Flaws of Perfection

Prologue

7th October 1959

Screams of pain broke the silence and echoed in the long hallways, to the ears of Chilion Lufkin who got up quickly, his legs numb for holding that position for too long. He waited impatiently, shortness of breath while he listened to quick footsteps reaching the door in front of him which swung open. An elderly woman, with gray hair that escaped the hairstyle on her head, held on to the handle as she tried to catch her breath.

"Well ?!" Asked the men abruptly. She nodded with her head "It's born, we don't know the sex yet but it seems healthy.."

Chilion didn't let her finish, he rushed out of the room across the long, narrow hallway. The figures of the painting, old family's members, also leaned out to see who or what had created all that noise that had lasted hours and hours.

The man bursted into the bedroom. The room was poorly lit despite It was late noon, many faced turned to him but he didn't linger dwell on them but on the circle of women gathered around the bed.

"Out of the way, move !" He thundered, waving his hands and scattering the small group. In the bad was lying his wife, pale as snow in winter, dripping with sweat.

"Chilion.." She whispered, forcing her face in a tired smiled, reaching out to him.

"Where is it ?" He said, ignoring his wife's request. He looked around quickly, unable to stop his gaze.

What is it ? That was what he really wanted to know, thought Elyza lowering her hand closing her eyes for a moment, after all this was what everyone seem to be interested in. Her son's sex was more important than anything else. A scrawny tall woman with elegant movements approached them with the baby in her arms. Smiling, but whit ice-cold eyes straining to feel any emotion, she placed the newborn in his father's arms.

"A beautiful little girl." She laid a hand on the shoulder of the woman laying beside her and witnessed her downfall.

Elyza at those words peered even more, breath died in her throat. Years of toil, hours of suffering, her only chance and she was, once again the disappointment of the family. Tears pinched her eyes but she pushed them back. Not in front of him, ever.

Chilion stiffened, a wave of rage mounted within him, silent but always growing. He set his eyes on the one holding in his arms, his daughter, his only daughter.He saw his opportunities to resume his role as head of the family, to free himself from the shadow of his wife; they shattered before his eyes. The contempt he felt for the woman in front of him who fled from his gaze was such, that he would leave her and that infant without thinking twice If he could, If he could.

The chains of that marriage which were around his wrists had to be hidden once again, the room was full of nurses who would have tell every detail of that day; not to mention the figure next to him, Walburga Black, with her bony hand resting on his wife's shoulder and the other on her belly. She would tell of that moment for years, as If she had experienced it herself.

Chilion forced his lips into a smile and stroked the baby with his thumb, she clung to it and stopped crying for a few minutes. While he looked at her little pink fingers, Elyza looked up, looking for the first time her daughter and then at her husband; that's when Chilion understood.

He would have get his revenge against her through the little girl in his arms. His daughter may have already failed a task since birth but Elyza had let him down all of his life, making him look like a fool at the eyes of everyone and this newborn, whom her mother longed to hold in her arms passionately, would have been his scapegoat.

With a fake smile, he handed her daughter to her mother's arms and kissed her on the forehead. Elyza shivered at that gesture but tried to hide it, Walburga watched her every move. After a few words of thanks to the medical team who had helped his wife, he left the room with a grin addressed to Elyza, whose arms wrapped tight around her daughter's body.

"How do you want to name her, dear ?" The tall woman by her side leaned towards her. Her hand still caressed her prominent belly and Elyza couldn't help but look at her with a pang of jealousy. She wouldn't have failed, her mind repeated to her, the Blacks never make mistakes unlike you.

She took a long breath and looked her daughter, she slept wrapped in white blankets. She looked so innocent, so perfect. Her mother hoped to be able to keep her like this forever, away form that world which threatened to destroy her every day, that blamed her for every mistakes she made. In her daughter's full cheeks, in her rosiness and in her slightly open mouth, Elyza saw everything that is divine and perfect in the world. "Isabella." She said smiling, resting her forehead on the one of the small body between her arms, tears streaming down her cheeks.

Her Isabella, who she swore to protect since her first breath.