Jack lost a beat of his heart when he opened the door and his Mother’s face was the intruder. He knew it was no good and it certainly wasn’t going to be a good news that had brought her at this time. He managed to smile at her and opened the door wider for her to be able to walk inside, “Come in, Mom. Aren’t you cold? You aren’t wearing your jacket.” He pointed out but she acted as though she hadn’t heard that from him. She found a sofa and sat down before she looked at him.
“I'm here to speak to you, Jack. Can you please sit down?” He noticed that she was nervous and from the way she acted, Jack knew what brought her here. It was about the wife she had promised to find for him, right? He thought she had forgotten about that since when she stopped talking to him about it for a few days now, but it seemed he was the only one that wanted to forget about it.
He did as she said and he remembered the promise he had made to her, because he knew one word which wasn’t the one she wanted to hear, she would give him a heart attack like she did the last time she had come to his room talking to him about the marriage. “Okay, Mom. I hope it’s something that will be pleasing to my ears?” He asked with a soft smile as he tried to make it seem as though he didn’t know what she came here to talk to him about.
She smiled lopsidedly and nodded her head, “Yes, it’s indeed pleasing. Can you remember our promise?” Oh, Mom, can you just go straight to the point? He kept his casual expression and shook his head.
“Which promise? Have we made a promise I didn't know of?” He knew this would make her angry, but she would try as much as she could not to show him that.
She sighed and gave him the look that said, ‘If you want to act dumb, I can actually help you with that, but I have a lot of things on my plate to play this game with you now.’ She sat upright and stared directly into his eyes, “I’ve found the wife you’ve promised me that you’ll get married to when I do.” He broke into a grin to show her that his promise was still intact, and she didn’t have to tell him that she was pleased with the look on his face because it showed from the smile she had on her face.
“Oh, already? That’s quite fast, Mom! Is she in America?” He asked, trying to sound interested in the conversation while in the actual truth, his heart was thumping so hard and he was thinking that he hadn't told Clara about this whole marriage thing because he didn’t know that it would come as fast as it did.
“Yes she is, you know her already. She’s a very nice girl and I'm quite sure she’ll make a good wife, Jack.” Don't go into further details of how beautiful she is, how good of a cook she was because he knew that was how Mother’s sounded whenever they wanted to matchmake you with a girl they liked.
“That’s great, Mom. Who’s she? You made mention that I know her already.”
His mind wasn’t there when she spoke until he heard the name “Anna Brayden” slipped out of her lips and Jack didn't know when he pulled himself to his feet and bulged his eyes out as though it was a saucer.
“No, Mom. You don’t mean it! Anna what?” She stood up as well, because from the way he acted she knew quite well that convincing Jack will be the hardest thing she would have to do. And Daphne had already told her that Anna said whatever answer he gave, that would be hers as well. So, she had to do all she could for him to accept this marriage.
She tried to smile as she approached him, but he took a few steps backward to avoid her from touching him, “What’s wrong that you’re this frightened, Jack? She’s a nice...”
He cut her off in an angry tone, “What do you mean, Mom?! Of all the girls in America, really? The only person you could think of getting me as a wife will be Anna Brayden? I can’t marry that girl! I can never marry Anna Brayden; we should look for another girl but never her!” He yelled at the pitch of his voice and by mere looking at him, one could know how furious he was and that was enough to show Katharine how much of a work she had to do.
“Jack...” She whispered, and she tried as much as she could not to cry today because she knew he was even tried of her using that trick to get to him.
He shot her a glare, “Don't even think of crying because I don’t care whatever you’re going to do, Mom! I'm not going to marry Anna and that is my words. You can get me married to any girl in America, but never Anna!” He began to pace the room not even staring at her because he knew if he did, he would definitely have him hardened heart weakened because of either how she looked or what she would utter to him.
He heard a loud thud and just when he turned to see what she had smacked out of its way; he saw the most shocking sight he had ever seen in his entire life. His Mother, Katharine Roberts lying on the carpet of his living room with a pool of blood running from her head. He immediately went onto his knees as he held her head to his laps. “Mom?” He whispered, his heart had already ricocheted to his throat and his cold hands touched her now pale and cold cheeks. “Mom?!” He called again, this time shaking her whole body and he noticed that the blood oozing out of her head was even getting worse.
“Mom!!! What do you mean?! Mom!!!” He screamed at the pitch of his voice and that caught the attention of the workers around his chamber. They rushed inside and found him shaking her body while he screamed, the only word that was able to get out of his lips was ‘Mom!’
The workers rushed to where he was and one of them trembled as she spoke, “We have to take her to the hospital, Jack, we have to be fast!” She yelled at him and that was when his attention got back to what he should do, and he turned to look at them with his eyes that were threatening to bulge out of his eye sockets.
“Call the ambulance. Please, call the ambulance before she dies. Mom!” He was tapping her face, but she was as cold as he had never felt her body before, and he was now soaked with her blood. He heard the conversation that went between the maid and the ambulance as she read out the address for them, but he still didn’t give up, and at this point, his heart was on his tongue and tears were already spilling out of his eyes.
“Willa...” His lips trembled as he spoke, “I need to call Willa. This might be one of Mom’s prank.” Carefully, he placed down her running head on his laps and scavenged rapidly for his phone until he found it in one of his pockets. His hands that were now stained with the blood of the woman he loved the most in his lips unlocked the phone and he dialed Willa’s number.
“Jackyy,” she drawled happily, and he realized that all those times that he was angry at Willa for calling him Jacky it was because he had the chance to think of what she referred to him as, because for now, that was the least of his concern.
“Willa, come home.” He cried, breaking the cold room he had encased his heart. “Mom, she’s...”
“What?! Jack, speak to me! What happens to Mom?!” She seemed frightened but Jack couldn’t even speak because the ambulance was already there. He handed his phone to one of the maids and ordered her to speak to Willa as he scooped his mother into his arms and rushed downstairs to where the ambulance was.
He held her hand firmly as they tried to give her the first aid treatment they could before they reach the hospital. His eyes were raining when he turned to one of the doctors that were trying to save her life, “She’ll be fine, right?” That’s all he could with his trembling lips and when his hand moved to clear a chunk of his hair away from his face, he saw the bloodstain and he went pale again. All he could remember was him yelling at her, Mom crying because she wanted him to do something for her. Mom nearly going to her knees because she wanted him to accept getting married and now...he clenched his eyes shut and broke into tears, lifting her hand to his lips as his chest shook with the intensity of his cries.
“Can you please save my Mother? She shouldn’t die, please.” He begged, crying with so much agony and they nodded their heads at him.
He met Willa at the hospital just when Mom was wheeled into the accident and emergency unit. Her eyes were already red due to the tears she had shed and her whole body was trembling when she ran to him. “Jack...” She cried and threw herself at him. He weakly wrapped his hands around her body and closed his eyes at the pain that surged through his entire being. If Mom died this way, he would never forgive himself for the rest of his life.
“She’s going to be alright, Willa.” He held her firmly to his body and they cried together even though he knew Willa wanted him to be her strength now. But he wanted someone to be his strength as well.
“Jack, what happened to Mom? We just spoke barely an hour ago and she was...” Her next words came out in hiccup and Jack only held her shoulders as firmly as he could.
“I'm a bad son, Willa, so this is what you’ve avoided when you accepted to get married to Victor despite the fact that you didn’t love him at the time?” His tears came back to him in a rush and he clenched his eyes shut. The happy smile of Katharine Roberts as she shopped, how excited she seemed whenever she saw an advert of a new designer product. He didn’t know that pain could reach to this intensity until today. “If something happens to that woman, I will never forgive myself.”
“Don’t say that, okay? She’ll be fine. She’s strong, I trust that she could do it.” She assured him and Jack slowly guided her to the benches, and they sat down. Willa didn’t stop crying no matter how much he begged her because of the baby she was carrying.
They waited for hours until Willa started sleeping on his shoulders and he knew he could never get a pinch of sleep unless he knew that this woman would be alright. The doctor came to where he was and he asked, “Are you the family of Katharine Roberts?”
They both stood up at once and he had to take a hold of Willa’s shoulder because of how dizzy she looked. “She demands that Willa gets in to be with her. Only her.” Willa looks dup into his eyes, and they knew what Mom meant, she was angry at him, she didn’t even want to see him just after she had gotten herself out of the path of death? He felt a dagger of pain as it surged through his heart.
“You should go, Willa, you shouldn’t keep her waiting, okay?” Willa shook her head at him, but he nodded his head and when he tried to smile at her, he failed blatantly. He was pained and he felt guilty to this pit in his entire life.
“I’ll speak to her for a bit, okay? Don’t get yourself worked up; I know she’s just being dramatic.” He nodded his head and watched her walk away. He felt as though it was his life slowly slipping out of his chest. He wanted to see his Mother, and that thought brought tears to his cheeks.