From DirtyWiki

“she refused to be bored chiefly because she wasn't boring.”
ZELDA FITZGERALD

Contents 1 Out of Character 2 In Character 2.1 Specifics 2.2 Detailed Information 2.2.1 Physical Description 2.2.2 Personal Information 2.2.2.1 Random Important Facts 2.2.2.2 Hobbies and/or Strange Abilities (non-supernatural, okay, SHE WAS A SIDESHOW ACT) 2.2.3 Backstory 2.2.3.1 The Black Hole: 2007 - 2008 2.2.3.2 The Not-So-Merry Widow: 2008 - Present 2.2.4 Backstory: Timeline 2.2.5 Backstory: Cast of Characters 2.2.6 Backstory: Prose 2.2.7 Backstory: Simplified 3 External Links

Out of Character

Because her life developed itself and then EXPLODED. Scout's.

THIS IS PROBABLY WORTH MENTIONING: Isabella was known around the world for being 'winged'. Even when she left the freakshows for vaudeville, she was still widely known as America's Little Angel. This is because, well, there aren't many people out in the world who have working wings. When you find one, you show it off. There are numerous photographs of her between the age of twelve and fifteen with wings. The only reason no one ever pursued the issue further was that by WWII, most people decided the entire thing was probably a hoax (dwindling acceptance towards freakshows by the 1930s and loss of revenue for vaudeville being the two main factors they blamed), and Randolf Fitzwilliam would take legal action against anyone trying to nose into his wife's life. Many people did, however, including various private investigators, even some hired by the royal family, as she was always at their parties (and it was customary to investigate anyone close to any of the royal family). Unfortunately for anyone looking into things, they only ever got as far as Isabella Radcliffe and the story about her parents being shot by gangs in Londonderry some time before she was twelve.

It is probably also worth mentioning that she was so famous in the late 20s and all through the 30s and 40s and early 50s (after that, she aged herself in public) that to see her now would probably take on the same tone as seeing a young Ava Gardner walk into a room. You wouldn't assume it was Ava Gardner, but you'd be really quite shocked at the resemblance. Her make-up and hair has evolved somewhat, making it easier to think of her as a different person if you aren't aware it's the same person.

So yes, in case there is any confusion, if your character has some sort of interest old famous people, or if your character knows old famous people and is aware of angels, it is entirely plausible they might call her out or realize who she is. Please do ask permission before you take that and run with it, but I thought it was worth adding in case there was any uncertainty.

In Character

Specifics

Full Name: Isabella Fitzwilliam. Stage name: Isabella Radcliffe. Born Isibél (EESH-ih-bail) Ó Móráin.
Nickname(s): Most commonly Iz (more than Isabella). Also, Izzy, Isabellie, Angel May, Mum, Grandmama, you name it. Loads of nicknames when she was on stage ('Easy Iz', the Baby Vamp). Her mother called her a host of sweet little pet names, but Isabella has conveniently blocked out those good memories.
Species: Angel
Birthdate: 14 July, 1912 (cr. 23 August, 1983 - r. 17 January, 2007)
Birthplace: Oileán Thoraí, Contae Dhún na nGall, Éire
Hometown: Lots of places. Mostly in America (especially New Orleans and most especially Chicago, and New York, but for some reason doesn't consider this as much of a home), but then a few in England (London and Corsham), too. And South Africa (Cape Town). And the afterlife for nearly twenty four years.
Currently Resides: Corsham, Wiltshire, England.
Family: Mother, Cecily Ó Móráin (estranged). Husband, Randolf Fitzwilliam (deceased). Children, Charlie, Scott and Alice Fitzwilliam.
Sexuality: Straight
Relationship Status: Married to Randolf Fitzwilliam from 1933 until his death. That makes her a widow. Currently, she is seeing Cary Vaughn-Blair, but she's a girl of the late Jazz Age and so flirts like she breathes and always has.
Schooling: Homeschooled by her mother and great aunt, taught English by dozens of people. Absolutely no formal schooling whatsoever (she reads and writes very well, but she can't do much more than third grade mathematics).
Occupation: Former freak act/circus performer, former vaudeville performer, former Ziegfeld Girl. Currently still a wife (though widowed) and mother (to grown children). Mostly a floating socialite who can't talk about herself because she died in 1983.

Detailed Information

Physical Description

Isabella is about 5'7". Her body is what you might call 'pear-shaped', in that she's got lots of hips and thigh and bum and a more slender waist. Her hip-waist-bust measurements are alarmingly similar to her granddaughter's, but the difference in height and build changes how it looks. She was pretty flexible as a girl (doing acrobatics in the circus will do that) and is less so now but hey, she can still do things that work really nicely in bed. And that, of course, is the point. In keeping her flexibility, that is.

As far as the rest of her appearance goes, she has white blonde hair that is very curly when long. Though she's had it styled in many ways, it's currently about to her shoulder blades and in soft layers, but she keeps it in braids and twists and chignons more than anything else (different chignons are really what she does most). She also has big, expressive, really big, flirty, bright blue eyes (same shade as the blue eyes most of her family has, but hers look almost identical to her mother's in both shape and color) and vaguely freckled, rather pale skin. Once upon a time, she used to have a lot of freckles. As she lived her life away from Ireland, her freckles faded in intensity but still lingered as a reminder of her former life.

As she is an angel, she is beautiful in the inhuman sort of way that all angels are, but she can play both adorable and sultry, depending on her mood and her location. As a girl, she often played the cute blonde on stage. In the Follies, she had to steam up the stage in glamorous gowns. She tends to wear a lot of make-up, where most of the women in her family really don't, and her appearance is always as polished as one can get. And unusually polished and glamorous for the 21st century. She's not the sort of woman who will take comfort sleeping in a t-shirt and pyjama bottoms (unlike her granddaughter Claire, especially). She doesn't even own jeans. Or sweats. You can find her in riding boots and that is casualwear.

Age-wise, she looks quite young, perhaps sixteen. If you get her without make up and in less adult clothing (or in less adult situations), anyway. The way she carries herself and the way she dresses and acts makes her seem slightly older. But really, because of her complexion, it's like night and day if you get her out of make-up. Her eyebrows are naturally very, very light, her lashes are only a little darker (but long), and she usually has pink on her cheeks. Because she easily washes out, she was even put in heavy make-up as a young girl at the age of twelve.

Though she's no more exceptionally beautiful than any other angel, she tends to have a personality that enhances it (often in a risky way because she knows how to use it--and she will, because it is her best defense).

Personal Information

At her core, Isabella is a romantic, devoted entirely to her husband and children. She's also quite opinionated, a trait she inherited from her mother. In addition to believing no one had the right to judge or ridicule others for whom they choose to love (because of her own mother's apparent disapproval of her marriage), she was adamantly against using immortality on anyone but those who are already immortal. She did not believe it was a blessing and instilled this belief in her children. Her mother instilled this belief in her. Everyone in the family is expected to cross over at some point. However, in recent months, this belief has dwindled. She no longer subscribes to it and regrets not making her husband immortal.

As a girl, she was taught to sing songs and recite stories that had been handed down through the family for many centuries and she could still sing them all to this day. Her traditional upbringing meant she was quite the farm girl, raising sheep and chickens and cutting turf for the fire. She helped thatch the roof and tend the gardens. She even did a bit of fishing. But then, of course, her family hardly did things the human way and it was usually out of necessity that they ever even hid their wings (today, her family never keeps their wings out to the same extent).

Spending a decade in circuses and vaudeville and chorus lines, Isabella had a lot of random talents as a girl. She sang and tap danced and learned acrobatics, juggling, and slapstick. Most of these talents haven't been retained, but she can still juggle and she'll still sing the songs she knew and if you poke her enough, you can get her to perform random tricks (Avery would greatly benefit from doing so, as she could teach him most of what he is teaching himself). As she abandoned most of her slapstick and circus stunts on stage, she often just sang and danced and she trained very extensively to make it look good. She learned ballroom and fell in love with it. She and Randolf often went out dancing, and they danced until he could no longer physically endure it. She still loves to dance with people. She still loves galas.

She was raised speaking (Ulster) Irish in what is now the Donegal Gaeltacht, and she also speaks fluent (but slightly rustly) French.

She spoke no fluent English until she was in her teens. Her speech was molded heavily when she was in America and she only became perfectly fluent after marrying Randolf Fitzwilliam. The refinement of her lifestyle and Randolf's help ironed out her grammatical problems. She has a distinctively American way of speaking from time to time (she has a Chicago mannerism around her hard 'a' sounds), but she's still rather distinctly Irish. She had a very cutesy, high way of speaking when she was a teenager (think a real life Betty Boop, as that was exactly her). Until this went out of fashion, she kept it. She still uses a lot of endearments and has a bit of a Mae West approach to her inflexions.

During her time with the Ziegfeld Follies in New York City, she fell deep into high fashion and spent most of her money on her clothes, meaning that she didn't live as well as she could have. Isabella is not one to suffer in poverty, as she knew nothing but poverty until she encountered Randolf. When she met him, when she was spoiled by rich men, she started to develop a love for extravagance. This love for all that shimmers never left her. During the thirties, forties, and up until her so-called 'death' in 1983, she was one of Britain's best known and most endearing socialites. Today she still keeps up with high fashion drama. If you think her granddaughter is a fashionista, Isabella is an even bigger one. She wears make-up and jewelry and furs and feathers and perfumes and all kinds of decadent things. Haute couture dresses from decades gone by, bright red lipstick, perfectly roller-curled and styled hair. She never, ever, ever goes anywhere at all without wearing a hat. Most of the hats she actually wears are from the 20s, 30s, 40s, 50s, and 60s. Most of her clothes are, as well. She's seen almost a century of life in different locations and carries herself with a maturity that can pull these things off.

She is incredibly outgoing, perhaps one of the most outgoing members of the family. She is not shy, not timid, and not easily embarrassed. Having lived on the streets for two years as a young girl, she learned how to be an adult by the time she was twelve. Stubborn to a fault, she'll get her way no matter what.

Like her son, Isabella is hugely into cars and driving at illegal speeds. Unlike her son, she actually does drive at illegal speeds more than legal ones, and would make an excellent professional driver. If you have a really hot car, that is one of the quickest ways to her heart. And by heart, I do mean bed.

She's also a natural flirt. Her outgoing personality began to change as she matured and the environment changed and she learned that body language was stronger than her stilted English--or any other language. It was far more comfortable for her to shake her hips and bat her eyes than it was for her to introduce herself and keep small talk. This comfort made flirting not only a habit, but a natural way of interaction. She teased everyone and as a teenager was not entirely the most chaste girl you could meet. While she played hard to get more than easy, she still slept with a host of men starting at the age of fourteen until Randolf came into her life. Sex itself does not always provide emotional attachment for her--she has to be inherently fond of the person she's with, and if they treat her in a certain way, she falls for them. The reason for this is simply that she had no one to tell her sex was a bad, dirty thing meant only for people deeply in love, so she is very sexually expressive. However, after so many years with Randolf, she associates sex with him and him alone.

However, she still managed to flirt while married because Randolf was quite a ladies man himself, and the couple, who attended all the most elite social events and royal engagements, were regarded as quite a powerhouse of charisma. This charisma still lingers even without her husband at her side, but she now epitomizes the most difficult woman a man could ever hope to pursue--as in, she'll never let him get what he wants, only what she wants.

She is a firecracker and the biggest handful if you aren't sure of yourself. She doesn't need material spoiling any longer and prefers body language and teasing. Like certain family members, she has a tendency to distract herself with sexual gratification when life becomes trying. This is more of a problem for other people than it is for her--until she finds herself emotionally invested. Then she pushes away harder and drowns herself in impersonal things.

Being a firecracker also makes her have a strong temper. Being stubborn only makes it worse. When she believes in something, she'll defend it. She is not one to hide how she feels if someone would benefit from knowing about it. She can be blunt but she is inherently kind rather than rude and adjusts her attitude accordingly.

Here is her primary vehicle, a 1938 Aston Martin Lagonda. Hers is a light tan color. It was restored by Charlie after having been stored at his garage for decades. The car has bought by Randolf in early 1938. Now understand why she loves to speed.

And she keeps two photographs of Randolf in her wallet. One is the same photograph she kept all throughout their marriage. A photo taken the day after their wedding, with Randolf shirtless in swim trunks and grinning on the beach of a very familiar estate (Isabella's hair caught in the frame so there are white imperfections on one side). And she also has a studio portrait of him from the 70s, one of the last photos where he was still healthy. Silver hair, dignified aging, handsome as ever.

She also keeps one photo of the entire family in her wallet. An photo dating from the early 70s, just after Patrick was born (and he's crying in the photo because he was not a happy baby, so Randolf is giving him a grandfatherly look of concern and trying to fuss with him--this photo is definitely an outtake). The photo is of Randolf and Isabella and their children, and all of the grandchildren born by 1973. And the wives (and Robert's in it, too, even though he's not a wife). It's a tiny picture of a lot of people. The bigger version is in the estate's parlour. As well as a version where Patrick isn't crying but looks like the Antichrist.

One of her hobbies as a girl was to smoke while flirting (usually this meant stealing the cigarette or whatever was being smoked from the person she was flirting with). Until recently, smoking was never a full-time habit, but she would smoke cigarettes, cigars, pipes, cloves, you name it. Now she smokes cigarettes infrequently, man or no man. Wait for her to take up a pipe.

There are numerous reels of her dancing in sideshows as a young teen, and a few recordings of her dancing in vaudeville and in the Ziegfeld Follies. Until recently, they were distributed among her children and grandchildren, but they are now back at the estate and she will show them to anyone interested. Except anyone quite young, as there are saucy routines. The earliest reels and photographs of her never made it into her possession and are stored in archives in various places and frequently used in documentaries about the 20s and circuses and sideshows and vaudeville.

Since the death of her husband (second death, if you were to ask her), Isabella has formed an actual phobia of love and commitment. She won't let anyone believe she's the faithful sort, but she won't care if she twists someone into believing they love her (she will never believe anyone capable of loving her the way her husband loved her). She's terrified of someone depending on her for happiness because she can't even depend on herself for happiness. She's operating on an odd level of detachment from the world, fueled by the fact that she doesn't think she belongs in it anymore. Having already had a life that was documented and watched, she feels she has absolutely nothing to lose and so will do just about everything, short of murder, because it doesn't really matter, anyway. She feels a bit like the dead horse people proverbially beat.

Random Important Facts

1.) Isabella has told no one her birth name, not even her husband. No one even thought of the fact that her name is not distinctly Irish, and no one ever asked if she had been born with another. She won't hide it but she won't readily volunteer it (only because she really does not connect with that part of her life anymore and simply doesn't want to go there).

2.) Additionally, she has told no one, not even her family, where she came from. All they know is that she was involved in circuses and carnivals that came out of London, but beyond London, no one knows where in Ireland she is from and her accent has faded so much that you can't pinpoint the county any longer. Most of this reason was that she didn't want anyone to go looking, fearing her mother's retribution. Another reason was that she truly saw America as her home and considers herself both American and English, but only Irish because she was born there. It's part of what being bitter means.

3.) She has a grave. No body in the grave now or when she was "buried", but a grave. Next to her husband. In the family plot. Instead of a funeral, which Randolf had, the family delayed the announcement of her death and held a memorial service that only those who knew her secret attended. This was simply because they had no body and no explanation for why she had died.

4.) Legally, she is deceased. She uses an excuse of being someone's grandchild to get by, and her altered birthdate will one day be chosen (and will probably be something as alarming as 1989 or 1990). However, most people don't ask who she is.

5.) If you ever decide to Google her (don't really Google her), you'll find every photo ever taken of her when she was working in sideshows, circuses, vaudeville, and in the Ziegfeld Follies. The earliest photo that still exists is one of her at the age of twelve when she was featured in a local paper's article about having an angel visiting. Her wings are out in the photo. This was directly before she debuted in a sideshow. But you'll also find all of the boudoir photos taken, and she posted totally nude on many occasions. Watch out, grandkids. There are also articles about her being out on the town with Chicago mobsters. There were pornographic photos of her taken by her horrible manager in America, but those were confiscated by the police and have never been released. She was fourteen and fifteen at the time they were taken.

Hobbies and/or Strange Abilities (non-supernatural, okay, SHE WAS A SIDESHOW ACT)

I figure this is probably a simpler way of seeing what this old girl can (or used to be able to) do.

Most of these things were learned while she was still in circus sideshows, but all came in handy on the vaudeville stage. What she is actually still capable of doing without hurting herself is debatable.

• Singing
• Tap dancing
• Acrobatics
  • Some contortion
  • Handstand/handwalking
  • Aerial arts (aerial hoop, flying trapeze, corde lisse, Russian swing)
• Fire eating/breathing
• Plate spinning
• Juggling of all sorts (including cigar boxes)
• Ballroom dancing
• Physical comedy (slapstick: Keaton, Chaplin, Stooges)
• Devil sticks
• Stilt walking
• Rola bola
• Unicycling
• Charleston and its counterparts

She can light some of these things on fire. She likes fire. I think it runs in the family.

Now, these are almost regular hobbies and common talents. Things that normal people outside of freakshows often participate in or are capable of doing all over the world.

• Gardening
• Driving really really lethally fast
• Cars
• Men
• Collecting jewelry, even costume jewelry
• Irish, English, French
• Reading romance novels
• Going to burlesque shows

Backstory

FOR EVERYTHING UP UNTIL THE PRESENT,

SEE ISABELLA'S BACKSTORY!

And it is very important, so don't skip it!!

The Black Hole: 2007 - 2008

On 17 January, 2007, the black hole dilemma condemned Randolf back to earth. After being unable to find him in the afterlife, Isabella immediately crossed the bridge around the estate and found him haunting it. Without hesitation, she stayed with him. They lived alone for some time, trying to avoid the caretaker. The house had no real amenities to speak of, so Isabella had to sneak away to get food. While Andy was a ghost, she was not. In July 2007, the family held a reunion and for the first time, Isabella felt a great sense of loss. When everyone left, the silence of the house was more obvious than ever. Still, she ignored it and they remained stable and happy at home in England for several months. There was only one problem, however, with Isabella being a living, breathing entity, as though death had never touched her, and Randolf being a ghost. This was a problem that she couldn't formally ignore at all.

In the afterlife, though they could kiss and touch, cares and worries are generally shrugged aside. That he was dead, that they could not truly experience the physical pleasure they had on earth didn't matter. It was bliss. But on earth, it was hell. She was literally living with his ghost and his death. Her children were far more aware of this being a problem for her. They wondered if she was coping well at all, and by the end of 1007, when Charlie and the other children began to talk about the situation and to question her happiness, she decided to see her mother about it, sure the woman could help. After all, though Isabella hadn't seen her in over sixty years, she remembered that her mother knew everything.

Because Isabella was no longer feeling as comfortable as she had been when the family had a reunion. She was no longer as happy.

But the visit to her mother, though Randolf protested against it as he heard only miserable things about her from Isabella, didn't help. Cecily had no real ideas, nor did Aoife, but Isabella didn't come away without any additional knowledge, even if it wasn't the knowledge she wanted. Her mother's plight became all the more obvious. Isabella, it seemed, was shunned more for her decision to run away than for her decision to marry a human. But Isabella couldn't forgive the woman for her treatment of Randolf and the children, nor for the way she discriminated against humans, and left without apology. She still intrinsically believed that her mother hated her. She was also still scared of the woman.

Stubbornness taken over, Isabella would not stop until she could restore her husband to the afterlife. She intended to follow him. Being on earth without him, with only a shadowy figure, was a nightmare. Her own sanity was being tested and after a year of living with a man who was no longer a man at all, but a ghost of what he once was, she and several others, including both of her sons, headed back to Scotland to help fix the situation once and for all. Isabella had not been with the group on their first attempt, but she would not stand by and let everyone else go instead.

It was a few days long, but when they reached Glen Coe, the problem manifested itself. Her family members had been trapped by a demon and were drained of life and magic. Fortunately, the group was able to restore the issue, even if it involved more heartbreak than anyone imagined.

But in it working, in everything returning to how it was supposed to be, Randolf faced the inevitable return to the afterlife and Isabella was there when it happened. Randolf had been questioning whether or not Isabella should go back with him. He didn't want her to. She could have life and he was now just a memory, even in death. Randolf would never be her Randolf again no matter how hard she tried to make it so, and Alice was the first one to point this out and to make sure that her father made Isabella well aware of it before it was too late. Before he left, he made her promise she would stay. He told her she needed to live and to find herself. He and the children had realized that Isabella's dependency on him had bordered on dangerous. Randolf was the first family she ever truly had and the only person she ever truly had. He changed her life and made her into the person she is today and without him, Isabella believed she would have nothing.

The Not-So-Merry Widow: 2008 - Present

So when he left, Isabella mourned. She had no sense of self any longer. She was, for the first time, an actual widow. Her husband was gone. She had to cope with not having a man who who had been in her life (and death) for nearly eighty years. Not knowing what to do, she tried to do everything at once.

She traveled to America to see her past, then after only a couple of weeks home, traveled to Paris to lose herself for good.

Only two weeks in, one champagne-filled night resulted in what did not turn out to be a one night stand at all. Etienne and Isabella saw quite a lot of each other over a week, but only a few days in, Isabella felt so guilty that she began to push away. But she couldn't continue to resist him. She was looking at the possibility of falling in love with someone new, of someone new knowing her in ways only Randolf did, and it scared her. Made her feel guilty and shamed.

On Randolf's birthday, she fled Paris without a word and ran straight into the problems of Alice.

Alice had been feeling lost after Robert's return from the afterlife. Eager to distract herself from her own problems, Isabella helped support Alice until Robert came to her again.

It wasn't easy. She was angry for Alice that Robert had kept something from her, had hurt her daughter. Any mother would defend their child and Isabella was quick to do so and quick to make sure that Robert understood he was feeling guilty for no reason. That Alice had to know what caused him to leave, and that they would not heal until he did. And yet, facing the fact that her daughter could have her relationship back was not easy to understand. Isabella had to face the guilt of having slept not with just one man, but with two. Leonid Antonov, noticing how much she looked like Claire, followed her one afternoon in London. She responded in the only way she can use without fault: to seduce him right into the backseat of his car.

Thankfully, that one has remained a secret.

Even if she saw him once again. At a bar in London, she encountered him alone in a booth and immediately gravitated to him. They had a terse discussion before he led her into the bathroom and they had sex on the counter. Before he left, he bid her goodbye, and Isabella wasn't entirely sure if it meant permanently or for that moment. Seeing multiple men multiple times was a bad idea, but Isabella never seemed to find a distinction between bad ideas and good ideas. Years of sheltering as her boyfriends and romantic partners were knocked off or hurt did her somewhat wrong. She remains slightly detached from what went on around her and tells it like a story.

But even though she refused to go beyond lust, Isabella felt worse than ever before. She will always long for Randolf. Her wedding ring is a constant reminder of their relationship and his part of her life. She refuses to let his memory become secondary to anyone else. No one will ever be enough for her the way he was.

Charlie noticed. He tried to talk sense into her, tried to get her to realize that no one wanted her dwelling and hurting, but she became angry and they fought, with Isabella eventually slamming the door on him.

This depression spiraled, growing worse and worse as she was plagued with thoughts about her husband and the way her life seemed pointless. One night, she snapped, crying so hard she ended up coming apart. On a trip down to the kitchens to get water, she was gripped with an even worse depression and fell into an ice coma with little warning. There she stayed for a day or so before Charlie began to worry about where she was and why she wasn't contacting anyone. Though he figured she was still angry, she hadn't talked to Alice or Scott, either, so he went to the estate to see where she was.

He found her, pulled her out of the kitchens, and took her back to the warmth of the other rooms. Her coma fell away almost instantly, and with a day or two she was mildly calmer and confused as to how she let her feelings go that far. What she wasn't aware of was that Charlie's declaration of this to his sister sparked a second explosion. Isabella has not yet been told.

She decided to go back to London with Charlie, though he wouldn't have let her stay alone whether she wanted to or not. There, she changed her demeanor again, staying close to the house and taking walks and not wearing makeup or her usual glamorous clothing. This itself brought her appearance down to is natural state, where she looks incredibly young.

But London wasn't as much of a respite as she thought it would be. Though she couldn't tell anyone and managed to surpress it, she ran into him in London on 22 March, 2008. It was an accident. It didn't work out very well, as she has a barrier between lust and love and it takes more than a little effort to break it. She is, above everything else, terrified of falling in love with anyone again. Even moreso because her identity is a bit of an issue. Technically, Isabella is no longer living. Technically, she is almost ninety-six years old. No one would believe her if she told them, so she can't. Not only that, but what she is must remain a secret, even if it wasn't a secret when she was young. She refuses to lie about herself because it may complicate friendships as they develop. This leaves her with only one thing: flirting.

On 26 March, 2008, she decided to go to an upscale bar in Kensington, where she ran into, though not literally, Vaughn and a small group of cops. Forcing her way in and using Alexander Fierch as a seat, she resorted to flirting once again. She had promised herself it would be an evening of formal socializing rather than an evening that would dissolve into another sexual encounter set to last for days, but instinct and loneliness prompted her to forget. She set her sights on Vaughn (she intends to call him Cary and only Cary). His accent helped. Vodka also helped, though not as much as she would like to blame.

For an hour or two, she and the boys (they're boys to her) skirted around the issue of her name (Fierch handily knew of Isabella Radcliffe, making Isabella choke), past relationships, current relationships, and all the while Isabella's toes flirted with Vaughn's skin. And knee. And thigh. And lap. Until she abandoned Fierch for Vaughn.

One mild make-out later, she went home with him.

A few days later, it was off to Monaco with the rest of the family. Unfortunately, coming home in the morning after being out all night was a mistake. As she was staying with her son and his wife, he noticed and got angry at her for continuing to have liaisons when she's so clearly not well. Isabella disagreed with him. Said she was fine.

But in Monaco things only escalated. Alice was not well, Charlie and Scott were on her case, and it seemed that her presence was only provoking things. So when Alice said she needed to go back to England, Isabella went with her and Robert and headed back to the estate, alone. But the estate was too big. It was built for a family and servants, not a single window.

After a day, Isabella had gone stir crazy. She sped through the countryside in her Aston Martin, failing to get pulled over, and eventually packed and left for London. Charlie gave her permission to house sit while they were away, though he knew it was probably stupid to let her stay anywhere in the city. Still, she would find a hotel room if not a house, and it was better his house than a hotel.

Isabella slept with Frank Benedict on April Fool's Day, and the aftermath left her wide awake. He was good. Thankfully not emotionally available, which was perfect for her, so she will not be seeing him again. She's still prowling for Cary. But as with Etienne, her interest could easily wane without stimulation. After all, she doesn't want to fall into another emotional trap. She refuses to form any serious attachments to anyone. The moment someone needs her, she leaves.

Cary doesn't need her, so she still comes back to him. On the 2nd and 3rd of April, Isabella ran into him in not one but two separate restaurants. Both involved semi-public sex and cars. The first in his car. The second on hers (and admittedly a lot less private). After the second encounter, Isabella felt a sense of confusion, as she and Randolf had sex on that exact car more times than she even remembers. And for some strange reason, it didn't feel completely different than those encounters with her husband.

On the 4th of April, after being unable to find Cary even after hunting through eighteen different restaurants, she gave up and went out alone. After rebuffing a group of young men, she found a much older man who danced and wooed her, but he wasn't right and she couldn't really figure out why, aside from nitpicking his technique. She pushed him away and went home.

Her time with Cary resumed. On the 7th, she ran into him at The Rusty Goat, proceeded to nearly have sex with him in front of everyone, and spent the night with him. They spent most of his free time together, when possible, but on the 9th, she left before they really had a chance to spend any time together. Said she had to go home. In reality, it was her reaction to the fact that she was slowly falling for him, and she knew it, and she wouldn't let it happen.

Unfortunately, or perhaps not, she saw him two days later and they spent additional amounts of time together. Doing what they do best. But Isabella had to leave for Alice's birthday on the 12th. During the party, his name was mentioned and Fabian, who of course knew him, decided to be a good grandson and rang Cary up at work. An awkward conversation ensued, but one that involved planning when Alice, Robert, Fabian and the girls would come to Wiltshire to visit her. It was decided to be at the end of the week. Isabella knew, however, that her treatment of Cary was not working. She was his friend, even if neither wanted that to be the case, and now her family knew his name and where he worked. Some of them even knew him as a friend already. It was a dangerous position, but she still returned to London to see him.

Because after Randolf passed, she denied herself the chance at intimacy. She flirted and played hard to get, but refused to let any man touch her. Until she got too tipsy and too enthralled by Etienne. His encounters with her fueled the desire for Isabella to have a warm, loving relationship again, but she reacted by deciding to depersonalize sex and much as she could. This led to Leo, Cary, and Frank, as well as encounters with other men. Cary, however, took hold of her. And by the 16th, after about three days in his company at his home, he made a mistake. At night, when he thought she was sleeping, he became affectionate in a way that part-time lovers do not. Watching her sleep and taking care that she was comfortable. Treating her how Randolf did when they were together. And worse yet, she felt the same attachment she did to Randolf when they first fell in love. It left her panicked. Isabella woke early and tried to sneak out, but she was thwarted by, well, everyone who lives there.

After feeling panicked to the point of tears, when Cary joined the group, she began to lash out. She was humiliated by having a fight in front of so many people who had absolutely no cause to treat her as anything less than what she wanted to be: someone's fling. It was awful, and a sense of absolute humiliation she had never known. And worse yet was that Cary didn't seem to be reacting the same way she was. He not only told her to go, he was perfectly diplomatic about it. Even slightly passive-aggressive. Isabella didn't want to stay and argue, so she left immediately.

On the drive back, after putting off reflecting on what had happened, reality hit her square in the chest: she was falling in love with him, had certainly fallen in love with him, was only growing more attached. And though he displayed affection that was indicative of potentially mutual feelings, she didn't think he thought the same way about her. Isabella was both angry that he didn't and glad. Though she loved him, she didn't want to do anything about it. She wanted to stay away from him until it passed. She would never go against the memory and legacy of her marriage. Her husband. The one man she loved above anyone else. But it still hurt to know that Cary didn't feel the same way, even if it was dangerous to wish for it.

She pulled over on the side of the motorway and spent a good deal of time having a mental breakdown behind the wheel. Back in Corsham, all of her energies focused solely on preparing the house for the family's arrival.

But the day before they came, Cary showed at her doorstep and tried to apologize for being terse with her two days earlier. Cornered at her own house, Isabella first tried to get him to realize that all he wanted was physical, but when he was unmoved and began to mention that he missed her and wanted to be friends, she started breaking down. She kissed him, and didn't stop until her conscience butted back in. She knew she loved him but she refused to let him think he had a chance. When he mentioned Randolf, Isabella flipped and realized everything had gone too far.

She told him to leave.

The next day brought Alice, Robert, Fabian, and Ilaria, which gave her a perfect distraction. Though she kept zoning out and thinking about Cary, she was eventually cheerful. Robert even mentioned having intentions of marrying Alice, and asked Isabella for permission. They had a small talk and the next day, everyone went into London. Granddaughters were spoiled.

Shortly after, Isabella found her mother's old journal again, a diary on immortality she had stolen over sixty years earlier, and decided she would go back and give it to her mother. She didn't want it anymore.

But until then, she went back to London to drown herself before facing the grim reality of her mother.

Backstory: Timeline

14 July, 1912: Isabella is born Isibél Ó Móráin.
June 1922: Isabella sneaks onto a ship leaving the island, one of the few, and leaves her home forever. The morning after her disappearance, Tory Island endures the worst weather in recent memory, and it doesn't let up for months.
14 July, 1922: Isabella turns ten.
28 December, 1922: Isabella enters Northern Ireland, to the district of Ballymenone, Co. Fermanagh. She comes across a group of men wearing straw hats that cover their faces and follows them as they go from house to house.
January 1923: Encounters a very large ceili (mummers' ball) in a larger house and peers inside until she's swept inside. The people there barely understand her, some find it rather annoying, but most are loath to dismiss such a young and clearly non-political girl, especially on the one evening when both sides were supposed to get along.
February 1923: Leaves Ballymenone with a very small English vocabulary and gestured instructions not to speak a word of Irish once she reached the city.
March 1923: Isabella sleeps in the streets of Belfast, dodging terrorism and conflicts that often overwhelmed her.
May 1923: Sneaks onto a ferry across the sea to Scotland.
June 1923: Finds her way into England.
14 July, 1923: Isabella turns eleven.
November 1923: Makes it to London.
14 July, 1924: Isabella turns twelve.
1924: First angelic manifestation.
1924: Isabella is kidnapped and sold to a sideshow. She becomes the Winged Girl and, months later, becomes the Irish Angel. She learns to perform like any girl in a circus would, but spends many of the first few months just singing and dancing.
14 July, 1925: Isabella turns thirteen.
1927: The manager sends her to work in America. She cuts her hair short and uses her skills from carnivals, such as acrobatics, juggling, singing and tap dancing, as well as many other oddball routines, and performs on the vaudeville stage, mostly without her wings. Plays in a circuit that includes New York City, New Orleans and Chicago (and many other locations in the South and Midwest).
Mid-1927: The Pretty Baby Scandal occurs.
1928: Begins stint at The Pearl Theater in Chicago that lasts until 1930.
14 February, 1929: We all know what happened. Worth a mention.
1929: Randolf Fitzwilliam decides to take a holiday in America. He attends some vaudeville stage shows in Chicago. He sees her show every night for a week and asks her manager to meet her. He is flattered by the attention from one of the richest men in the world, and grants Isabella permission to eat lunch with Randolf every day for the rest of his stay in America. When Randolf leaves, he writes to her and she, unable to write any English, finds someone to help her transcribe small letters in return.
1930 : Her publicity ends up getting the attention of Florenz Ziegfeld, and she is requested to audition for the Ziegfeld Follies in New York. Her manager agrees and parts company with his little starlet for a handsome sum and she begins work on Broadway.
1931: Randolf attends the Ziegfeld Ball, where he meets Isabella again. She speaks much better, but is still quiet (though her bubbly personality more than makes up for it).
1932: Randolf and Isabella are engaged. With the death of Florenz Ziegfeld, Isabella leaves the show and returns to England with Randolf.
1933: Isabella marries Randolf in Cape Town, South Africa.
7 July, 1934: Their first child, Charles Aiden, is born.
1934: Isabella urges Randolf to found Hope In Alms, a charitable organization.
1935: They return to England to live on the estate.
30 December, 1937: Their second child, Scott Irving, is born.
1939: Randolf goes to war.
12 April, 1940: Their third child, Alice Josephine, is born.
1942: Isabella returns to her mother but is formally banished.
1945: Randolf returns home permanently after the end of WWII.
1951: They return to South Africa.
1954: Randolf and Isabella return to the estate in England with Scott and Alice, leaving the estate to Charlie and his new wife, Ruth.
1960: Randolf formally hands over control of FDC to Charlie, becoming vice president only to retire five years later.
19 August, 1983: Randolf passes away after a year filled with illness. Isabella falls into an icy coma.
23 August, 1983: Isabella crosses over.
17 January, 2007: Randolf disappears from the afterlife and Isabella finds his ghost is now trapped in the estate. She spends the next year with him.
9 January, 2008: Isabella sees her mother for the first time in nearly sixty-six years.
24 January, 2008: After restoring most of the balance, Randolf fades away again. He tells Isabella not to follow and though she's not happy, she stays. For the first time in her life, she considers herself a widow. And it doesn't feel good.
27 February, 2008: Isabella meets Etienne L'Artaire at a boutique and again at a show the same evening. After too many glasses of champagne, she invites him to an exclusive nightclub and by the end of the night, it's sex in the car, sex in the hotel, sex all night and then in the morning. And then the guilt sets in.
7 March, 2008: Isabella sleeps with Leonid Antonov, who becomes enthralled with her because she looks so much like Claire.
14 March, 2008: She sleeps with him again.
26 March, 2008: Meets Cary Vaughn-Blair. Has one night stand.
1 April, 2008: Meets Frank Benedict. Has another one night stand.

Backstory: Cast of Characters

It's necessary for my sake, if for no one else's.

• Cecily Ó Móráin: Mother. Estranged from her since 1922.
• Francis Ryan: Father. Never knew him.
• Aoife Dunne: Great aunt. Estranged from her by association since 1922.
• Cecil Hart: London thug with fake talent agency who kidnapped her with the help of Tyler Nash.
• Tyler Nash: London thug with fake talent agency who kidnapped her with the help of Cecil Hart.
• Billy Winston Smith: Manager and showman of the first sideshow Isabella was in. Bought her off Hart and Nash.
• Henry "Hank" Brooks: Actual manager. Owner of a big top, three ring circus in England. Protective of her. Married with at least three kids. Let Isabella live with them. Got her into vaudeville.
• George Parker Love: Second manager. American who took over from Brooks when she came to New York. Took her virginity and the rest of her innocence despite the fact he was five times her age. Was murdered by Brooks.
• Tommy and Marty Leon: Twin managers who took over after Love was murdered. Got her to The Pearl Theater in Chicago. Rarely gave her her income.
• Edwin "Eddie" Jones: Maestro and pianist at the Pearl. Had long affair with Isabella. Murdered by Abram "Marks" O'Connell, a Chicago bootlegger from the North Side Gang.
• Abram "Marks" O'Connell: Mobster who never slept with Isabella but kept her spoiled and took her out to show her off. Killed Eddie when he found out they were sleeping together. Isabella still owns everything he gave her. She never knew he murdered Eddie.
• Lillian "Lil" ?: Also called "Lick 'Em Lil". A close, teenage friend of Isabella's at the Little Pearl. Had a boxing routine which got her her nickname.
• Darlene "Darla" ?: Another close, teenage friend of Isabella's at the Little Pearl. Her parents worked at the theatre from time to time and were former circus performers.
• Joanne "Jo" Peterson: An older performer at the theatre. Took the younger girls under her wings (and ample bosom) and kept Isabella in line as much as she could.
• James "Jimmy" Marsh: Owner of the Pearl Theater.
• Kenneth "Kenny" ?: Bartender at the Little Pearl.
• Theodora "Theo" ?: Best friend while with the Follies.
• Randolf Fitzwilliam: Husband.
• Charles Fitzwilliam: Oldest son.
• Scott Fitzwilliam: Second son.
• Alice Fitzwilliam: Youngest child and only daughter.

Backstory: Prose

• And She Would Wait for Him: Isabella's conception. 1911.
• Isabella's Escapades: One of her encounters with Eddie and another evening at the Pearl. 1928.
• Birthday Surprise: Alice's seventh birthday. 12 April, 1947.
• Whoops: Isabella and Randolf handle Alice's crush on Robert. December 1961.
• Would They Be Angry If I Thought Of Joining You?: Randolf's death. 19 August, 1983.

Backstory: Simplified

Isabella Fitzwilliam, née Radcliffe, was the first angel in the Fitzwilliam family. She is the widow of Randolf Fitzwilliam and the mother of Charlie, Scott and Alice Fitzwilliam.

She ran away from her home in Ireland in 1922. Was a sideshow freak with wings, a vaudevillian, a Ziegfeld Girl, then a diamond heiress. She crossed over in 1983, then came back with her husband's ghost in 2007. Husband's ghost faded back. Isabella stayed.

Call her Iz.

External Links

Isabella's Journal
Lots Of Things About Iz
A Collection of Old Articles

“i refer to the right to experiment with herself as a transient, poignant figure who will be dead tomorrow.”
ZELDA FITZGERALD