Mrs. DuPoint

The person who had seen them and was looking at Jenny unpleasantly was none other than Elizabeth's mother. Half underneath her breath, but half audible enough for Elizabeth and Jenny to hear were her comments. "Ché, look at that. Someone is clearly feeling too good for our lowly food as the future Mrs. Westwood." When Jenny heard these words she stopped mid bite and felt a bit ashamed. Where she was smiling just seconds ago, she was now having difficulty swallowing the food that was in front of her. Elizabeth in her turn turned to look at Jenny's plate and saw that she was eating something different from the other guests and saw that they were the appetizers that they had been serving earlier. She turned to her mother and said, "It's not like that mother. It's my fault. I didn't think about Jenny not liking seafood. I am simply glad she found something that suits her taste and this way she is preventing the appetizers from being wasted. You always order way too much."

She said this in hopes of lighting the mood but it appeared her mother wasn't planning on letting it go that easily. By now the commotion had caught the attention of the other girls and they too had fallen silent when Elizabeth's mother said, "Or maybe she is too uncultured to appreciate it. The nerve to reject the food you are given at someone else's party." At this point Jenny looked up from her plate as well and said, "I'm sorry Mrs. DuPoint. I didn't mean to offend anyone. I really am bad with seafood. So, I had some of the leftover appetizers instead. If you have a problem with that, I will return them to the kitchen." With a fake mean smile she turned to Jenny and said, "Oh don't bother dear. They will simply be thrown away if you do that. If you meant to be considerate, you should have asked before you did it. What's done cannot be undone, so now we must deal with the consequences of your selfishness. Hopefully there will be enough left to be served later in the evening."

Jenny was flabbergasted. She did not know what she had done to deserve such harsh words over a few appetizers. Elizabeth pulled her mother's arm and said in a hushed voice, "Stop it mother. You don't need to make such a big deal out of this. You are making her uncomfortable." Jenny was at a loss for words and was trying to figure out what had happened when Jason appeared behind them. He had turned away for a second to talk with Harry and the others and when he glanced over at Jenny again, he saw that her expression had turned to something worse then when she was facing a plate of fish. So, he decided to see what was going on for himself. "What seems to be the problem here?" Elizabeth's mother suddenly turned all smiles and said, "Oh Jason dear. What brings you to this side of the table. There is no problem here. We are just having some girl talk." But Jason ignored her words and directed his question directly at Jenny. "Is there something wrong with your food Jen?"

Jenny stammeringly said, "N-n-no...Not really...But it seems we have done something we shouldn't have. I have made Lizzy's mother quite upset. The appetizers were meant for later tonight as well and she now worries that we might not have enough. I apologized and offered to send the food back, but that won't solve it. So, I am trying to think of a way to solve it." With a cold expression Jason turned to face Elizabeth's mother who was covered in cold sweat at this point and he said, "I am the one who ordered them for Jenny. Did I do something I wasn't supposed to do?" Though it appeared like he was asking a question on the outside, it was clear to everyone at the table that there was only one right answer. With a nervous laugh her mother said, "N-no of course not dear. I didn't know it was you who had ordered them. If it's you, you can have as many as you want. And I wasn't upset with your dear fiance, I was simply reprimanding her as a good elder does. I won't make a problem out of this, but if she does this at someone else's party they might not be so understanding."

With a stern look on his face Jason replied, "Thank you for your concern, but she can do whatever she wants. If someone has a problem with that, they can take it up with me. That is if they can. If there is no longer a problem here, I hope I won't hear about this appetizer 'incident' anymore." "No of course not. There was never an incident to begin with. Just a misunderstanding." her mother replied with a fake airy laughter. After that 'subtle' threat Jason turned his gaze back to Jenny and said, "There you have it. She isn't upset and the misunderstanding has been cleared up. So, enjoy your food. You have been running around all day. You must be hungry by now." Jenny nodded and continued to eat, thankful for Jason's interference. Though she still did not understand why such a small issue had gotten Elizabeth's mother so upset, she decided to brush it off as her trying to reprimand her as an elder such as she had said and enjoy her food instead of wasting her energy on something that had already passed.