“And Grandpa’s sick,” CJ told him. “They don’t like to talk about it. They think I’m too little to understand, but I know if Grandpa has another heart attack, he’ll die. Grandma’s already talked to Sheriff Rachel about taking care of me if anything happens to them.” His lower lip was quivering as the boy fought back tears. “How am I supposed to grow up to be like my dad if they’re not here to help me?”

“Clarkie!” a girl’s voice yelled, interrupting any questions Ellen might have had. The three adults looked over to the baggage claim to see a dark-haired girl waving at them. Beside her, holding her other hand was a younger boy with auburn hair. A tall woman wearing a blue airline uniform was holding the younger boy’s other hand.

CJ and Perry waved back.

“That’s Grandpa Perry and Clarkie” they heard the girl tell the woman.

There was something oddly adult in the way she said it. Something sad and familiar, something that reminded him of another Lois. His eldest daughter who had tried and failed to bring her parents together, whose death had done what her life hadn’t.

Then suddenly, it was a fourth-grader in front of him, bright-eyed, a little worldly, only pretending to be grown-up. Sam had an odd sense of déjà vu. There was something very odd about the pair. Lois called the boy Clarkie. Clark Kent, Jr.? Lucy had never mentioned that Clark had a son, and from Lois’s reaction she knew the boy well.

This was something to be looked into.

In fact, he had seen the resemblance early on between Lois Joanne Olsen and Lois Joanne Lane. It was less a physical resemblance, although that was there, but one of personality and intellect.

Mike Lane had traveled the world, both as a Marine and after, before settling in Metropolis. He’d seen many things he couldn’t explain. His grandniece and her buddy CJ were among them. They made him almost believe in reincarnation.