Kim braced herself for Eve's next outburst as she walked out of Shane's room. It did not take long for it to come.
"How dare you lie to him!" Eve shouted.
Kim forced herself to take a deep breath. "I'm not lying," she said evenly. "The ultrasound confirmed it."
Eve was obviously unconvinced. "Like I'm supposed to believe your friends here can't doctor some reports to say whatever you want them to say."
This whole exchange was baffling. Kim looked at Eve, incredulous. "Eve . . . your father nearly died and he just woke up. Can't you set aside your anger and be thankful and happy for a little while?"
"I am thankful and happy," Eve said. "But I'm also not blind. The reason my father nearly died is you. He's better off without you, so I'm not going to let you use these lies to take advantage of him when he's weak."
Kim had to shake her head. "I would never take advantage of your father. Regardless of what we have to work through, I love him too much to lie to him about this." But even as she said that, she could hear the accusatory voice remind her how she had lied to him about Andrew and Jeannie before.
I learned my mistake, Kim replied silently.
Eve turned away abruptly before Kim could respond. "I'm not going to let you lie to him," Eve said. Then her voice lowered. "My father has only one daughter."
Kim suspected she was not supposed to have heard that, but it spoke volumes. "Eve," Kim said softly. She stepped toward the younger woman, who still had her back turned. "You can't think Jeannie is going to change how your father feels about you. Shane loves you and nothing's going to change that."
With her back still turned, Eve said, "You don't know that. You don't know anything."
"I think I do." Kim smiled at her own memories. "I'm an older sister, too, and I remember worrying that a little sister would mean my mama and papa wouldn't be able to love me. It's silly, though. It's not like we have some limitation on how much we can love or how many people we can love."
Eve said nothing, but did not pull away when Kim put her hand on Eve's shoulder.
"Remember when you came to Salem," Kim said. "Do you think your coming here made Shane love Andrew any less? Of course not."
"Andrew was just a baby," Eve shot back. She had still not turned to face Kim.
Kim shook her head at the absurdity of this conversation. "Age had nothing to do with it. Your father adores you and he's still going to adore you. You can't really think that's going to change because you have a sister."
Although Kim thought she was getting through to Eve, she was wrong. Eve spun around, tears in her eyes.
"You don't think so?" Eve snapped. "Why? He's going to get the little girl he always wanted - one he can make into a perfect daughter, not a screwed-up, teen hooker."
Kim could see the hurt in Eve's eyes, but there did not appear to be a way to convince her otherwise. Softly, Kim said, "None of that has ever stopped your father from loving you. Remember how he went searching for you when you disappeared last Spring? Or how he found you when Eddie Reed kidnapped you?"
"Yeah? Well he won't have to do that anymore." Eve glared at Kim for a moment. "He'll have his perfect little girl at home." When Kim started to protest, Eve rolled her eyes and waved a hand. "Enough, Kimberly. I've heard all I need to hear. . . . I think I need some air."
Watching Eve storm away, Kim could only feel helpless and sad. It seemed like no matter how much they all tried to assure Eve of her place in the family, the girl just could not set aside those insecurities. And, right now, that was the last thing Shane needed to deal with.
Noting for the first time that a couple of the nurses at their station were watching her, Kim shrugged and turned around toward Shane's room. She headed back to the door and nearly ran into Marcus as he stepped out.
"He's asleep again," Marcus said. "I had to increase the medications a bit."
Kim had seen the pain Shane was in, even though she knew he had probably tried to mask it when he was aware she was there. "It's bad, isn't it?"
Marcus nodded, then took her hands in his. ""From what I understand, the procedure Shane went through is one of the more painful operations." He gave her a somber look. "But there's good news. I think it's safe to rule out any brain damage from oxygen loss. Shane might seem confused and hesitant, but that's the pain medications, not an effect of the shooting."
That gave Kim immense relief. She had known that was a possibility, but had tried to pretend that it was not. Now, however, she could admit that the fear had remained. "So he'll be fine?" she asked.
Marcus started to respond, then hesitated. "I'm not going to lie to you, Kim. This is not going to be an easy recovery. Shane will be in a lot of pain for the next few weeks. We can give him medication, but we're going to need to get him on his feet as quickly as we can. And we'll start some physical therapy right away."
"Well, if I know Shane, he'll be raring to go." Kim smiled at the thought. "He'll want to get back to normal as soon as possible."
"Kim. . . ."
"What?" The tone of Marcus' voice made Kim nervous.
"Maybe I should have told you this before. . . ." Marcus' voice trailed off. "Look . . . Shane's never going to fully recover from this," Marcus said. "Therapy can improve his lung capacity, but. . . ."
"But what?"
Marcus sighed. "He's never going to regain 100% function."
Kim raised her hand to her mouth. She had never imagined that Shane would not recover fully. "I . . . I don't understand. What does that mean?"
"It means that he'll have reduced lung capacity," Marcus explained. "How much will depend on him and how hard he works toward recovery. For a time, he'll be winded and get tired easily. But if he works as hard as you think he will, hopefully, he'll manage to get back to about 80% or 90%. For the most part, that would mean he won't really experience much difference in day-to-day activities. Just don't expect him to run any marathons."
Kim actually felt a little better at hearing that prognosis. "I never really thought of Shane as a marathon type," she joked. Still, it was hard for her to picture exactly what Marcus meant. She also suspected Shane would struggle with the idea of being less than 100%, but he would have to come to terms with it.
At least he's alive.
That was the most important thing. Shane was alive, and he would get a chance to see his children grow up. She smiled as she pictured all those things she had imagined when Cal's prisoner, but this time, in her mind's eye, her children had both their parents.
"Thank you," she told Marcus. "You can't imagine how grateful we are to you."
Marcus smiled back. "I already told Shane . . . he saved my life from Saul Taylor and his goons. This was my chance to return the favor." He studied Kim for a minute, then added, "And, now, I want you to go home and sleep. With the amount of fentanyl Shane's on, he won't really be conscious until morning."
Kim began to protest, but Marcus shook his head.
"Go home, Kim, and get some rest. Trust me when I tell you that tomorrow is when Shane's really going to need you."