His Nanny Mate (Moana and Edrick Morgan) novel Chapter 53

#Chapter 53: Charity Gala

Moana

I didn’t see Edrick the next day, or the day after that, for that matter. When he was not at work, he mostly stayed in his bedroom or in his study, and only spoke in brief words to me in passing. I couldn’t help but wonder if he had some idea that I went out with his brother for dinner, although admittedly, I also didn’t hear from Ethan at all either.

As the days ticked on and Selina’s deadline came closer, I still hadn’t made a decision over whether to keep the baby or not. I appreciated the housekeeper’s kind generosity, but I could tell that her patience was starting to wear thin. If I didn’t make a decision soon, I was almost certain that she would say something to Edrick; the housekeeper no doubt realized immediately from my insinuations that the baby belonged to Edrick, and she was too loyal to the Morgan family not to say anything to him about it.

I couldn’t help but wonder about something else, too: if I decided to keep the baby, would it also be a good idea to finally tell Edrick that I had started showing signs of having my own wolf? Would he be more likely to accept the baby as his own if he knew that it wasn’t actually a hybrid? But then again, would that also cause more disappointment for him down the line if the child wound up being wolfless? Mina still hadn’t shown any signs of fully emerging any time soon, so there was no telling as to whether I was always going to be considered a human in everyone’s eyes.

Despite all of these questions floating around in my head, however, I still had a job to do. I spent the next few days tending to Ella as much as I could, and continued to take the nausea pills that the doctor prescribed me so that I could perform my job duties. If I did decide to keep this baby, I would have to know for certain that I would have enough job stability to at least be able to save up a bit of money in case Edrick decided to fire me if he found out. I couldn’t be going around taking any more personal time off, upsetting Edrick, or shirking my job responsibilities due to nausea.

One day, it was particularly rainy outside. I was sitting on the living room floor with Ella and putting together a puzzle with her when I suddenly heard the elevator doors open, and looked over my shoulder to see Edrick hanging his raincoat and umbrella on the hook by the door.

He saw me looking and frowned briefly, his eyes darting away as though he didn’t even want to look at me, before he came to stand in front of Ella and myself.

“What are you doing?” he asked, his question directed at Ella instead of me, which I was getting used to at this point.

“A puzzle,” Ella replied thoughtfully as she dug through the pile of pieces to find the next piece of the giraffe that we were working on. “It’s an… African… Saforee.”

“African Safari,” I corrected her.

“Looks interesting,” Edrick said. It was strange of him to be socializing with both of us together considering how aloof he had been lately, but I figured that he was ramping up to something — and I realized that my assumptions were correct only a few moments later.

“Moana, I’d like to talk to you,” he said, turning toward his study. I nodded and climbed to my feet, watching as he stormed off without another word. At that moment, I was certain that I was going to be scolded for something, and I could feel my heart quicken its pace. Had Selina mentioned the pregnancy to him after all?

“I’ll be right back,” I said to the thoroughly distracted Ella, ruffling her hair before following Edrick and closing the study door behind me.

“What is it?” I asked.

“I’m holding a charity gala tomorrow night,” Edrick replied. “I expect you to be there.”

I furrowed my brow, taken aback by the Alpha billionaire’s sudden mention of charity. “A charity gala?” I asked. “What for?”

“Contrary to popular belief, I do keep my promises,” he said. “It’s for the orphanage.”