PREVIOUSLY IN THE TIME TRAVELER’S WIFE...
Clark was snatching the letter out of Wells’ hands almost immediately. Tearing it open, he began to read, sinking to his knees in the middle of the room when the words of the letter began to sink in.
The anguish was more than he could stand. He saw Wells taking a step towards him and before the man’s foot even touched the floor, Clark was gone, disappearing in a gust of wind as he sought to out-fly the agony in his heart.
Wells sighed before pulling the time travel machine out of his pocket. He stared at it for a long time, thinking hard. A moment later, Clark Kent wasn’t the only one to literally disappear from the Daily Planet conference room.AND NOW...
* * * * * * * * *
PART SEVEN
‘And Thereto I Pledge Thee My Troth.’
* * * * * * * * *
* * * * * * * * *
April 1993
* * * * * * * * *
Wells stared down at the ticket in his hands, debating again the wisdom of what he was about to do. He could see no real problems arising from this course of action. But still... once it was done, it couldn’t very well be undone.
“Il volo GendellAir 5340 per Casablanca e pronto per partenza alla uscita C-16. Si prego i signori passageri di recarsi alla uscita C-16,” came the announcement in Italian on the PA system.
Well, it was now or never. He only wished he knew if this was the right thing to do.
* * * * * * * * *
June 1997
* * * * * * * * *
A week in the Arctic had taken the edge off Clark’s grief. The temptation to ignore Lois request that he not come back again was overwhelming. Still, she was right. They had no right to destroy their world just to spend a few years together. After all, as she’d told him in her letter, her survival would destroy, not only their universe, but her along with it. If he wanted to honor her sacrifice, then he had to accept her decision. As for him finding someone else... That wasn’t going to happen. Lois Lane held his heart and he couldn’t even imagine it any other way.
So here he was back in Metropolis after grieving the loss of his wife for the past week. He might not have decided to return to Metropolis even yet except that he had started having brief, confusing flashes of memory. He hoped familiar surroundings might allow him to put them in some perspective.
For example, he remembered a jealous row from Lana, the woman he’d been engaged to before the other Lois had arrived in Metropolis. But this outburst hadn’t been about him using his powers or Lois or Superman or any of the other things they had fought about near the end. No. It had been something... different.
“I don’t know why you insist on spending so much time with him! What’s he to you?” she had yelled at Clark.
‘Him?’ Who was ‘him’?
And maybe that by itself wouldn’t have driven him from his sanctuary, but then he remembered something else. Something he chastised himself for not remembering right away.
Perry White had been shot.
Oh, he had no memory of it from his perspective, but Wells had told him that the reason he’d begun searching for Clark was because of Perry White getting shot. The last thing Wells had known was that Perry was fighting for his life at Metropolis General Hospital. Clark had no idea what year this might have happened, given Wells’ ability to travel in time.
What Clark did know was that it was his fault. He’d gone into the past to save Lois and not only had he failed in that mission, but he’d managed, by changing the past, to get Perry shot.
Yet in the week he’d been back, he hadn’t even checked to see if his friend was alive. He had few enough friends as it was. He didn’t think he could stand to lose another one.
So he was back in Metropolis - to check on Perry, figure out his life now, and then... he had some tough decisions to make. Maybe it was time for him to move on, maybe somewhere where he could live anonymously, if that was even possible, and try to find some small amount of... if not happiness, at least peace.
Still, there were some loose ends to tend to here before he could even consider leaving. So he landed in the alley behind the Daily Planet, intending to go inside by foot. Everyone might know he was Superman, but he didn’t like it when they treated him differently as a result. It was easier to make that happen when he didn’t rub his differences in their faces.
He was struck almost instantly by a fresh sense of loss as he recalled landing in this same alley on a couple of occasions in the past few weeks, both times so full of hope.
Refusing to dwell on it for fear that it would send him running back to the Arctic, he began walking briskly towards the entrance to the Daily Planet.
* * * * * * * * *
How could a ride up in an elevator seem to last forever and yet be over all-too-soon? Still, before he was ready, the doors opened on the floor of the newsroom. He probably shouldn’t be here. After all, the last message Preston Carpenter had left on his answering machine was that if he didn’t get his butt into the Planet immediately, he shouldn’t bother returning at all.
That was more than a week ago.
Still, this was probably the best place to find out about Perry.
He stepped out of the elevator, wondering who might be around who would know what had happened to Perry - and wouldn’t wonder about his sanity in asking. Maybe he’d be better off just using his computer to do some research and find out for himself.
“Well, look who decided to put in an appearance,” a very annoyed sounding male voice said.
Clark spun around, expecting to find Carpenter standing there. It took him a moment to adjust his vision when he realized he was being addressed by a man coming towards him in a wheelchair.
“Perry?”
“Where’ve you been for the past week?” Perry asked, stopping in front of Clark. Then Perry’s eyes widened. “And what happened to your beard?”
“Beard?” Oh, wait. The beard he’d had after one of his headaches. “Uhh... I shaved it off. It itched.”
“I can’t believe you,” Perry said. “First, you take off without leaving word with anyone. Then, you shave off your beard. Do you have any idea how worried he’s been? He thought it was his mother all over again. He’s lost too much in his young life for you to play with his feelings like this.”
“Who?”
“Charlie! How could you do this to Charlie?”
Clark stared at his boss... or was that former boss... in confusion. Charlie. Who the heck was... Suddenly, his eyes widened. “Charlie,” he said, suddenly overwhelmed when a powerful memory hit him.
* * * * * * * * *
June 1993
* * * * * * * * *
“I don’t know why you insist on being a reporter,” Lana said, looking around the noisy newsroom in disgust.
Clark sighed as he carried a box filled with a number of personal items across the room. Why had he thought Lana might enjoy seeing where he was going to be working? She’d never understood his desire to be a journalist. Maybe he’d thought if she saw where he worked, felt the energy of the place, she’d finally understand. Obviously not.
Still, since she’d arrived in Metropolis only yesterday, after he’d called to inform her that he’d gotten the job, it seemed... rude to abandon her on his day off while he came in to get the feel of the place and unpack his stuff.
Fortunately, her family had moved to Metropolis a few years ago, so she could live with them until they got married. He briefly wondered if it was normal for a man to have times where he couldn’t wait to dump his fiancée off with her folks. Oh, surely it was. After all, in all relationships there were problems. He had just been on his own for a long, long time. He’d adjust.
“If you’d just take a job with Daddy, you’d have your own office. How does anyone get any work done in this noise, anyway?”
Clark stopped beside the empty desk he’d been told was to be his and set the box on top.
“Didn’t you say you had some shopping you needed to do to get settled in?” Clark asked as he began taking items out of the box and setting them on the desk. “Maybe you’d like to do that while I get settled here.”
“I just might...”
“This is my mommy’s desk.”
The sound of a young child interrupted Lana.
“No,” Lana said, turning towards the young boy who had snuck up on them. “This is my fiance’s desk.”
“No! It’s my mommy’s desk,” the boy objected.
“No. It’s my fiance’s desk. What are you doing here anyway? This is no place for a child. Why don’t you just...” She made a dismissive gesture with her hand. “Let the adults have their conversation in peace.”
“Lana!” Clark said as he turned towards the boy.
The dark haired boy stood only head and shoulders above the height of the desk, but while they’d been talking, he’d moved the chair and crawled up on it so that he could begin putting Clark’s things back in his box.
“What are you doing?” Lana objected. “Didn’t anyone ever teach you not to touch other people’s things?”
“No, Lana. It’s okay,” Clark said, putting out an arm to restrain Lana who looked as if she was about to begin taking his things out again.
Still, she was right about one thing. It was unusual for a child of... what? Five maybe... to be alone in a busy newsroom. So where was his mommy? Suddenly, he had a horrible suspicion.
“Who’s your mommy?”
“Yes,” said Lana. “And where is she? Someone should tell her that this is no place for a child.”
Clark quickly turned to Lana, fighting the urge to strangle her. “Why don’t you go do that shopping you need to do? I’ll meet you at the deli on the corner when you’re done.”
“Fine with me,” Lana said, turning and storming towards the elevators.
Letting out a breath of relief, Clark turned back to the boy who, now that he had put Clark’s things back in the box, was attempting to drag the box off the desk. Clark quickly moved over to help him pick up the box, steadying it as he crawled off the chair.
Once the boy was back on the floor, he held out the box to Clark. “Go away,” he said.
Clark took the box and set it on the floor.
“What’s your name?” he asked.
“Charlie.” Charlie crawled back onto the desk’s chair as if protecting it from Clark.
“Hi, Charlie. I’m Clark,” Clark said, squatting down next to the chair.
The boy looked at him suspiciously, as if expecting some sort of trick to get the desk back.
“I’m sorry for taking the desk. I didn’t know it belonged to someone else,” he said, although the fact that there wasn’t anything on the desk was causing Clark to have his suspicions about whose desk it might have been. After all, he was not unaware of the news stories about a Daily Planet journalist who had recently gone missing while investigating a story in the Congo. “What’s your mommy’s name?”
“Charlie!” a woman called from the other side of the room. The woman was emerging from Perry White’s office carrying a box that looked suspiciously like the one Clark had used to carry his things into the newsroom.
Clark looked back at Charlie, wondering what he would do now. After all, he was obviously on a mission to protect this desk. Would he give it up to join the woman on the other side of the room? Still, it appeared that Clark must have been wrong about his assessment of who his mother might have been. Clark was relieved. He hated to think he was stealing the desk of this child’s dead mother.
But Charlie was not distracted from his mission. He seemed to settle his butt further into the chair, cross his arms and set his chin in defiance.
The woman, having spotted him, walked over, carrying her box. “Sorry about this,” she said. “Come on, Charlie. We have to go.”
A mulish expression appeared on Charlie’s face. “This is mommy’s desk.”
The woman set the box she was carrying on the desk and squatted down to talk to Charlie. “Oh, sweety. I know this was mommy’s desk. But she doesn’t need it anymore so this nice man is going to use it, okay?”
Clark could hear the hitch in the voice of the woman as she spoke the words. He could also see that the boy was not convinced.
The woman obviously did as well because she rose to her feet and turned to Clark. “Sorry about this, but his mother...”
“Was Lois Lane, wasn’t she?” Clark asked, fairly certain he’d worked out what was going on here. “She went missing in the Congo.”
Glancing at Charlie, Clark noticed that the boy’s bottom lip had come out with his pronouncement and tears now seemed to be forming in his eyes. ‘Way to go, Kent,’ he chastised himself. ‘Remind the boy that he’d lost his mother.’
“She’s not missing,” Charlie objected. “She knows where she is and she’s coming home. She promised.”
Clark glanced over at the woman and could see that her eyes were suspiciously moist, too. She looked a little helpless, as if not certain how to handle the situation.
Thinking quickly, Clark turned back to Charlie. “I hadn’t heard that,” he said. “Well, if she’s coming back, she’s going to need her desk.”
Charlie’s defensive posture seemed to relax slightly.
Clark looked over at the woman and gestured to the box. “Are these her things?” he asked.
The woman nodded.
“Well, what if we do this?” he asked, turning back to Charlie. “Why don’t you take some things from your mommy’s box and put them on the desk so that everyone knows this is her desk?” He glanced at the woman for approval as he picked up the box and moved it over where Charlie could reach into it. Looking relieved, the woman nodded.
Charlie looked at him suspiciously for a moment before looking in the box. He pulled out a picture of him with his mother and immediately set it on the desk. Then he chose a toy car and put it on the desk as well. By the way he handled the toy, Clark was fairly certain it was a prized possession. One final item, a name plate saying ‘Lois Lane’ was pulled from the box and set on the desk. Seeming satisfied that he’d marked out his mother’s territory sufficiently, he looked back at Clark.
Clark moved the box aside and squatted down in front of Charlie. “Do you think your mother would mind if I borrowed her desk until she comes back? ‘Cause I don’t have a desk and I really need a place to work. I’ll make sure to take good care of it for her.” He just hoped this worked because he really wasn’t sure what he would do if it didn’t.
“You’ll give it back to her when she comes home?” Charlie asked, searching Clark’s face for some sign he could trust him.
“I promise, kiddo.”
Something he had said seemed to reach Charlie. “Okay,” Charlie said. “But you give it back when she comes home.”
“I will,” Clark promised. And he would, too - even if that left him sitting on the floor. “In the meantime, these things will let everyone know that I’m just borrowing the desk. Okay?”
Charlie took one final look at the desk and at Clark before nodding.
“Why don’t you go say goodbye to Uncle Perry while I talk to the nice man for a minute,” the woman said entering the conversation again.
Satisfied, Charlie nodded, crawling off the chair so that he could take off at a run towards Perry’s office.
“Thank you for that,” the woman said. “I’m Molly Flynn.” She stuck out her hand which Clark promptly shook. “His mother was my best friend. He’s been having a tough time with...” She glanced towards the office door. “...everything. Keeps insisting that she’s coming back.”
“Clark Kent,” Clark responded. “I lost my folks when I was ten, so I have an idea what he’s going through. By the way, for a moment there I thought he wasn’t going to go for my plan. But then something seemed to change.”
Molly smiled. “I think it was when you called him ‘kiddo.’ That’s what Lois always used to call him.”
Clark glanced towards the door to Perry’s office, his heart going out to the boy. “Poor kid. Well, hopefully his father can at least help - although I doubt anything can replace a mother when you’re that age.”
“He doesn’t have a father,” Molly said. “Lois named me as his guardian in her will and even though we won’t be able to have her will executed until she’s been missing seven years, so far her parents have been supportive of me taking care of Charlie. I just wish...” Her voice broke and she gave her head a shake as if to clear it.
Not sure what he could say to ease her obvious pain, he directed his mind back to Charlie. “Well, any time he’s here, he can come sit at his mother’s desk. And I’ll be sure to keep her things on it.”
“Oh, you don’t have to...”
“Yes, I do. I promised Charlie.”
Molly cocked her head to the side and studied him for a moment. “You seem really familiar to me. Have we met before?”
Clark shook his head. “I don’t think so.”
“Huh,” Molly said, not seeming entirely convinced. Then she shook her head. “Anyway, I really do need to be going...” She picked up the box. “Thanks again for this.”
“No problem.” He watched her turn away. “Molly?” Clark said, causing the woman to turn back around. “Listen... I know you don’t know me, but... Well, I guess I sort of feel for the little guy and I was thinking...” He hesitated.
“Well, I’m new to the city and thought... maybe Charlie would be available to show me around the Metropolis Zoo sometime this weekend. I hear it’s supposed to be really impressive.” Then he shrugged sheepishly. “Sorry. That was a dumb idea.”
“No... no... It’s just...”
“You don’t know me and for all you know I could be a child molester trying to prey on an innocent child. Hey, what if you came with him?”
He got the distinct impression Molly was not quite sure what to make of him. “Okay, sure,” she finally said. “God knows he could use something to take his mind off how much he misses his mother.”
“Great!” Clark said, surprised by how much he was suddenly looking forward to this weekend.
* * * * * * * * *
June 1997
* * * * * * * * *
“Charlie,” Clark said softly.
“Are you okay, son?” Perry asked.
“Uhh... yeah. I’m fine.”
“Well, then I can’t believe you would just take off for a week without telling Charlie. You know that if you’re even five minutes late, he thinks something bad has happened to you.”
“Why would he worry about me? He must know I’m Superman. Surely...”
“What’s wrong with you?” Perry hissed.
“What did I...”
He fell silent at the look Perry gave him. “Come with me,” Perry said, turning his wheelchair so that he could wheel down the ramp. He didn’t stop until he was in the conference room.
“Have you lost your mind?” Perry asked after the door was closed behind Clark.
“I...”
“Making that comment about being Superman in the middle of the newsroom,” Perry said. “Heck, if I hadn’t figured it out already...” He shook his head. “What’s going on with you? And speaking of which, how are you going to explain both you and Superman deciding to shave your beards before the charity event is over?”
“Charity event?” He felt like he was trying to fight his way out of quicksand. “I...” His voice trailed off helplessly. Wait a second... Charlie was Lois’ son. Lois hadn’t had a son when Clark had gone into the past. Suddenly, he was lost in another memory.
* * * * * * * * *
August 1993
* * * * * * * * *
“Uncle Clark?”
Clark was already smiling when he turned towards the sound a voice saying his name - a voice he was beginning to know well. Charlie was often at the newsroom. When Clark had inquired about the reason for this now that Ms. Lane was no longer an employee, Perry had informed him that he and Molly had decided that Charlie should continue coming to the day care center until he started kindergarten in September in an attempt to keep his routine as normal as possible.
After that, he would come by after school three days a week so that he didn’t feel that, in addition to losing his mother, he was losing the friends he’d made at the Daily Planet - both at the day care and in the newsroom. Clark hadn’t inquired further, but he had his suspicions that Perry was paying for Charlie’s continued daycare out of his own pocket.
Not that Charlie was completely without his own resources as evidenced by the fact that Charlie had managed to get himself a job - delivering copies of the Daily Planet to various reporters. At first, Clark had been confused by that. After all, free copies of the paper were available in dispensers all over the building so why were people paying a quarter for a copy of the paper?
Until he discovered Charlie’s genius.
The price was not for the paper; it was for delivery.
Soon Clark was on the list of employees paying a quarter for delivery of the paper to his desk whenever Charlie was in the newsroom.
Pulling a quarter out of his pocket, he turned to look at Charlie, surprised when he didn’t see his copy of the paper.
“This is for you,” Charlie said looking unexpectedly nervous as he handed Clark an envelope.
Curious, Clark opened the envelope. Pulling out the hand-drawn card, he suspected the picture on it was done by Charlie. The writing clearly belonged to an adult, however - probably Molly - but Charlie had signed it. A handmade invitation to... Clark smiled. A birthday party. Sunday afternoon at Chuck E. Cheese.
“Can you come?” Charlie asked.
Clark opened his mouth to accept before snapping it shut again. Lana’s family had some big company function on Sunday afternoon. He had to attend. He couldn’t do both.
He was about to refuse when he noticed the hope on Charlie’s face as he waited for an answer.
“Of course I’ll be there, kiddo. I love Chunk E. Cheese,” Clark responded.
The smile that lit up Charlie’s face was worth the hell he was going to get from Lana. Heck, getting in trouble from Lana for spending time with Charlie was pretty much to be expected these days - so why would this time be any different? But there was just something about Charlie that made Clark unable to deny him anything. He didn’t even want to try.
With a spring in his step, Charlie turned away.
“Hey, wait!” Clark said.
Charlie turned back around.
“How old are you going to be?”
“Five,” Charlie responded before bounding away.
* * * * * * * * *
June 1997
* * * * * * * * *
Charlie had turned five in August of 1993. That meant he’d been born in August of 1988. Which meant in turn that he had been conceived in...
November 1987.
Charlie was his son.
Suddenly feeling slightly faint, he sunk onto one of the chairs at the conference room table.
Vaguely, he heard Perry saying his name, but he was already lost in another memory of the past.
* * * * * * * * *
December 25, 1994
* * * * * * * * *
Clark shifted the pile of presents in his arms in order to knock on the door. A moment later, he heard the door open - followed by laughter.
“Well, I have no idea who you are,” Molly said. “But you’ve definitely come to the right place.”
“Oh, sorry,” Clark said, shifting the parcels slightly so that Molly could see more than a pile of presents.
“I should have known,” Molly said when she saw the white beard and red toque. “Charlie, Santa’s here to see you,” she yelled before stepping back into the apartment to allow Clark to enter.
Clark placed his gifts on the bench just inside the door before bending down to remove his boots. He had just gotten them off when Charlie came rushing around the corner.
“That’s not Santa. That’s Uncle Clark in a Santa suit,” Charlie said before launching himself into Clark’s arms.
Clark laughed, catching the boy. “Guess I’ve been busted,” he said. “And I’ve been working so hard on my ho, ho, ho, too. Hope you’re not too disappointed I’m not the real Santa,” Clark said, standing up and shifting Charlie onto his back so that he could again pick up the presents.
“You’re better than the real Santa,” Charlie said.
Clark beamed. If there were higher praise, he wasn’t sure he’d ever heard it.
* * * * * * * * *
“So is it just the two of you this year?” Clark asked, smoothing the new Santa tie Charlie had given him against his chest as he and Molly sat, sipping eggnog while watching Charlie play with his new toys, moving from one to the next as if wanting to play with all of them at the same time. During the past year and a half, he and Molly had become good friends, mainly because of their shared love for a certain little boy.
“Don’t feel sorry for us,” Molly said, glancing sideways at Clark. “Cat already came by earlier today and Perry and Alice were here for a while yesterday evening. Seems that you and Perry think alike because he showed up in a Santa suit, too. Well, so did Cat - although, her Santa costume was a little less... traditional.”
Clark laughed. Knowing Cat, he could imagine “No wonder you knew I was at the right apartment when you saw the suit - seems this is a popular spot for Santas.”
“And Charlie is going to be spending some time with his grandparents later this afternoon.”
“Uhh... the doting grandparents. You’ll be swamped in new toys when they get through with him,” Clark said. Clark didn’t know the details, but he knew there had been some kind of rift between Lois and her parents. That rift had even extended to include Charlie. All that had changed, however, when Lois had gone missing. Charlie now was one of the most important things in his grandparents’ lives. Having Charlie seemed to help them bear the pain of losing their daughter just a little bit better.
“One thing Charlie isn’t lacking is new toys,” Molly said, gesturing around them.
Clark laughed. Between him and Molly and Cat and Perry, he suspected Charlie was one of the top toy-getters in Metropolis this Christmas - and that was even before his grandparents got hold of him.
“I’m surprised that the Lanes didn’t invite you to join them,” Clark said.
He was amazed to see Molly blush. “Actually, they did, but I have a date.”
“Anyone I know?”
Molly shook her head. “Old friend from college.”
“Well, have fun,” Clark said, not inquiring further about the man’s identity since, other than Cat who had apparently gone to school at the same time as Molly, he didn’t know any of her friends from college. And besides, she seemed a little... disinclined to talk about it.
“What about you? You and Lana have any special plans?”
Clark nodded. “A shindig over at the Lang residence.”
“And for ‘shindig’ interpret ‘soiree’ - after all, it seems to me the Langs would never hold a shindig when they could have a soiree.”
Clark laughed. “Well, it is black-tie. And when the Langs say black-tie...”
“...they mean black-tie,” Molly finished for him. “See... I told you it weren’t no shindig.”
Clark laughed at Molly’s butchered use of the English language.
“So how’s that Gaagle thing of yours coming along?” Clark asked after a brief pause.
“It’s up and running,” Molly said, sounding pleased that he’d even remembered.
He supposed that made sense since the internet was still pretty small. Clark figured that would change soon enough.
“Starting to make some pretty good money, too,” Molly said.
“Good. Maybe you can finally move into a bigger place.”
“Actually, I’ve been considering that,” Molly said.
“Really?”
“Yeah. I think part of the reason I’ve stayed here so long is that there’s a part of me that still expects...” She mouthed the word Lois to keep little ears from overhearing. “...to come walking in the door. And maybe I’m a little bit concerned if I move, she won’t be able to find me.”
“From what I know of...” He glanced at Charlie. “...her, she’d find you even if she had to track you to the end of the earth.”
Molly laughed. “Yes, she would.”
Clark didn’t inquire about her feeling that Lois might come waltzing in the door. After he’d first met Charlie, he’d taken many, many trips over to the Congo looking for a lead that might help him find Charlie’s mother, but to no avail. These days, his investigation had shifted from looking for Lois to trying to find her killers - not that he’d told Molly that.
Of course, so far anyway, there wasn’t much to tell. Whoever was responsible had gone far and hidden all the evidence deep. Still, someday, the case would crack and Clark intended to be there when it did. Both for Charlie’s sake and for Molly’s. Hopefully, if he could at least tell them what had happened to her, they would be able to get some closure. Until then... Well, he wasn’t sure it was healthy that Charlie still maintained that she would return - and from Molly’s comments, it seemed she was having problems letting go as well.
“Well, anyway, any idea where you might move to? Have you considered buying a house?”
“Briefly, but... Well, I wanted to talk to you about something.”
“Sure,” Clark said, wondering why she’d need to talk to him about her living arrangements - and then, suddenly dreading the idea that she was thinking of moving out of Metropolis, taking Charlie with her.
“I just discovered that the apartment building you’re living in is up for sale and... Well, maybe this is a crazy idea, but the first floor apartment the manager has been using is really spacious. I think I could really fix it up, make it a real home. I could even convert one of the other apartments on the first floor into an office for my computer equipment when one becomes available. And if I bought the building not only would I have a home, but another source of income.”
“Can you afford it?” Clark asked, even as he breathed a sigh of relief that she wasn’t thinking of leaving Metropolis.
“Like I said, Gaagle is really starting to pay off.”
“Must be if you’re talking about buying a whole apartment building. But why are you asking me about it?”
“Well, one of the reasons I’m considering it is because I think Charlie would love to be that close to you.”
“I’d love it, too.”
“Really?” Molly asked. “Because I was worried that you might think it was a little presumptuous of us. But you’ve become such a big part of his life this past year or so.”
“Hey, I’d love it. That little guy is the best thing to ever happen to me.”
“Better not let Lana hear you say that,” Molly said with a laugh.
Clark cringed. “No, she wouldn’t take kindly to that at all. And if you buy my building she will be convinced that we really are having an affair.”
Molly’s smile faded. “She thinks we’re having an affair? Then maybe buying your building isn’t such a good idea.”
Clark shook his head. “Hey, don’t let Lana stop you. I think it’s a great idea. I can even watch Charlie for you when you’re out with your mystery guy.”
Molly rolled her eyes. “So you think I should do it?”
“Absolutely.”
“Okay, then,” Molly said, her smile returning. “I’ll give the lawyers a call as soon as the holiday’s over.”
“So now that your Gaagle thing is doing so well, any other projects in the works?”
Molly nodded. “I’m working on something I’m calling Headbook.”
“What is that?”
“It’s going to be... sort of a social networking site. People will have their own page where their friends can come by and leave messages or where they can post pictures... You know really make the internet a place where people can connect with each other.” Molly shrugged. “I guess I just feel that technology is starting to separate people from each other and I am hoping this will allow people to reconnect again - even if it’s not in person.”
“Sounds like a good idea.”
“And I’ve begun to play with another idea. I think I might call it ‘mytube.’ It would be a place for people to post their videos.”
“Do enough people have video cameras to make that worthwhile?”
“Not yet,” Molly said. “But that will change soon enough. Soon every one and their dog will be shooting videos and needing somewhere to post them.”
Clark smiled. He wasn’t sure how she did it, but when Molly made a prediction about the future of technology, one could pretty much bank on it coming true. So he suspected she must be right - even if he couldn’t at the moment even imagine that being possible.
They watched Charlie play for a moment, each lost in their own thoughts.
“I just don’t understand it,” Clark said breaking the silence.
“What?”
“Well, he’s such a great kid. How can any man walk away from his own child?”
Molly glanced over at him. “Sometimes things aren’t quite what they seem.”
That got Clark’s attention. “How so?”
Molly hesitated for a long time before shaking her head. “Forget I said anything.”
“Molly?”
She bit her lower lip, obviously struggling with something. “Let’s go into the kitchen and get some more eggnog,” she finally said.
Curious, Clark followed her into the kitchen, realizing that her motive was likely to keep Charlie from overhearing what she was about to say. Once they had changed rooms, he watched while she made sure that Charlie was engrossed in his play.
“Okay, so what is it?”
Still, Molly hesitated. “No, not now. Charlie seems to have really good hearing and... I just don’t want to take the chance. But I think someone needs to know... I know I swore to his mother never to say anything, but if something were to happen to me, and then Charlie got sick and needed a donor or something... I just think someone else needs to know. His grandparents should be here soon... Will you stay until after they pick him up?”
Charlie nodded. He had no idea what could be so serious that it could make Molly this paranoid about Charlie overhearing. But if she thought it was important, so did he.
“Uncle Clark,” Charlie called. “Can you help me put my train set together?”
“Coming,” Clark responded, giving Molly a quick smile before joining Charlie in the living room, certain as he did so that helping Charlie with his train set would be the best part of this year’s Christmas.
TO BE CONTINUED...
ML
