Chapter 19

17 Years Later

The student nurse known as Kayla Kiriakis descended the steps of the hospital to get into the small car which she called her own. It was not many students in her year who would be able to own a car - at the tender age of just shy of eighteen, the little 500 was her's alone, given as a gift to keep her safe when she had begun work at the hospital.

There was no denying it at all, that it was handy and convenient, making commuting easy in a way it could not be for her peers.

That day the sun beamed down on her as she drove home, her shift had not been stressful, and the promise of family time awaited her.

Therefore, she had a smile on her face as she pulled up to the villa where she grew up.

She picked up her bag, got out of and locked her car, before going in the direction of the gardens.

She a feeling that was where her family would be.

On arriving round the back of the house, she saw she was right. It was Sunday afternoon and everyone had gathered for tea pool side.

"Hello young miss, we did not know if you were going to get back in time for afternoon tea," said Henrietta.

She had just come out of the villa with a jug of lemonade in hand.

"Hi Henrietta, luckily the shift ended in good time. Do you want me to take that over?"

Over the years, she had risen from maid to housekeeper. Despite the fact Caroline had insisted at the time she did not need staff, Henrietta had fallen into the role of nanny over the years and was close with the Kiriakis children.

"Oh could you love?" she might be staff but to Kayla she was an auntie she was fond of, and entitled to be treated as nothing less than family. She had also always been a great friend to Caroline.

But at that moment she had to see that the dinner was being attended too.

"Do you mind?"

"Not at all."

Kayla took the lemonade from her and walked over to greet her family.

"Hello all."

"Kay," Kimmie beamed as she saw her. Kim was with their parents and all three of their brothers. She could not count Roman and Bo as such without Justin. DNA mattered little to her. They had all grown up together. As far as she was concerned they were all five siblings together.

"Hey!"

It did not take long for a welcome home chorus to go around the table.

Before she sat down Kayla kissed Victor and Caroline in turn, setting the lemonade down on the table just before she took her chair.

"How was your shift, my darling?" asked Caroline with great interest.

It was the tone which she always asked about her children's jobs in. if Kayla was honest, she had always found it a shame that her mother had never worked. She was sure that was why she took such as interest in their careers because she had not had a chance too.

As far as she could remember, she had always seen her mother as a restless soul. She wondered if it had always been that way for her.

"Not too bad mama," Kayla grinned. She was glad to be back home as her training could be hard and intense. She was not going to argue over that though as she wanted to be the best nurse she could be.

Still it had been one of the easier days that day.

"I'm glad Kayla," said Victor. "All the same you look as if you are ready to eat something," he said to the women he loved as a daughter, signalling to the food on the table. She was sat on the side of the table with Roman and Kimberly.

"Famished might be the word," Kayla admitted as she took a bit of bread from the middle of the table. At least that would do for starters.

She caught the eye of her eldest brother and he gave her a smile.

"Well, now that we are all here," said Caroline as she spoke of the matriarch of the family. "What is everyone's plans for the week ahead?" She said as if she did not know.

"There is nothing special going on this week is there?" asked Justin to which he saw Kayla screw up her nose. It was a small reaction but it was there. She had not wanted to give it to him.

"I am not going to take the bait," Kayla declared.

There was a small round of laughter that went around the table. Her birthday was a big one and it had been a talking point over the last few weeks. They were going to have a party like they had not seen since Kimberly had come of age.

At the time, even Kim had admitted that Victor had done her proud. It was not every day that their step-father cut the mustard with Kim but that day he had. But it was a precious rare day Kim would say anything of the sort out loud.

Little did Kayla know her birthday held more significant for some round the table than others. Roman cleared his throat.

"Of course you are not," said Caroline with a grin.

"I do not know if this is going to have any affect at this point but please nothing too fancy," said Kayla. She was not one for parties and balls. She knew Victor enjoyed them but they were not her thing at all. If she had her own way she was sure she would not have such a big affair as Kim had had. But she knew she would not get her way.

"My darling girl, I am going to give you the party you deserve," said Victor and Kayla knew what that meant and there was no point arguing. Her eyes met Bo's and his eyes made it clear he thought the same - give it up. They knew what Victor was like.

Roman, on the other hand, felt an annoyance that one more Victor was riding rough shod over one of their life events. Again. This was Kayla's birthday which they were talking about but then he breathed a bit easier for he knew life was not always going to be this way. In fact, if he had his way it would change sooner rather than later.

He had had a plan for a long time now and he was ready to put it into action.

Roman lowered his voice as he turned to Kim.

"Can I talk to you later tonight?"

"You can talk to me now," said Kimberly with a grin and the usual twinkle in her eye.

It was only when she saw the look on her brothers face that she knew that would not happen.

"I'll come to your room tonight," she said. Her brother nodded in gratitude.

After afternoon tea, Kim could only feel her curiosity grow.

Roman's idea had been to have this conversation at night when no one even knew they were having it. But his sister could not wait that long, such as was her curiosity. And in the end, as long as the door was shut, what did it matter?

If Kayla had always seen their mother as a restless soul, then so it was with Kim and Roman.

"So what is it I can do for you big brother?" Kim questioned and Roman grimaced. It may be more the other way around.

"Well – I want you to know for a long time I thought this was a conversation we should have with Kayla, but with her birthday coming up, I thought it may be just as well that we can talk about it on our own first," he begun. She nodded in understanding.

"Ok…" while he did not think he loved his sisters any differently, he had always felt a little closer to Kimberly than he had done to Kayla. He knew it was both an age thing and because for all the fact Kayla at times tried to remember, due to the fact she had been so small when they had left, she could not hope to have the memories in common which her elder siblings shared.

As for his younger brother, he did love Bo and he thought they all knew it. But ever since the day he had been born, there was a gap between them and he knew it was – deep down – because of the fact they had different fathers. Or if it was not about that, it was because of the way he had felt Bo's father had taken them from him own.

If any of them had not got over America, it was Roman.

"What is it? It sounds serious."

"It is," Roman admitted as he shut the door and then headed to the back of his wardrobe. It was there he pulled out a box. In that box proved to be letters and notes - and a very old address book.

"These belong to mama," he admitted shame faced. He had taken on a day when he had been particularly angry with the world. He had no idea if she knew he had them. He thought she most likely did. She had been bound to miss them.

But if that was the case, she had not once asked him.

Kim looked as if she was nothing less than thunder struck by all of this, as she leafed through the papers and checked the dates on them. My word, was the only thought in her mind… then it begun to race ahead. Not only by the fact her brother had stolen all of this from their mother, but the implications and ramifications. Surely he would only show her all of this with so much hope in his eyes if….

"But – but this – this could lead as back to America," she said as her voice got smaller and smaller. "And Pop." For years when they had been young, they had dreamt of the day they were going to be able to go home. The older they got, the less they had spoken about it and the more she had begun to think she was the only one who still wanted to go as Roman had got more and more emotionally closed off.

Now she saw it was for that very reason – he wanted to go back more than he could say.

Roman felt the silence go on – he had to end it. But this needed prefacing… "I need you not to hate me for what I say next."

"Oh Roman, I could never hate you."

He wondered if that were true. "I have had all this for a few years now."

Her eyes brows knitted together. "Then why only now…"

"When I first found it, I was desperate to go home and to act on it as soon as I could - but then I knew if I did that, then I was going to have to go without you both."

They had been under the age when they could have flown out the country on their own and he had not wanted to go back without them.

And he had not been willing to blow their chance.

He thought he knew what his father was going to expect of him and that was for him to wait and to take care of his kids sisters. So that was what he had done.

He was going to make him proud…

"So, the reason you are telling me now is because Kayla can come with is." Kimberly nodded. She did not think that made her hate her big brother. In fact, she admired his patience. She did not know if she would have had it herself.

But he had done the right thing for the right reason, of that she was sure.

"The only thing it means is that if Kay does not want to come, we have been waiting around for nothing, " he said with a sigh and the thought that might be the case had been in his head for a while now. Roman hated to think they had wasted any time. He felt as if so much had been robbed of them as it was.

Whereas he and Kim were always still wary of Victor, he had never got the sense that his youngest sister was. He knew when they had come over Victor had had big dreams for a family of his own with his mother but after they had had Bo the two of them had not conceived again or if they had he had not heard of it.

So, in effect, Kayla was their little girl.

And as she had no memory of Shawn, she had not been loyal or stoic to him as the other two had been. She had been only too happy to be victor's daughter he had felt. It was tidy and simple and uncomplicated for her when she had been young.

Yet as she had grown that had not remained the case.

Kimberly knew it was something which troubled Kayla. She did not say it much these days but when she had been young she had once asked Kimberly and her mother if her real father was going to mind the fact she was friends with Victor. At the time, her mother had taken the lead and said that her father was not going to be upset at whatever she did, as long as she was happy.

Kimberly, the elder she got, felt as if that was a lovely fiction for her mother, but did not go very far towards the truth. Her father would no doubt would mind very, very much.

She did not think her sister had ever called him 'dad' but…

But what she had to consider right then was not what her mother had said but what her brother had said.

"You know I think even if it turns out she does not want to come with us, then we did the right thing in waiting for her." She had as much right to have a chance to go home as they did, she thought to herself as Roman took her hand. He could not say how relieved he was that was her reaction.

"So, you want to back with me?" he asked with a soft smile.

"The fact of it is brother, I do not remember a lot about the day we left – but I remember one thing – I never wanted to leave in that first place," as she got to the end of that sentence her voice failed her.

She knew she had been young they had left but she did not think there had been a day in America where she had felt the same kind of on edge which she had felt for a long time in Greece. She felt as if she had always just been waiting for this moment – to be told she could go home. As she looked through the addresses, it occurred to her not one of them was actually their old address, but enough of them said Salem, Illinois to make that the place to start. Yes, Salem sounded right to her, it felt right. And maybe it would be home once more.

"At long last, we are going to go home aren't we?" Kimberly asked with a smile. He nodded as he knelt at her side. He was ready to hold her as the tears begun to fall.

X x x

"Tea was nice this afternoon," said Victor as he and Caroline got ready for bed. He would cheerfully admit it to anyone who asked that it was one of his favourite times of the week. It was the time he felt most life a father.

Father of the whole family.

"It was," Caroline concurred. "It always is." She believed that.

"I do hope Kayla enjoys her party."

They had planned it all together and it would be big. Locals, old school friends, people who Kayla worked with at the hospital and business friends of Victor would all come.

"I'm sure she will," Caroline said with a smile.

Victor felt she would to but he knew after tea that there was a member of the family who did not think she would. And that was Roman. It almost annoyed Victor that he sometimes looked at the young man for approval, not that he was ever going to admit that outloud. He had not ever had it – not really…

Victor sighed for he could not deny there were times when he longed for the early days with Roman. For the first six months of their life here in Greece, he was sure the two of them had had quite the easy relationship – he was sure the two of them had been on course to becoming the father and son he had wanted them to be. It was only when Bo had come into the picture that it had changed and he was sure it was because of the way it had happened.

He could curse himself for the way he had thrown the lads trust away so easily. If he had been thinking more just after Caroline had given birth, then maybe this would never have happened.

But it had and after, nothing between him and Roman had been the same. And it was quite clear Roman did not want them to be the same either.

If Victor could not get his trust back when he had been a young lad, he sure as hell was not going to get it now he was a man grown.

He had lost him a long time ago.

The idea he suspected Kayla would not enjoy her party rankled because when it came down to it, he knew he was right.

Please review!

S: thanks so much for your review. Thinking about it, I totally agree and wish I had put more research/thought into it, to make Bo's name work better/flow easier into the story.