And as a month passed by, Kit had great days & absolutely horrible ones.
But with this one, it was colder day in October and Kit could hear the stero's being checked outside her room.
Waking Clipper as he jumped to see what was going on. Soon her father would be booming loudly from the Rose Garden her mother worked so hard on. She adjusted in bed and toned her heating pad up all the way as her nurse came through her double doored room.
"Hey Hattie" The women smiled warmly looking at the girl she had taken care of, medically, her whole life.
"I didn't think I'd be back so soon." She shrugged looking to Kit as Clipper jumped back up to his partner.
"Yeah me either, but." She looked to her nurse and shrugged.
"Those camera men, they are everywhere today! What's going on downstairs?!" She laughed trying to get an IV in Kit, taking her mind off the situations at hand.
"Daddy's finally briefing the public after the accident, like speak in detail, bringing mommy for proof, Q&A kind of brief, she's put it off and off until I get "A little better", but he has realized that's never gonna happen. If only mommy would get that through her head." Kit sort of smiled looking to the women, trying to lighten the moment.
"Now, we never speak like that, never have, never will, you are getting better, just needs a little bit of a push into confident recovery, that's all." She started to push pain medicine through her IV, not looking at Kit.
"Hattie, I don't know if I'm ready to die yet. I'm ready to not be in pain, to give this up, and I'm ready to just be with Jesus, but what about mommy? daddy?" Kit stared into the distance, thinking about it.
She had caught herself doing this too often.
"Well I'm glad you're not ready, cause you're not going anywhere anytime soon, at least not on my watch" Hattie knew the circumstances, but would never give into what Kit said, she was always loads more positive than the girl, who got her hopefulness from her father.
The nurse gave a quick kiss on the child's head, like she had done for years now as the double doors where thrown open, revealing Jackie, who quite literally kicked off her shoes and left the two dodging them.
She quickly made her way to the, quite large, bed and plopped down, landing almost on top of Clipper, but scooting a little closer to her daughter, of course as Hattie headed out.
"I'm hiding from your father." She said looking at the ceiling.
"Why?" She laughed looking at Jackie while the dog once again, readjusted.
"He's just too much some times. It'll take him awhile to find me anyways, I just need like 15 minutes." She sighed as a knock came to the door.
"Who is it?" Kit called out as Jackie held her finger over her lips, hushing her daughter.
"It's Clint ma'am, have you seen your mother?" He called out as Kit looked to Jackie, her shaking her head no quickly.
"Um, no I haven't, sorry!" She yelled back trying to sound convincing, lowering Clipper from the post, looking like he was about to give out Jackie.
"They're good, your father still hasn't even noticed I'm gone yet" They waited till he definitely wasn't anywhere around before the two began laughing hysterically.
And for almost 25 minutes, Jackie just laid under the covers with her daughter on her chest, Clipper at her feet.
This, these moments, were what were most important to her, not press briefings and meetings.
"Jackie! Jackie Kennedy! I swear to God! Jacqueline!" Jack yelled all the way through the corridor, knowing that Jackie had a rule against it, especially while Kit was asleep or sick, in which she was one and almost the other.
He stormed into Kit's room and gave Jackie a very angry look as she got up and put her heels on slowly, looking back at Kit once or twice.
She watched as Jack slammed the door and immediately began yelling at Jackie all the way back to there room.
Of course she wanted to investigate, so, even in pain, and extremely easily winded, she stood, with help from Clipper, and headed to the door of her room with her IV pole behind her.
It was one of her many sick days, so only one man stood outside the door for most of the day, except for lunch, and it happened to be within those times, so it kinda lined up perfectly.
She hurried down the hall a little ways, throwing her finger up to her mouth to shh Clipper, before stopping in front of her parents door to hear most of their fight.
"You can break rules you're the damn President!" Jackie yelled, already sounding pissed off.
"They need to see both of you! Or there gonna think I'm weak, I'm not weak!"
"So this is all about YOU again! It's always about YOU! Do you even care about her? Talked to her in the last two weeks? Seen her? Been in her room? She used to be your baby girl and now. Out of ALL TIMES. You chose to lock her up in her room and act like she doesn't exist!"
"I'M locking her up in her room?! You're the one who thinks she's a damn dandelion, don't touch her or she'll fall apart! You're just trying to lie to her! ALL LIES!" Jack yelled as Kit looked down at her watch, making sure to clear out before the agents came back to there posts.
"Do you want to look at her and say, "Oh by the way, you have months to live kiddo, live it up?!". UH? Do you? You wonder why I won't except it?! IT'S BECAUSE I LOVE HER, SHE IS MY BABY, MY LIFE. You, as a father should feel the same way, but I'm really not even sure you could tell me her favorite food right here." Kit shook her head, knowing what her mother said was correct.
"She's not 6 anymore Jackie! She needs to be independent! She's not "your little girl" anymore she's Kathleen Kennedy!"
"BUT JOHN SHE'S DYING! She will be MOMMY'S little girl until I'm in the fucking ground! I'm sorry that you never got the opportunity to actually learn and love your daughter, to know her as a REAL LIFE PERSON, to hear about her interests, what she wants to be when she grows up, what bothers her the most, about her days in school. Cause you really fucking missed out John, THAT is for damn sure." She heard her mother's door slam, which meant she won, like she always did.
And in Kit's mind, every word Jackie said was true, she was usually more on the neutral side of her parents fights, but this time, she was definitely "mommy's little girl". She looked down at her watch that flashed just past 1.
Quickly she made her way back to her room as quietly as possible and closed the door behind her, right as Jack headed back out of his room.
He stopped in the hall and turned to leave, but quickly made the turn to go towards Kit's room. It seemed like all his memories of his girl flashed his memory as he approached the door.
He knocked right as Kit was getting back comfortable, in which she told him to come in.
Jack was amazed at the way his daughter had decorated her room, brightly colored, yellow accents, with pictures of all sorts of flowers and the ocean, her pageant sashes & crowns, along with her huge bulletin board with newspaper cut outs on recent events, pictures of her father, and little notes she'd make on his speeches and the articles.
He peeked into the door, just his head being shown and asked quietly.
"Hey Kitty, just out of curiosity, ya know, uh- what's your favorite food?"
YOU ARE READING
help.
Historical Fiction"kit" kennedy, oldest daughter of john and jacqueline kennedy, grew up always needing something that was so hard to come by, help.