Rummaging for the car keys in what she realized was a not fully zipped and less-full purse, Kayla's eyes flicked up to see Steve holding a folded envelope.
"What are you doing carrying this?" he asked.
"Carrying what?" she asked. "Can I see it?"
She took her time walking back over to him, grateful that she hadn't thought to wear her readers. She could fully see what was in her husband's hand - her eyesight wasn't that far gone yet - but knew squinting a little would at least buy her some time. Enough time to determine whether the return address in the top right corner of the envelope was for a Greek goat farm or an English country house.
When Steve held it out to her but didn't relinquish his grip, she frowned.
"Steve-"
"You asked to see it, Sweetness. Not hold it," he teased. Using their slight height differential to his advantage, he held the envelope above Kayla's head.
"Steve, I don't feel like playing games. Now, can I just have-"
"No, I'm gonna make you work for this, baby," Steve laughed.
Rolling her eyes, Kayla jumped up and tried to snatch the letter, only to have it waved out of her reach.
"Have I always had this much height on you?" Steve asked playfully, getting her glaring.
"C'mon, will you just-"
"Think we gotta start taking our showers on cold, Sweetness. Can't have you shrinking anymore on me."
"Damn it, Steve!" she snapped.
His smirk going serious, Steve handed her the envelope that she hastily unfolded, getting him frowning.
"What are you trying to do, baby? Commit the damn thing to memory?" he asked as her eyes flitted over the faded return-to-sender stamp.
Shaking her head, Kayla zipped the creased envelope into her purse, ensuring the other was still safely stashed at the bottom of the bag beneath her wallet and a pack of mint gum.
"I just wanted to make sure it wasn't a bill or…or something important," she said as Steve scoffed.
"You trying to call it unimportant now?" Steve scoffed, running a hand over his face. "Baby, I don't-"
"What?" Kayla asked as Steve took a beat, then a breath, before he spoke.
"You've been attached to that Kiriakis letter since this morning, Sweetness. I even picked it up to look at again. Wanted to make sure there wasn't some big plot twist I might've missed."
"Steve...I-"
"It's been doing a lot of traveling with you, baby. Went from that goat farm right into your little desk drawer, to your bag-"
"It wasn't in the drawer," Kayla interrupted as Steve frowned.
"It was just an expression, Sweetness."
"And that was just me saying it...it wasn't in the drawer," she repeated as Steve's frown deepened.
"It was on top of the desk, right by that heap of all the junk mail you keep saying we have to shred and get rid of."
"It's becoming a big heap, baby."
"I know. I...I know it is. I know," Kayla laughed nervously, running a hand through her hair before she let out a sad sigh.
"But I saw the letter next to it when I was getting ready for the funeral, and I just..."
"You didn't want to get rid of it," Steve said knowingly, getting a tearful nod that made him step closer to her.
"I'm still not sure why you're so attached to those scraps of paper, Sweetness, but I know you. I know you wouldn't have brought that letter all the way from the Greek Isles to have on top of your desk and in your purse if there wasn't some kind of reason."
"Aren't you wondering what that reason is?" she asked as Steve thumbed a tear off her cheek.
"I'm wondering, but I'm not worrying, baby."
"You're not?"
"Don't think my up close and personal physician would be too thrilled if I was," he teased as Kayla sniffled but managed a small smile.
"That's right. She wouldn't be."
"Besides, I know you, Sweetness. I know when you feel like talking to me about it, you will."
"When?" she repeated. "You're pretty sure of yourself there, aren't you?"
"I'm pretty sure of you, baby. Far as I know, you still like talking. You still like me," Steve teased as Kayla rolled her eyes but bridged the gap between them.
"Think with that combination, my odds are pretty good."
"I think so, too," she said before leaning in, kissing the cocky grin off her husband's face before he pulled away, then put his arm around her as they walked towards the car.
"Willing to bet when we start raising our glasses to the Big Greek at the Salem Inn, you'll feel even more like-"
"I don't want to go just yet," Kayla interrupted, stopping and turning to face Steve as he frowned curiously at her.
"Sweetness?"
"To the reception. I just-"
"Well, you want to just go back to the house then?"
"I-"
"I mean, I'm fine with that. We can just head on home, put our feet up, maybe order some takeout-"
"No," Kayla said, shaking her head. "I…I don't want to bring this home with us."
"Bring what home, Sweetness?" Steve asked, trying his best to keep the fear out of his voice when Kayla bit her lip and adjusted her purse on her shoulder.
"You asked me something. And you deserve an answer, I-"
"Baby, I told you we don't have to get into it right-"
"I wouldn't have brought it up if I wasn't ready to, Steve."
Knowing from her tone and the look in her eye that her mind was made up, Steve nodded and reached over to hold her face.
"Okay, Sweetness. If you want to talk, if you're up to it, we can go wherever you want."
Thanking him, but seeing the clear fear in his eye, Kayla rested her hand on the back of his.
"I'm not trying to make this into a big deal. I just don't want our home or the dining room at the Salem Inn turning into some kind of confessional."
"You want me to grab us a pew in the back of the-"
When Kayla shook her head, knowing a walk on the pier or through the square wasn't an option given her footwear situation, thinking on his feet, Steve took her by the hand, leading them the rest of the way to the car.
After unlocking the rear door to the Bluesmobile, he let Kayla slide in first, sensing whatever conversation they were about to have was more suited for the backseat.
Once situated in the car, curling up on Steve's shoulder, when he brushed his lips on top of her head, she couldn't help but sniffle.
"Sweetness…"
"Just hold me?" she asked as Steve did as asked but took some deep breaths and a gentle grip on Kayla's hand in an effort to calm them both down.
"Okay, baby. I'm holding you. And I'm holding you to your word here, too. Alright?"
Feeling her nod against his chest, Steve spoke after a beat.
"Sweetness, why are you carrying around that worn-out Kiriakis letter when it's done nothing but make you sad?"
When she stayed quiet, he held her closer and kept speaking, hoping his talking would draw her out.
"Needed a surefire way to cry at his funeral?" he smirked. "I wouldn't blame you if you did."
"You know you're not that off track," Kayla sighed, sitting up enough to look her husband in the eye.
"You said at the house you had trouble waxing romantical about Victor. Well, I've had trouble with it, too," she admitted.
"I know when he was after us, it was because we stood in the way of what he wanted or...we were a useful way for him to get what he wanted. But, being caught in that crossfire so many times, especially with our baby girl-"
"Being collateral damage is still being damaged, baby."
"You're right," Kayla sighed. "But even knowing that, I knew being here for Maggie and Shawn and Ciara. For Bo-"
"And Dimples," Steve added as she nodded again.
"That mattered more than however I felt or have been feeling. I knew too, though, unless I wanted to show up feeling bitter and angry and, the furthest thing from respectful I...I'd have to show up feeling sad. And everything about Victor and my mother, it makes me sad, Steve."
"I know, Sweetness," he soothed. "I know."
When she curled back up on his shoulder, twining their fingers, he kept holding her close.
"What I don't know though, baby. After today, are you still gonna be carrying that scrap of paper around in your purse?"
"No, but… I'm not prepared to put it in the paper shredder either," Kayla admitted, wiping her eyes with her hand not linked with Steve's as she sat up again.
"When I was stuck in that wine cellar, I... I knew if I didn't find some kind of distraction, I was gonna go crazy. Or get more drunk than I've been in a very long time."
"So you decided to brush up on your lock picking instead?"
"More like trying to keep my skills sharp," Kayla smirked. "You know Marlena got a full demo of that coil trick you taught me," she said, earning a proud smile and a promise for another not-too-distant future lock-picking date with her husband.
"But when I found the letters in that strongbox...you brought up Emily and Gideon but I'd thought of them, too. I was flashing back to finding that trunk in our house with you before I even opened the first envelope."
"Baby.." Steve murmured, stroking her hair back.
"I had the distraction I wanted though," Kayla sniffled. "I got just as drawn in reading the letter from Victor as I was reading the diary. As much as I hated to admit it, as much as I wanted to get smashed on Cabernet about it, I couldn't help compare the story I read in that cellar to-"
"Emily and Gideon's.." Steve supplied, getting a nod but a slightly wary look.
"And to ours," Kayla admitted.
"Sweetness-"
"There was love between them, Steve. Reading his letters to my mother made that clear. That and-"
"And what, baby?" he asked, with an equally wary look when Kayla's eyes welled up.
"That he and I had something in common," she scoffed, wiping at her eyes before looking down and away. "That I missed and pined for and was as desperate to reunite with you as he was to reunite with my mom. B...But it never happened for him and I...I thought-"
"Thought what? Kayla, baby?" Steve breathed when her breath hitched and started going shallow. Slipping his arm around her, he swallowed hard, feeling her shaking even with his suit coat draped around her shoulders.
"I...I thought, b...back there-"
"Shhh, hey, you're not back there, Sweetness. You're here, you're home. You stepped into the Bluesmobile with me, baby. It's alright. It's alright now," he said, only to feel like everything he was saying was barely registering with her.
"L...Locked up-"
"Shhh, no. Sweetness, no. You picked the locks, baby. Remember? You did that," he said. Shifting back enough to see her face, Steve gently took hold of hers with both hands.
"You came back to me then. You come back now, baby, alright? You hear me? Kayla!" he shouted before dropping and shaking his head.
"Please, Sweetness," he rasped. Looking back at his wife, he brushed her hair out of her eyes before they finally looked up and locked on his.
"S...Steve?"
"Kayla?! Baby?"
"Steve…" she repeated in a too-small-sounding voice. Relieved though she was able to do that much, Steve leaned in and kissed her forehead.
"I'm here, my love. I'm right here, Kayla."
Nodding, her eyes squeezed shut against tears; when Steve pulled her into his arms, Kayla looped hers around his neck, clinging to him tight.
"Shhh, I've got you, Sweetness, It's alright. Just let it out, baby," Steve coaxed, hearing a sniffle, then a heartbreaking sob before his wife broke down in tears against his chest.
"Just let it out, baby," he repeated, realizing as Kayla cried in his arms that, up until now, she really hadn't. She'd held it together better than him after they had reunited in the wine cellar and at the hospital after Bo's shooting. And the riot act he'd expected her to read him over the phone after he'd been shot hadn't happened at all.
Once he returned to Salem, seeing Kayla back at work and into her old routine, he'd been happy to go back into his and bask in the back-to-basics of it all. His wife was home, and she seemed happy to be there, but now Steve knew without a doubt she had some unattended-to baggage that still needed to be unpacked.