She pushed open the door and it was like stepping into the past. As she surveyed the pub, she was flooded with memories of another time when the pub was another place. Brady's Pub was once Brady's Fish Market and in place of the long copper-topped bar there once stood a fish counter loaded with the day's catch. Where aisles of fish seasonings and spices once stood, there were now booths and tables, almost every one of them occupied with a lunch-time crowd happily eating chowder and drinking ale.

She smiled as she looked around the pub and was pleased to see it so crowded and lively but it also made her sad. Kimberly Brady had grown up at the fish market and seeing it gone was another reminder of all that had changed and all that she had lost.

For a moment Kim closed her eyes as if she could shake off the melancholy that enveloped her. When she opened them, her father had stepped into the pub from the kitchen and was holding court behind the bar. Pop, as she always called him, was much older and grayer than Kim remembered. But he was still tall, so tall people use to question how he could have a daughter as small and petite as Kim. Then suddenly there was a shriek and the answer to that question came running from the kitchen.

"Kim!" Caroline said rushing to hug her. "We weren't expecting you until tonight."

"I know Mama," Kim said returning the hug, "I had a chance to catch an earlier flight so I grabbed it."

"Well, look at you, the big-time best-selling author."

"Oh Mama," Kim shrugged.

"Now, now," Caroline shook her head, "Don't brush it off. We're all so proud of you, especially your papa and me."

Kim smiled to herself. Even after all these years, pleasing her parents and making them proud was still important to her. That was what made her pursue an advanced degree when she moved to Los Angeles in the first place. After getting her PhD. in Psychology, Kim had enjoyed a thriving practice in counseling, focusing mainly on sexual abuse cases. Then two years ago she wrote a self-help book, You Can Be Happy, that was well-received, even landing her on the cable network talk show circuit. She thought it was a fluke and attributed most of the success to being married to a Hollywood producer. But now her second book, Don't Tell Anyone, a novel about child abuse was getting a lot of attention and landing on all the national best-seller lists. Kim thought that maybe, finally, she had done something right.

"Oh Kimmie," her father squealed in his Irish brogue, still thick after all these years living in Salem. He picked her up and hugged her tightly to him and Kim remembered how safe she always felt wrapped in his arms. Only one other person's arms could make her feel this safe, Kim thought, but quickly shook her head, not letting her mind go there. "You sit down and I'll bring you a nice big bowl of chowder."

Just then the pub door opened and a tall, dark haired woman pushing a stroller walked in. "Hope, over here," Caroline waved. "Look who arrived early!"

Hope was one of Kim's best friends and was married to her brother Bo which made her family too. She rushed over and soon Kim and Hope were catching up with each other over steaming bowls of chowder.

"Look at you. I can't believe you and Bo have a baby. And such a beauty," Kim gushed. "Obviously takes after her mother."

Laughing, Hope said, "Tell me about your children?"

"Children? Hardly. Andrew has taken a year off from his studies at Cambridge and is gallivanting about Europe. He's very continental. Wonder where he gets that from?" Kim said with a knowing glance. "And Jeannie … she's bright, boy-crazy and angry at me right now. Typical seventeen-year-old behavior, I guess. She and Phillip were very close and she's taken the divorce very hard."

"I was sorry to hear about it, Kim," Hope said sympathetically. "You two seemed happy."

"We were," Kim paused, "at times. I overlooked the first affair, actually accepted some of the blame for it, too. But I couldn't overlook the second one."

The baby started to fuss and Hope excused herself to get a bottle. This gave Kim time to reflect on what she just said. She remembered that ugly scene almost ten years before when she discovered Phillip's first affair with that nasty starlet. They flung hurtful words at each other but Kim couldn't deny Phillip's final accusation.

"Maybe I've been physically unfaithful to you but you've been emotionally unfaithful to me from the beginning. I've never had your entire heart, Kim" he said, his voice heavy with defeat.

"That's not true," Kim lied.

"I see the way you look at him when he comes in town for the children. Or how your face lit up when he visited last Christmas. I love you Kim and I'm sorry for the affair but you need to commit to me and this marriage."

It was after this Kim told Shane Donovan, her first husband and father of her children, that from now on, he should only communicate with the children. She explained that they were old enough to deal directly with him and it was better for his relationship with them if she were not involved. Shane argued a bit but Kim was firm and she cringed remembering the sadness in his voice as he accepted her decision.

"Kim?" Hope had come back and startled Kim out of her dream-like state. "So, now that you're unattached, are you going to call him?" Hope asked knowing they both knew she meant Shane.

"Oh no. I haven't talked to Shane in almost ten years and I'm not about to start now. I have my career and my children. The last thing I need in my life is to see Shane Donovan," she stated emphatically.

At the same time, an ocean away in a manor house in Cotswold, England, a cell phone was ringing.

"Shane Donovan here."

"We need you to monitor a situation in Salem ASAP." With that, Shane Donovan, English gentleman and ISA agent was on a plane to the United States.