Family Dinner(Everyone Related)

[Samantha Montgomery]

"Uh oh." Sam said shaking her head, catching her father's look. She laughed then leaned in conspiratorily with Jarred, " Whenever Papa gets *that* look in his eye, he's just moments away from going overboard." she whispered loudly, " I think he's already buying her a pony in his mind."

She paused a moment to assess her father and tilted her head at his expression, "Make that a thouroughbred instead." she teased.

When her other cousins came down, she had a smile to bestow on all of them, and a warm nod towards Riley, this was her dinner too and Sam was glad she was there.

[Caleb Renneau]

Caleb was aware of the importance tonight's dinner held. He knew what Sam was hoping for, and he was hoping she got it. Then again he did have a soft part of his sister, she was, underneath it all, quite a tender hearted girl. As for this new brother of his he didn't know what to expect. He wasn't there when the man was originally introduced to the family, so this would be his first impression. Making sure he was dressed accordingly he made his way down to the dining room where the others were gathered.

[Jarred Donnelly]

And suddenly, Jarred was quite overwhelmed. There were a lot of people coming from everywhere saying hello and greeting him and his daughter. He politely said hello to all of them, and tried his best to commit their names to memory. When he had a moment, he leaned over to Sam, who he felt most comfortable with at this point, despite that fact there were a lot of people closer to his age. "You'll have to help me with names later."

[Samantha Montgomery]

"Oh good Caleb you're here!" she said wanting her other brother to meet Jarred. Then the most peculiar thing happened when Caleb was standing right next to Jarred. Sam's brow furrowed was it just her or did they look remarkably similar?

Jarred's request shook her out of her stupor and she smiled slyly at him, " Don't worry I won't leave your side." she promised then nodded toward Caleb, " This is Caleb my brother, our brother...our Step brother" she said introducing him three times then laughing, "Well we're all family so it doesn't really matter, he's Sheryl's my step mother's son." the way Samantha had said Sheryl's name with such fondness left no doubt of Sam's affection for her step mama who she found it would be infinitely more easy to love than her own mother.

[Geoffrey Montgomery]

Geoffrey expected that Riley was probably getting a little overwhelmed as well, even though she knew most everyone except for Sam and Jarred. "Sam's good at playing hostess," he said in a low voice as he pulled her a little bit further from the gathering crush of people. "She's definitely a Montgomery, that's for sure."

He gave her another assessing look, trying to make sure she was OK with all of this. She seemed to be doing well enough, but he knew when her smile was forced. He couldn't blame her, but he also felt that this would ultimately help her. It wasn't good to pull away from everyone; Merlin knew it wasn't helping Uncle Mathieu.

[Christine Montgomery]

When Geoffrey let go of her or she let go of Geoffrey she really wasn't sure, she simply moved to her seat and sat quietly. Everyone was introducing themselves to Jarred already, the man didn't need anyone else bothering him, and she didn't really have much to say.

Too many thoughts were going through her head, she hadn't even noticed the little girl until Samantha mentioned someone being adorable. Her eyes lifted. Christine had always loved children, if there was one thing that could make her smile it would probably have been that little girl, and in fact a shadow of a smile did grace her lips, a guy with a kid couldn't be all that bad.

[Caleb Renneau]

Caleb didn't see it at first, though there was something unusually familiar about the man in front of him and it made him tilt his head at an odd angle before shaking out of whatever it was then extending his hand, "Caleb Renneau, you must be Jarred. Sam's talked of nothing else." he teased, then nudged her with his elbow, "I guess you could say you're giving me a run for my money, I was quite used to being her only big brother."

He could see Sam rolling her eyes through the corner of his own, but he smiled all the same.

[Samantha Montgomery]

Sam rolled her eyes at him, "You're supposed to play nice Caleb." huffy she motioned to one of the house elves to begin bringing the food. It didn't really matter that they weren't all seated accordingly, to be honest she was just happy they were all there.

From the corner of her eye she could see her father fidgeting which was extremely unusual for a man like him, she understood though, the last time h e had fidgeted was when he went to pick her up after hearing about her mother. She supposed he was nervous, and believed that food might settle him.

While this was going to be unavoidably awkward Sam was going to pretend very convincingly that everything was as it should be.

[Anthony Montgomery]

It wasn't until the food was being served that an owl flew it, though how it got inside was to remain a mystery. These owls could be pretty industrious when they needed to be.

It was, unmistakably, Anthony's owl, which dropped it's letter in front of Edward before hooting a couple of times and taking off. It did not wait for a response.

Good evening everyone! Sorry I can't make it for dinner. I'll try and be there later in the evening, though.

-Anthony

Short, to the point, and irritatingly non-explanitory. But that was Anthony these days.

[Riley Neves]

Riley's eyes were wide while she was taking everything in, and it didn't matter that she knew most everyone here. It didn't matter that they were all friendly and welcoming.... she didn't know how to handle the situation. There were just too many people, too much noise. But she knew that if she left, Geoffrey would go with her, and she didn't want him to miss his family's dinner.

Her body was a little stiff as she tried to deal with it, but she took his hand. "Where are we supposed to sit?" she asked quietly.

[Edward Montgomery]

Simultaneously bursting with pride over Sam's hosting skills and secretly being terrified that he might do or say something wrong to his son he for the most part stayed with his brother idly speaking, though it was clear his attention was on his son and daughter.

He didn't even notice when the owl flew in until something fell to his hands, he opened the short missive and his jaw tightened. One lousy dinner! Anthony couldn't bear to come home for one dinner? Especially one as important as this? One his daughter had worked on relentlessly, one where his son was attending?

It was rare that anyone could make Edward as angry as he was becoming. Letting the letter fall from his fingers to James' he gave his brother a curt look.

[James Montgomery]

James watched his brother's face as he read the short note, keeping quiet until it was passed to him.

His eyes stayed on Edward for a moment before they dropped to the letter, and he sighed, reading it twice. Then, slowly, he folded it and tucked it inside his robes. "Don't mention it. There's enough people here that maybe Sam won't notice." He caught a house elf's attention and asked them to take away one place setting so the absence of their youngest sibling wouldn't be staring them in the face.

"Edward," James said, his tone though. "There's obviously something going on that we're not privy to. Don't get too angry until we know what's going on."

[Geoffrey Montgomery]

Geoffrey felt like it was his job to protect Riley and Christine, both of whom were clearly shell-shocked by the entire situation. At a normal family get-together, his uncle Edward and aunt Sheryl would sit at the head of the table, and his parents would sit at the foot of the table. Everyone else would fill in accordingly; Caleb and Samantha would be at the end near their parents, while he and Christine would be at the other end with his parents. Christopher and Anthony, if they bothered to show up, would be somewhere in the middle, and any guests would be with the person who invited them. But this event was different. Jarred was here, and everyone wanted to get to know him. He was a new addition to the family. Surely his parents would want to sit close to Jarred and his daughter. And Geoffrey just knew that, no matter what, he wanted Riley and Christine to be in a position where they could be silent, if they weren't comfortable talking.

Leaning close to Riley, he replied, "Wait until Jarred sits down. He's really the focus of attention here tonight, so you probably don't want to sit near him... let him get the attention tonight. You'll hardly even be noticed."

[Jarred Donnelly]

Jarred was a little overwhelmed as well, but for different reasons, unaware of the tragedy that was casting a shadow over the family.

Evie, on the other hand, seemed to love the attention she was getting, and had a bright, almost toothless smile on her face. It put Jarred at ease; if she was comfortable, Jarred was comfortable.

He greeted Caleb, assuring him he didn't want to step over any boundaries where anyone was concerned, and the watched the food began to come in, although nearly everyone was still standing. "Hey, Sam," he said, his voice lowering slightly. "Do you guys have Cheerios or something like that? Just in case I can't get Eves to eat... she likes Cheerios."

His eyes flashed to Edward, who looked angry, which surprised Jarred after seeing him so calm earlier, and he looked to Sam again, questioningly.

[Samantha Montgomery]

Sam had never even heard of Cheerios so she was perplexed at that but refusing to let him see it she smiled and nodded, "I'll get right on it."

She proceeded then to tell one of the house elves to get "Cherry Os" hoping they would have better luck than she at knowing what they were. When she returned she assured him that it wouldn't be a problem so intent on her brother she didn't notice what had made her father upset and the composed creature she usually was fell to a quiet concern as she shook her head then shrugged.

"We're almost all here..." she gave him a half smile, "Don't be overwhelmed really nobody bites I promise...I think we're all more concerned with what you think of us than what we think of you, just follow Evie, she's got the room wrapped around her finger."

[Jarred Donnelly]

Jarred nodded, releasing a breath. "Yeah... you know, for being a year old, she's really got a way with people. Takes after her mother, that way." It was easier to talk about Evie and take the attention off of himself. "Thanks for looking into the cereal," he added.

He hoped she was right, because he was really on edge, worried that every single person in the room was judging everything about him.

"Wait, almost? How many more are there?"

[Samantha Montgomery]

"Only a few." she gave him a smile, "Relax Jay. I'm not going to let anyone bite you, I promise." she teased.

She glanced at the table to see who all was missing, there was Sheryl and Lillian, and Anthony...but where was Anthony seated? She bit her bottom lip wondering if he was okay or where he was at all. She figured Sheryl and Lillian were simply getting ready.

[Edward Montgomery]

"Well Sam your aunt and Sheryl should be down soon." he smiled reassuring her although he was the one in need of reassurance. Edward had rarely ever been nervous about anything but this was just a bit too much for him, as excited as he was to have a long lost son, he was terrified.

"Why don't we all take a seat?" he suggested.

[Sheryl Montgomery]

Sheryl had indeed been upstairs with Lillian, getting ready. This was an important dinner, and she understood that. She was going to meet her husband's son and granddaughter, and it made her nervous. What if Jarred didn't end like them?

She entered the dining room just as Edward suggested sitting down, and she came up beside him, taking his arm. "Hello, handsome. Hows it going so far?"

[Edward Montgomery]

As always Sheryl took his breath away when she walked into the room. It didn't matter the circumstance even one as intense as this. She was his rock and a calm swept over him.

"I believe he's just as nervous as we are." Edward chuckled lightly. How he wished he knew his son. He could already tell through the boy's posture and the way he carried himself that his son was a man Edward could be proud of, but if only he had had a hand in that upbringing.

"Jarred I would like you to meet my wife Sheryl."