Chapter 11 - Epilogue
“Honey, are you ready yet?” I call. For a man that could get ready at superspeed, it felt ridiculous to ask but I am anxious to go. As I hear the bathroom door open, I turn around.
“Wow,” he says breathlessly. “You look amazing.”
It’s the complete adoration in his eyes that makes my stomach flip. Even after all these years of marriage, he still finds me attractive. It always delights me to see that in his expression. It doesn’t hurt that he’s standing in front of me in only a towel.
“Do you like the dress?” I tease as I twirl around.
It’s an elegant floor length black dress and I’m wearing a flimsy shawl which is completely useless to keep me warm if it gets chilly, but the look completes the outfit perfectly.
He nods and approaches for a kiss. I break first because we can easily get carried away and it took me ages to get ready.
“We have to go,” I murmur as he kisses a spot he knows is erogenous, just below my earlobe. “Otherwise Jimmy will be calling to find out if we got lost.”
He laughs. Jimmy hasn’t interrupted us for years, but it’s still something we joke about.
“Can you believe it?” I exclaim as Clark returns in the blink of an eye, fully dressed and ready for the evening. “Jimmy receiving a lifetime achievement award when he’s only in his early forties? He’s still got a lifetime left!”
I watch as my husband’s expression changes and know his hearing has picked up something requiring his attention. I had selfishly hoped we’d get away with this night but emergencies don’t follow Superman’s schedule. I smile at him and he’s gone in the blink of an eye; I don’t even catch a glimpse of the famous red cape he leaves, only a light breeze makes my hair flutter briefly. Twenty years of marriage and I’m used to this and out of habit I pull my phone out of my little purse. Once upon a time I would have turned on the television, but with the convenience of smartphones and the web at my fingertips, it’s made it much easier to figure out what my husband disappears off to. A quick browse doesn’t show any major catastrophes so I sink into one of the chairs in the room and hope he won’t be long.
It’s hard to believe this had once been the Honeymoon Suite in the Lexor. Many years ago the hotel had been purchased and redecorated before the upper floors were completely gutted and rebuilt. This room now was just a room, albeit a larger suite than the average room and I hadn’t recognized exactly where we were until Clark pointed out the view into the building across the street. Sadly, there was no jacuzzi in this suite anymore.
I’d been surprised when Clark suggested we book a room, but the hotel was so close to the ceremony location and it meant we wouldn’t have to fly or drive home to suburbia afterwards. The kids, both in high school, could have a night at home with Clark’s folks spoiling them and Clark and I could have a night to ourselves.
Hopefully.
Checking the time on my phone again, I realize I’ve got just over five minutes before Perry will be here. He also has a room in the hotel and we were going to walk over to the ceremony together, though it may just be Perry and I now.
I stand not wanting to get wrinkles in my dress and wander over to the full sized mirror to ensure it's still looking perfect. Many years ago during a closet clean out, I’d come across a dress I don’t remember buying, or wearing. It was not in fashion at the time, and I’d donated it with various other articles of clothing I would never wear again. Shortly after Jimmy’s invitation, I’d spotted the dress in a store front and while I couldn’t swear it was the same as the mysterious dress that had appeared, it certainly looked like it. I hadn’t been able to resist buying it.
A knock on the door surprises me out of my thoughts. Opening the door without using the peephole, expecting Perry, I am startled when my husband, wearing a sheepish expression and dressed in jeans and a t-shirt, is the one standing in the hallway. As I let him in I notice a man in the hallway looking at me and he seems vaguely familiar.
“Sorry, honey,” Clark says as he slips past me into the hotel room before he continues to talk.
I miss what he’s saying as I watch the man smile and tip his old fashioned bowler hat at me before walking around a corner and out of my sight.
“Clark, did you see the older man in the hallway?”
“No.”
In a moment, Clark has changed back into his tux for the night and joins me at the still open hotel room door, his glasses perched halfway down his nose.
“I don’t see anyone. Besides there’s a themed wedding happening downstairs, partly why I didn’t fly back in through the window.”
I nod in acknowledgement. With the advent of smartphones and live streaming, Superman has to be careful where he’s arriving in the event someone captures it.
“I had to go home and get something to wear so I could come up to the room through the ‘normal’ way. But there’s guests dressed in costumes that don’t seem to have a general theme other than historical figures wandering around everywhere. Perhaps your older man in the hallway was on the wrong floor?”
I half-heartedly agree with Clark’s assessment of the moment, but something tells me there’s more to the strange visitor.
“Do we need to worry?”
“Worry? About what?”
“Shall I remind you of all the strange encounters we’ve had over the years? The kidnappings, framing for murder - more than once I might add -, the imposters…”
I wave him off as he’s made his point. It sounds like a lot, but it’s made life interesting.
“I can’t explain it, but it’s like I’ve met him before.”
“Deja vu?”
“Not quite.” It’s there, somewhere in the lost recesses of my mind – the connection that man has with my life – but the more I think about it, the more it slips away. “It doesn’t matter. Perry will be here any moment.”
“Well, in that case.”
Clark takes the opportunity and dips me for a kiss. I laugh for a moment before wrapping my arms around him and surrendering to the moment. An overwhelming sensation of gratitude and contentment settles over me and I can’t imagine my life being anything other than what it is right now with this amazing man by my side.
The End
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