Holding Stephanie, Kayla stood in the doorway of the bedroom watching Steve sleep. Sometime in the middle of the night, he had awakened, still lying in Kayla's lap. Without a word, Steve had gently carried her back to their bedroom. Once there, she had pulled him back into her arms and had held him until they had fallen asleep again.
A few hours later, she had awoken to the sounds of her daughter's babbling on the baby monitor. She had quietly slipped out of bed and had entered Stephanie's room. Stephanie had been standing in her crib, smiling her daddy's mischievous smile, and looking expectantly at Kayla. Kayla could not help but giggle at her daughter's antics. She had no doubt that Stephanie was going to be a handful as she got older.
Now, mother and daughter watched the most important man in their life sleeping peacefully. Kayla could only hope that someday soon this would be the rule, rather than the exception it had become.
Leaving the bedroom, Kayla carried Stephanie into the kitchen and put her in her high chair. She put a handful of Cheerios on the tray to keep Stephanie occupied while Kayla fixed breakfast. Before long, Stephanie was fed, cleaned up, and happily playing in on the living room floor.
As Kayla watched Stephanie, she heard a knock at the door. A quick glance at the clock confirmed her suspicion. It was 8:00 a.m. and she knew only one person who would be visiting that early on a Saturday morning. She contemplated not answering, but knew it was just delaying the inevitable.
Kayla opened the door to her father. "Hi, Pop."
Shawn just nodded his greeting and walked in the open door. He smiled when he saw Stephanie and leaned down to place a soft kiss on the top of her head. Stephanie giggled at her grandfather, then turned back to her toys.
"Can I get you some coffee?" Kayla asked. "There's a fresh pot in the kitchen."
"No, thank you," Shawn replied in his familiar brogue. "I'm not here for coffee."
Kayla sighed, knowing what was coming. "Then what brings you by so early?"
"I want to know if what Roman said was true. Is that husband of yours the reason that Shane was arrested?"
"I think Shane was arrested because of the article in the paper," Kayla replied. She knew it was not going to placate her father, but she also was not willing to admit that this was all Steve's fault.
"Don't play word games with me, Kayla." Shawn's tone was brusque. "Roman said Steve admitted talking to that brother of his. Is that true or not?"
"Yes, Pop." Kayla sank to the couch, thankful her daughter was too young to understand what was going on around her.
"And Roman said you were defending him to Kimmie?" Shawn was incredulous. "Why did you lie to your sister?"
"It's not that simple, Pop-" Kayla started, trying to figure out the best way to explain.
"Don't give me that, Kayla," Shawn interrupted, his voice beginning to rise. "I know Steve is your husband, but Kimmie is your blood, and she deserves your loyalty too - not that you've shown her much in a long while."
Kayla felt the air leave her body as she absorbed her father's verbal blow. "That's not fair," she said, trying to keep the hurt out of her voice.
"What's not fair is that your sister's scared and upset about what might happen to her husband, and you weren't even there to support her last night with the rest of the family." Shawn was on a roll now. "Bo, Roman, your mother, me - we were all there last night. You should have been there too."
"I'm sure Kim didn't want me there," Kayla snapped. "She made it perfectly clear how mad she is at me, yesterday."
"For good reason, apparently," Shawn said.
"That's enough, Mr. Brady," Steve said as he entered the room. "Kayla didn't do anything wrong."
"Ah, but you did, didn't you?" Shawn turned his anger on Steve. "This is all your fault."
"Then you can be angry at me, but leave Kayla out of it." Steve's voice was calm, but the look on his face made it clear he was serious.
"It's okay, Steve." Kayla spoke softly, not wanting to see things get any worse.
"Don't tell me what I can or can't say to my own daughter," Shawn said stubbornly. "This is a family matter."
"Kayla and Stephanie are my family," Steve replied. He turned to Kayla. "Why don't you take Stephanie into the kitchen and let me talk to your pop?"
"No," Kayla said. Steve's eye widened in surprise as Kayla stood and walked over to him. Taking his hand, she looked into his eye. "I told you we would deal with this together and I meant it. I'm not going anywhere."
Steve gave Kayla a small smile and nodded. Then he looked at Shawn. "I know you're upset, Mr. Brady, and I'm sorry for that. I'm sorry that any of this happened."
"Sorry doesn't get Shane out of jail, now, does it?" Shawn clearly was not mollified by Steve's apology. Looking at Kayla, he said, "I don't understand how you can defend what he's done, Kayla?"
"He's my husband, Pop." Kayla refused to back down. "I love him and I know him. He didn't mean for any of this to happen."
"Then how did it happen?" Shawn demanded. "Explain that to me."
"I can't do that yet," Steve said.
"You can't or you won't?" Shawn asked. "More likely, you just don't have an explanation."
"Stop it." That was enough for Kayla. "You say this is about family, but what about Steve? Isn't he a part of this family? Isn't that what you've always said?"
Shawn fell silent, unwilling to respond.
"It's okay," Steve said, still looking at Shawn. "I know where I stand." He took a deep breath. "I will gladly explain what happened to everybody, but Shane deserves to hear it from me first. I owe him that much. Once I've had a chance to talk to him, then I'll give you all the explanations you want."
Shawn looked at Steve and Kayla. "I guess that's all there is to say then. I just hope your explanation is enough to keep this family from being torn apart." Without another word, he turned and left the apartment.
After Shawn left, Kayla collapsed on the couch. She shook her head. "Well, that went about as well as I expected."
Steve sat down next to Kayla. "I'm sorry, baby. I hate that this has put you in the middle of everything."
"I meant what I said, Steve." Kayla took his hand. "We'll face this together and we will make them understand somehow." She gave him a slight smile. "Besides, you know how my Pop is. He'll bluster for a while, but he'll come around."
Steve nodded and then stood. "I hope you're right, Sweetness, but I need to start trying to fix this. So I'm going to jump in the shower, grab a little breakfast and then-" Steve paused as a dangerous smile crossed his face. "-I'm going to have a little chat with my baby brother."