Chapter 26
When the sun came up, Steve was still just where he belonged. By Kayla's side.
He had thought about sneaking out when he had come to that morning but when it came down to it, he was beginning to be sure they always over thought things. That was their problem.
When they got down to business and did what felt right. That was when the worked best.
And so he lay at her side and let her rest her head on his chest when she rolled over. He strummed his fingers through blonde her hair and just thought about how perfect she was even after all this time.
Seasons were going to come and they were going to go and the world could change utterly and the one thing he knew that was never going to change was the fact he was in love with her. With a girl named Kayla.
Deeply. And desperately. She just took his breathe away, it was as simple as that.
He sighed as he realised how lucky he was. God knows why but it seemed as if she had given him another chance. And he was going to take it and he was going to run with it. He was not going to be making any of his past mistakes, they were over.
He was going to focus on her and the kids and make sure they had a nice life together. They were going to be a real family this time. He would get a steady job and he was going to come home every evening – and everything was going to work itself out because it had to.
He ran a hand through her hair again and he heard her come too, sighing deeply as she did so. That morning, fifth of July 2015, really had come too soon.
He pushed a kiss to her forehead as she opened her eyes.
"Morning sweetness," he said. It had been too long since he had been the first to greet her in the morning. She must have read his lips from the smile that came on to her face.
She pushed her lips to his neck in greeting. The only thing that would have been better was to hear her say the words in return, but that was going to come in time. For the two of them, everything had always had its time and he had to remember that. All he had to do now was wait. Steve could be patient. It wasn't his favourite thing, but he could be patient.
While Kayla woke up properly the two of them just held each other. With the kids out, there was no reason for them to be getting out of bed until she looked up at him with her big blue eyes and signed she was hungry.
'Then I had better get you breakfast, Madame,' he said as he got up, leaning back only to kiss her again.
She caressed his cheek as she lay back in the sheets, pleasantly exhausted from the night before.
X x x
Breakfast was a lazy affair for Kayla. She let Steve do the cooking and dote on her as he was clearly in the mood to do and that was not something she had never had a problem with, as long as it did not over extend to coddling her.
Doting she could take.
Once they had eaten together, she had gone to take a shower. For a moment she had considered asking him to join her but the kids were due back soon. Having them catch them… that was not the way to tell them that she and Steve were back together.
So they had to be ready. Still as the hot water run over her she could not help but remember the night before and she flushed when she realised she was sensitive for a whole other reason that day than she had been previously.
Finally, things were picking up for her. For them.
She then got dressed, avoiding the jogging pants and tops she had been wearing since she had been home in favour of a peach summer dress. It was far more appropriate for the season and it was time she came back to herself. Whether she could hear or not, she was not the person she had… she had allowed herself to be since she had come home. It was time to be Kayla again, she decided.
She towel dried her hair before she clipped it up, leaving some strands either side hanging playfully. In the mirror she saw Steve come to the door and watch her for just a moment.
She turned to him.
'Have I told you how beautiful you are lately? Cause you are. You're beautiful sweetness.'
She grinned as he walked towards her and put his hands on her hips. She thought about all the promises she had made to herself about on relying on him and not trusting him and then she looked in to his eyes.
She knew this was not about dependence. This was about the fact the two of them had been in love since the day she had literally bumped into at Shenanigans. It had taken a long time for the two of them to both be able to recognize it for what it was. But they had done.
The truth was, Kayla just did not want to fight that. Not anymore.
She lay her head against his chest and let him cuddle her close, relishing the sensation of being so close to him again.
So lost were they in their own world, that the kids came to the door before Steve knew they were back.
X x x
By the time that JJ got out of bed, Stephanie had already left the Horton house and he was glad of it. That morning he did not want to see anyone really but he knew he owed it to his mother and sister to talk to them.
The more he thought about the way he had behaved the day before the more he felt ashamed of himself.
And it was not just the fact that he had hit Paige. It was the fact that he had gone for his dad at all. There were as million reasons why that should not have happened.
The first was, whether he liked it or not, he and Jack were father and son and he was beginning to see that he was going to have to square and make peace with that.
The second reason was that the day before had been a family day. And not just even for his family, immediate and extended. There were families from all over Salem there, moms and dads with their little kids. That was no place for violence.
And the third was there was just no excuse for behaviour like that anywhere. He had displayed the same type of violence which he had sworn to hate.
There was not going to be a repeat performance. He promised himself that.
He walked into the kitchen to see his mother and his sister were there. While Jen looked as if she ready to talk to him it was clear Abigail was still pissed as hell.
He didn't blame her.
"How you doing?" his mother asked softly as he came into the room.
"I – I am ok. Just… I am sorry. Really sorry."
"For which bit? For trying to attack our dad, for hitting Paige or for running off?" asked his sister.
"All of it."
"That's not helpful, Abby," Jen murmured as JJ replied. "I know your sorry JJ, but that can't ever happen again."
"It won't. I didn't mean to mess up. And I promise it is not going to be happening again."
He waited for his sister to say that was just what he had done whether he had meant to or not but she didn't. He wondered if he could be making progress that soon. He hoped against hope that she could hear how sincere he was.
His mother nodded.
"I'll – I will call… dad. I – I should not have gone off at him."
"How did your talk last night go?"
"With dad?" JJ shrugged. Even if he could put it into words then he did not think he would be ready to talk about it with anyone else. Not yet. What his father had said to him was private. "Ok. It was ok."
For the first time that morning he was sure he could see his sister soften a little. Even the way she had been standing had told him she was not happy but now she looked as if she was a little more relaxed. Who ever knew that she was such a daddy's girl, he thought to himself. But then he had been so young when Jack had gone that he would have had no chance of knowing that. Maybe the others already did.
"Good," Jen replied backing off. She was not going to fish anymore.
She grab his arm and squeezed it affectionately before she left the room leaving her two kids alone.
"Are you ok?" JJ checked.
Abby nodded. "Yeah… I am." She said as she too made to left the room. Just as she was about to leave it she turned back and gave a small smile to her hot headed brother and somehow he knew she was sorry to.
For pushing him, for making a dig… and for not making enough effort to understand how he felt. But, they were moving on now. She was ok. He was ok.
Maybe someday soon they would all be ok.
X x x
Since her grandma and grandpa had moved into the new house Paige found she was spending more time there than she was her student dorm. It was nice to have a real home once more.
But she was not sure if that was the case the more after 4th July.
"Morning," she said as she walked in to the kitchen.
"Good morning, my sweetheart," said Shane and he came towards her., his face contorted as he saw her lip.
"I do not want any fuss," she shrugged him off insistently she sat at the breakfast bar.
Kim poured a coffee for her granddaughter. For the first time she was glad Theresa and that had not yet moved in as it was obvious they had to be focusing on this young lady and this grandchild of theirs right then.
She ran a hand through her red hair.
"Have you heard anything about yesterday?" Paige asked coyly as she looked up.
It was clear she was really asking if they had heard anything about JJ.
"No and if we are lucky then we are not going to," her grandfather replied.
Paige just could not agree with that. She needed to know was what going on with him. Knowing there was a not a lot of point in trying to get her grandpa to understand that, she picked up her coffee mumbling something about a shower.
"You know that kind of attitude is going to get you nowhere," Kim said to her husband.
Not in this situation.
"Kimberley, after all that boy has done to her –" Shane spluttered as he tried to find the words. "After all he had done to this family –"
She put her hands over his.
"My love, they are teens… and this is Salem. Which makes it the home of inappropriate relationships and feelings."
He smiled grimly at how true that was.
X x x
"You know in a weird way I am glad it all kicked off yesterday."
The cup of steaming coffee stood by the cup of herbal tea. Adrienne knew which once she wanted but she also what one she was going to have and the answer to that was the once which was best for her baby.
She picked up the tea.
"How so?"
"Because I know that even though we have a very long way to go, JJ and I - my son and I - we might be able to work things out. Even just a little bit."
Adrienne could not help but be delighted by those words. It was the smile it put on her brothers face that did it. Jack was never going to be a happy or a contented man while he and JJ were at odds. Even just the fear that he was not going to be able to do that had put him in a black mood since he had been home.
Still she had not realised that things were beginning to move along. She feared it was all worse when he had got back but now it was obviously not the case. He had been pale, but that she could see now was obvious just the initial reaction. A night's sleep and some time to reflect had done Jack a world of good.
She wasn't so worried now.
"I am pleased for you – you can't know how much."
"Thank you. So how are you?"
"I am getting used to the idea theirs is going to be a new lovely person in my life," she said with a grin. "But I also know I have to get ready for them and therefore get my life in order."
"So…" Jack prompted. It was clear she had a plan of how to do that.
"So I am going to go to Lucas and I am going to tell him whatever the two of us were… is over. I need to focus on us," she said as she ran a hand over her stomach.
She was beginning to feel pregnant now.
She had found out just in time it seemed, as she realised she was beginning to show. She wondered how long it would have taken her to work out on her own…
Adrienne was just glad she did know, and therefore could start taking better care of them both.
"Sis, I do not mean to ask a personal question but there is a chance that he is the father, isn't there?"
Adrienne paused for a minute but then she nodded as she knew she had too.
"There is, but I – I do not love him and I can't stay with him just for the sake of the baby. That would not be any good – well, for any of us. If he is then we can cross that bridge when we come to it."
"I think that is a wise decision," he said approvingly.
"You do?"
He nodded. "You can't make yourself love someone you don't and you definitely should not be with someone who you can't love." he knew from very bitter experience that that way lay ruination.
She looked at him knowingly. Nodding, she sighed. She knew she was doing the right thing.
Lucas was a good man. But he was not the man for her.
X x x
"So it does seem as if you and mom are back on," said Steph as she sat down at the breakfast bar.
Her father looked at her and nodded.
Well, at least he wasn't lying. She had seen this was going to happen from the moment that her dad had got back to town so it was no great surprise for her.
But she glad she had had a chance to talk to her uncle Marcus about it all before it had happened. It had given her a clearer perspective.
"You know, what? I do not think the two of us can have this conversation again. Stick around and don't hurt her… that's all…" she said as she worked hard to put her reservations aside.
"Are you really ok with this?"
"You know what in spite of everything I – well… it is every little girls dream to have her mom and dad home and happy together isn't it?"
And may be that was why she had found in with in herself to come round to the idea of her parents being together all over again.
At least it was for her. She remembered when she had been a really little girl she had hated no one as much as the kids In her class who took their parents been together or even alive for granted. She had missed her dad so much and she had wished and wished he was going to come back to her and her mum and in the end the impossible had happened. And he had. So maybe this was another one of those times when the Johnson family was going to work another miracle.
And maybe – just maybe it was all going to work out for her mom and dad.
She had a feeling her mother believed it was going to. When she had saw the way she was looking at her dad that morning… her mother's face had just come to life. She wanted her to know that type of happiness again more than anything.
"You know what I do not think you are ever going to be able to know, baby girl, just how grateful I am to hear you say that," sighed Steve as he took his daughter in his arms. "Thank you."
He would have been there with Kayla no matter what but it mattered to him that he had the blessing of his daughter. He did not want anything to set the four of them against one another just then.
The four of them had to be team if they were going to get Kayla fighting fit again and it did seem as if that was just what they were being. Joey had been grinning ear to ear ever since he had got home that morning.
"It is all going to be alright now, little sweetness. I promise." Steve murmured.
"I hope so," his daughter returned. "I really do hope so."
"I love you so much."
"I love you too, papa."
X x x
"You're quiet tonight."
"Am I?"
Hope was still wondering why she gone out with Aiden that night at all.
She guessed she knew the reason to that deep down was because she had not wanted to let Bo come between them. But, no matter what she did, Aiden had let that happen yesterday…
Now she was left feeling frustrated with Aiden, and if the truth were known- would be at home with her Ciara that evening. But she had not had her way.
"You know you are – what is it?"
She was not sure how to answer him. And so she just gave it to him straight. There was no way to sugar coat it.
"Why did you feel the need to show off in front of Bo at the lake yesterday? He knows the two of us are together, is that not enough?"
Aiden looked taken a back about what she had spoken about – what she had said out loud – but not exactingly surprise. In fact she had a feeling he had been expecting this from the way he looked down and then up at her with surety in his eyes, almost as if she had prepared for this moment.
She guessed that was feasible. After all, he was a lawyer.
"I – you know what, baby, you're right and I know you are. But he was just such a jack ass to you and I don't like the guy. I just… I just want him to know how happy we are."
"Do you not think it is up to me to deal with him because of what he did to me? And no matter what else he is always going to be the father of my children. I don't want to fight with him, or upset him if it can be avoided."
"And we are never going to be allowed to forget that as long as he is here is here are we?"
"Whether he is here or not I am never going to forget that, that he is Ciara's dad and Shawn Douglas's… and Zach's," she stumbled a little. "And after all I have been through with Bo I would not want too."
"So there it is. Is it always going to come back to what the two of you were?"
She wondered on that question for a moment. There had been a time when she would not have had to think about it – she just would have said yes. That of course it was going to come back to her and Bo and the past which they shared by the very virtue of the fact it was her and Bo.
But things were not like that anymore and she had made the choice that she was going to get over them. Get over what they had been.
"No – but there are some parts of our past we can't leave behind no matter how much we might want too."
That was just a fact of life. He had to accept that.
"Of course there are." She knew enough about his past to know there were moments in his life which he wasn't so proud of. Things he would like to forget but couldn't. Yet they made him who he was in a way.
"Why don't the two of us just focus on enjoying tonight?" he suggested. It was so rare that they were alone with no interruptions.
And part of Hope wanted to nod and say 'yes! Yes, let's do that'… but she could not find it in her that evening. She could only nod without enthusiasm. But she did not think she could follow through with having a good time.
She was sure Aiden was about to question her, to go on saying things she was not sure she wanted to hear and so she was glad when there dinners came and once more they could lapse into silence as they ate their meal.
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