Viscount Branksome

"I am not a vain man." - sideblog to thefreshprinceofdownton. An indie The Honorable Evelyn Napier. 21+

[maryandevelyn]

[ofdownton]

Mary had already taken a sip of her lemonade at the exact moment he called her cousin a fool. It was a sentence she was not expecting from Evelyn and it amused her, smirking even as she brought a napkin up to dab her face dry from some of the drink that started to fall down her chin. “My, my.” Mary replied, “I never thought I would hear you say such a thing about Matthew in my life.” Mary wasn’t offended by it either for she agreed with him. Agreeing was simply her way of hiding behind her pain from ruining everything with Matthew all while being confused– holding feelings for Evelyn she always had since the two met. “If you said such a thing about Matthew to Edith or Sybil, I have a feeling they wouldn’t tolerate it. One of them should marry him if it’s not going to be me. You don’t have to fear me scolding you for saying that for I, too, share in that opinion.” Although I don’t know if I am more foolish or if Matthew is. She had ruined everything by listening to Aunt Rosumand and now she feels as though she ruined a friendship and the possibility of anything good coming from it. It wouldn’t be the first time she pushed Evelyn away for another guy.

A proposal? It was not a traditional proposal, of course, but it would have to do given the circumstances. She couldn’t help but smile as she took another sip of her beverage. “Evelyn, if I learned anything from this ordeal than it’s that I really don’t care about any of that. I really don’t. You’re a kind and respectable man and someone my family likes a great deal.” She looked over her shoulder to make sure no one could overhear her before standing beside him and without question, escorted him out of the drawing room and into the library so they could have some privacy. “I had to leave because the last thing I need is for Edith or Granny to overhear such a proposal. That is a very interesting way to propose to someone, Evelyn. How modern of you.” She teased him back, “But I don’t see why not. I believe we can be happy together.” Mary didn’t know what to make of the idea. He never said that he cared for her– that he loved her. Matthew was the first one to confess his feelings and it felt like Evelyn was proposing in such a way as a sense of duty. Did Evelyn love for her? Would they be like her parents who married for survival before falling in love after? Was he simply being nice and proposing so she could live life with her dear friend by her side? She didn’t want to read too much into the situation and lose him the way she lost Matthew.

continued | @definitelynotperseus

[definitelynotperseus]

Evelyn had, admittedly, feared he had spoken out of turn almost as soon as the words had left his mouth. There had been a time where they had been nothing but honest with each other—before marriage had become either of their priorities—but that time had long passed. He was always guarded, because he knew what it was to love and be hurt by said love, and wasn’t keen on being hurt again. Whatever optimism he had about marrying for love had dissipated years ago. He hadn’t loved Elizabeth Semphill. Yet he still had broken off his engagement, claiming he just couldn’t do it. He knew the real reason why. “I guess the war has made me something of a cynic. I see it as my patriotic duty to speak my mind from now on.” Evelyn quipped, taking another sip of his drink.

He was surprised at her compliment, but even more surprised when she pulled him out of the room. “Well, haven’t you heard? The twentieth century has truly arrived and we all must embrace modernity.” he responded with a grin. He had been joking, and certainly didn’t expect her to take him seriously, let alone to accept him. Nonetheless, he wanted to marry her now as much as he had in 1914. That was one thing that hadn’t changed. “I’ll do everything I can to make you happy, Mary.” he promised, reaching down to take her hands. It was commonplace—expected—for their sort of people to marry regardless of whether or not they loved each other, but he wanted to be perfectly clear with her on where he stood. “I love you. I never stopped loving you. I don’t ask for anything other than for you to let me love you.”

[definitelynotperseus]

Evelyn couldn’t recall the last time he had been this happy. Since his wife’s passing, he had dedicated himself to his estate and His Majesty’s government. His goals, he often stated, were to secure his daughter’s future, but he knew deep down that he had been trying to inject some sort of meaning in his life, to distract from the pain of having to go on without Meredith. A second marriage had never been in the cards for him, and he certainly had never thought seriously about pursuing Mary Crawley again.

He smiled as she kissed his palm, and nodded in agreement with her statement. “I was afraid. All those years ago, I was afraid. Afraid, and proud, and stupid.” he admitted, shaking his head. “I thought you didn’t want me, and why should you have?” He chuckled softly. “I should have spoken out. I shouldn’t have been so afraid of rejection. But it was better in the long run.” he agreed, recalling something he had once told her several years ago with a wry smile.

The smile morphed into a grin at her question. Squeezing her hand, with only slight difficulty due to his old war wound, he kneeled down, eyes dancing with mirth as he gazed up at her. “Lady Mary Crawley, will you marry me?”

[cottoncandytrafficcones]

Friend: but that isn’t a canon couple!

Me: it’s not about what’s canon

[definitelynotperseus]

[definitelynotperseus]

There’s this perception that Evelyn is very reserved and somewhat introverted, which he is to a certain extent, but when he addresses Parliament it’s like he comes alive (because he’s very much in his element) and he’s considered by his peers to be an excellent orator

[masonmount]

She’s welcome to take charge of me.

[definitelynotperseus]

evelyn is a polyglot because of his work, and if he wasn’t with the government, he would probably be a linguistics professor

[definitelynotperseus]

tempted to say screw history and give evelyn a foreign secretary verse

[theghostoflaviniaswire]

[definitelynotperseus]

“ my heart looks like a bruise and i almost don’t mind ” (from mary?)

He supposed he knew exactly howshe felt, but he didn’t say as much. It shouldn’t really have surprised him,for Mary to be this frank with him. Evelyn had always valued the authenticitythat their friendship had—there was a time that he had wanted to marry her, butit didn’t feel like that was the only reason she was interested in him. Even whenit became clear that his feelings for her weren’t mutual, that relationship hadendured. That was what led to his convalescing here at Downton instead of Middlesbrough.

He was silent for a moment,considering what she had told him. “I think your cousin is being a fool.” hedecided, taking a sip of his lemonade and not daring to gauge her reaction. Itwas the most candid thing he believed he ever said to her. It was also, herealized, hypocritical, given the fact that he had broken a very publicengagement three years ago. “Well, if things don’t work themselves out, wecould always have a go at it. A viscount isn’t an earl but it’s not too shabby, if I do say so myself.” he teased.

[definitelynotperseus]

As she returned his embrace, Evelyn’s heart raced—a palpable reminder that this was, indeed, real, and not a dream. God knew he had dreamed of this, years ago, when it was still in the realm of possibility. Over the years, until he met his late wife, he had blamed himself for not doing more, not trying harder. He had overanalyzed every decision he had ever made concerning their not quite courtship, and wondered what his life would have been if only he had acted differently, had told her while he had the chance.

The truth was that he never stopped loving Mary Crawley. Perhaps it had been a different love, when they both were no longer free, but it had been love. At the sound of her endearment, he smiled against her lips, his hands by now settling at either side of her waist. “Yours.” he murmured, stealing a final lingering kiss and smiling contentedly. “That we should have.” he agreed with a soft chuckle, lifting a hand to caress her cheek. “Why didn’t we?”

He already knew the answer. He considered himself to blame—himself and his pride. As much as he craved having as much time as possible with her, he knew that on some level they might not have made a good match at the time. The war had shifted his perceptions on what truly mattered to him, and had in many ways matured him. He was a different man than he had been in 1914.

“I’m just glad that we finally did.” Evelyn clarified after a moment. “And if you’ll permit me, I’ll spend the rest of our lives making up for all the time we didn’t.”

[maryandevelyn]

My hand is complete.

Evelyn to Mary (season six, episode six)

[evelynapier]

[maryandevelyn]

                                                  “How are your wedding plans going?” “Not very well. In fact, we’ve decided to call it off.”                                     “Really? It seemed quite fixed at Sybil’s ball. What a shame.”

[maryandevelyn]

            “Well, I hope Mary hasn’t left you too exhausted.”

                                                                        “No, not a bit of it.”

[oneithersidetheriverlie]

Isn’t Evelyn’s “Lovely” to Mary in E5 a parallel to Matthew’s “Lovely” to Mary just before they went to Edith’s doomed almost-marriage? Which also has echoes of S2E1 Matthew’s ‘I’m glad to see you looking so…well’

[lesbicasentimental]

Even if we did stop talking, I feel as if we would somehow eventually find our way back to each other, even though we never really found each other in the first place.

Anytime & anywhere (via lesbicasentimental)