Immediately Mark opened his mouth to protest the accusation that he never thought would have stung so much. "Thomas, I don't have favorites. Seriously, just forget that, because I don't." It was hardly the crux of the problem, but he wasn't going to have one more thing added to the very long list of things he'd been accused of over the past twenty four hours. "I love each of you-- and yes, that includes Johnny, because he's my son too. I'm sorry if something I've done makes you feel as if I like him more." Noe was probably not the time to mention that he'd asked Johnny to be Best Man at the wedding.
Johnny wasn't his favorite so much as he was evidence of Mark's largest failure in life. Johnny was evidence of his failure as a military mind, a traitor, a leader, and as a parent. It was the latter that made him spend as much time with the boy as he did. Thomas and Malcolm hadn't been exiled for over a century, forced to give up any and all communication with their family. Johnny had and as far as Mark was concerned, he would be making up for it for the next century. So he never said no to his eldest son and always made time for him, whether he wanted it or not. He wasn't his favorite, just the most neglected and now the most parentally smothered. The only one actually treated as his physical age.
"Things aren't just painted bad and good like that, Thomas. That was the point," Mark continued, fingers tapping against the table. "Context is key, which is why the country was rightly offended by Doctor Laura's rant, and why I haven't gotten pitchforks and torches from anyone other than Layla and Glibt.
"And everything else?" He didn't know how he was supposed to justify the his nineteenth century actions other than saying just that-- that they were nineteenth century actions. He'd been in a vastly different mind frame. "I was honest with Layla about my past before she had Malcolm, but she knew her history, kiddo. It wasn't that much of a surprise to her. The South was Democratic before and during the war, you know that. Your Uncle James was the party of Lincoln. But she understood that it had been one hundred years since then and my perspective on our country and the value of every life here had changed. When we met I was trying to talk Eisenhower into sending the National Guard down to Little Rock so the school could integrate. We all have pasts, but we can't dwell on them."