Chapter 24

STEVE -- Thursday, October 12, 1961

The trip to Poughkeepsie wasn't going well. I got off to a late start, and was slowed down by a couple of accidents that caused major traffic jams along the way. Finally, towards nine o'clock, I was heading north on the Taconic parkway, knowing that soon I would be with Sandy. My troubles weren't over; I took a wrong turn after I left the parkway and got hopelessly lost on back roads. That cost me another half hour until I finally found a gas station and was able to ask directions.

Finally, I pulled into her driveway, giving the engine a shot of gas to cause it to roar and let her know I had arrived. She didn't come to the door, so I figured that she might have fallen asleep over a book. I got my bag, and went to the back door. When I discovered that it was locked, I set my bag down and rang the bell. I saw Sandy through the window. When she realized that I had finally arrived, her face lit up, and she threw the door open, leaped into my arms and gave me a warm hug and lots of sweet kisses. I said, "Dear love, I'm sorry I'm so late. I've had a ghastly trip, between traffic jams and getting lost after I got off the parkway!"

She said, "Don't be silly! You're here, aren't you? That's all that matters right now! I'm so glad you are here!," and she hugged me again.

Her obvious pleasure in my arrival made me forget the hassles of the trip, and I told her, "I've missed you so much! It's wonderful to be with you again!"

I took my bag inside, and she secured the door again. I asked her, "Is your Mom out again with her friend tonight?"

"No, she had to work the evening shift tonight; the regular supervisor has been sick for a few days, and it was her turn to substitute tonight. She'll be home sometime after eleven".

"I see. Is there any chance you could fix me a bite to eat? I had fixed myself a sandwich to eat while I drove, and managed to forget it. It'll be there on the kitchen countertop when I get home!"

Sandy exclaimed, "Poor dear! You must be starving! Sit down at the table and I'll find something".

I gave her a lecherous look and said, "Well, food is one of the things I've been starving for!"

She came over to me, gave me another warm hug and kiss, and said, "You're not the only one!"

She finally pried herself out of my arms and opened the refrigerator. She said, "I know you'll like this! It's Mom's beef stew, left over from dinner last night".

"That sounds very good!"

She quickly warmed up the stew, put a French roll and the stew on a plate, and poured me a glass of water. It didn't take me long to polish it all off. I took my plate and glass over to the sink, and said to her, "Now, as I was saying...".

It was her turn to give me an incredibly warm and sexy look, as she said, "And that, dear one, sounds very good to me!"

Soon we were upstairs in her room, and I held her gently in my arms, saying, "Sandy, Sandy, Sandy! I love you so much, so very much!"

She caressed my face, saying, "And I love you too, my dearest one!"

Slowly I undressed her, and then she took my clothes off. I caught my breath when I saw, once again, how lovely her body looked, and started running my hands up and down her back. She retaliated by touching me very gently, caressing me with a featherweight touch. We kept it up for a few moments, until, when I started lightly touching her lovely boobs and got to her nipples, she grabbed me and pulled me down onto the bed. Soon we were lost in each other, tenderly caressing, savoring the closeness and the sweetness. Gradually, our needs took control, and the pace picked up. Finally, we were moaning almost incoherently as we both arrived at the glorious high that preceded a crashing climax.

As we came down from the peak, I put my arms around her and held her gently but closely, as we murmured loving words to each other. We drifted off to sleep, content in each other's arms.

When I woke up on Friday morning, and I saw her dear sweet face on the pillow, it filled my heart with love for her. I carefully got out of bed, so as not to wake her, and made a quick trip to the bathroom. When I came back, she was stirring, but not fully awake. I slipped under the covers, trying not to disturb her. I didn't succeed, for suddenly she was kissing me, saying, "Steve, love, this is so wonderful!"

I said, "Yes, it certainly is, dear one!"

We held each other and must have drifted off to sleep again, because the next thing I knew, I was alone in the bed. Just then, Sandy entered the room, holding two mugs of coffee. She put one down and handed me the other, saying, "Up and at 'em, Tigger! You promised me a hike, and today's the day; I'm not sure if the good weather will last after tonight!"

I put my mug down, and pulled her to me for a tender 'good morning' kiss. She said, "I could stay like this for a long time, but I've had my shower, and it's your turn. Let's get going so we can get on the trail!"

Reluctantly, I let her go and headed for the bathroom and a quick shower. When I got downstairs, Sheila had fixed sausage, eggs, and biscuits for breakfast. We chatted amiably while we ate, and I helped her with the dishes. Sandy quickly made sandwiches and put them, along with some fruit, soda, and her camera, in a pack. In a few minutes, we were out the door. I asked her, "Does the loop trail sound right for today?"

She said, "Oh, yes! But I have to tell you; the day before you came, I was on that trail with the club, and it hit me how badly I had treated you after you came back from wherever you were. Thank God for Chad and his friend Liz! When it finally got too much for me to bear, she had the sense to help me back to the car and drive me home. Dear Steve, let's go there, and let's remember the good times we had there before!"

She seemed a bit shaky, and I just held her close for a few minutes, until she gave me a warm kiss and said, "I'm OK now. Let's go!"

"Why don't you drive my car?"

"I was hoping you'd let me do that!"

Soon we were off. It was a beautiful fall day, crisp but not chilly. After a nice drive, we were at the parking lot at the foot of the trail and set out on our hike. After about five minutes, we went around a bend in the trail. I saw a red fox on the trail, and held Sandy back, putting my finger on my lips to tell her to make as little noise as possible. It was beautiful, and we were able to admire it for a few moments before it sensed our presence and scampered off into the brush. We kept silent for a while, and noticed the songs and calls of many different birds. My father had tried on several occasions to get me and my brothers interested in birds. While I could identify a few of the more common ones, I hadn't kept up with it once I had started at MIT. Sandy was fascinated by the ones we were seeing, and kept asking me what they were. After I said, "I don't know that one either" for about the third time, she said, "Tomorrow I'm going out to buy a birding book! I want to know more about what we've been seeing!"

Before I could answer, we heard the loud distinctive drumming of a woodpecker, along with the sound of wood being chipped. I saw it first and pointed it out to Sandy. It was huge! I whispered to her, "This is a good day for us! That's a pileated woodpecker; they aren't all that common!"

She exclaimed quietly, "It's beautiful!" Carefully, she extricated her camera from the pack and was able to get one picture of the bird before it took wing and flew deeper into the woods.

She hugged me, saying, "Steve, we know we like to hike, but we need to keep our eyes open more and look around us! Look at what we've seen so far today, and we just barely got started!"

"Yes, and when you get that birding book, I know I want to spend some time looking at it myself!"

It was a special, almost magical day for us. We quietly continued along the trail, keeping a close watch out for birds and animals, until we arrived at the clearing where Sandy and I had taken each other's pictures early last spring. There was an opening in the trees, and a magnificent panoramic view of mountains in the distance, even more beautiful with the colors of leaves that had started to turn. We sat on a log and held each other, looking at the view. I knew what I wanted to say to Sandy, but I was nervous about how to start; I was also scared to death that she might reject my proposal. Maybe she really wanted the children that I could never give her!

Finally, I said, "Dearest love, I've been thinking a lot about us in the past two weeks. I know I want you to be a part of my life for a very long time! Sandy, will you marry me?"

SANDY - Friday, October 13, 1961

He asked me! I was just about to ask him myself!

I tightened my arms around him as much as I possibly could, screaming, "YES! YES! Oh, God, YES! and then smothered him with kisses. I realized that suddenly I had started weeping joyfully. I was happy beyond belief! I looked at my dear Steve, and realized that his eyes were almost as wet as mine. He tried to kiss my tears away, which was difficult because I was trying to do the same for him!

Finally, he said, "Dear, dear, dearest Kitten, I'm so glad! You've brightened up my life so much in the past year, and I couldn't bear the prospect of a life without you! I was so scared that you might say 'no'!"

I kissed him again, and gently said, "Silly! It's been that way for me also, and I was just about to ask you!"

He went on, "I was worried that you really wanted children".

I kissed him again, and told him, "No, I'd always planned that engineering would be my life. Now my plans are to be a good wife to you, and engineering after that!"

"I hoped that would be how it would be, but wasn't really certain".

After a moment, he said, "On a more practical note, I'm stuck in Washington for a little bit more than two years, and my Navy pay is pretty meager compared to yours, although I'm scheduled for a promotion and a small raise early next year. I'm afraid you're going to have to be the major breadwinner in our marriage; at least until 1964, when I can get out of the Navy and either become a civilian employee at the agency or find a job somewhere else. But, do you think you can find something around Washington?"

"You know I'm not a gold digger! Don't worry about it one bit! I'm sure I can manage to get a transfer to one of the IBM Federal Systems operations down there!"

I continued, "Part of me wants us to get married as soon as possible, but part of me says that I really want to finish with Reaper and see it shipped to you guys! Right now that's supposed to be right after the first of the year, but it may move another month".

"I understand completely. Of course, once we get Reaper, I'm the one who's going to be under pressure. I'll need to get my real program working as quickly as possible and into production! Maybe we should think about early spring next year. How large a wedding do you want?"

"Just the two of us would be wonderful, but I guess we really should at least include our families. I definitely don't want a fancy production or a wedding gown; that's what my sister had, and look where she is now!"

"I'm glad you want to keep it small and simple, because that's also my preference. But let's talk about this later; right now I want to hug you again, give you a kiss, and then lets eat our lunch!"

The emotion must have spurred our appetites! We devoured our sandwiches, with frequent interruptions for hugs and kisses. Steve looked so happy! I got out my camera, and took several pictures of him, and then he insisted that I let him take some of me. We even set the camera on a log and used its self-timer to take one of us together!

Finally, we collected our trash, stuffed it in the pack, continued on the loop trail, and back to the parking lot. We didn't make fast progress; if Steve wasn't stopping to hug me, I was grabbing him from behind and giving him a big kiss. We came to another clearing, and he pointed out a hawk in a tall dead tree across a ravine. We watched for a few moments as he suddenly swooped down off his perch, grabbed a mouse or some sort of critter, and carried it, squealing pitifully in terror, back up to his perch, where he proceeded to have his lunch.