Kim watched Andrew race through the door of his grandparents' house. "Grandma! Grandpa!" She smiled as she followed him inside and saw her folks. Caroline approached her and took Jeannie from her arms.
"Hi, Mama," Kim said with a smile.
"Kimmie, why didn't you tell us you were coming home today?" Caroline asked.
"It's a long-" She stopped speaking when she saw Caroline's expression change to pure shock. Kim looked at Shawn and saw his face mirrored his wife's.
I guess I know who just walked in. Kim turned to see Steve and Kayla standing in the doorway.
"My God!" Caroline exclaimed. "Steve?"
'Yeah, Mrs. Brady. It's me."
Caroline engulfed him in a huge hug and then Shawn stepped forward and shook Steve's hand. "I don't believe it, lad. I just don't believe it."
"It was hard for us to believe, too, Papa," Kim said. "You should've seen us when we got the call from the ISA." Might as well start spreading the cover story right away.
"The ISA?" Shawn's face turned into a thundercloud. "Are you saying this - all the hell Kayla went through - had to do with the ISA? Like what happened with Roman?"
"No, Shawn." Steve stepped forward. "That's not it at all."
"Of course not, Pop," Kayla said. She was holding Stephanie tightly. "It's kind of a long story."
"No, it's not, Sweetness." Steve cut her off. "Basically, I wound up in Cincinnati and didn't know who I was. The police ran my prints and they popped up on the ISA computers. The ISA called Kayla and Kim, and there you go." He turned to Kayla and smiled. "One look at my Sweetness and Little Sweetness there, and, boom, everything comes back. Well, except for what's happened since last October."
Caroline's eyes widened. "So you have no idea what happened to you after you . . . what am I supposed to call it?" She shrugged. "After you died?"
"You got it," Steve replied.
"Obviously, we left England the moment we heard," Kim said. She took Jeannie back from Caroline, whose mouth was agape and still looked unbelieving.
"I promise, I'm not a ghost." Steve chuckled at his own joke.
Shawn shook his head. "I guess stranger things have happened. Like Roman coming back and that Stefano fella." He looked at Steve. "You look like you could use a big bowl of Caroline's chowder, though."
"Any time," Steve said with a grin.
Kim watched in amazement as Caroline rushed downstairs to get some food and Shawn headed to the phone to call Bo and Roman to get over to the house right away. That was so easy. Her folks did not even question the story.
Neither did Bo when he arrived 15 minutes later. His jaw dropped and he stood frozen in complete shock when he saw Steve, but he recovered quickly. Within another 10 minutes, they were shooting the breeze like the old friends they were.
"Kimmie?" Kim had stepped into the kitchen and turned to see that her mother had followed. "Is everything okay?"
"Sure, Mama. Of course, it is." Kim looked back at the others. Steve and Kayla were on the couch, their arms around one another and Stephanie on Kayla's lap. Bo was in a chair next to them, and Shawn was standing next to Kayla. They all looked so happy.
Caroline put a hand on Kim's shoulder. "You know . . . with Steve back. I guess Kay and Shane-"
"Look at her," Kim said, knowing where this was going. "That's definitely over."
"Does Steve know?" When Kim nodded, Caroline asked, "How did he take it?"
"It made World War II look like a minor skirmish," Kim said with a shrug, trying to be as close to honest as she could. "But they've worked through it."
"So I guess that's why Shane didn't come home with you." Caroline looked at Steve. "I doubt Steve will forgive Shane."
"No, Mama, that's not it. Shane still doesn't know," Kim lied. "He got called away on an assignment before we heard about Steve."
Caroline took in a sharp breath. "So he has no idea? He's going to come back and think that he and Kay-"
"I'm sure he'll call to talk to Andrew before he comes home. I'll tell him, so he won't be ambushed." Kim hated how good she was getting at lying to her mother.
Their conversation was interrupted by a burst of laughter from the living room. When it subsided, Caroline looked back at Kim. "You know . . . if Shane and Kayla are no longer together-"
Kim shook her head and cut her mother off. "It's not going to happen, Mama." She knew she sounded sad, but it was hard for her to say it any other way. In her mind, she pictured the conversation she had with Shane in the Donovan Manor sitting room a week earlier, the day before he left on his assignment. "Whatever Shane and I once had, it's over."
"That's crazy, Kimmie. You love Shane and he loves you." Caroline's voice rose and Kim flushed as she realized that everyone else had stopped talking and were staring into the kitchen.
"I'm going to put Jeannie down." Kim made a hasty retreat to the makeshift nursery she had set up at her parents' home.
She stayed there as long as she could, rocking her daughter to sleep. Kim would tell the others that Jeannie was being fussy after the long day of travel and it took awhile to get her to sleep. Another lie.
Kim just could not take it. If she went back, Shawn would almost certainly raise the same topic that Caroline had. Shawn had never accepted her divorce from Shane, and it had left the two men at odds with each other for months. It had nearly killed her father when, in a fury over an argument with Shane, he had taken a boat out into the river during a storm.
Now Shawn would be after her to "make things right" with Shane. There's no way to make this right, Kim thought. She looked down at her daughter who was yawning and closing her eyes sleepily. Shane could not put it past him. And maybe it was unfair for Kim to expect him to. You did move on so quickly. That had to leave Shane wondering. Look at Kayla, after all. She had rebuffed Shane for a long time because she felt she would be betraying Steve. Kim had waited two months to jump into bed with Cal Winters, and had accepted his marriage proposal shortly thereafter.
But that was a big difference between her and Kayla. Kim had learned at an early age to hide her emotions behind relationships with men who meant little to her. That was her way of dealing with pain and loneliness. Until Shane. He had pushed through the walls she had built up and had healed that pain.
At least for a time.
Then Shane had "died," and everything that she thought had changed due to Shane disappeared. Kim reverted to her old behavior. First, with Cal. And, later, when she could not bear to see Shane with Kayla, Kim had let herself be seduced by Lawrence - all the while thinking she was the seductress.
And Kim had Jeannie, who was a wonderful blessing, but a constant reminder of what she had done. Kim hated that Shane could not get past her betrayal of their love, but she also understood why he could not. She understood why every time Shane looked at Jeannie, he saw Kim in bed with Cal.
Kim looked down at Jeannie and realized that her daughter was fast asleep. You can't put off going back any longer. She placed Jeannie in the crib and turned back toward the living room, from which she could hear the happy laughter. Time to go pretend to be happy for your baby sister, Kimmie. Kim took a deep breath and remembered how easy it had been to lie to her folks about Steve's return. It's always been easy for you to lie. So what's one more lie?