Kim wiped the tears from her eyes as she heard the door slam behind Kayla. How could Kayla say those things? And how could she defend herself? She knew I loved Shane, but she still stole him away from me.
Shaking her head, she walked over to the teapot. Kim had thought she had put aside her anger and resentment over Kayla's relationship with Shane, but, in one fell swoop, it had all come rushing back out.
But then I'm not the only one with old resentments.
Kim could hardly believe that Kayla had brought up Papa. How could she want to argue over whose childhood was worse? So Papa didn't have the same bond that he had with Kim; Kayla never had to go on Uncle Eric's special outings.
"Kay should think about that a little," Kim muttered as she reached the stand with the tea. It was lukewarm, so she decided not to bother.
With everything going on, why did Kayla have to bring up Papa? She acted like being called his "best and brightest" was something Kim enjoyed. Didn't she understand that it had been an albatross around Kim's neck her entire life?
From the time she could understand the words, she had been expected to be something. She was supposed to go places and do great things. So Kim studied hard, made good grades, and was the apple of her father's eye, despite feeling like she was nothing. No, that wasn't right. She had been less than nothing.
But all those years with Uncle Eric had taught her a few things. Roman and Bo always considered Kim the quiet, shy member of the family, but she had a side she had kept from them. Kayla knew. There were some things that only sisters knew.
A thought flashed in her mind and Kim remembered back to the Homecoming Dance her senior year. Kayla had been a sophomore and had spent her entire freshman year like a puppy dog following after Charlie Rogers. Then during Kayla's sophomore year, he had asked her to go to Homecoming with him. Kayla was over-the-moon with excitement. The love of her life had asked her to the dance.
Kim still could not explain why she did it. She had been jealous, maybe. She had broken up with her boyfriend a few days earlier, so she had been hurt and lonely. Maybe it was just that she could not accept that little sis was having better luck in the love department.
So Kim had walked over to Charlie as he was getting some punch for Kayla. They talked, while she let her top come open a little, and then made a point of brushing against him. Then she had asked why he was "playing with little girls" when he could actually find out what a woman was like.
Charlie did not say another word to Kayla that night.
After the dance, Charlie drove Kim out to the Saybrook Woods, they moved into the back seat, and Kim showed him what a woman could do. She did things, even in the mid-1970s, that none of the "good" girls in Salem did. But, deep inside, Kim knew she was not one of the good girls.
Kim thought back to when she had arrived home that night. Kayla had known exactly what had happened. Like Kim had thought earlier; sisters just knew. When Kim got home, they had one of the worst fights they had ever had. Sort of like tonight, the thought came, unbidden, to Kim's mind. She remembered Kayla calling her a 'slut' and then locking herself in the bathroom for hours - until Bo knocked the bathroom door off its hinges trying to get inside.
Kim wondered if Kayla's pursuit of Shane was revenge for that adolescent drama. Charlie had meant something to Kayla, and Kim had destroyed that. And Kayla knew exactly what Shane meant to Kim. Kayla even knew that she and Shane would never love each other with the intensity and passion that Kayla had loved Steve or Kim had loved Shane.
Shane and I were soulmates. We're connected by something Kayla could never understand.
And now Kim was supposed to feel guilty because Kayla's relationship with Shane had started this domino effect that now threatened to destroy everything important to Kim. She knew she bore some of the blame and so did Shane, but everything would have been different if Kayla had just shown some self-restraint.
I won't feel guilty about that, she said to herself. I can accept my own responsibility, but I'm not the only one who made a mess of things.
Kim took a deep breath and decided to head for the kitchen to see if Simmons needed any help. Maybe spending some time with Andrew would help her forget about Kayla for a while.
She had just turned down the hallway to the kitchen when the doorbell rang. She turned, but, like a bullet, Mike reached the door before she could. He opened it took a large envelope from a deliveryman. After studying it for a moment, Mike held it up to his ear.
"I think it's okay," he said, as he lowered it. "No wires or unusual sounds."
Kim shuddered at the reminder of the danger her family was in.
Mike turned the package over and Kim realized he was holding it by the corners. "The return address is a P.O. Box in Columbus." He looked at her, his dark eyes showing some concern. "Would you prefer if I opened it?"
Kim nodded slightly. She knew the envelope was from whoever had targeted Andrew, and was thankful that she did not have to open it alone.
Mike pulled a pocket knife from his pocket and sliced through the top of the envelope. He walked over to an accent table in the foyer and tipped the envelope so the contents slid out.
With a sense of dread, Kim stepped over to the table to look at what their stalker had sent.
"Photographs," Mike said. Using the knife, he separated them so Kim could get a view.
Oh God! Kim screamed silently.
The photographs showed Shane standing near the edge of the lake at dusk, Andrew riding his bike under Mike's watchful eye, and Kim holding Jeannie through the library window. There were others - all pictures of the family in and around the mansion, as well as some of Shane outside Mickey's office and Kim entering the hospital.
But that was not what made Kim's heart stop.
In each photo, over every image of Kim, Andrew, and Jeannie was a big red "X."