I can see where Ray is coming from, sort of... To someone who doesn't know Lois, say some average citizen of Metropolis who reads the papers and watches the news, a divorce between Lois and Lex this early in the marriage does indeed make her look like a gold digger or the height of fickleness.
However, Lois has a lot of issues with men, starting with her abandonment by her father. And, as Vicki says, she is pretty good at denial. I can see this strong, independent career woman (who underneath all that is pretty vulnerable) giving a brutal bum's rush to the average or even slightly above average suitor. But Lex is
very practiced at playing the charming, suave philanthropist; he's worldly and gentlemanly and I'm sure quite convincing. He may, in this story, even be exactly what he appears to be-- a rich and successful businessman who has, indeed, cut corners and done less than completely above-board things, but not an evil villian. It may be that this is exactly the reason that this very tough, independent, and isolated woman did marry him-- he's looked up to by many, and she wouldn't feel superior to him. She may have felt some degree of unconscious emotional security in marrying someone like Lex.
I'm saying it clumsily, I think, but I can see how it could have happened. Of course, she could just have been dazzled by what Lex could offer. She's human. He can probably be pretty persuasive.
Remember, too, that she often fell right back into that destructive, dysfunctional role around her parents, so there may have been some pressure from her mom and/or dad, and she may have been trying to please them. No matter how strong and independent, how mad-dog she was, they did affect her strongly whenever she was around both of them.
All of these are excuses, many would say, for a series of mistakes. Many people rise successfully above bad experiences and horrible childhoods. Many others struggle. But many more fall between the two extremes. With hindsight, Lois' decision to marry Lex is obviously for all the wrong reasons. She has, in fact, done him a big disservice by marrying him when she didn't know him well, and didn't love him. And divorcing him now certainly isn't a good solution. But it may be the only solution she really has. Better that, I think, than to stay married to him and betray him in her thoughts.
KathyB does a nice job of giving us insight into how a person such as Lois, with all her advantages of intelligence, beauty, success, etc., can make a really wrong decision and then have to deal with the consequences. Whether Lex is a villian or just another "sure-I've-bent-a-few-rules" sort of guy, she is going to hurt him. It will be very interesting to read Wendy's next story, Betrayed, to see what happens next.
Will Lex be bitter but let Lois go? Will he stay true to the original character as we know it, and reveal his villainy? Will Betrayed even touch much on Lex? Wendy says it will contain Clark's point of view. And Lex's? Maybe this entire trilogy will be only from Lois' and Clark's points of view. (Although it's tough, then, to figure out where the title comes in!)
Wendy, this was pretty powerful. Clark has indeed fallen in love with her, it appears. Once that almost-kiss happened, he got out of there fast. I really liked SJH's comments about how he couldn't contain himself, told his parents about her, swam in "her" lake-- I think this is what you were trying to portray, weren't you? I do, however, think Clark is exactly what he appears: a rather idealistic but sincere and good person, who has suddenly met his soulmate at the wrong place and the wrong time for both of them.
I liked the pearl bit, too. I was thinking maybe he "helped" the pearl's formation along with his strength, but then remembered that superior force would create diamonds more easily than it would create pearls.
And the extreme rarity (and thus value) of a genuine freshwater pearl this far north, contrasted with Lois' reason for viewing it as precious (that it was from Clark), is extremely powerful.
I'm looking forward to more about these two, so I hope you post again soon.
~Toc (who
still wishes H.G. Wells would show up!)
