Kim sat in the kitchen enjoying a late-morning cup of tea. Jeannie and Andrew were off playing under the eagle-eyed supervision of Mrs. Batson, and Kim was glad for a moment of calm amidst the chaos of two growing children, not to mention everything else that was going on Donovan Manor.
Kim looked up as Kayla entered the kitchen. She saw Kayla hesitate for a second at the door and then approach the table. Kim could see the light bruise between Kayla's cheek and nose and remembered what Shane had told her the night before.
"Good morning," Kayla said. "Have you . . . uh, seen Shane around this morning?"
Kim couldn't hide her surprise at that question. Why was Kayla looking for Shane? Especially after all that had happened last night.
Unable to squelch her curiosity, Kim answered Kayla's question with one of her own. "Why are looking for Shane?"
Kayla sighed, then sat down in the chair next to Kim. "It's a long story, but Steve said something he shouldn't have said to Shane, and I wanted to find Shane and apologize."
"Sounds like Steve is the one who needs to apologize, not you," Kim said evenly.
"Yeah, he does. But I can't force him to do that and I want Shane to know that I'm sorry."
"Well you're not going to be able to do that until later. Shane left for London a little while ago," Kim replied.
"What's in London?" Kayla asked.
"I don't know. Worthington just told me he said he had 'business' there and he left this morning."
Kim saw Kayla look down and she figured her sister shared her thoughts. Shane, as usual, was running away from his personal problems. "Business" was the perfect excuse. Kim decided to change the subject. "By the way, I spoke with Mama last night. Everything's fine. Bo's out of the hospital."
"That's great," Kayla said.
Kim had to agree. It really was great news. "And there's more. Apparently, our little brother is taking that job in Africa."
"Frankie?"
"Yep. And here's the best part. He's convinced Eve to go to Africa with him."
Kim saw Kayla chuckle at the thought of Eve living in Africa. "I hope Frankie knows what he is getting himself into," Kayla said with a shake of her head. Then the smile dropped and she added, "Poor Shane. This is all he needed on top of . . . everything else that has happened."
Kim just nodded and took another sip of her tea. Despite all of Eve's faults - and they were legion - Shane loved his daughter dearly. Having her leave Salem would be hard on him. Kim looked over the rim of her cup and saw the bruising on Kayla's face again. Taking a deep breath, she said, "Kay . . . I talked to Shane last night and he told me what happened. Are you okay?"
Kayla looked up and reflexively touched the bruise, "I'm fine Kim. It was just an accident, nothing more."
Kim took another sip and asked, almost casually, "Are you sure that's all it was?"
Kim saw the anger flare in Kayla's eye's. "Of course that's all it was, Kim. Steve would never, ever intentionally hurt me." Kim could hear the steel in Kayla's voice. "Maybe you and Shane don't believe that, but I do."
"I'm sorry, Kay. I just know that Steve has been dealing with a lot since he's been back and I needed to be sure," Kim said, trying to soothe her sister's anger.
"Well now you can be sure. I'm fine, and Steve and I are fine."
"Are you sure about that?" Kim asked.
"What do you mean, am I sure about that?" Kayla responded, the hint of anger back in her voice.
"I'm not blind, Kayla," Kim said, keeping her voice neutral. "You and Steve have had a lot to deal with in the last couple of weeks. For somebody who is fine, you've been doing a lot of apologizing and covering."
Kayla sighed. "Okay, maybe things aren't perfect, but he just got back. And the first thing I did was lie to him about Shane. He's already trying to deal with everything that happened to him and then he got my lie dumped on him. I just want to give him some time to deal with everything."
"I understand that, Kayla. But you can't enable his behavior forever. He's going to have to deal with everything eventually and you trying to protect him from that is not going to help. It may keep things calm in the short term, but it's not a long-term solution."
"I know that, Kim," Kayla said sharply. "But, he's my husband and I love him. We have some things to work on, but like I said before, we'll be fine."
Deciding that a change in subject and tone was needed, Kim looked slyly at her little sister, then said, "From what I heard when I passed your room last night, in some ways, you and Steve are already better than fine."
Kim giggled as she watched the blush creep across Kayla's face. She put her head in her hands, then looked up and joined her sister's giggles.
"Um . . . sorry about that," Kayla said when the giggles subsided.
"Don't apologize," Kim said with a smile. "Just remember that this is an old house. The walls aren't that thick."
Kayla blushed again and nodded. Then, in a more serious voice, she said, "I can't believe how happy I am, Kim. I never thought I'd feel this happy again."
Kim tried to keep the bitterness out of her voice. "I'm glad things have worked out for you, Kay. You and Steve deserve your happiness."
"So do you," Kayla said sincerely. She paused as if she were searching for the right words. "I'm sorry for the way everything happened. I . . . uh, I just wish I would have known that Steve was alive. I . . . wish I would have done a lot of things differently."
"What do you mean, Kay?"
"I just feel like so much of this is my fault. If I had known that Steve was alive, if I had felt that, I never would have tried to move on with Shane. If I hadn't been so selfish and only focused on dealing with my own pain, I would have known better than to get involved with your ex-husband. Then Shane wouldn't be hurting so badly and maybe you and Shane would have worked things out," Kayla said, her emotions pouring out.
Kim thought a moment before answering. "I can't deny that I've had some of the same thoughts," she said. Then she reached for Kayla's hand and added, "But the reality is that mine and Shane's problems existed long before you and Shane got involved. And, more importantly, you didn't know that Steve was alive. You were just doing what you needed to do to live your life. That's all any of us can do sometimes."
"I know you may not believe this," Kayla said. "But . . . I never meant to hurt you. Or Shane. Or Steve. Yet, somehow, I've managed to hurt all the people I care about most."
"I do believe it," Kim replied. "And Shane and Steve know that as well. We're all victims of circumstances here. And now all we can do is try to move forward as best we can."
"Not circumstances," Kayla said, the anger back in her voice. "Lawrence Alamain caused all of this. Someday, that man is going to pay for all of it."
Kim just nodded in return. Someday. She knew Shane and the ISA had not given up on nailing Lawrence's organization just because he was in jail. She just hoped that whatever happened in the future would not cost the people she loved even more than they had already lost.