Beginnings Beyond Endings (A Sanditon Fanfiction)

Another Disastrous Dinner

Lady Denham's Dinner party took place on a Friday and was attended, as it had been every year, by the principle inhabitants of the town. This year, though, there were two notable additions: the Viscount and Viscountess Morpeth. No one was surprised by the Viscountess' inclusion; the dinner celebrated the anniversary of the first Sanditon Regatta and it would have been very strange not to invite the very woman who had volunteered the original idea.

However, despite the rumours and their presence about the town, it would seem that some residents had miraculously remained oblivious to her presence, so, while unsurprised at the invitation being extended to her, they had been unaware that she had not only married, but married so highly and that the old dragon appeared to approve of the gentleman. It was well known, after all, that Lady Denham did not like to be uninformed and did not like to alter her plans for the convenience of others.

Regardless, many of the same individuals who had attended Lady Denham's Dinner to welcome Georgiana to Sanditon were present again that evening. The entire Parker family made up quite half of the guests who were seated at the long table in Lady Denham's dining room. The other half consisted of Miss Lambe, Miss Enworth, Lord and Lady Babington who had arrived from town that morning much to Charlotte's surprise, Mr Crowe, and of course George and Charlotte.

The feast of dishes decorating the table exhibited the skill and artistry of the lady's cook with platters of roasted poultry and game, creamy potato creations, buttery vegetables and towers of candied fruits. If one thing must be acknowledged, however, it could only be the relief felt by all at the absolute lack of pineapples.

As it turned out, Lady Denham had not drawn quite the same conclusions from her first unfortunate attempt at obtaining the exotic fruit as all others had. The disparity in reaction had led to another rather painful moment in the intervening years that had since earned the astute sobriquet of 'the pineapple incident'. It should suffice to say that no one wished to see it repeated and the pineapple was, thenceforth, considered illegal to the local society.

Conversations varied throughout the evening but the cultivated avoidance and resulting tension between four notable individuals could not be ignored. In fact, everyone present seemed to have been drawn into the interactions which surely precipitated the events of the rest of the evening.

When the Babington's arrived in Sanditon, Esther had immediately made her way to Sanditon House while her husband intended to impose himself on Sidney's hospitality for what remained of the day. He had not imposed himself upon his friend for very much longer than it took for the other man to learn of his knowledge of Lady Morpeth's affairs and retreated with haste to the tavern with Mr. Crowe in the hopes of avoiding his friend's temper.

Likewise, Lady Babington had determined to devote what energy was not currently spent attending her husband, son or managing the discomfort of her condition on supporting her friend with what she was sure was a decidedly intolerable position to find oneself in. She did not believe Charlotte's protests that she was not as troubled by the situation as others seemed inclined to wish her to be. She thought her friend rather paler than she remembered with an air of waning energy and strength.

It can only be expected that Tom and Mary would find themselves thrust into the midst of their brother's discontentment and the animosity displayed between the two couples; or rather, the animosity shown by one and directed to the other. Though the former seemed to be typically ignorant to the poisonous atmosphere, recognising only that his brother did not seem to be his usual self. Even Arthur and Diana were sensible to the tension and unusually reserved.

Only four people seemed outwardly unaffected by the unpleasantness. Charity Entworth was not acquainted with the full history between the two couples and with confusion could only assume some trifling disagreement had been had and hoped the hostility would fade quickly. Lady Denham simply did not care for their foolishness and chose to disregard all consideration or mention of it. Georgiana was quite unabashedly amused and could be heard snickering with frequency at any moment she had occasion to observe the glares being passed around the room like a virus. And Mr. Crowe... well, as usual, Mr. Crowe was far too interested in the diminishing contents of his flask to accommodate much more within the realm of his attention than the minimum requirement of monosyllabic responses to the conversation attempts made by his dinner partners.