Always
Chapter One
September 5, 1978
The day couldn't have been more perfect if they'd custom-ordered it. The sky was the color of clear aquamarine crystal and sparkled just as brilliantly. The wildflowers had cooperated, staying in full bloom for several extra weeks, their scent wafting gently across the hillside on the warm Indian Summer breeze. The emerald-green bluff lofted majestically over the Pacific Ocean, where the waves were just high enough to be powerfully beautiful without being threatening. The 200-plus chairs, the flowered trellis and the outdoor altar, set up the previous evening, had not been rained on. It seemed that even the forces of nature understood and respected how much this couple had gone through before finally making it to this momentous occasion.
Even if their relationship did have a somewhat sickening beginning...
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September 5, 1954
"Got enough food on that tray?" a pert little voice challenged.
Steve Austin, feeling very full of himself now that he was in third grade, looked around - and down. A tiny, little girl, her blonde hair in pigtails, stood with her hands on her hips, looking up at him. "Beat it, Kid," he scoffed, walking away. All he had on his tray was two cheeseburgers, french fries, an apple and a cookie - not so much for a boy in third grade.
"You're rude!" she declared, taking several fast, little skip-steps to stay right behind him.
"What are you, like...three?"
"Five," she answered, completely undeterred. "I'm Jaime."
"So?"
"What's your name?"
"Leave me alone." He tried to dodge and evade, but she was sticking to him like glue.
"You gonna eat all that, Mister Leave Me Alone?"
"So what if I am?"
"So - you're a pig, Mister Leave Me Alone."
"Steve! Ok?" He found an empty table and sat down. "Now will you go away?"
Jaime stubbornly sat right across from him, swinging her Mary-Jane-covered feet since they didn't reach the floor. "Steve," she said, as though trying it on for size.
"I think you dropped your pacifier on the playground, Kid," Steve said, digging into his cheeseburger. When he looked up, she was still sitting there, sipping her carton of milk and watching him intently. "What?" he asked, impatient and annoyed.
"You must be really hungry."
"Might even have seconds."
"Betcha can't eat one of everything."
"Could if I wanted to."
"I dare you. I double-dare you!"
A few minutes later, Steve was back at the table, smiling confidently. In front of him, he had his half-eaten cheeseburger, a hot dog, two sandwiches: grilled cheese and peanut butter and jelly, the second cheeseburger, potato chips, french fries, an apple, a banana and a chocolate chip cookie. Jaime watched with ever-widening eyes as he polished off every crumb.
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At the end of the school day, Steve spent nearly twenty minutes in the little boys' room. He'd been too stubborn - or too macho, even at age eight - to go to the nurse. When he was finally able to leave the bathroom...there she was again! Jaime stood in the hallway, waiting for him. Steve braced himself for some world-class teasing, until he noticed that her wide, hazel eyes were full of tears.
"I...I'm sorry," she whispered, staring at the floor.
"For what?"
"You got sick."
"Says who?"
Jaime shrugged. "I live near you. Want me to walk home with you, since you're sick? I called my mom, and she said it was ok."
"I'm not sick, and I'm not walking home with a girl."
"Ok," she said agreeably. Jaime picked up her brand-new little school bag and walked away.
Steve walked slowly out of the building and began heading for home. Halfway there, he sat down on a rock and tried to regain control of his stomach.
"Now can I walk you home?" Jaime appeared beside him.
"Alright." It would be good to have someone to walk with, even if she was a girl. They didn't talk much, though; at least not at first. Steve didn't understand what this 'baby' was after, and Jaime was trying to figure why he couldn't see that they were supposed to be friends.
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September 5, 1978
The chosen spot was not only the ideal size and location with the perfect atmosphere; it was also happily ironic. As the wedding guests stepped onto the path that led up the gentle slope to the bluff at the top, they passed the very rock Steve had paused to rest upon, the day Jaime had so insistently entered his life, exactly 24 years earlier, to the day and very nearly to the exact hour.
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