Volume I - Episode 17 Where: Melbourne, Australia When: 7 months and 19 days before E-Day, 7:52 pm "In my dreams, I have always known you. In my life, I will always love you." Memories tumbled through Kim's mind. March 2006. The night she first met Rodney. It was a brisk night in Dublin - the first night of their three-week Contiki tour - and already the two of them were roaring drunk. He was a bricklayer from Sydney. She, a "dancer" from Melbourne. Each person on the tour had a different reaction to the discovery of what she did for a living. Some had dismissed it as a joke. Some had been intensely curious, asking a barrage of deeply personal questions such as how much she earned in a week, and what her relationship was with her parents. A few people refused to speak to her at all, choosing instead to stare at her from across the crowded pub as they imposed judgements upon a life they knew absolutely nothing about. But Rodney's reaction had been unique. He had grinned broadly and quipped: "That'll come in handy for my buck's night when I marry you." She liked him right from the start. "Let me be your shoulder to lean on. The arms that give you strength." August 2006. During one of their fortnightly interstate visits, she woke to find Rodney staring at her. "What?" she asked, a smile crossing her lips. "I have to fly home tonight." "I don't want to think about that," she said, and pulled his arm over her like a blanket. "The thing is..." he said. "I don't want to go." She had waited months for him to say that. "So don't go." Two weeks later, he packed up his life and moved to Melbourne to be with her. "Today I unite my life with yours, not only as your husband, but as your friend, your lover, and your confidant." January 2008. While celebrating New Year's Eve on the beach at Lorne, Rodney pointed towards the fireworks exploding across the sky behind her. When Kim turned back around, Rodney was down on one knee, smiling up at her. At first she was confused, but then he took her hand in his, and she burst into tears. She said "yes" before he had even finished asking the question. "So today I promise to give you all I am and all I shall grow to be. Take this ring, and with it my pledge of devotion, tolerance and love, for the rest of my life." December 2009. Kim lay on her bathroom floor. She tried to move, but there was too much pain. She opened one eye and looked up at the figure towering over her. Her beloved husband. There was a time when he would have been heartbroken to see her in so much pain. There was a time when he would have wrapped her up in his arms and nursed her back to health. Not anymore. He stood over her, taunting her and screaming obscenities. His hands, curled into fists, were covered in blood. Her blood. And all the while, even as consciousness left her, Kim couldn't escape the feeling that this was all somehow her fault. "In times of darkness, you were my shining light. Kim, I vow to you today to share with you, experience with you, and love you from this day forward." First published: Saturday, 7 August 2010 Credits: Lorena by Rhiannon Melia Hair by 3Dream Shy Girl underwear by 3D-Age Luxury Apartment by Richabri Posed and rendered in Poser 7 Pro Composited and postwork in Photoshop CS5 Extended