Touch Of Fury

Chapter One: Her saving grace

August 4th 1991

Shannon had no idea what she was going to do. Ever since she met that handsome, mysterious stranger,  her life had gone completely downhill. She never imagined that she would be pregnant, unmarried and almost completely out of money. All she had left to hold on too was her daughter which was the only reason she hadn't ended her life.

The only way she could provide for her daughter is living with her bastard of a father, someone she had made a great effort of running away from.  Her life was a complete mess, all she had now was her beautiful daughter. Little Amelia, her saving grace. The only person she would love and cherish and protect with her life. 

Never did she expect that she would be a mother but now, holding her little angel in her arms, she never felt any more certain that she was born to take care of her little girl. The doctors asked her if she knew the name of the father.  At that moment reality seemed to hit her. Her father always told her she would end up like this, pregnant without any idea who the father of her baby would be.

Oh, how she hated that man, always seemed to criticize her dressing, how she moved, how she spoke. She hated him even more now because he was right.  How could she have been so reckless, having a one nightstand with a man she just met. Even though it was stupid, she had to admit that was the best night of her life, she had never connected with a man so well in her life.  If only she knew who he was, all she had gotten from him was a first name. Caleb. 

Hard to give your daughter a last name when you didn't even know if Caleb was the baby's father real name.

Shannon's train of thoughts were cut of by the sound of a baby crying. Her baby was crying. Shannon was so scared, she didn't know what to do, what to tell the doctors for Amelia's birth certificate, how to contact her father, how to tell her friends that she dropped of the face of the earth for nine months because she was pregnant ,how to tell her boyfriend that she had been unfaithful, for heaven sakes she didn't even know how to be a mother. Tears rolled down her already damp face as she looked at her daughter. Her poor little girl was innocent in all of this.

Two knocks on the hospital door caught her attention.
"Father, I didn't know you were coming"
"Well Shannon, when you hear your only child had a baby you really cant stay away."
His tone made her angry, she knew she was a disappointment, he didn't need to emphasize it. "What are you doing here dad."She didn't want to seem desperate; she needed his help but he didn't need to know that. "Shannon I am happy to take you and the baby in, you may have smeared the family name with your recklessness but you are still my only child and I want to help"
Shannon felt like to scream and cry at the same time. She knew this was a publicity stunt. Loving father takes rebellious daughter in. If he had left her on the street everyone would call him heartless and that wouldn't be good PR. She was surprised that he didn't send his assistant, but she wouldn't dare say that out loud. Even though she might hate this man she needed him, just until she can get on her feet and leave France for good.
She swallowed her pride and replied in a monotonous voice "Thank you for your kindness father, I will take up on your offer."
That sentence may has well taken away any pride that she had left. Nevertheless, she and her baby would have a roof over their heads and food to eat.
"Well we leave in an hour I will handle the hospital bills; we have much to discuss when we get home."

Home, that word has always been thrown around loosely. Shannon never had a home; she had a house not a home. She was raised by nannies, maids and butlers. She can count on her hand the amount of times her father was home and even when he was home, he didn't talk to her much. His love was replaced by apology gifts for missing her recitals and money for missing her graduation or maybe a car when her boyfriend broke up with her. She couldn't remember the last time her father hugged her or the last conversation he had that wasn't judging her every move. You would think the man would be more loving after her mother died. Not one tear was shed at her mothers funeral, there was no conversation of how life would be after her mothers death no love in that house at all. So no, they weren't going home, they were going to a house a placed that she simply lived, in not a home. Her father left the room without even asking about Amelia. She couldn't say that she was surprised, her father probably didn't love her why would she care about Amelia. The nurse came back in the room asking for a name for the birth certificate. Amelia Macannon. Her family name. Her situation was quite ironic, all her life she tried to get away from the family name and then she ends up giving her baby the name.  The tears came again. Why couldn't she stop crying, she had to pull herself together. She had to be strong for herself and her baby. Her fathers assistant walked in with a bag and told her it was time to go.
"Beautiful girl " Shannon thought, she was pretty sure her father had slept with the girl along with all of his female staff and maybe some of her ex friends single mothers.
That man always seemed to be the spotlight of her thoughts. She took the bag and changed into the sweat pants and oversized T shirt.  A wheelchair was brought to her so she picked Amelia and waited to be pushed to her fathers limousine. Tired. Very tired. All Shannon wanted to do at that moment was sleep. Her father appeared out of God knows where and started to push her to the limo. She was too tired to show how surprised she was. "Shannon, Ill take Amelia, you can rest its going to be a long ride. "
Shannon didn't know how her dad knew the name of her baby or even to show how appalled she was when her father offered to hold a baby let alone her baby but she didn't say anything. Her father took the baby and Shannan dozed off without a second thought.

Shannon woke up in her old room, the light blinded her eyes as she tried to get up. She looked around the room for her daughter but she wasn't there. Panic surged through her veins as the worst possibilities started to run through her head. Before she could rush out of the room her, she heard her dads voice cooing at her daughter.
"Mommy's asleep right now darling, are you hungry? You look so much like your mother when she was a baby, I am so glad the universe has given me another chance"
Shannon didn't know what to think, her father was a strange man but he sure didn't believe in fate or the universe. She was never a religious person and that's mostly because her father didn't accept those beliefs under his house. She couldn't believe that her father was talking about second chances and the universe. Something was going on and she had to find out what but right now her main preoccupation was her hungry daughter.

Shannon got up and walk toward where her father was. He looked at her but didn't say a word and handed her the baby.  Amelia looked up at her with those big brown eyes and Shannon knew exactly what her daughter wanted. Midway from feeding her baby her father started to speak. "Shannon, we have much to discuss. For starters I want you to know that I will take care of all the expenses of Amelia, from school fees to birthday outings you wouldn't have to pay a dime. I am doing all of this because I'm sick Shannon and I don't know how much time I have left. When I had time, I didn't use it for the most important thing in my life and now I'm regretting that because I feel partly responsible for the way you turned out. The past couple weeks have given me lots of time to think about my mistakes and now that you have a daughter. I'm am going to do everything in my power to make up for the time lost."

Shannon was left speeches. Her father was dying. The tears started to roll down her face for the fourth time that day. Everything started to make sense but at that very moment she wished that it didn't. Every evil thing she said about her dad started to flood her mind and she started to regret everything she did. Without thinking twice, she leaned forward and started to cry on her fathers shoulders. Nothing seemed right anymore. She just had a baby and now her father was dying. Never has she felt more hopeless in her life.

"Father I am so sorry that you are going through this but simply cannot let you pay for everything."
"Shannon, please let me do this one good thing before I die."

Her father was begging. It was just surprise after surprise after surprise. All Shannon wanted to do was curl up in a ball and cry. "Ok father, but I will be paying you back someday."

Her father smiled.

"You and Amelia should get some rest, I'll see you in the morning."