Second Chance Love

ADIRA JORDAN:-                                    PAST:-   She had been orphaned at the age of 12. She had a younger brother, Neil, who was four years younger than her and was staying with her uncle and aunt in Texas. She had lost her parents in a car crash. She was an heiress, but all the wealth left by her parents had been swindled by her wicked Uncle Mike and Aunt Helen. She was forcefully married to Lucifer Borges, a 40-year-old, elderly, wealthy businessperson, and a womanizer who was settled in South Africa. He has a multi-million dollar empire. She got pregnant with Lucifer, but divorced him, as she found him involved with many women. She escaped with her three-month-old daughter, Raven, who was the sole reason for her existence.   PRESENT-DAY:-   Adira, 23-yr-old now, did not expect to land at the 'Wellington Castle,' San Juan Islands, North West Washington, and that too, by a family, who believed that she was not only their brother Ralph's wife, but also the mother of his infant daughter Raven.   She did not have the heart to tell them the truth that Ralph and she had met only three days earlier, while they both had been stranded at the Atlanta airport, because of the snowstorm.   Ralph was a Brigadier General in the U.S. Army. He had said to her that he was headed out to fight a war in Afghanistan. While Adira was going home to her family, who behaved as if she did not exist.   Ralph had helped her with her baby, Raven. He had kept them safe while they slept at the airport.   They had shared lunch and dinner, and, well, she had shared all her secrets with him.   Then he gave her an address, an offer she could not refuse. While departing, he had said, 'We shall meet again.'   Six months later, Ralph is returning, to bury his dead brother, Brigadier General Mike Wellington, and their lie is on the verge of being exposed.   But Ralph did not say a word. He goes along pretending that they were husband and wife. Each day that they had been spending together was making it harder and harder not to believe this lie.   Could this lie become perfect forever?    RALPH WELLINGTON---   PAST:-   Ralph was fifteen years old, while his elder brother Mike Wellington was eighteen years old. Ralph had asked Mike, "Do you have to go?" Mike had ruffled Ralph's hair and said, "I will not be gone long."   After the basic military training, Mike promised he would be back to see them. Later Ralph would realize that this was one big lie.   They were sitting at their favorite spot, sitting on the log that had come awash, on the beach. Ralph then jumped to his feet, ran down to the shore, and chased the seagulls away. They flew up into the air, calling out to their bird friends.   After the training, Ralph's brother, Mike, gave his family the news that he was joining the U.S. Army. He said that he had no choice. He needed to work, and what better work, than to serve the armed forces?   Three years down the line, at 18, Ralph too started training for the military and planned to join the U.S. Army. He too had no other options open. He could not stay there and live off his name. There was also no money left behind in their names anymore. The Income Tax Department was also issuing notices to them for not paying taxes. Their Accountant also had not paid taxes on the family shipping business account for years together.   One truth still troubled Ralph, "Why did his Dad commit suicide? Why did he shoot himself with his gun? Why? This question kept on nagging him from deep within.   He still remembered that morning clearly, three years before, when he was 12 yrs and had fought with his Dad. His dad did not want to go to Ralph's last football match. Subsequently, Ralph had broken his father's favorite model ship 'Her Majesty' in revenge.   "Damn." But his Dad did not yell at him, or anything. That same day, his father committed suicide.   Later, as a tribute to his Dad, Ralph had gone to the library to get books, guiding him so that he could mend the ship 'Her Majesty.'    PRESENT:-   Ralph Wellington is 29 yrs old, hot, handsome, single, a wolf shifter, with blonde hair and deep blue eyes. He stays in the San Juan Islands, in North-Western Washington, in the U.S. He serves as a Brigadier General in the United States Army.   He gets deployed in Kandahar, Afghanistan. He is a part of the United States Peace Keeping Force.   He has a mother, Elizabeth, who stays in the U.S.A. Elizabeth is mentally disturbed after her eldest son Mike's sudden death in a plane crash.   Mike has a wife, Liza, who does not accept the fact that he is dead. Mike had been serving in the United States Air force, as a Brigadier General. He was also deployed in the U.S. Peace Keeping force in Kandahar, Afghanistan.    Ralph also has a younger brother, Liam, 28 yrs. Liam is a doctor, his wife is dead, and he is a single parent to his daughter and son.   Ralph and Liam have a sister, Violet, 26 yrs.   A/N: To be continued...