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❛ if it makes you happy, then it is not a waste of time. ❜ ———anonymous ﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏
ISOBEL CRAWLEY loved her family, loved them very much. She loved her gentle husband, who always bent to her whims with such lighthearted amusement, she loved her dear son, who had become a bright light in her life as she watched him grow into a man they were all proud of, and she loved her darling daughter, who had quickly become a godsend blessing to their small family, an pure, innocent, loving angel in human flesh form.
Bearing a child had been a challenge between her and Reginald, birthing Matthew had been a miracle in of its own self, and at the age of thirty-two years. Though not an old age to bear a child, the difficulties over the years persisted and they had lost hope of gaining another child of their own after Matthew's birth. A terribly heartbreakingly hard pill to swallow, to know that Isobel would never get a daughter she oh so wanted, never have the chance to have another child to add onto their small family. They grieved the child they could never have after a particularly nasty miscarriage— another son, one they would never get to know, though it hurt so much that they could already love the underdeveloped babe to this extent already. And then, when their dearest boy Matthew was eleven years old, another miracle occurred, disguised in the dark veil of tragedy.
A young Chinese man, name unknown, sick and dying of the deadly pneumonia, stumbled to their doorstep with his little baby girl in his arms, screaming out her cries in distress. An immigrant who had come to this country for a better life, yet life had treated so unfairly.
The little baby girl, he had rasped and written down onto a piece of paper on his deathbed they had fashioned for him in their guest bedroom so the doctor could see him, was given the name Ninghua— from the Chinese characters 宁 (níng) meaning peaceful, calm, serene and 花 (huā) meaning flower, blossom. She'd been given the character Hua for her mother, who had been named Lihua. Ning in the hopes her life would be peaceful, calm, serene.
He only asked for his little girl to be taken care of, to be given proper care, to not let her rot on the streets. To be safe and cared for and loved. So when the young man had passed, Isobel Crawley took little Ninghua in and gave her a loving home with a family that could cherish her— theirs.
Isobel had always wished for a daughter. She'd loved having a son, her smart and kind son who never failed to impress her with his brilliance, but there was a special bond between a mother and daughter that Isobel yearned for. And Ninghua was a darling little girl, whom she cherished and treasured with all her heart. Albeit she spoiled the girl a little, though she never held a rotten bone in her body, always as sweet and humble as ever.
It wasn't until she was passed the threat of bearing any illness she may have gotten from her ailing birth father that Reginald had brought up the changing of the little baby girl's name. Instead of Ninghua being her only name, they would add on to it. To ensure she was not discriminated or bullied for her foreign name— her face would give her enough grief from those who were wholly prejudiced and awfully ignorant, Reginald had reasoned. So Giselle Ninghua Crawley was what she was aptly named by the family.
Isobel enjoyed having her darling Giselle as a daughter, having always wanting a girl to give a pretty name. Her little blessing, an angel among humanity, Giselle was a beautiful baby girl, who was smart and kind, compassionate and gentle; soft-spoken and a bit timid, but so very good-natured and generous. And she was all hers, her precious little girl.
Even with their large age gap, Matthew was a perfect older brother. Patient, gentle, and sweet, young Matthew adored his little sister and spoiled her as much as possible. Which never changed as they both grew older. Giselle was the light of their family, bringing a brightness into their lives that they had never knew was missing.
Giselle remains a beautiful young girl, both inside and out. Gentle and soft-spoken, but madly intelligent. Though she had been headstrong and willful as a young child, often crying when Matthew had to leave for school in her wish to not be parted from her beloved brother, she had aged and matured over the years and took to the pursuit of knowledge to keep her occupied.
Though not titled, the family was well-off enough to live comfortable lives with privileges that many others may not be privy to. This money had gotten them tutors for Giselle, who learned to read and write and speak her mother-tongue, as well as the English language. She took to books like a fish to water, reading through the books in their small library and then the local library and various bookstores around the village with great speeds and enthusiasm.
Giselle enjoyed reading, learning, playing the piano, and had found she quite enjoyed the small lessons she was informally taking from their cook in their house at Manchester.
. . .
Isobel smiled as she listened to her darling daughter play the piano for them, Mozart's "Sonata for Two Pianos in D Major, to be more specific, as Matthew followed along beside her. The two had previously been playing with the keys to make a song of their own, before Giselle had insisted on practicing a song she had been learning for some time now.
Sipping on her tea, Isobel smiled as she closed her eyes and let the peace of the beautiful piano piece play out. Such content peace on this wonderful weekend, Isobel only wished her beloved Reginald could have been here to see such a serene scene. She hoped this moment could never end.
But it would. Soon their lives would be thrust into a chaos of a world they were not familiar with, with people who were family, but not. And it all starts with the sinking of the Titanic.
﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏ ( 𝗡𝗢𝗧𝗘 ! )
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Hope you have enjoyed the prologue to Darling! I just needed to get the little biography of Giselle out, how she was adopted by the Crawleys and how her name came to be. I thought it'd be a good idea to do so in a different point of view, so here we had it in Isobel's! Figured it'd be a good start to show how Isobel, as the mother of Matthew and Giselle, sees things before we get into the story!
