Alaska

Chapter Twenty-Four

CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR

The Whitmore dining room was decorated in bright colours with a light pink tablecloth draped over the large mahogany wooden table and little yellow egg-shaped candles were lit along it.  The room was also filled with all of Lexi's family.

Bianca and her fiance Wesley were standing at a window, kissing, with Bianca's thin arms wrapped around Wesley's neck.  Shawn, Lexi's brother was already sitting and nibbling on a plate of warm bread.  Patricia Whitmore was chatting enthusiastically over a glass of white wine to Bill and Meagen was climbing over her parent's shoulders.

Ashton and Lexi stepped in, awkwardly, Lexi's hands wrapped around herself tightly and Ashton stood, stiff beside her, dressed in a plain black t-shirt and his most formal pair of skinny jeans.  The bustle of chatter silenced when they paced towards the chairs.  Bill eyed the two of them, uneasily and Patricia distractedly glared at her well manicured nails.

The conversations only begun again, when everyone was seated and Ann pranced around, settling plates of mouthwatering steaming dishes onto the table.

"Ehem," Patricia cleared her throat, stopping everyone's grabs for food.  "I'd like to thank you all for coming today and I really do hope that we have a fantastic Easter together, tomorrow at the Country Club."

Lexi and Angel rolled their eyes in unison and Ashton frowned.

"You're enrolled in a country club?" He asked in surprise.

Lexi nodded and accepted a glass of orange juice from Ann.

Throughout the dinner of veal and baked potato, the family kept giving Ashton judgemental glances, waiting for him to do something remotely inappropriate so that they could instantly correct him, yet he was on the best behaviour Lexi had ever seen.

"Alexia," Bianca called from across the table, during dessert.  Her voice silenced the talking in the room and everyone glanced at Lexi, making her blush.

"Yeah?" Lexi replied, swallowing a spoonful of lychees.

"I believe you're going to be needing a new bridesmaid dress, am I right?" Bianca questioned, coldly.

Lexi chewed on her bottom lip and glanced at her round belly.  Surely she wasn't going to fit in the dress Bianca had given her for Christmas, even though she'd probably have her daughter by August.  Hesitantly, she nodded and Bianca sighed, shaking her head in disapproval.

Lexi felt a supportive squeeze on her thigh from under the table and she saw Ashton giving her an encouraging smile from the corner of her eye.

"Are any of you even interested to know whether she's having a boy or a girl?" Angel piped up, in disgust.

Patricia raised a plucked eyebrow at Angel, then her grey eyes rolled over to Lexi.

"Do you know?" She asked, sharply.

Lexi nodded once, and gave a tight smile.  "It's a girl."

Bianca rolled her eyes and took a stern sip from her wine, clearly upset that the attention had torn away from her.  Bill dropped his spoon into his empty bowl of lychees a little louder than normal and Shawn hiccoughed loudly over his soda.

"A girl," Patricia said, slowly.  "Well, let's hope she's raised with Bianca's and my etiquette."

Angel snorted and shook her head, standing bolt upright and hoisting a sleepy Meagen into her arms, storming out of the dining room.  Anthony sat, stiffly and swirled his wine around in his glass.  Lexi sat, sheepishly feeling ridiculous.  It was just like her family to do something like this.  Turning everything around to them, since they were clearly more important...