Chapter 4
The voice was calling him again. It was closer this time, her blonde hair now in sight. He tried to see her face. He just wanted to see her face. He looked harder then he�d ever looked before and he saw a face. He knew instantly it wasn�t her face, it was the face of the man. The man he�d ran from.
"Not Kayla," Phen woke with a start and shot up in his bed. It took him a moment to remember where he was. In a hospital. He didn�t want to go to the hospital, it was too public. The man could find him there. He started to get up when the dream he�d just had came back to him. The man was getting closer; he was going to find Phen. A sense of dread fell over him. He was not scared to die, he�d lived a horrible enough life, but he was scared of what the man would do to him if he found him. He had to get out of this hospital.
*
Adrienne sat nervously at the phone in the lobby of the hotel. She never knew if her phone was tapped, so she�d written the number of this public phone down, just in case. She tried not to stand out too much. She�d already checked out of her room, her bags were lying at her feet. She had just enough time to talk to Victor, get a bite to eat and then get to the air port. She hoped he decoded her message, she couldn�t wait much longer.
Adrienne jumped when the phone rang. She hurriedly picked it up. "Victor?" She asked.
"Yeah, it�s me," he said on the other line.
Adrienne breathed a sigh of relief. "You figured out the message?"
Victor sounded amused, "Yeah. I thought you were sending me a virus at first."
Adrienne smiled. "You�re at a pay phone?"
"Yes, and I didn�t use the credit card. I got a pre-paid card so they can�t trace me."
He was a Kiriakis, Adrienne thought. "Good. Listen, I�m going to Salem tonight. I don�t want you to worry; I�ll be fine. But I don�t know when I�ll be able to get home."
Victor had concern in his voice. "What�s in Salem?"
Adrienne considered not telling him, but she knew he�d press until he found out, or worse, come to Salem and find out for himself. "My niece," she replied after a minute.
Victor thought a minute. "Abby?" He asked.
Adrienne smiled, "Yes, she�s there too."
The light tone in Victor�s voice was gone. He was deadly serious now, "You mean Stephanie?"
Adrienne answered in the affirmative, noting the tone in his voice. "What�s wrong?"
Victor didn�t respond right away. "Keep a close eye on her, Mom. I think she�s involved in this."
"Why do you think that?"
"Well, we don�t see Stephanie very much. Joe hardly ever talks about her. He brought her up yesterday, out of the blue. It was strange, but I didn�t think anything about it until just now."
Adrienne tensed up. "What did he say?"
"He just said he wondered how she was doing. Thought it may be nice to go to LA and see her." Victor paused and then said; "He asked me if you�d talked to them recently."
Adrienne�s bottom lip quivered. "Victor, don�t tell them she�s in Salem. I�ll buy her some time."
"What do they want with Stephanie?"
"I don�t know, son," Adrienne replied honestly.
"Mom," Victor said, then stopped again.
"What is it?" Adrienne pressed.
He wasn�t sure he wanted to bring this up. Every time this name was mentioned his mother got a strange look on her face and changed the subject. "They said something about Uncle Steve."
Adrienne breathed heavily into the phone. "What did they say?"
Victor looked around, making sure he was alone at the phone. "They didn�t know I was listening. You know Dad put bugs all over the house, I don�t think he remembered where he put them all. I don�t think he thought there was one in the upstairs library. He was on the phone with someone. I was only listening to the bug because I was worried about you."
Adrienne pushed him, "Victor, tell me what you heard."
"Dad said something about something getting away. They lost something. He said Steve was always able to hide and they didn�t put it past him in death that he would hide too. I don�t know what that means."
Adrienne thought hard. "I don�t know either," she replied. She looked at the clock on the wall. "Victor, I have to go, my flight leaves soon. I don�t want you to worry about me. I�ll keep in touch."
Victor didn�t want to hang up the phone. He had a terrible fear this would be the last time he spoke to his mother. But the other line went dead. She�d hung up.
*
Dr. Lexi Carver was looking over her patient files when Roman came into her office in a rush.
"Lexi, I just remembered something. I can�t believe I didn�t think of it before."
Lexi looked up from her files confused. "What?"
"The man from the pier. Can I see him?" Roman put his hands on Lexi�s desk.
Lexi sighed, "No, Roman, you can�t."
"Come on, Lexi. I know how to tell who he is, or who he isn�t."
Lexi looked more confused. "What are you talking about."
Roman closed his eyes and tried to gain composure. "Steve Johnson, he had a tattoo. I can�t believe I didn�t think about it before."
Now the confusion in Lexi�s face turned to amazement. "A tattoo?"
Roman nodded, "Yes. Did the man from the pier have a tattoo?"
Lexi rubbed her forehead. "I don�t know, Roman. I wasn�t there when he was admitted and I didn�t get to check him over before he left."
Roman continued, "Well, we have to�wait," he stopped. "He left? When?"
"He just left this morning. He didn�t tell anyone. I guess he snuck out." Lexi sounded more concerned.
Roman was just angry. "Dammit. They just let him go?"
"There�s not anything we can do about it, Roman. We can�t hold a patient if he doesn�t want to be here. And like I said, he snuck out."
Roman put his face in his hands and turned to leave.
*
Kayla tapped the table nervously. She had to find the man from the docks. She had to find out who he was. She�d searched the hospital for him but he was no longer there. And she wasn�t being discharged until the next day. Marlena was still worried about her. Everyone was making too big a fuss over this. Kayla knew that the only way she could figure out who this mystery man is was to search for him herself.
She racked her brain all day, trying to recall if there was anyway Steve hadn�t died in the hospital all those years ago. She kept seeing it, him crying telling her he had to leave her. And the lines on the monitors going straight. Marcus standing over him, yelling at Steve not to leave them. And he did. Steve died. So who was that man from the pier?
*
Adrienne was walking on the docks. Salem had changed a lot since she left. The riverfront had become tamer, not much, but still tamer then it was. She hadn�t been back to Salem since she left. She really had no reason to, Steve was dead, her mother moved to Texas to be with her and Jack visited her enough. The Kiriakis side of the family came to Texas as well, or they all met up in Greece, there was never a reason to return to Salem. And the demons were biting at her again.
A lot happened to her in Salem. She found Steve, met Justin, made friends and reunited her family. And yet she didn�t have fond feelings toward the place. It made her jumpy and uncomfortable. It made her remember things she didn�t want to remember. The girl she used to be. She didn�t recognize that girl anymore and that girl would have hated the woman she�d become.
She pushed those thoughts aside. She�d become an expert at pushing feelings away. She had to figure out how to help Stephanie and then return home. Victor needed her. She came up with a few ideas, each one as improbable as the last. She�d even considered telling Stephanie everything and convincing her to move to Texas with her. But that would be a foolish thing, it would make Stephanie more involved then she already was, and that would put her in more danger. And for the life of Adrienne, she couldn�t figure out how Stephanie was involved in this at all.
Adrienne had walked what felt like miles before she stopped on a pier. She looked around. This was a familiar pier; she used to walk here when she was younger. She could see the lighthouse in the distance, she could hear the boat horns. How had her life become so complex and out of control? She sat on a bench and held her head in her hands.
*
Phen hated it when people sat on the pier. It made him nervous. Since he�d left the hospital he just tried to stay out of sight from everyone. He moved around so even Jeannie couldn�t find him. He thought he could trust Jeannie, but it was because of her he wound up in the hospital, and in more danger. The man could know where he was now. If not for this overpowering urge to stay in Salem, he�d have left already. He moved slowly toward the back of the dock, hidden in the darkness and under the stairs.
"Is someone there?" A voice called out. Phen stopped moving. He stopped breathing.
"Hello?" The voice, a female, turned to look in his direction. And that�s when Phen saw her face.
She was the woman from the picture. The woman the man wanted. What was she doing in Salem? Again his instinct to protect the woman flooded him. He didn�t know why. He should be frightened of her, this could mean the man was in Salem. But he wasn�t frightened of her. He wanted to come out of the shadows and talk to her, to warn her about the man. He began to move forward when he heard footsteps on the stairs. The woman ran off.
*
Phen had to remember whom the woman in the picture was. The more he tried to remember her the more severe his headache became. He remembered the doctor telling him about a chip that was put in his brain. It seemed unbelievable. But now it was starting to make sense. He knew that woman. He knew her well. But he couldn�t remember her, and he had to in order to save her life. There was only one thing he could do, he had to go back to the hospital and get the chip removed. Maybe, if he were lucky, the surgery would kill him.
He walked to the hospital, looking over his shoulder the entire time. The last time he was there they�d placed a large gauze pad over his left eye. The eye that wasn�t there anymore. He felt it looked better then the old ugly scar and the hole that used to be there. He didn�t remember how he�d lost his eye. He�d only seen himself a few times in the past years he could remember. Maybe the man figured if he saw his reflection he�d remember too much. But he couldn�t remember anything. "Dammit," he said to himself.
The hospital doors opened and he walked in, pulling the cloak over his face. Even with the bandage over his eye he still felt he looked frightening. He walked to the reception desk.
"I need Dr. Carver," he said.
The lady behind the desk looked at him fearfully. He wondered if this was a good idea. Maybe there was some way he could remember without the surgery. But he�d tried. He tried to tolerate the pain and he couldn�t think through it. He even passed out from the pain a few times. There was nothing else he could think to do.
The receptionist got on the phone and paged Dr. Carver. Then told Phen to sit and wait. Her eyes still held fear and she never took her gaze away from him.
It made Phen uneasy. He knew it was silly to be paranoid, but he couldn�t help but wonder if the receptionist worked for the man. If she would tell him he was there. He got up to leave; he couldn�t be in the hospital. He would figure out another way to remember the woman from the picture.
"Phen?" Dr. Carver had come from behind him and startled him. "I�m glad you decided to come back. I was worried about you."
Phen turned and looked at the doctor. She had genuine concern on her face. He felt he could trust her and he hoped she could help him. "I want to have surgery," he said.
Lexi smiled. "I think that�s a great idea," she said. She put her hand on his shoulder and led him down the hallway toward a room. "I�ll put you in a private room and have you admitted. I�ll schedule the surgery for as soon as I can."
Phen nodded. "I want to keep this as private as possible. Don�t involve anyone who doesn�t need to be involved. Please."
Lexi�s expression held understanding. "It�ll just be me and two other doctors. I�ll admit you as John Doe as well. I want to help you, Phen."
Phen nodded once again. "Thank you," he said.
Lexi smiled. "I�ll get to work on your admission and see when I can schedule surgery." Lexi was anxious to see if Phen did in fact have a tattoo.
*
Kayla was more then ready to leave the hospital. She was going stir crazy. She looked up at the clock, only one hour until it was time for her to be discharged. Marlena wanted to see her once more before she left. She hated the fuss. Kayla could handle herself and hated that everyone was keeping such a close watch on her. She had to leave, she had to find the man from the pier and find out who he is.
The door to her room opened and Marlena walked in, confidently. "You ready to go?" She asked.
Kayla smiled, "I�ve been ready. I can�t take care of Stephanie if I�m in a hospital bed."
"Okay," Marlena sat in a chair next to Kayla�s bed. "You feel like you�re up to it?"
Kayla sighed. "I�m fine, okay. I just needed some rest. I�ve had rest, now I want to get back to my life."
Marlena nodded. "Are you going to go back to LA?"
"No, I think I�m going to stay in Salem for a while. I�ll call the hospital in LA and tell them I�m taking some leave. They�ll understand. They keep telling me I need a vacation." Kayla replied.
"I think a vacation would do you some good." Marlena said. She looked at the file she had in her hand. "You�ll be with your Mom and Pop then?"
Kayla nodded.
"Okay, I�ll get the discharge papers ready. Listen, Kayla, I want you to tell me if you need anything. If you need anyone to talk to, I�m here. Not as your doctor, as your friend."
Kayla smiled, "Thank you."
*
The pool house wasn�t that big, but it was big enough that Victor and Joe didn�t get into each others way. There were two bedrooms close together and one bathroom, so it was easy to know when someone was leaving. And that�s what was going on today. Victor had just come into the pool house. He�d been sleeping in the main house since their mother left, just to keep it up. His dad was rarely home, but that wasn�t anything new. The maid was running out of things to do with nobody in the house, so Victor told her to take a vacation and moved into his old bedroom on the third floor.
He had a few things he needed to get from the pool house, however. When he walked in he noticed a suitcase by the door. "Joe?" He called out.
His twin brother answered from the back, "Hey Vic." Then Joe appeared a moment later, zipping up the case he held his laptop computer in.
"Going somewhere?" Victor asked, looking at the bags.
"Yeah," Joe replied. He appeared to be in a hurry.
"Where ya going?" Victor noticed Joe seemed to be dodging the questions.
"Just on a small trip." Joe looked at Victor and saw the questioning look in his eye. "Thought I�d go see the beach."
"Ah, okay. Going to San Antonio?" Victor pressed.
"Nah, been there enough. It�s getting old. Thought I�d take a nice trip to California. Been too long since I've seen the beach there. Get on my surfing gear." Joe smiled and hurriedly picked up his suitcase. "Limo�s waiting. I gotta go."
Victor watched him leave. He didn�t buy any of that story about the beach. Something was going on and Victor had a bad feeling that his mom�s family was involved. He had to tell his mom that Joe was going to California. He couldn�t imagine how he would tell her though. He went to his computer and looked up flights to Salem. He had to tell her, and he would do it in person.
Chapter 5
"
Thank you for calling the Holiday Inn Salem. How can I help you," the friendly voice on the other end of the phone asked."I�m looking for a guest. Laverne Bellamy," Victor said. He nervously tapped his pen on the desk of his own hotel room at the Days Inn (pun intended), just outside of Salem. This was the fifth hotel in Salem he�d called. He couldn�t call her on her cell phone and tell her he was in Salem in case her phone was bugged, and he didn�t feel safe using his either. Whether intended or not, his father had instilled the idea that someone was always watching them.
"I�m sorry, we don�t have a guest registered with that name." The clerk said.
Victor voiced his apologies and hung up. He hadn�t expected to find her that easily, but he�d hoped he wouldn�t have to call all 20 something hotels in the phone book. He would though; he would call every one until he found her.
By his thirteenth call he was becoming exhausted with the search. He wondered if she was under a different name. He dialed another number, his head now resting on his arm. His mind was on autopilot.
"Salem Inn," the clerk said.
"Laverne Bellamy," Victor said tiredness evident in his voice.
"One moment please," the clerk said. There was a click on the line and some elevator music played.
Victor sat upright. He wondered if he�d coincidentally found another Laverne Bellamy. How would he explain that to the person? He almost hung up when the music stopped and there was a voice on the other end.
"Hello?" The familiar voice asked.
Victor sighed with relief. "Mom."
*
Lexi was a doctor, she knew it would be easy to just go in and ask him if he had any tattoos or markings, but she didn�t feel right about it. He was so nervous and worried about his privacy. She sucked on the end of her pen.
"We�re ready for you, Dr. Carver," the young resident said. He�d be helping her in the surgery, a delicate brain operation that Lexi wasn�t sure she could handle; she wasn�t a brain surgeon. She told Phen that. She told him she could bring in a specialist, but he didn�t want one. The fewer people involved the better. As it was the resident and the assisting doctor weren�t to know anything about him.
Lexi went into the operating room and looked at the table where Phen was laying, under anesthetic. She looked at him carefully, noting how peaceful he looked lying there. "We have everything set up on his vitals?" She asked. The resident nodded. She looked at her assisting doctor, a young woman who stood waiting for Lexi�s instruction.
Lexi called out for the operating tools she�d need and was able to cut through the skull without much trouble. Someone had done this same thing to Phen before to get the chip in his brain, Lexi just followed the same scars that already marked her path.
The monitor beeped in an erratic fashion, then returned to normal. Lexi nervously looked at it, but returned to her surgery. She�d just pulled the bone apart and was now looking at the monitor that held the live x-ray of Phen�s brain. She saw what she was looking for just behind the hypothalamus. The machine beeped again.
"Doctor," the resident said.
Lexi was so immersed in her work she�d forgotten she wasn�t alone. Not taking her eyes off the live x-ray she said, "yes?"
"His heart rate is slowing."
Still looking at the x-ray and moving the scalpel in her hand to just the spot where the chip was she replied, "BP."
"90/45," the resident replied.
"Okay, I�m close. Not too much longer." Lexi could now see the chip and was delicately pulling the brain tissue apart to get to it when the monitor beeped again.
"We�re losing him Dr. Carver," the assisting doctor said.
"Not yet," Lexi said, she was so close to removing the chip. She couldn�t stop now.
"BP still dropping," the resident said, concern in his voice.
Lexi ignored him. The assisting doctor handed her a pair if tweezers and Lexi reached in and grabbed the chip. She had it. She was slowly pulling it out when the monitor alarm went off.
"We�ve got to close him up," the assisting doctor said. "He�s dying, Dr. Carver."
Lexi was amazed at how steady her hand was moving. She was almost done. Almost had the chip out.
"Doctor, we�ve lost his heartbeat."
Lexi pulled the chip out from the skull and placed it on a table next to her. "Okay," she said, looking at the assisting doctor. It was her cue that they could try and revive him.
The assisting doctor and the resident frantically reached for the paddles on the heart defibrillator as Lexi began closing up Phen�s brain.
The resident reached down and pulled open Phen�s hospital robe. And that was when Lexi�s eyes left what she was doing. She saw it. A dagger on his chest, just over his heart.
"Victor? How did you find me?" Adrienne breathed panic into the phone.
"I know your alias," he replied. "Mom, something happened, and you need to know."
Adrienne almost yelled at her son, "You could have called me."
"I am worried. I can�t risk calling you and I can�t risk you being alone."
"You just put yourself and me in a lot of danger, Victor. If they see you in Salem they will know I�m here as well. Then they�ll know Stephanie is here."
"That�s what I wanted to tell you," Victor said, trying to distract his mind from being lectured by his mother. "Joe left for California yesterday."
The other line was silent a moment. "What?" Adrienne finally asked.
"He said he was going surfing on the beach in California."
"Is Justin with him?"
"I don�t know, Mom. I haven�t seen Dad since you left. I know he�s been around the house, but he�s really involved in something."
Adrienne licked her lips and said, "I hope Justin doesn�t have anything to do with this."
"Can I see you?" Victor asked.
Adrienne took another moment to answer. "I don�t know. I still need to find out what I�m going to do with Stephanie." She paused then said, "Where are you?"
"I�m at the Days Inn on Harbor Street. I�m in room 108."
Adrienne nodded. "Okay. I�m sort of at a dead end here, Victor. I need some ideas. I�ll come by and see you in a couple of hours."
"Okay," Victor replied. Just to see that his mother was all right was enough for now.
Kayla didn�t know how she was supposed to feel. How do you mentally prepare yourself for your dead husband to resurface after almost 20 years? What could she do?
She crept quietly into the room and saw him hooked up to all the machines. He�d only been out of surgery for half an hour, he was still unconscious.
When Lexi told her about the tattoo on his chest she felt her stomach sink. Sure she�d had her suspicions, but that was almost a confirmation. She looked at the man lying in the bed. His head was completely bandaged. They�d put a new bandage over his left eye too. It was Steve. He was lying there so peacefully, so innocently. And Kayla felt angry with him for it.
How could he have put her through what she�d been through when she thought he was dead? How could he have let her suffer for so long and leave her to raise their child alone? She remembered Lexi telling her about the chip in his brain. She remembered Lexi saying it�s possible he will wake up and not remember anything. It�s possible he had brain damage. It�s possible he won�t even wake up. And Kayla was so full of mixed emotions. Part of her didn�t want him to wake up. She wanted her life to return to normal. She wanted to go back to LA and pretend this never happened. But the other part of her, the part of her that told her Steve was always with her, wanted to hold him and crawl into that bed with him and sob into his chest. There were so many questions.
She slowly moved toward his bedside. She reached out to touch his face, but she couldn�t do it. She couldn�t get her hopes up. If he woke and didn�t know who she was, what would that do to her? Could she go back to LA knowing Steve was alive, but didn�t remember her? Could she really pretend this never happened.
She sank into the chair next to his bed and sobbed into her hands.
Victor watched the scenery of Salem go by as he took a cab. It was a nice place. He�d lived in Salem briefly when he was a baby. He was born in Salem. But he hadn�t been back since. It had a nice homey feel to it. He could see why his mom and dad liked it so much when they were there.
He tried to push the conversation he�d had with his mother aside. She was angry that he was in Salem, but there was some relief in her voice too. She was happy to see him. And she was scared. She didn�t tell him that, but he knew. He could tell. Whatever was going on had his mother frightened. And he had to protect her.
The cab stopped in front of a large mansion. Victor paid the driver and walked calmly to the door. The butler showed him into a large sitting room and a moment later Victor�s namesake, Victor Kiriakis senior, entered the room.
"Victor," Victor Kiriakis senior said, surprised. "What are you doing in Salem?"
Victor watched purposefully as he waited for his great uncle to close the door. "I need your help, Uncle Victor."
Victor Senior nodded. "Of course."
"My mother is in danger. She�s gotten too far involved with Dair and wants out, but he won�t let her out."
Victor Senior nodded. "I understand. Dair is a tricky man. But I�m afraid I can�t help you with that."
Victor looked at him astounded. "Why not?"
Victor senior walked to the table and poured himself some brandy. "I�ve been out of that business for far too long now. I don�t hold any authority anymore." He looked questionably at the young man in front of him. "That all got passed on to your father. Why haven�t you asked him about it?"
Victor breathed heavily. "I�m not sure Dad can help with this one."
There was genuine concern in Victor senior�s eyes. Victor knew his great uncle never really cared for his mother, but the fact that there was concern for her meant a lot to him. Victor turned to leave. "I�ve got to go. Please, Uncle Victor, don�t tell anyone you�ve seen me."
Victor senior nodded seriously. "I won�t. You have my word."
Back at his room at the Days Inn Victor picked the phone up again. And he was surprised when the person he was calling answered. He kept his tone light.
"Joe. How are the waves?" Victor asked.
Joe could see through the tone. "Fine. What�s wrong?" He asked.
Victor thought fast. He�d debated over and over how he should talk to Joe about this. His own brother surely wouldn�t want their mother hurt, and Victor knew that as sure as he knew anything. But Joe was impulsive and tended to get into things deeper then he should. Victor had to be honest with his twin. "Is Mom in danger?"
The question in Joe�s tone was gone now too. He knew this wasn�t a social call. "Why do you ask?"
"Don�t jerk me around, bro. Is Mom in danger?" Victor�s tone stiffened.
"She�s in Arizona at a spa. She�s fine." But Joe�s voice said otherwise. If Victor didn�t know his brother so well he wouldn�t have caught on.
"You tell me what is going on," Victor said through gritted teeth.
"I don�t know, Vic." Joe answered.
Victor lost his cool. "Dammit, Joe. This is our mother we�re talking about. Not somebody we don�t know. Not just some person. Our mother!"
"I�m not lying, Vic, I don�t know."
Victor sighed loudly and said, "Then what are you doing in California? I don�t buy the garbage about surfing."
"Are you on a secure line?" Joe asked.
Victor nodded and replied into the phone, "Yes. I�m on a hotel phone."
"Okay," Joe said, his tone heavy and deadly serious.
"I�m in California because something is going on and it involves mom�s family. I wasn�t lying when I said I don�t know what it is, but it has Dad scared. It�s something to do with he Uncle who died 10 years ago or something."
"I didn�t know mom had an uncle," Victor replied.
"Neither did I. I guess he was from her father�s side or something. But there are quite a few things about Mom we don�t know." Joe continued, "He wanted me to go see Stephanie Johnson."
"Why?" Victor asked.
"He wanted me to somehow persuade her to help us."
"How? Stephanie hasn�t seen us in years." Victor said.
"I know. I don�t know. Dad told me if I had to I should use force to get her back to Austin." Joe sounded hesitant about the last thing he�d said.
"You were going to kidnap our cousin?" Victor asked, disbelieving.
"Well, Dad wanted me to. I don�t think I would have though. Look, Vic, it doesn't matter anyway because nobody is at her house. I think they�re on vacation or something. They�ve been gone for days." Joe noticed Victor didn�t respond. "I wouldn�t have kidnapped her. And besides, it was to keep Mom safe, Vic. What was I supposed to do?"
"I don�t know," Victor said, sounding defeated. "So is Mom still in danger?"
Joe looked around and said, "Dad assures me she�s not. But I don�t understand what all this fuss is about if Mom�s not in danger. I wish I knew what was going on."
Victor laughed lightly, "Yeah me too." He sighed again and asked, "So how much longer are you going to be in California?"
Joe answered, "I don�t know. Either until Stephanie comes back or until Dad comes up with a better plan."
"Will you be able to answer your phone if I need you?" Victor asked.
"Yeah," Joe replied. "Do you have yours?"
Victor nodded and replied, "Yeah. Keep me informed, Okay. I�ll keep an eye on Mom."
Joe caught the last part of the statement, but didn�t reply to it. He said his good-byes and hung up.
Kayla was sleeping in the hard chair next to the bed. She hadn�t meant to fall asleep in the hospital. She�d promised her mother and Kimberly she�d go home that night and sleep in a bed.
Phen opened his eyes. His head ached, but he was used to that. He was in a hospital bed, he remembered that. He�d seen the woman on the pier and he had to remember who she was so he could help her. The only way to do that was for him to have the surgery. He tried to remember who she was, but his eyes grew heavy and he fell asleep.
The sun beat down in the room and woke Kayla up. She�d been asleep all night. She picked up her cell phone and checked the time. It was 8:30 AM. Her parents would be awake. She began to dial the number.
"Kayla."
Her name distracted her. She�d thought she�d imagined it as she had imagined her name said in that voice millions of times over the past 18 years.
"Kayla, Sweetness."
Kayla dropped her phone and it clanked to the floor. Her eyes focused on Phen. He was asleep, his chest rising and falling. "Steve," she said quietly.
Phen opened his eyes and looked at her. The room was light but not as bright as it could be, the blinds being drawn. "Kayla, I had the worst dream."
Chapter Six
"Are you sure Victor is in Salem?" Justin asked his Uncle Victor over the phone.
"I saw him yesterday." Victor answered.
Justin shook his head. "Any idea why he�s there?" Justin asked.
"He�s concerned about Adrienne." Victor paused and said, "Should he be?"
"Maybe. I don�t know why he�s in Salem though. Adrienne is at a spa in Arizona. I just talked to her yesterday." Well, technically Justin left her a message on her cell phone, but Victor didn�t need to know that.
"Well, I don�t know what�s going on." Victor said. Another pause and he asked, "Does this have something to do with the Cubans?"
Justin laughed lightly, "The Cubans and I have had a rivalry for 15 years, Uncle Vic, if they wanted to hurt me or Adrienne they�d have done it already. No, I�m not worried about the Cubans."
"The Cuban Mafia isn�t something that should be taken lightly, Justin," Victor said.
Justin smiled, "I can handle the Cuban�s."
Just outside the large Kiriakis Estate in Austin Joe pulled up in a limo. He kept rethinking what his brother had said to him yesterday. Their mother was in some sort of trouble and Joe had every intention of asking their dad what that trouble was. "Thanks, Monroe, I�ll walk the rest of the way," Joe said to the limo driver. The car stopped at the gate 100 yards from the front door.
Joe pushed the door open and looked up at the house. It seemed to be shaking, but maybe that was from his lack of sleep. The next second the entire house was in flames. Joe�s heart stopped. "Is anyone in there?" He asked Monroe with panic in his voice.
Monroe seemed just as worried, "I don�t know, Sir. The house was empty when I left to get you from the airport."
Joe ran from the car as Monroe shouted at him, "Be careful. I�ll call the police."
"No," Joe turned back and looked at Monroe. "We can�t get the police involved in this. Call the Fire Department on Turner Street and tell them to come to the Kiriakis Estate, but keep it under wraps. They�ll know what to do."
"Yes, sir," Monroe got on his phone.
Joe ran toward the flames. "Dad!" He yelled into the flames. "Please don�t be in there," he whispered to himself.
*
Kayla sat staring at the man in the bed in front of her. Her eyes filled with tears as she said, "Steve."
Steve was lying in the hospital bed with his eye only half opened. His head still hurt, but it was a different kind of hurt. He reached up and felt the bandage wrapped around it and suddenly remembered a time, years ago, when he had a similar bandage wrapped around his head. But then he had no recollection of how he�d gotten the bandage.
Kayla looked at him, tears streaming down her face, and said, "Steve?"
Steve looked at Kayla. She looked different, older, but just as beautiful as he remembered. He reached out to touch her face when the hospital rooms door opened.
"Mom, Dr. Carver said you�d be in here and�" Stephanie stood in the threshold of the door and stared. The man she�d seen on the pier was sitting up in bed. And he looked familiar to Stephanie. He looked like the pictures she�d seen of her father. Her father who died when she was a baby. Stephanie turned and ran out of the hospital.
*
"I�m sorry, Joe," the fire fighter said as Joe stared at the charred, lifeless body of his father.
"Is there anything left?" Joe asked, his body numb. He couldn�t feel anything.
"The entire house was lost. I�m so sorry. Is there someone we should call?" The fire fighter asked him.
Joe didn�t answer, just shook his head. He pulled out his cell phone, not knowing what else to do.
"Vic," he said, lifelessly into the phone.
Victor was on the other end of the phone; a chill had just run down his spine. He knew Joe was in trouble. "What happened?" He asked.
"Something terrible is going on. I don�t know what to do."
Victor felt his stomach drop to his feet. "What happened?" He asked again, this time with more force.
"Everything we have is gone, Vic. The house is gone." Joe stared at the house, half of it turned to rubble, the other half burned and black.
"What?" Victor asked.
"Do you know where Mom is?" Joe asked, his voice now cracking.
"What is going on, Joe. Tell me!" Victor shouted.
"Dad�s�" Joe closed his eyes and tears ran down his cheek. "Dad�s dead, Vic."
Victor felt all the blood rush out of his face. He almost dropped the phone. "Are you sure?"
Joe turned and looked at their father, now laying with a sheet over him. "Yes."
Victor�s first instinct was to go back to Austin, to be with Joe and help him sort this out. But then he remembered his mother. It appeared Joe did as well.
"Stay close to Mom, wait until I get there to tell her what happened and I�ll be in touch soon. I think you are right, I think Mom�s in danger."
The line went dead as both twins stood disbelieving what had just happened.
*
Steve stared at the door that Stephanie had just run from. Then he looked at Kayla. He lowered his hand and turned away from her.
"It�s okay," She said, softly in that tone she used to comfort him.
Steve shook his head. It wasn�t okay. Everything was wrong. "Was that�" he saw the girl in the doorway. She looked like Adrienne, the way he remembered Adrienne, only many years younger. "Was that Stephanie?"
Kayla sobbed lightly, "Yes."
Steve nodded his head, still refusing to look at her.
"Do you remember when Stephanie was born? You were so scared to be a father, but you were such a wonderful father?" She felt like she was grasping at anything. She wanted proof that this was Steve, and she wanted an explanation of how he could leave her.
"I�m not that person." He said, his tone becoming hard. The old familiar wall being put up.
Kayla pushed more, "Steve, do you remember all the good times we had?" Kayla�s voice pleaded for him to remember. "Remember the first time we made love on the roof? Remember our wedding, Steve? The first time we were together as man and wife? Please, Steve?" She looked at him as tears rolled down his cheek. "You do, don�t you. You remember."
Steve nodded. "I was a different person then, Kayla. I�ve done things�" he stopped.
"No, you are the same man you were then."
"Kayla, I killed people!" Steve shouted. He turned and looked directly at her.
"You remember that?" Kayla felt her heart sink at the revelation, but also a sense of progress. She would finally know what happened to him for all those years.
"Yeah, I remember that. I remember that I killed people for no reason."
"Why?" She asked, a hint of fear creeping into the question.
"I can�t explain why. I did was I was told, otherwise I�d get beaten and have to do it anyway. For all those years, as long as I could remember, I did what I was told. I�m a monster."
"Who told you to do them?" Kayla asked.
"I don�t know, Kayla!" Steve shouted again. He didn�t want to face this. He did remember every stinking detail of who he�d been for so many years. He also remembered that he was hoping to die when he got away. But not before he found�. "Adrienne." He shot up out of bed. "I have to find Adrienne. They�re looking for her."
Kayla pushed him back into the pillow. "Adrienne lives in Texas now."
"She�s here in Salem," Steve struggled to get up.
Kayla looked confused. "No, she�s in Texas, Steve."
"I saw her! I saw her on the pier. She�s here," Steve sat up again. The door to his room opened and Lexi came in.
"You should have told me you were awake," she said, concern and anger in her voice.
"I should leave you alone," Kayla said. She got up and walked out of the room; her heart racing at a pace she couldn�t ever remember it going before. Just outside the door Stephanie looked at her with an odd expression.
"Mom, who is that man?" Stephanie asked, her face pale.
Kayla hadn�t thought about what she would say to Stephanie, how she would explain this to her. She touched her daughter�s shoulder and said, "It�s your pop, Stephanie. It�s Steve."
Stephanie shook her head and walked out of her mother�s reach. "No, Mom, my dad is dead." Stephanie noticed her mother shake her head. "You told me he died when I was a baby! What, did you lie to me all these years?"
"No, Stephanie, I thought he was dead. Everyone did. But he�s not, he�s in that room," Kayla stepped toward Stephanie again, and again Stephanie stepped back.
"People don�t just come back from the dead, Mom. Either you lied to me about my dad being dead, or that�s not him." Stephanie glared at Kayla. "Well, which is it?"
"Stephanie," Kayla said in a soothing tone. "It�s not that simple."
Stephanie shook her head. "When people die they stay dead. That can�t be my father." She turned and ran out of the hospital.
*
Two days had passed and Kayla spent as much time as she could with Steve, trying in an all too familiar way to pull him out of his shell. Steve seemed to be recovering all right physically, but he refused to talk about what happened all those years Kayla believed he was dead. Even after she�d taken his hand in hers and told him he could trust her, he still closed down. All he could tell Kayla was that Adrienne was in Salem, and he had to find her.
The day Steve was released from the hospital was also Hope Brady�s birthday. And in typical Brady fashion Shawn Douglas Brady planned a party for his mother at his loft. Steve refused to go. He told Kayla he would get a hotel room and stay there. Kayla offered to stay in the room with him, but Steve didn�t give her an answer. Kayla also surprised him with a black leather patch, "So you don�t have to walk around with that bandage around your eye," she said. Steve took it, moved, and put it on. Kayla fought back tears as he was looking more and more like she remembered. Aside from his head, which was now completely bald, he looked just as she remembered. They left the hospital and went to the nearest hotel.
*
Joe sat quietly looking at his hands in the fancy office of a colleague of his fathers. The only person Joe knew to call after his father died. He wondered if Victor had told their mother. Joe had every intention of finding out where his mother was and going to her. But first he had to have all the facts. He knew there would be questions, and even though he was dealing with his grief, he knew he had to keep it together, if only for Victor and their mother.
"I�ll handle all the arrangements for the funeral," the colleague, Roger Marshall, told Joe.
Joe nodded his head slightly, "Thank you."
"Oh, Joe, one more thing. Justin left this envelope in case anything were to happen to him." He pulled out a white business length envelope and handed it to Joe.
"What?" Joe asked.
"Justin knew what he was doing was risky business. About two months ago he left this for me to give to Adrienne in the event something should happen to him." Marshall looked at Joe suspiciously, "Now, it�s for your mother�s eyes only."
Joe didn�t appreciate being treated like he was a nosy little kid. He glared at Marshall and said, "I understand."
Marshall shook Joe�s hand as if they�d just completed a business deal, and walked with him to the door. "I�ll take care of everything, son, don�t worry. Have Adrienne get in touch with me when she�s ready."
Joe nodded and smiled condescendingly at Marshall, then left his office.
Once in the limousine he pulled out his phone and called Victor. "I�m ready to meet you. I have something for Mom. Where are you?" Joe would leave for Salem the next morning.
*
Kayla climbed out through the window. She wanted to see if the roof was still the same. The night was chilly. She pulled her coat closer to herself. It felt too familiar when she saw Steve standing there, looking out at the water. "You came to our old spot," she said, softly. She was surprised to see him, but she almost expected to see him there.
"Yeah," Steve answered. He looked at her quickly, then turned away. "They�ve changed everything a lot."
Kayla walked slowly toward him. "You want to go see everyone at the party?" She asked.
Steve nodded his head. "No."
There was silence a moment. Kayla looked around the roof. "It still looks the same up here."
She walked timidly forward and put her hand on his shoulder. "It�s amazing how much they�ve changed the loft isn�t it. I never thought it was possible."
Steve turned and looked at Kayla. "A lot of things have changed, Kayla."
Music started playing from the party. "Not as much as you think," Kayla replied. She put her hand out to him. "Dance with me."
Steve looked hesitantly at her. She moved in closer. Steve took her hand and they moved to the music. They seemed to find their own rhythm as the song went from one to another upbeat one. But the couple on the roof didn�t notice. Kayla rested her head on Steve�s chest. "It�s going to be okay," she whispered. Steve kissed the top of her head. And they kept dancing.
*
The loft apartment was buzzing and the music could barely be heard inside. Jeannie saw her mother at the other end of the room talking animatedly to her Aunt Hope. She walked to Stephanie.
"All these people are related to us?" She asked, holding out a glass of punch to her cousin.
"Yeah, in some way," Stephanie replied. "The Brady�s are a big clan." She took a sip of the red punch. Stephanie looked nervously around the room. For some reason it brought a bit of comfort to Jeannie to see that Stephanie was not comfortable in the situation either. "Did you see where my mom went?" Stephanie asked.
"Nope," Jeannie answered. She took a sip of her drink and bounced to the music, trying to hide the awkwardness she felt.
"Stephanie?" A voice called from behind them.
The two girls turned and Stephanie looked confused at first. "What on earth are you doing here?" It was a cousin from her dad�s side. A Kiriakis cousin, though she never could tell the difference between the twins, so she didn�t know which one it was.
"Well, I�m related to Phillip, in a way, and since he�s married to Belle and they live just across the hall, I guess I�m kinda related too." He also looked out of place. "Besides, Uncle Victor wanted me to come and meet some new people."
Jeannie didn�t recognize the boy. She put her hand out, "I�m Jeannie. How do you know Stephanie?" She asked in an unusual streak of boldness. Stephanie obviously thought it was unusual as well as her eyebrows nearly touched in her confused expression.
"Hi. I�m Victor. Stephanie�s cousin." Victor took Jeannie�s hand and smiled.
Jeannie smiled back. "Oh, from the Johnson side, right?" She couldn�t help but notice how his blonde hair touched his shoulder just slightly.
Victor released Jeannie�s hand hesitantly. "Yeah. And you must be a Brady?"
Jeannie was blushing, much to the confusion of Stephanie. She�d never seen Jeannie act this way. "I�m a Donovan. My mom is Kayla�s sister, Kimberly."
Victor pointed his finger lightly. "Oh yeah, I remember Stephanie talking about you."
Stephanie looked like she was watching a tennis match, her gaze going between her two cousins. She wrinkled her nose now, so her whole face was scrunched up in her attempt to comprehend the situation. "Victor, what are you doing in Salem?"
Victor turned his expression back to Stephanie. "I�m visiting Uncle Victor." The look on Stephanie�s face was skeptical. He knew she wanted more of an answer. "Joe is out on business and the house was empty, so I thought I�d come here and see the family. I�d heard you were at Salem U."
Stephanie didn�t take the subject change. "Where�s your mom?" She asked.
Victor tried to hide his disappointment that she was pressing the subject. "Arizona. On a spa retreat." The answer sounded too staged and he mentally kicked himself for it. He turned back to Jeannie. "Are you at Salem U too?" He asked.
Jeannie smiled, please that he remembered she was still there. "Yes." She answered.
As they talked for a while Stephanie watched Victor. She was sensing something was going on, and she knew that if the Kiriakis� were involved it wasn�t good. The pieces were all falling together. Her father returned from the dead and now her cousin whom she hadn�t seen in years just shows up in Salem. She didn�t believe what he�d said about her Aunt Adrienne. Something was going on and she would find out what it was before her mother got hurt.
*
Stephanie was getting very annoyed at the way Jeannie was laughing at the things Victor said. Jeannie had never acted this way with a boy before, and Stephanie would admit there was a little bit of jealousy toward Victor monopolizing Jeannie, she felt very uneasy in the situation.
She looked around the room. She still couldn�t see her mother. Nobody seemed to notice Kayla was gone amid laughter and talking.
When Jeannie excused herself to go to the bathroom, Stephanie pulled Victor out to the hallway. "What�s going on?" She asked him fiercely.
Victor looked at her dumbly, "What are you talking about?"
Stephanie lost her patience. "You, Victor. What are you doing here?"
Victor remained calm. "I told you, I�m here for a visit."
Stephanie laughed in disbelief. "You come to Salem for a �visit� coincidentally at the same time this man shows up from the dead claiming to be my father. You�re getting all friendly with Jeannie, I don�t like it." She took a step closer and looked him in the eye. "I know what kind of work your family is in, Victor. My mother believes this man is my father. Jeannie may play street smart, but she�s naive about certain things. I know you have something to do with it and if my mother or Jeannie is going to get hurt�" Stephanie stopped.
Victor licked his lips and said, "Stephanie, I don�t know�"
But he didn�t get to finish. Stephanie yelled, "You DO know, Victor. Tell me what�s going on. Who is this man?"
Victor took a defensive step backward and looked around nervously.
A door opened from across the hallway and Adrienne stepped out. Stephanie�s mouth fell open. "I�m getting my Uncle Roman," she said turning toward the party.
"Stephanie, no," Adrienne said, walking toward her niece. She put a hand on Stephanie�s shoulder and said, "Okay, we�ll tell you."
"Adrienne?" Kayla had just come through the window that went to the roof.
"Kayla?" Adrienne was surprised to see Kayla as well. "What are you doing here?"
"I came to see Stephanie," Kayla replied, hesitantly. Did Adrienne know about Steve? She wondered.
There was a moment of quiet while the four all looked questionably at each other. Kayla broke the silence. "Adrienne, there�s something I think you need to see on the roof." She knew that Steve wanted to find Adrienne, and even though this situation seemed strange, she knew they had to meet.
"Wait," Adrienne turned her attention back to Stephanie. "There�s something I need to talk to Stephanie about."
"That can wait. You need to come with me," the severity in Kayla�s voice made Adrienne comply. Kayla waited until she was sure Adrienne was following and climbed onto the roof. Victor and Stephanie followed.
Steve was staring out at the water again. He turned when he heard people coming. He looked at the figure climbing through the window behind Kayla. "Adrienne?" She looked so much like his mother after all these years that he almost didn�t recognize her.
Adrienne looked disbelieving at him. She walked slowly toward the figure as if she was seeing a ghost. "It can�t be�" she said.
Victor and Stephanie stood in the background watching, Victor didn�t have to be told who this was, he knew from the family resemblance and from pictures he�d seen of Steve. Things were starting to fall into place, and this made Victor more fearful.
"Steve?" Adrienne walked up to him and reached out her hand. She hesitated a moment, afraid to touch him, then gently placed her hand on his arm.
"Adrienne, you are in trouble," Steve said after the shock of seeing Adrienne wore off. He didn�t have time for the niceties. He had to get to the point; he had to protect his sister.
"What are you talking about," Adrienne asked. Her voice still held disbelief. "Where have you been all these years?"
Steve looked at the group on the roof. He trusted Kayla to an extent; he felt he had to. But he was fearful Kayla wouldn�t want anything to do with him once she discovered what he�d been doing. He had no choice but to trust Adrienne, she was involved. But the other two people there, he wasn�t sure about them. As sad as it made him, he didn�t know Stephanie, and he had to play it safe. He couldn�t trust her. And he didn�t even know who the other person was. "I can�t talk about it here," Steve said looking at Adrienne.
"Stephanie?" Jeannie heard voices and climbed through the window and was now staring at the group on the roof. She looked at Steve. "Phen?" She asked, amazed she recognized him even without his cloak.
Steve smiled a rare, genuine smile. "Hello, Jeannie. How have you been?"
"What are you doing here?" She looked at him, memorizing him. "You look like Stephanie�s father," she said dumbly.
Kayla stepped to Jeannie�s side and said, "Jeannie, Phen is Steve."
Jeannie looked confused, then once that faded, betrayed. "You could have told me," she said to Steve.
Steve stepped closer toward Jeannie. "I�m sorry. I didn�t know when I met you."
Victor walked to Adrienne�s side and whispered to her, "Something�s going on. Something big and dangerous. Do you really think this is Uncle Steve?"
Adrienne thought a moment. She was quiet. She closed her eyes and reached into her soul, the same place she used to go when she was a little girl and so anxious to find her big brother. The place she knew she could always feel his presence. She listened to her instincts. And she knew. "Yes," she smiled, "It�s Steve."
Victor got a look of sheer fright on his face and said, "We have to find out what going on, Mom. Maybe if we pool all of our information we can get it."
Steve looked at them. Victor continued to talk to Adrienne. "I�m scared for you. This isn�t a coincidence and I know you are in danger."
"He�s right, Adrienne," Steve said, walking toward Adrienne. "You are in danger. But I don�t want to talk about it here. We can go back to my hotel."
"I�m not letting her go anywhere alone with you," Victor said.
Steve looked at Victor. "Who are you?" He asked, a bite in his voice.
"Steve, this is my son, Victor Kiriakis."
Steve flinched at the name, but after a moment he smiled and said, "Your son?"
Adrienne smiled back, "Yes. And he has a twin brother Joey and you remember Alexander and my youngest Jackson is in Europe at school."
"All boys?" Steve said disbelieving. Last he remembered Adrienne was heartbroken in her failure to have children.
Victor looked impatient. "Can we reminisce later? I want to find out what kind of danger my mother is in so I know how to protect her."
"Okay," Steve got serious. "I�m at the Discount Motel on Main Street. Room number 124. Kayla and I will meet you there."
The four scattered, Steve down the fire escape with Kayla not far behind him, and Victor and Adrienne through the window and into the elevator.
Jeannie and Stephanie stared at each other alone on the roof.
Jeannie stared at the empty roof, Stephanie next to her. "What just happened?" She asked.
Stephanie looked troubled; "My mom just went to a hotel with a stranger and two people who are involved in some very shady business." Stephanie thought about the best way to follow them.
"Shady business? You mean Victor? He seems nice," Jeannie said.
Stephanie glared dumbfounded at her cousin, "Nice? Yeah, he�s really nice. It�s how they get people to trust them so that they can con them. It�s part of the scheme."
Jeannie was confused, "What are you talking about? It seemed like he wanted to help your father."
"He is NOT my father," Stephanie said forcibly. "My father died when I was a baby."
Jeannie didn�t know how to react. She could tell Stephanie was scared and confused, and she didn�t know how to help her. Silently she put her hand on Stephanie�s shoulder.
Stephanie started to sob. "Remember when we used to talk about our fathers? And I would fantasize about mine. He would be a great strong noble man." She wiped a tear from her cheek. "Well, great noble men don�t leave their families and their children. I�ve been lied to my whole life."
Jeannie felt a stinging in her eyes as well. She always hated to see Stephanie hurt. "You haven�t been lied to," she said softly.
Stephanie turned and looked at her, anger in her face. "My mother told me he was dead. She lied to me. She wanted me to believe he was someone great and brave, but he was just a coward who left his wife and daughter."
Jeannie thought back to when she first met Steve, Phen as she still thought of him. He didn�t seem like a coward to her. He seemed scared, but was willing to face the danger he thought he was in. That wasn�t cowardly at all. "It�s okay, Steph. I�m here," Jeannie said and pulled he cousin into an embrace.
*
Room 124 at the Discount Motel wasn�t the nicest room in Salem. In fact, it could quite possibly be the worst room in Salem. Steve opened the door with his flimsy key, Kayla just a step behind him. The room smelled of sweat and urine from a guest that occupied it probably months, maybe even years ago.
"This is where you�re staying?" Kayla asked. "I gave you enough money to stay at a nicer place then this."
Steve took a sharp intake of breath. He didn�t need to be reminded that she had to give him money to have a bed to sleep in. "I don�t know how long I�ll have to stay here, I didn�t want to use it all up." He replied. He put his jacket on the chair in the corner and sat on the bed.
"Steve," Kayla said, softly, sitting next to him. "I can take care of you."
"I don�t want you to take care of me, Kayla!" Steve yelled. "Don�t you have other people to take care of?"
Kayla tried not to get defensive. "Like who?"
"I don�t know. We never really talked about�" Steve stopped. He hadn�t really wanted to talk about anything but he knew Kayla wouldn�t let him remain silent. He looked at her and sure enough, she was giving him that look. The look she�d given him so many times telling him she would keep pressing until he finally said what he was going to say. "Don�t you have a husband?" Steve asked, quietly, hoping she wouldn�t hear him.
Kayla looked amazed. "Yes," she said. Steve�s face was disappointed. "You are my husband."
Steve kept his eyes on her, searching her. "Kayla," he started to say. Then there was a knock on the door. He�d forgotten that Adrienne and Victor was meeting them.
"Come in," Steve yelled. He tried to distract himself from the significant look Kayla was giving him.
Adrienne walked confidently into the room, Victor by her side. She stopped. "Nice place," she said sarcasm in her voice.
"Thanks," Steve said, in a sarcastic tone that matched his sisters.
Adrienne sat on the only chair in the room and didn�t bother to move Steve�s coat. She preferred to sit on it, actually, not knowing what had been on it before. "So, Victor and I were talking in the car on the way here. We need to know what you know, and I�ll tell you what I know and we�ll see if we can piece it all together."
Steve looked at Victor. He still didn�t trust him. But he knew if he was going to help Adrienne he had to tell her what he knew, and if Victor wasn�t going to leave them alone, he�d have to take a chance.
"The first thing I remember, after the hospital," he looked at Kayla. The moment he "died." The moment he left his beloved Sweetness, that moment played over and over in his head since he started to remember everything. "Lawrence Alamain had me. I knew who he was and I tried to fight him, but I was weak. I tried, but I couldn�t move. Once he realized I was awake he gave me an injection of something and I was asleep again. When I woke up again I was in a dark room, not much bigger then this one. They must have already put the chip in my brain, because I couldn�t remember anything. I asked them who I was and they told me I was there for one purpose, to do what they told me."
"Who�s they?" Victor asked. He was listening intently.
"Two men. I never knew their names. Nobody ever told me names." Steve stopped. He just remembered something he hadn�t before. He�d overhead a conversation between the two men one night.
"No, wait, one of the men�s name was Dair." Steve then remembered the other man�s name. He�d remembered at the time that it was familiar, but he didn�t push the thought, it made his head hurt. But now he remembered the man. They were talking about something they needed done. Something Steve was supposed to do. But the other man didn�t know Steve was there. The other man didn�t know that Steve was even still alive. He knew he couldn�t tell Adrienne who the other man was.
"Dair?" Adrienne said. "He knew about this?"
"Mom, he was involved in things we had nothing to do with." Victor replied.
"Who was Dair?" Kayla asked, speaking for the first time since Adrienne and Victor arrived.
"Dair was Justin�s boss. Justin eventually branched out and went into business for himself, but he worked under Dair once Uncle Victor quit the business."
Steve surpressed a chuckle. He never really did trust Justin. Adrienne looked at him questionably. Steve continued, "Dair eventually sold me to another man. That man took me to a large manor someplace cold. I remember always being cold there."
"You don�t know where it was?" Victor asked again. He seemed to be taking mental notes.
Steve shook his head. "Up north somewhere. He didn�t have an accent, so I don�t think it was foreign."
Adrienne got a strange look on her face. "Minnesota?"
Steve looked at her questionably. "Could have been. Do you know something?"
Adrienne nodded.
Victor looked confused, "Who�s in Minnesota?"
Adrienne turned her expression to her son. "I was in Minnesota when you called me, Victor. I had a meeting with a man known only as The Apache."
Victor replied, "The Indian?"
Kayla answered, "The Killer," her voice was hollow. Steve glanced at her briefly and nodded.
"Tell me about him," Steve said, now looking back at Adrienne.
Adrienne licked her lips nervously. "He was a man we worked for." She gave Steve a significant look, telling him not to question too much with Victor there.
"We?" He asked, feeling he had to at least know that.
"Justin and I," Adrienne replied.
"Can you describe him to me," Steve asked.
"He was tall. I�d say at least six feet. He had dark hair." Her voice became quiet; "everything about him was dark." She stopped. She stopped and looked at Steve. That was enough for him and she could tell.
"That was the man who was keeping me prisoner." Steve said.
"Are you sure?" Kayla asked.
"Yes," Steve said.
Adrienne never took her eyes off Steve. "He wants Stephanie and Kayla."
Kayla gasped and Steve bore his eyes into Adrienne. "How do you know that?"
"He told me. I saw him just a few weeks ago. I told him I wanted to quit his business, he couldn�t threaten me or my children anymore and I wanted out." Adrienne looked at Victor. She wished he wasn�t there to hear this.
"What did he say to that?" Steve asked.
"He told me he would come after your family. He would find Stephanie and Kayla and use them as bait for me."
"What did he want with them?" Steve asked, he noticed out of the corner of his eye how pale Kayla suddenly became.
"I don�t know, Steve, honestly." She got a thoughtful look on her face then said, "He might have wanted you. He told me Kayla and Stephanie were more involved in this then I knew."
Steve shook his head. "No, he wanted you. He sent me to find you."
Adrienne looked dumbfounded. "What?"
"That was why I escaped him. He showed me a picture of you and told me where you lived. He told me to find you and bring you to him."
"But I saw him just a few weeks ago. If he wanted me, he would have had me then." Adrienne was confused, so, judging from the look on his face, was Steve.
"I don�t know what he wanted."
Adrienne now paled as well. Everyone in the room jumped when Victor�s cell phone rang. Joe was on the other line. "I�m at your hotel, where are you?" Joe asked Victor.
Victor scanned the room with his eyes. "You�re never going to believe this, Joe," he said.
*
Adrienne and Victor left a short while later to meet Joe at their hotel. Kayla looked at Steve intently and Steve replied, "Shouldn�t you be going too?"
"I want to stay here tonight," she said.
Steve laughed. "What for? You could stay at your parents house in a nice room in a nice bed." Steve looked around his dingy room and his eyes stopped on the one double bed. "Besides, there�s no place for you to sleep here."
"I know you haven�t forgotten, Steve. I know you remember everything we had. Why are you trying so hard to forget?"
"Kayla, you remember that stuff with a man who doesn�t exist anymore. I�m not the man I was."
Kayla smiled. "You�ve said that, but I don�t believe it. I don�t see it. You say you aren�t the same man, but I see a man who risked everything for his sister. That�s the same man I married all those years ago."
He closed his eye. "That�s instinct. I have to protect my sister."
"You can tell me that. And maybe you can even believe that, but I don�t. You�ve trusted me the past few days. That was something that took us a really long time in the beginning. You remember? And you just trusted me. Maybe that was instinct too." She walked closer to him. "There is a part of you that knows it will always be a part of me, you can�t deny that."
"Kayla," Steve started to protest. But Kayla put her finger over his lip.
"Don�t. You trusted me when you woke in the hospital. You trusted me a few minutes ago when you were trying to help Adrienne. Trust me now." She leaned in and pressed her lips to Steve�s. He hesitated at first, but he couldn�t pretend anymore. He couldn�t pretend that he didn�t dream of somehow starting over with Kayla. And he kissed her back.
There was a knock on the door, and neither one heard it at first, until it became more persistent.
"I know you are in there. If you don�t open the door I�ll call Roman and I�ll break it down." It was Stephanie�s voice. Steve went to the door and opened it. Stephanie glared at him. "Where�s my mother?"
"I�m right here," Kayla said, walking to the door to greet Stephanie. "What are you doing here?"
"You think I�m going to let you go off to some cheap motel with a guy you don�t know?" Stephanie asked, walking past Steve and into the room.
"He�s not a guy I don�t know, Steph. He�s your�"
"Stop it, I don�t want to hear it," Stephanie interrupted. "Come on, I�m going to take you back to Grandma and Grandpop�s now." She took Kayla�s sleeve and tugged on it.
Kayla pulled her sleeve away and started to protest when Steve spoke.
"Stephanie," Steve hesitated a moment as both she and Kayla turned and looked at him. "Can I talk to you?"
Stephanie looked at her mother and then to Steve. Quietly she said, "Okay." Once again she looked at Kayla.
Kayla stood quietly by as Stephanie walked closer to him.
Steve took one last look at Kayla, she was going to listen intently, he knew that, and then he started talking. "Did you mom ever tell you about my family?"
Stephanie gave a sarcastic laugh. "You mean that they are all criminals? No, I had to figure that one out on my own," she glared at Kayla.
"Stephanie, that�s not fair," Kayla said.
"It�s okay, Kayla," Steve said. He looked at Stephanie again. "My parents weren�t around when I was a kid. I didn�t get to grow up with a family. I grew up with a bunch of other mean angry kids who didn�t have families either." He waited for a response from Stephanie. When she remained silent and steel faced he continued, "I know what it�s like to not grow up with a complete family. I know kind of how you feel."
Stephanie did respond to that. "No you don�t. I have a family. I have Mom and Jeannie and Aunt Kim. It�s not the same. You have no idea how I feel." Her voice didn�t rise, but it was firm.
Steve nodded, "I do. I know what it�s like to have a parent come back into your life after so many years and want a relationship. But there�s a difference between you and me."
"That�s an understatement," Stephanie said. Her rough tone wasn�t masking the tears threatening to form in her eyes.
"Let me finish," Steve said in a soft tone. "There�s a difference. And that difference is that my mother chose to leave me. If I had known where you were, if I had remembered you, Stephanie, I would have come for you."
Stephanie�s chin quivered, but she said nothing.
"You don�t have to want anything from me. You don�t have to feel anything for me. Just understand that I may know how you feel. You aren�t alone." Steve wanted to reach out and touch his daughter, but he stayed still.
Kayla smiled and wiped a tear from her cheek.
Stephanie didn�t wipe the tear that fell onto her cheek. "Do you feel anything for me?" She asked, her voice barely above a whisper.
Steve smiled, ever so slightly, and said, "Yes."
Stephanie nodded, matched his slight smile and turned toward the door. "I�m ready to go," she said to Kayla.
Kayla looked at Steve, who nodded to her to let Stephanie go, and Kayla opened the door and walked outside with her daughter�their daughter.
*
"What is this about, Joe? Why are you here?" Adrienne was getting frustrated at her sons. She wanted them to go home, back where they�d be safe.
Joe looked significantly at Victor and said, "Mom, you need to sit down. Something bad happened."
Adrienne paled and sat on a chair in her plush suite at the Salem Inn. "What happened?"
Joe kneeled on the floor at Adrienne�s feet and said, "There was an explosion at the house."
Adrienne hitched a breath, then held it in.
"The house was completely destroyed," Joe continued.
Adrienne closed her eyes and tears fell from them. "And Justin was in it," she said. Joe looked sympathetically at her, holding back his own tears. "I knew something like this would happen someday. I told him�" she stopped.
"I�m sorry, Mom," Victor said, putting his hand on her shoulder. He leaned down and kissed her cheek.
Joe looked up at Victor, then reached into the pocket of his jacket and pulled out an envelope. "He left this for you." Joe noticed her eyes glance to the envelope, but she didn�t take it. He placed it on the table next to the chair. Both the boys took Adrienne into an embrace and cried.
It wasn�t until the next morning that Adrienne even remembered the letter was on the table. She walked to the table, her head still light from crying all night, and opened it. Justin�s handwriting etched itself across the paper, and before she even read a word she traced it with her fingers. So masculine, so familiar. She put the paper to her nose and smelled it, hoping to find some hint of him on it. It was odorless. Her puffy eyes were once again filling with tears and she read the letter.
Dear Adrienne,
If you are reading this that means they got me before I could get them. It also means they will be coming for you soon. I have to tell you what you are up against and I hope you can do what it takes to keep yourself safe.
Years ago your Uncle Earl got a coin from a man named Matheson. He was instructed to take the coin to Toronto and give it to a man named Granger for the sum of $10,000. Earl never made it to Toronto.
The coin was made out of a rare material and worth over 15 million dollars. When Granger found Earl in Milwaukee Earl gave him an identical coin. It was a fake. By the time Granger had discovered the coin was worthless Earl disappeared. He was found dead 10 years ago, a single gun shot in his head. On his possession he had the name of a bank in France where he had a large sum of money. 13 million dollars, to be exact. Granger went to the bank and found that the account was heavily guarded. There was no account number. He found a machine that was used to scan blood. Only someone with Johnson blood can access the account. Granger was unable to get the money. This is where you fall into place. Granger wants you so he can get the money. But he�d heard of you. He knew you wouldn�t turn the money over without your fair share.
One of my contacts told me about this, and I�ve been trying to resolve it for months now. However, since you�ve gotten this letter, Granger got me. I�m so sorry, Adrienne.
The next thing I have to tell you will likely make you angry with me. But that�s something we are both familiar with by now. Again, I�m sorry, Adrienne. I only have your protection at heart. I had every intention of telling you about this, but I wanted to wait until this matter with Granger was resolved. If something went wrong, well, it wouldn�t do you any good to be hurt again.
I was told six months ago about a contact Granger had. The Apache. He told Granger he could help him get the money if they split it. Granger asked how he could do that when The Apache said he�d send his headman out for him. He�d send a man who�d been doing his work for over a decade. And this man could find you. He sent the man, armed with a picture of you and our address, to get you and bring you to him. What the Apache didn�t know until shortly after was who this man he�d had for all those years was.
Adrienne, it�s Steve. Steve is alive, or he was a few months ago. He was living in Minneapolis with the Apache and held against his will. He has no memory of who he is. Once the Apache found out Steve never made it to our house he�d figured Steve had gotten away. Now his vested interest was in Steve, not you. He could use Steve to get the money and have his top hit man back in the process. Nobody has heard from Steve since he left the Apache in August. I don�t think you are out of the clear yet, Adrienne. If they don�t find Steve soon, you are next. And they will do what they have to do to get you.
Adrienne, I�m sorry I kept all this from you. I did it for your protection. Maybe you don�t understand that, and you are probably angry with me, but it�s true. I know we haven�t always had the best marriage and I know that I hold a major responsibility in that, but you need to know that I do love you more then anyone in the world. I will always love you. I�m just sorry I couldn�t make it right for us.
Now that you have this information you can protect yourself. I want you and the boys to leave the country. I have a ban account set up in your name in Switzerland. There is more then enough money for all of you to live comfortably for the rest of you lives. Please do this, Adrienne. The numbers of the accounts and the certificates to withdraw are included in this envelope. Keep yourself safe. I�m sorry I couldn�t.
Love forever,
Justin
Adrienne dropped the letter on the table and put her hand on her forehead. She sobbed again, for what seemed the hundredth time that morning. "Dammit, Justin. You should have told me," she said. She turned and went into her bedroom, leaving the letter on the table with tearstains on it.
*
Victor had just come of the room he was sharing with Joe. His hair was wet from the shower and he rubbed a towel across it as he sat down on the couch in the main room of their suite. Joe was already in the room, looking very worried.
"Read this, man," Joe tossed the letter to Victor. "I found it on the table, Mom�s already read it."
Victor�s eyes moved across the letter, then up to his brother. "What does this mean?"
"It means they�re coming after Mom. They just have to find her."
"Not if we find them first," Victor said. He folded the letter and put it in his pocket.
"What are you thinking?" Joe asked.
Victor checked to make sure the door to their mother�s suite was closed, then sat down across from Joe on a couch. "We give him what he wants."
"Can�t we just do what Dad said? Can�t we just take Mom out of the country?"
Victor laughed. "You think this man," he pulled the letter out and looked at it. "This Granger, is going to leave this alone? He killed our Dad, Joe! He killed our Dad to get to our Mom, and when he finds her�" Victor stopped. "We have to find him first."
"And do what with him?" Joe asked.
"Whatever we have to do." Victor threw the letter on the table beside the couch and ran a hand through his hair. "We give him the coin if we can find it. I�ll go, I�ll tell him I�m Earl�s next of kin."
Joe shook his head. "Won�t work. It has to be blood relatives. Vic, we don�t have any of Mom�s blood. They�ll find out you aren�t a blood relative and then they�ll kill you as well."
"Then what should we do!" Victor yelled. He looked at the door to the room where his mother was sleeping and lowered his voice. "There�s got to be something we can do."
Joe was quiet a moment, then said, "There is. There�s someone who can help us."
"Who?" Victor asked.
"Steve Johnson. We get him and take him to meet this Granger."
"What if Steve won�t come with us?" Victor asked.
"Then we�ll force him to. We�ll do what we have to do, Vic."
Victor got a strange look on his face. "He�s Mom�s brother."
"If it comes down to Mom or Steve, Vic, who do you think I�m going to protect?"
Victor nodded his head. The two brothers looked meaningfully at each other. Joe opened his suitcase and pulled two guns out. He tossed one to Victor. Then he passed a box of bullets to his brother and they loaded their guns.
"Alright, let�s go get Steve," Joe said, putting the gun in his back pocket.
*
Steve had been thinking all morning about how to help Adrienne. He had to figure out why the Apache wanted her, then find some way to keep himself safe from the Apache as well. He put his concerns about himself on a back burner. He was there to help Adrienne, and that�s what he�d do and if necessary, he�d die trying.
There was a knock on his door. "Kayla?" He asked. He�d been expecting her, though he had no reason to. He wanted to see her. He opened the door and instead found two identical Kiriakis looking back at him.
"We have to talk to you," one of them said. Steve stared at the boys. There was no possible way to tell one apart from the other aside from their clothing. The boy in the red shirt started talking first.
"We need you to help us, to help our mother."
Steve hesitantly walked to him, making sure he�d kept his door open in case the boys were there to trap him. "What do you have planned?" Steve asked.
The boy in the black shirt reached into his pocket and pulled out a folded up letter. He handed it to Steve. "Read this," he said.
Steve read the letter. "So, Dimples knew I was alive. That�s sweet of him to want to use me like that."
The boy in the red shirt pulled the letter out of Steve�s hand. "Our father was just trying to protect our mother," he said through gritted teeth.
"Joe, take it easy," Victor said, moving to stand between Steve and Joe. They needed to keep Steve as cooperative as possible, it would make the job much easier. Victor looked at Joe, then Steve, and said, "If you come with us to meet Granger you can get him the coin. Then Mom will be safe and we can start over someplace."
Steve nodded his head. He knew he had to do this, but he was worried about himself. Would Granger sell him back to the Apache? He pushed that thought away. "So you want me to go with you to get a coin from an account in France with a man who killed your father?" Steve looked at the boys, glaring at him with identical jeers. "And what if I don�t want to do it your way?"
Joe replied, forcefully, "We have every intention of getting you to do this, however we have to convince you. It will make it easier on all of us if you cooperate."
Victor was always a little more sensitive then Joe, and said, "We�ll find a way to protect you from the Apache as well, if that�s what you�re worried about."
Joe looked questionably at Victor, and it was clear to Steve that they had no intention of keeping their word. But this was the best thing anyone had come up with to help Adrienne. "How do we find Granger?"
Joe softened his hard expression and said, "I�ll charter a plane back to Austin. Dad has all his contacts in a safe deposit box at the bank. I�ll get that number and call him."
Steve nodded his head. "Okay," he said. "I�ll help you."
*
"Steve," Kayla said, surprised to see him at her parents� house. She�d planned on going to his hotel that day, but hadn�t had the time to get there yet. She looked at the clock; it was past 5:00 in the evening. She hadn�t realized the day had gone. "Come in," she said. Steve walked past her into the kitchen.
He was wearing a dark blue button up shirt and a denim jacket. "I just came by to see if you�d eaten yet," he said, casually. In all honesty, he�d wanted to see her all day, but after his meeting with Joe and Victor that morning he had been busy. He checked out of his hotel, knowing it was possible he wouldn�t come back to Salem.
"You got some new clothes," Kayla said. "I like them."
She smiled at Steve. Her smile always made him melt inside. "Well, I had some extra money and those other clothes I had were getting ready to shred off my body." He noticed Kayla�s smile grow as she chuckled. "So, you have dinner plans?"
"No. I didn�t realize it was so late in the day. I was helping Mom and Pop in the pub." Kayla explained.
Steve nodded. "Well, I was going to get something to eat and was in the neighborhood and thought you�d maybe want to eat something too."
"Yeah, let me get my coat," she said. Kayla went up to the guest room she was sleeping in at her parents house and pulled her coat out of the closet, but not before checking herself in the mirror. She couldn�t remember the last time she felt so giddy and young and so excited about dinner.
They returned to the Brady�s house a couple of hours later, full to bursting with the finest pizza joint in Salem.
"Do you want some coffee or something?" Kayla asked, putting her coat on a chair in the kitchen and walking to the stove.
"No, thanks. Listen, Kayla, I have to leave town for a while. I�m not sure when I�ll be back," he said, trying to hide the concern in his voice.
Kayla turned and looked at him, upset. "Why do you have to leave?"
"Just something I have to do. I�ll come back as soon as I can." He wasn�t sure that was true, but he didn�t want Kayla to worry.
"What do you have to do?" She noticed Steve didn�t answer the question and she pressed, "Does this have something to do with what�s going on with Adrienne? Is she going with you?"
Steve sighed. "No, Adrienne isn�t coming with me. And don�t tell her I�ve left."
"You are doing something dangerous, aren�t you?" Kayla asked, concerned.
"I�m not going to talk about it, Kayla," Steve said firmly.
She looked at him for a moment, then said, "I just got you back. Don�t do anything that would cause me to lose you again, please?" She pleaded with him.
"I have to do this." He turned and walked into the living room. "I�m not talking about it anymore."
Kayla followed him and put her hand on his face. "When are you going?"
"Soon," Steve said.
"Tonight?" Kayla asked.
Steve shook his head. "No, not tonight."
"Okay, then we still have tonight," Kayla said. She moved in to kiss him when the door opened.
"Why is he always here?" Stephanie asked annoyed. Jeannie followed behind her and smiled at Steve.
"Um, I should go," Steve started to leave when Kayla stopped him. "No, stay. Stephanie, he�s talking to me, and he�s here because I want him here." Kayla looked at Steve, his expression unreadable.
"Well, I�ll just go then," she turned to walk away.
"No, Stephanie. You must have come here for a reason," Kayla tried to distract her daughter, a tactic that usually worked. "Do you need something?"
Jeannie looked uncomfortable and sat down in the kitchen, digging in her backpack and pulling out a large textbook. She opened it and pretended to read it.
"No, I just thought I�d come here to study tonight. My roommate�" she stopped. She was reminded that this was her mother. "My roommate was busy and didn�t want me to disturb her."
Jeannie snickered which made Steve chuckle. Stephanie looked even more annoyed.
"I�ll just stay in Jeannie�s dorm. Come on, Jeannie, let�s go," Stephanie started toward the door.
Steve took a hesitant step toward Stephanie. "Listen, Little Sweetness, I don�t want to push you to�" Steve started, but he stopped when Stephanie turned and glared at him.
"What did you just say?" She asked, her tone barely above a whisper.
"I don�t want to push you into anything." Steve repeated.
Stephanie took a step forward and shook her head. "No, not that. What did you just call me?"
Steve thought a moment. "Little Sweetness? It�s what I used to call you when you were a baby."
Stephanie�s nostrils flared and her chin quivered.
"What is it?" Kayla asked.
Stephanie turned and looked at her mother. "Maybe I�m the only one who does this. But sometimes, when I�m trying to psyche myself out, or I�m trying to encourage myself, or just make myself feel better. I�" she stopped. Then started again, "Nobody ever called me that. I never knew where I heard it." Goosebumps formed on her arm and tears started down her cheek. "It�s what I all myself."
She turned and looked at Steve, her tears now falling to her chin. Her expression softened as she stared intently at him. Then she turned and walked out of the room.
Steve looked significantly at Kayla, and then to Jeannie, who looked as if she wished she were invisible. Again the moment was interrupted by a knock on the door.
"Half the city is coming here tonight," Steve said, watching as Kayla opened the door.
One of Adrienne�s twins stood in the doorway. "Is Steve here?" He asked Kayla.
Kayla nodded and Victor came inside.
"Victor," Jeannie said, blushing and standing up from the table, only to knock her text book to the floor. Her blush deepened.
"Hello, Jeannie." Victor had a smile that reached his ears, or seemed to.
Steve didn�t have time for the flirtations of teenagers; he strode over to Victor. "You wanted to see me?" He asked, his voice holding formality. He was a little annoyed that Victor came to the Brady�s to talk to him, but he realized he didn�t have any other way to find Steve.
Victor took his eyes off Jeannie and nodded to Steve. "Yeah. Um, can we go outside?"
Steve nodded and followed Victor out the door, aware that Kayla�s eyes were following him the whole time.
"What�s going on?" Steve asked in a hushed tone once they were outside.
"Joe called me. He found Granger, told him our plan."
Steve nodded. "Good, so what�s our next step?"
"Joe will be bringing the plane back to Salem at 2:00 AM tonight. We are to meet him there then we�ll fly to Pittsburgh."
"Pittsgurg? That�s where Granger is?"
Victor replied, "Yeah." He looked around nervously. "I went by your motel, they said you checked out."
Steve didn�t feel he owed Victor any sort of explanation. He said, "Yeah, well I knew we were going away tonight. Didn�t make sense for me to pay for a room I wasn�t using, now did it?"
"Okay," Victor said. "You�ll meet us at the airport then? 2 AM."
Steve replied, "I�ll be there."
"Good," Victor said. "Tell Jeannie I said goodnight." Victor turned and left.
Steve walked back inside, aware that all eyes in the room were on him. "What did he say?" Kayla asked.
"He said to tell Jeannie goodnight," Steve said, noticing the hopeful look on Jeannie�s face when Steve said that. It made him smile.
"That�s it?" Kayla asked, non-believing.
Steve looked at her. "Yeah, that�s it," he lied.
Kayla started getting upset and Jeannie took that as her cue to leave the kitchen.
"Why are you lying to me? You know you can trust me. Don�t you know that?" She asked.
"I�m not lying to you, baby, that�s what he said." Steve replied.
"That�s not all he said," Kayla pushed.
Steve hesitated and then said, "No, that�s not all he said."
"Well, then what else? Is he going to help you with Adrienne?"
"Kayla, I�m not talking about it, it�s too dangerous and the less you know the better." Steve said.
"If it involves Stephanie, Steve, I have a right to know."
"It doesn�t involve Stephanie. Not anymore," Steve said. He would give himself back to the Apache before they went after Stephanie.
"Steve�" Kayla didn�t hide the concern in her voice. But Jeannie crept quietly back into the room.
"I�m sorry. I�m going to go. Stephanie is upstairs and I guess she fell asleep." Jeannie tried not to make eye contact, she was very aware she�d interrupted something she shouldn�t be hearing. She picked her backpack up off the table and left.
Steve sighed. "It�s not worth discussing," he said to Kayla.
She looked at him through squinted eyes and left the room. She didn�t want to fight with him.
Steve walked quietly up the stairs and found the room Stephanie had fallen asleep in. He stood at the doorway of the bedroom that used to belong to Kayla and Kimberly when they were children. The porcelain dolls littered the shelves with awards in Kayla�s name and in Kimberly�s name. And one of the beds lay a girl, no a young woman, who looked so much like him, but was a stranger. A young woman who�d had to spend her life without him. His heart ached.
He walked quietly to the bed, knowing if he woke Stephanie she�d be angry with him for being there. Gently he touched her hair. She did look like him, but he could see hints of Kayla in her too. She appeared to have his rough personality, but she was caring and protective, just as Kayla was. She was truly a mixture of both of them. "Winkin', Blinkin', and Nod, one night sailed off in a wooden shoe," he started to whisper. He stroked her hair. "Sailed off on a river of crystal light into a sea of dew.
"Where are you going and what do you wish?" the old moon asked the three.
"We've come to fish for the herring fish that live in this beautiful sea.
Nets of silver and gold have we," said Winkin', Blinkin', and Nod.
The old moon laughed and sang a song as they rocked in the wooden shoe.
And the wind that sped them all night long ruffled the waves of dew.
Now the little stars are the herring fish that live in that beautiful sea;
"Cast your nets wherever you wish never afraid are we!"
So cried the stars to the fishermen three - Winkin', and Blinkin', and Nod." He remembered her when she was a baby. He�d tell her the same story night after night, and it always put her to sleep.
"So all night long their nets they threw to the stars in the twinkling foam.
'Til down from the skies came the wooden shoe bringing the fisherman home.
'Twas all so pretty a sail it seemed as if it could not be.
Some folks say 'twas a dream they dreamed of sailing that misty sea.
But I shall name you the fisherman three - Winkin', Blinkin', and Nod.
He remembered his mother reciting the nursery rhyme to him when he was a small boy. "Now Winkin' and Blinkin' are two little eyes and Nod is a little head.
And the wooden shoe that sailed the skies is a wee one's trundle bed.
So close your eyes while Papa sings of the wonderful sights that be.
And you shall see those beautiful things as you sail on the misty sea,
Where the old shoe rocked the fishermen three - Winkin', Blinkin', and Nod.
�Goodnight, Little Sweetness." He looked at her one last time, then stood up and walked to the door.
"Goodnight, Papa," a voice called through the silence of the room. Steve almost jumped and turned to see Stephanie still sleeping soundly in the bed. He must have imagined it. He walked out of the room.
Stephanie opened her eyes once she was sure he was gone and looked at the door he�d just disappeared through. "Goodnight," she whispered again.
Steve walked back into the kitchen where Kayla was sitting, staring over a cup of coffee.
"Isn�t the point of that stuff to keep you awake? You should be getting ready for sleep," Steve said, pointing to the coffee cup.
There was awkward quiet a moment before Kayla said; "I don�t want to argue about it. I just want you to be careful, okay?"
Steve nodded his head. "I will," he replied. He just stared at her for a moment.
"Did you see Stephanie?" Kayla asked.
"Yeah," Steve replied. He headed for the door. "Well, I should be going."
"Steve, wait." Kayla stood up. "Where do you have to be?"
Steve sighed. "Kayla," he said. "What do you want from me?"
Kayla looked at him. "What are you talking about?"
"It�s been how many years, Kayla. I�ve been gone all of Stephanie�s life. And you�re telling me you want me to come waltzing back in? You don�t have some fancy handsome doctor or business man waiting for you in California?"
"No," Kayla said, firmly. "I don�t."
"Well why not!" Steve yelled. "Why haven�t you got someone to make you happy?"
Kayla turned and started pacing the kitchen floor. "What is this, Steve? Is this you feeling guilty for not being around for Stephanie�s life? Is this you feeling guilty for not being there for me? What?"
"That�s right, I wasn�t there for you. I wasn�t there to help you raise a child. I wasn�t there to hold you at night. You deserve someone who is there."
Kayla looked at Steve. "You think I have to have someone to hold me at night to make me happy? You think I have to have someone around to help me raise our daughter? I didn�t."
"Why?" Steve asked again, this time his tone softer and more curious.
Kayla didn�t answer right away. She thought back to the man she remembered Steve to be. The man she knew she could share anything with. And she looked at the man who stood before her. His eye now haunted and hiding a dark past. His face older and showing the signs of a hard life. All the times she�d dreamed of having Steve with her. Of sharing things with him, of feeling his arms around her. And now he was here. She had to trust that same man was still there. "Because you were the love of my life. You were the one who would always have my heart."
Steve stepped forward, then recanted and stepped back. He shook his head. "Kayla."
A tear started down Kayla�s cheek. "I tried. I tried to find that kind of love with someone else. But I couldn�t. I couldn�t spend the rest of my life looking into a face that wasn�t yours. Looking into someone who I knew held my future. We had a great love, Steve. You tell me you don�t agree with that."
Steve closed his eyes and turned away from her. "It was a long time ago."
"Yes, it was. But you know what? Love doesn�t have a time limit. You don�t just stop loving someone. I loved you for so many years." She walked in front of him and looked at him. "I couldn�t stop loving you even if I wanted. We have been giving a second chance, Steve."
A tear now fell down Steve�s cheek. "I can�t�" he started to protest.
Kayla put her finger over his lip. "Don�t say it. Just stay with me tonight. You don�t have to stay forever, just tonight. Please?"
Steve held in a sob and closed his eye again. When he opened his eye Kayla was still looking at him. Pleading with him. He leaned in and kissed her. "Okay," he replied.
It was 1:30 AM according to the glowing red light of the clock on the bedside. He watched Kayla, asleep, wrapped only in a sheet lying next to him. He thought about the night they�d just shared. He was nervous but remembered how they always seemed to fit together so perfectly. As if their bodies were made to fit together in a way that only the two of them could fit. He tried to cover up his feelings. He knew he loved Kayla. He knew it from the moment he remembered her. And the thought that he would have to leave her, maybe forever, made his heart ache. But he had to do this.
He got out of the bed and put his clothes on. Then took one last glance at Kayla. He leaned in and kissed her temple. "Goodnight, Sweetness," he said. He walked to the door of the bedroom and turned to look back at her one last time. "I love you."
He walked down the stairs and out the door. He had to meet Joe and Victor at the airport.