Tu Es Ma Lumière

124 - Acceptance *Modern*

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Prompt - Mary's child from another relationship struggles to accept that she has a new boyfriend (Francis) and that his/her bio parents won't be getting back together?

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"James." Mary groans, leaning her head upon the white wooden door that kept her five year old son from her. He had locked the door and refused to come out for hours. The young doctor had resolved to sitting outside the door in an attempt to talk to her furious child, although James seemed perfectly happy to lock her out and smash up his bedroom.

This was not how she thought that telling her son about her and Francis would go down. They had told small Jean-Philippe about them two days ago, and the tiny blonde boy had been delighted to find out that his father had a new girlfriend. After all, his bio mother wasn't present in his life and had constantly pressured his father to get a new girlfriend to be a maman to him. The perceptive little blonde never liked Olivia, but he had seen how his father looked at his new female friend. Her son, however, that was a different story all together.

James was the result of a five year long marriage to Henry Darnley. She had had him just after graduating medical school and had landed a job in a beautiful little coastal village in southern England. Darnley had been less than pleased to move from London to Cornwall, but he hadn't been doing to well in politics at that point, and the job paid marvellously well. He had lost campaign after campaign, turning to the bottle as means of support. With a three year old and a demanding job, Mary wouldn't deal with a drunk, verbally abusive husband. So, they divorced and that was that. Henry moved back to London, whilst Mary stayed in Cornwall.

About that time was when one of her best friends, Kenna, had introduced her to her boyfriends' brother. Francis and small Jean-Philippe would be moving to the small coastal town from France in an effort to get away from the disastrous marriage between Henry and Catherine, and for an opportunity to get some work done for the family business without being involved with his parents joke of a marriage.

His son, of who'm an old girlfriend -Natalia, she remembered the woman's name being- had been conceived when Francis was still in high school. He didn't even know Natalia had gotten pregnant until her sister had dropped off the small blonde just before school exams started. Deciding not to go through with adopting him out, Francis rose the boy as well as he could. A woman's touch brought out a happiness in Jean-Philippe that Francis had never seen before.

This reaction was all so strange, the fury and the tears. After all, Darnley had been seeing Kiera for four months, and James couldn't possibly remember what it was like to have both his mother and father in the same house. They ended things when he was three, after all. She thought he'd be happy. After all, it had been months of keeping it PG and vague around the children and developing a friendship between the boys. Why was he so angry?

"James, come on. Talk to me." Mary pleads, leaning her head upon the wood.

"I don't want to talk to you!" he wails from inside the room.

"James, come on. I can't help you unless you talk to me." she stresses. "What is it about Francis and I that upsets you so much?" she asks. They'd only been dating for a few months, and although puppy love was still very much in tact, it wasn't anything super serious just yet. "You know your father has a new girlfriend, you like Kiera?" she asks.

"Yes, but-" he sniffles.

"And you told me you liked Francis and Jean-Philippe. What is it about Francis and I being together that upsets you so? I promise you're still number one in my life." she promises.

"Now I'm not normal!" he cries. "All-all the other kids in school, their mums and dads are together! And mine aren't!"

"James," she stresses. "Just because your father and I aren't together any more doesn't mean you aren't normal. It means that I didn't make your father happy, and he didn't make me happy. We ended things to make sure our unhappiness didn't make you unhappy." she says. "You want Mommy to be happy, don't you?"

"Yes, but," he sniffles.

"But what?"

"Even if Kiera was with Dad, that means that you could have gotten to be with him if she went away. Now-now that's not gonna happen!"

Boy, I'm nobody's second choice, Mary thinks with a roll of her eyes. "James, your father and I aren't getting back together. You remember what he told you when he moved away and you stayed with me, except on separate weekends?" she asks him. "Him and I make each other unhappy. Kiera makes him happy, and Francis makes me happy." she says. "That's not a representation on you, though."

James says nothing.

"It's not like Francis and I are getting married, I don't have a baby in my stomach. We're just seeing where it goes for now. I really, really like him. And he really, really likes me. You said you liked him before. What's changed?"

He sniffles, saying nothing.

"He's not gonna try and replace your dad. Henry's always gonna be your dad, even if he's not here all the time. And Jean's not replacing you, we're just spending time together to see where it goes. He hasn't given me a ring, we're not gonna get married. I don't have his baby in my stomach. Everything's very new and it's going to be very slow to help you and Jean adjust to everything."

"He's not my brother!"

"He's not." she agrees. "And he may never be. Francis and I may not get married, we haven't discussed it yet. But Jean wants to be your friend. Can't you let him?" Mary asks.

"Is it gonna be like this forever? Just you and Francis spending time together?"

"I don't know." she honestly says. "But I really like him, and he really likes me. Things might chance, he might move here with Jean, we may move to his house on the other side of the village. But if that happens, it won't be for a long, long time just yet. Okay?"

He sniffles. "What's gonna happen now, then?"

"When you and Jean are in school, and when he and I aren't working, we're spending some time together. He and I and Jean and you may go to the beach together after school some days, he might look after you when I have to travel for work, and the same for him. But nothing's gonna happen until you want it to, okay? I just need you to tell me that you're gonna give him a chance, okay? If you don't like this, it won't go further. But I don't want you to be mean to him or Jean just because he's not Henry. That's not fair to him, you understand?"

"I guess so."

"Can you open the door, now? I'll take you out for ice cream." she supplies.

That makes the door open. Mary smiles, giving him a large hug.

"Love you, mama."

"I love you, too, my little Prince. Now," she says, taking his hand. "we can clean up your room later, let's go get some ice cream!"