While Kayla showered, Steve replaced her spot on the floor across from Stephanie. He’d found a pair of jeans and what used to be his favorite black button-down shirt. The freshly clean fabric felt so good going on, he let out sigh of pleasure.
The anger of his stolen 16 years had ebbed and flowed over the three years since his return, but since Joe had been born, he’d been able to get past it most of the time. It’s hard to be furious and angsty when you’ve got the family you always wanted staring you in the face every day. And he was thankful to have that back after not only all those years but the difficult ones after. The woman he loved still loved him, the daughter he left behind he got back, and the baby boy they didn’t know fate had planned was delivered to them, too. But that bitterness of what he’d lost was never quite soothed. It vacillated between anger at the ones who took him and anger at himself for not being strong enough to stop them, but it was always there somewhere deep within him.
Now, he sat across from his baby girl and bounced her seat gently up and down. She smiled and cooed and flailed her arms in glee. She looked at him like he was the only thing in her entire world, and he felt how much he loved her. What he was feeling was not a remembered love for his baby 19 years ago, and it was not what he was feeling for his now grown daughter. It was pure love for this baby that was currently Stephanie at the age of four months old, bouncing before him, with nothing in her eyes but that same, innate, unconditional love. And it was tangible. He could feel it start to relieve the pain of his absence. And he started to feel less like a man who failed his family and more like simply … her papa.
Steve was an emotional person. He always had been, despite his best efforts. And he felt every drop of that overwhelming love for Stephanie in that moment. Rather than cry, he was awed by this opportunity. By the chance to spend time with his family, love them, and be loved by them. Today. September 18, 1990. And he was going to take it.
“Hey Little Sweetness. You want me to tell you a bedtime story? I know you like stories. Ya know how I know that? ‘Cause on the day you were born, you were just a few hours old, I told you your very first story. I held you right in this arm here,” he told her as he held out his right arm to her. “You were all snug and warm, and I told you … about a baby girl named Stephanie. And how her daddy went and got his armor and slayed all the dragons in the land so that she … and her mama … and him … could live happily ever after.”
Stephanie laid in the bouncy seat at rapt attention as Steve continued to bounce it with his fingers when the undulating movement would wane.
“Well, I’m gonna tell you another story, Little Sweetness. One day not nearly long enough after that baby named Stephanie was born, a very bad dragon came to make trouble for them. Turns out her daddy slayed all the dragons in the land, except for this one who was hiding in Italy. And that dragon went and stole the daddy from his family. That wasn’t supposed to happen, now, but you know, this little baby was actually a very lucky girl, you know why, Sweetheart? ‘Cause she had the best mama in all the land. In all of time. And this fair lady, she put on her own armor that the daddy didn’t even know she had, and she fought to get the baby Stephanie’s daddy back for her. And the mama, she won that fight, slayed that dragon, and got their family back. That’s what she did. And then they really did live happily ever after.”
Kayla had come out of the bathroom with a robe and wet hair and tears streaming down her newly washed face. She came and sat beside Steve and laced her arm around his.
“You did, Sweetness,” he said to her while still looking at his daughter. “You’re the one who slayed that last dragon to bring me back from the dark.”
Kayla leaned over and kissed Steve on the cheek and reached over to tickle Stephanie’s tummy. The baby squealed and Steve and Kayla delighted in her.
Steve looked over at his wife with a light in his eye. “You were right, baby. Today we need to live. We need to go just be together in this house and be the mama and the papa and the baby Stephanie, together, living happily ever after. We can deal with October 23rd another day. Not today.”
“That’s a good idea,” she smiled. “What do you think, Stephanie?”
“Hmm. Right now, I think she’s thinking about sheep,” Steve said looking over to his now napping baby.
“As they stood up, Kayla’s robe opened slightly, revealing the curve of her breast. Steve looked away as if this was the stolen glance of someone other than a man married to his wife. He didn’t know why, but he felt it was a step he shouldn’t take yet. Kayla looked up at him, and the look of Steve with that hair in that shirt made her incapable of looking away from his beautiful face.
“I always did like you with your hair wet,” Steve said, reaching out to touch it. It wasn’t the first time he’d said that to her. There was something about her wet hair that just endeared her to him.
“I know,” Kayla said. “You always liked my hair.”
The sexual tension was starting to build, and she couldn’t stop herself from blurting, “And boobs.”
Steve raised an eyebrow to her and feigned innocence, to which she gave him a “caught ya” look.
Trading grins, Kayla went to her drawers to find something to wear and realized that all the clothes she now had she wasn’t really that fond of anymore. “Steve, did I own anything without shoulder pads? Maybe a nice t-shirt? Or yoga pants?”
“In 1990, Sweetness? Wasn’t yoga still weird then?”
“No! Plenty of people did it then. Didn’t they?”
“I wouldn’t know, but I’ll tell you this, you didn’t own yoga pants or whatever those things are.”
“There must be a pair of leggings in here, then, I mean, it’s 1990!”
Finally giving up, Kayla settled for a set of plain white underwear, a bra in a size that made her snort, and a green jumper with a blousy white patterned shirt. It seemed like the most comfortable thing she owned. What was I thinking?
Steve tried not to watch her dress, and Kayla tried not to feel weird with him failing to succeed. She let her hair air dry, and the long waves fell in a pretty waterfall around her face. By the time she was done, Steve had stopped trying to avert his eyes and was all out staring at her.
“I think it’s time you and I did something, Sweetness.”
“You do?” she asked shyly.
“Eat.”
Kayla smiled. “Yep,” she answered, “I believe it is.”
Kayla lifted her napping daughter out of her bouncy seat. “I thought you never wake a sleeping baby,” Steve said.
“In this case, I think whatever rules there are are completely moot. Besides,” she whispered, “I don’t think this woke her.”
Steve looked over at the clock on his nightstand and saw that they were still in the morning hours. “Well, I don’t know about you, baby, but I’m thinking an omelet and toast with lots of butter is the way to begin our day here, don’t you?”
“Definitely,” she said, her mouth genuinely watering. “What if we don’t have eggs?”
“You doubt me, Sweetness? Are we not always stocked with eggs?”
Kayla laughed and agreed that Steve did a good job keeping the staple foods around. The three of them headed downstairs for the second time that day. Steve breezed from one end of the kitchen to the other with relative ease, remembering where most things were, and cooked them omelets and toast, plus a full package of bacon. “What? I’m hungry,” Steve said when Kayla gaped at him placing the last of the entire package in the skillet.
“There’s only two of us standing here, do you plan on inviting the neighbors?”
“Baby, you can’t have too much bacon.”
The three of them ate like there was no tomorrow because maybe there won’t be, and when they were done, Steve prepared another bottle of formula for Stephanie. Which she sucked down so quick it made his head spin.
“Was she always this hungry?” Steve asked.
“Yep.”
And that’s how the day for this little family went. No one had ever been happier to do so many ordinary things in the confines of their own home on a beautiful day. The first thing they did was tour the house they hadn’t seen in so long, taking in every nook and cranny their eyes could take in. From the basement to the attic to the empty bedroom that held boxes of stuff long forgotten, no corner was uninteresting to them. No piece of furniture went without a sweep of their fingers. And no window was passed without the unasked question, what’s out there, entering their minds.
“Do you think we should, ya know, call the neighbors? Or our families? I saw my mother yesterday – or earlier or whatever that was – but maybe you want to call your mom, now? Or Adrienne?”
It had entered Steve’s mind, but it didn’t sit well with him. He just had a bad feeling about it. It didn’t take him long to figure out exactly where his mother was and what Adrienne and Justin were up to. He thought he might even remember Jo’s phone number – some things just stick with you. And he did want to reach out and hear the voices of his mother and his sister. But for a reason he couldn’t quite put his finger on yet, he was leery to make outside contact. Were there rules here? He was worried about what would happen if he made the wrong move. Which was also why the three of them never left each others’ sight.
“I’m not sure, baby, I just think we should be careful until we know for sure what’s going on.”
“What if we never find out what’s going on? We can’t avoid people forever. I mean, how else are we going to prevent you from dying?”
He put his arm around her and said, “I know you’re right, baby.” Kayla knew her husband in any time, however, and she could tell that he’d made up his mind. “But I think for today it’ll keep.” She wasn’t so sure, but Kayla wasn’t about to argue with him and accepted his decision. The truth was she was relieved that he didn’t want to attempt to contact anyone. Part of her certainly wanted to see them all in this time, but most of her was still, frankly, freaked out. Staying with her Steve in this time and getting to be together as a family just the three of them was precious, and she wanted it to themselves today.
One hour turned into the next, which turned into two more before they found themselves back to the kitchen for lunch. Kayla handled this meal, sticking four pieces of bread into the toaster and made them BLTs with the leftover bacon. Actually, they were more like BL’s; she didn’t find any tomatoes. “That’s ok, Sweetness, everything goes with bacon.”
Shortly thereafter, Stephanie began to fuss quite a bit. Whatever was happening to them, this little Stephanie was, without a doubt, every bit the 4-month-old baby she was supposed to be, and she needed her nap. They still did not want to be separated, however, so they spent the next three hours in Stephanie’s room. They started out sitting next to each other on the floor of her room with their backs against the wall, holding hands, and whispering memories shared in this home all those years ago. Later, they read the newspaper and got a much better sense of what was going on in Salem and the world these days. Then they held hands and did the crossword puzzle together. “Hey, we did this one before, baby, remember 9-across?” Steve joked in a whisper, “I knew that one then, too!”
Kayla jabbed him in the ribs with her elbow and whispered, “knock it off” with a wry smile.
Looking at the date on every page of the newspaper, Kayla couldn’t help but be reminded of the impending one coming on October 23rd. She did everything she could to push it away and just live in the moment of the crossword puzzle.
When the baby woke, Steve changed her diaper for the third time and kissed her baby feet.
“You’ve always been a pro in the diaper department,” Kayla said.
“Yes, I am,” he baby talked to Stephanie. Good thing, too, ‘cause you about had an explosion down there!” Kayla laughed, and Steve saw the light in her eyes. She was enjoying this day as much as he was. “Come on, Mama! It’s time for an airplane ride!” Then he scooped the baby up and airplaned her out of the room with whirring noises, down the hall to their room, back out, down the stairs, and back into the livingroom. Kayla laughed right along with Steve, and Stephanie just cackled. The three of them played like that together for a solid hour before Steve finally fell in a heap onto the couch.
“Whoooo! Oh, man! You’d think I didn’t have a baby back home! I should have more energy at this age, right?” He was breathing harder than he thought he should have, and this time he didn’t catch his reference to Joe. Then again, Kayla didn’t take it as hard this time, either. Being with Stephanie this way didn’t make her worry any less about where he was and who was with him while they were off … wherever this was … but it did keep her too busy to dwell on something she had no way of fixing at the moment.
Kayla placed Stephanie on her belly for some tummy time, then she laid on her own opposite her and rested her chin upon her layered hands. “Look at my little Beauty!” she cooed to her baby. “There ya go! Up! Lift up, up, up, Baby Girl!”
All day, Steve had reveled in his daughter. Every waking moment he had was with her. He held her, watched Kayla hold her, played with her, changed her diapers, listened to her cry for a reason they couldn’t figure out, watched her stop for equally mysterious baby reasons, and just enjoyed being with her. Now, as he looked on at the two of them laying on the floor having tummy time, Steve was moved. Moved by this gift. This chance to live a day in his life over again. It was absolute joyousness, and he just wanted to stop the clock, get off here, and restart it again.
Kayla looked up at him. “What are you thinking about?” she asked.
“You, baby,” he said solemnly. “Her. Us. I’m thinking about how much I love you both. How much I love our family. How there’s nothing on this earth I want more right now than to keep us here forever.”
Stephanie had reached her limit on her belly, and Kayla scooped her back up and nuzzled her neck. “I want that, too,” she said looking up at him from the floor. “I want that so much, Steve.” They chose not to state the obvious out loud. Would all this be here an hour from now, let alone in the morning.
In the next hour the sun had begun to hang low on the horizon, and they opened the door to enjoy the breeze. Steve became introspective for a moment. He bowed his head and said, “I don’t know how this day could have been any better, Sweetness.” Then he leaned over to her and kissed his wife’s lips tenderly and with promise.
“I do,” Kayla said pulling away laying the side of her head on his chest. “Let’s go outside just a few steps onto the porch and see our baby in the daylight before the sun sets.”
Standing at the threshold of the doorway, Steve couldn’t deny that he was itching to feel the sun on his face. “Ok,” he nodded.
As a unit, with Stephanie held out in front of Kayla facing the world, the three of them stepped from the safety of the house to the outdoors of the front stoop. And then …
… nothing happened. Kayla let out the breath she’d been holding, and Steve nervously plowed a hand through his hair and adjusted his patch. But other than the birds chirping and the faint sound of a lawn being mowed somewhere, not much else was going on in the vicinity of the one step they took out their front door. Even so, Steve felt immediately cautious and darted his eye hither and yon looking for some sign of surveillance.
Kayla took another step to lean over the small railing and looked back at Steve. “Boo!” she said playfully.
“Oh, you’re a comedian now?” he said and quickly followed her.
Kayla closed her eyes and inhaled deeply of the fresh air as Stephanie kicked her legs. Eventually they got bold enough to go sit on the porch swing. “Mmm,” Kayla sighed with her head on Steve’s shoulder. “This is wonderful.” Steve held his wife tightly with her hair tickling the skin of his neck and felt a warmth and contentment in the golden September sunset that quelled his demons. Most of them, anyway.
Eventually, the wind chilled, and they returned indoors. Before they knew it, dinner was upon them, and Steve jibed, “well, we’re still here, Sweetness, so how about dinner?”
“We really are, aren’t we,” she said with a look of awe on her face. “Well, we don’t have tomatoes, so what else did you have in mind?”
Steve was eager to cook a nice meal, and he went to the fridge and took out all the ingredients he’d need for beef stroganoff. Kayla prepared some rice cereal she found in the cabinet with the formula for Stephanie, and by 6pm they were all eating a fantastic dinner.
“Rice cereal?” Kayla offered, pointing the baby spoon at him.
“Gee, hate to pass it up, but, no.”
“Don’t know what you’re missing.”
“Yeah, well this ain’t my first time at the rodeo, baby, I think I do.”
Kayla giggled, and Stephanie banged her tray for the spoonful her papa graciously declined.
Afterward, she could see Steve tiring before her eyes, so Kayla told her husband to sit and let her clean up. He didn’t fight her on it. He sat down in the kitchen chair, caught her arm and said, “Come here.” He pulled her down to him so that she straddled his lap facing him. Kayla smiled and wrapped her arms around his neck. “This has been an amazing day, baby. Being here with my amazing wife and our amazing daughter in this amazing house.” He reached up and played with her fingers in his own, then pulled her head down to his. “I love you, Kayla,” he whispered meaningfully.
“I love you, too,” she whispered back through plump, smiling lips.
She then covered his lips with hers and kissed him lovingly. For the first time since they’d arrived here, Steve couldn’t resist but sink his tongue into her mouth searching for the warm wetness of her own. When he found it, Kayla started to electrify. It didn’t take long for her to feel Steve harden beneath her, sparking her own strong arousal. Brought back to earth by Stephanie’s flailing arms knocking her rice cereal onto the floor, it was all Kayla could do to tear herself away, standing up swiftly.
“Oh, come on, baby, you were just kissin’ me, you’re gonna kill me, here.”
Kayla licked her lips, snickered, and grabbed a dishtowel. “I think, ah – I think we should –”
“I think we should, too, baby.”
“Steve,” she shot him a look, “I think,” she said purposefully, “that we should get this little one down for the night pretty soon.” The look on her face, however, said she was thinking something else.
Steve’s groin was aching, and his heart was swelling, and when his head cleared slightly, he realized he wasn’t sure what they should or shouldn’t be doing right now. He knew what he wanted to be doing, but that should part nagged at him. So, he relented and played with his baby while Kayla cleaned up the dishes. When Kayla bent down to clean the one up off the floor, he stole another look at her pert breasts through the collar of her shirt and felt a bit giddy.
The two of them went back upstairs and gave their daughter a bath together continuing to take pleasure out of their family time. Then everything came to a grinding halt. As Kayla changed the baby into a warm onesie for the night, they both realized there was nowhere to put her down where they could all be in the same room. Again, they went through the What if she disappears? conversation, worry etching Kayla’s pretty face. “I don’t think we thought this far ahead,” Kayla said.
“Well, to be honest, I never thought we’d get this far.”
Kayla grinned and looked down. “I remember you saying that once before.”
“Yeah,” Steve smiled back at her and cupped her face in his hand, remembering right after they made love the first time on the roof of the loft. “Glad I was wrong. Both times.”
Kayla leaned her face into his palm, then turned and kissed it.
“Baby,” Steve blew out his breath, “how many real hours have we been away from home now, 12 or 13? I don’t know if it’s right or wrong, but being here? It feels right. Being with my girls, my family,” he said, bringing Kayla into an embrace as they looked down into the crib at Stephanie, “this is just home, baby. It’s home.”
“It is,” Kayla said softly.
“I don’t want to let you out of my sight, and if we didn’t have the monitor, I’d insist we sleep here on the floor.”
“Maybe we should …”
“Remember what you said to me this morning, Sweetness? Let’s just do what we did then.”
Kayla looked up to him unsure, but the alternative was sleeping on her floor or having her sleep in the bouncy seat, which wasn’t an option. “Ok,” she reluctantly agreed. “Good night, Baby Girl,” Kayla cooed down at her. I love you, Stephanie.” Steve leaned over and rested his chin on the crib side. “You remember that story I told you, now, Little Sweetness. Happily ever after. I promise,” hoping to God he didn’t have to break that promise to her again in a month’s time. He lowered the crib side, kissed her head, and inhaled her baby scent one last time for the night. “I love you,” he whispered. Then he raised the crib side, and they headed back for their bedroom.