Broken Songbird

Chapter 38 A Huge Family

It was a cool spring day my parents were going meet us at my house. Kichirou and Meiko II is going to meet up with my family. My sister was sitting next to me as we spoke she had only one son which was alright, he was already grown. Kichirou was the only one that didn't know what was going on. My parents were coming and my children were with me. Anna and Mike went to pick up my parents at the airport.

Once they arrived my father was being led my mother who was carrying a cat carrier. Kichirou greeted our father. He didn't realize that I was his long lost sister. Kichirou and his children, Toshiko and Tatsuo who used to spend some time with Anna and Kara when they were younger. Mike's parents including Michela was with me. We were at my large backyard. My children were here with me.

"Kichirou you know Meiko?" my father asked him.

"Yes she's my neighbor." Kichirou says.

"She's your older sister." my father says.

"What.!" Kichirou says unexpectedly.

"You didn't know because we lost her before you were born. We didn't know where she went but her friend found her again when she was touring Japan. Didn't it occur to you that she almost sounds like your mother?" my father says

"Never." Kichirou says.

"She even has a thick German accent in her voice and she sounded just like your mother." he says.

"Look this is so much for me to take in. We spent too long away from each other. If only we found her earlier, we could have had a different outcome." my brother says.

We were all astonished to hear that we were all close by but never realized we were together. This could explain why Anna and Kara got along with Kichirou's children. I introduce my parents to Mike's parents. They were impressed how compatible Mike and I were. We both had our ups and downs in our relationship but we still stayed together. I got lucky that my parents still remembered me.

My kids spoke to their cousins that they never knew about excluding Michela's. We had a huge family. I guess my mother got her wish for a lot of grandkids because she has 7 grandkids 4 of whom she never knew existed. I felt bad because normally it should be a few she doesn't know about.

We all went inside to make many meals. Anna was translating for my father and Mike because, the two had language barriers my father seemed fond of Mike considering he taught her 2 additional languages other than English. He accidently mistaken Anna for my mother because, she looked exactly like she did when she was younger apart from having red hair. Compared side to side I saw the resemblance in the picture with Anna during her graduation and my own mother's during hers.

My father Tonio and mother Lola were speaking with my own mother who had dark green eyes which my twin daughters got from her. Anna and Kara spoke with their grandmother as well. We all enjoyed ourselves. Sakine was a retired cop and she was enjoying her retirement with us since she had nothing better to do. I made my father natto which was his favorite dish, and my mother enjoyed her club sandwich Irish style that Mike made her. Meito was eating natto as well since it was his favorite dish. His friends often gave him weird looks because of the smell and how it reminded them of a week old granola bar that someone found behind a sofa.

"So you like natto?" my father asked Meito.

"Yes it's my favorite dish along with miso and sashimi." Meito replies and my father's cat jumps on Meito's lap eying the natto.

"Meiko I'm impressed that your son likes food from his own culture." my father says.

"Look it surprised me that he could even tolerate natto. One day I only made natto for myself and he wanted some and loved it. He could even tolerate fish intestines. Meito can eat nattto with pretty much anything."

I asked Meiko how her role in NND was and she replies it was going as she had hoped. Kichirou sat next to me as we caught up on how his childhood was. We had as much time as we had to be with my family. Although it was going to be short-lived I knew having our family together was the best outcome possible. My father's cat is sleeping on Mike's lap as Mike was petting him.