Presented by SHANNON MUIR’S INFINITE HOUSE OF BOOKS
SPONTANEOUS CHOICES SHORTS features short serialized fiction by author Shannon Muir, that may be later released as part of e-book or print collections. In 2019, these serials initially appeared every second and fourth Thursday (and fifth Thursdays as they occurred). This continues a new serialized story, “A Second La Chance,” about a young woman who originally hoped to have the children of a wealthy spoiled man to get paid off to leave him, but ends up with more than she ever bargained for when deciding to take a chance to start a new life for herself. This is part 16 of 16. FOLLOW ALONG IN THIS MARATHON OF “A SECOND LACHANCE” AS WE RACE TOWARDS THE CONCLUSION MAY 30 TO JUNE 4, 2019 WITH DOUBLE DOSES ON MAY 30 AND JUNE 3, AND A TRIPLE PACKED CONCLUSION ON JUNE 4! SPONTANEOUS CHOICES SHORTS WILL GO ON HIATUS AFTER THIS UNTIL FURTHER NOTICE. So, resigned to my fate, I returned to the mansion and met the man who owned it and many other things in this world. He made sure that my existence and lineage was not hidden. Having the world find out I was the illegitimate and only child of wealthy man with hands in many cookie jars brought me attention I didn’t want, on top of being Edmond LaChance’s former wife.
Also, the seed of my time with Rowan bore fruit, who returned to his job and assumed identity without my father ever finding out all that transpired between us – just that he’d wanted to bring me undercover to the mansion. Once it was clear I was pregnant,I thought my father would disapprove. Instead, he reacted quite the opposite.
“I am pleased that you have arrived showing me your fertile possibilities, but know that the real honor will be for my security guards. They must be rewarded for their service. Know that several are married, but their wives understand this will be a blessed honor to have children of my blood.”
My father, who should be happy to reunite with me, instead treated me like an object. My mother warned me about this.
“But I’m your daughter,” I told him.
“Yes, and good daughters do what they are told. I’m a lonely man, I need family around me. And having any more of my own is no longer a possibility.”
“This child is enough for me,” I said. “Plus I have other children.”
It hurt not being able to acknowledge that Rowan fathered my child.
“It will be the way I say, as all things are. Also, I have a bit of news for you. As for the guard that brought you here, I learned that he lied about his identity and he has been fired.”
“No!” I protested. “You can’t!”
He looked at me disapprovingly.
“Is this his child that you’re carrying now?”
“Yes,” I admitted without a second thought. Now protecting Rowan didn’t matter. I hoped the truth might save him.
“Then we’ll send it to live with your mother like your other two. It deserves no place here. It’s lineage dishonors me.”
He walked away, leaving me in tears.
I realized that deep down, I did care about Rowan, and now he was out there somewhere and I had no idea where to find him. Also, I didn’t want to feel enslaved to what other people – men or women – wanted for me. However, that’s exactly the position this man who genetically gave me life wanted me to be in. Though at the moment, I didn’t feel safe to change my circumstances, I refused to live this way forever.
Somehow, some way, I would write my own life story someday and rise above this repeating narrative my life seemed to be writing.
It would just be a matter of time.