Smith clambered onto the bed and thought about it. “Is this okay with you?” she asked Powell. When she nodded yes, Smith announced, “Well, there’s your answer.”

史密斯趴到床上認真地想了想。“你愿意嗎？”她問鮑威爾。她點頭同意了。史密斯宣布，“好吧，你得到答案了。”

It was not, however, a definitive answer. Jobs had a way of focusing on something with insane intensity for a while and then, abruptly, turning away his gaze. At work, he would focus on what he wanted to, when he wanted to, and on other matters he would be unresponsive, no matter how hard people tried to get him to engage. In his personal life, he was the same way. At times he and Powell would indulge in public displays of affection that were so intense they embarrassed everyone in their presence, including Kat Smith and Powell’s mother. In the mornings at his Woodside mansion, he would wake Powell up by blasting the Fine Young Cannibals’ “She Drives Me Crazy” on his tape deck. Yet at other times he would ignore her. “Steve would fluctuate between intense focus, where she was the center of the universe, to being coldly distant and focused on work,” said Smith. “He had the power to focus like a laser beam, and when it came across you, you basked in the light of his attention. When it moved to another point of focus, it was very, very dark for you. It was very confusing to Laurene.”

然而，這并不是一個肯定的回答。喬布斯有個特點，他會在一段時間對某件事特別專注，然后突然之間，又去關注其他事情。在工作上，他會在想做的時候專注于想做的事情，對其他事他就沒反應了，全然不管其他人多么努力地想讓他參與進來。在他的個人生活中，也是如此。有時他和鮑威爾會在公開場合盡情表現他們之間的感情，讓在場的每個人都覺得尷尬，甚至包括凱特·史密斯和鮑威爾的媽媽。在伍德賽德那幢幾乎沒有任何家具的大宅里，清晨，他會放年輕善良的食人族樂隊（FineYoungCannibals）的《她讓我瘋狂》（SheDrivesMeCrazy）的音樂把鮑威爾叫醒。而其他時候，他又會對她視而不見。“史蒂夫會走兩個極端，有時高度專注，好像她是宇宙的中心，而有時又表現出冷漠的距離感，專注在工作上。”史密斯說，“他有能力像激光那么專注，當他的光芒照耀在你身上，你會沐浴著他的關愛。而當他的光芒轉移到其他關注點時，你就會感覺非常非常的黑暗。這讓勞倫感到非常困惑。”

Once she had accepted his marriage proposal on the first day of 1990, he didn’t mention it again for several months. Finally, Smith confronted him while they were sitting on the edge of a sandbox in Palo Alto. What was going on? Jobs replied that he needed to feel sure that Powell could handle the life he lived and the type of person he was. In September she became fed up with waiting and moved out. The following month, he gave her a diamond engagement ring, and she moved back in.

1990年的第一天，她接受了他的求婚，之后他有幾個月都沒再提這件事。最后，凱特·史密斯向他發難了。他們坐在帕洛奧圖的一處沙箱邊上。這到底是怎么回事？喬布斯回答說，他需要確切地感覺到勞倫可以受得了他過的這種生活以及他這種人。9月份，她等夠了，搬走了。10月，他送給她一枚鉆石訂婚戒指，她又搬了回來。

In December Jobs took Powell to his favorite vacation spot, Kona Village in Hawaii. He had started going there nine years earlier when, stressed out at Apple, he had asked his assistant to pick out a place for him to escape. At first glance, he didn’t like the cluster of sparse thatched-roof bungalows nestled on a beach on the big island of Hawaii. It was a family resort, with communal eating. But within hours he had begun to view it as paradise. There was a simplicity and spare beauty that moved him, and he returned whenever he could. He especially enjoyed being there that December with Powell. Their love had matured. The night before Christmas he again declared, even more formally, that he wanted to marry her. Soon another factor would drive that decision. While in Hawaii, Powell got pregnant. “We know exactly where it happened,” Jobs later said with a laugh.

12月，喬布斯帶鮑威爾去他最喜歡的度假地，夏威夷的康娜度假村（KonaVillage）。他第一次去那里還是9年前，當時他在蘋果疲憊不堪，就讓助理給他找一個能讓他解脫的地方。第一眼看去，他并不喜歡那個地方——夏威夷大島的海灘上散落著幾棟茅草屋頂的小房子。那是個家庭式度假村，所有人集體進餐。但是沒過幾個小時，他就開始把那兒看成了天堂。那種簡單和空靈的美打動了他，以后他總是盡可能地回來。他尤其享受12月跟鮑威爾一起在那兒度過的時光。他們的愛情終于瓜熟蒂落。圣誕節前夜，他再一次、更正式地宣布，他想跟她結婚。很快，另一個因素促成了這個決定。在夏威夷時，鮑威爾懷孕了。“我們確切地知道那是在哪里懷上的。”喬布斯后來大笑著說。