Act IV: A Decision is made
"So how many acres?" Clark asked curious to see how much land was not being used for farming.
"Oh well, how many acres do we have Martha?" Jonathan asked his wife, due to the fact that he spent most of his time in town. He especially avoided the financial aspect of either business, so Martha was the one that truly knew the answer to that question.
"Well, at last count, we have fifteen cabins on five acre lots so that is what seventy five acres there, then there are the twenty five acres for the stables, so that gets us up to one hundred and then we have the acres by the house and that is roughly about thirty five acres. So in total we have about one hundred thirty five acres of land here." Martha said watching as Clark's face lit up with glee at the thought of so much land.
"Stables and cabins" Clark asked after he had gotten his giddy under control.
"Yes, well being that this house only has two bedrooms and I wanted to run a bed & breakfast, we decided to buy some land and put cabins on them. People rent the cabins and come to the main house for any needs that they may have, so if they want dinner, then I cook dinner, if they need to make arrangement to go riding, then I set it up. It works out very well" Martha said beaming with pride at her business and how well it was doing. It seemed that the big city dwellers loved to come out to the country and relax from the everyday hustle and bustle of things and they seemed to be doing it at her business.
"Wow" Clark said awed that the woman in front of him was such a business guru.
"I thought so myself, and I am so very proud." Jonathan with pride in his voice, he had at the time thought she was off her rocker when she came to him asking to buy some extra land, and extra meaning fifty acres. He had about choked on the piece of pie that he had been eating at the time, when she laid out her business plan to him. That had been seven years ago and now the business was the main bread winner for their household, even though Jonathan was a practicing doctor there were cases where he would take nothing for treating a sick child or the poor elderly that lived in the town.
"Now that lunch is out of the way, would you like to see the land?" Martha said taking up the plates for the men sitting on the kitchen table.
"If you don't mind" Clark said also getting up to help Martha with the task for getting the kitchen clean. Everyone was very surprised that Clark was willing to help clean up, due to the fact that he had been raised with someone to take care of any household issues.
"Well, let's get going we got a lot of land to cover before I have to come back and get supper ready for the Taylor, Mullins and Bamo families." Martha said walking out the back door and out to the cart that sat near the barn. The four men followed her to the cart and hopped in, with Clark in the front next to Martha and Martin, James and Jonathan sitting on the bed in the back. Martha was just about to leave when Jonathan spoke.
"I think I'm going to stay here, just in case some one calls the house." James looked at his brother in surprise, before understanding where Jonathan was going with the situation.
"You little bro are a good man, I think I will stay and keep you company. We have lots to catch up on." James said nodding his head a bit to show that he understood what Jonathan was trying to do. Martin watched the play between the two and knew that they were up to something, so Martin decided to add his two cents.
"I think I will stay with them, you never know what kind of trouble those two get in when together." Martin said explaining to Clark that James and Jonathan should never be alone together.
"Well, either stay on or get out, Clark and I have some land to cover" Martha huffed at the men, with a smile on her face. She was grateful that they saw that she wanted to bond with Clark and she wanted to do it alone and this was her chance.
"Fine, fine, fine" Jonathan said kissing his wife on the cheek and then stood back, watching as the cart pulled off with only Clark and Martha in it.
"Think they'll be all right?" Jonathan asked after he could no longer see the cart.
"I think so, I really do" James said before going inside the house and relaxing in a chair in the living room. The three men spent the time that Martha and Clark were alone plotting how to keep the young man in Smallville. The quiet delight that he showed in his eyes was something that all three men were willing to fight to keep in those eyes. Martha on the other hand was thoroughly enjoying the quiet, yet very intelligent demeanor of Clark.
"….and over there is where the stables are located. I got that piece of land from a friend whose grandfather died and willed it to them. They hadn't wanted the stables or the land and knew that I would be willing to take both off their hands." Martha said driving the cart over to the stables where the town's people rented or used the horses inside.
"Amazing" Clark said thoroughly stunned by what he had seen as of yet.
"Clark, may I ask you a personal question?" Martha said while continuing to drive the cart off toward the last few cabins on the Kent land.
"Sure" Clark said worried that Martha would become disgusted with an answer he may give.
"What happened? I mean I know what James told us, but there is something missing, can you tell me what?" Martha said placing a hand on his before squeezing it and letting go. Clark took a deep breath before starting to tell Martha the part that James had not told them over the phone.
"Well, the baby's other father is pretty famous" Clark said looking out over the land in front of him and not seeing anything.
"What do you mean?" Martha had suspected something like this, but was surprised that she was right.
"Alexander Luthor is the baby's father; my brother was not a happy camper about that fact." Clark said with a sad chuckle before turning to face Martha, the sadness there made Martha want to hug the young man but she was uncertain on whether he would allow it or not.
"Oh Clark" Martha said before she decided to chance it and hug Clark. He took in Martha's warmth and caring like a sponge, a moment later Clark spoke again, about what had happened that night.
"My brother has/had a crush on Lex and well he told me to come and find him when I saw Lex. I don't exactly fit in, so I didn't know what Lex looked like before the party. So a guy approaches me, not any one near me, just me and we get to talking and he says his name was Lex well I didn't think that it was Alexander Luthor so one thing lead to another and then my brother found me in bed with Lex the next morning. He was yelling about how I had screwed Alexander Luthor, I was stunned but then sad because then I knew I would never see Lex again and I really thought we had something. Dunno maybe I'm being a hopeless romantic, but there was something there…." Clark finished with tears in his eyes. It always hurt when he told the story so he really hoped that he wouldn't have to say it again.
"Oh Clark" Martha said pulling Clark to her and holding him, Clark couldn't believe that such an amazing person as Martha didn't have any children of her own.
"Why don't you have any children?" Clark asked from the crook of Martha's neck.
"I had to have my ovaries removed when I was in my twenties due to the fact that there had been large cysts on them." Martha said hoping that Clark understood what she was saying.
"I'm sorry" Clark said lifting his head and showing her in his eyes that he was truly sorry.
"It's okay; I just hope that Jonathan and I can be the best parents and grandparents to you and that baby of yours." Martha said patting Clark's flat stomach.
"Nice abs" Martha said impressed with Clark body. Clark blushed before pulling back and laughing at the look on Martha's face.
"If I wasn't married" Martha said before sighing and putting the cart into drive to finish the tour of the land. It was thirty minutes later that Martha and Clark walked in to see the three men yelling at the TV for no apparent reason.
"It's not like they can hear you" Martha said coming and sitting on the edge of the chair her husband was sitting in.
"Dear, back so soon?" Jonathan said distracted when Martin groaned while looking at the TV.
"Jeez, why won't they just…." Jonathan stopped that line of thought when he saw the smile on both his wife and Clark's face.
"Hi" Clark said quietly so not to draw attention to himself.
"How was the tour?" Jonathan said keeping one eye on the baseball game that was in play.
"You have a lot of land" Clark said before coming into the room and sitting on the floor due to the lack of seating.
"Here" Jonathan said as he scrambled out of his seat to give it to Clark.
"I'm not dying or anything, just pregnant" Clark joked before getting off the floor and sitting in the chair that Jonathan had vacated just for him.
"Well, pregnant people get special privileges here" Jonathan said patting Clark on the shoulder, noticing that Clark actually leaned into the touch. Jonathan shot a look to his wife and saw her nod her head and beam at him. The rest of the day was spent with all five people talking about any and everything they could. When five o'clock came around it was time for Clark to make a decision on whether or not he would stay or go back to Metropolis.