Chapter 38
"How are you doing big brother?" said Adrienne as she walked across the pier pushing Katie's pram.
Justin had had to go to work that afternoon so of course it was then that there girl had decided she did not want to go to asleep and so her mother had wondered if a little walk was going to do the trick.
When everyone had found out she was having a late baby, everyone had wondered Adrienne about how much more tired she was going to be this time but no one had said she was going to be so much more patient she'd be too.
The things which she had thought were causes to stress with the boys just did not seemed to affect her the same way with her daughter.
It was as if they had all the time in the world now and when the boys were young she had felt as if she had had to do everything in a rush. She'd had no time at all.
Looking back she wondered if that was because she had been so aware that as soon as she had got one of the settled, she was going to be needed by another one of them.
Whereas with their sister – well, it was as if Katie was an only child, not that Sonny was going to thank her for thinking like that.
He had brought Ari over to see the new baby every chance she got.
Talking of people who had been eager to see her new baby, Steve had numbered one of her most frequent visitors when she had first had the wee one but he was a fool if he thought she had not noticed he was not coming to see them as much lately.
And he looked down.
"Not so bad – how are my babies?" he asked as she came to his side.
He threw arm about her and held her just a little too tight as if he was trying to keep her safe from an invisible enemy.
She did not like that.
"Well one of them is so tired that all she can do is fight her sleep and the other would like to do nothing more than to curl up sleep if only she had the chance!" She said as she stood next to him.
"You're in that phase at the moment?" he asked with raised eye brows.
"Oh yeah." She said to him with a nod. And she would be for the next few years.
"Well why don't you get this pretty pink bundle of joy home, you do not want her to get cold."
"My daughters is well wrapped up as you can see." Adrienne pointed out and Steve found he was not able to protest that. He was sure he could see three separate blankets in there doing a sterling job of keeping the baby warm.
"No, the one I am worried about right now is my big brother."
And he knew that tone of voice. It was the tone of voice which said he was not going to get away from her until she knew just what was going on.
And he did not want to burden her – not at a time which should be the happiest of her life.
Yet he knew he had to give her something.
"Oh come on Adrienne baby -"
"Don't you 'Adrienne baby' me, not this time!"
"Well, it is just that this old tom cat feels as if he has lost another life –" he said with a shrug not wanting to go in to any more detail than that, if only the look in her eye would allow it to rest.
Which was always unlikely.
It was time to come clean, clearly.
"I just feel as if I do not know what to do for her, for Kayla."
"Of course you know what to do for her – you do what you always have and be there for her to talk to when she needs you."
He shook his head as he remembered the fury she had felt towards him.
"I do not think that is going to work this time."
"Of course it is. She is a strong lady – and she is going to get through it. It sickens me that she has to but she will," she said with confidence as she spent a moment trying to think on how her sister in law might be feeling right then but then she did everything she could not to think like that.
She had to be at the top of her game for her daughter right then and so she could not dwell on the past. For that way laid rumination.
And she had to be there for her brother too.
"You are going to be ok as well."
"I think I am going to lose her this time."
"No – no, you won't. You have just found each other again," she said to him with confidence.
She was not one to believe in fairy tales but ever since she had seen them together when they had all been so much younger she had believed in Steve and Kayla.
Anyone with a brain would believe in the two of them.
She looked up at him and tried to decipher how he was feeling really. When he wanted to be a closed book he absolutely was and he would do his best to make sure no one got through that impenetrable armor of his.
Of course, Kayla had always been one of the ones who had been able to break through the layers but then lucky for her so she was she.
"Now the only way you are going to lose her is if you let all this to drive you to do something stupid."
"What? Like commit murder?"
"Exactly."
Steve gave her a look which told her just what he thought of that.
In his opinion for the entire family and all concerned killing Grayson was going to be the most sensible thing he could for all of them.
"She needs you here on the outside so that you can help get her and the kids through it. I mean it Steve. You want a fight, then you go pick a fight with Bo or Marcus so they can put you back in your box before you do anything dumb. But you do not dare jeopardize your freedom when Kayla needs you. When Staph and Joe need you… and when I need you too."
It was such an impassioned speech that he did not know why it made him chuckle a little….
Still she got the oddest feeling as if she might actually have got through to him for once which was going to be a new one. On both of them.
He sighed and put his arms about his sister for a moment.
"Thank god you are always here to talk some sense in to me when I need you to do that the most."
She nodded. "Well, you have been there for me in the past more than once and you are going to be there for me again in the future as well."
Of that she had no doubt.
Steve nodded and felt the need to change the subject so he peered in to the pram.
"How is she?"
Adrienne nodded. "Well. She is doing well. We have regular pediatrician appointments and we won't know for a while yet how much she can do on her own. We've been warned she's going to be late hitting her mile stones but I think she will hit them when she is good and ready."
"No one is going to rush our cool little dudette?" he asked.
"Exactly!"
He nodded. "And she is going to have her family around her to get her to them."
Adrienne agreed. Every step on the way.
The was how their family met their challenges after all.
x x x
If the days of the doctors who made home visits had ended then no one had told that to Marcus Hunter.
After the dinner party he was sure to call in on Kayla every day – not to pressure her as to what had gone on as she felt so many others wanted to but just to check of her health both physically, and as much as he could mentally.
She would know what he was up to and at the time she might not thank him for it but in the long run she would.
And he knew she would do the same if the cases were reversed.
In the days immediately after she was drained – as if saying the words had taken all the life out of her.
No wonder he thought to himself.
She had had to be strong for a very long time – and he could not imagine the weight of the secret which she had had to carry.
But suddenly that weight was gone from her and she could collapse and let those who loved her best take the strain.
And that was just what she did.
Kayla returned to her room for a lay down once they were done and he headed out in to the kitchen where he helped himself to a coffee.
This was his homey's house and that made it his house.
And he needed a coffee.
It was as he was nursing the mug at the breakfast bar that the door to the living room opened and his niece came in.
She did not so much as bat an eyelid at the sight of him there.
"How are you doing little lady?" he asked.
She shrugged as she let her bag fall down her shoulder and on to the floor.
She had hoped she was going to find a better job than helping her grandmother at the pub, which was of course a Brady summer job tradition but as of yet nothing had come. And it was winter.
Still there were much bigger problems in her life and she knew without a shadow of what he was referring too.
She sighed.
"How do you think she is doing really?" that was the real question.
Marcus shrugged. "She is getting there. I know I do not need to tell you about how much time it takes."
No, he did not. She shook her head and gave thanks he was not going to lecture her.
But then lectures had never been his style.
He was a kind and comforting soul though and she knew she could talk to him as she always had been able to do in the past.
He was looking at her in a way that said he knew something was up. if she knew him then he was not going to let it rest until he knew just what that that was, which was kind of handy as she wanted to talk to him.
"I am worried about mom and dad."
She had got home the other evening to find a more peculiar atmosphere between the two of them and her parents did not normal go in for atmospheres.
That simply was not their style.
"They are both suffering a lot right now but they are going to be fine."
"Are they?" she asked him in all seriousness.
When they had first got back together she had been terrified that her dad was going to leave her mother but now she had a horrible feeling that it was going to be the other way round and she was not sure if she could bare that.
One. because she knew no matter else had gone on her mother loved her dad.
And also because that meant she was going to regret it in the long run.
He looked at her and she knew he felt sorry for her, though not in an unkind way. He cared about her family as much as she did as in many ways they were his family too.
That did not meant she had to like it though.
"Can I admit something which makes me more of a kid than I would like?"
He nodded.
"I do not want the two of them to split again."
And to think when they had first got back together she had made sure her concern about the two of them splitting was all for Joe but –
But she had seen her mother without her father and vice versa and the thing was, it never made either of them happy and then as a result she and Joey weren't happy and she was sure they had all been through more than enough pain as it was.
"And I do not think they will – but if they do it is not going to be either of their faults – and it does not make you a kid for you to want them to stay together." It made her human and adult.
"If I know your mom at all, I know she is going to come through this stronger for it. And when she does she is going to want your dad there for her." He had never known her to take any real interest in any one else and he did not anticipate that ever happening now either.
"So keep the faith, ok?"
Stephanie nodded her head and let him give her a hug.
And then she prayed he was right.
x x x
If Adrienne a had half a chance then she would have visited Kayla a lot sooner than she had. When she has heard what she had been put through it had made her sick and angry and all she wanted in the world was to change what had happened.
But she could not.
And she was no longer her own boss. And typically that was the time when Justin had had to go to work. Honestly there was nothing like timing some days.
Getting out the flat some days alone could be a nightmare.
Even if it was just over the hall way.
She waited until she'd had her brother leave and then she picked up her daughter who for once seemed to be playing the game of letting them go out and knocked on the door.
It was with a long suffering sigh Kayla opened the door.
"Did you forget your key?" She asked before she knew who it was. "Sorry – hi Adrienne!"
"No, we have come for a visit with Auntie Kayla."
Her face softened. "And about time to, hi baby Katherine," she said softly as she took her in her own arms and relished in the newness of her niece, "Hi baby girl," Kayla cooed over her.
Adrienne saw she was not needed and went to make the coffee.
"Is she sleeping through?" Kayla asked on Adrienne's return, once the two of them were settled on the sofa.
"Not quite. She wakes up once or twice a night."
The baby started a little before shutting her eyes.
"How are you coping with that?"
"Actually… ok. Justin is there to do at least one night feed a week if not three."
Kayla tried not to raise her eye brows.
"And that is all working out?" she asked.
Adrienne nodded. "It seems to be. He does love being a daddy again."
"And Steve and I love being an aunt and uncle again." She looked down at the little girl. "Thank you for calling her Katie."
"Think nothing of it. I wanted her to be named after someone who is brave."
She had a feeling as she grew her daughter was going to need no small amount of courage herself.
Kayla smiled sadly.
"I do not know if naming her after me counts then."
"Well I know!" said Adrienne as she tried to give her confidence. "And that is enough for us to be going on with."
There was a silence between the two sisters in law which Adrienne did not take a lot of time to break.
"What you went through – I won't say how sorry I am for what you went through we are both aware just how useless that is."
She nodded.
"But I will say this," Adrienne sighed "you got through it once before and you are going to do it again."
"But I did not have to kids to worry about."
She knew that should make her fight harder – but it just made them want to shield them more. Thankfully Joy seemed to want to shield himself but there was not a lot she knew she could do about Stephanie.
But as illogical as it was – she wanted to protect them even when she couldn't…
"If I were you I would find it just as hard." She could not even imagine what it must feel like. If she ever had to give the twins or Alex or Sonny that news… "But Steph and Joey are sensible and Steve will help you through."
Steve… Kayla looked down at her little niece and stroked her tiny fingers.
"I was pretty hard of Steve the other day. I think what I said – I had a point but the way I went about it the wrong way and –" she had not been kind to him.
Adrienne could see how uncomfortable whatever had gone on had made her.
"The thing about my big brother is he has a thick skin so I am sure he could take it."
Kayla shrugged, for was she not so sure.
He had looked pretty broken by the time she had got through with him.
"Kayla, if things are not right between the two of you can I make a suggestion?"
Kayla looked at her waiting for the big epiphany. "Talk to him again."
She laughed a little. "Talking hasn't come so easily lately."
"Of course it hasn't – your still getting used to being able to talk again. But Kay – you can talk now. And I swear to you – you'll be heard."
For there was no good to be found shouting into a void. Yet that was not what Kayla was doing.
Ears were all around her.
The doctor nodded and rocked her niece, thankful suddenly for Adrienne who had brought with her not only her new niece, but the reminded of the gift of simplicity.
X x x
Kayla found Steve in the living room after his return. Takin a deep breathe, she got straight to the point.
"I did not mean half the things I said to you." She knew they had been cruel and full of anger and she had not meant what she had said. But the genie was out of the bag now and there was no way of putting it back in.
"Either way you had every right to say them, sweetness," sighed Steve as he sat on the sofa.
She came and sat at his side.
"I think we are going to have to agree to disagree with that one."
She had been angry with him for one crime and so she had blamed him for another of which he was faultless. He had never doubted her – she knew that in her heart.
"I want you to go to the police with me," said Kayla in no uncertain terms.
She had had enough of sitting at home trying to make sense of it all on her own.
If her life time had taught her anything, it was that it was not for the victims of attacks such as the ones she had been subjected to over the past twenty years to make sense of. They were the choices of people who were desperate for power and would take it by any selfish violent means that they could.
It did not reflect on her or her marriage or her family.
What reflected on them was the love which they held in their hearts for each other and the way they came through it all now.
He looked up at her, his eyes determined.
"Kayla, if you do not want to do that then I am not going to have any one make you."
But she shook her head. "I love you for wanting to keep me safe but I know what I am doing. I know what I can and I can't do. And what I cannot do is leave him on the streets to do this to another family."
She had never been one to do nothing for she was no good at hanging back.
He looked at her with shining eyes as he had done since the two of them had been young.
If he was still looking at her like that then maybe the world was not such a bad place after all.
"Sweetness I am so proud of you."
After everything she had suffered… as normal, it just made her stronger and more able to cope. Not less so.
She shrugged – she wasn't sure why sometimes, though that was a voice she did her best to silence.
Still she would take it.
"So will you come?"
"Are you kidding me? Wild horses are not going to keep me from your side – not ever again."
As long as they lived he swore to himself they were going to tackle every fight which they had to fight together and head on.
There was nothing else to it.
She crept into his arms and stayed there for a long time, glad to think they were on the same side and fighting this together.
For as long as nothing was between them then nothing was going to break them.
"I'm sorry, Steve."
"You don't ever need to be sorry to me – not ever," he said as he kissed her forehead firmly and met her eyes. There were so much to be said – yet not right then. "I love you."
"I love you." She nodded.
From the doorway, Stephanie sighed softly and thought that her Uncle Marcus must be able to see into the future.
Thank god.
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