Part 10
Fully decked out in her Superman groupie outfit, Martha left her husband eating an ice cream sundae in the restaurant part of the establishment and headed over to the bar section once again. She didn't have a clue as to how she was going to help Lois, but knew she had to try. Her son was so much in love with that young woman and after seeing her troubled face earlier, it was very possible that she was equally in love with him. For the moment, it looked as though Lois needed someone to confide in very badly.
She approached Lois' table and was relieved to see her still sitting there. Her tears had stopped, and now she just looked very sad, staring at her drink as she stirred its contents.
Martha slid into the seat next to the life-size poster cutout of her son, put on a smile and waited for Lois to look up.
"Scram, you slime... " Lois stopped in mid-sentence and stared at Martha. "Thought you were someone else."
"Been getting pestered by the local bar flies? Can you blame them, honey? You're all by yourself, and you're a lovely young woman."
"Listen, I just want to be by myself. Do you mind?" she said bluntly.
"Of course, I don't. But I just had to get a look at this poster. He's such a handsome man, don't you think?"
Martha noticed Lois' eyes as they shifted over to the poster, then the obvious pain that flared briefly in them.
"I bet he's all looks though. I don't know that he has much of a personality. He seems so stiff on television. No doubt you know the type - all muscle, and not a brain in sight. He doesn't appear to be too friendly."
Lois scowled in disagreement. This lady was so far from the truth. If she only knew how loving and gentle Kal could be.
"So what's got you in a snit? Man trouble? That's usually the reason for empty boxes of chocolate and tears."
Lois looked at the strange woman sitting opposite her and wished she'd go away. "I want to be alone. No offense to you, but... "
"Okay, honey. But you know that some other loser's going to try to hit on you again. If I sit with you, maybe they won't bother you. Back before I married my husband, I remember pining over some handsome young man in an ice cream shop. I must have gone through three banana splits that night."
Lois moved her lips in an attempt at a smile. "Ice cream is always a great crutch food too, then you have to diet for two weeks just to get rid of all the calories. You can stay if you want to, but I'm warning you, I'm not very good company."
"That's okay, sweetie. I'll be quiet and let you think. Do you mind if I order us a couple of sundaes? My husband had one before and it looked delicious, although I do think I'm going to get one of those Death by Chocolate desserts to go along with it."
Lois nodded her head and took another long drink from her drink. Chocolate, margaritas, and ice cream. If she was throwing herself a pity party, then why not? If this strange woman kept away the lowlife, then her unexpected company could be worth the small intrusion on her privacy.
Martha was true to her word and remained quiet after ordering the sundaes. How was she going to get Lois to start opening up to her? The young woman had requested another drink from the waitress and was obviously not ready to end her self-indulgence. She'd better be patient, no sense in pushing her, because then Lois might close up completely.
She slyly watched Lois out of the corner of her eye as she played with the ice in her empty glass. In spite of the circumstances, it was nice to observe her son's love interest. She appeared to be all that Clark had said about her; beautiful, but sharp intelligence and wit shown in her eyes, even through the confusion and pain that clouded them temporarily.
The order arrived and Lois accepted hers without a word. She barely knew that the other woman was there; she just accepted her presence while trying to sort through the conflicting thoughts and emotions inside her mind. The three drinks she had consumed were starting to make her head feel light, but did nothing to ease the heaviness residing in her heart.
Was this fair to Clark if she started a relationship loving another man? She'd come here tonight to place things in their proper boxes, but the resolution that she needed was nowhere to be found. If anything, she was more confused than before.
A little order was needed. She loves Clark. Clark loves her. But, she loves her best friend Kal, who's in love with someone else. Therefore, Kal is not available and is out of the picture. It should end there. Case closed. No brainer. If this were an investigation, she'd be writing up the story and sending it to Perry.
She pushed the cherry around the perimeter of her bowl, watching how the path it took in the ice cream kept getting deeper and deeper. There was no way out for the small piece of fruit, except by action of her spoon and she would have to be the one to initiate it. It was easy to sympathize with that cherry; the endless circle in which her emotions were racing had no end in sight.
As Lois chased the cherry, Martha hoped that she would break the silence soon.
"So what happened to the guy you had been eating ice cream over?" Lois asked quietly at last.
Martha let out a small laugh. "I married him, honey," she said confidently.
Curious at last, Lois finally took a hard look at the older woman sitting across from her.
"My parents were pushing me to marry a man from the right side of the tracks, and I would have, except that I fell in love with this farmer's son I met on vacation. I had to decide if I wanted to disappoint my parents and this other man, or miss out on the love of a lifetime."
"How did you know it was a lifetime kind of love? Aren't those things found out after the fact?"
"I listened to my heart, sweetie. My parents were mad; this other man was hurt, but he survived. He found a wonderful girl about a year later and I was even invited to the wedding. This probably has nothing to do with your situation, but know that things will straighten themselves out in the end."
"This man you married... what was it about him that made him special?"
"Oh, he was kind and loving; we laughed over anything. I lived in a different state, but with each letter that we wrote, our friendship grew beyond anything I'd ever had with anyone. We shared all of our thoughts and dreams with each other. I was so afraid that our friendship would end if I married this other man; that was why I kept putting him off. When I made myself admit that I loved Jonathan, it wasn't two days later that I received a letter from him saying that he loved me desperately and wanted to marry me!"
"That was fast!" Lois injected.
"Oh, honey! I turned him down a couple of times, but the more my parents pushed this other man on me, the more I knew I couldn't live without my farmer boy. When we were together at last, all the trials that we'd been through and the friendship that we had built made our love so sweet." Martha paused as she dabbed the corner of her eye with her napkin. "It was incredible. Still is. I hope you find the same with your young man."
<Which young man?> Lois asked herself. She dropped her gaze down to her bowl again, then scooped up the cherry with her spoon and brought it to her mouth. As she bit down on the sweetness, she heard Martha say, "Just remember that whatever happens, it's the friendship behind the love that's going to pull you through."
"Thanks, but I think our situation is completely different."
"How's that, if I may ask?"
"My best friend is in love with someone else, and the guy who I've been in love with for a long time, says he loves me too. Things are great, just great... " Her voice dropped off suddenly, brave facade falling by the wayside once more as she found the smiling, still, cardboard face of her best friend.
"Then why are you here?" Martha asked bluntly, hoping to push the right buttons. "Is staring at Superman the answer? We all would like our men to be Superman, but do we really? He probably knows nothing about being a friend. How could he? He's never in one place. What could possess a guy to fly around dressed like that? If he had a mother, I just know she'd be embarrassed to see her son flying around like a clown in a cape. What counts in a relationship is what is built over time. Measuring your man up to Superman is going to cause you trouble. Honey, that's only a suit; you've got to look into their heart."
Lois' mouth dropped open at the stranger's words. Gathering herself, she lit into this misinformed woman in defense of Kal. "I have to ask you, why are you here? Have you ever met Superman? Well, I have, and he is nothing like those empty-headed jocks that you're comparing him to. For the record, his mother is very proud of him, and she actually made that suit, I'll have you know."
Tears streamed down her face, unnoticed by Lois as she ranted against this woman who was so mistaken about her friend. "I know Superman," she said intensely. "I don't know why I'm telling you this, except that no one will believe a groupie dressed the way you are, but he is my best friend. I've never met, nor will meet, anyone like him again and that's not because he has all these super powers and can lift space stations and swallow bombs. I love him because he has the kindest, most gentle heart I've ever seen in a person and he's always been there for me. Even though he's from Krypton, there's more humanity in his little finger than most people have in their whole body. He's been the best friend I've ever had, and I'm so afraid I'm going to lose him because our lives seem to taking different directions. So don't tell me he's just a suit because I know the man underneath it."
The two women locked eyes and Martha was shocked by the fierce protectiveness and love that flared in Lois' deep brown ones. She knew then that her work was almost done.
"Have you told Kal?" she asked softly. "Have you told my son that you love him?"
"What?" Lois responded in shock. "Are you... did I hear you right?" Kal's real name wasn't public knowledge. Only she and his parents knew his Kryptonian name.
"I'm his adopted mother. And you're Lois Lane. I'm the one who made the suit, sweetie."
Lois' mouth fell open as she began to believe this woman true identity. This was Kal's mom! How did she know who she was? Did Kal talk about her to his parents? Of course he did! He was always bringing her cookies or other fattening things that his mom had baked, not to mention those comfy sofa pillows, and he had told her that his parents said hi on many occasions.
"I'm so embarrassed. I've always known that Kal's had this other life; I just never expected to meet you. I've wanted to. How did you know who I was?"
"Kal told us that you work at the Daily Planet. It was easy to find pictures of you."
"You must think I'm a real space case, no pun intended, but I've told you some things that I shouldn't have. Forgive me; I could have ruined everything for Kal if you were a sleazy reporter or criminal."
"But you didn't," Martha said reassuringly, but then an impish smile appeared on her face. "Who's going to believe a woman eating ice cream and drinking margaritas?"
Her mouth fell open once again at the teasing humor thrown at her by Kal's mom. It was easy to see where he picked up that part of his personality. An overwhelming urge to see Kal, the real one, sitting here with his mother, welled up inside her.
"No. I haven't told him. He has no idea what he means to me. Heck, I'd just figured it out myself earlier today, and it's blown me away." She shrugged her shoulders while looking quickly around her. "That's pretty obvious."
"Tell him, Lois; and no, I can't give you any clue to how he feels about you. That's something the two of you need to sort out together." She covered Lois' hand with her own. "I'm so glad I've met you at last. I've always wanted to thank you for all that you've done for my boy. He's told me many times that you are the reason he became Superman and what a good friend you've been to him. So no matter what happens between the two of you, I'm happy to have been able to let you know how much this has meant to me."
"He's helped me so much too. Do you know he found an apartment for me and had loaned money to me when I first arrived in town? Not to mention being there whenever I needed a friend. And all the chocolate." She tapped the empty box. "You have a wonderful son, and I love him so much it hurts. But I don't see how it's ever going to work out. There's another man I love too, and... I'm so confused."
It was so hard seeing this girl torn up about her son, especially knowing that Lois was confused and so much in love with both of Clark's identities. How things had gotten so messed up between the two of them, she would never know. It was so tempting to sit both of them down and force them to talk, but it was something that the both of them needed to work out together.
She squeezed the younger woman's hand firmly, trying to reassure her. "You are the first woman I've ever talked to about my son. Seeing how much you obviously love him just brings tears to my eyes. I don't know what your future holds, but I know my son couldn't choose anyone finer than you."
Didn't she know that Kal had chosen someone else - Trollop the Wonder Woman? Why wouldn't she know that? Unless either, Kal hadn't talked to his mother, or there wasn't anything to tell her. Kal never actually said that this woman returned his feelings, so just maybe this was a one-sided relationship. It had been days since he'd visited her, but she just assumed that he'd been spending time with 'the trollop' now. Of course, Clark had been keeping her busy, so she could have missed his visits. This was crazy! Where were these new thoughts taking her? And what about Clark?
Tomorrow. She'd tell him tomorrow. Kal wouldn't be the only one with a confession.
Just then, the music stopped, the lights brightened in the room, and Rose Cooper introduced Superman who had just arrived back from his latest rescue.
Lois felt her heart lurch and her breathing became shallow upon seeing Kal for the first time in days. She felt as nervous as a schoolgirl and very self-conscious - just like she used to feel whenever Clark had come into the newsroom during the days when he seemed so unobtainable. Her insides fluttered at the thought of Clark and she despaired at the knowledge that she was totally in love with two men at the same time.
Frowning, Lois turned to Martha. "Did you have to make that suit so tight and revealing? I admit, it's great for me to look at, but look at all these other women gawking at him like he was a prize racehorse."
She unconsciously sighed in admiration, prompting Martha to smile and tease. "You really have it bad, don't you, honey?"
Lois nodded her head and giggled, feeling giddy all of a sudden, probably from her drinks catching up to her. She waved her hand in the air and tried to catch Kal's attention.
She knew when she had caught his eye – his stare locked onto hers and his face grew pale.
Kal coughed into the microphone and began to speak in a shaky voice.
******
