The Senator's Twin Daughters

Chapter 10

*This Chapter will be primarily from Jackie's point of view. 

"Mommy, how long will daddy be gone?" Arabella asks.

"He said he'll be back within a week," Jackie replies caressing her eldest hair.

"Is he going to be gone all the time?" Arabella asks.

"For right now but he'll be back. It's a part of his job and he's also running for President so he has to travel all over the United States to talk to people so they can vote for him."

"Ok. Daddy said that he will take us to the zoo when he comes back."

"I know he told me before he left."

Arabella is quiet and watches her sister who is a few feet away coloring in her coloring book. Jackie is reading a book and doesn't hear Arabella's next question.

"Mommy?"

"Yes sweetie," Jackie asks putting down her book.

"I was asking you do you love daddy?"

Jackie looks at her daughter and doesn't know what to say. She wouldn't say she's in love with him, she cares for him. The way one friend cares for another.

"Daddy said that he plans to marry you one day," Caroline says this time getting up. She joins her sister and mother on the sofa.

"Yeah," Arabella chimes in, "if you marry daddy, can we have a little brother?"

"Or sister," Caroline adds.

Jackie blushes as she has thought about more children, but not having more children with Jack. Besides, leave it Jack enlists the help of his daughters to get her back.

"Well, I will have to talk it over with your father. To answer your earlier question Bella, I care about your father very much and I consider him a good friend," Jackie replies hoping her answer is sufficient.

She looks at the clock and notices it's after six pm. Not having anything prepared for dinner, she decides to take the girls out to dinner.

"Why don't we go out to dinner tonight?"

"Yay!" Both girls exclaim.

After marking her book, Jackie helps her girls get ready for dinner.

Later on that night Jackie is lying in bed reading the book she started on earlier when the phone rings. She picks up the phone wondering who it could be.

"Hello," she says.

"Hey kid," the strong Boston accented voice fills the phone.

"Hi Jack, how are you?"

"I'm great. How are Bella and Buttons?"Jack asks referring to his daughters by the nickname he gave them.

"They're fine. Jack you know it's eleven pm here right?"

He looks at his watch, "shit, I didn't realize what time it is over there. Damn time zone change. It's only eight pm here in California. Could you kiss them for me and tell them I love them when they wake up."

"Sure, Jack."

"Thanks, I gotta go Jackie. I hope to talk to you tomorrow," he replies sounding a little anxious to end the call.

"Good night Jack."

"Good night Jackie," is the last thing he says before hanging up.

After hanging up with Jackie there is a knock at the door of his hotel suite. He goes to the door to see the buxom blonde he met earlier at Frank Sinatra's house.

"Hello Senator," she says giving him a seductive look.

"Hello," Jack replies moving so she can make her way into his suite. At least tonight he won't be sleeping alone.

Meanwhile, Jackie has finished reading another chapter before she puts the book down on her nightstand. She turns off her lamp and pulls the covers up to her before drifting off to sleep.

"I can't believe it Jackie you're getting married today," Lee says excitedly.

"Neither can I," Jackie says pulling her veil down. She feels nervous.

"Places everyone places," Janet comes in excitedly, " today is a great day!"

"It is?" Jackie asks.

"Jacqueline, how can you not be excited!?  Today you're going to marry the man of your dreams," Janet says gripping her daughter's shoulders.

Jackie looks at her mother confused. She can't remember a time she has seen her mother so excited.

Just then she hears the beginning of "Here Comes the Bride."

"Let's go, Jacqueline," Janet says before leaving the room.

She sighs and takes her place at the top of the aisle where everyone is standing looking at her. A sea of faces smiling at her. Slowly she begins to take the long walk down the aisle that seemed to never end until she gets to the altar only to see Jack standing there waiting for her. Caroline and Arabella standing in front of Lee.

"Yay mommy," Caroline exclaims smiling.

"What the hell is going on," she says to herself, "there's no way I'm marrying Jack."

"You look beautiful." Jack's voice breaks into her thoughts.

"Dearly beloved, we're gathered here today to join these to in holy matrimony," the priest begins. As the priest goes about the ceremony Jackie looks at Jack.

"Jack what are we doing?" she asks once he's taking her hand.

"We're getting married kid. Remember you said yes when I proposed to you at Martin's a few months ago."

"I did?" Jackie questions looking very confused.

"Yes, when I laid eyes on you I couldn't let you get away."

"Do you John Fitzgerald Kennedy take Jacqueline to be your lawfully wedded wife?"

"I do," Jack replies smiling at her.

"Do you Jacqueline Lee Bouvier take John to be your lawfully wedded husband?"

"I uh, uh," she looks at Jack with panic in her eyes.

She wakes up and looks around her bedroom her heart racing. Looking over at the clock on her nightstand that reads a quarter past one in the morning.

That dream felt too real and that scares her. There's no way Jack would consider marrying her. He's too focused on himself, his career, and now their daughters. Besides he is forty-three years old and is set in his ways. He wouldn't know how to be a faithful husband, considering his father wasn't a good example of one.

Jackie had heard about Joe Kennedy from her father and those around Washington. He was by no definition of a model husband. His affair with Gloria Swanson was something everyone had to know about. So Jack being different from his father is something short of a miracle. Besides, he is already cutting a swath through half of Washington's women.

Even though she missed him to a certain degree she didn't want to put her daughters through what she and Lee had to go through with their parent's divorce. Like Joe Kennedy, John "Black Jack" Bouvier was a known womanizer and wasn't a model husband in his marriage to their mother. Even though Jackie and Lee adored their father, they didn't agree with their father cheating on their mother.

Jackie refuses to bring her daughters up in such dysfunction again. Another reason why she is trying to keep Jack from working his way into her heart a second time. She doesn't want to allow him to hurt her a second time. Besides she has endured enough heartbreak from men named John.