Ice and Fire novel Chapter 354

"You certainly should protect me, and our son for that matter; you are my husband." Cherry whined, pouting at him.

Jackson slowly let Cherry go, looked in her eyes and said, "Baby, thank you for not giving into Lucia today and arguing to win favor with Grandpa."

Cherry shook her head saying, "They were our guests, of course, I would give the warmest of hospitality unless she pushed it too far, then, I would have pushed back."

Cherry continued, "Besides Grandpa was in such a good mood because of the visit."

"Yes, he looked very happy." Jackson agreed in a relaxed tone. As long as Grandpa was happy, he didn't worry, because neither Cherry nor his son stressed him out.

"I know we all hope Grandpa to be happy." smiled Cherry and said, "I am going to take a bath now."

"Okay." Jackson nodded.

He sat on the bed watching Cherry go into the bathroom.

Cherry's cellphone was put on the table and it made Jackson think of the call from Mond.

Curiosity got the better of Jackson and he took Cherry's phone, unlocked it and checked the call log. She hadn't deleted the call log, and it showed Mond had called last.

Jackson clicked on Mond's name on the screen to view the call details. The call lasted for one minute and twenty seconds, less than two minutes. Seeing that made Jackson lose his mind; he didn't think the man should talk to his wife even that much. 'It's only a minute twenty seconds. It's not like they talked a long time.' he reassured himself.

Jackson trusted Cherry and he knew she wouldn't betray him. As for Mond, he wasn't sure what he was capable of. He understood Mond's purpose very well, but he knew little about how far the man would go. He was worried that Mond might try to harm Cherry. Every time he saw Cherry with Mond, he got angry. Who should he blame though? Mond? He couldn't blame Mond. For him, he only felt guilt, and worry, about his goals and the lengths Mond might go to, in order to achieve those goals. As for Cherry, well, he realized he couldn't always remain in control of his emotions when facing her. He seemed to lose his head with her even though he wanted nothing more than for her to stay with him always. Perhaps he was an arrogant, domineering man with her, overwhelming her at times even, but, it was because he didn't want to lose her.

Jackson clicked the cellphone so the main page showed again, and put it back where it had been. He walked back to the bed, and sat waiting quietly for Cherry.

The room was dim with only a wall lamp glowing as Andrew was laying in bed. He suddenly felt griped with pain in his chest. He tried taking a deep breath to relieve the pain, but it hurt more instead of helping. He lay there in the near dark shaking his head.

Finally, he couldn't bear the pain any more, so, he slowly opened his eyes, struggling to sit up. He reached for his pills and the glass of water he had on the table, but the glass was empty.

Andrew frowned. As more pain wracked his chest, he tried getting up to go get himself a cup of water.

He felt a little dizzy as he got out of the bed and as he took a step; he lost his balance, his legs gave out under him and he fell to the ground.

Jackson heard 'CRASH' as the glass shattered on the floor, While he sat and waiting for Cherry to finish her bath.

He jumped to his feet the minute he heard the crashing sound and ran out of the room to investigate what was happening.

With his honed instincts and reflexes, he knew the sound came from Andrew's room.

Cherry came out of the bathroom in her pajamas just as he jumped up and took off.

She hadn't heard the noise, so, when she saw Jackson headed to the hall in a hurry, She questioned, "Where are you going?"

Jackson didn't respond to Cherry, instead, he threw the door open and left.

When Jackson didn't respond, Cherry realized something was wrong. Jackson wouldn't hurry off like that at this hour.

Cherry hung the towel and followed Jackson, curious to find out herself.

Jackson went straight to Andrew's room. He worried about Grandpa very much, and pushed open the door instead of knocking. He found Grandpa collapsed on the floor.

"Grandpa! Grandpa..!" shouted Jackson as he rushed, in a fluster to Andrew's side. He knelt down and lifted his grandfather's head to help support him.

"Jackson, how did you know to come?" asked Andrew, his voice was faint and weak.

Jackson didn't respond, instead he asked Andrew, "Grandpa, what happened? Why are you on the floor?"

Jackson noticed the shards of glass on floor and bottle of medicine not far off as he spoke, and realized Grandpa had gotten up to get himself some water.

"It's no big deal, I was careless and fell when I got out of bed." Andrew gave Jackson a weak smile. He was so weakened that as he finished, he collapsed into Jackson's arms.

"I'm taking you to the hospital." said Jackson hastily.

Andrew gripped Jackson's hand to stop him and said, "There's no need, just help me back into bed."

Jackson did what his grandfather asked and supported Andrew as he got up and then Jackson helped Andrew back to the bed, making sure he was positioned comfortably.