I, too, loved the ending. It was perfect for this story, assuming, of course, that you wanted a happy ending. As such it was perfect. Lois and Clark have a happy, healthy child and another on the way. Lucy has just had her first one. And there is a general feeling of bonding, understanding and love between everyone here.
I loved this:
Clark said she was too young to know if she inherited any of his powers, as at four even he had appeared to be normal. I knew, though, that she had. Even if Larissa would never be impervious to bombs, never was able to freeze or heat things with her breath, or never flew, she had some of Superman's best qualities. She always seemed eager to help people and had real empathy for others.
This was just lovely. What really makes Clark Superman is not his amazing physical abilities, but his wonderful temperamental qualities. And Lois can see that Larissa has inherited those.
This was slightly more troubling, but not in a really serious way:
Clark held up the honey. “I'm making barbeque sauce for the chicken.” His eyes lit up. Clark's favorite part of visiting Lucy and Ben was the ability to grill nearly any night we visited.
Lucy laughed. “I should have figured. You'd think someone who can start a fire with their eyes would not be so enamored with grilling.”
“Go figure,” Ben said. “The things the public never knew they wanted to know about Superman.”
“Superman?” Larissa asked. “Where?”
“No where, sweetie,” I assured her. “Uncle Ben was just talking. Why don't you go set the table?” I asked as I passed her the forks.
“I'm sorry,” Ben said as she left. “I wasn't thinking.”
“I know,” Clark replied. “Lois and I are guilty of it ourselves. It seems like in the last couple of months she's suddenly picking up and understanding so much more of what's said around her. It's hard to remember to edit what you say.”
How old will Larissa be when she figures out that she is Superman's daughter? But I think it will be okay. Clark must have begun to suspect relatively early that he himself was different, but ne never gave himself away. Of course, he didn't know at four. And people around weren't asking themselves if this could be the future Superman, since no one had heard about Superman back then.
But Larissa seems like such a reasonable child, so I'm definitely hopeful that she will be able to handle the situation once she learns her family's big secret.
Speaking about Larissa and her way of reasoning, I loved this, too:
“Is Ethan okay?” Larissa poked her head in.
“Sure is, Lar,” Lucy told her as she bounced Ethan up and down.
“Why's he crying then?” Larissa asked.
Clark moved over to squat in front of her. “Remember we talked about this?” he asked her. “Babies cry a lot. It's just their way of communicating.”
She looked over at me, giving my stomach a meaningful stare. “Does that mean our baby is going to cry all the time, too?”
I placed a hand on my stomach as I replied. “Not yet, sweetie. But once it's born, yes.”
“How am I gonna sleep?” she asked Clark.
He laughed, running a hand lightly over her head. “We'll give you earplugs. You'll be fine.”
That was a great way to tell us that Lois was pregnant again, and I loved what it showed us of Larissa's reasoning and her relationship with her parents and with Lucy and Ben, too.
I loved what you told us Lois and Lucy's families. Lois doesn't really want more than two babies, because their mixed heritage will make it too difficult to have more than two. Martha thought so, too. But Lucys wants more children:
Ben and Lucy exchanged glances. “We're not sure,” Lucy said. “I'd kind of like a big family. Like maybe four.”
“Four?” I asked astonished.
“That's what I said,” Ben laughed. “I think two is plenty.”
“I guess I just feel like… like we're much closer to each other than Mom and Dad,” Lucy said to me. “I just want our kids to have a big family network to fall back on.”
I really like that you made us understand the reasoning of both sisters here.
The ending was perfect:
Ben abandoned the potatoes, which had been added to the sizzling skillet, to come over and wrap his arms around Lucy.
“Luce, our kids are going to have a very different life than you and Lois did. We're not the same type of parents, and they'll have their cousins as well.
It's going to be different for them, don't you think?”
“Yeah,” Lucy said, glancing outside to see Clark swinging Larissa around by her arms. Larissa was smiling and laughing almost as much as her father.
That's lovely. Thank you so much for writing this, Nancy.
Ann
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