𝕋𝕙𝕖𝕪 ℂ𝕒𝕟'𝕥 𝕋𝕒𝕜𝕖 𝕋𝕙𝕒𝕥 𝔸𝕨𝕒𝕪 •𝕁𝔽𝕂•

ᴄʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀ 22 - ᴡʜᴀᴛ ʀᴇᴀʟʟʏ ʜᴀᴘᴘᴇɴᴇᴅ

I was still holding Jack's hand when we stepped into Bobby's house. Ethel was immediately in front of us, eyeing Jack with narrowed eyes. "You two, get into one of the rooms and sort your differences. Are you both crazy up there?" She pointed to her brain and then looked at Jack. "You two fightin like little kids and you haven't even been married as long as I have been."

"Come on, Ethel, I don't want a damn lecture, I'm here to talk to my wife." Jack groaned and let out a puff of air from his mouth while I bit my lip, glancing from Jack back to Ethel. He pulled me into the first empty room we found and Jack kicked the  door shut. I looked down my feet in nervousness and then sat down against the edge of the bed.

"Why are you here, Mr. President?" I asked, looking up at him.

Jack's eyebrows creased slightly and his hands moved to his pockets as he started walking up and down the room. "The, uh, kids, Caroline, John, they wanted to see you."

I stood up from where I was sitting at and with fast steps, reached Jack, placing my palm roughly on his chest and pushed him roughly, pinning him to the wall. His eyes widened slightly and his jaw relaxed, almost parting in surprise by my behaviour. "I have already met the children, Mr. President, I would like to know why are you here? I'm sure you are not the children's chauffeur that you will drive them around wherever they want."

The corner of Jack's lips curved into a devious smirk and his hand grabbed the palm that was pinning him to the wall. He took it to his lips and kissed my knuckle, speaking, "I came to take my wife and my child back home." His gaze fell to my stomach, lingering there for a few moments  and then he pulled it back into my eyes.

Heat pooled into my cheeks and I kept looking at him, tiny sparks of current already bursting through my body. I was angry at him but he was making it very difficult for me. I closed my eyes for a brief second and opened them again, only to find him staring at me.

"Would you forgive me?" He raised an eyebrow when I didn't say anything.

"I'm not sure Jack, I'm not sure how I feel about all this. You cheating on me. What if I never found out? Oh wait–" I turned towards him sharply and stepped away from the proximity when a realization hit me. "This was your ugly way of getting back at me for what happened at our wedding, wasn't it?"

"No, Joanna, you're crazy, are you crazy?" He shook his head and took a step closer towards me, placing his hands on either side of my shoulder, "sit." He whispered. I looked behind and I was standing right by the bed so I sat down. Jack lowered himself on the ottoman that was laying there, pulling it right in front of me.

"The truth is, I thought that you were seeing that bastard from the wedding, I thought that all of this, us, you were using me– " He said, thoughtfully. My eyes lowered and I started staring at the floor as he continued, "– what happened that day at the swimming pool, I wanted to distract myself from thinking about you, I wanted to hate you so that I could leave you when five months ended." I lifted my eyes and fixed them on him, my eyes cloudy.

"Do you still wish to end our marriage?"

"I heard you and Fletcher, I heard everything, I heard Fletcher's confession. I was a damn fool I didn't believe you. Of course, I do not want to end our marriage. Do you?" He looked at me with pleading eyes, and I was forced to look down at our hands that were holding each other tightly. I shook my head and bit my lip.