Giselle Caroline
Bragge
I walk downstairs after giving the children their cake and tea.
But Dylan is not a child anymore.
I think about this as I sit at my usual seat in the kitchen. I remember when all three of the Knightley children were born.
I have been living in Edenfield for almost sixty years now. Edenfield has and will always be my dwelling.
Dylan and Lindsey's grandmother took Dianne, my sister, and I when we were only children. My parents had died when we were very little.
I called their grandmother Mrs Knightley.
She was a very amiable woman. Having no child of their own, Mr. and Mrs Knightley treated us as their own.
I was about fifteen years of age when their first and only child, Charles, was born; but we called him Charlie as a nick name.
My sister had married a few years before Charlie was born.
Charles was such a rascal. Always running around and doing only the Lord knows what.
Mr and Mrs Knightley made me his Godmother, thus providing another excuse for me to spend the rest of my life here. Both of them did leave money for Dianne and me, but we both don't use it a lot.
Dianne has her own family, while I am already married to my home, Edenfield.
Charlie was very hard to handle. Mrs Knightley would always let me look after her first child eventhough she was very protective of him since he was born so many years after her marriage.
Mrs Knightley always adored going to dance recitals of ballet. She often used to get invitations of dance recitals herself.
All of the ballet dance studios wanted Mrs Knightley to come and adorn their fame. Mrs Knightley always took Charlie and I, too.
Charlie would always hate going there. One day,
"I don't want to go, Gissy," an eighteen year old Charlie says while pacing to and fro around the room.
Charlie calls me Gissy as a nick name of my name, Giselle.
This boy is like the little brother I never had, but sometimes he is very annoying.
I sigh deeply and say,
"Don't be silly, boy. You know your mother loves to bring you with her to such events."
"I know. She'd have made me take ballet lessons if I was a girl!"
The old grandfather clock strikes twelve times, meaning it is 12 P.M.
"You should get ready, now. Your mother will be here soon to pick us up."
He groans but leaves the room to get ready. A little while later, Mrs Knightley comes and we all go to the studio. Charlie makes silent groans during the entire ride.
We all sit in our reserved seats and wait for the show to start.
"Mum, can I go somewhere else? I'll still be in the studio."
Mrs Knightley sighs heavily and says,
"Of course, Charlie. But take these back stage passes with you. Just in case you do not get kicked out." She smiles at him and hands him the passes.
Charlie takes the passes and puts them in his pocket. He wanders off to the direction of the back stage.
It has been almost fifteen minutes since Charlie has left. I get up of my seat to find him. I wonder where he is.
"Giselle, if you are going to find Charlie then do not bother yourself. He is probably slacking somewhere here."
"I know Mrs Knightley but I feel a bit anxious. Maybe, a bit of walking will ease my nerves."
She laughs a bit, "You can call me mum, Giselle. I have told you that many times. No matter, do as you wish."
I nod at her and go backstage.
I have always found it disrespectful to call Mrs Knightley, mum. I harden my grip on the pass in my hand and move forward.
Not long after I find Charlie talking to a blue eyed blonde girl at the corner of the room where all the ballerinas are. Some are young girls and boys.
The girl he is talking to is wearing a sparkling pink ballet costume with beautiful talcum powder pink shoes. I take a step behind the door of the room so that they can not see me. Hopefully, no one will kick me out.
"So, why are nervous, Jennifer? This isn't your first dance ricital, right?"
The girl Jennifer runs her hand at the back of her neck.
"Of course, it's not. There's this lady coming tonight who's supposed to be a the wife of a big hot shot business man. She's also a famous critic. The studio's co-ordinator says that if she gives a good review of the performance then the studio will have a huge popularity hit. "
She sighs deeply and looks in the other direction, "What if I mess up?"
"Don't worry. Your part will probably be the best."
"How do you know? We've just met."
He points to the woman eagerly advising the younger dancers near the stage.
"Mrs Woods is your instructor, right? She couldn't stop talking about your dancing when I was with her."
The girl blinks at knowing of Charlie's own acquaintances. We've met Mrs Woods before a few times, but not in the studio.
Charlie just shrugs and says,
"When your part?"
"In about thirty minutes."
"That's great. At least now, both you and me have someone to talk to. I always find these dances boring, no offence."
Jennifer smiles at him and they talk about random things till the time comes for Jennifer to perform.
Charlie goes near the stage but not as close that he can be seen by the audience. I am still behind him but he does not notice me. I can still see the performance from my position.
Jennifer dances beautifully across the stage. Her pirouettes are the most impressive. Every step has been practised to almost perfection and her performance doesn't lack emotion. Even if there would be no music, you could tell if the rhythm is gloomy or happy by her expressions.
She takes a bow after finshing her dance. The audience claps and throws roses onto the stage. She then eloquently runs to the backstage.
When she spots Charlie, she runs over to him and embraces him tightly. She says,
"Thank you so much, Charlie!"
"For what?" He laughs as he wraps his arms around her.
"For calming down my nerves, of course!"
"It's not a big deal..."
After a moment, both of them break from their embrace.
Suddenly, Jennifer notices me watching them and blushes. Charlie looks back at me,
"Giselle? What are you doing here?"
I step towards them, saying,
"Just admiring the show. Aren't you going to introduce me to your new friend?"
They both blush a deep crimson and my godson says,
"Giselle, this is Jennifer. Jennifer this is my godmother, Giselle. She's like an elder sister to me."
She extends her arm to shake hands with me, which I accept.
"Well, I better be going orelse your mother will be worried." I go back to Mrs Knightley, leaving the teens to do whatever they want.
I sit next to Mrs Knightley and she asks,
"Where were you and Charlie?"
"He's backstage with a friend. I was just seeing something... blooming."
She smiles and again diverts her attention towards the show.
Afterwards, both of them started meeting eachother more often. Jennifer even used to come to Edenfield.
It was not till they were both nineteen that they went on their first date.
I remember how much elated Mrs Knightley was at that day. She adored Jennifer like her own daughter.
But as all good things do not last forever, Mr Knightley passed away four years later and Mrs Knightley, shortly after him. Both of them died due to old age. Mr Knightley, I think, was in his late fifties, while Mrs Knightley was in her early sixties.
Charlie was so heartbroken when parents died. I was glad that he had Jennifer with him who loved him so much that she would always stay by his side and support him.
Charlie also equally loved her. The way they looked at eachother reminded me of the way Mr and Mrs Knightley looked at one another.
They then married when they were twenty-seven and twenty-five.
The day of their wedding was so joyful. I even cried that day.
The only wish left was if only Mr and Mrs Knightley could be there.
Also Jennifer's parents were not fond of Charlie for a ridiculous reason.
Her parents said that filthy rich boys like Charlie could not care for a middle classed girl.
I, myself, was amazed by their statement. They further objected that Charlie's parents were dead, thus he would be even more reckless.
I tried to reassure them that Charlie was a nice sort of lad, but they were so stubborn. Sometimes, it is hard to believe that a wonderful girl like Jennifer had parents like them.
However, they gave Jennifer and Charlie their blessings for the marriage on one condition that if their marriage does not end well, (which they were quite sure of) then Jennifer would never turn to her parents.
They then never contacted their daughter and son-in-law after the wedding. They even did not come on the birth of their first grand child, Dylan.
It is very sad.
And Edenfield has never been the same after Charlie, Jennifer and Kathleen's deaths.
Dylan and Lindsey look exactly exactly like their father. Except that Lindsey has her mother's blue eyes and Dylan has his grandfather's hair colour. Lindsey has her father's dark brown hair and Dylan has his green eyes.
The poor child, Kathleen, looked exactly like her mother, blonde hair with blue eyes.
Seeing those two so distant from eachother breaks my heart. Charlie and Jennifer must never have even dreamt that their children would be like this.
I hope that in time... everything may return to normal.
Lindsey has much to acknowledge what her brother has gone through and Dylan, perhaps, has realized that he should have been closer to the child.
I admit that I should have gotten Lindsey more attached to me but I was and am quite old. I can not be as active as I used to be when Charlie was a child.
I look over at the clock and it is time for me to take my medications and rest. I put the children's supper in the microwave oven so that they might eat it when they want. I have already eaten mine.
I have never been burdened with work in this house. A few maids come on week days in the morning to do the cleaning when Lindsey and Dylan are out. I only monitor them.
I get up of my chair and go towards my room.
Perhaps, I will tell Lindsey later what Dylan did after their grandparents came after the funeral...
Tada!
So, the trip down memory lane ends for now:')
This chapter is dedicated to StellaIsabellaMartin who was really interested in Ms Bragge's back story.
Hope your questions got answered, Stella;-)
And, the house in the picture you see above is Edenfield. It is exactly how I imagine Edenfield to be like. Except for the extra greenery outside the house and the closed gate, of course.
That picture does not belong to me. It belongs to its original owner. I just get credit for finding it(which was really hard to find the perfect one, may I add).
What are you all waiting for? This is a double update.
Flip over to read the next chapter:D
Also, please read the author's note at the end of the next chapter.
Avoid weird typos.
Tootles!
Love,
MS Zame:-)