Chapter 110: You Are My Daughter
Arianna made an excuse and quickly left the small circle to cover her fast-changing expression. She went outside to stand in the chilly wind, lit a cigarette, sat on the wooden chair, and leaned on the railing. The cherry blossoms in the backyard of the hotel were falling in the wind, and her mood gradually calmed down with the cherry petals.
York came to her and broke the silence. He gently asked her, “Miss Jenkins, have we met before?”
Arianna shook her head.
“But I think you are very familiar to me. And, when you were sitting in the corner, you were watching me. I thought you knew me.”
It turned out her peeping was so obvious, or she inherited the keen sixth sense from the old man. “I read your information,” Arianna said.
The old man was a bit disappointed, “Oh, I thought… Okay then, have a good time.” Arianna smiled and said goodbye to him.
The old man walked a few steps, turned back, and said, “I know why I feel you are familiar now. You look like a friend I met many years ago… The way you laugh is exactly like her… I can’t believe I can still remember her after thirty years. I don’t know if she can remember me…”
Arianna did an impulsive thing. She held the bead chain that she had been carrying for a few days in her hand and meditated for three seconds in her heart, then she opened her palm and showed the bracelet to the old man and said, “She had been remembering you all her life, until her last breath.”
There were no tears or laughter when the father and daughter reunited. Actually, they didn’t even hug each other. It seemed that they shared the common nature of indifference.
“So, you are that little girl. When you were very young, I saw you. An old woman was holding you. Elena was by her side, and she didn’t notice me. At that time, you were only this tall.” York smiled and made a gesture. He was as calm as talking to an old acquaintance.
“She thought you were no longer alive.”
“I just lost my personal freedom for a while. When I finally got back to her, I found that she had married someone and had you, so I didn’t want to be an intruder to that family of yours.”
It turned out that both the father and the daughter wouldn’t want to be an intruder to a complete and new family.
The next day, Arianna accompanied her mother’s “old friend” to visit the local scenic spots and had a meal together. They got along well, and both were happy. They had the same nature that could put down all unpleasant things in their lives in an instant.
In the evening, she decided to leave early. They lived in the same hotel. She called to say goodbye to him before departure. He was not in the room, so she left a voice message. But when her returning car was slowly driving out of the parking lot, she saw the old man rushing out of the building from the rearview mirror and waving to her while chasing her. She asked the driver to stop and opened the car door, and got off.
The old man grabbed her arm, panting for breath and saying, “I just saw your ID number a few minutes ago… you are my daughter.”
****
The story of Arianna’s biological parents was simple. A small punk accidentally saved a daughter of a wealthy family. They fell in love, and their families did not accept their love, so they decided to elope. The male protagonist had an accident before elopement. Years later, when he managed to come back to his hometown, he found the lady had married and had a daughter, so he decided to leave. Then he got a nice job overseas and made a fortune, married his current wife, and had his own daughter. His family lived happily ever after, till the present time.
York said to Arianna, “I am sorry for both of you. If I knew at the beginning… I would not have gone so far away. Even if I could not be with you and your mom anymore, I could’ve just stayed here and protected you behind the shadow.”
There was no turning back now. Luckily, Arianna was doing fine, and the old man was doing fine too.
Arianna didn’t call York “father” because she had a foster father who gave her surname and gave her a legal identity. And he treated Arianna as if she had been his biological daughter for 20 years. York expressed an understanding of that.
Arianna took a close-up look at her younger sister’s photo, and her appearance really resembled Arianna’s. York always carried Arianna’s younger sister’s photo with him and placed it close to his chest.
Arianna refused to meet his family and said, “When I was 17, I wished this world belonged to me alone, so I don’t want to hurt this little girl and the woman who has been with you for so many years…”
Lonely for a long time, it didn’t make her feel bad when she found out she still had two family members by blood. Before this time, Arianna was like a plant facing a tornado and could be uprooted any minute. And now she had some siblings and nourishment added all of a sudden. It seemed like she could take on any weather now.
Arianna came to Travis’s grave for the first time. She wiped clean his tombstone that had been covered with some dust and fallen leaves and said softly, “Thank you.”
Travis was not buried together with Susan. Not only that, they were not even in the same cemetery but placed in two cemeteries at two ends of the city. She was surprised.
Ryan had explained to Arianna, “Mr. Cooper is buried next to his parents. He doesn’t like the place Susan picked. And moreover, there is a saying in our hometown, couples who die young should be buried separately, or their afterlife will inherit their bad luck.”
Arianna agreed with that statement, but she knew Travis would not be willing to be buried alongside his foes, i. e., Arianna’s family.Contentt bel0ngs to N0ve/lDrâ/ma.O(r)g!
After York returned to country A, he often called her and told her to find a reliable man instead of being alone. A few words that came from overseas made her feel warm already.
What surprised her even more, was that a few weeks later, she received a CD with a self-recorded family video sent by her 17-year-old sister, Claire Lee. She filmed her father, mother, their beautiful house, every room in the house, two puppies in the house, and an endless vineyard outside the house.