The Kennedys

Chapter Eleven - Spade Flush

January, 1944 - Kennedy Compound, Hyannis Port

Jack got out of the car tentatively, and looked up at the house that he knew so well. It had been his first time back home since PT-109. He had been assigned to yet another destroyer in September of 1943, but he finally got to come back home. His leg had gotten worse, which led to crutches.

His father came up from behind him, "Good to be home, isn't it?"

Jack nodded, smiling. "It is."

Jack was in the parlor, where he laid straight on his back for a few hours. The crash had ruined his back, and recovery seemed hopeless. He breathed in and out, to help relax himself. His doctor had told him it was the best way to deal with the day-to-day pain.

"It looks so hard to bare."

Jack opened his eyes to see Kick in the doorway. She had come home for two weeks to see him. She went over to him.

"Sometimes it is."

Kick smiled, "I'm so happy that you're alright."

Jack smiled back, "And I'm happy that you're happy."

Kick took in a deep breath, "I could be very happy, Jack."

Jack's face expressed confusion, and then suspicion, "What do you mean?"

"Do you remember Billy Hartington?"

Jack nodded, "Of course, from London. You were friends, weren't you? Why?"

"Well, we met up again, when I moved back to London."

Jack smiled, "That's nice."

"He's asked me to marry him."

Jack looked up at his sister, startled, "What?"

"He proposed."

Jack took in the situation, and decided to approach it calmly, "I see. And do you love him?"

Kick nodded, grinning from ear to ear, "I do, and I want to marry him."

"Then say yes."

"I wish I could, but Jack, he's a Protestant."

"Oh, I see."

"I just don't see how it could work. Mama would never speak to me again."

"What do you mean? Yes, it would be an interfaith marriage—"

"No, Jack. For awhile now, I've been breaking away from the Catholic Church. And, if we wed, I would attend Protestant services on Sunday, and our children would be raised in the Church of England."

"And that's something Mama would find unforgivable."

Kick nodded, and Jack took her hand, "The only advice that I can give you, is that if you love him, and if you believe that no one else on Earth could make you as happy as he does, then accept and face the consequences together. Is that something you can do for him?"