howlingplayground | Arranged Marriage

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Arranged Marriage

It's a trope near and dear to our hearts. Arranged marriage.

Maybe it's for the family. Maybe it's for a friend. Maybe you know the person and have been expected to marry them for years. Maybe it's the wedding day and you have no clue who it is you'll be tied to for your natural life. Maybe you've been married a while, and you're just now starting your life, away from the expectations of others. Or maybe, the "others" are watching, waiting, making sure this marriage sticks.

Prompts for those who need them:

Reasons:

1. Station → You come from a royal, noble, or otherwise distinguished family who has chosen a suitable spouse for you.
2. Feud → You are being married to put an end to the bitter enmity between your two families.
3. Economics → Your economic state and/or your station will improve through the union, though one of you may be marrying down.
4. Empire → You and your spouse are merging your businesses and/or property to create something more influential or profitable.
6. Tribute → You have been offered as a gift or appeasement, alternately you're the spoils of war.
8. Bloodline → Carrying on your distinguished family name has fallen to you and the equally well-bred spouse of your family's selection.
7. Disapproval → Your marriage has been arranged to keep you away from the person with whom you truly wish to be.

Scenario:

1. First meeting → This is the very first time you're meeting your future spouse.
2. Courtship → To get to know each other and encourage affection, your family has approved of you going on dates.
3. Engagement party → Be it a huge, formal affair or a small, intimate get together, you're celebrating (or pretending).
4. Wedding day → The big day!
5. Reception → The big party!
6. Wedding night → Every meme needs a smut prompt, right?
7. Honeymoon → Where will you go with your new spouse and what will you do there?
8. Been at this a while → Just starting to get to know the other person

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Miss Amelia reaches over and touches her hand. "You ever get overwhelmed, or that boy ain't doin' what he's supposed to, I'll give you my number an' you just call me up and I'll set him straight." She promises. Kitty has been adopted. Welcome, they have people who can cook.

"Now, tell me all about the weddin'. Wanted to go north for it, but the doc wouldn't let me." She shakes her head. "Outlived two husbands, and two children and he thinks a little thing like an airplane ride gonna do me in."

With a small giggle, she nods. "Okay, sounds good...thank you." Kitty could hardly complain about that.

"Oh well..." Kitty twists the ring on her finger a bit. "It kind of went by in a blur, but..." She begins recounting as much as she could of the wedding, up until she and Kevin ditched the reception.

Amelia laughs at the thought of that huge dog of Kevin's - she's met Mimsy - with a bright pink bow on her head. The dog adores Kevin and that's what's important, but she does look dangerous.

"I don't blame you for leavin'." Miss Amelia looks up and smiles, seeing Kevin come over and sit on the couch next to Kitty. "Dinner cookin'?"

"Along with both apple crumble and some sort of peach concoction that Jacob's makin'."

"Concoction!" The indignant yelp gets a completely shit-eating grin from Kevin. Who promptly gets thumped on the leg with the cane.

He grumbles, rubbing his leg.

"You stop baitin' 'im." Miss Amelia chides. "Now, your lady here was tellin' me about the weddin'. Where'd you go on your honeymoon?"

Kitty giggles softly as she watches, before turning her attention back to Miss Amelia.

"Disney World. We'd just left from there before we came here."

"Disney! This time o' the year?" She asks, surprised. Kevin just chuckles and puts his arm around Kitty.

"Well, I s'pose I could bring out all the little pictures of Kevin." Miss Amelia says, making Kevin color in mortification.

"Now, Miss Amelia..." He whines.

Kitty can't help but laugh. "I would love to see them," she says, throwing Kevin a mischievous smile.

Miss Amelia smiles. "Now, you don't wanna go keepin' secrets now do you?" She waves to a bookcase. "Go on over an' get my photo albums." She tells Kevin.

He sighs and rolls his eyes at Kitty's grin, but gets up and fetches them. He hands them to Miss Amelia, and then goes back into the kitchen when a timer goes off, muscling his way back in between the other two.

Miss Amelia gets up and sits on the couch next to Kitty. She opens the first and taps one arthritic finger against a picture. Standing there, in nothing more than overalls and a big floppy hat is a toddler, grinning as he holds up the hat. Next to him is a brunette, looking strained around the eyes, but she's got a huge smile on her face, and she's obviously been gardening with dirt on her knees, and gardening gloves on. "Kevin's mama. Angelica loved that boy..." She shakes her head. "Would take him out to garden and he was always the best little helper."

Leaning over to see the picture better, Kitty can't help but smile. "Awww...that's so sweet." She can't help another giggle. "And he looks so cute!"

Said loud enough for him to hear from the kitchen.

"Awww, she thinks you're cute!" One of the boys starts teasing Kevin.

"Better'n your ugly mug." Kevin smirks at the indignant squawk that gets out of one of them.

The pictures go on, Kevin with both of his parents, laughing, smiling. His mother gets thinner and thinner as the pictures go on. She starts wearing scarves on her head, and it's obvious, she's bald. "Last picture of the two of them." Miss Amelia says, running her hand over a picture. Kevin's about six, lacking a couple of teeth, and sitting next to his mother who is resting in a lounge chair on the grass, her big roses behind her. He's got his head down and a book in his lap. "She passed on about a week after this." She shakes her head.

Kitty frowns a little, glancing from the picture over towards Kevin. She couldn't imagine what it was like to lose a parent at such a young age. The closest experience she had was when her grandfather died, but it definitely wasn't the same.

"I'm sorry," she says softly.

Miss Amelia smiles. "Oh child. It's fine. You make him smile. That's more'n he's done in a while." She looks over to where the guys are arguing about who's the ugliest in the room. "You get flour in my kitchen, you'll be cleanin', boys!"

"Yes Grandmama."

"Yes, Miss Amelia."

She smiles. "Now, you see these roses? Kevin took cuttings up to that fancy house in New York to start them there." They're pink roses that are small, but growing steadily in the garden, tended by both Kevin and Ororo.

She smiles a little herself. "Well, I'm glad I can do something for him." Especially since she'd never known these things about him, despite how long they'd been at the mansion together.

"Oh, I think I've seen those roses at the mansion. I didn't know he started growing them." She'd seen Ororo tending to them before, and had even helped out once or twice, but she hadn't known that Kevin had been the one to plant them.

She nods. "Asked me to have the cuttings sent up, 'cause he trusts me to do that. Glad he's got somethin' of home up there." Miss Amelia will admit, she hadn't thought too much of that Yankee lady coming and getting him. But, she supposes it's worked out well enough.

She pats Kitty's hand. "You gonna do a lot more for him, honey. You trust him?" She asks, softly, listening to the boys chatter in the kitchen.

"They're really pretty." She'll have to ask Kevin about the roses sometime.

Glancing towards the kitchen where the boys were talking, Kitty smiles. "Yeah, I do," she replies, just as soft but with no hesitation.

It probably should have felt strange to be so certain, since she and Kevin were still really getting to know each other. But she had no doubt in her mind that, no matter what, Kevin is truly a good person who means well and does his best. And really, that's all anyone could really ask for.

Miss Amelia smiles. "Good." She flips the page on the photo album. "This is Trevor, Kevin's father." She says, showing a good looking man, who looked lost and alone. Kevin is standing next to him, a haunted look in his eyes. "That man tried, but Kevin was always a Mama's boy." She tsks and shakes her head. "But they always tended those roses. They're still there. The house is vacant, but the roses are tended, by people in the church."

The house is Kevin's. He's not sure what to do with it, yet. It's something he needs to think about for the future.

"Oh, here's my four grandsons." She taps a picture with four formidable looking young men, along with a covered and older Kevin. He looks a little more comfortable in his skin. The photo's only a year or two old. "That's Jacob, Mike, Tom, and Gabe." She smiles at the photo. "All four are police officers." She says, proudly. "Well, Gabe is a trainer for the Atlanta Police Academy." She nods to the kitchen. "Tom'll be home after his shift. Gabe's not going to be here tonight, unfortunately." He has to stay at the academy.

Kitty tilts her head a bit, looking at the picture of Trevor. Even with as little as she knew him, he'd never mentioned his father at all.

She doesn't have a chance to ask, though, as Miss Amelia flips to the next page and shows a picture of her grandsons. She smiles. "Aww, that's too bad. But I guess that just means we'll have to visit more often so I'll get to meet him."

Miss Amelia laughs. "Now, that'd be nice. Having someone bring him home more often would be nice." She looks fondly over her shoulder as the boys start laughing at something.

"I'm glad to see him laughin' again. Never thought I'd see it." Miss Amelia admits. "When he left, he was... well, he was broke. I'm glad to see him happier."

Glancing back towards the kitchen, Kitty frowns a little. "Well...to be honest, I'm not sure how much I had to do with that. Kevin and I hadn't really talked too much before...everything."

Miss Amelia touches Kitty's hand. "If he weren't happy with you, it'd be real easy to tell. That he's smilin' and laughin' means he is." She watches him for a few moments. "Always wears his heart on his sleeve that boy." She tsks, but it's fond. She loves Kevin, as if he were one of her boys by blood and not by neighbor.

"You just keep doin' what ya doin', and it'll all work out, you'll see." She says, softly.

Glancing at Miss Amelia for a moment, Kitty then looks back towards the kitchen. With a small smile, she nods. "Yeah...okay. I'll do my best."

"S'all anyone can ask." She says, gently. "Marriage is hard, always has been. Weren't easy with my husbands, neither. Love is only part of the equation... the rest, you gotta figure out yourself." And it won't be easy, she knows, but they're young. They'll be fine.

"And don't think you gotta do all the work. That boy gotta do it too. He probably gotta do more, cuz he gets in that head o' his and he gotta be dragged out." She squeezes Kitty against her side. "Can't do that now."

With a small smile, Kitty nods as she leans into Miss Amelia. "Yeah, we're definitely working on that. I'm hoping to get him to open up to more more. And I know it won't be easy, but...I'm willing to do everything I can."

"Now, did ya enjoy Disney? I ain't been since the boys were little." She looks in the kitchen. "If'n ya can ever call them louts little." She says, fondly.

Just then a police car pulls into the driveway. "Tom's home!" She calls, still watching out the window, a look of vague worry on her face. When the front door opens, she relaxes and smiles. "Tom! Kevin brought us his bride. Come meet Kitty."

Tom takes off his police hat, and walks over. "Howdy, Kitty. How'd a pretty thing like you end up with a sourpuss like that?"

"I tricked her!" Kevin calls, putting dinner together still.

"Oh yeah, it was a lot of fun! There was so much to do there, we weren't able to see everything."

Kitty glances up as Tom enters the house, and with a smile she waves. "Hi, nice to meet you."

She laughs at Tom's teasing, and Kevin's reply, shaking her head a little. "Yeah, he lured me in with Mimsy."

Tom laughs. "Where is the baby girl?" He asks. "Lure her in with the pretty girl and then don't bring her along?" He tsks.

Kevin snorts, sliding something into the oven. "We spent a week at Disney. Couldn't bring her. Want to see her so bad, y'all need to come up north." He says.

"Bunch o' Yanks, up there, Kevin." Miss Amelia says.

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