His Nanny Mate (Moana and Edrick Morgan) novel Chapter 160

#Chapter 160: A Scene Worth Painting

Moana

On the day of the painting class, Ella and I were both elated. Edrick kept his promise and took the day off of work, and after breakfast we were on our way.

The class was held in a beautiful park in the uptown area of the city by a lake. Edrick parked the car on the street and we each held one of Ella’s hands as we walked over. I couldn’t help but smile as we approached, with my plein air easel folded up and tucked under my arm. The air that day was beautiful with a nice breeze, and as we approached the little lake I could see that it was teeming with all sorts of wildlife: ducks swimming around in search of breadcrumbs, little frogs jumping off of lily pads, and turtles sunning themselves on floating logs. The lake was surrounded by large weeping willow trees whose long fronds swayed in the breeze. It really was like a picture straight out of a storybook.

As we approached, there was already a group of other families gathered by the picnic area. A woman was standing at the front of the group and setting up a demonstration easel facing the lake, and while she did, I noticed that the other children were running around like wild little animals.

I didn’t blame the children for acting so rambunctiously. There was a spread laid out on one of the tables filled with all kinds of fruit and sweets, and it seemed as though the children already had their fair share of sugar. Even Ella, who normally would have been excited to play with other kids, halted in her tracks and looked up at Edrick and me with an apprehensive look on her little face. Even she was a bit taken aback by the sheer amount of energy surrounding the place; it seemed like some of the parents were genuinely trying to wrangle their children, but some other parents also seemed to be ignoring their kids as though this was more of a romantic date for them to go on while their kids could run amok around the lake.

“Hello!” the teacher called, waving at us excitedly as we walked up to join the group. She looked down at my easel, and her smile widened. “It looks like you brought your own supplies! Are you a painter?”

I felt myself blush as the other attendees turned to look at me. A couple of werewolf women gave me snide looks. I could only imagine what they were thinking about a family of a wealthy and famous CEO with his supposedly human fiancee, their half-breed daughter and the half-breed baby growing in her belly. With our security guard standing a little ways away and the fact that our faces had been plastered all over the news recently, I knew that the other couples recognized us. The teacher, however, thankfully treated us just like everyone else with kindness and warmth.

I shrugged in response to the teacher’s question. “I wouldn’t consider myself much of an artist, but I do draw and paint sometimes,” I said, wanting to be humble.

“That’s a lie!” Ella suddenly chimed in. “She’s really good at art! She even teaches me how to make art sometimes!”

The teacher grinned. “Is that so?” she said. “Well, maybe if I get tired today I’ll let your mommy step in to teach the class.” She said it in a joking manner, but it made me blush even harder; not to mention the fact that she referred to me as Ella’s mother. I still hadn’t talked to Edrick about it just yet.

I set up my easel, and the teacher gave Edrick an easel with supplies to use. Ella even got her own miniature easel, which was placed next to Edrick’s. I was slightly behind the two of them, which gave me the perfect view of them. The way that they looked was more stunning than just the view of the lake, in my opinion.

However, the other children were still too rambunctious. The teacher patiently tried to get their attention, but it didn’t seem to be working since most of the parents weren’t paying much attention. I felt a little bit bad about it as I watched her get somewhat frustrated as she tried to get them to settle down so she could begin the class.

Finally, when Edrick and Ella both shot me a concerned look almost in unison, I decided to step in.

“Hey, kids,” I said, approaching the group of children who were now on the verge of wrestling in the dirt next to the lake, “it’s time to start painting. Don’t you want to have a souvenir to bring home later?”

The children suddenly stopped their play-fighting and looked up at me, c*****g their heads as I spoke. I could already see that they were listening more to me than even the teacher, which was no surprise; I had always been good with kids. I didn’t know why, although now that I knew I was a werewolf I had begun to wonder if it was an ability of mine. But pacifying children wasn’t a werewolf ability that I had ever heard of, so I simply figured that it was just because of my experience with children. I had, after all, been the one child to help Sophia around the orphanage a lot while I was growing up and I had always enjoyed taking care of the younger kids.

“Come along,” I said with a smile. “Let’s go paint.”