My Dearest Darling

Chapter 15

Dinner was a silent affair for the most part. That was no different to the dinners they had all shared over the last few weeks. This silence, however, was somehow more agitated and charged than ever before. The unfinished argument between Mary and Henry was polluting the air surrounding the dinner table and confusing the people sitting around it.

It was quite apparent to everyone that there was something terribly amiss. Even Bertie and Lucy felt it, despite not yet being aware of Mary's decision regarding her failed marriage. Tom just kept glancing weirdly between Mary and her husband, unsure what to make of this peculiar situation. The initial joy about his brother-in-law and business partner returning had been less than short-lived — it was almost non-existent, especially after he interrupted that something in the library. What it was, he had no idea, but he was sure he would find out soon enough.

It took until the second course was served for anyone to speak at all, and, naturally, it had to be Henry to break the silence.

"Where are Robert and Cora? Won't they be joining us tonight?" he asked, sounding quite confused as he looked around the table. He had noticed that there were no plates and cutlery prepared on the table before him for two more people upon entering, but he hadn't thought much of it until then. It was odd, he found, his parents-in-law always ate dinner with them, it was their house after all. Or at least he found it odd enough to finally mention it.

"No, they won't. They are on their way to America to visit our grandmother as we speak. Which you would know if you paid more attention or simply took an interest," Mary replied in a neutral tone, not even looking up from her plate.

She knew it was wrong to speak her mind so openly, but she could not hold back. He had not wanted to understand her reasoning earlier, and she was now determined to show him her side of the argument, to make him see his wrongs. Even if that was to be at the expense of an otherwise still uneventful and silent family dinner.

"You never said they would go over there this year, least of all after the trip to France in the summer," Henry retorted. Mary had to suppress the strong urge to roll her eyes at him and his petulant tone.

"Well, things have changed, as I told you before. Mama wants to say goodbye, and I do not see anything wrong with that," Mary bit back across the table. She quite forcefully stuck her fork into the fish on her plate, making Tom, who was sitting next to her, flinch slightly.

The silence that followed was even more uncomfortable than before, the tension that filled the dining room could have easily been cut with even the bluntest butter knife.

Where everyone had been looking at Mary and Henry for the first part of this odd dinner conversation, they now stared at their respective plates in front of them. The topic of Cora's illness was still a sore one for all of them, especially so soon after Violet's passing, and the hostility between Mary and Henry was also not lost on any of the people sitting around the table, either.

A while later, it was Mary who spoke up again, her tone totally different to before.

"Oh, but I also received a telegram from Uncle Harold this morning. I am sure it was meant for Mama and Papa, but I see no harm in telling all of you, since they will find out about it first-hand upon their subsequent arrival in Newport."

"Uncle Harold? It is quite rare for him to reach out. What did he say?" asked Edith, trying to alleviate some of the depressing mood surrounding them, smiling at her sister.

"He wrote about his recent engagement to a certain Miss Madeleine Allsopp. The wedding planning is already well underway, apparently, or so he wrote at least."

"What? Uncle Harold? Getting married? I never thought we would see that happen in our lifetime!" Edith looked genuinely surprised at her sister's revelation, putting her cutlery to the side for a moment.