Chapter Three
September 5, 1978
Steve sat with his feet up in his favorite easy chair, contentedly sharing memories with Oscar, Rudy and Jim. He'd need a lot less time to get ready than his bride, leaving him more time to think and to remember...
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September 14, 1954
Steve wiped the sand from his face, trying to pretend the water in his eyes was from sand and not tears. The truth was, he'd been forced to choose between hurting his new friend and preserving his image in front of his peers, who weren't really his friends at all. Steve, just as many other kids do at that age, had made the wrong choice.
Jaime glared at him until he'd brushed away enough sand to be able to clearly see her anger, then she turned on her heels and ran into the house. Steve sniffled his entire way home.
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September 20, 1954
Steve had spent a very lonely week, walking home by himself, kicking pebbles as he went and pretending not to notice Jaime skipping merrily down the sidewalk and then the path to her house. Steve's mother had noticed his mood and, since she hadn't seen the tiny, pigtailed tomboy in a few days, she suggested Steve's new stepfather, Jim, have a talk with him. After a few protesting choruses of but...she's too little to be a girl, Steve was walking down the path to Jaime's house with one hand hidden behind his back.
He found her in the backyard, nestled in the forked branch of her favorite tree. "Hey, Jaime, can I come up?" he called.
Jaime made a face and stuck out her tongue. "Why?"
"Because...I brought you something."
"I'm mad at you, Steve Austin!" She turned her back and was quiet for a good ten seconds. "What is it?"
Steve climbed very carefully with one hand and both feet, taking great pains not to jostle what he held behind his back. Once he was beside her, he extended the previously hidden fist, full of dandelions gone to seed, their fluffy white tops still fully intact.
Jaime's whole face lit up with excitement, her anger forgotten. "Wish flowers!" she proclaimed happily. She was, after all, five years old.
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September 5, 1978
"So the first advice I ever gave you really did help," Jim Elgin said proudly as he adjusted his cummerbund. He would be walking Jaime down the aisle and had to be ready earlier than the other men, since he was meeting her at Mrs. Noah's house and riding with her in the limo, the approximately three blocks to the wedding site. The other men, with less than a block to travel, were planning to walk.
Steve laughed. "You wanted me to take her some real flowers. Knowing Jaime, that would've gotten me a black eye."
Jim chuckled. "You're probably right. Now - Oscar and Rudy, make sure this nervous groom stays back here in the den, until it's time to leave. If he's anywhere near the front windows when our limo goes by, Jaime'll have all of our heads on a platter." He shook Steve's hand, hugged him, then patted his back. "I'll see you at the altar, Son."
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September 22, 1954
Steve was soon presented with the chance to make another schoolyard choice, even more daunting and difficult than the first one had been. Jaime didn't instantly pounce upon him for their after school walk home, and he soon discovered why. As he crossed the playground, looking for her, a commotion by the fence in the far corner caught his eye. Jaime was being bullied - lifted up by her pigtails - by a fifth-grader.
In true Jaime-style, she was refusing to cry (the reaction the bully was probably aiming for) and instead was madder than hell, kicking fiercely at his shins and knee-caps. She was, for the moment, holding her own, but the bully's mistreatment was more than Steve could tolerate. Without a thought for his own well-being, he stormed over to help his friend.
"Put her down!" Steve demanded.
The bully barely glanced at him. "Both of you together still couldn't make me," he sneered.
"Yeah, well, it's a real big deal that you can take on a five-year-old. I'm so impressed." Steve yanked on the bigger boy's shoulder. "Now, put her down!" When there was no response, he puffed out his chest, drew back his arm and delivered the very first punch of his eight-year-old life.
Three things happened, all at once: the bully let go of Jaime, Steve received his very first bonafide black eye, and he gained a lifelong friend.
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September 5, 1978
Oscar listened to Steve's reminiscing with his own nostalgic smile and memories he knew should never be shared, of the first time he'd ever seen Jaime. She was on Steve's arm, her eyes sparkling as she gazed at him, one day when Oscar had visited Jim and Helen's ranch with an assignment for Steve.
He'd been instantly captivated by the lithe, leggy blonde with the wide, expressive hazel eyes. It only took that initial glance and brief meeting, though, for Oscar to see how right Jaime and Steve were together.
Over time, after Jaime had become bionic and Oscar began to know her as a person, he found himself, unexpectedly, falling very deeply in love. It was a feeling he knew he could never express or allow to surface because Oscar loved Jaime enough to want what was best for her. As much as he wanted - no, needed - her in his own arms, Oscar's heart and mind both knew without a doubt that Jaime belonged with Steve. She always had.
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