CHAPTER 25
As soon as Martha had finished her last exam she drove straight over to the Kent farm. She didn't care that she would have to drive all the way back to Metropolis the next day to meet her Mom, she just didn't want to be alone in her apartment and at the Kent farm there would be a warm welcome and Jonathan. After spending the last couple of days battling with exam questions, she really needed one of Jonathan's special hugs.
As she drove away from Metropolis Martha could feel the weight of all her cares and worries lifting as she thought about being with Jonathan again. She had missed him so much , although she had to smile when she remembered how he'd called her every morning to wish her good luck, every afternoon to ask how she had got on and every evening to make sure she was going to bed early and wasn't worrying about the next day's exams.
In ten days time she would be Mrs. Jonathan Kent … Martha Kent … Mrs. Martha Kent. She tried saying it out loud, "Hello, I'm Martha Kent." It sounded strange, but at the same time perfect.
As she drove into the yard she saw both Bob and Billy Ray working by the barn. When she got out of her car she turned to wave to them but saw that they were walking over towards her. "Hi, how are you?" she called out.
"We're doing just fine, thank you, Miss Martha." Bob replied with a smile.
Martha opened the trunk of her car and started lifting out a box.
"Let me help you with that." Billy Ray said lifting out the box with ease and putting it on the porch. Going back to her car he quickly emptied all the boxes and Martha's bag out of the trunk.
"Thank you, Billy Ray. Are you both waiting for Hiram? Do you want me to go and see if he's in the house?" Martha asked, collecting her purse from the car and going to lock it.
"He already knows we're here, thank you, Miss. He asked us to give the stables a thorough cleaning, but we've finished that, so we're gonna wash all the vehicles now. If you leave us your keys, we'll wash yours too." Bob replied.
"Would you? It's really dirty." Martha said, not wanting to impose.
"Heck, Miss, that's not dirty! Look at the state of the trucks." Bob said grinning.
Martha laughed and gave Bob her keys, "I see what you mean." She said.
"We'll leave the car down by the side of the barn when we're finished." Bob called out as he and Billy Ray turned and started walking back to the barn.
Martha ran up the porch steps and went into the house. "Jonathan!"
"I'm right here, sweetheart." Jonathan replied as he ran down the stairs and hugged her. After a minute he whispered in her ear, "How about you and me going outside onto the porch?"
"I'd love to, but Bob and Billy Ray are out by the barn." Martha whispered back.
"Darn! Mom and Dad will be down soon, so we can't stay here." Jonathan groaned. Suddenly he had an idea, "I know where we can go. Come on." He said pulling Martha along as he quickly stepped outside, narrowly missing falling over Martha's bag and boxes.
"Jonathan, slow down!" Martha begged as he carried on down the porch steps and started heading for the stables.
Jonathan just glanced back and grinned at her, "Martha, hurry up!" he said, mimicking her as he tightened his hold on her hand and carried on striding across the yard.
Martha just giggled and tried to keep up with his longer stride pattern. "Your legs are too long!" she moaned.
"No, your legs are too short!" he teased back.
Restricting herself to giving Jonathan a dirty look, Martha decided to save her breath.
Just as they reached the stable block Jonathan turned down the side and finally slowed down. Turning the corner so that they were behind the stables he said, "We should be okay here."
Martha stopped dead in her tracks and gasped. "Good heavens!"
Jonathan laughed, "Mom complained to Dad that every time she came to the stables she was being attacked by the nettles that were growing wild around here. So Dad asked Bob and Billy Ray to clear back the weeds and nettles and I guess they got a bit carried away because this is the result."
Looking around her Martha saw that they had cleared all the weeds and nettles right back and had created a wide path all around the stables. "If they cleared all the weeds further back it would make a nice garden as the stables would provide shade and shelter from the wind." She said.
"That's exactly the same thing Mom said! I think Dad is gonna get Bob and Billy Ray to clear the area right back to the fence" Jonathan informed her, sliding his arms around her waist. "Now do you really want to talk about gardening?"
"No."
"So?"
Martha unbuttoned her jacket and put her arms around Jonathan's neck. "Did you miss me?" She asked.
"Stop fishing, you know I missed you." Jonathan replied as he bent his head and nuzzled her neck.
"Good, because I really missed you." Martha murmured as she tilted her head back as Jonathan's mouth slowly crept up her neck towards her ear.
After paying due attention to her ear, Jonathan drifted kisses across Martha's face before settling on her mouth. As his tongue slid into her mouth Martha closed her eyes as she let herself revel in the exquisite pleasure of Jonathan's kisses. When he pulled away Martha moaned and tried to pull him back.
"Shh, patience, sweetheart." Jonathan muttered as he led her around the side of the stables and through the door. Walking to the end he went into the last stall.
"Jonathan?" Martha queried as she followed him in to the stall.
Smiling Jonathan said, "Hey, I don't want my favorite girl to get cold. We'll be out of the wind here and it's nice and private. Don't worry, Bob and Billy Ray have spent most of the morning scrubbing the whole stable down so it's nice and clean."
Holding out his hand, he sat on the ground and leant back against the stable wall. When Martha went to sit next to him, he pulled her into his lap. "Now where were we?" he said, as he began kissing her deeply again.
It wasn't long before Martha discovered the reason behind their change of location. As he continued to kiss her, she felt Jonathan's hands slowly unbuttoning her shirt and his hands begin to explore. Sighing with pleasure she decided to be kind to him, "Sweetie, the catch is at the front." She whispered helpfully.
There was a slight pause while Jonathan negotiated the catch and then Martha heard his soft groan of pleasure. It was the end of November and Martha should have been freezing, but she didn't feel cold at all as Jonathan concentrated on making her feel wonderful.
It seemed all too soon when Martha realized that Jonathan was buttoning up her shirt again. "Do we have to stop?" she moaned.
"We don't want Dad to come looking for us?" Jonathan answered with a sigh.
"I guess not." Martha agreed reluctantly.
Hugging her to him, Jonathan said, "Do you realize that in ten days time we'll be married?"
"Really?" Martha teased.
"Yep. In ten days time we'll be a married couple."
"Mr. and Mrs. Jonathan Kent."
"It sounds real nice." Jonathan said, grinning at Martha.
Just then they heard Hiram roar "JONATHAN!! MARTHA!!"
Jumping up they hurried out of the stables and as they headed back to the house they saw Hiram standing on the porch. As they ran towards him, Jessica came out to find out what all the fuss was about.
"Yes, Dad?" Jonathan said, as the couple ground to a halt at the bottom of the porch steps.
"I don't mind the fact that you've all turned my bedroom into an obstacle course, I don't mind the fact that my living room looks like a yard sale and I don't even mind that Jessie has me going shopping practically every darn day. But, I refuse to have my porch littered with boxes and bags! Especially, when nobody tells me that they're here and I darn near break my neck falling over them!" Hiram shouted.
"I'm really sorry, it's all my fault." Martha said, "Are you alright? Did you hurt yourself?"
"No, honey, it's my fault. I should have moved them into the house instead of just leaving them there." Jonathan said.
"No, I can't let you take the blame. They're my boxes so I should have been more responsible." Martha objected.
"I shouldn't have just left them. Dad's right, someone could have gotten hurt." Jonathan insisted.
"Oh, for heavens sake!" Hiram exploded. "I don't care whose fault it is … just MOVE THEM!"
"Yes, sir." Jonathan replied, lifting up one of the boxes and starting to go into the house.
"I'm really sorry." Martha apologized as she picked up her bag and edged past Hiram.
"Hiram, would you stop yelling at those poor children and come into the house." Jessica said trying to defuse his anger.
As Martha and Jonathan disappeared upstairs all they could hear was Hiram yelling, "Poor children!! POOR CHILDREN!!"
Fortunately, by the time they all sat down to a late lunch, Hiram seemed to have forgotten all about the porch episode and was in a far better temper.
It was while Hiram was in the middle of making Martha laugh uncontrollably with his stories about his one and only foray into rodeo riding that the front doorbell rang. Getting up from the table he said, "People should know better than to interrupt a person while he's eating!"
Going to the front door he flung it open, "Yes?" he said.
Little did Jonathan and Martha know that what was going to happen next would have repercussions that would last for years to come.
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