Falling Apart.

Chapter 1-Anniversary

Katherine pov

I can't help but smile as I make breakfast in the kitchen, today is a very special day, 50 years ago today I was marrying the man I love, the man who became the father of my children, Joseph Jackson, I hear a door close and footsteps coming down the stairs, as the footsteps stop at the bottom of the stairs I hear him calling my name.

"Katherine, where are you".

"I'm in the kitchen Joseph" I call back.

He enters the room and sits at the kitchen table, he picks up the newspaper and starts reading it.

"What are you cooking" he asks me.

"I'm cooking scrambled eggs for us to have for breakfast, then I'm going to start cleaning the house for our anniversary dinner with the kids" I tell him.

"Actually I was thinking since we have dinner with the kids for every anniversary maybe we could have a nice quiet dinner just the two of us" he say's and I have to keep the shock from my face, he's never offered for us to have a celebratory dinner alone.

"Are you sure" I ask him.

"Yeah I think it would be a nice change" he say's.

"Ok then I'll phone all the kids and let them know, I'm still going to give the house a clean though" I say.

"You've always been like that, can't stand even having one speck of dust" he say's laughing.

"I know, but you never know when you're going to get an unexpected visitor and at least if we do the house will be clean for them" I explain.

"I suppose that's a good point" he say's.

"Well I'm going to go and watch some TV for a while then" he say's.

"Ok, shall I bring your eggs through or are you eating them through here" I ask him.

"Let me know when they're nearly ready and if I'm not watching anything interesting we can eat them together through here at the table" he say's.

"Ok that's fine" I say and he walks out to the living room.

While the eggs are cooking I decide to call our children to let them know that our plans have changed, I phone the girls, La Toya, Janet and Rebbie, I start with Janet.

"Hi mum, how are you" she asks.

"Hello Janet, I'm ok, I just wanted to phone you to say that your father has suggested we have dinner with just the two of us this year and I agreed" I explain.

"Ok so I've not to come over tonight" she asks.

"Not tonight, but I'm sure we can arrange another family gathering soon" I say.

"Ok mum, that's no problem, it's really nice that Joseph wants to spend it with you being alone together" she say's.

"I know it'll be nice, I should let you back to your day, plus I have to tell the others" I explain.

"Ok mum we'll talk again soon bye" she say's

I say goodbye and we hang up, the conversation is the same for all my other children, but I can't help but smile when I dial the last number.

"Hello mum" I hear the soft and gentle voice of my son on the other end of the phone.

"Hello Michael how are you today my son" I ask him, I've always loved and treated my children equally but I have always had a stronger bond with him than the others, I think its because he's more like me than the others, we both have the same gentle personality.

"I'm really good today, how are you" he asks me.

"I'm good too son" I tell him.

"What have you been up to lately" he asks me.

"Just the usual things, how are my grandchildren" I ask him.

"They're doing good, Paris wants to learn how to ride a horse so I'm trying to find an instructor who's willing to come to the house and teach her privately, I wish I could send her to a riding school but I don't want to take the chance of someone recognising her and then she won't be left alone to learn" he explains.

"I'm happy she's found something she's interested in and I think your making the right choice in finding a private teacher, at least you'll be able to stay near if you're needed but if she went to a school, she would be away from you all day" I tell him.

"Yeah I didn't think about that, at least I can keep an eye on things" he agrees.

"So now to the reason I called you, about dinner to night" I say.

"Ok is something wrong" he asks worried.

"No, of course not, your father just had a surprise for me this morning" I tell him.

"Ok" he says urging me to continue.

"He said he would like us to have dinner alone just the two of us for a change" I say.

"That's nice, and surprising" he say's.

"I know, it was a shock" I say.

"So does that mean I'm not to come to dinner tonight" he asks.

"Yeah, you spend the night with your children" I say.

"Ok, I was looking forward to seeing you since it's been a while, but I understand" he says and I can tell he's trying to hide the sadness in his voice.

"I know son, I was looking forward to seeing you as well, I'm planning on arranging a family gathering soon, I promise" I reassure him.

"Ok mum, I'll call you tomorrow" he says.

"I'll look forward to it son, goodbye for now" I say farewell to him.

"Bye mum" he says.

We end the call and I look down to the eggs are ready, I split them between two plates and place them on the kitchen table, I walk towards the living room to tell Joe his breakfast is ready and that I've told the kids the plans have changed, but when I enter the living room I don't see him sitting on the couch, I move into the room and as I get closer to the couch I get a better view of the floor in front of it, that's when I see him, he's lying on the floor between the couch and the TV, I rush to his side, I kneel beside him and try to shake him awake, when he doesn't wake up I realise he's unconscious, I check to make sure he's breathing, I sigh in relief when I find his pulse, I grab the phone and dial 999, they answer and I explain to them about how I found Joe, the women tells me the paramedics are on their way and she begins to talk me through how to put him in the recovery position, she stay's on the phone with me until the ambulance arrives.

I hear the siren and tell the woman that the ambulance is here, we hang up and I go to open the door, the park up and rush into the house, I stand to the side so they have room to work, they check his pulse then move him onto a stretcher and take him to the back of the ambulance, I lock the front door and climb In the back and sit on the chair beside Joe, the medic is doing a variety of different things but I'm not paying attention to him, I just concentrate on holding Joe's hand and praying that he'll be ok.

It doesn't take long for us to arrive at the hospital, a number of doctors rush to take Joe to a room and examine him, another nurse comes up to speak to me.

"Hello are you Mrs Jackson, Mr Jackson's wife" she asks.

"Yes I'm Mrs Jackson" I answer.

"Our doctors are going to their best to help your husband, it's up to you whether you want to stay here or go back home either way we'll keep you updated with how he's doing" she tells me, I already know what I'm doing without having to think about it.

"I'll stay, our children will want to here as well" I say.

"Ok that's completely fine, I'll leave you to contact them, we'll let you know as soon as we know anything" she tells me.

"Thank you very much" I say, she gives me a reassuring smile then walks away down the hall, I pull my mobile out to once again call my children to tell them about their father, when I mentioned a family gathering soon I had no idea it would be this soon and the circumstances it would be under.

As I did earlier I start with my three girls, they say that they will be here soon, I start to call the boy's, after I call all the boy's except one, I stare at his number not sure whether to call him or not, he has three children that he needs to look after and tend to, finally making a decision I push the call button, if I don't tell him and something happens to Joseph or god forbid he passes on, I know he will be upset that he wasn't here, I take a deep breath to hold in the tears as I here his voice answering.

"Mum is everything alright, it's not been long since you called" he asks worried, I can tell he knows something's wrong its unusual for me to call again this soon.

"Michael, when we finished our phone call I went to tell your father that his breakfast was ready and I found him unconscious on the living room floor, I phoned an ambulance and he's been taking to hospital, I'm in the waiting room just now, I haven't heard anything about how he's doing" I explain.

"Is he going to be ok" he asks I can here the tears in his voice.

"I don't know son, they haven't told me anything yet" I tell him.

"I'm coming to the hospital" he say's.

"Michael you don't have to, you have three children to look after, your brothers and sisters are all coming anyway so I won't be alone" I tell him.

"Mum the nanny is here she can watch the kids, I wouldn't forgive myself if it was his time and I didn't get the chance to say goodbye to him" he say's.

"Ok son, if it makes you feel better being here then you can come in" I say.

"I'll be there soon" he says and we hang up, I hear my name being called and turn around to see the girls coming through the doors, they hug me and ask if I've heard anything, I explain that I haven't, we sit down and wait for the others to arrive, and for news about Joe.

As my sons start to arrive I start to feel more secure because I know I'm not going through this on my own, once Tito arrives its just Michael we're waiting for, we still haven't heard anything about Joseph, five minutes later I hear the hospital doors open and we all look up to see Michael enter the hospital, we stand up and Michael pulls me into a hug, when we break apart I see he's about to say something when my name is called.

"Mrs Jackson" I turn to see a nurse approaching me.

"Yes I'm Mrs Jackson, these are my sons" I explain.

"Mr Jackson is stable for now, but we still don't know what happened or what's wrong with him, we're running some tests that will hopefully give us some answers" The nurse explains.

"How long will it take for the tests to come back" I ask.

"We're not certain but we'll let you know as soon as we do, you can stay here if you want or you can go home and get some rest" the nurse says and with a sad smile she walks away.

"I'm going to stay and wait, if any of you want to home I'll understand" I tell my children.

They decide to stay for a while and we sit on the waiting chairs together, and prepare to wait for a long time.