Chapter 34
Steve and Kayla sat on the docks as they laughed together, watching the sun go down.
"You know people who pass us by are going to think we are crazy," she said as she sat in the crook of his arm.
"Let them think what they like." He replied.
That was so like him. But the truth was he did not care one fig about what others thought about them. Not just then.
The only person's opinion that had ever mattered to him was hers and he had a feeling he was high in her estimation then.
It was just a hunch.
"What a day," she said as she put her head on his chest.
"Adrienne did look happy didn't she?"
Steve had a feeling she was never going to be able to forget the look of love and tenderness on his sister's face when he and the boys had got back to the house.
She had had her little baby in her arms and she was not likely to let her go for a long time to come.
Except to Justin.
When he had seen his niece in the arms of the man who wished to raise her whether she was his blood or not, Steve was not sure what her felt.
But the way Justin had looked at his two Johnson girls seem to suggest he was not going to be leaving them for a long time to come.
"Yes he did baby," Steve said as he cupped her face and brought Kayla face up so he could look into it. "And I am so glad for her, I really am. But I can't – I can't believe the two of us are here like this, I can't believe we can really talk to one another."
That was the Thanksgiving Day miracle he was glad for.
Her. Kayla Brady Johnson. It was always her.
A smile appeared on her face as she looked into his eyes and then she leaned up to brush their lips together.
No doubt their kids were going to be delighted to have not come with them when they heard there mother and father had spent there evening making out like a couple of teens but that was just what they were going to do if Kayla had her way. Stephanie and Joey had been asked but had decided to give the two of them five minutes to catch their breath. Their kids were thoughtful…
"You have to believe it. It is true and we can trust it…"
"Your voice …" he said breathlessly.
She had to know how beautiful it was to him. It was just so wonderful to hear her again at last.
"I know," she said. She had felt the same way when she had finally been able to hear his once more.
After all they had been through she was glad to know they were not going to take the gift of swift communication between them for granted.
That was something which they should never take for granted.
But it was not just a gift which she relished between the two of them.
"Just as soon as we can I want us to have a dinner party. I want to invite all our lovely friends and family to the flat so we can thank them for the support which they had given to us. Steve we are so lucky!"
She did not know how they would have got through the last few months if they had not had their kids and their siblings and their friends.
They were the most important people in their lives and they had to know that she thought to herself.
They just had to.
"Even now you are worrying about other people. You really are my sweetness," Steve said as he kissed her once more.
She nodded as she leant into his touch.
She was always going to be his sweetness. And he was always going to be her Steve.
A shiver went through her when she thought of all the time which they had been apart but she was only too aware that the time for that was over.
And that what was ahead for them…
It was all good things.
X x x
"I thought you might be going to sleep by now. It has been an exciting day," said Justin as he sat by Adrienne's bed side.
She was prompted up on a pillow in University Hospital, and in the crib next to her lay her daughter.
It had been an exciting day but it had not kept all of them up.
Her little girl was asleep – so theoretically she knew this was the best time for her to get a little shut eye herself.
In future, someday soon she was going to kick herself for not taking the rest while she could but she just shook her head.
"Even after everything I do not think I could sleep even if I tried."
He nodded. He was not going to push it in that case.
After all he felt much the same and he was not even the one who had been through labour that day.
"I do not think you are ever going to know how sorry I am that I missed this little one coming into the world."
"You were there pretty soon after wards," she reassured him.
Justin nodded. There was no use crying over spilt milk.
He ran a finger down the little girl's cheek.
"She is so beautiful. You created something so perfect."
She nodded. She had. "Lucas was here when you took Sonny to get a tea."
"He was?"
Adrienne nodded. "You know he just adores her. And he wants to know if she is a Horton or not."
Justin nodded but immediately felt as if he wanted to scope up the baby and ran as far as he could with her.
He wanted this to be his little girl. Even more than he had thought he had.
When she had been an idea he had wanted to be her dad… but now she was a wonderful reality.
He nodded.
He knew they were going to have to get her tested to be sure one way or another not that he liked the idea. But for now she seemed too small. Even though he knew they were just going to take a spit swab or whatever… he didn't want that for her.
"Well I think we do need to know." That he could not deny. "But I want you to know I stand by what I said. Even if she is a Horton I am going to love her as my own. As the boy's sister and our daughter." He said as he returned his focus to Adrienne and squeezed her hands.
"Have the doctors run there tests on her?"
Adrienne nodded. "She is doing well for now."
For very obvious reasons their paediatrician was going to be a very big part in their lives.
And there baby was going to need extra help.
But she was going to get it and it was going to work out. That much Adrienne did know.
X x x
"Umm… I just spoke to Kayla. She said Adrienne has had her baby," Said Bo as he walked into the pub and found Hope on her own clearing up.
The Brady's had had a great family thanksgiving – and this, he knew was the perfect way to end the day. With the best news he could possibly get. That on top of having his dinner with Ciara and Hope? He felt blessed.
He had told the Donovan's to go ahead with Caroline upstairs so that she was going to be able to get settled and they were going to be getting Tate down for the night too. Ciara had run up after a great day with her mother and her father to put a film on whilst she finished digesting.
Thus it was just the two of them.
"That is amazing news!" Hope said as she dropped what she had been doing and looked at him. "What did she have?"
"A girl but that is not the point here."
Hope looked baffled for a moment as she thought on what he said.
Then it hit her. "You spoke to Kayla?"
He nodded dumbly.
"Oh my god –"
"She said she was helping to deliver the little one and she – she just found her voice."
She laughed a little at her happiness. They had all waited so long for this…
"Oh they must all be so – so glad. We have so much to give thanks for."
Bo nodded up and down and was swept off of his feet she threw herself into his arms.
It was the second time that she had done so since he had been back, and it was just as sweet as the time before.
The weight of her in his arms felt the same way it always did; the ways there bodies seemed to fit in to each other.
He could be told twenty different times, by twenty different people in twenty different languages that they were not made for each other and yet he was never going to believe it.
Not ever…
Bo thought similar thoughts must be in her head from the look which was in her eye.
Hope, for the first time, did not want to reset the barriers which she had been so careful to put up between them. Try as she might, every time she got close to wanting that she was reminded of the fact this was her Brady and as such she was always going to love him. And love being near to him.
She drew back to look him in the eye and the two of them dragged out the moment for as long as they could.
X x x
Justin peered in to the nursery window the next morning. He did not remember a thanksgiving such as the one they had just enjoyed full stop. He had been told to go home but couldn't and so he had stayed all night. There was no way he could pull himself away.
When the baby had been moved to the nursery so Adrienne could rest, the two of them had barely waited five minutes before following her.
"The pedestrians are still running tests but all the early signs are good." It was true they were going to have battles to climb but they could do that. "The doctors think she is going to find bottle easier than breast so we are going to give it ago." Part of Adrienne was sorry for that.
She was going to miss the closeness that feeding her baby herself would bring. But the two of them would find it other ways she promised herself. Typically, they had visited when Justin had been out getting coffee.
"That's good," he said as he looked as he looked at the girl he could not help but think of as his baby. "How long are you too going to be in here? Do they know?"
"Not long."
Her daughter was a healthy, happy baby who just happened to be born with Downs Syndrome.
And it was a good thing they knew.
Knowledge was power.
It meant they could help her.
"The night you both go home – can I stay?"
He did not want to push in but he did want to be there for them.
She looked at him as if she was weighing up her options for a moment before nodding.
They turned back to gaze on their daughter before he saw Adrienne yawn. In order to steady the once more new mother he put her hand on her lower back and was encouraged when she made no attempt to move it. It felt right.
And good.
"You know we are going to have to get our thinking caps on - she needs a name."
Justin smiled. He had not known if he would be invited to be part of that decision and had not wanted to assume anything. But he was so glad he was going to get to be.
"I would suggest Josephine, for your mother but…"
"But she has already got enough grandkids names after her as it is? I agree entirely."
Justin looked sheepish thought her teasing.
"But I do like going with a family name… though maybe something a little different."
They had always served them well in the past and now she thought about it there was an obvious choice as to name her after. Who better than the women who had seen her into the world?
Not Kayla though… something akin to it, but not exactly.
"Katie… Katherine Jennifer."
She wasn't going to go too far wrong named after both her beloved aunties.
Justin put his arms round her.
"I love it. And I love her. And I love you."
Adrienne nodded, swallowed and told the truth. "I love you too."
Please review!