THE FORGOTTEN HEIRESS-Chapter 445: Named After Me

He could tell without Ariel admitting to it that she also felt it and with this realization, the little hope he had nursed before the kiss had received a major boost.

Meanwhile without bothering to respond to his apology, Ariel took a deep breath, reached into her handbag and handed him her cell phone.

"Input your number here, I’ll call you to make the arrangement on how we can meet so I can introduce you to Georgia. But, I won’t make any guarantees about how she’ll react. She’s never known a father. To her, you’re nothing but a total stranger."

George’s heart constricted in his chest at how cruel that sounded. Ariel sure has a way of making him look like the perfect dirtbag of the century.

"I understand. I’ll be expecting your call," he could only say as he handed back Ariel’s phone after punching in his number and of course dialing his line with it.

He didn’t want to leave anything to chance again... who could tell if Ariel will decide that it’s best she never gives him that call in the long run?

"Alright. You’ll have to excuse me, now" Ariel said and walked away to where her car was parked.

"Thank you, Ria. Thank you," George sang after her.

As he practically galloped back to the restaurant where he’d left Lauren and Cheryl, he couldn’t believe he was now a father and would soon be united with his daughter and form the wonderful family he never dared imagine he could ever have after Ariel left years ago with a major part of him.

"I’m going to see Gia soon," he announced excitedly as soon as he met Lauren and Cheryl who were preparing to leave.

"Gia? You mean, Ariel," Lauren asked in confusion.

"No. Georgia... That’s my daughter’s name. She was named after me. Can you imagine that? My Gia." His face lit up with the most dazzling smile that would have made it straight into the ’Proudest Father’s’ magazine.

Lauren: "..."

Cheryl: "..."

*****************

Contrary to George’s fears, Ariel called him the next day and gave him a location for them to meet.

The call came when George was in a conference call and without thinking twice, made his excuse and left, leaving his assistant to clean up whatever mess his abrupt departure might cause. That was his job anyway as an assistant.

The drive to the location Ariel had given was like a drive against death as he broke every traffic rule just to make it. He wasn’t bothered about the catalogue of bills that will be waiting for him as fine. All he was obsessed about was meeting his daughter and of course his true love.

"What a wonderful day today is going to be?" He said to himself.

By the time he pulled up at a restaurant not far from Wyatt Corporations, a stunned Ariel took a glance at her wrist and back to George’s face.

"Have you been trailing me?"

"Trailing you? No. Why?"

"It’s barely twenty minutes I called and you’re here all of a sudden. How do you explain that?"

The same enchanting smile that had been on George’s face since he found out about his daughter, adorned his already handsome face causing Ariel to unconsciously take in a sharp breath.

She was still trying to maintain her composure when she heard George say,

"Let’s attribute it to the blessedness of suddenly finding out that I now have a family and can’t wait to see our little family back together... as it should have been from the beginning."

"There’s no family here, George. Let’s get that straight," Ariel scoffed, despite the thrill she felt when her heart wrapped around the phrase, ’can’t wait to see our little family back together."

"But we are, my darling. Fate has made it so and who are we, mere mortals, to fight it? Come on, Ria, let’s go see our Gia," he said as he caught Ariel’s hand.

Ariel was speechless and didn’t know when she followed him to the restaurant. They were almost inside when she realized they were headed the wrong way.

"She’s not there," she said when George raised a questioning brow at her sudden stop.

"Oh. Then why were we heading into the restaurant?"

"You dragged me there, remember," Ariel snorted. If not that she was momentarily bewitched by his enchanting looks that made her follow him like a zombie, she would have informed him that they were going out of town.

Her daughter was safely stowed away with her grandmother who wanted her to be free and not drive away any potential suitor that might show interest in her with the presence of a grown up daughter like Georgia.

"So where is she?" George asked gently as he managed to make his voice not sound impatient.

At this point, patience was needed in ample measure in order not to get on Ariel’s nerve who appeared wouldn’t bat an eyelid in sending him back to his lonely life.

"Pennsylvania, and we’re taking the train except you want to drive down."

"Which do you suggest or prefer?"

"Judging from how impatient you look, going by train will be faster... that’s if we’re using Acela Amtrak trains."

"Then we’ll go by train."

"I just checked online and if we book immediately, we can be lucky as they have just three tickets left for today."

"I think I know someone there who can speed up things for us," George said as he pulled out his phone.

After talking with the ’someone’ he had just called, George turned to Ariel. "Let’s head over to the station. It’s arranged."

About an hour and fifteen minutes later, the taxi they had hired from Pennsylvania train station, pulled up in front of a beautiful apartment.

The cheerful apartment building, nestled in the leafy neighborhood of Spring Garden did little to calm the jittery anticipation humming in his veins as George stepped out of the taxi.

He could even hear his own heartbeat thudding in his ears as he held the door open for Ariel after paying the driver.

Ariel watched George with a guarded expression as his eyes darted around the neighborhood. The moment felt surreal to her; she had never imagined he’d be here, standing beside her, about to meet their child.

Her chest tightened with anxiety and some other emotions she didn’t dare show. She cleared her throat, drawing his attention back to her.

"This isn’t going to be easy," she warned softly. "She’s never met you, George. You’re a stranger to her."

George swallowed, his voice barely above a whisper. "I know. I’ve been thinking about it the entire drive. And you don’t have to keep repeating that," he couldn’t help but add.

He turned to face Ariel, catching her gaze with an intensity that made her unable to fire a retort. "But I promise I won’t push and will take whatever she dishes out for me in good faith... I just want to meet her."

Ariel nodded and a flicker of gratitude passed over her features before she led him up the short walkway to the building’s entrance.

After keying in the code to unlock the door, they entered the building, and the quiet hum of the city outside gave way to the muffled silence of the hallways.

Their footsteps echoed off the polished floors as they made their way up to the third floor.