The end of Camelot

Chapter 10

The ride to the Capitol building is silent. Nobody says a word or hardly breathes it feels like. I made sure to sit in between Kathleen and Joe, which made me feel a little better, but not too much. It still didn't change anything.

When we finally make it to the building, Daddy parks at the back and we all get out. My feet barely touch the ground before Kathleen picks me up again and swallows hard. I look up into her eyes and then look out to where she was looking. "Look." She breathes. I watch as cameras begin to flash by some as they spot us, while others hold handkerchiefs and tissues as they blog at their eyes and noses. They were there for Uncle Jack's funeral too.

Daddy clears his throat and I turn back to look at him. His eyes were filled with tears again and it was very hard for me not to cry with him. "Come on," he whispers. "Let's get inside." Daddy opens the door and holds it as Momma walks in, followed by my brothers and sisters as Kathleen follows Courtney. Kathleen walks through the door and I look to the right. Aunt Jackie stands in front of a full length mirror, with Caroline and John by her sides and her Secret Service Agent, Mr. Hill standing behind her.

John tries to run forward with a whine and Aunt Jackie gently pulls him back. "No John," she says softly. "Please stay here." Her voice sounded somehow softer than it already was, and much sadder than I'd ever heard it. A plain black dress kind of like Momma's was on her body along with tall, black high heels. A black pillbox type hat sat on top of her head with a very long black veil covering all of her face. Caroline and John wore matching light blue coats and red shoes. John whines a little as Caroline stands still beside her mother, not moving or saying a word. I watch as Momma looks over to Daddy as he nods, then begins approaching Aunt Jackie.

Aunt Jackie looks up to Daddy as relief fills her eyes, along with tears. Mr. Hill watches and then looks down to his shoes. Daddy wraps Aunt Jackie in a hug and she rests her chin on Daddy's shoulder, her eyes closed. "I'm okay," she says softly. "I promise." I watch her in amazement. How could she be okay? I slide out of Kathleen's arms and stand on the floor. "Kerry," Kathleen whispers as I look up at her. "Come here." I shake my head. "No. I'm going to see Aunt Jackie." I turn around from my family and walk over to my aunt, walking slowly and properly with my shoulders back, just as she would've wanted me to.

Caroline looks up at me from her gloves and smiles. "Hey Kerry." She says softly. I smile back, but a soft smile. "Hi Caroline. I'm sorry." Caroline opens her arms and I go into them, giving her a big hug. I then hear John gasp and look over to him. "Hi Kerry Terry!" I sigh softly at my cousin's new found nickname for me. "Hi John." Daddy had said that John had no idea what was truly going on, which made me even sadder. He didn't know what really happened to his Daddy and why he would never see him again.

I let go of Caroline and walk over to John, giving him a hug. After a little bit, I pull away and look to Daddy and Aunt Jackie as Mr. Hill steps up closer to her. I slowly walk up to Aunt Jackie as I take Daddy's hand. I was actually very scared. I didn't know what to expect or what to say. Momma told me that 'I'm sorry' was always appropriate. But after what had happened to Aunt Jackie, it didn't even seem to cover it.

Daddy gives my hand a gentle squeeze as Aunt Jackie looks down at me with a soft smile. The dark veil makes it hard to see her usually bright eyes, but it didn't have to take a veil to realize that light wasn't there anymore. The love of Aunt Jackie's life was gone, taken away from her right in front of her. My uncle was not by her side anymore like I had seen him be for my whole life. Honestly, I didn't know how she was smiling and not crying.

"Hello, Kerry." Aunt Jackie finally says softly. I very weakly smile and let go of Daddy's hand. "Hi Aunt Jackie." I swallow hard as tears come to my own eyes as everything hits me for the very first time as real life. "I'm so sorry." I wipe my eyes, quickly feeling bad for crying, but I couldn't help it. I had lost one of my best friends. We all lost somebody important, we had a reason to cry. I put my hands down as Aunt Jackie slowly squats down in front of me, looking me in the eyes as she put her hands on my shoulders. The only emotion I saw was a few tears well in her eyes, but no more. "Thank you, sweetheart. Come here."