Chapter 20

In spite of the thought of the ordeal ahead of her, Kayla woke up feeling excited on her eighteenth birthday. This was it - she was an adult but still as she had done so as a child, she looked forward to her birthday morning the most. So after a shower she made her way down to the breakfast room. There were banners, balloons and her whole family there to greet her. So here she was before them. Adult Kayla Brady.

"Oh happy birthday my darling!" Caroline had said as she had rushed to Kayla when she had come into the room. She soon had her arms about her.

"Thank you mama," Kayla had said as she gave her a kiss.

"My big adult daughter."

Kayla grinned. For in spite of her being an adult, she still found excitement in her birthday. Everyone enjoyed feeling special once in a while did they not? After their mother had greeted Kayla, Victor did and Bo gave her a light hug which she returned.

"Happy birthday." He said with a grin.

From where he stood, Roman could see a big smile spread on Kayla's face. If Roman was honest Bo was the one he was most worried about when it came to getting Kayla to leave Greece. He would be the tie that bound her the most he knew. If he was closest with Kimberly, then it was for sure Kayla was to Bo. And it was going to be hard on him if Kayla did leave Greece. Even if it was cruel to Bo, he so hoped she did. Roman didn't want his younger brother hurt – but he did want his father's heart healed.

At last he himself got to greet the birthday girl. "Kim said to go up to her room later so the two of you could give me a present." She said to him quizzically as they embraced. Kim had caught her before she had so much as got downstairs.

Roman let a small smile play on his lips. Trust Kim. He had worried it would be tough on the morning of Kayla's birthday to get her to themselves. Kim would not let that stop her. She was not going to let anything derail this.

"That's right," he nodded.

"Oh well I will look forward to that," Roman gave her a wink. She was sure they would surprise her.

With that she went off to talk to Justin.

Roman had hope now. Real hope that they were at the start. He just hoped it was all going to come to fruition.

X x x

"So come on then. You have dragged me away from the rest of the world, can I have my surprise now?" said Kayla with a big smile on her face as she sat on Roman's bed.

Kim took a big breathe in. So this was it. This was how Roman had felt when he had told her. And this was when they found out if she wanted to come home with them. Or at least they begun to find out…

"You can," said Kim. Her eyes met Roman's and he gave a nod. "It is just a little something from your big brother and sister," she passed her a card and then all she could do was hope for the best.

Roman admitted to himself he felt as nervous as Kim looked.

"The two of you have already given me a card," Kay grinned. In fact the two of them had given her one each.

Kim sighed nervously. "Well, here is another."

"And it is from both of us," said Roman. They wanted to have it early in her birthday celebration so she had a bit of time to gather her thoughts on it all. She was a woman now and she had a right to pick her own path.

She opened the envelope and then in turn the card. There was a note to wish her only the happiest eighteenth birthday. But in the card was a piece of paper designed in the manner of an airline ticket. It read one way to the states.

"I do not understand," she admitted.

"No, I did not think you would," Roman said with a sigh. The plane ticket had been Kim's idea. But now they were going to have to explain it. When he had gone through it all with Kimberly, he had been surprised how tired it had left him. But to get both of his sister's on the plane with him he had to do it again. And he would do so time and time again until they were on plane all together.

By the time he had got to the end of his story, Kayla was as still as a statue but she clutched the card in her hands. Well, she did not think that she was ever going to be able to forget what she had been given for her birthday.

This was… unexpected to say the least.

"I think the three of us have been over here in Greece for long enough," Roman finished, "it is time we go home." That was his belief. "And for your birthday that is what I am going to give you, Kimberly and I. A chance to go home."

Kayla knew of her big brother desire to go home - she always had done.

Home. To Kayla that felt as if it was an alien concept to describe a place. A place anywhere but Greece that was.

This was where she had all her memories and where her and her siblings had been brought up and – and this was home to her. Only, in another life, all this would have been so very different.

The ticket in her hand would take her – them – back to where they had been born and where their father lived.

Another type of home.

"I am going to go and find Pop now we are old enough," Roman sighed. "Kim is going to as well, I think," he said and she gave a nod. If he had any doubt in that fact then all she could say was he had not been listening. "We want you to come too."

Kayla nodded that she could hear him. Yet before he could go on, she felt as if she was being torn in two. America and her father felt as if they should have her loyalty for they were her's Kayla understood that and they were where she was from. The only thing was they did not feel as if they were very real to her. But Victor and Greece were as real as could be. And they had been for a long time. She had got this far without her Pop.

Did she need him now?
Victor was always there for her and he was all the dad she had ever needed, she was sure.

But then there were other considerations. One of them was the fact Roman and Kim had always been suspicious of the way they had left America and their father.

As if they believed it was against his will or something.

And… and she sighed -more than anything actually, she knew Kimberly and Roman were not sure if their father had had any say in what had gone on. Maybe she owed it to all of them to help find out the truth.

She sighed for it was her natural instinct to give anyone and everyone at least one chance. If it was true their biological father had never wanted them to go, then he had been forced into the most terrible situation – and as his daughter she would want justice at him.

Then… then the last thing she wanted to do was to think or say anything that was going the parents who had raised her, yet it was hard to deny there was a small voice in the back of her head which just kept asking her one question – what if they were right? What if there was a man out there who had been without his children for his entire life?

How cruel was that. Unspeakably so she thought.

But then she did not think her mother was an unspeakably cruel woman. Would Caroline do that to anyone? She just couldn't imagine her doing that to anyone. Least of all a man she was meant to love.

"What say you Kayla?"

"I think I need a bit of time to get used to the idea – but I think your right. Maybe…" Maybe we should. But then maybe they should not. She didn't know. But she was not ruling anything out. That she was sure was going to be the only mistake.

Roman felt nothing less than vindicated and the look which he gave Kimberly said that to her.

He had done the right thing holding out to give Kayla the chance to come. The time had not been wasted at all.

"If I have ruined your birthday, I did not mean too," he said to her and she shook her head. No that was not what they had done.

"You have given me a choice," she said plainly. And that was never a bad thing.

In fact that was everything. The two of them embraced and then with a nod at her sister, she left the room.

For a moment, neither Kim nor Roman breathed.

Then they did.

"Well, I think we have given her something to think about," said Kim. She could not put it into words how much she felt for her sister right then. She had been where she was recently and it was not easy. But somehow Kimberly thought her loyalty to home had made it easier for her.

"I'll say," said Roman watching where his sister had been not so long before. "I want her to come home with us." He did not want to leave her here without him. Kim had always known that but it was the first time that Roman had let him say the words out loud that day. So plainly anyways.

If they got back without her then their father was going to want to know where she was for one. And he did not want to leave her with Victor for another.

He would never hurt her – but he had done enough over the years as far as Roman was concerned.

"I think she will," Kim said optimistically. At the end of the day, you could count on Kayla to do the right thing. And she was sure that was what their sister was going to do.

Please review!

In the next chapter, Kayla's birthday continues. I just wanted to add a note say sorry about this chapter really! There is something so clunky about it that I just can't get ride of, but at the same time it feels as integral to the plot, so I have decided just to get it out there so we can move onwards…