Chapter 4

Brax and I ambled along the beach slowly, taking our leisurely time and reveling in every second of delving into our backgrounds. The sand was soft and warm underfoot and the salty sea breeze was as refreshing as I could remember. It was a huge change to constantly having to inhale the polluted city air or the smell of greasy food in the café restaurant where I had worked almost every single day for the past two years. I felt considerably better than I had done in a long time. It was as if I had been suffering from an illness and Summer Bay had been the cure all along.

As we walked, Brax and I broached every topic we thought might be interesting to the other. I found out lot of fascinating things about my new brother and the rest of his family. It turned out that Brax was a hardcore surfer and when he found out I shared a similar passion for riding the waves he was truly ecstatic.

"I'll have to take you out on a board sometime then." He offered, throwing me a wink. "See what you're made of."

"Nah, I wouldn't want to embarrass you or anything." I threw back, eyes glinting mischievously. Brax laughed delightedly at that, seeming to warm to the challenge.

As we talked extensively, I noticed a pattern arising. I kept revisiting the similarities we shared and the most important of these was the way we had both been brought up independently, having to care for the people who should have cared for us. Although I told Brax precious little of my current problems, I did give him a small insight into my past. I held back information on my mother's illness and the fact I'd left education behind, but I freely admitted having to become the head of my family, and this was a knife that cut deep for both of us.

When our dad had been sent to prison, Brax, at the meager age of twelve, had taken over the household. His mother, Cheryl, had been an alcoholic obsessed with throwing money down the drain at the bookies and from what I'd heard, she was as good at managing money as an elephant was at flying. That's to say, she was completely and utterly useless. Apparently, she was just as bad at taking care of her children. Had it been left up to her, the family would have collapsed into pandemonium, but luckily Brax had stepped up. Using the blood money Dad had received from the crime that got him sent down; my older brother had set the family up. He quit school the way I had done, and got a job. He wouldn't tell me what kind of job, though I suspected it wasn't waiting on tables, washing dishes and serving food to customers like I did. With the money, he managed to keep his family afloat the same way I did mine. He kept Heath out of trouble as best as he could and almost got Casey all the way through his education if not for our Dad getting out of prison early and interfering with Casey's life so badly that he didn't finish his HSC.

I frowned at that. "Why? What did he do?"

Brax shrugged. "You asked me not to tell you about the old man's death, so I won't. Let's just say it affected Casey's life and stopped him from finishing school."

I squinted against the bright glow of the sun to look at my brother. He had appeared relaxed a moment ago, but at the mention of Casey and our father, he'd balled up again and got that tense look that had crept over his entire body, making it as ridged as a surfboard. I gathered quickly that Casey was a very sensitive subject. They must have been very close if Brax had been the one to raise him. I wondered how his death came to pass so early on in his short life, but refrained from asking for fear of causing Brax any pain in reliving his brother's death. Better for me to leave the dust to settle and revisit the question another time. Instead of asking about Casey's death, I decided to focus my attention on his life.

"What was Casey like then?" I questioned.

Brax grinned, but it was filled with sadness and tainted with bitterness at having lost his brother. His eyes went misty and distant. His face contorted with pain. It was as if the memories of Casey stung his heart.

He sighed, and his voice was became quieter than before. "Casey was a... a really happy bloke. He was always smiling - especially towards the end, because everything was perfect back then. He was a good kid with a good heart. An honest heart." He blinked and focused on something in the distance, his jaw clenched angrily, forlornly. "You'd have liked him. Everyone did. He was hard not to like. Case... he was the nicest brother out of all of us. The Braxton with the biggest conscious and heart."

"He sounds like my kind of person." I stated softly. "I'd have loved to have met him..."

Brax chuckled wryly. "Case would have loved a sister. I know that for sure and although you wouldn't have been blood, you'd have still been family in his eyes. Same as Kyle was."

It had taken me a while to fully understand the family tree, but eventually Brax had drummed it into me and I knew that his words rang true. Casey wouldn't have been my actual brother. His father had not been Danny Braxton, but Johnny Barrett, who had another son called Josh Barrett. Josh had been Casey's half-brother, but that meant Kyle wasn't related to him and neither would I have been. Josh and his older brother Andy had lived with the family for a while since Casey's passing. They had been accepted with open arms into the ever-growing Braxton clan.

We paced the sandy beach in silence for a few minutes, both of us deep in thought. It was a while before Brax spoke up again.

"What about you?" He quizzed. "You haven't told me anything about your school life. Is it going alright?"

I chewed my lip before answering. I guessed from the way Brax spoke of Casey that he figured school was pretty important to a successful future. It was because of that, I didn't have the heart to admit I hadn't been in education since I was thirteen. I reckoned he'd end up taking it upon himself to help me get back into school if I did tell him and that was something I really didn't want. I wanted to work. I had to work. My mother was bed-bound and being cared for in hospital, so she no longer needed my money, but I did. If I was going to evade social services and remain independent then I had to live undetected and on the run, moving around the city with caution and care. I couldn't go back to school without broadcasting the fact I was living without any guardianship and besides, if I didn't work during the week, it would mean lack of funds to pay the rent for the cramped, rutty, dingy little flat I'd secured me and mum with and called home over the past couple of months. Rent there was cheap, because it was a squalor of a place, but it was ideal for someone earning my measly wages. It left me with enough money to fork out on food.

Realizing all these things at once, I simply nodded and lied through my teeth. "It's going good I guess."

"Does your school know you're skipping to come down here?"

I hadn't even thought of the fact it was a school day for every other normal teenager in the world. But I pretended to my older brother that this was something I was on top of. "It's all sorted. My mum wrote them a letter. Said I was going through 'personal family issues' and would need a few days off at least."

"Yeah?" Brax asked attentively. "You're in year 10, right?"

I had no idea what year I was supposed to be in, but year 10 sounded about right. "M-hmm. What year is Darcy in?"

Brax ignored my question and answered me with one of his own. "Does that mean you'll be doing your exams soon?"

"Yup. Looks like it." I smiled waveringly, still dead set on changing topic. "Do you surf much then or only on the weekends?"

Brax halted in his tracks and stared at me thoughtfully for a few seconds, his gaze penetrating mine. A scowl creased his features. "Are you hiding something from me or do you just really hate talking about school?"

"What?" I scoffed, trying to shrug off Brax's accurate allegation. "No! I just... I don't think talking about school is all that exciting and I don't want to bore you to death."

Brax continued to suspiciously stare at me, his eyes narrowed and his hands resting against his hips.

"Really?" He said, in a tone that implied he didn't believe me one little bit.

"Yes. Really." I replied. For a while, neither of us said anything and just watched the other's reactions, then Brax sighed and shook his head.

"Righto. I guess you're entitled to your secrets." He said, pushing it aside and leaving me to keep the fact that I wasn't at school away from him for a little while longer. "So does your mother know you're up here in Summer Bay?"

"I didn't just leave without saying anything if that's what you're implying." I laughed. "I'm not a runaway."

"Good." Brax grunted with a smile. "Was she okay about it?"

"Yeah. I think so." I responded thoughtfully, casting my eyes over the horizon where the rays of brilliant sunlight shimmered over the aquamarine ocean.

In truth, my mother hadn't done much more than nod and smile sadly when I'd told her I was leaving and heading up the coast to meet my brothers for the first time. She clearly hadn't liked the idea of me departing the city when she could barely move out of bed, but she didn't say anything because she knew it was something I had to do. All the same, she made me promise I'd come back for her and that I wouldn't abandon her in her time of need. I promised to make sure I was back at her side, holding her hand by the end of the week. Mum didn't like our separation. She could never quite handle life without me, which was why the idea of me getting dragged into a foster home hurt and scared her almost as much as it did me.

"Here. Look." Brax nudged me gently on the shoulder and pointed up to a building that sat overlooking the beach where we were stood. There were blue, yellow and red flags flapping in the wind outside by the table benches and from inside I could hear the clattering of plates and cutlery and glasses chinking. From years of working as a waitress, I knew instinctively that I was looking at some form of restaurant.

"It's a restaurant. What about it?" I inquired.

"That's Angelo's." Brax told me, with a hint of pride evident in his voice.

"That's Angelo's?" I raised my brows. "It's huge. And it overlooks the beach. How did you ever afford to get your hands on a place like that?"

Brax yawned, and then joked mysteriously. "Oh, I had to kill a few people to get it." When I looked at him questioningly, he just shook his head and said, "It's a long story and not a very good one. Anyway, how I got Angelo's isn't important. What's important is the fact I've got a sister who still hasn't even seen my business. Do you want to go up and see it now? Some of the family will be there." Brax proposed.

"Sure."

*

Angelo's was above the surf club and the gym. As soon as we walked in, I caught a waft of delicious, mouth-watering pizzas, fresh fruit smoothies, gelato and of the sea salt air that breezed in from outside. It was a lovely assortment of smells, ruined only when Brax and I neared the door that led through to the gym, from where radiated the smell of sweat and dampness.

I crinkled up my nose at the odor, wondering how the customers who came in weren't turned off their food by the reek of perspiring people at the peak of their fitness. I know that I'd reconsider eating pizza after passing a gym full of healthy people exercising.

"Is it annoying having to share the place with whoever owns the surf club and the gym?"

Brax laughed outright when I said that. "No really." He grinned. "The surf club is in the hands of my neighbor, John Palmer and we're on good terms. As for the gym, I own that too."

I blinked in surprise. He'd not told me about owning the gym before, only Angelo's. I wondered how on earth he had the money. I had worked like a dog to provide my family with things and so had he - the only difference was that he had two businesses to show for it, whereas I had nothing to my name.

"John Palmer," I repeated, running the name around my head and realizing it must have been the same John I had encountered first thing this morning. "I met him when I was outside your house. Before I knocked on the door."

Brax's eyebrows shot upwards. "Yeah? Did you tell him who you were?"

"No."

"Good, because if Palmer caught wind of any rumors, they'd spread through the Bay like wildfire." Brax informed me. "And the last thing we need is the rest of the family finding out from someone else that there's a new Braxton in town. I'd rather they found out from me."

Upstairs was the restaurant. It was a lovely joint, very modernized. It reminded me of having a little bit of the city in the middle of the sticks. I felt very at home inside, despite being surrounded by strangers. With me in tow, my brother marched straight up to the counter, behind which was a very pregnant woman with a beautiful face framed by blonde hair and a smile that shone like the sun when she noticed Brax venturing towards her.

"Finally decided to show up and pull your weight, have you?" She teased.

"Oh, you wish." Brax grinned back, "I'm actually just here for a feed."

The woman, who I assumed must be Ricky, laughed. The sound was bubbly, infectious and uplifting; cheerful enough to bring a smile even to my lips. "You do realize how wrong it is to make a heavily pregnant woman take your shift, right?" She said, eyes sparkling.

My older brother strode around the counter, gently pulled Ricky to him and gave her a kiss. When he finally did pull away, he shrugged, beaming. "Then I guess it's a good thing I never claimed to be a saint."

The two of them looked so content in each other's company that I was almost tempted to slip away unnoticed and leave them to it. The last thing I wanted to do was spoil the moment that hung between them - the soon to be family of three. But too late, Ricky's eyes found me, watching uncertainly and she gave me a friendly smile, mistaking me for a customer.

"Hey there, honey," She said warmly. "What can I do for you?"

"Erm...." I looked at Brax for help.

He coughed to get Ricky's attention, took her by the hand and led her aside a moment. There, he promptly whispered something to her, out of everyone else's hearing range. I watched her reaction and saw the way her smile faded and her face clouded. She threw me a sudden glance and was transfixed on my stormy green-blue eyes, so similar to Brax's. Then she exchanged another short, heated conversation with my older brother and finally, broke away. Ricky came straight towards me and as she neared, I was relieved to see her smile return. To my surprise, when she reached me, she enveloped me in a hug.

"Hey, welcome to the Bay, Alex." Ricky greeted as kindly as she could, taking both my hands in hers as she pulled back. "It's great to finally have another girl in the family. God knows we'll need it when Junior comes along."

"You're not upset?" I probed, confused by her conflicting reaction to Brax's news compared to the way she received me.

"I'm a little bit annoyed that Brax didn't let me know earlier." She explained, choosing her words carefully. "But I'm not at all angry with you. I think it's great that you've come here. You must be hungry though, right?"

"Little bit." I admitted, just as Kyle ventured out from the kitchen.

"I'll get you a pizza." Ricky offered, then noticed Kyle sauntering over, smiling at me. "Don't tell me you knew about this too?" She frowned.

Kyle blinked innocently. "Well, yeah, kind of. She came over to the house first thing this morning when I was still there."

"And you didn't think to tell me even though we were working together all day?" Ricky crossed her arms over her chest, then rolled her eyes when Kyle didn't come up with an answer. She threw me a look. "Men. They're impossible."

*

I had never been so full in my life, ever. The pizza was delicious and I'd eaten almost an entire one to myself, which was something I never got to do and was stopped only by the protesting grumbles of my shrunken stomach that could hold no more. We were seated at a little booth in Angelo's. Most of the other tables were occupied, since we were in the middle of the lunchtime rush, but the owners didn't seem to let this bother them. Brax, Ricky, Kyle, and even Heath who had rocked up for lunch with Bianca and little Harley, were sat at my table with me, all of us deep in flowing conversation. Around us, the restaurant buzzed with life, left entirely in the capable hands of the other waiters and waitresses.

I was completely won over by Harley. He was possibly the sweetest toddler I'd ever set my gaze on, with eyes as big and brown as a cow's and lashed so long they reflected every ounce of light that streamed in from the windows. He laughed cheerfully and came to sit on my lap, contenting himself with playing with my long blonde hair and the necklace slung around my neck. The rest of the family remarked that his obsession with me must be the connection between my appearance and his sister's. Darcy and I, according to them all, could well be sisters.

I'd also had the pleasure of meeting the Barrett brothers and Ash, who was an old friend of Brax's. They had joined us, keen on meeting me because Brax had sent them all messages. Apparently they were all accustom to him sending for family meetings and so it wasn't a big deal to get called for one randomly mid-day. Josh Barrett had come in the middle of his school lunch break and was wearing his uniform. His brother managed the gym downstairs, so Andy was in a red gym vest. They had darker skin than everyone else and hair that was far blacker than my fair hair. Both of them seemed nice enough. Ash was an interesting guy. He had blonde hair like me, and it was long enough to be tied up in a bun. He was very handsome, but an obvious ladies man. He joked around a lot and offered me plenty of smiles.

More than a few times, I found the chatter overwhelming. Although I automatically loved my family and appreciated how everyone was trying so hard to make this as easy as possible for me to feel welcomed, I couldn't help being panicked by it all. I had to catch my breath every now and again, when the sheer shock of such a big family kept creeping up on me. It was hard to believe that just this morning I had feared being totally alone in the world. Now I had to accept that I couldn't possibly wish for a single second alone being a Braxton.

"You'll stick around though, right Alex?" Bianca asked, sucking me straight from one convo into another.

"If I could, I'd like to." I told them. "One day isn't enough to get to know an entirely new family. My life back in the city won't stay on hold though. I've got to get back to my job, and my mum. If it wasn't for that I'd probably stay around."

"And what about school?" Brax was the one who brought it up again. I could see that he was trying to figure me out, trying to pinpoint my issue with education.

I shrugged. "Yeah. That too." I said elusively, smiling.

"Well, you can stay for a few days at least though, right?" Heath asked. "I mean you've got a right to get to know us before you leave again."

"I can spare the week." I answered. "But then I'll have to go back to the city. I'll visit again though. Often as I can."

"So where are you staying tonight?" Josh said.

"I'll probably go to one of the nearest motels."

"Don't waste your money on a motel." Ricky told me. "You can stay with us. Can't she, Brax?"

"Course." My elder brother nodded. "We've got plenty of room. You're welcome to lodge with us for the week if you want to."

I smiled. "Thank you."

"Don't mention it."

"No, really. I mean it." I persisted, looking around. "This is all just amazing and you're all being so great to me. I really am grateful. Thanks."

Heath clapped me on the back and beamed. "Well, you're blood." He stated. "And family always comes first."

That was a motto I could definitely get used to.