Chapter 18

It had been just over two and a half months later and everything in the Braxton's lives had settle down and had gone back to normal.

Heath and Bianca were closing in on their birth date of their baby girl with only a few months left to go, Phoebe had made the decision to move back into the Braxton house, while still undergoing the occasional counseling session with Nate, had overcome her triggering vision, and Brax, had recovered from his major surgery and was happy to be back being the ruler of the family.

On this particular October Spring Sunday, the family had planned for a big celebration barbecue to mark the togetherness as a family and to overcoming their recent tough struggles.

Everything had been set out on the garden table: salads, meats, beers, rolls, and utensils.

Brax flicked the sausages and steaks onto the sizzling barbecue grill, while Heath passed out beers for himself and his brothers.

Cracking open his beer and taking a sip, Brax turned to face Kyle.

"I hope you don't have any more bad business with anyone else," he stated.

"Do you know how long it's been since I've craved to have one of these?" Brax added, holding up his beer.

Being in his six week recovery meant he could not have his beer to calm his nerves, so Brax was savoring the moment now.

"I don't think so," Kyle replied, somewhat sheepishly.

Heath tapped Kyle on the arm.

"You know you better not have, otherwise big fella here will be the one killing ya, not some thugs," Heath snickered.

Bianca rested against her husband with her large baby bump well on display.

"Leave your brother alone," she told.

"He knows I'm just teasin'. To victory!" Heath cheered.

Brax, Kyle, and Casey all followed suit and raised their beers.

"To victory," they mirrored their brother.

Phoebe gently kissed Kyle as she hugged her arms tight around his waist.

Casey leaned against the verandah while Ricky made her way to stand beside Brax.

Brax pulled Ricky in tight beside him and placed his beer bottle towards her lips, offering her a sip.

Ricky bashfully smiled and waved the bottle away.

"I can't," Ricky stated.

Bianca gave her friend a sly look, having a fair idea as to why the young blonde rejected the alcohol.

Brax furrowed his brow in complete confusion as to why Ricky had rejected sharing his beer; an experience they had done many times in the past.

"Don't you see?" Ricky said smiling, "I'm pregnant."

Brax was taken aback by the surprise.

"You kidding: mine?" Brax questioned.

"Yes yours," Ricky laughed.

"You sly dog," Heath laughed.

"Congratulations," Kyle praised.

Casey raised his beer bottle a second time, alerting his brother's attention.

With a smile Casey made his announcement, "To our family; in the present and in the future!"

The rest of the family smiled in return.

"To family," they all cheered.

Brax squeezed Ricky tight and landed a passionate kiss on her lips, while Phoebe and Kyle kissed again.

A loud sizzle came from the barbecue, alerting the boys.

"'ey! Don't ruin the snags and beefs!" Heath yelled out and rushed towards the barbecue to attend to the slightly scorched meat.

"Get your head out of the pregnancy cloud bro," Heath told his older brother.

"Trust me, the surprise will wear off soon enough," he joked.

"Don't give me that Heath. I hear you raving on about how you have this and that ready for your baby," Brax smarted.

"Do as I say not as I do," Heath shrugged.

"Great motto," Brax answered and rolled his eyes.

"Grubs up!" Heath called.

The whole family gathered towards the table and took their seats, quickly grabbing their plates and filling them with rolls, salads, sausages and steaks, and roasted potatoes.

As the family tucked into their lunchtime meal, much chatter arose as they surrounded around the long wooden, worn down table.

"So any news on the exact date of the baby?" Ricky asked.

"It's predicted I'll give birth around December third," Bianca replied.

"Have you and Heath thought of any names yet?" Phoebe asked, swallowing a mouthful of food.

"Well, we had a few names picked out initially that we were set on, like: Samantha, Madeline, and Jessica," Heath stated, before proceeding to swap a look with Bianca, who lovingly smiled.

"But in the end we found the perfect name," Bianca announced.

"We decided our little girl should be called Darcy," Bianca stated.

Ricky smiled, "That does sound like a nice name; don't you think Brax?"

Brax chomped down on some steak and sausages.

"Yeah, if it fits for you two, but don't think that I'm going to be starting to think up names for ours yet; I only just found out I'm gonna be a Dad," Brax said casually, as he turned to face Ricky.

"Don't worry, I'm going to savor every moment," Ricky answered.

The seven people happily finished off their meal, enjoying the company of their tightly bonded family.

While they all chipped in to clean away the rubbish, Casey took a swig of his second beer watching his family from the verandah, with their partners.

Although Casey felt left out, he was certainly in no means eager to settle down.

He watched Phoebe and Kyle playfully chasing around and laughing, Heath rubbing his hand over his soon to be baby girl in pride, and Brax and Ricky tidying up the plates and leftover food together.

Kyle made his way over towards Casey as Phoebe rushed inside to grab hers and Kyle's guitar for some celebration music.

"It's great huh?" Kyle asked.

Casey nodded, "Yeah."

"You okay?" Kyle asked.

"Yeah just thinking about these last couple of months; all of this could have been different," Casey said quietly.

"I agree. I guess it's true what they say about the past coming back to haunt you," Kyle concluded.

Casey shrugged in response and sipped his beer again, glancing at the doorway as Phoebe skipped her way back outside with the guitar.

"Come on Kyle; it's time for some music. Let's rock this house!" Phoebe cheered.

"Listen up everyone: Kyle and I are gonna bring some entertainment to this rockin' Braxton barbecue!" Phoebe called out.

Casey smiled at his brother as Kyle placed down his drink on the verandah floor, and approached his girlfriend; Phoebe's exuberance definitely had been something that had lacked in the Braxton house over the daunting few months that had passed.

"Get on up there bro and show us what you're made of!" Heath shouted.

Kyle shook his head and picked up the guitar, making his way towards the table they had just had their meal on.

Kyle took a seat with his guitar in hand and Phoebe stood beside him.

"This is a song Kyle and I have been working on for a while, but now we finally have finished. Hit it Kyle," Phoebe instructed.

Kyle glanced out at his family, resting the guitar on his lap and began to strum away at the cords.

The family gave their full attention to Kyle and Phoebe as they played and sang their duet song.

After a few rounds of songs, and high appraisal for the young couple, Brax suggested a hearty game of footy between him and his brothers.

Bianca, Ricky, and Phoebe watched as Brax and Casey teamed up against Kyle and Heath.

"Back up for the catch Casey!" Brax yelled.

Casey jogged backwards ready to catch the football on his brother's throw, however Heath was beside Casey at the ready to intercept.

As Brax threw the ball high in the air, Heath bumped Casey out of the way and grabbed the ball fast.

"Heath!" Casey called out.

Heath laughed and started running ahead to make his goal.

Surrounded by Casey and Brax, Heath had no choice but to toss the ball in Kyle's direction and unfortunately for Heath's sake, Kyle was never the sporty type; despite enjoying a good game of footy with his brothers he had never experienced it as a skill from not having grown up with them.

"Heads up Kyle!" Heath yelled in a puff.

As the football made a vortex pattern towards Kyle, he made a futile attempt to catch the flying oval shaped speeding ball, however in the critical lasting moments as the ball grasped in Kyle's hands, it bounced off onto the ground, allowing Casey to make a grab and toss it towards Brax.

The oldest Braxton took a heavy running stride and punched the ball down on the ground at 'his and Casey's' goal.

Heath yelled out an exasperated groan at his defeat.

"Next time I'm teaming up with the big fella and you two youngsters can team up," Heath stated.

Casey laughed at his brother's moaning over losing, for Heath was never a good loser.

"Suck it up Heath; Casey and I won fair and square," Brax laughed with a puff of his chest.

"Sorry, I tried, but you know I'm not that athletically inclined," Kyle said apologetically.

Heath grunted.

"Come on Heath. Don't take anything by it Kyle; Heath's just a sore loser," Brax stated.

Casey slapped Kyle on the back in a friendly manner and the four brothers headed back to the table to meet back with the girls.

"Good game out there," Ricky stated.

"Yeah, for some," Brax replied, eying off Heath.

Bianca rested her head on Heath's arm.

"Don't worry babe, you're a winner to me."

Phoebe hopped up from her spot on the bench to sit on Kyle's lap and Casey rested himself lazily against the table.

It was in this moment that the family would reflect on. It would not be a past that would haunt the Braxton family; it would be a past that would hold the family.

AUTHOR'S NOTE:

Thank you to all that read, reviewed, followed and favourited this story; it was very much appreciated and hope you continue to read and check out my current and future works.