FLASHBACK: 'Another World' The Story of Steven, Rachel & Alice (Part 4)

Steven Frame (George Reinholt) and Alice Matthews (Jacqueline Courtney)
began seeing each other frequently but Rachel Davis Matthews (Robin
Strasser) interfered, inadvertently at first.

ANOTHER WORLD: The Story of Steven, Rachel & Alice

The Soap Box
Vol. IV No. 6 June 1979
by Bryna Laub

(continued from Part 3)

Steven and Alice were now seeing each other often. To Steven, Alice represented the culmination of everything he had worked for, the very reason he had fought his way off that dirt farm in Oklahoma and up the ladder to overwhelming success. Alice was a real lady, the very symbol of respectability and quality.

Steven didn't talk much about his childhood. He told Alice about his many brothers and sisters, explaining he helped them financially now but had otherwise lost contact with them. She realized without his putting it into words that even thinking about his past opened a raw wound.

In Steven, Alice found a kind of maturity she had never seen before. Beside him all the young men she had dated were like children and she felt a new awareness of herself as a woman when she was with him. She liked that. She liked all the new feelings she had when she was with Steven.

But inadvertently Rachel came between them. Russ had received an appointment to a much-coveted residency at a prestigious hospital in the east but Rachel, still recuperating in the hospital, made it clear she didn't want to leave Bay City. With little resistance, Russ gave in to her and refused the offer.

A few weeks later, while waiting with Steven at the Matthews' home for Alice and Russ to return from work, Rachel discussed the decision with Steven and was surprised to discover he felt Russ should have overridden her objections and taken the residency. No man should let a woman, even his wife, affect his business decisions, he informed her.

When Rachel later told Russ that Steven felt he had made a mistake in letting her affect the residency decision, Russ was angry that Rachel discussed their personal affairs with an outsider and was furious that Steven would belittle him to his own wife.

Steven was strong, in control and arrogant--except
where Alice was concerned.

When Alice learned of the situation she coldly informed Steven that Matthews family loyalty was very strong and when one member made a decision, the others didn't question it but supported it wholeheartedly. Steven now saw a whole new side of Alice's personality. Her fragile exterior concealed an intensely-proud spirit and an uncompromising sense of what was right. But Steven thought her attitude was somewhat unreasonable. After all, he'd warned her he was blunt and said what he thought. And when she refused his invitation for another date he informed her that, if she wanted to see him again, the next move was up to her.

To Alice's surprise, he meant exactly that. She assumed he'd back down and call when he cooled off and when several weeks went by, she discovered his absence mattered far more than she thought it would. But her pride wouldn't let her make the first move.

At first, Rachel took Alice to task for letting Steven get away but Alice made it clear Rachel was referring to Steven's money and material possessions and she didn't care at all about those things. Love and understanding, she carefully explained, were far more important to her. So Rachel began to think along other lines. If Alice was indeed out of the picture, maybe she, Rachel, had a chance.

Continue reading Part 5 of a very detailed flashback series, Another World - The Story of Steven, Rachel & Alice...

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