What A Husband Should Be...
Previously, from part 8...
“RRRing”
“Hello…yes…he’s here…just a moment…Mr. Luthor, a Judge Lakin for you. Says he’s calling from Smallville, Kansas.”
“Yes…Lex Luthor here…”
“Mr. Luthor, the Kents came by and I did as you instructed. Clark Kent is NOT Superman. But I know who…uh…”
“Lakin…don’t you do this…who?” Lex demanded. But the judge had had his last bout with his heart on the other end of the phone line.
And Now...
What A Husband Should Be 9/?
Continued…
Saturday morning arrived in Tokyo. Lois opened her eyes. That had been the best night’s sleep since…since…well since the last time she slept with Clark. But wait…her warm pillow was missing and there was light shining through the curtains.
“Good morning, sunshine,” Clark whispered as he emerged from the bathroom door behind Lois’ side of the bed.
Lois quickly turned around and looked up at Clark. “Good…whoa, you clean up pretty well in the morning,” Lois said as she noted Clark’s clean shaven face and the absence of worry lines from his face.
“You don’t have to clean up. You are beautiful just the way you are,” Clark whispered as he leaned down to kiss Lois on the cheek. “Hungry? I’m starved.”
“Yea. What’s for breakfast? Pancakes, bacon, blueberry syrup, coffee and juice.”
“IHOP? Here in Tokyo?”
“No…Clarkhop,” Clark responded laughing. “Maybe after breakfast, we can go see if we can find Ms. Sanders,” Clark said, but noticed a worried look on Lois’ face. “Lois…what is it…you change your mind?” Clark asked with disappointment in his voice.
“Clark…I…I…”
“Lois, please, just say it. I can…”
“No, Clark, I didn’t change my mind. If there is anyone I want as a part of the rest of my life, it’s you. I just keep wondering if you will last for…forever…40, 50 years…without intimacy. I mean you are so handsome and women will be offering…you know…left and right. I just don’t want to get hurt.”
“I only want you, Lois and for you I can wait. I wonder how you’ll survive for 40, 50 years…without. There are just as many handsome guys as beautiful women. I just know that all I want is you,” Clark responded as he looked into Lois’ eyes. “I love you, Lois.”
“I’m going to…um…get showered and dressed and we can go and find Ms. Sanders,” Lois responded nervously.
“RRRing!”
“I’ll get it Lois. You get dressed.”
“Hello…Hi Perry…yea…my parents did get the birth certificate?…great…Ms. Cox works for Luthor?…you got the hard copies before she destroyed them, too?…there’s enough to charge Luthor?…for how long?…you’re kidding…that’s the rest of his natural life…within a couple of weeks?…thanks Perry…Oh, by the way, Lois and I are getting married…probably Sunday…it’s a long story…tell you about it later…yea, Perry, you know how much I love her. Thanks…I’ll tell her…bye.”
Clark didn’t see Lois standing behind him. When he turned to call her name, what he saw took his breath away.
“Lois, honey, don’t cry. Did I do something or say something wrong? I’m sorry…that was Perry…he…” Clark started nervously.
“Oh, Clark, I feel so stupid. Everyone knows that you’ve been in love with me except me,” Lois said with tears shimmering. She just stood there with a white terry cloth robe tied around her. She was about to get in the shower when she started to listen to what Clark was saying on the phone.
“Lois, honey, it’s okay. We’re here, now. That’s all that matters to me. It doesn’t matter how we got here,” Clark assured Lois as he pulled her into his embrace. “I’m going to always be here for you, no matter what,” Clark said earnestly. Tilting Lois’ chin up to look in her eyes, Clark continued, “Perry said to tell you congratulations…both of us, on the marriage.”
Lois just threw her arms around Clark and hugged him tight. He held her there for a moment.
“Go and get dressed. We have a lot to do today.”
“Okay,” Lois whispered.
Meanwhile Clark called his parents to relay the change of events. They were ecstatic to hear that their boy was finally going to be happy, going to spend the rest of his life with the woman of his dreams. They congratulated him and filled him in on the events of their visit with the judge and his subsequent death. Clark told them that Perry had already filled him in on most of it and that he should be on the way back to the US within two weeks. They hung up as Lois exited the bathroom dressed.
After breakfast, Lois and Clark started with looking up all of the ‘Sanders’ in Tokyo. Shouldn’t be too many.
They found seven. They started calling the numbers and on the fourth one, they got a hit. Even though it was Saturday morning, Ms. Sanders was glad to hear from the couple. She gave them the process to go through to get married. She even had a friend who would perform the ceremony for them. She sounded excited, as if it were her own kids. She even verbalized to Clark that she knew that he and Lois were meant to be together.
Clark assured her that he would invite her to the wedding on Sunday.
Clark and Lois set out separately to run errands for the upcoming nuptials. Lois took a taxi and Clark took the car since she didn’t feel good about driving around Tokyo. Lois first went to buy herself a dress, semi formal, white, fitted at the top and wide at the bottom. The back carried a large white bow. It was simple, yet elegant. She bought some pearls for her neck and ears and some white laced pumps. Lois also bought Clark’s ring. Funny they hadn’t discussed what the other one wanted, but somehow, she knew that Clark had wanted white gold, a plain white gold band.
Clark had had his mother wire him money that morning when he spoke with them. He rented a black suit and a white shirt to wear with it. He also bought Lois’ ring. It was a single one karat solitaire, white gold and a plain white gold band. It looked like Lois. Clark wanted to buy her more, a bigger diamond, but couldn’t afford to do it right then. Maybe he would replace it in later years if he were lucky, if Lois didn’t like it.
“Mr. Luthor, my source in Tokyo tells me that Ms. Lane went shopping for a wedding dress and a wedding ring and Kent rented a suit and also brought wedding rings. I think…congratulations…might be in order, Sir,” Nigel related. “Do we do it now or wait until the wedding? After all, it would just make me…shall I say…excited…to upturn her marriage to Kent.”
“Now, Nigel…I feel your…ambition. I say we wait until the wedding, too,” snarled Luthor. “Now, hurry along, Nigel. We have a press conference to attend.”
Perry White stood watching TV in the newsroom, when an important announcement broke the usually scheduled news. Then he saw Lex Luthor’s face up close. He was apparently holding a…press conference?
“Ladies, gentlemen, friends and associates of Metropolis, I regret to inform you that the marriage of Miss Lois Lane and myself has been called off. I want to preserve Miss Lane’s reputation so I will not go into details regarding the reasons why. I will say that Luthor Corps and associates could not chance the negative press that Miss Lane’s indiscretions would attract. I thought it then in my best interest to terminate relations with her…” Lex lied.
“What in the Sam Hill…?” Perry yelled. “That liar!”
Lois had returned to the hotel room and Clark slithered in within 15 minutes after her. His face just lit up when her saw Lois standing there in the mirror fiddling with her hairstyle.
“Lois,” Clark whispered behind her.
“Hi.” Lois replied smiling. “What’s up? Done with your errands?”
“Yea. Lois, I have something for you,” Clark said as he reached in his jacket pocket.
When he withdrew his hand out came a maroon velvet box. All Lois could do was cover her mouth with her hand as her nose turned red and her eyes started to water.
“Oh, Clark, you didn’t have to…oh my God…” Lois started, hoarsely.
“I wanted to, Lois. Every bride should have an engagement ring. If you don’t like it…”
“Oh, Clark…I love it…but it must have cost you a small fortune…”
“And you’re worth every penny. I’ve been saving for this day…and it’s finally here…”
Clark reached out for her hands and gently led her over to the sofa. He nudged her to sit down and her kneeled in front of her.
“Lois, I have been in love with you for so long and I can’t imagine my life without you. Will you marry me?” Clark asked almost in a whisper as he held Lois’ solitaire out of the box.
Lois held out her left hand, and with tears and…love?…showing in her eyes, she replied a simple, “Yes.”
Clark placed the ring on her finger and gently kissed it after it was placed. Then he stood and gathered Lois in his arms and whispered, “I’ll never hurt you or make you cry, intentionally and I’ll never leave you.” He just wanted her to understand the seriousness of his emotions.
“Clark…” Lois sniffled out, “…somehow, I know that…I know.”
Just then the phone rang and jerked the couple from their intimate moment.
“I’ll get it,” Clark said.
“Hello…yea Perry…he did what? That evil jerk…no, we just got back in…sure…what are they waiting for to arrest him?…Thanks, Perry.”
“Lois, that was Perry. Apparently Luthor held a press conference to tell all of Metropolis that he called off the wedding because of your indiscretions…He knows something’s up…”
“My indiscretions…that…”
“I know, let’s just let it go because the police is on the way to pick him up for a ‘truck load’ of crimes, felonies, that they are able to pin to him, according to Perry. So Metropolis will see who really has the indiscretions,” Clark assured Lois.
“Lets see if we can pick it up here…”
“Lois, no. Let’s not let him ruin our…things for us,” Clark responded redirecting Lois back to the issues at hand. “We have a wedding to get together.”
“Yea, Clark, you’re right.”
By nightfall in Metropolis, Lex Luthor was behind bars and so was Ms. Cox, mostly for accessory. But Nigel St. John was still on the loose and being hunted. Lois and Clark did eventually turn on the news and the story was being aired in Tokyo. Luthor was big news.
Lois and Clark had dinner in after the news and just sat and talked like they used to before things started getting complicated. Before long it was nine thirty and Lois was starting to doze off. She had verbally expressed her exhaustion earlier, from running around today. When Lois finally just gave in and was fully asleep, Clark picked her up from the sofa, took her to the bed and laid her down. He started to pull up the covers but decided that Lois was still fully dressed with shoes on and wouldn’t be comfortable.
Clark started having an internal struggle about undressing Lois versus just taking off her shoes. The one thing that he didn’t want was for Lois to wake up and think that he had violated her trust and taken advantage of her. The latter finally won the tug of war and he just removed Lois’ shoes. He then pulled the covers up around her shoulders and whispered, “Sleep well, honey,” as he turned to exit the room.
Clark couldn’t sleep just yet. He couldn’t seem to get the idea of getting married tomorrow off of his mind.
tbc
