Bride and Prejudice: Pomp and Circumstance

by tarskeewee08

Basking in the afterglow of there morning love making Evangeline laid lazily on his back trailing her hand across his arm. He held her through the night and told her of his life in this mausoleum. She smiled as he spoke of the things he shared with his grandmom, but noticed he shared little of his relationship with Eve.

"John..."
"Yes…"
"What is your relationship like with your mother?"
"I guess fine, why?"
"I get that she's all caught up in her title, what is she a queen or something?"

John laughed "Nope she's a Countess"
"Oh" Evangeline laughed rolling her eyes. "Well the Countess is very consumed with family yet I don't hear you speak of her in a family way. You speak more of your father than her."

John sighed "Our relationship has been tough because we are both so stubborn. I know she loves me but she has a problem with expressing it. She grew up in a different time and she holds a lot of our old traditions close."

"How much does my skin color play into her dislike of me?" Evangeline asked

John rolled over onto his back and she lifted as he turned. He pulled her back down to him as she looked up into his face resting her arms and chin on his chest. "Sunshine, I know you feel that our differences in color are the stigma that haunts us around my mother and her friends."

"And you don't?"
John smiled "I'm not going to say that she's color blind. But I will tell you your skin could have been as white as snow and she would've treated you the same"

"Because I'm not breed from her approved circle of blue bloods, right?"

He nodded "Yes, unfortunately it will always resort to that for her. She has one grandchild that she acknowledges was from what she considers a common union. But that was easier for her to swallow because Mikey is her younger son."

Evangeline looked up into his eyes "But you are her true heir John, she's adamant that you carryon the purity of your bloodline?"

John sighed "Yes..."
"What exactly is expected of you John? I mean you run the company and expand your families wealth, but this title and pedigree you carry…what is expected?"

"Its more about what we symbolize. For my family and country the monarchy is the proof of something honorable and grand long ago. The traditions carried through our generations is a like a beacon for hope of things pure and uncorrupt by commercialism."

Evangeline sat up and frowned "You aren't serious?"
John looked at her confused "Yes I am."
"John come on, the horrors of those times and persecutions of people deemed commoners and forced into indentured servitude so your great kings and queens could live in luxury is something to be celebrated? I'm not trying to insult you sweetie but I find all of this pretension ridiculous!"

John sat up clearly hurt by her words "My family does a lot for the community and world that surrounds us. There is no greater humanitarian effort than the ones put forth by the royals."

"Right, but these same royals wouldn't invite that same community to sit down and break bread." Evangeline said rising from the bed.

"Evangeline, holding onto tradition isn't a bad thing. Being proud of your lineage isn't depraved and I think you are attaching some unfounded stereotypes to what we McBain's represent."

Evangeline ran her hands through her hair "Are you kidding me? I sat at the table with the Baroness and Duchess of whatever! I listened to them speak of their money and vacations. Nothing of value came from any of their diamond tip tongues!"

"Value is based on your own perceptions. Don't stand there and act as if money and extravagance are things foreign to you. Remember I know the life you led over the past 10 years and I don't think too many people from your 'community' sat at the Buchanan dining table to as you say 'break bread'"

Evangeline glared at him. "You have no idea what prejudice is like and how it makes a person feel"

John rose from the bed and approached her seeing the tears in her eyes "I'm beginning to understand that feeling because evidently you have some prejudices against me."

"I do not!"
"Come on Van! I see you cut your eyes at some of the things and people you've met. You think we are all conceited and classis."

"I think you right now are being a pompous jerk" she snapped turning.
John grabbed her arm and slung her around. "Why because I'm not ashamed of who and what I am!"

"No because you aren't ashamed of how your mother and her friends use their privilege to make themselves feel superior!" she hissed

"That's not fair…I don't condone all of my mothers views."
Evangeline snatched her arm away "Really? Is that why you went and tried to marry three other women that she picked?"

John shook his head "So that's what this is about, my engagements. The same ones that you said last night didn't matter!"

"They don't matter. What does matter is that fact that even after Caitlyn died and you lost me you were still trying to please her!"

"She's my mum bloody hell!" he shouted back
"So what! I left my 'mum' in Philly and haven't called her since to. I divorced myself from her toxic ways!"

"Are you asking me to walk away from my family? To walk away from my mother, because you don't agree with her values."

Evangeline lips quivered "I'm asking you to show me what your values are John. I know you love me, but your mother has declared war on us. If I think we are on the same page then I will fight her tooth and nail, but if you agree with her on some level…."

John rolled his eyes "I love my family Van, I'm not ashamed of them! I don't think that means that I should give up on my love for you because of it. I want both!"

Evangeline shook her head "What does that mean? We raise our kids here? We force all of this on them?" she asked throwing her hands up.

"I think we give them both worlds. I think we are smart enough to introduce balance into their lives and let them know everything about who and what they are."

Evangeline shook her head and headed to the bathroom. John watched her walk away and sighed in frustration. He didn't understand why they were fighting over this. Their life was their own. He couldn't let her loose sight of that. Hearing the shower come on he walked to the bathroom door and turned the knob. Seeing her in the shower he stepped in and lowered the toilet seat sitting down.

"Sunshine listen to me"
"John I don't want to fight with you"
"Neither do I, but I don't want you thinking that I feel superior in anyway toward people that are different or less fortunate than me"

"I know that John"
"Do you, because earlier it didn't sound like it."

"I'm just keenly aware that this life you've accepted is one you want. I need to be sure that it's the same thing I want."

"This life is mine, it's not a matter of acceptance for me. It's who I am. So I guess you are right you need to be clear on if you really want me."

Evangeline let the water hit her face and wash away her anxiety. She was wound tight since she got here and this argument took on a life of its own. She didn't think that he felt better than her. She just didn't want his mother to have any influence in their lives. Especially any children they had.

Hearing the shower door opened she turned around to see him step through. John looked at her under the sprout with water falling across her body and she was even more beautiful to him.

"What we have is precious to me. My mother has no influence over me when it comes to us."

"And other things…things outside of us, how much influence does she have?" Evangeline asked wiping at the water falling down her face.

John reached for her and pulled her to him. "Far as I'm concerned the only Countess McBain that has the final say is the one standing before me."

Evangeline smiled and pulled him into a sweet kiss. Feeling him pull her close she relaxed as he stiffened against her. John slid his hands down her left thigh and lifted her leg while bracing her against the wall so that he could enter her.

She continued to kiss him as she felt him push inside and realized that this love embrace is always where they ended to comfort each other. They made love in the glass encased shower and she closed her eyes pretending that none of it mattered. But the truth be told it mattered to everyone around them.

She wanted to be a good wife to him but in order to do so she would have to embrace customs she didn't fully believe in. As he pushed her up the wall and continued his passionate thrusts she kissed him and bounced in his hands. She loved him so deeply and profoundly she knew that it would take an act of god to separate them, and she'd fight for them even then.

Once he climaxed and let her go she looked up at him. She didn't join him in climaxing because her stomach was still in knots over the morning fight. They bathed each other and she smiled at his light jokes working to reassure him that she was past the discussion.

Watching him shave as she blew dry her hair she thought of how determined he was. He wanted her and it all, from the looks of it he was going to pull it off. John McBain was a remarkably determined man and she would hold onto that fact that he loved her just as much as she did him to withstand it all.

John saw her staring at him and knew that she was still troubled. He understood that. She had dealt with interracial relationships before. She'd even dealt with marrying into society. What had her uncomfortable was the royal classis system she was about to become apart of. Maybe now she discovered something else about herself. Maybe now she realized that the things that she embraced for the past 10 years with Kevin are things she secretly loathed.

He winked at her in the mirror and then patted her butt as he walked out. It was time to expose her to some of the good they do. He would take her to some of the foundations created by the McBain's and let her see that his title and prestige is more than pomp and circumstance.

Evangeline flat ironed her hair and got dressed. By the time she was done John was already downstairs with the family for breakfast. Coming out the room she saw Marcie coming up the hall. Smiling they greeted each other.

"I decided to come get you, since the au pair had the baby" Marcie said grinning
"So good to see a friendly face this morning" Evangeline said smiling.

"That bad hunh?"
"Not really just a little frustrating."
"I saw Carla coming after you" Marcie said walking at her side toward the stairwell. She wore a coral colored pant suit and her red short hair made her porcelain skin glow. She wasn't a beauty queen, but Marcie was a strikingly beautiful woman. Her warm smile did more to comfort her than John's love embrace this morning.

"Well, I guess that's to be expected." She said shrugging
"It is and get ready for a lot more." Marcie said taking the stairs with her. Both of their heels clicked on the marble stairwell.

Evangeline looked at her confused. "Expect more?"
"Countess McBain has decided since you two are here to start planning your wedding. She's inviting some of the 'women' close to her to help us this evening over tea."

Evangeline looked at Marcie shocked "I don't want her help in planning my wedding. As a matter of fact I'm not sure I want to get married here."

Marcie stopped on the stairwell surprised "Evangeline, you are marrying the Earl of Dublin you have to be married here in a catholic church. You union has to be blessed by the Pope himself."

Evangeline's mouth dropped open "Are you serious?"
"John didn't tell you?" Marcie asked confused
Grinding her teeth she looked toward the dinning hall and shook her head angrily "No he didn't"

Marcie nodded. "In order for me and Michael to be accepted we had to christen our child and be seen by the arch diocese to bless our union. I'm agnostic but no one knows that other than Mike. I went along with it for him."

Evangeline frowned "You compromised your values for him?"
Marcie smiled "Sweetie I love my husband, his happiness is important to me. I wanted him back with his family"

Evangeline leaned on the banister of the stairwell. She tried to digest what was being told to her. Running her hands through her hair she sighed

Marcie smiled "Come on lets have breakfast…we can finish our talk later"
She smiled and accepted her new friends hand and walked off the stairs into the dining room.