Part 10
Martha had woken up at five-thirty like she had every day for the past thirty years. Even if she had tried to sleep in, her internal clock wouldn’t let her. She walked out into the dark living room and noticed that Clark wasn’t on the couch. She had figured Lois and Clark had stayed up late talking and doing what most young couples in love would do.
Martha started her day making coffee and breakfast for her family. Back when Clark was younger, she would make a heartier breakfast since he was a growing boy. Now she learned not to make as much, but he could still eat and not gain an ounce.
“Good morning, mom,” Clark said as he rubbed the sleep from his eyes, standing in the doorway to the kitchen. Wearing a set of slightly rumpled gray sweats and a soft, mischievous smile.
“Did I wake you,” Martha asked as she finished putting the bacon in the skillet.
“No, I wanted to get started on the farm early,” Clark stated as he walked further into the kitchen. He got a cup of coffee and filled it with a large amount of cream and sugar. Then he sat at the table and watched his mom for a moment. He took a slow sip of his coffee and then sat it down on the wooden surface gently. “Mom …. Uh Lois, and I decided we want to get married here at the farm.”
“She said ‘yes’,” Martha turned from the stove, came over to her son, gave him a strong hug, and squealed with delight.
“Actually, she asked me. So I guess I said ‘yes’,” Clark smiled taking another sip of his coffee.
“You already set a date. That’s great, son,” Martha announced with glee.
“About that, mom. We want to get married by the end of the week,” he said with hesitation. He knew it would be a tall order, but he knew it could happen.
“By the end of the week. What about flowers, a guest list, or food? Clark, what about Lois’ parents,” Martha wondered as she grabbed the island counter and leaned over.
“My parents won’t be coming,” Lois announced as she stood in the doorway in pajama shorts and Clark’s Mid-Western t-shirt.
“They should really be there even if they are divorced,” Martha commented as she turned around back to the stove.
“We are going to have a celebration back in Metropolis once we get back,” Clark replied.
“Is that wise? I mean what is the rush,” Martha wondered as she plated the bacon.
“No rush, just excited for the next chapter,” Clark announced, looking over at Lois, who had just walked past him.
“Actually, I was thinking it would be nice to be married here surrounded by all of your friends and family that have helped since your dad’s accident. Some of these people have even been nice to me,” Lois mentioned as she poured herself a cup of coffee.
“It’s the way we small-town folks are,” Clark laughed, remembering when Lois had visited Smallville the first time.
“I just figured it could also be a way to celebrate Jonathan’s recovery. End our time in Smallville with a celebration,” Lois stated sitting next to him.
“I didn’t think about leaving yet. There is still a lot to do,” Clark announced sternly as his back stiffened.
“Clark, we told you a week. We can get people around town to help,” Martha reminded him.
“And we have help now plus we are thinking of new things to bring in money,” Lois explained. “I mean I had a piece of your mom’s pie, people would pay top dollar for those pies.”
“I don’t know about that,” Martha sighed as she cracked a couple of eggs.
“Mom, you won first prize at the fair for your pies three years in a row,” Clark replied grabbing a piece of bacon.
“So I was wondering if Trudy’s would sell your pies or maybe the Sip N’ Save,” Lois wondered, remembering the warm, sweet taste of Martha’s apple pie. It had just the right amount of cinnamon, nutmeg, and allspice and wasn’t watered down. The crust was so flaky and had just the right amount of crunch.
“I never thought of that,” Clark replied before taking another drink of his coffee. “Lois has some great ideas, mom!”
“And you are surprised by this,” Martha laughed as she put the fluffy yellow scrambled eggs on a platter.
Both women looked at Clark then at each other then suddenly engulfed in laughter.
“What,” Clark inquired with a large smile across his face.
“You,” Lois sighed as she reached over and kissed him on the cheek. “What did you think I came here for? And I didn’t become a world-renowned reporter because I can yodel.”
“That’s Perry's line,” Clark smiled. “And you can’t yodel.”
Martha leaned against the kitchen island with a smile. She loved how her boy had finally found his soulmate. She had been afraid that he would go his entire life alone. Before Clark literally fell from the sky, she prayed for a child. Once he had started gaining his powers, Martha started praying that he would find someone to share his life with. She knew he was different and with his secret came great responsibility and terrible loneliness.
“Okay, if we are going to do this wedding in a week - we are going to need a lot of help,” Martha stated with glee. She opened the drawer next to the sink and pulled out a pen and yellow notepad. On the top, she wrote in capital letters WEDDING and underlined it twice.
Lois and Clark looked at each with love and happiness in their eyes. Their love for each other had always shown in the looks they would give each other. It was something in the way, Clark looked at Lois that made her feel protected, cherished, and desired all in one look.
As the two of them stared at each other, Martha scribbled on the notepad.
“Are the two of you going to help or just make googly eyes at each other,” Martha smirked as she wrote Trudy’s name down. “I figured I could get Trudy to make the cake. I mean that lady makes mean lemon chiffon.”
Lois looked up at Martha with her mouth wide open. Clark knew instantly what Lois was thinking.
“Mom, I think Trudy would need to make her chocolate cake with coffee caramel,” Clark suggested as he grabbed Lois’ hand.
“What was I thinking? Of course chocolate,” Martha responded tilting her head back with a laugh then scratching off lemon chiffon and writing chocolate.
“How about you eat breakfast and then Lois and you can get started,” Clark said as he stood up from the table. He grabbed the eggs off the island and put them on the table. He then grabbed the orange juice plus another cup of coffee.
Lois used the tongs to take a couple of pieces of bacon and the large serving spoon for her eggs.
“What are you going to do,” Lois asked Clark as he sat back down.
“I’m going to get started on the farm, then in a couple of hours, I’ll go check in on dad,” Clark replied without looking up.
Martha wiped away a tear as she realized her son had finally returned to the loving, selfless, person she had raised. He was no longer determined to do it all and ignore the help of his loved ones.
“That sounds like a great idea. I know your dad really wants to see you. He misses his boy,” Martha said as she started eating her breakfast.
“I know, mom. I still don’t like the idea of leaving the two of you here to deal with the farm on your own,” Clark explained with sorrow. He shook his head and flashed back to the moment he had heard about his father. How can he go back to saving people and not be able to save the ones he loved?
“You do realize we won’t live forever,” Martha sighed. “My boy, I know you are disappointed in yourself for not being here. But, you shouldn’t. We didn’t raise you to stay here. You have done so much for us, you have bought us so much joy. Bring that joy to the rest of the world. To Lois.”
“What about -.”
“No, Clark, your mom is right. You put the weight of the world on your shoulders. Yes, the world knows there is a Superman. They expect you to save them, just like we expect you to save us, but what you give us more is hope. Hope that the world can come together and not be at war with each other. Yes, I love being an investigative reporter and getting the scoop, but none of that would matter anymore if I didn’t have you beside me,” Lois explained as she turned to Clark and put her hand on his knee. “I would give up the Daily Planet if it meant being with you.”
Clark took a big gulp and couldn’t fathom being more in love with this woman than he already was. These two women in front of him made him stronger than the sun’s powerful solar rays. They were what made him stronger.
Twenty minutes later, Clark was outside working on the new fence while Lois and Martha had finished cleaning up the kitchen.
Martha strolled back from the laundry room where she had put the dirty towels. She watched the dark-haired beauty put the last pan away and Martha flashed back to when she and her sisters would help clean up the kitchen growing up.
“Has Clark ever told you about my sisters and me,” Martha asked as she walked further into the kitchen.
“I didn’t know you had sisters,” Lois replied, sitting across from Martha.
“I was the middle sister, Sara Beth was three years older and Mabel was two years younger. We would help our mother in the kitchen when we were younger. The three of us would work together, laugh together, and play together. It was a different time then. We would work together and seamlessly; our mom said,” Martha explained with a smile remembering her sweet sisters.
“What about your dad,” Lois asked, sitting up straighter, intrigued by Martha’s story about her past.
“My parents grew up as neighbors; they were smitten with each other from the start. They got married very young with Sara Beth being born within months. Mom was six months pregnant with Mabel when dad was drafted in 1940,” Martha described in detail. She leaned over the table with her hands together and a look of sorrow across her face. “I don’t remember him.”
“I’m so sorry, Martha,” Lois whimpered, wiping a tear away.
“Our mother moved back to her family farm and had help raising us. Yet, my mother kept telling us that we needed more than just farming in our lives. Mabel drowned when she was seven. She went swimming in the local lake with our cousins; while Sara Beth and I were cooking dinner. By that time, there were about fifteen cousins growing up near or at the farm. My mother didn’t have the means to do anything else since she only knew how to farm. She wanted more for her girls; she would always tell us.”
“Losing her husband than her baby so young, I can’t imagine,” Lois responded, watching the incredible woman who had lost so much so young.
“It was just Sara Beth and me after that. We were the oldest ones and it felt like we sort of took care of the rest of the cousins. She taught me how to sew. It was 1952, Hank Williams Senior was big then. We worked on her Homecoming dress for weeks. She only got to wear it that night,” Martha recalled, remembering her sweet angelic older sister. “She was going to the dance with Billy Kinkaid, who came from a wealthier family in Wichita. His family was in the banking business and supported the Boeing plant to stay in Wichita.”
“World War II! That’s right Wichita built Boeings for decades.”
“Well, Billy drove his dad’s red Chevy Deluxe hardtop that night to the dance. I guess he was driving erratically around a sharp curve and crashed head-on into a semi-truck in the opposite lane,” Martha stated, covering her mouth, and looking down sadly.
“Oh no,” Lois muttered. “Not another sister.”
“My mother didn’t take it very well. She didn’t understand why she kept losing her family. She didn’t know what else to do. She kept drilling into me that I needed to be self-sufficient. My mother realized very young that a woman could do anything a man could do. She was very bitter by the time I met Jonathan.”
Martha stood up and walked toward the living room.
“Lois, if you are getting married in a week, there is not much time for you to find the perfect dress. I think I might be able to help in that department,” Martha said, waving her hand toward Lois to follow her.
The two women went upstairs, then Martha grabbed a string hanging from the hallway. There was an attic opening that Lois had never noticed before. Martha pulled down the ladder from the attic opening and then climbed into the attic. When Lois got into the attic, she noticed Martha in front of a vintage cedar hope chest. Martha was on her knees opening the chest and removing some white cotton sheets.
“When I married Jonathan, I decided to make my own dress using some of the tricks Sara had taught me. I even had a few pieces of the fabric she used hidden away. My mother was so protective of me afterward. She was horrified when I decided to marry Jonathan. She wanted so much more for her only daughter who lived. Yet I was in love, and still am to this wonderful farmer who has given me the world,” Martha explained as she pulled out a gown.
Lois’ mouth opened in shock at what Martha had told her and also what Martha had pulled out. The dress was stunning with its satin and lace with a flattering fit and flare shape. It had a v-neckline with zig-zag points and had princess seams embedded through the bust to the drop waist. The bodice had a rich floral tulle lace overlay and was trimmed with piping throughout. The very full skirt flared from there with soft gathers all around. It had an attached tulle netting slip with a ruffle hem.
“Sara Beth’s dress was a coffee beige color, but I chose the color snow white for this. I also had an extra crinoline underneath for extra fullness, and so did Sara Beth,” Martha stated as she stood up with the dress in front of her. Martha held the dress up in front of her and flashed back to the moment she walked down the aisle to marry Jonathan. “I want you to wear this to marry Clark.”
Lois could not believe what Martha was saying. No, it couldn’t be.
“I lost my sisters so long ago, and I didn’t have any daughters. From the moment Clark told us about the domineering, uncompromising, brilliant reporter that Perry teamed him up with; I knew that my boy was smitten,” Martha laughed, remembering when he talked about Lois. “You make my boy feel normal, you make him stronger, and you make him so happy.”
“I took so long realizing that he was more than just another colleague. I wasted so much time fighting it that I couldn’t see what was right in front of me. I didn’t want to be the type of person that counted on a man to be her equal; I fought it for so long. Now I can’t imagine my life without him even when he is being so stubborn,” Lois explained, looking off in the distance. “I wasted so much time.”
“No, you did what you needed to do. The two of you started out as partners at the Planet, but you are so much more,” Martha said, putting the dress up to Lois’ body. Martha looked around to see if the dress would need to be altered.
“He’s my best friend and I can’t imagine anything more special than getting married here on the farm and wearing this. Thank you, mom,” Lois cried reaching over to give the woman a hug. Martha Kent was more of a mother to Lois than Ellen Lane could have ever been. Lois couldn’t wait to get married in the dress that Martha made and had worn to her own wedding.
