents were all trained and educated to the point that an order for us all to inherit our shares and work together effectively now I know why we all raised together so that we knew the consequences of fighting one another in public or fighting one another with outsiders and that punishment got us all hurt. He was fair with each of us but strict and demanded nothing less from his family. So we learnt no matter what in public we are to be well behaved and well presented. No back talk, no whispering and definitely no laughing or pointing at others as they were the signs of bad manners and while out and about with grandfather who was a prominent person in the country and our family name has been around for generations so we all knew he demanded nothing less.
My week surrounded by my family was what I needed and the only thing missing was kids since we were all of age with no kids. And the extended family were still having children and none of them had kids old enough to even produce kids since we had a ten year gap from Ace and Tori to and the oldest cousin in the other lines was fifteen to three months and we all obviously ain't in a rush to have kids. The atmosphere had been so beautiful that I know we were all packing up for a road trip to where our great grandfather was buried and where my mother originated from as my father was born and raised in Auckland, therefore my mother ran Auckland city hotel chains as it was easier to raise her family here but it was where her father had relocated his new headquarters when he moved his family to Auckland when my mother was dating my father and built our legacy even bigger. My father and mother were always at each other's throats in school and no one knew how the two best students in school clashed as badly as they did and even my eldest uncle never intervened as he had faith his sister would top the charts anyway until something happened to my mother in college and she returned home not finishing the semester, that made my father panic when she left to return home. He chased her car all the way to the airport and managed to stop her in time before she had gotten out of her car. His unannounced present had shock him and my mother as she had bruises all of her face, her hair was messy and her make up was smeared all over her face and she was sobbing.
My father was shocked by the state of her and that she retreated to the back of the car as far as she could go and was absolutely terrified of him as I am sure he looked stunned. His aura was just as strong as my uncle's and wanted to know why she was leaving. My mother was so shaken up that she couldn't form sentences, so my father demanded her phone and cloned it to his. Knowing that he had been fighting his feelings for her for most of there school life and he had been so excited when she got accepted and attended the same school he applied for and got in. Then he was told she was returning home because of something, someone else had done to her had made him furious. My mother had huddled in the car until my uncle had walked over and opened it to see my father was inside. The tension between the two was explosive, but due to the severity of the situation my uncle didn't hesitate and scooped my mother in his arms and headed straight to our family hang glider where my grandfather was waiting when my uncle turned up in front of him with mother in his arms and my father remained where he was before turning around and leaving. The reason behind this attack had angered my grandfather on the result of the investigation. Something he still had not told us about but made sure that all our grievances towards each other were done under his watch. He also ensured that all of his children and grand children knew how to protect ourselves, in any situation. For my generation we had no choice but to do as grandfather said, so when we were old enough to be trained we put in classes and because I was older then him by a few weeks he would challenge me at every turn for everything that we would learn. Unlike Axel it took me a little bit longer to grasp then it would him but still I'd get there and pass straight by him and that's what would annoy
The move was hard as they had total control of the lower part of the country due to our connection to the area and we had lived there for generations until my mother's parents brought them to Auckland to run the hotels here as they had started operating more then they could handle down there and so it was made that grandfather moved his family to Auckland where he stayed with his wife and children and raised his family there. He educated all his children in the two top universities in Auckland and then by the time my mother and her brothers had gotten married he had all of them including their spouses were also put to work to help grandfather as great grandfather passed away after my youngest uncle had gotten married and grandfather was devastated. Due to his loss no one was able to comfort my grandfather except us. His siblings that came to the funeral would not go near him as was very volatile during the funeral and the succession, where he made a concise decision with his siblings to let them sort it out the same way he makes us sort it. By the time our families had come back to the city, my father did everything he could to get my mother to date him, which she did and then within that same year he married her and knocked her up with Sebastian.
My mother, her husband and her brothers and their wives all pitched in at the company as grandfather had waited five years after great grandfathers passing before he stepped down, passing his reins to my eldest uncle and then took care of us and we visited his remaining siblings every school holidays so that we would know our family and he use to tell us how important it was and how he missed being able to either walk three minutes to their side of the house that they shared untill my grandfather being the eldest had started growing his family that he knew he had to find something bigger and when he moved to Auckland one by one his siblings all lived with him while in uni and then later got married and moved countries. They then gave their big brother props for how hard it is to move away from family and raise your young family without any family support but grandfather did it effortlessly. He had struggles but when his children grew older he knew that they would be a great asset, so he invested his time into his children and then when we came along he did the same.
My grandfather was the last one alive out of his generation and he was situated with my eldest uncle in Wellington and it had been a year since I had seen him. And four years since his last sibling passed leaving only him and he had pressure the three married ones he wanted great grand children but with all the expansions over the years it was a bit hectic that out of his entire generation none had great grands just yet as he was the only one with adult grandchildren. But that had not happened yet as some of my generation were all just entering uni while the youngest has just joined high school so we are the only ones being thrusted into having children but none have yet done it as we are all too busy with the company to find time and the only time we do have we try spend it with each other.It had been many years since we ate, laughed and just enjoyed each other's company. Compared to us being children we loved with each other, we attended the same schools and some of us attended the same uni so we lived with each other for nearly eighteen years and now we see each other a few times a year. With the business running so smoothly we all are well adept at running our portions of the company and now as we got older we still as busy as when we started. Our first one in three years everyone was at least a le to make it except for Axel wife Jamie.
"Now that your home, will you join the business?," Dylan asked as I had been staring at them for about twenty minutes without engaging with them. "Gonna go see Grandad in week and stay with him till the end of the month and hope he don't slap me since I've been too busy playing house he reckons," I laughed as I fully turned towards him, "Yes I am, I am about to join the chain of management just going to take a little while for me to catch up too speed," I said as he nodded "I understand now, how you held the top spot in all our academic achievements just didn't know how easy and hard it was trying to gain our foot in the door until you got married and we're happy doing that. Just knowing the skills you inherited naturally, as an adult I know that with you at the helm it will be held securely for the next hundred years," he said as I felt that "Thank you cousin, I know your wife has been demanding I do that so I am," I stated as he laughed and teased "She would not let me out of the house," he laughed then quickly added, "She won't be available for a month," he snickered, I bursted out laughing as he had tears running down his face when Steph stepped up to us frowning at the pair of us barely breathing "What is so funny?," she asked as her husband fell on the floor gasping for breath and new he was gonna play dead too her, "He said that when I come on board your be unavailable for a while month," I teased when he her face looked down at her husband who pretended to be dead.
"Get up Dylan," Stephanie growled at her husband who had the audacity to pull his tongue out his mouth to make it believable "He needs mouth to mouth steph or he may die," I stated pretending to panic knowing that she would leave her husband there. Snapping into action Stephanie bent down to her husband when his arms wrapped around her and flipped them, ending up with him on top, laughing at there antics I walked off towards the dining area where I knew my family would all be bantering with each other. As I rounded the corner they were all laid out on a couch each I was so blessed to have an amazing family that I found my chair, made myself comfortable and drifted off to sleep surrounded by my immediate family. Something I have definitely missed over these past few years but I know that now it would be the right time. This was something that I had missed was being surrounded by the ones that love and adore you, the only ones to fight with you so openly at home but first hug you in public. The antics we use to do use to make my grandfather go red in the face from how much we would effect his cold stance and he hated smiling so that's what we would do, it became natural that one of us would say something stupid to him and casually wait for his reaction. He would never disappoint us with his reactions and it was always the same his eyebrows would pinch together and frown trying to catch our meaning, it would take a minute before he would piece the conversation together and his face would turned bright red and his eyes would start blazing at us and he would then smack each of us teasing one another with a cane to the legs. It hurt like hell but we never cared and so we did constantly. He always called us a bunch of no brains talking about nonsense and that he doubted someone would marry any of us.
Today was a beautiful but sad day as I went for a ride with Sebastian to drop my cousins to the airport who all had to head back down to Wellington. The first week we all managed to get off together in nearly three years and that says a lot about our thriving company and how we all managed to at least take turns to attend events and get feedback from the public. Hugs were shared as well as teary goodbyes and making plans to see them in three months. Waving them off made me sad as it has been refreshing to have them here and to see them all so happy. "Hope next time isn't too far away," I mused as we headed out of the airport when they all made it out of customs, "We were all worried, but I'm glad you like. the surprise," Sebastian spoke as wrapped my arms through his smiling brightly "Thank you big brother," I said as we made our way out of the airport and back to the estate.
Celebrating my divorce was needed, I had to fill my cup back up so Ile be able to take on each day. Being home lying in my baby window as I stared out the backyard was what I envisioned that I would share with my husband. The picture I stared at everyday was the back of my parents property from the third floor and it took up the entire open space. The balcony that wraps around the middle of the house is on the second floor and their are only three fruit trees which are situated at least 400 metres away from the house and all the rest is just open land. The front of the house is on the opposite side that can be seen from another window facing the driveway and the front door is just below the window off to the right hand side of the house. My dreams were made in this room, my ideas had formed during one of my many moments i'd get too myself and now I realized that I let slip threw my grasp without even knowing it.