"I know it's hard," Shane said. "But, please, just let me talk to Kayla first. This is going to be a tremendous shock to her but, if you let me have an opportunity to prepare her, it might cushion the blow."
Steve was sitting on the edge of his bed and grimaced. He was wearing some of the new clothes that Worthington had arranged. Shane could tell they were not what Steve would have chosen, but Worthington probably had been unable to find a leather jacket on such short notice in the local shops. At least, Steve had not complained. In fact, he had not even made a snide remark about the clothes, so Shane took that as a sign the clothes were satisfactory.
"I promise it'll just be a few minutes," Shane said. "Just long enough for me to explain. Then I'll bring them up here to see you. Okay?"
"Fine," Steve finally said.
Thank god, Shane thought. He had had nightmares envisioning Kayla throwing herself into his arms, not realizing Steve was there. It was bad enough that Shane had played on her insecurities about Kim to get her to England. The last thing he wanted to do was cause problems for her reunion with Steve.
Shane figured that, sooner or later, they would have to tell Steve about his relationship with Kayla. Too many people in Salem knew about it, and it would be disastrous if Steve learned about it from Marcus or one of the Bradys. However, Shane believed the decision about when to tell Steve belonged to Kayla. She had to decide when the time was right, and she might feel that it should to wait until Steve was stronger. So, for now, Shane needed to help avoid any inadvertent disclosures before she was ready.
"All right," Shane said. "I'll be back shortly." He walked out of the guest bedroom and headed downstairs.
Kayla, Kim and the children were waiting in the foyer. He couldn't help think that Kayla looked beautiful. Even eight hours on a plane did not diminish her beauty.
Stop it, he told himself. She's not yours anymore. Shane had been stabbed before, but that thought cut him more painfully than any knife. Dammit, you're supposed to be happy for her. True, but he was realizing that it was going to be a lot harder to let her go than he anticipated. With a deep breath, he forced a smile to his face.
He reached the bottom of the stairs, just as Andrew let out a loud, "Daddy!" and raced up to him. Shane's fake smile turned genuine as he crouched and hugged his son. Andrew started chattering, tossing out a string of questions - "Is this really your house?"; "Did you live here when you were a boy""; "Is there really a lake out there?"; and "Are you the richest man in England?"
Shane tried to keep them straight. "Yes"; "yes"; "well, it's really a pond"; and "definitely not." He looked over at Kayla and Kim. Kim was smiling at them. Kayla was looking down at Stephanie, trying to soothe her. At that moment, the maid entered the foyer and Shane said to Andrew, "Listen, Sport, Daddy needs to talk with Mummy and Aunt Kayla." He motioned to the maid. "This is Mrs. Batson, who'll be staying with us while you're here. Why don't you go into the kitchen with her and have some cookies and, later, I'll start showing you all the places where I used to play when I was your age."
As the maid led Andrew out of the room, Shane turned to Kayla and Kim and took a moment to steady his nerves.
This is going to be a lot more difficult than I thought. But there was no way he could prolong telling her any longer. Shane took a deep breath and steeled himself against the pain.
Remember, he reminded himself, you're supposed to be happy for them.