Title: Forever Yours
Author: rooster dawn
Pairing: see below
Alternative Universe
Disclaimer: JAG is property of Belisarius productions, no copyright infringement intended. Ever After is the property of Twentieth Century Productions, no copyright infringement intended.
Summary: This story is loosely based on the movie "Ever After"
Good feedback is good for one's soul and everyone's happiness.
Author's note: In the movie the time period covers five days between the time Prince Henry meets Danielle and the Masque Ball. I have tried to stretch out the story to almost two weeks to give them more time to get to know each other better. Besides I think it would be hard for two people from different stations of life to see each other every day and fall in love.
part 5 Jordan's Time to Shine
1900 hours
de Ghent manor
Later that evening at the dinner meal Jordan was as usual a little agitated. She had spent most of the day in town and was disturbed by what she was hearing. If what she had heard was true, then her chances of becoming the prince's bride weren't as good as the Baroness thought.
"Who is this Comtesse everyone is talking about? I must have heard at least ten courtiers talking about her today. No one seems to know who she is. It seems she gave the prince a dissertation about the rights and wrongs of how to deal with servants and thieves.
She seemed to have made quite the impression on the prince. He fell all over himself in an effort to curry her favor." whined Jordan.
Sarah almost spat up the soup she was eating. She knew she had caused a scene the other day when she tried to obtain Uncle Tom's freedom, but she had no idea everyone would be talking about it.
Though she had hoped to enlighten a few people of the social injustices the nobility put upon the social underclass, her real hope was to enlighten the prince into doing the right thing.
Though in a way she had accomplished that feat with what she thought was an eloquent speech, she had gotten much more than she had bargain for. For she had piqued the prince's interest in her. It seemed that he was on her scent.
She knew it was wrong, but what was she to do? As much as she disliked his condescending attitude of the downtrodden, she did like his personal attention. He seemed to gaze upon her with such intensity.
He seemed to relish listening to every word she spoke. It was a disarming trait that confused her, but also drew her closer to him than she expected. She had so little control around him. She wondered why this was. Was Louise right about the prince?
"We should find out who she is and bury her." snipped Renee. "We can't have him distracted. He needs to be focusing on you Jordan."
"I heard something else that the courtiers were talking about." began Henrietta.
Renee sighed wondering who pulled her chain. When was Henrietta going to learn to keep silent at the dinner table when she and Jordan were talking and planning?
"The prince went to the king after his interlude with the Comtesse. He convinced the king to release all the other men who had been chained. He even got the king to make a royal decree that all men being sent to the Americas had to be compensated."
Sarah was feeling a sense of pride and satisfaction. She had gotten through to the prince after all. Maybe, just maybe there was hope for him yet. Maybe he could be a great king after all.
Later that night Sarah was placing more logs on the fire in Renee's bedroom and stoking it. Renee was in hog heaven as she thought about all the possibilities.
"We should press the prince for a quick engagement, Christmas in Paris. Can you imagine that?" she asked Sarah. "No I guess you can't."
She had noticed a look of confusion on Sarah's face. "My mother was hard on me too. Cleanliness was next to godliness. She wanted me to be all I could be. Look at me now." continued Renee.
She was trying to bond with Sarah. "Here I am, a Baroness and Jordan shall be queen."
What could Sarah say that could bring any meaning to this conversation? So she kept quiet instead and listened to her stepmother drivel on. Renee was being reflective which usually was her way of being nice.
Renee took Sarah's hand and drew her closer to her. Time for a little bonding. Sarah knelt at her feet. They talked about her mother.
"It's a pity that you never knew your mother, there must be something of her in you somewhere." sighed Renee as she tried to be compassionate.
Even though she didn't show it often she felt Sarah was one of her daughters. And at this point in time with all that was going on with the prince and hopefully Jordan, she thought Sarah might be feeling a bit neglected.
It might explain why Sarah was spending more time away from the manor than usual. Maybe she was looking something or someone to bring meaning to her life. She didn't like the idea of Sarah straying too far. It could get her into trouble.
"I wish I knew what my mother looked like." whispered Sarah as she relished the attention Renee was giving her. She never seemed to get enough love since her father died.
"Well we must never feel sorry for ourselves, must we. No matter how bad things seem to be, they can always get worse." moaned Renee as she thought about that day ten years ago when Sarah's father died shortly after she had arrived at the manor.
She had arrived at the manor thinking her life would be much better with a man in her life. She and her girls would be taken care of. Instead, she ended up with another mouth to feed and no additional income to help.
With no man of the house her living standards had progressively gotten worse each year. Hopefully that would all change if the prince ask Jordan to be his wife.
"Yes Ma'am." replied Sarah.
"You have so much of your father in you. I can almost see him looking out through your eyes." sighed Renee.
"Really!" replied Sarah excitedly. It was one of the nicest things her stepmother had ever said to her.
"Yes, your features are so masculine. To be raised by a man ... " she paused.
"Did you love my father?" asked Sarah looking for some sign of love.
"I barely knew him. He was a man I thought I could learn to love. I do miss him. Go away, I'm tired." replied Renee sadly as she felt the lost of the man she that she lost much too soon.
Sarah left the room and went to bed. It wasn't long before she was asleep dreaming of her encounters with Prince Henry. She wondered what the future would bring.
0800 hours, day 5
de Ghent manor
The next morning Sarah decided to have a talk with Louise and Paulette about her encounter with the prince at the lake the day before. He had at first been so kind and helpful, but as the time they spent together went along ...
he had reverted back to the callous behavior of their first meeting. He was smug. He teased her endlessly and he even accused her of being contradictory. By the time she left she had had enough and had told him so.
"You must be in love with him Sarah." smiled Louise looking over to Paulette.
"What?" asked Sarah with a bewildered look. You must be nuts she thought.
"He's in love with you too." she continued.
"Why else would you care what he thinks." added Paulette.
Sarah couldn't believe what she was hearing.
"Remember our conversation yesterday." Louise began again to explain the facts of life of young adults.
"Vaguely." Sarah replied not wanting to admit that she had done nothing but think about their conversation particularly after spending some more time with the prince.
"I told you that if he cared about you, he would take an interest in whatever you were interested in. It seems he started up where you left off the other day. You talked some more about Thomas Moore and Utopia.
You talked about the social injustices of the world. He listened Sarah! As you heard from Miss Henrietta last night, he went to the king and freed the rest of the men who were in that cage with Tom.
Then he went even further and got the king to change the law and make a new decree that favored the poor and less fortunate. You made an impression with the prince Sarah." explained Louise with a smile.
"I think he just likes teasing and arguing with me Louise. I think I'm only a distraction to him while he tries to figure out what he's going to do with his life." wailed Sarah.
"Maybe Sarah, but he wouldn't fight with you if he didn't care. And you have to admit he only sees you as a courtier who is championing a cause that is foreign to him. He doesn't know that you're only a servant yourself.
He doesn't understand that you're defending a position not because you want to, but that you are defending the position because it is who you are. He loves you Sarah, he wants to be with you, you wait and see." concluded Louise.
Now she didn't know what to think. Before this little talk, she felt that the prince liked her because she stood up to him, but now she didn't know anything anymore.
She couldn't say it was the dress, because she wasn't wearing one. What would her stepmother say if she knew that? She was supposed to be making a good impression on the prince. Being underdressed with him surely wasn't making a lady like impression.
She didn't even know how she thought about the prince. She was feeling things she never felt before. Was it Love? What was Love? She surely didn't know. She also knew Jordan didn't know and if she did, she wouldn't share what Love was with her.
She could be quite sure Henrietta didn't know anything about love either. She was too young to know anything and besides her mother wouldn't let her near a man until Jordan was spoken for.
Forget about talking with her stepmother. Even though she was the only mother she had ever known, she had never showed any sensitivity or love to her since she had known her. She probably would just laugh and tell her that no man could ever love her.
She didn't know what to think. All she knew it was time to go home and do some chores before dinner. Maybe she would be tired afterwards and she would to sleep quickly. She wouldn't think about the prince then would she?
1000 hours
the Tennis Court
The next day Henry was playing tennis with a friend of his. It was a highly competitive match. It went back and forth. No one knew who was going to win. It seemed his friend had the edge since he had Henry doing a lot of running, but Henry eventually won the match.
At one point during the match Henry went flying into the crowd of spectators. When he returned to the court he was missing the ball. Somehow Jordan had managed to come up with it. She held out for the prince to take the ball.
Henry, ever the gentleman thanked her and told her "You look lovely today Jordan."
She replied with no shame "You're welcomed to look."
'Whoa!' he thought. Does this woman have no shame? He thought only gutter whores said things like that when they were looking for a place for the night.
After the tennis match Henry offered to take a walk with Jordan with Renee a few steps behind. They conversed as they walked. He even shared with her a new delicacy, chocolate from the Spanish monks.
They eventually made their way to the market place where her servants were selling produce and chickens. Louise and Paulette saw them first, but before they could warn Sarah she stood up with a chicken.
Fortunately for her the hands were indeed faster than the eyes as she threw the chicken into Henry's face before he could see her standing there. She quickly ran and hid behind some carts as the diversion worked to distract him.
Henry quickly regained his senses as he and Jordan walked away. He could be heard mumbling something about seeing another woman there, maybe even the woman he was looking for.
When the Baroness returned to the manor that afternoon there was an invitation to a masque ball being given by the king and queen in honor of Leonardo da Vinci. All the women of the manor were invited.
Jordan went to her room to find a dress to wear, but there wasn't anything that appealed to her. She wanted something different, something only a princess would wear, but what? She didn't know.
At that point the Baroness took Jordan to Sarah's room where there was a trunk. Inside the trunk was the most beautiful white dress adorned with small jewels. It gave the dress a special look. Jordan loved it.
At that point Sarah walked into the room wondering what they were doing with her mother's dress. "What are you doing in here?" she asked them.
Renee quickly responded. "I came in here to air out your dress for the ball."
"You want me to go to the ball with you?" she asked. She was really surprised. It had been a long time since she went anywhere with her stepmother.
"Of course Sarah, you're one of my daughters. Why wouldn't I want you to go with us? But you have to stay out of trouble until then." she replied.
All Sarah could do was nod her head in agreement. Her emotions had overwhelmed her and she couldn't say anything. For the first time in a long time she felt happy.