[quote=@Lo Pellegrino]
<Snipped quote by TheMoatedGrange>

I must ask, time period and what not, as a southerner what would Mary-Louise's initial feelings about surviving alongside Julian be like? I understand she is a people person, but my paternal line originates from the south, baptist too, and they [i]did not[/i] adapt quickly to the idea of a coloured child entering the family -- and that was in '91. 

I do enjoy Mary-Louise. She is plays on the independent woman emerging around this time, making her move out from the south into a more forward thinking region even more understandable. I would love to see her skills making others comfortable and de-escalating people be applied in a high-stress situation like this.
[/quote]

Well, Mary-Louise herself is probably the most liberal member of her family, and living in Seattle (and travelling all over the world - especially to the Far East!) means that she is probably more exposed to different cultures and races than most people back home in Wilmington.

So she is probably not actively racist. BUT, she has been raised in a typical, relatively well-off WASP household, and growing up she would have went to a segregated high school and had family staff who were all African-Americans. So her upbringing is inevitably going to color her relations with people of other races. Julian's status as a war veteran, however, would likely be thought-provoking for her.