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Chapter Sixteen
Kal was concerned when Jonathan told him Lois wanted to see him, saying she looked a little upset. He had heard from the older man that Lex had been to the palace and wondered if the other man had done something or said something.
He wasn’t prepared for the shattered look on his wife’s face.
“Are you all right, sweetheart?” he said. “Did Lex upset you?”
“In a way,” she replied quietly. “Will you come and look at this, please?”
He crossed to the desk and looked at the screen of the laptop once she’d turned it around to face him. There were photographs of him with Lana.
“Where did these come from?” he asked, trying to remain calm in spite of the anger growing inside him.
“Lex.”
“How did he get them?”
“He said he had a private investigator following his wife. You seem awfully calm about this.”
“Believe me, I’m about as far from calm as I could be.”
“Is it true?”
“Is what true?” he asked, although it was fairly obvious what she was referring to. The photographs looked convincing implying that he was cheating on her with Lana. “Do you really think I would cheat on you? With Lana?”
“Well, she is your ex-girlfriend.”
“Who happens to be married to the one man who would be eligible for the throne should you be forced to step down. Don’t you see what they’re doing?”
“Are you saying these photos are faked?” she asked. “And I suppose you kissing Lana in your room the other day was fake too?”
He frowned at her. “What?”
“I saw you, Kal. With her. You were kissing her.”
That explained her odd behaviour, he thought. From the sounds of things, she had walked away before she’d seen what happened next.
“Well, if you’d stayed long enough, you would have seen me pushing her away. I didn’t kiss her, Lois. She kissed me. I wanted no part of it.”
“That isn’t what it looked like to me!”
He had no idea what to do or say. Lois was clearly not willing to listen to the truth and in the mood she was in, nothing he could say would ever convince her as to what really happened. He knew it was partly his fault that she had jumped to the wrong conclusion. He should have told her Lana had come to see him, but he'd just wanted to forget it had happened.
Lana had called him while he had been out with Oliver, saying she needed his help. He had told her to come to the palace and he would allow her ten minutes to say whatever she had to say but then she had to leave.
She had been waiting for him on his return. Pete had let her into the study giving Kal a questioning look. He shrugged, keeping his distance from the woman.
“Thank you for seeing me, Kal,” Lana said.
“What did you want, Lana?”
“I need to get away from Lex,” she replied. She looked down at her feet. “God, I’m so ashamed. I thought … when I married him, I … He promised me he was a changed man and I thought he loved me. I was so wrong. So, so wrong.”
Kal had the feeling she was trying to play on his sympathies. As manipulative as Lex was, he thought she was just as manipulative.
“What do you want from me, Lana?” he said, crossing his arms and frowning at her.
“I need you to help me get away from him.” She looked up at him with a doe-eyed gaze. Those eyes had once been able to persuade him to do anything for her. Not now. “I don’t have any money. I have nowhere else to go.”
“You can’t stay here,” he said. “I’m sorry, Lana, but Lois wouldn’t like it.” Neither would I, he added silently.
She stared at him incredulously. “You’d leave me out on the streets?”
He felt guilty, when he knew he shouldn’t. There were plenty of other avenues she could try. He owed her nothing.
“Look, I can give you some money if you need to find a place to stay, but that’s all I can do. I’m sorry,” he said again.
She threw her arms around his neck. “Thank you, Kal. You’re the only one who ever cared about me.” He tried to pull away but she wouldn’t let go. The next thing he knew she was kissing him.
He pushed her away. “What the hell? Lana, I don’t know what you’re playing at, but …”
“Don’t you love me?”
He looked evenly at her. “No, Lana. I don’t. In fact I don’t think I ever loved you. Lois is the woman I love.”
Lana snorted. “Her? The only thing you love about her is the fact that she’s the queen. Well, that won’t last long. Mark my words. Not once people hear what I’ve got to say.”
“Get out, Lana,” he hissed.
Lana had left but not without aiming more insults his way, implying he had never been good enough for her and Lois must have been desperate to have married him.
Kal stood silently in front of his wife as she went on to yell at him about how bad it could look and how if people knew that their parents had arranged the marriage, it could look extremely bad for the family.
He huffed in annoyance.
“Lois, it doesn’t matter how it came to be. I love you, damn it and I am not cheating on you with Lana.”
“Then how do you explain those?” she said, gesturing at the computer.
“I can’t. I don’t know how Lex got those photos but I was never with Lana.”
“How am I supposed to believe that you really love me? I mean, didn’t you say the same thing to Lana?”
“I was an immature teenager,” he replied. “What I thought was love with her was just an infatuation. You’re the only woman I’ve ever loved!”
“Why don’t I believe you?” she repeated, appearing near tears.
“You can believe what you want, Lois.” He walked to the door.
“You’re not going to walk out on me,” she raged.
“Well, there’s no point in staying!” he returned. “You’ve already made up your mind.”
Kal decided to take one of the cars and drive to Chloe and Oliver’s place in Smallville. He figured it would give them both a chance to cool down. Maybe when Lois calmed down she would be able to see things more rationally.
His best friend was sympathetic. Chloe poured them all coffees as he told them what had happened.
“It sounds pretty convincing,” Chloe said. “I can’t blame Lois for thinking that way.”
He stared at her incredulously. “You believe that garbage?”
“No, I don’t. All I’m saying is, the evidence is pretty damning. It sounds to me like Lana and Lex have cooked something up to cause friction between you two.”
Oliver looked at her. “Well, yeah, honey, that much is obvious. As is why. Lex wants the throne.”
“Lois is right about one thing,” Chloe said. “It is pretty damaging. A scandal like this could upset things, cause some kind of constitutional crisis. I remember reading about something that happened about eighty years ago. It wasn’t here, it was in another country.”
“What happened?” Kal asked.
“The newly-crowned king was having an affair with a twice-divorced woman. I mean, he wasn’t married, but the church didn’t see it that way. Anyway, the upshot of it was, both her ex-husbands were still living at the time and the church was very strict on purity. If she’d been widowed, it would have been a completely different story.”
“But Lana and I were never married,” he pointed out.
“No, but what I’m getting at is Lois’ father was very strict about obeying the laws of the church, especially when it came to marriage. We all know how you and Lois feel about each other. I mean, even I spotted it the night your engagement was announced. You two couldn’t take your eyes off each other. However, if Lex were to reveal the truth about how you guys met, it could look very bad.”
Oliver nodded. “That’s true.”
“So, what do I do?”
Chloe chewed on her lip. “If we could get hold of those photos …”
Oliver looked at her. “You want to prove they’re faked?”
“It’s the only way,” she said. “No doubt Lex has something else up his sleeve. If we can find someone who can actually provide that evidence, then we can stop him in his tracks.”
Kal was hopeful as he looked at his friend. “What about that photographer friend of yours?”
Oliver nodded. “Victor? Yeah. I’ll go call him right now.”
There was a knock on the door and Chloe got up to answer it. She returned a few moments later. Behind her was Lois. Pete and Jimmy were with her.
Lois ran into his arms, kissing him as if her life depended on it.
“I’m sorry,” she said. “I’m so sorry. I believed Lex when I shouldn’t have.”
He stared at her. “How did you … what happened?”
He couldn’t understand the sudden turnaround.
“Pete heard you talking with Lana,” she explained, looking at Pete, who nodded, telling him that he’d related the entire conversation.
Pete had not only heard it, but he’d seen Lana throw herself at him and him pushing her away. When he’d realised what had happened, he’d made sure the security team had recorded everything on the cameras Kal had insisted be installed for the family’s safety.
What they had also recorded had been interesting. In spite of Lana’s assurances that she was leaving her husband, the very man had been waiting for her in the palace courtyard. While they hadn’t been able to record the conversation between the two Luthors, one of the guards, who could lip-read, had managed to pick up enough to realise that the couple were scheming something. Lex had said something about ‘phase two’.
Oliver returned, saying he’d spoken to Victor who had promised to take a look at the photographs. Lois looked at Kal.
“You really think he can prove the photos are faked?”
“Oliver’s known Victor for a few years. What he knows about photography would fill at least a couple of books’ worth.”
“And more,” Oliver replied.
Lois sighed. “I should have known it was another of Lex’s grand schemes. He was always scheming something when we were kids.”
“He’s smart, I’ll give him that,” Chloe put in. “But even the smart ones slip up now and then.”
Knowing there was little they could do until Lex made his move, Kal drove Lois home to the palace. Wanting to avoid questions by her mother and sister, they went up to their suite.
Lois sat on the chaise longue.
“I still feel like an idiot,” she said.
He sat beside her. “Don’t. Lex is a bully and a master manipulator. He knows how to play on insecurities.”
“And I let him.”
“He can be convincing,” Kal said, remembering many times during their school years when he’d tried to tell others what Lex was like only for the older boy to have pleaded innocence, and got away with it.
He turned to his wife. “Lois, I love you. And I would never cheat on you.”
“Lana?” she asked. He knew what she was asking.
“I saw her true colours a long time ago,” he said. “Long before you and I got together.”
He kissed her, pulling her into his arms. She responded, the kiss growing more passionate. Kal rose from the chaise longue, picking her up and carrying her to the bed.
They made love, like they’d done many times before but this time it was as if there were no barriers between them. There was no throne, no scandal. They were just a couple in love. Nothing and no one could ever tear them apart.
Lois lay in his embrace, her back to him. He held her securely in his arms, pressing kisses to her neck.
“What are you thinking about?” he asked softly.
“Us.” She turned her head to look at him. “When did you know? I mean, was it right away?”
“Honestly? I always thought you were attractive, but when we met the day my parents and I came to Metropolis, I didn’t know how it was going to work.”
“Mmm. I guess I was a bit stuck-up,” she said.
“When that guy attacked you in the club, you were so scared, but you looked at me with so much trust I realised that the attitude was just a defence mechanism. I think I was falling even then, but it wasn’t until I watched you with Melissa that I knew.”
“Knew what?” she asked quietly.
“That you had an amazing heart. I’m not sure I believe in love at first sight. I think you can be attracted to someone, but love happens once you truly know a person. That’s what I felt that day. I’d seen glimpses here and there, but that day, I saw who you really were. And I liked it.”
She turned in his arms. “Oh, Kal,” she said with a sigh.
He kissed her. “Love me?” she said.
“Always, my darling. Always.”
They made love again, falling asleep in each other’s arms, only waking when they realised how hungry they were. They hadn’t eaten dinner.
Lois called down to the kitchen to ask the staff for something for them to eat.
“I know it’s late,” she said on the phone, “but could you possibly send up something? Enough for me and Kal?”
Kal grinned, knowing that brief statement would be enough to have tongues wagging. Lois hung up and started to get out of bed, grabbing her robe. Despite all they had done in the past few hours, she still wanted to preserve her modesty.
“Where are you going?” he asked.
“To the bathroom,” she replied. “I’ll be back.” She leaned over the bed and kissed him. “Hold that thought, my love.”
She returned to the bed a few minutes later where Kal wrapped himself around her, determined to show her just how much he loved her. They were in the middle of a heavy make-out session when the maid came in with the tray.
The woman almost dropped the laden tray in astonishment. Kal saw her gaze take in the clothes strewn on the floor and the two of them naked in the bed.
“Oh.”
“Just leave the tray on the table please,” Kal told her.
She curtseyed, doing as she was told before running out of the room. Lois laughed.
“I think we just created a scandal all of our own,” she said.
“Imagine the headlines,” Kal told her, chuckling. “Her Majesty the Queen has one hell of a sexy butt.” He lightly smacked her bare bottom, squeezing her butt cheek.
Lois smacked his shoulder. “Oh, stop it. You tease.”
“Who? Me?”
They spent the rest of the evening and all the next day in their room, only resurfacing for breakfast the day after. Lucy looked up at them, smirking.
“Well, if it isn’t the Energizer Bunnies,” she quipped.
Lois shot her sister a look. “What’s that supposed to mean?” she asked, sitting down at the head of the table. Kal shot her a grin. She blushed.
“You two just keep going and going and going …” Lucy returned. “It’s all over the palace. How the maid saw you two in flagrante.”
“You make it sound like we were doing something wrong,” Lois remarked.
Kal smirked at his sister-in-law. “God forbid a married couple should act like one,” he replied, taking his wife’s hand in his and pressing a kiss to her fingers.
Lois looked lovingly into his eyes.
Lucy snorted. “Ugh, do you have to do that at the breakfast table?” she complained. “It’s sickening.”
“It’s wonderful,” Ella replied, entering the room to join them at the table. She beamed at them. “I’m sure your father would have thought so too, if he were here.”
Lois looked at her mother and nodded. “He would be so happy,” she said.
“You’re right,” Kal told her. “I promised him I would take care of you.”
“And you do,” she said, giving him a quick kiss.
Kal was concerned when Jonathan told him Lois wanted to see him, saying she looked a little upset. He had heard from the older man that Lex had been to the palace and wondered if the other man had done something or said something.
He wasn’t prepared for the shattered look on his wife’s face.
“Are you all right, sweetheart?” he said. “Did Lex upset you?”
“In a way,” she replied quietly. “Will you come and look at this, please?”
He crossed to the desk and looked at the screen of the laptop once she’d turned it around to face him. There were photographs of him with Lana.
“Where did these come from?” he asked, trying to remain calm in spite of the anger growing inside him.
“Lex.”
“How did he get them?”
“He said he had a private investigator following his wife. You seem awfully calm about this.”
“Believe me, I’m about as far from calm as I could be.”
“Is it true?”
“Is what true?” he asked, although it was fairly obvious what she was referring to. The photographs looked convincing implying that he was cheating on her with Lana. “Do you really think I would cheat on you? With Lana?”
“Well, she is your ex-girlfriend.”
“Who happens to be married to the one man who would be eligible for the throne should you be forced to step down. Don’t you see what they’re doing?”
“Are you saying these photos are faked?” she asked. “And I suppose you kissing Lana in your room the other day was fake too?”
He frowned at her. “What?”
“I saw you, Kal. With her. You were kissing her.”
That explained her odd behaviour, he thought. From the sounds of things, she had walked away before she’d seen what happened next.
“Well, if you’d stayed long enough, you would have seen me pushing her away. I didn’t kiss her, Lois. She kissed me. I wanted no part of it.”
“That isn’t what it looked like to me!”
He had no idea what to do or say. Lois was clearly not willing to listen to the truth and in the mood she was in, nothing he could say would ever convince her as to what really happened. He knew it was partly his fault that she had jumped to the wrong conclusion. He should have told her Lana had come to see him, but he'd just wanted to forget it had happened.
Lana had called him while he had been out with Oliver, saying she needed his help. He had told her to come to the palace and he would allow her ten minutes to say whatever she had to say but then she had to leave.
She had been waiting for him on his return. Pete had let her into the study giving Kal a questioning look. He shrugged, keeping his distance from the woman.
“Thank you for seeing me, Kal,” Lana said.
“What did you want, Lana?”
“I need to get away from Lex,” she replied. She looked down at her feet. “God, I’m so ashamed. I thought … when I married him, I … He promised me he was a changed man and I thought he loved me. I was so wrong. So, so wrong.”
Kal had the feeling she was trying to play on his sympathies. As manipulative as Lex was, he thought she was just as manipulative.
“What do you want from me, Lana?” he said, crossing his arms and frowning at her.
“I need you to help me get away from him.” She looked up at him with a doe-eyed gaze. Those eyes had once been able to persuade him to do anything for her. Not now. “I don’t have any money. I have nowhere else to go.”
“You can’t stay here,” he said. “I’m sorry, Lana, but Lois wouldn’t like it.” Neither would I, he added silently.
She stared at him incredulously. “You’d leave me out on the streets?”
He felt guilty, when he knew he shouldn’t. There were plenty of other avenues she could try. He owed her nothing.
“Look, I can give you some money if you need to find a place to stay, but that’s all I can do. I’m sorry,” he said again.
She threw her arms around his neck. “Thank you, Kal. You’re the only one who ever cared about me.” He tried to pull away but she wouldn’t let go. The next thing he knew she was kissing him.
He pushed her away. “What the hell? Lana, I don’t know what you’re playing at, but …”
“Don’t you love me?”
He looked evenly at her. “No, Lana. I don’t. In fact I don’t think I ever loved you. Lois is the woman I love.”
Lana snorted. “Her? The only thing you love about her is the fact that she’s the queen. Well, that won’t last long. Mark my words. Not once people hear what I’ve got to say.”
“Get out, Lana,” he hissed.
Lana had left but not without aiming more insults his way, implying he had never been good enough for her and Lois must have been desperate to have married him.
Kal stood silently in front of his wife as she went on to yell at him about how bad it could look and how if people knew that their parents had arranged the marriage, it could look extremely bad for the family.
He huffed in annoyance.
“Lois, it doesn’t matter how it came to be. I love you, damn it and I am not cheating on you with Lana.”
“Then how do you explain those?” she said, gesturing at the computer.
“I can’t. I don’t know how Lex got those photos but I was never with Lana.”
“How am I supposed to believe that you really love me? I mean, didn’t you say the same thing to Lana?”
“I was an immature teenager,” he replied. “What I thought was love with her was just an infatuation. You’re the only woman I’ve ever loved!”
“Why don’t I believe you?” she repeated, appearing near tears.
“You can believe what you want, Lois.” He walked to the door.
“You’re not going to walk out on me,” she raged.
“Well, there’s no point in staying!” he returned. “You’ve already made up your mind.”
Kal decided to take one of the cars and drive to Chloe and Oliver’s place in Smallville. He figured it would give them both a chance to cool down. Maybe when Lois calmed down she would be able to see things more rationally.
His best friend was sympathetic. Chloe poured them all coffees as he told them what had happened.
“It sounds pretty convincing,” Chloe said. “I can’t blame Lois for thinking that way.”
He stared at her incredulously. “You believe that garbage?”
“No, I don’t. All I’m saying is, the evidence is pretty damning. It sounds to me like Lana and Lex have cooked something up to cause friction between you two.”
Oliver looked at her. “Well, yeah, honey, that much is obvious. As is why. Lex wants the throne.”
“Lois is right about one thing,” Chloe said. “It is pretty damaging. A scandal like this could upset things, cause some kind of constitutional crisis. I remember reading about something that happened about eighty years ago. It wasn’t here, it was in another country.”
“What happened?” Kal asked.
“The newly-crowned king was having an affair with a twice-divorced woman. I mean, he wasn’t married, but the church didn’t see it that way. Anyway, the upshot of it was, both her ex-husbands were still living at the time and the church was very strict on purity. If she’d been widowed, it would have been a completely different story.”
“But Lana and I were never married,” he pointed out.
“No, but what I’m getting at is Lois’ father was very strict about obeying the laws of the church, especially when it came to marriage. We all know how you and Lois feel about each other. I mean, even I spotted it the night your engagement was announced. You two couldn’t take your eyes off each other. However, if Lex were to reveal the truth about how you guys met, it could look very bad.”
Oliver nodded. “That’s true.”
“So, what do I do?”
Chloe chewed on her lip. “If we could get hold of those photos …”
Oliver looked at her. “You want to prove they’re faked?”
“It’s the only way,” she said. “No doubt Lex has something else up his sleeve. If we can find someone who can actually provide that evidence, then we can stop him in his tracks.”
Kal was hopeful as he looked at his friend. “What about that photographer friend of yours?”
Oliver nodded. “Victor? Yeah. I’ll go call him right now.”
There was a knock on the door and Chloe got up to answer it. She returned a few moments later. Behind her was Lois. Pete and Jimmy were with her.
Lois ran into his arms, kissing him as if her life depended on it.
“I’m sorry,” she said. “I’m so sorry. I believed Lex when I shouldn’t have.”
He stared at her. “How did you … what happened?”
He couldn’t understand the sudden turnaround.
“Pete heard you talking with Lana,” she explained, looking at Pete, who nodded, telling him that he’d related the entire conversation.
Pete had not only heard it, but he’d seen Lana throw herself at him and him pushing her away. When he’d realised what had happened, he’d made sure the security team had recorded everything on the cameras Kal had insisted be installed for the family’s safety.
What they had also recorded had been interesting. In spite of Lana’s assurances that she was leaving her husband, the very man had been waiting for her in the palace courtyard. While they hadn’t been able to record the conversation between the two Luthors, one of the guards, who could lip-read, had managed to pick up enough to realise that the couple were scheming something. Lex had said something about ‘phase two’.
Oliver returned, saying he’d spoken to Victor who had promised to take a look at the photographs. Lois looked at Kal.
“You really think he can prove the photos are faked?”
“Oliver’s known Victor for a few years. What he knows about photography would fill at least a couple of books’ worth.”
“And more,” Oliver replied.
Lois sighed. “I should have known it was another of Lex’s grand schemes. He was always scheming something when we were kids.”
“He’s smart, I’ll give him that,” Chloe put in. “But even the smart ones slip up now and then.”
Knowing there was little they could do until Lex made his move, Kal drove Lois home to the palace. Wanting to avoid questions by her mother and sister, they went up to their suite.
Lois sat on the chaise longue.
“I still feel like an idiot,” she said.
He sat beside her. “Don’t. Lex is a bully and a master manipulator. He knows how to play on insecurities.”
“And I let him.”
“He can be convincing,” Kal said, remembering many times during their school years when he’d tried to tell others what Lex was like only for the older boy to have pleaded innocence, and got away with it.
He turned to his wife. “Lois, I love you. And I would never cheat on you.”
“Lana?” she asked. He knew what she was asking.
“I saw her true colours a long time ago,” he said. “Long before you and I got together.”
He kissed her, pulling her into his arms. She responded, the kiss growing more passionate. Kal rose from the chaise longue, picking her up and carrying her to the bed.
They made love, like they’d done many times before but this time it was as if there were no barriers between them. There was no throne, no scandal. They were just a couple in love. Nothing and no one could ever tear them apart.
Lois lay in his embrace, her back to him. He held her securely in his arms, pressing kisses to her neck.
“What are you thinking about?” he asked softly.
“Us.” She turned her head to look at him. “When did you know? I mean, was it right away?”
“Honestly? I always thought you were attractive, but when we met the day my parents and I came to Metropolis, I didn’t know how it was going to work.”
“Mmm. I guess I was a bit stuck-up,” she said.
“When that guy attacked you in the club, you were so scared, but you looked at me with so much trust I realised that the attitude was just a defence mechanism. I think I was falling even then, but it wasn’t until I watched you with Melissa that I knew.”
“Knew what?” she asked quietly.
“That you had an amazing heart. I’m not sure I believe in love at first sight. I think you can be attracted to someone, but love happens once you truly know a person. That’s what I felt that day. I’d seen glimpses here and there, but that day, I saw who you really were. And I liked it.”
She turned in his arms. “Oh, Kal,” she said with a sigh.
He kissed her. “Love me?” she said.
“Always, my darling. Always.”
They made love again, falling asleep in each other’s arms, only waking when they realised how hungry they were. They hadn’t eaten dinner.
Lois called down to the kitchen to ask the staff for something for them to eat.
“I know it’s late,” she said on the phone, “but could you possibly send up something? Enough for me and Kal?”
Kal grinned, knowing that brief statement would be enough to have tongues wagging. Lois hung up and started to get out of bed, grabbing her robe. Despite all they had done in the past few hours, she still wanted to preserve her modesty.
“Where are you going?” he asked.
“To the bathroom,” she replied. “I’ll be back.” She leaned over the bed and kissed him. “Hold that thought, my love.”
She returned to the bed a few minutes later where Kal wrapped himself around her, determined to show her just how much he loved her. They were in the middle of a heavy make-out session when the maid came in with the tray.
The woman almost dropped the laden tray in astonishment. Kal saw her gaze take in the clothes strewn on the floor and the two of them naked in the bed.
“Oh.”
“Just leave the tray on the table please,” Kal told her.
She curtseyed, doing as she was told before running out of the room. Lois laughed.
“I think we just created a scandal all of our own,” she said.
“Imagine the headlines,” Kal told her, chuckling. “Her Majesty the Queen has one hell of a sexy butt.” He lightly smacked her bare bottom, squeezing her butt cheek.
Lois smacked his shoulder. “Oh, stop it. You tease.”
“Who? Me?”
They spent the rest of the evening and all the next day in their room, only resurfacing for breakfast the day after. Lucy looked up at them, smirking.
“Well, if it isn’t the Energizer Bunnies,” she quipped.
Lois shot her sister a look. “What’s that supposed to mean?” she asked, sitting down at the head of the table. Kal shot her a grin. She blushed.
“You two just keep going and going and going …” Lucy returned. “It’s all over the palace. How the maid saw you two in flagrante.”
“You make it sound like we were doing something wrong,” Lois remarked.
Kal smirked at his sister-in-law. “God forbid a married couple should act like one,” he replied, taking his wife’s hand in his and pressing a kiss to her fingers.
Lois looked lovingly into his eyes.
Lucy snorted. “Ugh, do you have to do that at the breakfast table?” she complained. “It’s sickening.”
“It’s wonderful,” Ella replied, entering the room to join them at the table. She beamed at them. “I’m sure your father would have thought so too, if he were here.”
Lois looked at her mother and nodded. “He would be so happy,” she said.
“You’re right,” Kal told her. “I promised him I would take care of you.”
“And you do,” she said, giving him a quick kiss.
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