Tuesday November 25, 2008
JP slammed the back door on his way out to the swing set, and Lois cringed. She sincerely hoped his door slamming tendencies were curbed before his powers started to kick in, or he was going to knock down their whole house.
She walked to the kitchen table, where he had been coloring until just a minute ago, and swept the crayons back into their container. Her eye landed on his most recent drawing, and she laughed. She picked up the portrait of Superman, his red and blue suit drawn in quick messy strokes, and focused on his face. His large cartoon-like eyes were outlined in a black crayon, the only black on the page, and it gave the impression the superhero was wearing glasses. That was one to save in the memory box.
She crossed the room, affixing it to the refrigerator with a magnet in the meantime. Mattie looked up from the snack she was making and laughed. Lois smiled, happy to hear that laugh for the first time in days.
Clark had talked to Mattie at length the previous night, telling her how much he loved her and promising there was nothing she could do that was unforgivable or that would change his love for her. Mattie had said she understood, but she’d still been quiet and withdrawn the rest of the evening, choosing to stay in her room alone after dinner rather than play a game with them, and Lois worried she was only going through the motions. Hearing Mattie’s spontaneous, genuine laughter went a small way toward easing her concerns.
“What time is Grandma coming tomorrow?” Mattie asked, taking her snack to the table.
“I think her flight gets in at 1:00,” Lois replied.
“Is she going to stay at Daddy’s house?”
“She’s going to stay with us Wednesday and Thursday. We’ll get her settled in there after the holiday. Are you ready for two days of cooking? I think your dad is planning to make the desserts and some of the sides tomorrow.”
“He said I can do the apple pie,” she said quietly.
“That’s great! Your grandmother’s apple pie is my favorite. I tried to make it once, for your father’s birthday, when we had only been married for a year or so.” Lois shook her head and laughed at the memory. “I spent hours on the phone with your grandmother. She walked me through every step. It looked beautiful, and I was so proud. Your dad tried so hard to eat it and look like he was enjoying it.”
Mattie cracked a smile. “But…”
“But somehow I had mismeasured the salt and the whole thing was inedible.”
Mattie shook her head in disbelief. “How did you manage-”
“Who knows!” Lois said with a laugh, cutting her off. “I have a special talent for ruining meals, and apparently that extends to desserts. It’s funny now, but at the time, I was devastated. I had tried so hard, and I really wanted to surprise your dad. I just wanted to do something special for him.”
“What did he say once you realized it was ruined?”
“Oh, you know your father. He hugged me when I cried, and told me it was the thought that counts. And he told me he didn’t marry me for my kitchen skills.” Lois smiled a private smile, remembering the second half of that conversation — when she’d asked him whether he married her for her skills in any other room, and then proceeded to show him exactly which skills she was talking about, proving they worked just as well in the kitchen.
“Daddy never gets mad at you,” Mattie said, a tinge of sadness in her voice.
“Oh, Mattie,” Lois said. “That’s not true and you know it. You’ve seen us argue and fight. I routinely infuriate your father. And you should have seen us when we worked together. We fought about all kinds of stuff.”
“But he doesn’t stay mad,” Mattie said. Lois thought of their fight on the balcony a few months ago, and the flowers he’d brought her when he apologized. She’d been so worried for Mattie to see them fight, but now she wondered if seeing them fight was more important than she had realized, so their children could see them resolve their issues with love and kindness.
“He doesn’t stay mad at you either, sweet girl,” Lois promised. Mattie didn’t argue, but she didn’t look convinced either.
The garage door opened, and Lois whipped around, already smiling.
“Hey you,” he said, crossing the room and sweeping her into a hug. “One more class and then I’m all yours until Monday.”
“Do you really have to teach your night class tonight?” she asked, arms around his neck. “Is anyone even going to be there?”
He nodded. “I really do. I know some of the kids stayed today just for class tonight. But at least I can come home for a few hours and we can have dinner before I go back.”
“Fine,” she said with a sigh, kissing him on the neck.
“Where you going, Mattie-girl?” Clark asked as Mattie tried to slip quietly out of the room.
Mattie paused, caught, but didn’t respond. Her eyes were pointed down at the floor.
“I was thinking of starting some Thanksgiving prep since part of tomorrow is going to be taken up with getting Grandma from the airport. Do you want to help me sort through everything and make sure we haven’t forgotten any ingredients? We could work on your pie filling so it sits overnight tonight and the apple slices soak up the spices.”
Mattie shifted uncomfortably. She looked like she was torn, though Lois couldn’t understand why she was conflicted.
“What’s going on, Mattie?” Clark asked softly. Lois stepped aside and let Clark approach Mattie, watching as he rested a hand gently on her shoulder.
A tear leaked down Mattie’s cheek. “Why are you being so nice to me?” she asked finally, her voice quiet and strained.
“What are you talking about?” he asked, his face a mask of confusion. “Why wouldn’t I be nice to you? Am I not usually nice to you?”
“No!” she said quickly, looking up. “I just mean… You don’t have to pretend that you aren’t mad. I did something terrible.”
“No one is pretending,” he said quietly, squeezing her shoulder. “You made a mistake, Mattie. It was an accident. We love you. We want you to be happy.”
“I don’t deserve that,” she whispered. “I don’t deserve to be doing fun holiday stuff with our family.”
“Oh Mattie,” Lois said, her heart aching for her daughter. “Of course you deserve to be happy. And it’s not a matter of whether you deserve it. We love you. We know you didn’t mean to hurt me. We know you are sorry. And we forgive you, whether you forgive yourself or not. We don’t want you to keep blaming yourself. We want you to be happy. You don’t have to keep punishing yourself. It hurts us to see you hurting. And when you deny yourself family activities because you are punishing yourself, it punishes us too. We-
Lois stopped, stunned suddenly by the realization that she was guilty of the same behavior. Her eyes darted from Mattie to Clark, who was looking at her strangely, unsure why she had stopped so abruptly.
She met his gaze and smiled ruefully. She took two steps over to him and took his hands in hers. “Marry me,” she said softly. “Let’s not plan. Let’s not wait. Just marry me.”
His face flicked rapidly through a series of emotions; shock, confusion, tenderness as he recognized his own words, and then tentative joy. “Lois,” he said softly. “Are you sure?”
“Yes,” she said, a huge weight lifted from her. “That’s what I’ve been doing, haven’t I? Punishing myself for something you’ve already forgiven. Not allowing myself something I want desperately as some sort of penance? But it’s not just me I’m punishing. I want to get married. You want to get married. Our kids want us to get married. I’m keeping that from all of us. I don’t want to do that anymore. I just want us all to be happy.”
“When?” Clark said quietly, as if he still couldn’t believe this was happening.
Lois hesitated. She wanted to beg him to fly her to the courthouse right that second. “Tomorrow,” she said, suddenly wanting desperately for their whole family to be present as they put things right. “Let’s wait for your mom. We’ll pick her up and go straight to the courthouse.”
“On the afternoon before Thanksgiving? Lois… I’m sure we can fill out the paperwork, but I doubt there is going to be a judge hanging around to perform the ceremony. Unless you have a judge who owes you a favor,” he teased, knowing they were more likely to find one with a lingering grudge.
“Not me,” she said thoughtfully. “But I know someone who could probably pull a few strings.”
Clark nodded, realizing what she had in mind. “Call her. Right now. Where are your rings?”
“Bottom drawer of my jewelry box,” she said, a thrill running down her spine as Clark turned and jogged out of the room.
She reached for her phone and dialed Kate’s cell phone number. It went to voicemail automatically, and Lois knew that probably meant she was in court. “Kate, it’s Lois. You were right. You were right about everything. I need a favor. Call me back as soon as you get this.”
Clark walked in the room as she laid her phone on the counter. He made a beeline for her, taking her left hand in both of his.
He looked in her eyes and she could see him running through the millions of things he wanted to say to her.
“I’ve loved you from the beginning,” he said finally.
“And I will love you until the end,” she replied, her voice thick with emotion. And then she watched as he slid her engagement ring back on her finger. She stared at it, finally back where it belonged, and her heart leaped with joy.
She slid her hand from his and rested both hands on either side of his face, pulling him down for a kiss. He pulled back just enough to rest his forehead on hers. She slid one hand from his cheek down to his chest, where she could feel his heart beating as rapidly as her own.
“I love you so much,” he whispered. “Do you have any idea how happy this makes me? Thank you.”
“If it’s even a fraction of how happy I am right now, then you’re very welcome,” she teased gently, then lifted her chin for another kiss.
When they separated, she stepped back and her eyes fell on Mattie’s shocked face. She smiled at her daughter and shrugged. “Sometimes, you get more than you think you deserve, Mattie. You can push it away because you think you don’t deserve it. Or you can embrace it and be thankful for it.”
“You’re really getting married? Tomorrow?” she asked, eyes wide.
“Yes,” Lois nodded. “Assuming Kate can find us a judge. If not, I guess we’ll have to wait until after the holiday. But yes, we are definitely getting married. As soon as possible.”
Mattie barrelled into her, hugging her tightly, and Lois laughed with joy at her daughter’s unrestrained affection. Her eyes lifted to meet Clark’s, and she saw that same joy reflected in his face. She still couldn’t quite believe she deserved all of this, but it no longer mattered. It was hers for the taking, and she wasn’t going to fight it anymore.
Wednesday November 26, 2008
“Grandma! Grandma!” Martha’s head swiveled as she exited the airplane ramp and entered the terminal. Her eyes landed on the four of them, and she looked first surprised and then delighted. Before she had time to process anything else, Mattie and JP were swarming her.
“Let Grandma get out of the way,” Clark said with a grin, taking Martha’s carry on, and ushering them off to the side so the rest of the passengers could disembark.
The airport terminal was crammed with holiday travelers, and Lois was glad Clark had already ferried out all of Martha’s luggage so they could avoid the baggage claim area.
“What a delightful surprise,” Martha said. “I was only expecting Clark. And you all look so...fancy?”
Lois looked down at her dress and laughed. They definitely stood out in the crowd. She had initially told the children that because this wedding was just for official purposes and not their “real wedding” that there was no need to dress up. But they were so disappointed that she found herself caving to their pleas. After all, this wedding was real to them and it was the only wedding of their parents’ that they would witness, so why not let them be in charge of the details?
Eventually Lois had given them free rein of her closet and told them she’d wear whatever they chose. She’d been a little nervous to see what they would come up with, and had been both surprised and a little touched when they’d settled on the burgundy dress she’d worn the previous week for Art Night at their school. They’d been less adamant about the specifics of Clark’s outfit, so she’d steered them toward her favorite charcoal suit, a white dress shirt, and a burgundy tie. Looking at him now, she had to admit she was glad they had let the children convince them to dress in something other than jeans. He was so handsome that her heart skipped a beat. She could not wait to put that ring back on his finger.
“Well,” Clark said, “we have a little surprise.”
“Mommy and Daddy are getting MARRIED!” JP exclaimed, unable to keep the news to himself for another minute.
“JP! No fair! I was going to tell Grandma!” Mattie whined.
Martha’s eyes went from Clark to Lois, searching their faces. “Really?”
“Right now,” Lois confirmed. “Kate’s meeting us at the courthouse with Judge Mitchell at two o’clock. She’s finagled us a quick meeting with the judge before she leaves for vacation.”
“Oh, well, if I’d known…” Martha said, patting her hair and looking over her clothes. She was dressed in slacks and a navy blue blouse, and she looked perfectly appropriate for the occasion.
“You look wonderful,” Lois said. “We’re only dressed up because the children insisted. We had every intention of showing up in jeans.”
Martha laughed, obviously delighted not just by the clothing discussion but by their impending nuptials. She hugged Clark quickly and then opened her arms to Lois.
Lois hugged her tightly, so glad they had waited for her. “I thought you were going to do it just the two of you,” Martha whispered in her ear as they embraced.
Lois shrugged. “I changed my mind. I wanted my family there.”
Martha hugged her tighter and then released her and stepped back. “All right then, let’s get this show on the road!”
The drive to the courthouse was frustratingly slow due to the holiday traffic, and Lois shifted nervously in her seat afraid they would be late. In the backseat, Martha sat between the children, her head swiveling back and forth between them as they competed for her undivided attention. Clark reached across the console and threaded his fingers through hers, lifting her hand to his mouth for a kiss. She turned to gaze at him, overwhelmed again by her emotions.
“No vows,” she reminded him quietly.
He nodded solemnly in agreement.
“I’m serious, Clark. We already said our vows. I don’t want new vows. We’ll just repeat after the judge.”
“I know, sweetheart,” he said, kissing her hand again.
“It’s just...sometimes you get romantic, and I love that, but-”
“Lois,” he said softly but firmly. “No vows. I promise.”
She took a shaky breath and nodded.
“Are you nervous?” he asked, searching her face, his brow furrowing.
She shook her head, not trusting her voice, feeling the tears well up. She took a steadying breath and pulled her hand from his, reaching up to stroke his cheek. “I’m not nervous, just overwhelmed,” she whispered. “I love you so much.”
“This doesn’t change anything,” he whispered, as she slipped her hand back into his. “I was going to love you for the rest of my life whether we did this or not.”
She nodded and turned to look out the window, unable to look at him without crying. He squeezed her hand, and she squeezed back, soaking in his strength.
The flip side of the bad traffic was easy parking at the courthouse, which seemed to be mostly abandoned. They found a metered spot right out front, and they were out of the car and up the marble stairs in no time.
Kate met them in the lobby with a clipboard full of paperwork, a pen, and a bouquet of flowers.
“I had a feeling you’d be empty handed,” she said. “I suppose you insisted Clark not buy you flowers.”
She blushed and Clark smirked. Kate rolled her eyes and handed the clipboard to Clark and the flowers to Lois.
“You’re as bad as the children,” Lois said, hugging her impulsively. “Thank you.”
“Follow me,” she said, weaving through the lobby and down a long hall, past the entrances to the courtrooms and down another hallway. Clark filled out the paperwork as they walked, the children skipping and hopping along excitedly.
She came to a stop outside a door and knocked. It was answered almost immediately by Judge Mitchell. Sonia Mitchell had presided over cases in Metropolis for decades, and both Lois and Clark had sat in the back of her courtroom dozens of times, interviewing her afterward for stories about the defendants. She’d always seemed fair and kind, and her name had never been whispered about during any of their many investigations into judicial indiscretions.
“Come in,” she said with a wide smile. “I hear congratulations are in order.”
“Thank you so much for agreeing to meet with us today,” Lois said as they entered her chambers.
“We really appreciate it,” Clark added. “We know you’re eager to start your holiday.”
“Are you kidding? When Kate asked me, I couldn’t say yes fast enough. I’m thrilled to be a part of this.”
Clark raised an eyebrow at Lois, and she could almost hear him say, “Everyone just wants us to be happy, Lois.”
She laughed and the emotions from the ride over coalesced into overwhelming joy. This was really happening. They had found their way all the way back, and everyone from their children to random members of the community who barely knew them were thrilled for them.
“Are we ready?” Judge Mitchell asked.
Clark handed Lois the clipboard, and pointed at the places she needed to sign. She signed and handed them to the judge.
“Did you write your own vows?”
Clark shook his head. “No, we did that the first time around. This time we just want to keep it simple.”
“Do you have rings?”
Clark took the small black box from his pocket, and took them both out. He handed his ring to Mattie and Lois’ to JP. “Hold onto those until we ask for them,” he said, and they nodded excitedly.
Lois smiled at him, pleased that he was including the children. She slid her engagement ring from her finger and handed it, along with the flowers, to Kate. Then she turned and reached out to hold Clark’s hands.
The familiar words of the ceremony washed over her, and she smiled at Clark as they said their “I Dos”. They promised to love, honor, and cherish each other -- and Lois smirked for just a moment at the missing command to obey — and then Clark was sliding her wedding ring back onto her finger, and she was laughing with delight. He reached out and cupped her cheek and then kissed her, heedless of the fact that they were not yet finished.
“We’ll get to that in a minute,” Judge Mitchell joked, and everyone laughed.
Lois plucked Clark’s ring from Mattie’s hand. Mattie beamed, and Lois returned her smile. She turned her smile to Clark, then slid the ring on his finger, reciting the vows and remembering the first time they’d done this. They had already been through so much, had survived so many heartbreaks, and she had thought so many times that they would never make it to that point. And now they had done it again.
“By the power vested in me by the state of New Troy, I now pronounce you husband and wife. Now,” she said pointedly to Clark, her eyes twinkling, “you may kiss the bride.”
He needed no further urging. He wrapped one arm around her waist and slid the other in her hair, then leaned her back and kissed her. For a moment, she was stunned, expecting a chaste, sweet kiss suitable for an audience. And then her hands came up to cradle his face, and she kissed him back, letting herself forget where they were and who was watching and just love him.
When he finally stood and released her, she took a step back and stumbled, his hand firm on the small of her back steadying her.
“Clark,” she chided, breathless from his kiss.
“I’ve waited four years to do that,” he said without even a hint of apology.
She laughed and reached for him, stroking his cheek and gazing at him adoringly. Then she turned to face her family, and saw that Martha and Kate were both wiping away tears and the children were jumping up and down cheering. And she knew she couldn’t stop smiling if she tried.
She turned back to Clark, her heart stuttering when she saw the way he was gazing at her, full of love and longing and joy, as if he couldn’t believe his good luck.
“Let’s go home,” she said softly. And he wrapped her in his arms and hugged her tight.
When he released her, she saw that Martha and Kate were taking turns signing the witness portion of the marriage certificate. Judge Mitchell took it when they were finished and signed it, and added it to a stack of papers.
She turned to them, papers in hand. “Here’s your copy. I’ll file all the paperwork and you should get your official copy in the mail in a few weeks.” Lois reached out and accepted the offered paper. “Oh, and this is the paperwork to change your name. I’m assuming you don’t need that.”
Lois hesitated for a minute. “Well, maybe I’ll just…” Judge Mitchell gave her a curious look and handed over the paperwork. She took it and turned to see Clark looking at her with a raised eyebrow. “I don’t know. Maybe I just want to think about it,” she said defensively.
He laughed and kissed her cheek. “Let’s go home.”
The ride home was jubilant, with everyone talking over everyone else. When they finally made their way across town in the holiday traffic, and back to the house, the children tumbled out of the car, dragging Martha with them. Lois and Clark followed them into the house and grinned at each other as they heard Martha exclaiming over JP’s portrait of Superman hanging on the fridge.
They went upstairs to change, leaving Martha and the kids in the kitchen. When they were just outside their bedroom door, Clark stopped her with a hand on her arm, and scooped her into his arms, carrying her over the threshold into their bedroom, kicking the door shut behind them. She stroked his cheek and smiled at him, her mind instantly replaying all the times he’d carried her over various thresholds.
He released her legs, and she slid to a standing position, her hands on his neck. They stood quietly for a moment, just reflecting on the day and soaking in a quiet moment together.
“You want to talk about why you took those forms today? Are you seriously considering changing your name, or was that just an impulse?”
She bit her lip, hesitating, then sighed. “I don’t know. I’ve been thinking about it for a few weeks. It doesn’t make sense to change it professionally, but personally… I just want…”
“What?” he prompted gently. “What do you want?”
“More,” she said finally. “I want more of you.”
His eyes closed and she felt him take a slow, deep breath. When he opened his eyes, his hand cupped her cheek. His eyes found hers, and her stomach fluttered at the intensity she found there. “Lois, I would give you anything you want that’s within my power to give. And if you want my name, I’d be honored. But you already have every bit of me. You don’t have to take my name if you don’t want to.”
“I know that, Clark. I’m not doing this -- or thinking of doing this, whatever -- because I think I have to. Or because I think you want me to,” she pulled her gaze from his. “If I do it, I’m doing it for me. Because I want it. Because I want…”
“To be Mrs. Kent?” he said softly.
The pleasure of it was an unexpected knife to the belly and she inhaled sharply, looking up to meet his eyes.
“Oh. Wow,” he said softly, reading the desire that was clearly written across her face. “Okay.”
He bent his head and kissed her. A hard, possessive kiss that made her weak in the knees. She clung to him, hands tangling in his hair, pulling him closer.
When they pulled apart, their breathing was ragged and labored. He kissed her again, quickly and gently. Then rested his forehead against hers. “I love you so much,” he said. “You think about it and decide later. You don’t have to make a decision in the heat of the moment.”
They stayed like that for another minute, and then stepped back reluctantly. “We should change and go back downstairs.”
“Five more minutes,” she said softly, and he laughed.
“Okay, five more minutes,” he said with a twinkle in his eye. He tugged her over to the chair, sitting and pulling her into his lap. They traded gentle kisses for far longer than their allotted five minutes, the afternoon shadows growing long on their bedroom floor, until finally she rested her head on his shoulder and sighed contentedly. She lifted her left hand, and admired her rings, letting the rightness of wearing them wash over her.
“Hello, Mrs. Kent,” he whispered, and she raised his head to look at him. He shrugged, and laughed a little self-consciously. “I just thought you might like to hear how it sounds. For research purposes.”
She laughed and nuzzled her head back in it’s resting spot. He hugged her to him, and stroked her leg gently.
“It sounds so good,” she whispered. “I love you so much. I’m so happy, Clark. So happy.”
“Me too, sweetheart,” he said softly, running his fingers through her hair. “So happy.”
He traced the back of his fingers gently along her cheek, and she closed her eyes and just let him love her.
The pounding of approaching footsteps on the stairs made her smile. “You know, before you have kids, everyone talks about the pitter patter of little footsteps. I’ve yet to hear pittering or pattering.”
Clark laughed softly and continued stroking her cheek, her arm, her leg. She felt like she had dissolved into him, completely unable to sit up in anticipation of whatever drama was about to unfold.
Their bedroom door burst open and JP appeared suddenly, the words tumbling out of his mouth before he even stopped moving. “Grandma said I could help make a pie too, but Mattie said only she is making the apple pie and that’s not fair! I want to help with a pie too!”
Martha appeared in the doorway suddenly, her voice alarmed. “JP! I told you not to bother your parents. You can help with another pie.”
“It’s fine, Mom,” Clark said with a laugh, and Lois laughed too at Martha’s relieved look. “Buddy, listen to Grandma. We’re going to make lots of pies. Let Mattie do the apple and we’ll do the pumpkin. Or...I got the stuff to make your mom’s favorite chocolate pie. That’s a fun one. You can help me melt the chocolate in the pot.”
“I want chocolate pie tonight,” Lois teased, leaning back enough that she could look at him. “It can be our wedding cake.”
He smiled and kissed her. “That can be arranged.”
She laid her head back on Clark’s shoulder, closing her eyes and memorizing the feel of him; his body under hers, his hand on her thigh. She nuzzled in the crook of his neck, inhaling the fresh, clean scent of him.
“Buddy, give me five more minutes with Mommy, okay? And then I’ll come down and we’ll make the chocolate pie.”
Martha herded JP back out of the room, closing the door softly behind them. Lois kissed his neck sweetly and laughed quietly.
“What’s so funny?” he teased.
“Five more minutes?” She lifted her head and smirked at him, raising an eyebrow. “We’re going to be here all night.”
He laughed and stroked her cheek. “If you want that chocolate pie, I really do have to get up and start it soon. It has to chill for a few hours before we can eat it. What do you say, I make your pie, and then I’ll run out and grab dinner? Maybe after dinner we can all watch a movie.”
Lois nodded, and leaned in to kiss him.
“It’s not the most exciting wedding night,” he teased, when they pulled apart.
“It’s perfect,” she said quietly, resting her head back in the crook of his neck. He didn’t respond and she lifted her head to look at him. “What are you thinking about?”
“Our first wedding night,” he said quietly.
She lifted an eyebrow and smirked. He laughed and kissed her quickly. “Not that. I was actually thinking about before that, when Wells showed up and dragged us back in time to break the curse.”
“I forget sometimes that was real,” she said quietly. “It feels like a dream.”
He nodded in agreement. “I waited for a long time for Wells to come and fix us,” he admitted. “After we divorced, I was sure it was part of a curse. He’d told us we were soulmates. Surely we weren’t meant to be apart. I kept thinking something in the timeline must have gotten messed up. Tempus must have been to blame. Somehow Wells would come and fix it. But he never did.”
She kissed his neck and stroked his cheek, the ache of that time shooting through her. “What do you think that means?” she asked quietly. “That he never came?”
“I used to think it meant he’d abandoned us. But now I think he didn’t come because this was supposed to happen. No one messed up our story. No one interfered with our life. We did this. It was part of our journey. A part we needed to travel together. We broke it, and we fixed it. Together. Without any outside forces. We’re stronger now than we ever were, stronger than we would have been if it had never happened. I don’t think we deviated from our path. I think this was the path all along.”
She lifted her head and pulled him to her for a kiss, bathing in his certainty. When they pulled apart, she slid from his lap and took his hands, pulling him to stand beside her. “Let’s go downstairs and start the next chapter of our story.”
They changed into casual clothes and walked downstairs hand in hand. In the kitchen, Martha was supervising Mattie as she dumped the apple pie filling into the waiting crust while JP colored at the counter. Lois looked over his shoulder, analyzing the shapes and colors, and realized he was drawing their wedding. She squeezed Clark’s hand to get his attention and nodded her head at the drawing. She watched his face as realization dawned, and beamed at him when he turned to look at her. He kissed her, and then reached out to ruffle JP’s hair.
Clark let go of her hand and began to gather everything he needed to make the chocolate pie. She leaned against the counter watching for a few minutes, then went into the living room to turn on the fireplace and some soft music. She could hear JP chattering excitedly as Clark patiently explained and re-explained each step of the process. Mattie wandered into the living room, drawn by the fire, and curled up on the couch with a book.
Lois looked thoughtfully at the mantle, and then disappeared into the office, back to the storage closet where she’d dug out their awards a few days earlier. At the back of the closet, she found another box of framed photos, and she took them to the living room, selecting a few to add to the collection on the mantel.
Lois reached out and stroked the photo of her first wedding day. Martha came to stand beside her, and sighed happily.
“Thank you for including me today,” she said softly. “It was a beautiful day.”
“I’m so glad you were there,” Lois said honestly. “It was perfect.”
“What was perfect?” Clark asked, coming to join her in the living room, the pie complete and chilling in the fridge.
“Today,” she said, leaning back against his chest as he wrapped his arms around her. He was quiet for a moment, and she knew he was looking at the photos she’d added to the mantel. Martha slipped away quietly, leaving them to reminisce.
“For so long,” he finally said, his voice quiet and intense, “I thought I’d never have this. Never find someone who loved me. Never have a family of my own. I thought I was too different. I thought I didn’t belong here. I used to think about marriage, not the details of the ceremony, but the vows and promises that I thought were out of my reach. I never imagined that I’d get to say those vows to the woman I loved not just once, but twice.”
She turned in his arms, resting her head on his chest and wrapping her arms around him. “I never imagined this either. I never thought I’d find someone I trusted enough to be worth risking my heart once, let alone twice.”
His hand found hers, and he lifted it to his mouth, kissing her just below her rings. She smiled and slipped her hand from his, stroking his cheek, then guiding him to her for a kiss.
When she rested her head back on his chest, she let herself take in all that she had to be thankful for this year: His arms around her, strong and gentle. Their home, cozy and warm and full of love. Their family, happy and healthy and whole.
