His Nanny Mate (Moana and Edrick Morgan) novel Chapter 171

#Chapter 171: Stage Fright

Moana

I went home after work that day with an odd feeling in my stomach after my conversation with Ethan.

All of it felt so… contrived. At first, I thought that he was just trying to make amends for what happened at the family party. But when the strange questions began, it became obvious to me that he was either fishing for information or he was trying to drive another wedge between Edrick and I. Maybe it was both of those things, or maybe it was neither. Either way, I didn’t know what to do.

I didn’t know if I should tell Edrick about it or if I should just pretend it didn’t happen. Part of me felt as though the right thing to do would be to tell Edrick that Ethan had suddenly shown up in my classroom, but at the same time I was worried that he would tell me that I shouldn’t be teaching there anymore. Even though it had only been a week since I had begun my new job, I loved every moment of it and it felt as though my dreams were finally becoming a reality. I couldn’t let anyone get in the way of that, and so that evening I decided not to tell Edrick after all. I just told myself that Ethan wouldn’t come back again after that, and that I didn’t need to worry. Everything would settle down soon.

That evening, I helped Ella with her homework before dinner. She seemed to be doing well in school and was enjoying her new learning environment. Thanks to her excellent tutors, she wasn’t behind in her education at all. However, she still seemed to be adjusting to being in a learning environment with other children. I expected that, of course, and so I wasn’t surprised when she came to me with gripes about other students.

“Lucy always takes too long to answer the teacher’s questions, and the teacher reprimanded me when I said the answer today,” Ella growled, sounding annoyed.

I frowned. “She reprimanded you?” I asked. “How come?”

Ella shrugged. “She says that everyone needs to raise their hand if they want to answer a question, but I don’t see why. I knew the answer, and Lucy was taking forever, so I just said it.”

I had to stifle a bit of a laugh. “Ella, you have to give other kids a chance to answer,” I said gently. “Maybe some kids need to take a little longer to think before they can answer, and that’s okay.”

Ella furrowed her brow. “But it was an easy question. Is there something wrong with Lucy?”

I shook my head. “No, love,” I replied. “Just because someone takes a little longer doesn’t mean that there’s anything wrong with them. And besides, there’s nothing really ‘wrong’ with anyone. Everyone is just different.”

“Oh.” Ella scrunched up her nose, just like she always did when she was a little annoyed. I ruffled her hair and sent her off to her room after that to get ready for dinner.

…

Edrick didn’t come home until after dinner that evening. In fact, I was a bit surprised to hear him come home so late. I was sitting up in bed in Edrick’s room, sketching in my sketchbook while I waited for him. The sun had just gone down, and the city lights had come on. I sort of missed the mountain estate, when it was actually dark out after the sun went down. Even though I loved the city, it was never really dark here. I wanted to see the stars.

I didn’t realize that Edrick came home, actually. I assumed that he would be out even later; with everything going on recently, I supposed that he would be working later in the day for a little while. I just hoped that he would be home before I fell asleep. I liked having him beside me when I laid down to go to bed.