𝕋𝕙𝕖𝕪 ℂ𝕒𝕟'𝕥 𝕋𝕒𝕜𝕖 𝕋𝕙𝕒𝕥 𝔸𝕨𝕒𝕪 •𝕁𝔽𝕂•

ᴄʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀ 27 - ɪɴᴀᴜɢᴜʀᴀʟ ᴀᴅᴅʀᴇꜱꜱ

(12th January 1965)

"You don't have to accompany me if you don't feel well, Mrs. Kennedy." Jack stood next to my bed at 7 am in the morning of the inaugural address, dressed and ready in his suit, his hair perfectly slicked back. "I really do want to, Jack. I doubt if I would be able to attend anything else after today." I bit my lip and looked down at my eight month pregnant belly. "I'll be fine, please don't worry about me." I whispered and Jack relaxed a little, his straight face now reflecting a tiny smile. He nodded and helped me up. I was already dressed in a long coffee coloured overcoat and a pillbox hat on top of my head.

Holding my husband's arm, I walked out of my bedroom and we were met by the others, Kenny, Bobby, Dave and Jack's secret service agents. We stepped into the family elevator and went downstairs until we were finally sitting in the Presidential limo.

As the limo left for the Capitol, I sat back more comfortably against the backrest and started staring out of the window, smiling slightly when I saw that there were people lined up on the streets, watching us pass. When I flicked a glance at Jack, he was reading through his address, his reading glasses fixed on his eyes.

Within minutes, our limo turned in sharply through the front gate of the Capitol building, my eyes widening at the crowd that had turned up to listen to Jack's address, it seemed even larger than the 1960s address. I turned to look at Jack and he smiled at me when he saw my reaction. I was about to say something to him when suddenly, a sharp pain hit me. I winced and my hand flew to my stomach.

Jack turned to look at me and he leaned forward, his eyes laced with concern.

"What's wrong?" He whispered.

I slowly reached for his hand and placed it on my bump.

"Wow." He just looked at me with amazement and a tiny smile and I looked back at him warmly as he felt the baby's kicks.

Suddenly, my face that had been holding a smile just seconds back suddenly turned into a frown and I grabbed Jack's hand, "Jack, I - I don't know why, I have this really bad feeling."

"Do you wish to go home? I'll ask them to take you -" I abruptly cut him off, "No Jack, I'm feeling fine, I just have a bad feeling that something isn't right. Something is going to happen. Jack, listen, please let's just go back. We can call for a change in the date of the inaugural address. Please." I pleaded.

"You know I can't do that." He said, sternly, leaning forward to be a little closer and he placed his hand on my thigh, squeezing it in a non sexual way, " - look at the amount of people that have turned up today Joanna, I cannot do that. Besides, I think you are just being superstitious."

"I am not, I just feel like something is going to go horribly wrong. I'm worried about you, my love," I cupped his cheeks into my palms and he looked at me with a soft smile, leaning forward and placing his forehead with mine. He then gently pecked me on my lips, and whispered against them, "Nothing is going to happen to me. I have survived a back operation, PT-109 and Oswald's bullet. What can go wrong now?" I pursed my lips tightly together and closed my eyes for a brief moment, trying to calm myself when Jack spoke again, "I don't want you going out there. It's too crowded. Stay in the car." He instructed. I frowned and was about to argue with him when the car came to a halt right behind the stage and Jack was already out of the car and making his way up to the podium to speak, waving his hands in the air.

John F. Kennedy looked up at the sky, the sun was shining brightly over him and it was a nice, warm morning, something that was rare in Washington DC in the month of January. He was grateful for it. As he walked up to the podium, cheers and claps erupted from all around him. He stared into the vast abyss of Americans that were standing there, watching with their gleaming eyes, waiting for their President to deliver another hair raising inaugural address that will forever be etched into history. Little did John Kennedy know that this day was truly going to be etched into history and would leave a mark on his life for the days to follow.