Hello, everybody! I have already tried to write this first chapter twice, but I just haven't been happy with either of them. So here is the third attempt that I am actually happy with. I was going to wait to entirely finish this to publish this, but I just really wanted to publish it. I'm still ahead, though. So here it is!
"She's beautiful, isn't she?" Cleona asked her husband, looking down at the newborn girl in her arms. She was everything that she had ever wanted. Sure, she loved her two sons, but she had always wanted a daughter. After all, wasn't it every woman's dream to have a little daughter to pamper with tea parties, tiaras, pink dresses, and a dazzling pink bedroom? Maybe it wasn't what every woman wanted, but it was something that Cleona had always dreamed of.
So of course she had been delighted when the midwife exclaimed, "It's a boy!" When she gave birth to her first child. And she had been joyful when her second child was a boy, but there was a hole in her heart that could only be filled by a little girl that she could call her daughter. And now she had what she wanted, and she felt more joy than she ever could have imagined. She now could only smile down at the little bundle in her arms.
"Yes, she is. She's gorgeous." Her husband, Oliver, said, beaming down at the small girl. "Shall I call in the boys?"
"Yes." Cleona said. Her husband left the room and was back in a few seconds with her two oldest children, Beau and Leopold.
"Is it a boy or a girl?" Asked 6-year-old Leopold, her oldest child.
"She is a girl. You have a sister!" Oliver said. Ushering his sons towards their mother and new sister.
"What's her name, mama?" Asked Beau, who was 4 years old and the Upland's second son.
"Galinda." Beamed Cleona. "Galinda Mirabella Adeen Upland."
"Wow. That's a really long name!" Beau exclaimed.
"Yes, it is. But it's a beautiful name, isn't it?" His father asked. Beau and Leopold both nodded.
"Well, then, I guess we should let you get some rest." Oliver said, ushering his sons out of the room and closing the door behind them, leaving Cleona and her daughter alone together.
"Oh, Galinda, I am so glad that you're here." Cleona said. "And that you're a girl. Not that it matters, because I would still love you if you were a boy. But I am still so very happy that you are a girl. We'll have so much fun together! You are going to be spoiled rotten, my girl. There is nothing that I won't give you. You are going to be everything that I dreamed of in a daughter. I know that you won't let me down. You are a dream come true, Galinda. My Galinda Mirabella Adeen. Do you want to know what your name means? Galinda means "goodness" in old Gilikin. Mirabella means "wonderful". And Adeen means "little fire". Because you are going to be the essence of goodness, making good always. You are going to be wonderful, more wonderful than the wonderful wizard himself! And you , my Galinda, are going to be a little fire, a spark of love, compassion, and kindness. You're going to have that fire, the kind that makes you fight for every little thing that you are passionate about. You are going to be the essence of goodness, love, kindness, passion, sincerity, innocence, of wonder, of all things good. You are going to do amazing things one day, my dear girl."
I know that was really short, but I just really wanted to set things up. The first couple of chapters will be short and just setting everything up. Anyway, I was browsing names for Galinda and her friends and brothers and sisters (yes, there will be many more siblings) and I also needed a middle name for Galinda, but I wanted two. Somehow, I stumbled upon the name "Mirabella" and I was thinking that it was a good name, but then I saw that it meant "wonderful" and I thought that I just HAD to use that name. And then I found Adeen and I thought that that could work, too. As far as Galinda, I just made up the meaning. Okay, so see you next update. Updates will be every other day.