Catheryne
26th April 2003, 18:09
Until We Meet Again
Part 1
“All of my life I yearned to touch him. From afar, my eyes would seek his and when they do find those gray pools of light my heart would skip a beat or two. Inside my breast I would feel the leap of flame that would thread through my veins.
“On the eve of my eighteenth birthday, at the feast that my father had thrown in my honor, his warm hand closed around my waist. It was the first time I felt his lips on my skin. Despite the fact that my father and my best friend would have killed him if they saw us then, I threw caution into the wind and responded with fierce passion.
“Had I known that he would leave me to the mercy of the world, I do not know if I would have offered myself so openly. But I trusted in my lover and in return he abandoned me with his child. To this day, I wait. And it seems I wait in vain.”
Chloe closed the old leather bound book and sighed. She had almost finished Chloe Sheridan’s diary. When she had spotted it in the antique shop, she immediately bought it. It was not merely because the woman was her namesake. It was the intrigue that surrounded the woman herself. She and her mysterious lover were the talk of the town until the meteor shower. The events naturally distracted the people from the old scandal. Still, no matter how gripping the story was, it still strained her vision. She closed her eyes and rested her head on the seat. She felt strong fingers push against her temples carefully, soothingly. She murmured a pleased sound.
“I told you not to read in the car, Chloe.”
She peeked at her husband, assessing his somber mood before responding. “I couldn’t put it down, Lex. You know how I am about the mysteries of this town.”
Lex shook his head and turned on the road just at the outskirts of Smallville. “There is nothing mysterious about that journal.”
“It was written by the woman who lived in the Sheridan house last. You do know that abandoned Colonial off the Granville Farm?”
Lex did know the place. They have driven by the house several times during the last few days in their attempt to look for a smaller place to move into. With Chloe expecting their first baby in a few months, they needed to buy a place of their own—one that Lionel Luthor would not feel as comfortable barging in. While Lex had suggested that they remain in his penthouse in Metropolis, Chloe insisted that she wanted a place in Smallville, where they could raise a child relatively free from the abnormalities of being a Luthor baby.
“Chloe, there is no mystery. She was seduced, knocked up, then left. The guy probably skipped town bursting with excitement because he got lucky with the girl everybody protected from him.”
Chloe rifled through the pages and read out loud, “His hand against my breast was brief and gentle. Before he exposed more of my skin, he met my eyes and asked a silent question. I reached for his wrist and led his palm to my skin, just below my navel, where a warm feeling stirred that I have no name for. He knelt before me and laid his lips there. My breath caught the moment he looked up at me and mouthed his thanks.” She closed the book decisively and concluded, “The man was obviously in love with her. He could not have just left her.”
“That was written in her point of view, Chloe,” Lex reasoned. “She would not have written down that the man was pretending to be enamored of her to get inside her pants.”
Chloe rolled her eyes at the utter lack of romance in Lex’s voice. “You obviously are a cynic, Lex.”
“I’m just pointing to the logical answers here.” Lex drove by the old Sheridan house again. He glanced at his wife and saw the longing look she threw at it. She had been giving the house those glances that should be reserved only for him. He figured that he should just get this over with. Lex parked the car at the driveway and at Chloe’s excited squeal, he turned and informed her, “This is not the house we were trying to find. But if you want it when we’ve toured it, I’ll sign the papers.”
Chloe clapped her hands and threw her arms around her husband. “Oh, thank you thank you! You are adorable!” She dropped a kiss on his nose.
Lex smirked. There was no bigger ego boost for him than to make his wife happy. He climbed out of the car and walked over to Chloe’s side to open the door for her. By the time he rounded the hood of the car, Chloe was already walking over to him. He shook his head.
They made their way to the front door when Chloe shivered. He looked down at his wife, because the day was warm. “Are you okay?” His hand immediately rose to her forehead to check her temperature, an action he did not even know the purpose of until he accepted that he was in love.
Chloe closed her hand over his and pulled it down to their side. “I’m fine, Lex. It’s just goosebumps. I am so hyped that you finally agreed to look at the house!”
He threw an arm over her shoulders and drew her close. He did not know why it took him so long to finally just stop here so she can look at the house she obviously wanted. It was just that every time they would drive by here, he had negative vibrations from the place. He was a man of science, and vibrations and feelings should not mean so much to him. But the odd heaviness in his heart when they passed by the Sheridan mansion was so different that he trusted it. But if viewing the house made Chloe happy, then they would view it.
The caretaker of the house, an aging man in a suit that had seen better days, admitted them with a scrutinizing eye. Lex was aware of the condition of the place. Although of flawless architecture and design, the house had not been maintained properly over the decades. After Chloe Sheridan passed away, nobody had lived in the house for longer than a month due to restless spirits, as the Ledger once reported the last owner saying. That was why the caretaker was not too used to people still interested in renting it out or purchasing it. Because Chloe and Lex were pragmatic—well Lex at least, Chloe was here because she was interested in the house and the ghosts that came with it—they did not mind the rumors surrounding the place.
They were taken on a tour of the living room, the kitchen and the various libraries and studies. There were music rooms and tea rooms. It was characteristic of the era in which it was inhabited in. Chloe glanced at the wide staircase and asked the old man, “May we see the bedrooms? Perhaps you can show us the master bedroom. Or Ms Chloe’s,” she suggested.
The man looked at them in horror before shaking his head. “I only remain on the first level, madam. I cannot go upstairs. If you buy the place, you may wander wherever you wish.”
“Nice tour,” Lex muttered to his wife. Chloe elbowed him on the ribs. He groaned at the gleam in her eye. The preposterous reasoning only served to intrigue her even more. “Chloe—“
She turned around and faced him, and Lex was afraid of the brightness of her cheeks. She was positively bursting with excitement. “I want it,” she stated.
“It’s a fixer-upper!” he exclaimed in disbelief. They had seen better homes than this. There were dozens of places that they could live in.
“I want it,” she said again. “I feel so at home in here!”
All his instincts screamed at him not to give into her. But she looked so hopeful and adorable as she batted her lashes in an effort to sway him.
“I’ll take care of all the construction and wallpaper and any little detail,” she promised. “Please, I don’t ask for a lot of things. Let me choose where we’ll raise our family.”
That sealed the deal for him. She was right. If anything, Chloe gave and never took. If this would make her happy, then who was he to say no? He leaned down and placed a kiss on her brow. “Let me see the contract,” he told the caretaker.
The caretaker left them to get the sample from his bedroom. While they waited, Chloe stepped into Lex’s embrace and told him about how she would fix the place up to make it habitable. Lex did not pay attention to her decisions about the paint and polish, the paintings and sculptures she would look for to complete the atmosphere. He merely allowed himself to be lulled by the sound of her voice and the feel of her body in his arms. His brain hummed at the fact that he had given his wife something she wanted.
Lex took the contract when the man arrived to hand him the envelope. “I’ll go over this at home and then I’ll get back to you regarding my decision but,” Lex looked down at his smiling wife, “it’s most likely affirmative. We will discuss the details of the move when we meet.” He handed the man his card. “I’m Lex Luthor and this is my wife Chloe. You will see more of us.”
Suddenly, the man drew his hand back and snatched the contract rudely from Lex’s hands. “Alexander?”
“Alexander Luthor. That’s right.”
The man stepped back and shook his head. “I’m sorry but you cannot purchase this place. It is off the market.”
Lex growled in his throat. The man did not realize the stupidity of refusing a sale just because of who he was. The house was almost garbage and Lex was willing to pay their price because of the illogical way that his wife had taken to the place. “What do you mean off the market? I want to talk to whoever owns this.”
“The federal bank owns it now. But you cannot buy it,” the man said. “No, you cannot live here. And I suggest you two not return here again.”
They were ushered out of the house, and the door shut before them. Lex cursed. They were turned away because of who he was. He was certain of that. Lex knocked loudly on the door but the man did not answer it. He turned to apologize to his wife. Lex found Chloe staring up at the third floor window. He said her name once but she did not look at him. “Chloe,” he said again. Chloe’s gaze remained fixed on the window.
Slowly, he turned his head to follow her gaze. Lex’s skin crawled at the sight of his Chloe standing up there looking down at him, brushing her shoulder length hair repeatedly. He searched the woman’s face for any sign of malice or humor. The woman in the window looked exactly like his wife, but Chloe was standing there right beside him, also looking up. All he saw was the expressionless eyes looking at him.
Lex looked at Chloe and touched her arm. Her skin felt cold. All the legends about the old house returned to him, and he remembered the journal that Chloe had been so entranced about. Coupled with Chloe’s intense sense of home in the old Colonial, Lex’s brain shuttered everything else except the need to take his wife away from here.
He closed his hand over her clammy one and dragged her away from the house. She was in a trance. Chloe did not put up a fight when he sat her on the passenger seat and slammed the door closed. Lex ran to the driver’s side and got in. He inserted the key into the ignition and started the car. Lex slammed his foot on the gas pedal, squealing out of the Sheridan house driveway. He turned to look at Chloe, expecting her to be shaking her head and wondering what mirage it was that she had seen.
Chloe was still looking back at the third floor window of the old Colonial.
tbc
Part 1
“All of my life I yearned to touch him. From afar, my eyes would seek his and when they do find those gray pools of light my heart would skip a beat or two. Inside my breast I would feel the leap of flame that would thread through my veins.
“On the eve of my eighteenth birthday, at the feast that my father had thrown in my honor, his warm hand closed around my waist. It was the first time I felt his lips on my skin. Despite the fact that my father and my best friend would have killed him if they saw us then, I threw caution into the wind and responded with fierce passion.
“Had I known that he would leave me to the mercy of the world, I do not know if I would have offered myself so openly. But I trusted in my lover and in return he abandoned me with his child. To this day, I wait. And it seems I wait in vain.”
Chloe closed the old leather bound book and sighed. She had almost finished Chloe Sheridan’s diary. When she had spotted it in the antique shop, she immediately bought it. It was not merely because the woman was her namesake. It was the intrigue that surrounded the woman herself. She and her mysterious lover were the talk of the town until the meteor shower. The events naturally distracted the people from the old scandal. Still, no matter how gripping the story was, it still strained her vision. She closed her eyes and rested her head on the seat. She felt strong fingers push against her temples carefully, soothingly. She murmured a pleased sound.
“I told you not to read in the car, Chloe.”
She peeked at her husband, assessing his somber mood before responding. “I couldn’t put it down, Lex. You know how I am about the mysteries of this town.”
Lex shook his head and turned on the road just at the outskirts of Smallville. “There is nothing mysterious about that journal.”
“It was written by the woman who lived in the Sheridan house last. You do know that abandoned Colonial off the Granville Farm?”
Lex did know the place. They have driven by the house several times during the last few days in their attempt to look for a smaller place to move into. With Chloe expecting their first baby in a few months, they needed to buy a place of their own—one that Lionel Luthor would not feel as comfortable barging in. While Lex had suggested that they remain in his penthouse in Metropolis, Chloe insisted that she wanted a place in Smallville, where they could raise a child relatively free from the abnormalities of being a Luthor baby.
“Chloe, there is no mystery. She was seduced, knocked up, then left. The guy probably skipped town bursting with excitement because he got lucky with the girl everybody protected from him.”
Chloe rifled through the pages and read out loud, “His hand against my breast was brief and gentle. Before he exposed more of my skin, he met my eyes and asked a silent question. I reached for his wrist and led his palm to my skin, just below my navel, where a warm feeling stirred that I have no name for. He knelt before me and laid his lips there. My breath caught the moment he looked up at me and mouthed his thanks.” She closed the book decisively and concluded, “The man was obviously in love with her. He could not have just left her.”
“That was written in her point of view, Chloe,” Lex reasoned. “She would not have written down that the man was pretending to be enamored of her to get inside her pants.”
Chloe rolled her eyes at the utter lack of romance in Lex’s voice. “You obviously are a cynic, Lex.”
“I’m just pointing to the logical answers here.” Lex drove by the old Sheridan house again. He glanced at his wife and saw the longing look she threw at it. She had been giving the house those glances that should be reserved only for him. He figured that he should just get this over with. Lex parked the car at the driveway and at Chloe’s excited squeal, he turned and informed her, “This is not the house we were trying to find. But if you want it when we’ve toured it, I’ll sign the papers.”
Chloe clapped her hands and threw her arms around her husband. “Oh, thank you thank you! You are adorable!” She dropped a kiss on his nose.
Lex smirked. There was no bigger ego boost for him than to make his wife happy. He climbed out of the car and walked over to Chloe’s side to open the door for her. By the time he rounded the hood of the car, Chloe was already walking over to him. He shook his head.
They made their way to the front door when Chloe shivered. He looked down at his wife, because the day was warm. “Are you okay?” His hand immediately rose to her forehead to check her temperature, an action he did not even know the purpose of until he accepted that he was in love.
Chloe closed her hand over his and pulled it down to their side. “I’m fine, Lex. It’s just goosebumps. I am so hyped that you finally agreed to look at the house!”
He threw an arm over her shoulders and drew her close. He did not know why it took him so long to finally just stop here so she can look at the house she obviously wanted. It was just that every time they would drive by here, he had negative vibrations from the place. He was a man of science, and vibrations and feelings should not mean so much to him. But the odd heaviness in his heart when they passed by the Sheridan mansion was so different that he trusted it. But if viewing the house made Chloe happy, then they would view it.
The caretaker of the house, an aging man in a suit that had seen better days, admitted them with a scrutinizing eye. Lex was aware of the condition of the place. Although of flawless architecture and design, the house had not been maintained properly over the decades. After Chloe Sheridan passed away, nobody had lived in the house for longer than a month due to restless spirits, as the Ledger once reported the last owner saying. That was why the caretaker was not too used to people still interested in renting it out or purchasing it. Because Chloe and Lex were pragmatic—well Lex at least, Chloe was here because she was interested in the house and the ghosts that came with it—they did not mind the rumors surrounding the place.
They were taken on a tour of the living room, the kitchen and the various libraries and studies. There were music rooms and tea rooms. It was characteristic of the era in which it was inhabited in. Chloe glanced at the wide staircase and asked the old man, “May we see the bedrooms? Perhaps you can show us the master bedroom. Or Ms Chloe’s,” she suggested.
The man looked at them in horror before shaking his head. “I only remain on the first level, madam. I cannot go upstairs. If you buy the place, you may wander wherever you wish.”
“Nice tour,” Lex muttered to his wife. Chloe elbowed him on the ribs. He groaned at the gleam in her eye. The preposterous reasoning only served to intrigue her even more. “Chloe—“
She turned around and faced him, and Lex was afraid of the brightness of her cheeks. She was positively bursting with excitement. “I want it,” she stated.
“It’s a fixer-upper!” he exclaimed in disbelief. They had seen better homes than this. There were dozens of places that they could live in.
“I want it,” she said again. “I feel so at home in here!”
All his instincts screamed at him not to give into her. But she looked so hopeful and adorable as she batted her lashes in an effort to sway him.
“I’ll take care of all the construction and wallpaper and any little detail,” she promised. “Please, I don’t ask for a lot of things. Let me choose where we’ll raise our family.”
That sealed the deal for him. She was right. If anything, Chloe gave and never took. If this would make her happy, then who was he to say no? He leaned down and placed a kiss on her brow. “Let me see the contract,” he told the caretaker.
The caretaker left them to get the sample from his bedroom. While they waited, Chloe stepped into Lex’s embrace and told him about how she would fix the place up to make it habitable. Lex did not pay attention to her decisions about the paint and polish, the paintings and sculptures she would look for to complete the atmosphere. He merely allowed himself to be lulled by the sound of her voice and the feel of her body in his arms. His brain hummed at the fact that he had given his wife something she wanted.
Lex took the contract when the man arrived to hand him the envelope. “I’ll go over this at home and then I’ll get back to you regarding my decision but,” Lex looked down at his smiling wife, “it’s most likely affirmative. We will discuss the details of the move when we meet.” He handed the man his card. “I’m Lex Luthor and this is my wife Chloe. You will see more of us.”
Suddenly, the man drew his hand back and snatched the contract rudely from Lex’s hands. “Alexander?”
“Alexander Luthor. That’s right.”
The man stepped back and shook his head. “I’m sorry but you cannot purchase this place. It is off the market.”
Lex growled in his throat. The man did not realize the stupidity of refusing a sale just because of who he was. The house was almost garbage and Lex was willing to pay their price because of the illogical way that his wife had taken to the place. “What do you mean off the market? I want to talk to whoever owns this.”
“The federal bank owns it now. But you cannot buy it,” the man said. “No, you cannot live here. And I suggest you two not return here again.”
They were ushered out of the house, and the door shut before them. Lex cursed. They were turned away because of who he was. He was certain of that. Lex knocked loudly on the door but the man did not answer it. He turned to apologize to his wife. Lex found Chloe staring up at the third floor window. He said her name once but she did not look at him. “Chloe,” he said again. Chloe’s gaze remained fixed on the window.
Slowly, he turned his head to follow her gaze. Lex’s skin crawled at the sight of his Chloe standing up there looking down at him, brushing her shoulder length hair repeatedly. He searched the woman’s face for any sign of malice or humor. The woman in the window looked exactly like his wife, but Chloe was standing there right beside him, also looking up. All he saw was the expressionless eyes looking at him.
Lex looked at Chloe and touched her arm. Her skin felt cold. All the legends about the old house returned to him, and he remembered the journal that Chloe had been so entranced about. Coupled with Chloe’s intense sense of home in the old Colonial, Lex’s brain shuttered everything else except the need to take his wife away from here.
He closed his hand over her clammy one and dragged her away from the house. She was in a trance. Chloe did not put up a fight when he sat her on the passenger seat and slammed the door closed. Lex ran to the driver’s side and got in. He inserted the key into the ignition and started the car. Lex slammed his foot on the gas pedal, squealing out of the Sheridan house driveway. He turned to look at Chloe, expecting her to be shaking her head and wondering what mirage it was that she had seen.
Chloe was still looking back at the third floor window of the old Colonial.
tbc