Ice and Fire novel Chapter 65

Jean, who was trembling frantically, also came downstairs. As she stood at the foot of stairs and saw the horrible scene and all the other people, Jean couldn't help but cross her arms on her chest in dismay.

John shook his head. He couldn't believe what he saw, and asked, "How did this happen?"

Derek turned his head to look at John, who stood a few feet away from them, and Jackson didn't move, but instead fixed his eyes on Cherry. At that moment, he didn't care about anyone else around him, because the only person that Jackson really cared about was his wife, Cherry, his one and only concern in the world.

After a while, Jackson then slowly walked up to Cherry. He wanted to comfort her and give her a warm hug, and he wanted to tell her that he was there, and that he would always be there for her.

Jackson stood next to his wife and gently said, "Baby." Then he wanted to touch Cherry's arm with his hand.

But before Jackson could touch her, she shook off his hand.

Cherry then gave Jackson a heavy slap. If it hadn't been for Jackson, she wouldn't have come to Emily's house in the first place, and her friend would have still been alive.

Jackson felt his face burn. He definitely was in no mood to blame her. In the contrary, he gazed into Cherry's tear-filled eyes, and felt guilty. She was his wife, and she was crying in front of him, but there was nothing that he could do, and as he looked at the miserable woman in front of him, Jackson felt his heart ache, as if a sharp knife was stabbing it, over and over again.

When he saw that Jackson was slapped, Derek immediately got angry. No one had ever dared to hit Jackson before, and even if Cherry was Jackson's wife, she still had no right to hit him.

Derek went towards her, and snapped, "Cherry! Who the hell are you? Who are you to hit him?"

Derek's tone was more than terrible, and his irate face was as horrible as Jackson's cold face.

Jackson fixed his eyes on Cherry, and when he noticed that Derek was approaching Cherry, he stopped him, caught him by the shoulder, and growled, "Go away!"

As he looked at Jackson's reaction, Derek was even more furious, because Jackson was still protecting his wife after her disrespectful gesture.

"Jackson, look at you! How could ..." Derek started speaking, but before he could finish, he was quickly stopped by Jackson.

"Go away!" shouted Jackson.

Derek saw that Jackson was also very angry, and he knew that if he insisted on hitting Cherry back, Jackson would then certainly strike him. Jackson would have done everything for his wife.

Despite of his reluctance, Derek glared at Cherry, and then retreated a few steps back.

Cherry and Jackson were still looking at each other. Cherry knew from Jackson's expression that Jackson was not mad at her, and that he instead felt sorry for her. Things had happened, and now Emily was dead, her corpse not that far away from them. She would never again smile to her, talk to her, and most of all would never again help her when she had problems and be there as her best friend.

Cherry slowly averted her eyes from her husband to Emily, and then started to walk towards the lifeless body.

Cherry then crouched, sat down on the ground, carefully raised Emily's head, and took Emily in her arms. Cherry was distressed by the tragedy, and cried, "Emily, don't die! How can you have the heart to leave me alone? You are the only person who have ever been good to me! Don't, don't leave me behind! Please, oh please, take me with you!"

All the other people looked at Cherry, and didn't know what to do.

As he fixed his gaze on Cherry, a tear slowly fell from Jackson's eye. He felt his heart ache, he blamed himself when he saw how miserable his wife was, and his heart broke when he heard Cherry say that Emily had been the only one that had been good to her. He hadn't protected her well.

John was also sad, and when he saw Jean standing not that far away from him, he couldn't hold himself longer, and walked up to her.

As he stood in front of her, John furiously asked, "Jean, what the hell did you do?"

Jean was scared out of her mind, and kept shaking her head. She took a few steps back, and while she leaned against a wall, in trembling voice, said, "Not me, no, not me. It wasn't me. I didn't mean to do that, I didn't do that on purpose. I didn't want to kill Emily. No, no, I didn't."

John ignored all of her words, and for the first time since they had been together, he carefully looked into Jean's eyes, and coldly said, "Jean, I'm going to divorce you. From now on we're on our own separate ways, and our relationship is over."

After John said this, Cherry and Jackson didn't react at all, and Derek just looked at John and Jean, and knew that John was very serious with his words. He had grown up with Jackson and John, and he knew John's temper pretty well.

Jean quivered with terror when she heard him. She looked at John, and judging from the look in his eyes, she also figured out that he was dead serious. She had never seen him act so grim before, and his words flabbergasted her. Divorce? No, she couldn't accept this. What did divorce mean for her? It meant that all of her efforts had been wasted, and that she wouldn't be the governor's wife any longer.

Jean didn't badger, and instead froze for a minute, crouched on the ground, and still thought of the tragedy that had just happened. She didn't react immediately to his words, but what John said was constantly nagging her in the back of her mind nonetheless.

Cherry cried for a long time and was tired, but Jackson didn't dare to approach her because he was afraid that Cherry would still be emotional and unstable because of the shock.

With her last ounce of energy, Cherry held Emily's head in her hands and was ready to raise her up from the ground. She said, "Emily, let's go home now, I'll take you home."

Cherry wanted to stand up, but instead passed out, and fell on her back.

When he saw this, Jackson immediately went towards her, held her in his arms, and stopped her from falling on the ground.

Derek quickly helped him, and took Emily from Cherry's arms.

When Jackson saw Cherry faint, his heart ached, and he held his wife even more tightly in his arms.

Jackson looked at Emily, who was in Derek's arms, and commanded, "You'll have to prepare her funeral. Don't slack off for a second!"

Derek knew what Jackson meant with his words. Emily was Cherry's best friend, who was killed by Cherry's sister. Derek knew exactly what he had to do next. "Got it, " he said.

Jackson picked up his wife, turned around, and left. He ignored the other couple, or former couple, behind them, and Jackson thought to himself, "Jean, I won't let you get away with this!"

Two days later, Cherry woke up from her shock induced coma. When she opened her eyes, she saw that Jackson was squatting beside the bed, and holding her hand.

Cherry noticed that Jackson's eyes were bloodshot, and thought that Jackson hadn't slept too well. She was too feeble to resist him, so when she saw that he was holding her hand, she did nothing but to silently look at him.

When Jackson saw that Cherry opened her eyes, he happily asked, "Baby, are you awake?"

But she just stared at him, and said nothing.

When he heard that no reply came from her, Jackson continued, "You've been sleeping for two days now. Are you hungry? Do you want to have some porridge? I'll get some for you."

After he said this, Jackson got up from the side of the bed and wanted to go and bring her the food.

But Cherry caught hold of his hand.

When Jackson saw that Cherry gripped his hand and didn't want him to leave, he stayed next to her as long as she wanted him to. He crouched again, put her hair behind her ears, and fondly asked, "What's the matter? Aren't you hungry?"

Cherry opened her mouth, and hoarsely said, "Emily..."

Cherry didn't continue, because she knew that Jackson would certainly help her deal with the matter, but if he wouldn't, then she would hate him forever.

Jackson touched her head, and hastily comforted her, "Baby, baby, don't think too much about it. I'm here, and I'll handle her funeral. Actually, Derek is already busy with this. Please, don't worry, okay?"

Cherry ignored his comforting words, and continued, "When is the funeral?"

Jackson heard her question, and felt sorry for her pain. He answered her question, "Tomorrow."

Cherry then turned her head and didn't look at Jackson anymore, and heavy tears started to fall down on her cheeks.

He knew her sadness, but when he saw the tears flowing from her eyes, Jackson didn't know what to say to her anymore. At that moment, it seemed that all the words in the world were meaningless to her pain and suffering.