Unfortunate Events

Chapter Seventeen

The mansion

Patrick and Arabella returned from the stables with their father before the children dashed back out after hearing their friends calling. "Remember be back in time for dinner!" Jack called. "We will dad!" Patrick called his squeaky voice, as they all dashed off with their bicycles to the nearby park. 

Jack shut the door. The house was silent. He then heard sobbing. It was Jackie. It was coming from their bedroom. He wouldn't ever have back pain so he dashed upstairs, not feeling anything. He opened the door. At the foot of the bed, Jackie was clinging to the sheets, sobbing. She looked up, tilting her head slowly. 

Her eyes were red with tears and the bed covers were soaked. "Oh I'm sorry Jack" she whispered, the tragedy echoed in her voice. Jack immediately got down on the floor beside her. "Jackie?" Jack asked. "Sorry for what?".

Jack embraced his wife. The only thing she could focus on was his blue eyes. She looked into them. They still made her heart ache. They were like sapphires, sparkling whenever the sun landed on them. To Jack, the sun in his world was Jackie. She made the world happy. He looked down into her eyes. 

She sobbed. "Jack I'm a terrible mother" Jackie's lips quivered. Jack kissed her gently before they held each other. He rubbed her hand with his hand. "Jackie, you're not a terrible mother" Jack tried to assure her. "You raised them when I wasn't there" Jack held her in his arms. She was cold. "Jack, I'm horrible" Jackie grasped the sheets and held them firmly. 

"I killed three of our children. I killed Arabella, I killed Patrick!" Jackie was beginning to lose control. She was dead but it was the only thing that still dawned on her, even in the next life. "The first child, it will never have eternal life as it came out as nothing" Jackie sobbed. 

Jack was on the verge of tears. But he kept it together. For Jackie's sake. "And then I left our two living, healthy ones back on Earth with no parents at all" Jackie kissed Jack's shoulder and he held her to his chest. "Jackie, I'm a terrible father" Jack admitted. Jackie shook her head. "You're not". 

"That's what I've been trying to tell you" Jack pointed that out before continuing. "I cheated on you. I was never there. The kids will remember me as the father who was always at the office and hardly ever saw them!" Jack this time began to cry. Jackie held him. They were both going through grief. But they had to forget it. 

They had moved on into Heaven, welcoming death. And there was nothing they could do.