Whoa!
An earthquake--
that was definitely something that I was
not expecting!
And Martha? Jonathan?
Clark has been through so much. Now this? I just don't know if/how he can survive loosing both of them in the 'place' he is in now.
So...being that Clark really really really
needs his parents right now, could you please put a band-aid on them, make them all better, and insert them surprisingly 'okay' into their hospital beds in the next chapter? Please?
And for Lois...Lois was really starting to heal, figure out her purpose, have a legitimate 'family' in her life. To loose them--to feel guilt, to be the cause--
again of more pain. Lois is just as vulnerable...she very much needs Martha and Jonathan to make it through this.
“Helping throw some eggs and sugar in a bowl is hardly going to hurt you,” Martha tells him dryly. “Jonathan sets the table, Lois does the dishes--that leaves you to show us some productivity.”
James says something else that makes a silver, joyous laugh shake Jonathan’s frame, and Martha replies and James darts ahead to walk backward while saying more, but it all fades away in Lois’s consciousness. All of it muted and frozen in a picture-perfect moment by the sparkling, gilt-edged realization exploding in Lois’s mind and heart and being.
She is included.
James pulled her into their teasing. Martha listed her contributions to their daily chores alongside Jonathan’s.
Her two detractors, and they are including her.
Accepting her.
Teasing her.
As if she’s part of the family. Part of their unit. One of them.
Not an outsider. Not a murderer. Not their worst nightmare.
An ally. A compatriot. Someone who will do anything for Clark up to and including giving up her life for him.
I really loved this. That glimpse she gets, those clues that tell Lois that she is becoming part of the family.
“You okay?”
Lois smiles at Martha. At the concern in her voice. At the feel of her age-smoothed hand resting so gently atop Lois’s. “Getting there,” she murmurs beneath the flow of James’s voice and Jonathan’s chuckle.
Martha’s own smile is cracked and tremulous. “Me too. It’s a slow road sometimes, isn’t it?”
“Yeah.” Her voice breaks, but Lois doesn’t care. No need for false pride or defensive facades here. Not now. Not with this woman, with this family (with these few who see beyond her disguise and know her in all her forms). But she cannot help adding, in little more than a whisper, “I just wish Clark could be here.”
Instead of denouncing her for her hypocrisy (for wishing for the very thing she made impossible), Martha only tightens her grip over Lois’s. “So do I. He could sure use a day like this. Or even just an hour. Sometimes, I think he’s gotten so focused on what he still has left to him that he forgets he can have more.”
An idea sparks in Lois’s mind. It feels like creativity. It feels like purpose. It feels like adrenaline. It feels like an echo of what she lost when she pulled that metaphorical trigger. She’s afraid to look at it too closely, or examine it out in the cold light of day, but she cradles it close. Hugs it inside herself and lets it grow in warmth and seclusion and hope. Promises herself she will take it out and nurture it further when she is alone.
This was such a tender moment between Martha and Lois. I could just picture the emotion flowing between them. The understanding. Really beautiful
.
An idea? Hmmm. This sounds interesting. Hopefully happier times are ahead, and Lois can revisit this thought.
Really looking forward to reading more--so I can stop worrying about the Kents
.
Laura
