Disclaimer: Don't own Smallville and Jane Austin's Emma...just borrowing them for entertainment.
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In a time when ones town was ones world...and the actions of a dance excited greater interest than the movements of armies, there lived a young woman named Chloe Sullivan, who knew how this world should be run...
Chapter 1: A Wedding & Old Friends.
(The Church)
Chloe Sullivan’s smile was nearly as bright as her summery yellow dress. She stood beside her father Mr. Sullivan and next to him were Mr. Lionel Luthor and his new bride of two hours Mrs. Martha Luthor.
Around them the festivities of the Smallville Village were joyful with celebrating the joyous union of one of the most prominent figures of Smallville. The new Mrs. Luthor’s gown was a beautiful satin buttercup yellow, flowing with ivory and touches of expensive lace. Beside her, her new husband smiled down at her, his arm never too far from her side. They were all discussing the lovely gifts that the villagers had given the Luthor's on their wedding day, and Chloe took the opportunity to reach into her purse and pull out her gift.
She waited until she had Mrs. Luthor’s attention then said, “And here is my gift to you Mrs. Luthor.”
“Oh Chloe!” Martha gasped as she took the painted globe from Chloe’s fingers. “Its very beautiful.”
Chloe smiled shyly, “You are too kind Mrs. Luthor, only because you were my governess. If only I had practiced my art more as you asked me to.”
Suddenly beside Chloe Mr. Fordman joined their small group. “I wouldn’t usually argue against you Miss Sullivan, but in this case I have to agree with Mrs. Luthor. It is a very beautiful piece of art.”
Chloe nodded her head politely. “What is most beautiful is this wedding, it could not have happened on a more beautiful perfect summer day, and to a more perfect couple.”
Chloe’s father spoke after her flowery speech. “The ceremony was indeed beautiful my dear, but the church, must it always be so drafty?”
Chloe reached over and slipped her arm through her fathers. “Perhaps some tea and cake will make you feel better Papa?”
“CAKE!” Her father thundered. He let go of his daughter’s arm, and then stamped his silver cane on the ground. “Surely, you aren’t serving cake at your wedding Mrs. Luthor. It’s far too rich for the stomach at this time of day! Where is Peter Ross Senior, he will support me in this.”
Martha reached over and gently patted her fathers arm. “He is over there Mr. Sullivan. Having some cake.”
“WHAT?!” And with that, her father quickly limped over towards Mr. Ross.
Chloe smothered her laughter behind her white-gloved hand. “Oh dear me.”
Martha came to stand beside Chloe and they both watched as her father began to scold the poor Mr. Ross about the dangers of eating cake at 4:00pm in the afternoon.
“I must take father home now I think,” Chloe said on a sigh. “Dear Mrs. Kent...oh but no! No longer Mrs. Kent, you are now Mrs. Luthor.”
Martha reached out and hugged Chloe. “I will always be Mrs. Kent to you Chloe. Just as I will always be your governess.”
Chloe nodded her head and tried to stop the tears that were threatening to spill out. “Oh, but what will I ever do without you...”
Martha pulled back. “We are in a way family still Chloe. For your sister Bella is married to Lionel’s youngest son Julian. In a way, I consider you a part of my new family as well as my old.”
Chloe whipped at her eyes. “Silly tears. Yes, I suppose you are right though. You always are. And in truth, this is the happiest day for you and therefore a happy day for us all.”
Martha smiled reassuring again and hugged Chloe one more time. “I’ll go collect your father for you.”
*^*^*^*^*^*^*^
(Sullivan Manor)
Chloe sat in the swaying carriage. Her father had long since fallen asleep across from her, and she was left to her own thoughts. Here she was, twenty-one, unmarried and without a governess anymore. A governess who had in truth been the only mother Chloe had ever known, her own mother having died when she was still a baby. She was never far from her father, who had suffered from a horse ridding accident that made traveling difficult. Her older sister Bella had married five years earlier to Julian Luthor, and now lived in Metropolis. At least Martha would still be close to Smallville, at the Luthor Estate. Chloe felt a sigh build up, and exhaled it slowly. She felt like the world was moving on without her, but where was she to go? She felt as though she needed something in her life, as if something was missing, but what?
The carriage came to a halt and her father woke up.
“Ahh, home at last. Just in time for brandy and books.” He said as he reached for his cane. With the help of the servants he made it down from the carriage.
Inside the house, Chloe made her way to the ground floor study that was where she spent the evenings with her father. She settled herself in a plush green leather chair, across from her father and the roaring fire. Despite the summer weather, they still needed to keep some fires going to keep the dampness out of the old manor rooms.
Her father had opened his latest book and was about to settle in when he glanced at her and then put his book down. “Well my dear?”
Chloe blinked. “Well what?”
Her father chuckled. “I don’t see why Mrs. Kent felt she had to up and leave us be getting re-married, even if Lionel Luthor is the most agreeable sort of fellow to her.”
Chloe leaned back in her chair, smoothing out the soft material of her dress. “I am all grown up now father. I couldn’t keep her all to myself forever, she must want children of her own.”
“She had her chance with Jonathan Kent, and look what happened there, the man up and got himself killed.”
Chloe tisked her father with her tongue. “Shame on you Papa. You know very well that Captain Kent was tragically killed while in the line of duty, defending our peace.”
Her father waved his hand about. “Yes, yes. Rightly so, he was the finest navy-man to ever come out of Smallville. Such a loss.”
“As an old friend of the family, I had to ask as soon as I got back…” A voice said from the window.
Chloe sat up in her chair, her grin spread across her face. “Lex!”
Alexander Luthor, or Lex, as Chloe had called him since she was child, stood outside the study balcony, casually resting his hands on the windowsill. He still wore his riding gloves and ridding hat, having come from Metropolis.
“…who cried the most at the wedding?” He finished.
Chloe and her father laughed. “Miss Bates of course. Shame on you though! Not attending your own fathers wedding?”
Lex grimaced, “Yes well, I know it was terribly gauche of me. I shall come inside and try and redeem myself.”
*^*^*^*^*^^*^*^*
Lex handed his gloves, hat and ridding jacket to the servants. It was good to be back in Smallville, he had missed his fathers wedding because of parliament problems. Politics were such a problem when it came to social life sometimes. He ran a hand through his loosely curling red hair, made a few brushes at his black tailcoat jacket as he made his way to the study. Chloe and her father were still sitting down, waiting for him.
He walked across the room and took the seat opposite to Chloe's, without saying a word, because he knew that Chloe was waiting for him to talk.
“Well,” The impertinent Chloe demanded. “I am waiting.”
Lex made himself comfortable in the leather chair, taking the tea that a servant handed him. “Yes, I can see you are.”
Chloe huffed.
“Very well,” Lex said on a dramatic sigh. He put his tea down on the small table. “Parliament was in need of my services this past day, and I could not leave...even for a wedding.”
Gabe nodded his head slowly in agreement. “Ahh. Politics, that explains everything.”
Chloe frowned though, obviously still not convinced. But instead she moved to a safer topic. “How is my sister Bella? Is your younger brother Julian showing her the respect we Sullivan ladies deserve?”
Lex reached over and took one of the small books from the side table.
He flipped through some pages before answering. “They are well, they both send their regards.”
Lex could literally feel Chloe's impatient stare boring into him. She liked her information quick, detailed and accurate. And he never, once, ever gave her information that way.
He looked up, and sure enough, she was glaring at him. He merely gave her his famous smirk as an answer.
“Poor Bella,” Gabe Sullivan suddenly added. “She was the first to leave me. No doubt, that’s where Mrs. Kent got the idea to leave. Soon, you will likely leave me as well Chloe.”
Chloe turned her attention away from Lex and smiled brightly, “Of course not father. I have no intention of leaving.”
“You have no intention of marrying Miss Sullivan?”
Chloe turned around, her mouth a round ‘o’. “Well, of course…but I could never leave Papa.”
Lex nodded his head. “I think that you shouldn’t be so hard on Mrs. Kent, she is after all my new step-mother. And it must be a relief for her, to only have to look out for my father, rather than the two of you.”
“Let me guess,” Chloe said on a smile, “Especially since one of us is such a problem for her, is that what you were to say next Mr. Luthor?”
“Yes you’re right,” Gabe said. “I was such a problem on her.”
Lex laughed along with Chloe. “I never meant you Papa. Mr. Luthor here was just pointing out my faults that’s all, he seems to enjoy it. It’s his idea of a joke.”
Lex chuckled, it was true that he did go out of his way to tease her, but he’d done it since he could remember, and couldn’t seem to stop. “I’ve been practically a brother to you Chloe, since you were 13, isn’t it the job of the older brother to find fault with his sister.”
“I never find fault in you dear.” Gabe piped in. “I can see that you will genuinely miss Mrs. Kent.”
Chloe’s head dropped slightly, and she folded her hands in her lap. “Yes, I will miss her.”
Lex frowned. “She’s not that far away, my fathers mansion is less than a mile away from here on foot.”
“I know,” Chloe began, her voice still holding a sad note. “But she has obligations there now, she doesn't have the time to sit with me like she used to.”
Lex tilted his head to one side. He hadn’t suspected that Chloe would feel Mrs. Kents departure so acutely. She was after all 21 years old, far too old for a governess to be around. Then again, Lex thought, Mrs. Kent had always been more of a mother to Chloe than a governess. In a way, Chloe must feel like she has lost her mother.
Lex cleared his throat. “You must be happy at least that she settled well though. My father swore he’d never re-marry since my mother and youngest brother were lost to him. Yet, your Mrs. Kent seemed to have cracked nearly twenty years of built up emotional walls. All in the short time of what...six months?”
Chloe turned her head up at that comment, a smile appearing on her face again. “Yes indeed! And one thing I can say, is that I made that match myself. What a triumph!”
Inwardly Lex rolled his eyes. “Triumph?!”
Chloe pulled her back up straight.
“Ha. You made a lucky guess!” Lex scoffed.
Chloe looked as if she was ready to throw something at him. Instead she poked her nose up in the air, “Have you never known the triumph of a lucky guess? No, I encouraged the match and therefore made it!”
Lex was about to make another comment when Gabe beat him to it. “Well then my dear, encourage no more. Marriages are far too disruptive to the social circle.”
“Only one more Papa. When I looked over the church audience today, I noticed Mr. Fordman looking on as if he would soon like to be up at that very alter as well.”
Lex let out a groan, rubbing his hand over his eyes. He couldn’t believe what he was hearing.
Gabe sighed as well. “You may invite him here for dinner my dear, that should be kind enough.”
Lex put his book on the table and leaned forward towards Chloe, his hand resting on his knee. “Mr. Fordman is a man of 26 years, Chloe. He knows how to take care of himself. He doesn’t need your “help”.”
Chloe matched his posture by leaning forward, her arms pressed against the arm of the chair. Lex suddenly had to pay close attention to Chloe’s face. Did she not realize that her position was shoving her bussom upwards as high as the sky?
“Generally speaking Mr. Luthor, I do not generalize about groups of people…but, you may be assured that men know nothing of their hearts, whether they are 26 or 62. Except you of course Papa.”
Lex tore his eyes away from tempting image that Chloe presented, for gods sakes man he though, she's a child. She’s been like a sister to you for eight years. Lex again cleared his throat, he would have to find out some way of conquering these improper feelings he had been having for Chloe since last summer.
“I fear Mr. Sullivan, that it will be Mr. Fordman who will deserve our sympathy very soon.” He eventually got out.
With that said, the three of them each settled into their evening ritual or taking tea, reading and in Mr. Sullivan’s case, napping by the fire.
