Ch 3 - Sanctuary
-- June 2009 (Nine Months Earlier) --
The attractive black woman took her eyes off of the lonely stretch of highway and glanced at her rearview mirror. She smiled at the reflection of the sleeping boy in the car seat.
"It's going to be okay, kiddo." Sighing, she returned her attention to the road.
A few hours later, she pulled into the drive of the Kent Farm. In the dark, she had missed the entry the first time and had to back up to find it. She had started to miss the lights of Metropolis two hours ago.
Glancing at the farmhouse, she was relieved to see that a light was still on inside. It was late to be making house calls, but this was an emergency. She hoped they wouldn't mind.
The baby fidgeted as she pulled him out of his seat. She shushed him quietly as he snuggled into her embrace and calmed. She pushed the door shut as quietly as she could manage and headed toward the porch.
Moments after she knocked, the inner door opened and through the screen she encountered the questioning face of a man in his 40's. Behind him, further in the house, a woman with red hair looked on with interest.
"Can we help you?" the man asked.
"Jonathan and Martha Kent?"
At his nod, she shifted the weight of the child and rubbed his back. "My name is Catherine Grant. I hate to bother you this late… but, it's really important. Do you think I can come in?"
Cat reached over and lightly brushed the child's hair before facing the Kent's again. They were seated in the den and she had laid the baby down next to her on the couch.
"Lois and I are friends, and we work together at The Planet. I do the Society Page while Lois is with Investigation," Cat laughed nervously. "But you probably already know that."
Jonathan shook his head. "Actually, we haven't talked to Lois in quite a while. A little over a year, I guess." He looked at Martha, and she nodded in agreement. That was about the time the Christmas cards had stopped coming.
"We've been following Lois's career through her articles, but we never knew she had a child," Martha added.
"Oh," Cat replied quietly. "She talked about you guys all the time. I'm sorry- I just thought… well anyway, um, about a week ago, Lois asked me to watch Cole while she ran an errand. She never came back."
Martha reached for her husband's hand. "What happened?"
"We don't know. The police have been looking but there's no trace…" Cat sighed, glancing at the baby.
"She made me promise that if anything ever happened to her, I would bring him here. She said that you were good to her when she was in a bad situation once. I would keep him, and I still will if you can't. I mean, I've been like an aunt to him all his life, and… well, the authorities need to make sure he's placed…"
"Catherine," Martha interrupted.
"It's Cat… please."
"Cat," Martha agreed, smiling. It was obvious that the woman was attached to the child. "We would do anything in our power to help Lois, but what about her family? Her father… or her sister? Her cousin Chloe?"
"I don't know too much, but she and her father haven't spoken since before Cole was born. His name is Nicholas, actually. Her mother's maiden name was Nichols… and she calls him Cole." Cat shook her head, clearing her thoughts. "I'm sorry. It's been a hectic week. I'm not sure about her sister or her cousin, but Lois always said to bring him here. Her father was angry that she refused to get married, and the whole illegitimate child issue was a huge disagreement between them. Let's see, what else? I know there's more, but I'm just a little frazzled. Sorry."
Cat reached for her glass of water and took a sip. She carefully replaced the glass trying to make her shaking hand less noticeable. "Lois said that she would put it in her will, not that they're ready to claim that she's dead or anything. But for his sake… I wanted to… bring him... sooner than later."
Martha and Jonathan exchanged a look. There was a lot of information they needed to process.
"You can stay in the guest room for the night. You look exhausted. Let me get you set up and we'll finish talking in the morning." Martha smiled as Cat nodded and stood.
Cat bent to gather Cole into her arms, and his eyes fluttered open. A pout crept onto his face as he took in his unfamiliar surroundings and a tiny fist grasped onto Cat's blouse. Martha immediately knew that this little boy had her heart.
tbc
