Credit: Howard Wise/JPI, NBC/Courtesy of the Everett Collection
All products and services featured are independently chosen by editors. However, Soaps.com may receive a commission on orders placed through its retail links, and the retailer may receive certain auditable data for accounting purposes.
It may just be true what they say. They don’t make ‘em like they used to — at least when it comes to supercouples. Finding the right ingredients to create a supercouple can be frustratingly difficult. Once upon a time, it seemed like Days of Our Lives was a veritable supercouple factory, churning out mega popular couples with ease. These days, it seems like it can be tougher for couples to catch on to the same degree as the likes of Kimberly and Shane, John and Marlena, Steve and Kayla.
But people change, stories change and, perhaps most importantly, storytelling changes. That’s something Mary Beth Evans notes to Swooon.com in talking about how “Stayla” got started nearly 40 years ago.
“Unlike today’s coupledom,” Evans points out, “we were put together from day one and it’s always been about us. There were things that broke us up, but they always loved each other. They never didn’t love each other, and that’s not how it is at all today.”
For folks who weren’t watching back in the day, Kayla was initially briefly played by Catherine Mary Stuart in the early ‘80s. Roman and Bo’s sister left, and when she returned in 1986, Evans took over. Kayla and Steve crossed paths right from the beginning of Evans’ tenure, though, the actress recalls, it took years of being drawn to each other and in love before they actually became official.
But once that happened, their fate, Nichols explains to Swoon, was pretty much sealed.
“We’re a couple who have always loved one another,” he explains. “And when we were not together, when we were apart, it was always because something happened.”
“I feel like we’re one of the last holdouts in that,” Evans says, “but I love it. I feel so lucky at that.”
And, as Nichols puts it, “We were never not together in our minds. We were always in love.”
That’s ridiculously sweet, but it could also give us hope for another popular couple, albeit a much more recent one. Because as far as Billy Flynn is concerned, there will never be another love like Abigail for Chad. She may be gone, but Chad will never let her go.
That’s what’s made this latest fake Abigail story so painful for a lot of fans. We were teased with a return to a great couple, only to learn it’s all one big con. But it’s a con that Steve, at least, is onto, as he just proved Abigail is nothing but a fraud. (Missed the ruse that proved it? Check out yesterday’s recap here.)
Maybe that’s where they all tie together and gives us hope for the real Abigail and Chad. Steve was dead and gone for 16 years, but once he returned and reclaimed his memories, he and Kayla were back and as strong as ever. And though Abigail may be dead for now — and could be gone for years to come — her love story with Chad could pick up once again some day, just like her aunt and uncle’s.
There’s always hope, especially when some couples are just… meant to be.
