For Anna [Great Defender Of All That Is Daniel] – may she find her own Swimwear heir
. And you can blame her for the end of this one. Really. And the middle. Well... you'll know where you can start blaming Anna [Great Defender Of All That Is Daniel]. Tis all her fault. Honest.
And also Alisha and Beth of course
. As always.
Today is some better - mainly because I'm being removed from a very stressful situation. The removal in and of itself is stressful, but could be much worse. Basically, I found out yesterday [through the MAIL] that in 7 weeks or so I am going to be officially unemployed. No conferences or anything to indicate that my continued employment was in jeopardy - and I'm not entirely certain what the student complaints that led to it were - probably that I made them work or something along those lines. It was handled incredibly poorly IMO but the stress of trying to take them on isn't worth it. God will provide. We're in a much better space than we were three years ago and I've been feeling for some time that I as going to be moving on sometime soon. The timing, however, caught me more than a bit off guard
. But - hey - more time with my kiddos and more time to write - or something like that
.
*****
Chapter 29
*****
Fairy Princess Lois fluttered near her little sister's bed. Fairy Princess Lucy was finally asleep and now Fairy Princess Lois could go to bed herself. Their father hadn't been home in two days and their mother was already asleep. Fairy Princess Lois knew that it would probably be two days until she woke up and that their father probably wouldn't be home for a couple of days more.
She was glad they weren't little girls like she sometimes watched through the magic mirror in the living room. Here in fairy land it wasn't unusual or even dangerous for little fairy princesses to be left to take care of themselves for days at a time. Fairy land was a much nicer place than people world.
Fairy Princess Lois had a hard time sleeping that night, just as Fairy Princess Lucy had had a hard time falling asleep. The next day was the day that the Fairy Princes were coming from Princetown to Princessville. If the Fairy Princes found princesses they liked, they would take them to Married City and they would get married.
Marrying a Fairy Prince was the only way Fairy Princesses Lois and Lucy would ever get married. Regular Fairy Men were known for leaving their wives or for having more than one wife or for having special 'Fairy Woman Friends'. That's what their Fairy Dad had been. Their Fairy Grandmother had been a princess who married a Regular Fairy Man and he was no different either. That had made their mother a Fairy Princess also but Fairy Princes rarely wanted to marry a Fairy Princess who didn't have a Fairy Prince Father. That was just the way it was. That meant that it was unlikely that a Fairy Prince would want to marry Fairy Princesses Lois and Lucy.
Fairy Princes, unlike Regular Fairy Men, were well known for being faithful to their wives and good husbands and fathers. That was why Fairy Princesses Lois and Lucy would be willing to marry one of them, but not a Regular Fairy Man.
The Fairy Princes who were coming the next day were extra special. It was Crown Fairy Prince Andrew and his brother, Fairy Prince Tom. Their father, who had been married to their mother for 635 years and had always been faithful to her, had died suddenly at the age of 650. Their mother, now 649, could not rule the kingdom and the new Fairy King must be married within two weeks of the death of the former king. So Crown Fairy Prince Andrew was looking for a Fairy Princess to marry and make his queen. Fairy Prince Tom, if he could find a Fairy Princess to marry and his brother couldn't, would become king. If they both found Fairy Princesses, then Fairy Prince Tom and his Fairy Princess wife would help rule the far kingdom.
The next morning, Fairy Princesses Lois and Lucy got up early. They washed their hair in the dew found in the dew collector and helped each other polish their wings. By eight in the morning, they were gathered, along with all the other Fairy Princesses in Princessville at the town square.
Fairy Princess Lois doubted that either Crown Fairy Prince Andrew or Fairy Prince Tom would want to marry her or Fairy Princess Lucy but it was the only chance they had to get out of Princessville.
Shortly after ten, the trumpets sounded. The royal parade started to make its way to the stage set up on one end of the dewy green moss. From there the Fairy Princes would watch as the Fairy Princess were presented to them. All of the Fairy Princesses were divided into groups based on their parents. Those with Fairy Prince Fathers and Fairy Princess Mothers were in the first group and everyone knew they had the best chance of being chosen. The second group was the group that had Fairy Prince Fathers but Regular Fairy Mothers. The last group, who knew they had the least chance of being chosen, was the group that Lois and Lucy were in. Within their group, they were near the end because their great grandfather was a Fairy Prince and not their grandfather.
As each group flew slowly by the Fairy Princes, a few were selected and moved to a special area. These were the Fairy Princesses that the Fairy Princes wanted to see again. Fairy Princesses Lois and Lucy waited until nearly five before it was their turn. After they flew by the Fairy Princes, they were taken to the special area with only a few other Fairy Princesses.
The royal guard came in and asked Fairy Princesses Lois and Lucy to go with him. They were sure that a mistake had been made and they were being sent home. They were surprised when they were taken to meet with Crown Fairy Prince Andrew and Fairy Prince Tom.
Crown Fairy Prince Andrew took Fairy Princess Lois' hand and asked her to marry him while Fairy Prince Tom did the same with Fairy Princess Lucy. The Fairy Princess Sisters immediately agreed, though for the rest of their lives they would wonder why they were the ones that were chosen and if they were really good enough to marry the Crown Fairy Prince and his brother and help rule the Fairy Kingdom.
When they found out, their parents were very mad and threatened to come take Fairy Princesses Lois and Lucy away from their Fairy Princes, but the Fairy Princes wouldn't allow it.
A week later, in a big wedding that included none of Fairy Princesses Lois or Lucy's friends or family, because they didn't have any friends because of their parents and their family wanted nothing to do with them, Fairy Princesses Lois and Lucy married their Fairy Princes.
During the wedding the Fairy Princes promised the Fairy Princesses that they would never leave them and would never have any other Fairy Wives or any 'Fairy Women Friends'. They promised to take care of Fairy Princesses Lois and Lucy as long as they lived.
Fairy Princesses Lois and Lucy lived to a very old age of 725 and each had many Fairy Prince sons and Fairy Princess daughters. However, they never truly believed that Fairy Queen Lois' Fairy King Andrew and Fairy Princess Lucy's Fairy Prince Tom would never leave them or have 'Fairy Women Friends'. It wasn't until they were nearly 700 years old that they were finally convinced that what happened in their childhood wasn't normal for true Fairy Princes. Their hearts broke for their daughters who married Regular Fairy Men because they couldn't find suitable Fairy Prince Husbands. One or two of them found good Regular Fairy Men who were better than the others, but most of them did not. That simply wasn't the way the world worked.
And so when they were 725, they died within minutes of each other, each holding on to the hand of the Fairy Prince that had chosen and married them so many years earlier. They cried tears for the people girls they had seen through the magic mirror in their childhood home because they knew that those little girls would never find Fairy Princes who would never leave them or have other wives or other special women friends. That was the real world for most little girls and for most Fairy Girls, even Fairy Princesses. But Fairy Princesses Lois and Lucy had lucked out. They had found two of the last truly good Fairy Princes and were happy. They were only sad because it would happen to so few.Clark closed the book and gently traced the letters on the front cover. So that was the first fairy princess story Lois had written down. She was probably no more than 8 or 9 when she wrote it. His heart broke that she had been so jaded towards the world and marriage and men in general at such a young age.
Fairy Princesses Lois and Lucy had found their Fairy Princes who would love them and be faithful to them, but it was very clear that Lois hadn't believed that to be the norm and certainly wouldn't happen for little girls.
The beginning had said that their father had been gone for a couple of days and would likely be gone a couple more and that their mother was asleep and probably would be for a while – days even. Had young Lois and Lucy been left alone for that kind of time? Or was that the exaggeration of a young, fertile, hurting imagination? He had no idea and wasn't sure if Lois would actually tell him if he asked. He could probably ask Lucy – or even Jimmy – but he didn't want to. He wanted Lois to trust him enough to tell him.
Would she? Could she ever overcome her scars to tell him what life had really been like when they were young? He was learning more, from her, from Lucy, from Jimmy – and the fact that she'd trusted him enough to give him this book to read was huge strides forward in their relationship. At the same time, he knew it was one thing to trust him with fairly fictionalized versions of events to read when she wasn't around – or sleeping next to him as she was now – and for her to actually tell him about things. Maybe someday she'd be able to...
As he reached to put the bound pages on the nightstand, she stirred. "Clark?"
"Yeah?"
"What're you doing?"
"I couldn't sleep."
Lois pushed herself up until she was sitting next to him. "So what're you doing?"
He hesitated slightly. "I read one of the Fairy Princess stories."
"Oh," she said quietly.
He reached towards her carefully, not wanting to scare her. She was still so jumpy – even after more than a month – but he knew it could be a long time before she wasn't. "Come here."
She scooted over until she sat next to him and he wrapped his arm around her. She hesitated, he noticed, then rested her elbow on his thigh. "Thank you," he whispered.
"For what?"
"For trusting me with part of your childhood."
"Oh."
"I know you probably don't want to right now, but if you ever change your mind and want to actually talk about it with someone, I’m here for you."
"Thanks." She played with the sheet with her fingers. "Do you want to talk about it?"
"Do I want to? Yes. Am I willing to wait until you're ready? Yes."
"Oh." She was quiet for another minute. "If you want to ask me something, I can't promise I'm ready to answer it, but I'll at least think about it."
"Okay." He rubbed her upper arm with his hand. "Did your dad leave for days at a time?" he asked quietly.
"Sometimes. Usually it was things like business trips – or at least that's what he told us – but sometimes he'd leave for a few days and we wouldn't know where he was. Mom might have, but she didn't always tell us. It was better after they remarried. Then, as far as I know, it was always legitimate business trips."
"And your mom?" he asked gently.
She shook her head. "Not when we were little. There were times – more than I can remember, but not weekly or anything – that she'd leave the two of us alone for hours during the day, but she was always home at night – at least she'd come home before we woke up in the mornings. When we were older... sometimes, we'd go a couple of days without knowing where either one of them was." She continued to stare at her fingers playing with the sheet as she spoke.
"How old were you, when she left you there?"
She shrugged. "Five or six, I guess. At least the first time I remember her leaving us by ourselves. Daddy had left the day before. The first time they both left the same day after a fight, I was six, I think."
He pulled her a little closer, aware of the tears that had managed to escape onto her cheeks. "I'm sorry," he whispered as he kissed her hair.
"It's not your fault. You aren't the one who left."
"No, but if I had known, if I had realized... I would have done things differently the last three years."
"You would have?"
"Yeah. That night you changed your name? Even if I would've taken a shower when I did, I never would have gone to bed without talking to you; even though I figured you were coming, I would have made sure. I certainly would have been a lot more blunt with Mayson about not wanting her company at lunch. I would have been a lot more persistent about our time together. I would have tried a lot harder to get our schedules fixed at the papers. Things like that. I'm not ever going to leave you if there's anything in my power I can do to stay. If I had known how hard that would be for you to believe, I would have tried a lot harder to convince you."
She was silent as he spoke, unsure of what her response should be.
"So I'm sorry that I..."
She shook her head. "No more 'I'm sorry's remember?"
"Yeah. I know." He rested his cheek on her head. "So have you thought about where you want to go first?"
"Somewhere warm. With beaches."
"That's what I thought."
"Do you have any suggestions?"
"Yeah, I do. I've been thinking about it. What would you think about spending the next few months in Greece?"
She pulled away to stare at him. "Greece? Really?"
"Sure, why not? The Mediterranean. Maybe do a cruise one week, maybe base ourselves out of Athens, maybe find a secluded beach or two that we can write about."
She tensed up at that.
"What? The secluded part?" he asked quietly.
"Yeah."
"Remember nothing's going to happen that you don't want to."
"I know, but still..."
"So we find somewhere and someday we'll go back, but not until you're ready. Until then, we have a beach to ourselves and don't have to worry about kids or other people or finding the best spot early or whatever."
"Okay. Secluded beach it is."
"We can visit the ruins of ancient Greek society, find little authentic Greek restaurants in out of the way places and write about them. It's probably the wrong time of year for skiing, but we could go mountain hiking or camping in the Greek mountains..."
"Camping? Really?"
"What? You don't want to go camping?" Clark was incredulous.
"No. If there's no electricity or running water and you have to pee outside, it's not my idea of fun."
"Okay, we could go to one of the resorts there and do day hikes."
"Resorts. I can do that."
"Resorts it is."
Lois yawned.
"But for now, it's back to sleep for you, young lady." Clark kissed the side of her head.
"It's not like we're really working, you know?"
"I know. It was good of Perry not to push us for two week's notice. Yesterday was our last official day in the newsroom."
"But I don't just want to sit around and do nothing. I want to write more about the other women."
"Are you going to tell your story?" he asked softly.
She shook her head. "Not yet, I don’t think. It's too fresh and too personal. Maybe in a few years... Besides everyone knows that it was my story that started this whole thing."
"True."
"Perry suggested to me again that we write our life story one of these days. Maybe I'll tell it in there."
"Good idea."
"So, Greece first. Where do you want to go after that?"
Clark yawned. "I think first, I'm ready for sleep."
Lois didn't say anything.
Clark removed his arm from her shoulder and slid down in the bed. "Regardless, we need to get some sleep."
Lois slid down next to him, but didn't say anything.
"Worried about dreams?" he whispered.
She nodded.
"I'll do my best to keep them away."
She nodded again and rolled so that her head rested on his chest. One arm pulled her close, gently stroking her hair, and the other covered her arm as it rested across the top of his stomach.
"Thank you."
"It's what I’m here for."
*****
Jimmy and Clark sat on the bench in front of Old Navy while Lois and Lucy browsed inside. Clark had found several pairs of shorts that he liked and a few shirts as well. He tried them on, picked up a couple of different colors in the same style and was ready to check out.
Women, he was quickly learning, even those who didn't like shopping, simply didn't shop that way.
He wasn’t entirely certain how many times Lois had been to the dressing room, but it was quite a few.
They'd already been to Penney's and Sears and Montgomery Ward's. The perusals there had been fairly quick, though both women had found a few things they'd purchased. The Gap had gotten a nice chunk of change from them. He'd seen Lucy eyeing Victoria's Secret but didn't think either one of them would be... bold enough? Brazen enough? Something enough to go on a Victoria's Secret shopping spree with them there. He knew Jimmy had noticed, too. Jimmy had promised him the other day that'd he'd always treated Lucy the way he'd want some guy to treat his own daughter and that they hadn't taken *that* step yet. He wasn't sure how many steps they'd taken – and now that he wasn't Lucy's guardian anymore and she was out of high school, he wasn't sure it was any of his business – and he was almost certain he didn't want to know.
Regardless, Victoria's Secret was not on today's shopping list.
Finally, they emerged with a couple of big bags. Each. Clark and Jimmy stood to join them.
"Why don't I take all of this to the car and then we can move on?" Clark moved to take the bags from them.
"I'll help you." Jimmy picked up his and Clark's bags. "Where do you want us to meet you?"
"How about that swimsuit store on the second floor?" Lucy asked.
"Something Swim and Ski?" Jimmy confirmed.
"Yeah. That one. We both need new swimsuits."
Clark picked up all seven bags the female half of their group had filled over the course of several stores and Jimmy picked up their four.
Lois and Lucy headed for the escalator and quickly found themselves in front of the swim store.
"*Scardino* Swim and Ski?" Lois asked incredulous.
"Yeah. Why?"
Lois sighed. "Nothing. Let's go."
They wandered in and began looking through the suits. "What kind do you want, Lois? Something skimpy now that the two of you are travelling the world alone together?" Lucy winked at her and then saw the petrified look on her sister's face. "What is it?"
Lois took a deep calming breath. First, Lucy had no idea that Clark wouldn't have been seeing her in a skimpy bathing suit even if last month hadn't happened and second, it probably hadn't occurred to her that what happened would have changed that. "Nothing. Just... skimpy isn't what I had in mind."
Lucy instantly understood. "I'm sorry."
Lois shook her head. "Not your fault, but I'm thinking let's steer clear of the string bikini section." She gave her best big sister look. "And none for you either, young lady."
Lucy laughed. "Don’t worry. I don’t really want one either. I was just thinking that since you and Clark are going to Greece, that you might want..."
"I know, but no."
"Yeah."
Lois moved towards the area that had more modest one piece suits or two piece tankinis. She picked out a dark green one piece and a pink checked tankini top and matching bottoms. It had a vaguely country look to it.
"Can I help you ladies find something?" The male voice broke through her concentration on the swimsuits.
Lois turned just enough to flash a smile. "No, thank..." She stopped as she realized who was speaking. "Dan," she said blandly. "I wondered if you were involved when I saw the name."
"Hey, Lois. And, please, call me Daniel." He moved slightly closer to her. "Yeah, my grandparents founded the original Scardino Swim and Ski nearly forty years ago. We're the largest specialty ski and swim chain in the country."
"I'm happy for you, but we still don't need any help." Lois smiled again and moved to the next rack.
"I'm more than happy to help you find something." He glanced around. "Clark couldn't be bothered to come shopping with you?"
Lois glared at him. "Drop it, Dan. He'll be here in a few minutes. If you're nice, we might even buy from you. If not, we'll take our business elsewhere."
"I think that might be a good idea anyway," came another familiar voice from behind her. "Still can't leave my wife alone, huh, Dan?"
"Kemp. Hi. And it's Daniel." Dan looked at him with almost a sneer on his face. "What do you want?"
"Lois and I are leaving for a few months in Greece soon and we need new suits. Jimmy and Lucy do, too. But if you can't be civil, we'll go somewhere else."
Dan sighed. "I can be civil." Something crossed his face.
"What?" Clark asked.
"Lois," Dan said earnestly, turning to face her more fully. "I did hear about what happened... and I'm sorry."
Lois shrugged.
He put one hand on her upper arm in what was meant to be a comforting gesture, and had the decency to look appropriately contrite when she jerked back as though he burned her. Clark took another step towards them. "Sorry. Really. I am."
"Thanks. But if you really want to do something nice for me, back off and let us shop," Lois snapped.
Dan nodded. "Sure. Let me know when you're ready to try something on."
Lois took a deep breath. "Sorry. I didn't mean to snap, but we'll let you know if we need anything."
"Of course." Dan moved back to the other side of the store, near the checkout.
Clark moved behind her. "Are you okay?"
Lois took a deep, shuddering breath. "Yeah. I think so."
"Okay. I'm gonna go look over at the men's suits."
She nodded. She looked down at the suits in her hand. If they were going to be spending lots of time on beaches and cruises in the near future, she probably needed several suits and she wasn't going to do what Clark did with clothes at Old Navy and just get a bunch of the same ones in different colors. She picked up a hot pink two piece. Would she be comfortable wearing this in front of Clark? It wasn't a bikini by any stretch of the imagination. The top was similar to a sports bra and the bottoms covered more than her underwear.
Wait. They were going to Greece. Were the beaches in Greece topless? "Lucy," she whispered. Lucy looked at her and she jerked her head indicating that she wanted her sister to join her.
"What?" Lucy whispered as she stood next to Lois.
"Are Greek beaches topless?" Lois whispered as quietly as she could.
"I have no idea. Maybe. Maybe not. But even if they are, you wouldn't have to..."
"Well, I know that, but..." She glanced Clark's direction, grateful that he appeared to be completely engrossed in conversation with Jimmy.
"You don't want Clark looking?"
"Something like that."
"You really think, after everything with Mayson and Lana, that Clark's going to be staring at other women on a beach? Especially when most of them will probably be old enough to be grandmas or something?"
Lois shrugged. "I don't know. Maybe."
"Lois, he's had eyes only for you since he was *fourteen*. He's not going to lie on the beach staring at women. I promise you that."
Lois sighed. If he'd spent the last three and a half years seeing her topless maybe she wouldn't be so worried about it, but he'd only seen her topless once – and that certainly hadn't been her finest moment – pinned under that slimeball about to have something precious taken from both of them. Maybe someday she'd get up the nerve to ask him how much he'd actually noticed. She'd mentioned it later that night in Colorado but hadn't actually given him a chance to respond.
She picked up several more suits that appealed to her and Lucy did the same. They headed towards the dressing rooms at the same time Clark and Jimmy did.
It seemed like Dan took unusual pleasure in showing them to two different sides of the store and telling Clark that men and women changed in different areas.
Lucy whispered to Lois as they changed into their first suits. "What is with him? It's not like you couldn't give Clark his own private swimwear fashion show later if you wanted to. Does he think that by putting us on opposite sides of the store, Clark's never going to see you in a swimsuit?"
"I don't know. He's never really given up on the idea that I should have picked him in high school. All he ever does is make snide remarks but still..."
"Yeah."
Lois was grateful that the entrances to the changing rooms were blocked from the rest of the store. Clark and Jimmy might not have been able to see a 'fashion show', but Dan wouldn't either. Quickly, they tried on the different suits and Lois finally settled on six – more than she'd ever have thought she'd need at once, but given their recent change in profession... or rather change in the emphasis of their chosen profession – it seemed prudent. After all, she wouldn't wear the same business suit every day, why would she wear the same swimsuit every day while on a cruise or something? If they were just going on a week's vacation or something, sure, but as a way of life? And it wasn't like this shopping trip was going to be an annual thing. Lucy picked four – Clark had promised to bring them to visit if she had time in between camp sessions – and she needed a couple of ultra conservative one pieces for camp.
They put their clothes back on and headed out to check out. Lucy took Lois' from her and put them all in one big pile. Lois realized that her sister was protecting her from Dan – he would really have no way of knowing which suit belonged to which sister since she and Lucy wore the same size. Clark threw several suits on top of the pile after Lucy put them on the counter. Jimmy threw two on top of that.
"You got this, honey?" Lois looked at Clark, silently pleading with him.
"Sure."
"We're going to go get a smoothie on the food court. Meet us there?"
Clark nodded and pulled his wallet out of his back pocket. He followed his wife and sister-in-law with his eyes as they left the store. He watched as Dan rang up the suits and blanched a little bit as the total continued to rise. He mentally shook himself. They had the money for this and they had determined a budget for this shopping spree the night before. They'd tried to be realistic as to what entirely new wardrobes would cost for the three of them – and a few things for Jimmy thrown in because his birthday was coming up and he'd been a good friend to all of them for so many years – but it was still hard to break themselves out of the mentality that they couldn't – or shouldn't – spend that kind of money. They had more money than they'd ever dreamed of and one good shopping spree wasn't going to break the bank. They weren't going overboard, just making up for years of not buying anything new – all at once. He handed Dan his debit card as the other man stuffed all the suits into a big bag. A moment later he signed the slip and handed it and the pen back to Dan.
"Take care of her, Clark," Dan said softly.
"As long as I live." He and Jimmy turned and left.
*****
"Street's Formal Wear," Lois read off of the sign and took another sip of her smoothie. "This is our last stop, isn't it?"
"For today, I think," Clark said. "We're going to need some formal wear before long. I’m taking you out for dinner before we leave, too. All of you."
"Perry's been telling me for a few months that I need to get a basic tux if I want to go to some of the more formal events that he needs a photographer for, so I'm getting one, too."
"You, too, Lucy."
"You mean I get to try on a bunch of fancy dresses and take one home with me?" Lucy's eyes gleamed.
Clark laughed. "Yes, but try to get something versatile and timeless, would you? We're splurging today, but it's not like we can do this all the time." They looked around. "I don't know where to start, do you guys?"
Lois shook her head. "I guess Lucy and I will go over there." She pointed towards the mannequins with dresses on them. "Do we want to shop for dresses then tuxes to go with them, the other way 'round, or separately?"
Clark shrugged. "Why don't we ask someone? I think we're out of our depth here." He looked around. "I wonder where the sales people are."
Jimmy went over to the counter and pushed the call button. "Maybe that'll get someone out here."
They turned their back to the counter and surveyed the store.
"Can I help you?"
They turned around and mouths gaped open.
"Mayson?"
*****
TBC
