Worth Waiting For | Book #2 (ON HOLD)

Chapter 26

I needed to tell Madison about Riley soon, I knew that to be true. But part of me wanted to keep it in my own bubble, to spend the time I wanted to and needed to with my daughter without the distraction and grave reminder of what my life truly was.

I was engaged to a woman I felt myself growing apart from as the days went by. Our paths that once were parallel, were now veering, separating the lines ever so slightly.

There was a pit of guilt in my stomach as I finally stepped out of the car, facing an apartment building to match the address I had recited from my phone over a hundred times to myself.

It was a decent size, towering over the street below, matching the place we once shared all those years ago, except that the area was seemingly calmer, lacking the usual shouting and littered sidewalk we would always be used to.

I found the memorised apartment number, pressing the door button before stepping back in enabling it to open up. "Josh?" Her voice was almost angelic as it sounded through the intercom.

"Yeah, Hi."

I wanted to hit myself upside the back of the head when I recalled my pathetic voice, presenting the nerves I'd so desperately wanted to hide. "Come on up, we're on the fifth floor." The door buzzed open, causing a deep breath to run through my lungs before I finally stepped inside, meeting the fairly inquisitive look from a very tall and burly security guard.

"Can I help you sir?" I could only assume he was like this with all visitors, and a part of me was glad. Riley and Savannah were safe in a place like this.

"I'm here to see Savannah, she just buzzed me in to come up to the fifth floor."

"Haven't seen you around here before."

As much as I wanted to make a scene about the fact that he had no idea about who I was and what I was to both Savannah and Riley, I slowly decided against making an enemy of the person that was seemingly keeping them safe in this place.

"My name is Joshua Parker, and I'm here to see my daughter."

He eyed me wearily. He seemed to be in maybe his early fifties, holding a protective stance over the both of them.

"That Savannah is a wonderful woman, as is her little girl Riley." He looked me up and down as if already expecting my visit. "I'd hate for anyone to do anything other than be good to them, you understand that Mr?"

"Yes sir." Part of me felt the need to salute, locking in the promise that I would care for my daughter with more than words could express.

"Go on up." He nodded and pressed a button, prompting the opening up of the elevators. "We don't let just anyone in here."

"Good."

I spoke my last word as I pressed floor five and the doors laid shut, welcoming me into the last seclusion before I finally spent the day with my daughter, a day I had been looking forward to more than I could possibly imagine.

In my final moments of an attempt for clearance through my mind, I traced back to the moment that I realised that this was all real. The fact that I had a daughter was still too foreign a concept to comprehend, and yet here I was, arriving to spend the day with her and attempting to make up for almost four years I had missed.