His Nanny Mate (Moana and Edrick Morgan) novel Chapter 49

#Chapter 49: Call the Midwife

Moana

After I hung up with Ethan, I felt a bit lighter with the prospect of enjoying dinner with a friend. I met Ella out in the foyer after that, and we went over to the farmers’ market.

“Come on, Moana!” Ella yelled excitedly, pulling on my hand as we crossed the street to the park that was bustling with people.

She looked absolutely adorable in her little blue and white checkered sundress and her big, floppy sun hat with the blue ribbon that wiggled when she moved her head.

The stone pathway around the park was lined with various vendor stalls as we entered. Much of it was produce and canned goods, but there were also stalls with soft pretzels, face painting for children, handmade toys and clothing, and more. I had just deposited my first paycheck from Edrick, and had some money put aside after paying off a large chunk of my student loans. I double checked before we left the penthouse this time to make sure that I had my wallet, in order to avoid a repeat of the theme park.

As the morning marched on, Ella and I slowly made our way around to all of the stalls. I bought us both soft pretzels to eat on a bench together, smiling as I watched Ella happily swinging her legs next to me, then took her to get her face painted. After that, we stopped at the stalls with the handmade toys and clothing, where I bought Ella a little handmade stuffed duck. At this stall, there was a rack of womens’ dresses for sale.

Ella reached out her little hands and tugged on one of the dresses. It was a long, flowy dress in a sky blue color.

“Moana, this is so pretty!” she said, pointing. “You could match me!”

“I take it that blue is someone’s favorite color?” the attendant asked, looking at Ella with a big smile.

Ella nodded matter-of-factly. “Mhm. I love blue.”

“I’ll tell you what,” the attendant said, standing and coming over to check the price on the tag before looking at me. “If you want to try it on, I’ll give you a twenty-five percent discount. I think this color would be lovely on you.”

“Oh, I don’t know,” I replied, feeling my face get red. “I don’t really have anywhere to wear something like that.”

“It’s just a cotton dress,” the attendant chimed in with a wink. “Besides, a pretty girl like you probably goes on plenty of dates with your husband.”

I didn’t feel like correcting the attendant, and between her affectatious smile and Ella’s pleading look, I finally agreed. “Okay,” I said, to which Ella squealed excitedly. “I’ll try it on.”

The attendant grinned and took the dress off of the rack, then led me over to the back of the tent, where there was a curtain in the corner. She pulled the curtain aside to reveal a tiny makeshift dressing room with a standing mirror.

“Wait here, Ella,” I said, stepping inside and closing the curtain. I sighed once I was inside and held the dress up to myself; it was a pretty color, and the shape was nice. Maybe I could dress it down a bit to wear as an everyday dress, or to go out for lunch on my little crepe dates with Ella… Or, perhaps, I could wear it to my date with Ethan.

I quickly slipped off my own plain dress and slipped on the blue one. My eyes widened as I looked at myself in the mirror; it really was beautiful on me. It reached down to my ankles and the skirt flowed when I moved, but the waist fit snugly to show off my curves. It had two thin straps that tied on my shoulders with soft, silky ribbons.

I stepped out of the dressing room and twirled.

“What do you think?” I asked.

“Oh, it looks lovely on you!” the attendant said as she clasped her hands together. Meanwhile, Ella squealed again in delight.

“Will you wear it today?” Ella asked, jumping up and down. “Please? I want to match!”

I looked down at myself, wondering if I looked out of place with nothing else on but my tote bag, my sandals, and my sun hat, but decided that it was worth it to make Ella happy.

…

When we arrived back at the penthouse, I began to feel ill on the elevator. I hardly made it to the bathroom before I began to retch. When I was finished, I stood and leaned over the sink, taking deep breaths to soothe my nerves as the feeling of nausea lingered and the pounding in my head intensified.

Suddenly, I heard someone clear their throat. I jumped and whirled around on my feet to see Selina standing in the doorway.

“Oh, g-good morning, Selina,” I said, my voice shaking slightly from the recent vomiting spell in combination with the shock of seeing her standing there.