When Will There Be Good News?: Jackson Risen Summary & Analysis

Jackson wakes up, unsure if Louise was really there or if he just dreamed of her. He feels unsettled by the dream because Tessa hadn’t been there. He feels as if the “train crash had caused a rift in his world.” He now remembers that Tessa had flown to America for a conference. He remembers the morning last week when they parted. They were standing in their tiny Covent Garden kitchen. He wants Tessa to be there, but he can’t quite remember her face. He doubts she would have heard about the train crash in Washington, D.C. Anyway, she’d had no idea that he was heading north to see his son in Yorkshire. That’s because she didn’t know he had a son.

Tessa, much younger than Jackson at 34, worked at the British Museum as a curator of the Assyrian collection. She was beautiful, but “chronically camera-shy,” rarely letting him take photos. Her parents had been killed in a car crash, and she had no souvenirs from her past. They’d met at a party at the home of his old commanding officer, Bernie, whom Jackson hadn’t seen for over 20 years. Jackson was surprised by Bernie’s posh flat and hip guests. They didn’t seem like natural friends for a guy who was ex-military police. Jackson “skulked” around the party, hating small talk, until Tessa approached him. After a few minutes, he’d boldly asked her out. Jackson “couldn’t have designed a better woman.” She was good-natured, funny, smart, and competent, “how God intended women to be.”

The next time Jackson wakes up, a girl is sitting there. She looks about Marlee’s age. She tells him that her dad was in the Royal Scots, and Jackson finds himself becoming unexpectedly conversational. Jackson can’t figure out who the girl is. As she eats his breakfast, she matter-of-factly tells him that she saved his life. When Jackson catches on, he grins, pleased to know that he was “saved by a giggling child and not some burly paramedic.”

Reggie delightedly tells Jackson that he’s in her thrall and can only be released if he reciprocates by saving her life. Until he does, she’s responsible for him. Jackson wonders if he’s “mortgaged his soul […] not to the devil but to this funny little Scottish girl.” Jackson finally feels grateful to be alive and hopeful about his future.