>>> Saturday, August 31st
Saturday morning dawned dark and overcast, matching Lois’s mood. She wished she still had Lucy’s old vinyl Carpenters’ albums so she could play Karen’s song about rainy days and Mondays bringing her down, complete with all the depressing hisses and pops and scratches. This might be a Saturday, but the day certainly qualified otherwise. She toyed with a cantaloupe for breakfast, but ended up eating less than half of it before throwing the rest away.
She flopped down on the couch and picked up the TV remote, then changed her mind and leaned back, hugged a pillow, and tried not to miss Clark too much. She told herself that Clark being gone was a good thing, that his secret would be safe, and that Superman would be free as soon as the jury returned the verdict of not guilty.
Then maybe they could have a life together.
A sudden, urgent knock on her front door startled her. She stood, wiped the dampness from her face and slowly made her way to the peephole.
She could hear a voice, perhaps more than one voice, as she approached the door. She looked through to see Clay and Catharine standing in the hallway.
Puzzled, she opened the door. “You guys come on in. What’s wrong?”
Clay opened his mouth, then snapped it shut and turned around. “I think you need to get dressed, Lois.” He edged around her without looking at her and went to the couch.
Lois looked down at herself. She was still wearing her sleeping clothes: a thin, ragged KU sweatshirt and striped boxers. Catharine tried to stifle a giggle and pushed Lois towards her bedroom. “Put some comfy clothes on, girl. You have a date with a tiger.”
Lois stopped and turned around. “What? Who’s a tiger? What are you talking about?”
Clay called out from the couch, “Tigers, elephants, gorillas, you name it, we’re gonna go look at them.”
“Cath, what is your insane husband blathering about?”
“Lady, you should not be alone right now. Clay and I are going to get you out of this apartment and take you out and keep you busy all day. Now put on something comfortable so we can get going!”
“Oh. Look, Cath, I appreciate what you’re trying to do, but I don’t – “
“Oh, no! You’re not turning us down now! If you don’t want to ride to work in my Porsche again, you’ll go get dressed now! You have anything for breakfast yet?”
“Not really, I just got up a little – “
“Neither have we. We can stop at Lenny’s on the way to the zoo.”
“The zoo?”
“Of course, the zoo! You think we have all those animals in Clay’s Taurus?” She stared at Lois, who was still standing in front of her. “What are you waiting for? Get moving!”
*****
The day turned out to be great fun despite recent events. The weather cooperated, too. Instead of being humid and oppressive, the clouds brought an unseasonable cool flavor to the normally stifling late August day, and they even let Lois buy dinner for all of them at The Catch of The Day. When Clay and Catharine dropped her off at her apartment, Lois was actually smiling.
She kicked off her shoes and flopped onto the couch, then remembered her answering machine. She reached up and found the ‘play’ button.
“Hi, Lois, this is Martha. I just wanted to touch base with you and find out how you were doing. Clark is due in at about one this afternoon, and I think he’s planning to call you then. Give me a ring after you get this. Bye for now.”
Lois smiled. She’d call Martha in a few minutes and tell her all about her fun day with Catharine and Clay. Then the machine beeped and started the next message.
“Lois, this is Ron. I have some more info on the ghost employees in the City Manager’s office. Since Monday is Labor Day, I guess I’ll see you for sure on Tuesday. I plan to be in the office Monday for a while, so I’ll probably see you then. I’m sure you can’t stay away for too long. And, uh, I also wanted to apologize for what I said the other day about you and Clark. I really was out of line and I’m sorry. I wanted to say this to you in person, but you’ve kept me so busy I haven’t had the chance. Or maybe I just, um, haven’t taken the time. Not like it’s your fault, of course, it’s mine. Anyway, I’ll see you either Monday or Tuesday.”
Good old Ron, she thought. He really was a good guy. She hoped he could find someone to share his life someday.
The machine announced the start of the next message. “Lois, this is Clark. It’s about one-thirty, and I’m heading out again about four to catch the next flight to California. I’ll try to call you back tonight, but it may be late, so if you’re working or just too worn out to wait up for me, I’ll leave another message. I love you and I miss you. I can’t wait for us to be together for the rest of our lives.” He paused. “My dad is here and wants to say something.”
“Lois, this is Jonathan. If you have a chance, and if you’d like to, we’d love for you to fly out here and spend some time with us in Smallville. And don’t think we’re just trying to be nice. We could use the company, too. We won’t see Clark for a while, either, so we understand what you’re going through. I think we could comfort each other. Anyway, we’ll talk later. Bye for now.”
She sat back and listened as the machine rewound its tape and reset itself. It was after seven in Metropolis and the Kents, an hour behind her, would be getting ready for dinner pretty soon if it wasn’t on the table already.
She decided to take a shower and get ready for a night of oldies music on her CD player. And if she could swing it, she’d take the Kents up on their offer to spend some time with them.
But most important of all, Clark was going to call that night. She’d be awake if she had to prop her eyes open with Tabasco-soaked toothpicks.
*****
She snatched the phone up before the first ring ended. “Hello?”
“Lois? This is Clark.”
“Clark! Oh, I’m so glad to talk to you. I’m sorry I wasn’t in earlier. Clay and Cath came by and kidnapped me and took me to the zoo and we had so much fun we stayed out all day and I had my cell phone with me the whole time so you could’ve called me on that number and – What’s so funny?”
“He-he-he. You.”
“Me?”
“Sure. You’ve already saved up a couple of days worth of babble for me and I certainly appreciate it.”
“Why – you – oh, Clark, I miss you! Where are you now?”
“I’m in a little hotel overlooking San Francisco Bay. The sun is just below the horizon and the sky is glowing orange and yellow. It’s beautiful and I wish you were here with me.”
A tear sneaked out. “Oh, Clark, I wish I was there too! When are you leaving tomorrow?”
“My flight for the Philippines leaves at six-fifteen in the morning. It’s going to take us about fifteen hours to get there! Unbelievable.”
She wiped her cheek with the back of her free hand. “Come on! A hundred years ago it took steamships weeks to get across the Pacific. And a hundred years before that, sailing ships took months. Be thankful you weren’t born back then.”
“Oh, I am. If I’d lived back then, someone would’ve tried to make me king somewhere.”
“Not only that, I wouldn’t have been your queen.”
“I knew living in this time period would have some perks.”
She laughed. Clark said, “It’s good to hear you laugh, Lois.”
“Well, I had a pretty good day today.”
“Really? Tell me all about it.”
“Okay. I was all ready to mope around all day and go get a couple of quarts of chocolate ice cream and slurp them all down when Clay and Catharine came over and took me to breakfast and to the zoo and they let me take them out to dinner and it was so much fun! You’d like Clay, he’s a nice guy.”
“I know he is. Superman’s had some contact with him at his precinct, and he’s definitely one of the good ones.”
“Clark, did you know that giraffes have only seven vertebrae in their necks, just like all other mammals? They’ve got some big neck bones!”
“I did know that, actually. Remember my story on the mating habits of geckos?”
She laughed again. “The one Perry saw when you first came to the Planet?”
“Yep. I did a lot of articles on animals and such when I was traveling years ago.” He paused. “Looks like that experience is going to come in handy.”
“Yeah.” She was silent for several long moments.
Finally, he asked, “Lois, are you still there?”
“Of course. I was just listening to you breathe.”
He chuckled. “Sounds like teenage telephone talk to me.”
She sighed. “I was just trying to imagine what it would be like to go to sleep hearing your breathing next to me.”
Now Clark was silent. “Clark? Are you there?”
“Y-yes. Yes, I’m here.”
“What is it? What’s wrong?”
“Nothing. It’s just – if I think too much about the future, it makes living through the present that much harder.”
“Oh, Clark, I’m sorry! I didn’t mean to upset you! Please forgive me!”
“No, Lois, no, you didn’t do anything wrong! I’m flattered that you’re thinking about a future with me at all. And despite my pessimistic outlook, I really hope that future comes to pass.”
“It will, Clark, it will! I promise!”
He hesitated. “You shouldn’t make promises you may not be able to keep. When you have to break them, the guilt becomes a heavy burden.”
She sniffed back a tear. “Clark, I will always love you no matter what. I want you to hold on to that. Please?”
“Of course, Lois. And I will always love you, too.” She heard him shifting position. “I’d better let you go and get some sleep. It’s only a couple of minutes after nine out here, but it’s already Sunday morning back in Metropolis.”
“Okay, Clark. Look, I want you to call me as often as you can. Don’t worry about the time or anything, just – I need to hear your voice.”
“I’ll call as often as I can, Lois, I promise. And I’ll send an e-mail at least every other day. But you know I’ll be pretty busy at both ends of this thing. And I’ll see you – Superman will see you pretty much every day once the trial starts.”
She shook her head, then remembered that he couldn’t see her. “It’s not the same thing. I can’t hold Superman or comfort him or take him to lunch or rub his shoulders or any of the things I can do for Clark Kent. You’re the one I miss and you’re the one I love most of all.”
He paused. “You know, you’re really making me regret this trip.”
She grinned. “Good. Maybe you’ll understand what you’re missing, and when it’s all over we can make up for lost time.”
“I look forward to it. I love you, Lois Lane.”
“I love you too, Clark Kent. Good night.”
“Sleep well. Bye for now.”
She smiled at the familiar salutation. Must be something from Kansas, she thought. “Until we meet again. I love you.”
Clark gently hung up. Lois sat still, hugging her phone for a long moment, unwilling to break even that tenuous contact with him. She hoped her friends – and especially her employees – would cut her some extra slack during the next few weeks. She had a strong feeling she’d need it.
>>> Tuesday, September 2nd
The elevator slid open on the lobby floor. Jim stepped in and turned around, then looked up. Ron was trotting towards him, so Jim reached out and pressed the ‘open door’ button.
“Whew! Thanks, Jim. I’m not as young as I used to be.”
“None of us are, me included. I tried playing basketball with some teenagers at the gym yesterday and I thought my lungs were going to fall out.”
Ron laughed. “I know what you mean. Say, are you still dating Pamela? You two make a nice couple.”
Jim scowled. “Thanks. I only wish she thought so.”
“Oh, man, I’m sorry. What happened?” Ron lifted his hands quickly. “Whoa. If you’d rather not talk about it, no problem.”
The elevator opened on the third floor and two women left the car. Jim and Ron were now alone. Jim sighed. “It’s okay. We had a date Saturday afternoon. Met in Centennial Park. Didn’t go like I’d planned.”
Ron didn’t answer. Jim sighed again. “She said she wanted me to spend more time with her. I told her I was already spending almost all my free time with her. She said I should get more free time. I said I was a newspaperman and free time would always be at a premium. She said that was too bad, that maybe I should marry another reporter so I’d be with somebody who understood what I was going through, because she sure didn’t.”
“Ouch. Bad scene, dude.”
“Yeah, it was. So I said that if she loved me she’d make the effort to understand, and she said that time spent with someone indicated the degree of commitment the other person had. I said that working at the Daily Planet was more than just a job to me, and she said here’s the ring back, go marry the Planet. So – “ he lifted the ring out of his pocket, flipped it up once, then returned it.
“Oh, man. This just happened this weekend?”
“Yep. I thought we were going to set the date for our wedding.” He shook his head. “I hate being wrong and I hate surprises.”
The door opened and Ron chortled briefly as they both stepped out of the car. “Then maybe this really is the wrong business for you. The news game is nothing but surprises.”
As if to prove him correct, Catharine appeared out of nowhere and hugged him enthusiastically around the neck, then almost danced to Jim and repeated the scene.
Ron recovered first. “Not to look a gift horse in the mouth, oh very lovely but also very married lady, but what was that all about?”
Catharine spun around in place. “Gentlemen, you are the first males besides my husband to hear this news.” She smiled brightly and bounced on her toes.
Jim leaned forward and said, “So what’s the big news?”
She opened her mouth, but the voice they heard was Lois’s. “Hey! You three get to work! We’ve got a newspaper to publish here! Do your socializing on your own time!”
Ron looked up and saw Lois retreat into her office, but he was too far away to get a read on her mood. Catharine winked at the two men. “I’ll tell you later.” Then she spun and skipped down the steps and barged into Lois’s office.
Jim looked at Ron and asked, “What do you think that was all about?”
Ron shook his head. “I refuse to answer that question, sir, on the grounds that the woman’s husband may get the wrong idea and tend to arrest and decapitate me.”
Jim chuckled. “Okay. I have to see to a man about some pictures. Talk to you later. Hey, maybe we can do lunch one day this week.”
“As long as there’s no basketball playing involved, sure.”
*****
Catharine skipped lightly into Lois’s office and leaned against the door as it shut. “Lois! Have I got some news for you!”
Lois didn’t look up from her desk. “Great. If it’s at least four column inches, we can slide it onto page four top right.”
“Don’t you want to know what it is?”
“Sure. Lay it on me.”
Catharine bounced over to the desk. “I’m pregnant!”
Lois’s jaw almost fell off her face. “Wh-what? You – you’re – are you sure?”
“Yes! We saw the doctor on Friday afternoon and she gave me the results over the phone this morning! I called Clay at his precinct and he’s in total shock! I’m gonna be a mommy!”
“But – but I thought you – didn’t the doctor in Ohio tell you – “
“He did! But he was wrong! I’m really, really pregnant!”
“Wow.” Lois slowly stood. “C’mere, girl, let me hug you!”
Catharine jumped into Lois’s arms and spun her around. “It’s so great! I never thought I’d want to be a mother until I met Clay and now we’re going to have a baby! I’m so happy!”
“Hey, hey! Stop bouncing for a minute, okay? What about your old injuries? What does this doctor say about that?”
Catharine stopped. “That’s the only bad part. She wants me to take it very, very easy for the last three months, and not strain myself between now and then. I’ll probably have to take a leave of absence during the final trimester.”
“No problem. I’ll call Employee Relations and get the paperwork started this morning. Oh, what’s your due date?”
“I’m almost two months along now, so we’re looking at sometime in early April of next year, assuming everything goes like it’s supposed to. Oh, Lois, I can’t believe how fantastic this news is!”
She started bouncing again. Lois grabbed her hands and stopped her. “Do you mind if we announce this to the whole crew?”
“No, I don’t mind! I want everyone to know! When do you want to do it?”
“How about right now?”
“Great! Oh, Lois, this is so fabulous!”
Lois joined her in bouncing for a moment, then suddenly stopped them both. “Okay, Cath, you have to quit with the up-and-down stuff. You’re making me dizzy. Besides, your kid will get motion sickness and throw up inside your belly and yecchh! That’s a mental picture I wish I’d avoided giving myself.”
*****
A ringing peal of laughter startled Ron as he reached out to knock on Lois’s office door. Before he could recover, the door flew open and Catharine bounced out with Lois hanging on her arm and trying to hold her down.
He caught Lois’s eye and lifted his eyebrows in silent query. She raised one index finger and then was pulled in Catharine’s wake to the middle of the room.
Lois clapped her hands twice and called out, “Everybody take five. We have an important announcement.” She released herself from Catharine’s grasp and said, “Tell ‘em, girl.”
Catharine smiled so wide that Ron thought her face would split. Then she spun in place once and lifted her hands to the ceiling. “Catharine Grant-Mooney is wonderfully and gloriously pregnant!”
There was a moment of stunned silence, then the women in the room surged forward to embrace her. The men looked at each other in shock. A sexy, hot babe like Cat Grant, pregnant? And happy about it? Unthinkable! The apocalypse was surely on its way. Next thing they knew, pigs would fly, horses would sing, Hitler and Stalin would represent Hell in the Winter Olympics pairs skating competition, and their Mad Dog editor would get married and leave to raise her own little ones.
Ron made his way to Lois’s side. “Nice move, boss lady. You organizing the baby shower?”
She tried to look at him sternly but failed. “No,” she chuckled, “I’m leaving that up to the older women with more baby shower experience. I’ll attend, of course, but I’m not driving that particular train.”
“I understand. I think I’ll try to set up something with Clay’s precinct and give him a daddy shower.”
Lois guffawed. “A daddy shower? What do you intend to do, bring in a pregnant stripper?”
His eyes brightened. “Hey, that’s not a bad idea! If we wait a few months, do you think Catharine would do it?”
She cringed and shrank away from him. “Eeww! That’s – yech! That’s just so wrong on so many levels! You have a sick and twisted mind, Dombrowski.”
“It’s one of my more favorable personality characteristics. Say, did you get my message on Saturday?”
“Yes.” She put her hand on his arm. “And all is forgiven. I know you were speaking as a friend who cares a lot.”
He smiled back. “Thanks. That means a lot to me.”
She tightened her grip and tugged on his arm. “Come on, you big lug! You need to give the expectant mommy a hug!”
“Again? Wait, I get to hug a beautiful woman. I can’t believe I thought that might be a bad thing.” He stopped as a thought struck him. “Hey, you know, this might turn out to be a very good thing. Is anybody else in the newsroom pregnant?”
>>> Friday, September 12th
Lois grinned at Martha as she lifted her luggage into the bed of the battered old pickup. “Thanks for coming to get me, Martha, especially in the middle of the day. I know this is an imposition on you and Jonathan – “
“Nonsense! We love having you visit. Besides, Jonathan is the one who does most of the work during harvest. I don’t drive the combines, I just make sure they don’t tear up the fences.”
Lois laughed. “I hope the combine drivers do as well as Jim does this weekend.”
“Oh? Is he substituting for you again?”
“Yes, he’s driving the bus until Tuesday morning, and this time he’s going solo. Clay and Cath left last night for a long weekend in some sleepy little bed and breakfast north of Metropolis. It may be the last time they’ll have a chance to be alone together for a while.”
Martha grinned back. “Babies are wonderful, but they can raise the tension levels in a relationship. Clark was a very good baby, but we still had some rough spots, especially when he was very little.”
“I’m still very glad I have a place I can go and relax. Since this was kind of a sudden thing on my part, why don’t you let me cook tonight? I promise not to poison anyone.”
“Oh, Lois, dear, you don’t have to do that. Guests don’t have to work.”
Lois drew herself up stiffly and cut her eyes sideways at Martha. “I’m sorry, I thought I was considered a part of the family.”
“What?” Martha was momentarily perplexed until she saw the light dancing in the younger woman’s gaze. “Why, you dirty rat! Yes, you’re family, and as such I ought to spank you for teasing me like that!”
They shared a laugh. “Martha, I want to help. Besides, I’ve been cooking for quite a while now and I haven’t killed myself yet.”
The older woman nodded. “Oh, all right! Are you willing to share the duties with me? It is my kitchen, after all.”
“Of course! Do you want me to work on side dishes, main course, or dessert?”
A pixie gleam appeared in Martha’s smile. “You do the dessert, the salad, and the baked beans. And we’ll see if Jonathan notices any difference.”
Lois leaned closer and lowered her voice conspiratorially. “And whether he does or not, we give him a hard time, right?”
Martha whispered back, “He’ll think he’s fallen into a hay baler by the time we get through with him!”
*****
Jonathan spooned up the last of his peach cobbler and let out a contented sigh. “Oh, that was delicious. Please give my compliments and regards to the cooks.”
Martha’s face widened in surprise at his statement, but Lois didn’t wiggle an eyebrow. “Why did you say ‘cooks,’ Jonathan?”
“Because I know you helped, Lois.”
She smiled slightly. “Oh? What gave it away?”
He leaned back and patted his ample belly. “It wasn’t the food, I promise you. Everything was up to Martha’s usual high standards, including the parts you did.”
Martha leaned forward. “Jonathan, she wants to know if you could tell what I cooked and what Lois cooked.”
He smiled mischievously. “I know. And I also know that anything I say will be used against me in the court of personal opinion, so I’m going to plead the tenth and not answer.”
Lois crossed her arms. “You mean, plead the fifth.”
He shook his head. “No, the tenth. There are two of you. Two times five is ten.”
Martha tried to glare fiercely at him, but couldn’t hold it. The three of them laughed so hard they nearly knocked over the tea pitcher.
*****
Lois sat in the porch swing, rocking gently back and forth and gazing up into the starry haze above. She let out a deep sigh as Martha stepped out of the front door.
“Good evening, Lois. Letting off steam?”
Lois smiled. “It’s a great place for relaxing. Sometimes I wonder why Clark ever left.”
Martha shifted her rocker next to the swing and eased down into it. “I think you know why. He needed to do more than just be a farmer. I’m biased, of course, but I think Jonathan is a great man. Clark has a different kind of greatness in him, though. Not everyone is cut out to work the land.”
“That’s true. As much as I love visiting, I doubt I could really live here year-round.”
The rocker squeaked against the porch. “Oh, I think you could live here if you were making your living as a writer. I’ve read your work, Lois, and you could do other things with your talents if you wanted to.”
Lois shifted position. The direction of the conversation was making her a bit uncomfortable. “That sounds like something I said to Clark not long ago.”
“Ah. I didn’t know you two were talking about living out here.”
Lois shook her head. “No, it was the other way around. I was telling him he needed to come back to work at the Planet.”
Martha chuckled low. “I take it he didn’t exactly receive your suggestion with unbridled enthusiasm.”
Lois frowned slightly. “Do all farmers talk in understatement?”
“Only with those people with whom they feel comfortable.”
She held her breath for a moment, then blew it out. “Thank you. But, to respond to your earlier statement, I don’t think I could leave Metropolis. I’ve got too much invested in my life there.”
“I understand. You don’t fall in this category, of course, but do you remember the statistics on never-married women past thirty-five and how unlikely it was that they would ever tie the knot with any man?”
“Oh, yeah, I remember. One dope said it was statistically more likely that one of those women would be hit and killed by a meteorite than get married.”
Martha smiled ruefully. “Some men are just stupid.”
“You’re being too kind.”
“Maybe,” she responded. “I think that what you just described as your life is one of those reasons. Single women today, especially professionals like yourself, have built up lives for themselves that they’re reluctant to give up just so they can have a man around. It’s understandable that they don’t want to surrender something they’ve worked so hard to accomplish and become part of a team where they don’t call all the shots. So many men fail to understand that aspect of women’s lives today.”
Lois scowled. “I know what you mean. We printed a follow-up series on that subject about a year ago, and I can’t tell you how hard Cath rode me about how close I was to joining that crowd. Especially after she and Clay got married.”
“Is she telling you that there’s something wrong with you? Or with single women over thirty-five in general?”
“No, of course not. She’s my best friend, my best female friend, anyway, and she was just trying to give me a hard time. Believe me, I give as good as I get with her.”
“Good for you.” Martha chuckled with her. “Well, now that you and Clark have plans for the future, you won’t be one of those single women.”
“Maybe.”
Martha waited for Lois to continue, but she remained silent. “Lois? Is something wrong between you and Clark?”
Lois sighed deeply. “No. Not wrong, really, just – not right.” She turned in the swing and lay down. “I’m not sure I can explain it. Heck, I’m not even sure I understand it.”
Gently, Martha said, “I’m right here if you want to try.”
There was no response for three long breaths, then Lois quietly said, “It’s the future.”
“What about the future, dear?”
“Clark won’t – he isn’t sure we have one.”
“I see. Is it the trial?”
Lois sat up and faced the porch steps. “That’s what he keeps saying. I’m not sure that’s really it, though.”
“I see. What do you think it is?”
“I don’t know.” She stood and walked to the porch banister. “And that’s what bothers me. I don’t understand why he’s so reluctant to make plans for the future with me. And he seems to be keeping his distance emotionally, too. I know he’d rather be with me than in the Philippines, but – oh, maybe I’m going crazy!”
Martha smiled in the darkness. “No, Lois, you’re not crazy. Clark’s afraid of the trial and the verdict, and I can’t blame him. Even if he’s acquitted, some people are going to find it very hard to trust him for a long time.”
Lois sighed. “I know. I keep thinking that planning our future will help him, but it doesn’t. I’ve pretty much quit talking to him about it.”
“Maybe that’s for the best for now, dear. After the trial is over, you two can sit down and decide what you’re going to do.”
Lois paused for a long moment, then said, “I guess I’ll have to wait.”
“And that’s hard for you to do, isn’t it?”
“What was your first clue?”
They shared a chuckle. “Lois, dear, I understand that you’ve been a hard-charging go-getter ever since your college days, and you certainly have been ever since we met you. You left the Planet to be a bureau editor, went back to the Planet to be groomed to take over from Perry, and now you’re the one calling the shots.
“Remember, I’ve seen you in action. When you took on the EPA and Bureau 39 and that disgusting Mr. Trask, I was so afraid you’d get hurt. Huh! For that matter, I thought I was going to be burned to death, and that’s about as scared as I ever want to be. But you never quit pushing, never stopped digging for the truth, even when you were in danger.”
Lois crossed her arms and stepped away from Martha. “That was then, this is now. I’m not as young as I used to be.”
“None of us are. In the last couple of years, Jonathan occasionally has had days when he gets up, does the morning chores, then goes back to bed for a couple of hours. I’ve been known to sleep in on a Saturday now and then, and those days come around more frequently as I get older. We have to make some concessions to our aging bodies, Lois, but our hearts don’t get older. They just get more tender. We love more and we hate less. We keep our tempers better and do less jumping to conclusions. At least, that’s been my experience.” Martha stood and walked to Lois’s side. “And you’re still young yet. Of course, that’s also a two-edged sword.”
“How’s that?”
“The younger you are, the more you have to look forward to, but that also includes a lot of experiences with heartache and pain. Life is shot through with those two commodities, whether we like it or not, and we can’t change it.”
Lois took a deep breath and let it out slowly. “I’m not sure that’s an encouraging speech, but thank you anyway.”
The older woman smiled and patted Lois’s arm. “It’s meant to be realistic. Life is what it is, and sometimes the best you can do is roll with the punches and dive back in with fists flying.”
“Yeah, I know. It gets harder as time goes by, that’s all.”
“There will be better times, Lois. Just be patient.”
Lois smiled. “Thank you. Oh, I almost forgot to tell you that you’re invited to my mother’s wedding.”
“Ah.” Martha leaned on the porch railing and nodded knowingly. “When’s the big day?”
“First week of November, probably the first Saturday. They’re planning a small ceremony, just her family and Steve’s family and some close friends.”
“We’ll certainly try to attend. I’m glad Ellen is moving forward with her life.”
“Yeah. Moving forward.” Lois wiped her nose with her hand.
“How does your father feel?”
“He says he wants Mom to be happy. I think he actually means it, too. And he kind of likes Steve.”
“How does Steve feel about you and Lucy?”
“That’s hard to say. He’s not hostile or unfriendly, at least not to me, and Lucy seems to think he’s nicer than Lex Luthor – “
“Hmph! That wouldn’t be difficult.”
“True. Anyway, Lucy seems to think that they’ll be okay. But she and Dan and Jason are in California, and Mom and Steve plan to move to Chicago after the wedding. Steve has a couple of businesses there, and Mom has some professional contacts there if she wants to teach nursing or even go back to work, so they probably won’t see each other much.”
Martha touched her elbow. “And how do you feel about this?”
“Hmm. Not sure yet.”
“Give it time, Lois. If this is a good thing for your mother, you’ll come around eventually.”
“I hope so.” Lois blew out another long breath, then straightened up. “Hey! You can’t let me get away with that.”
“Get away with what?”
“Talking to me about my personal problems and leaving you with the dinner dishes. I’ll wash if you’ll dry.”
Martha smiled. “No need. Jonathan’s probably finished with them by now.”
“Oh. That was nice of him.”
Martha chuckled. “Not really. I suggested he come out here and talk to you about Clark, and his face lost most of its color. He loves you like a daughter, Lois, but he’s not ready to discuss the birds and the bees with you. Especially when it involves Clark.”
Lois laughed softly. “Might be embarrassing for both of us.”
>>> Monday, September 15th
Lois walked to the luggage carousel and plucked her bag from the jumble of other pieces of baggage lazily tumbling across each other. The late afternoon flight had been as smooth as fresh butter and almost as relaxing as the weekend with the Kents had been. She’d gotten one e-mail from Clark while in Kansas, but still no voice communication, and the soft, yet passionate restraint in his e-prose was almost too much for her to bear. She desperately wanted to see him, to hold him, to tell him yet again how much he meant to her, how much she loved him, and how she would be with him until the end.
But she couldn’t. She restrained her melancholy and grabbed a cab to her apartment. There was time for a shower before dinner, but first she needed to check with Jim at the Planet.
He picked up the phone after the third ring. “Daily Planet Managing Editor’s office, Jim Olsen speaking. How may I help you?”
“Jim, this is Lois. How’s it going?”
He chuckled. “Surprisingly well, although I think I’m going to need a comp day later this week.”
“Why? Were there problems this weekend?”
“Yes, but nothing I couldn’t handle. You know, Lois, I always knew you were good, but I never realized just how much time it takes to be an editor all by yourself. I don’t think I’ve slept more than three hours straight since Thursday.”
“That’s not unusual, especially since Cath’s not there to shoulder some of the load. Is there anything I need to know about before I come in tomorrow?”
“Hmm. Let me check the message log – no, nothing you need to see tonight. Judging by the size of the stack, though, I think I won’t see you much until late tomorrow afternoon.”
She grinned. “That’s the nature of the business, Jim. News doesn’t break on schedule in a forty-hour work week.”
“I know, I know, you get the job done no matter how much time it takes! I remember, honest!”
“Good. I’ll see you bright and early tomorrow morning.”
“Don’t worry, I’ll be at my desk chomping away at the bit when you get here. You just be on time, y’hear?”
She chuckled into the phone. “That’s my line, Jim. Bye.”
