His Nanny Mate (Moana and Edrick Morgan) novel Chapter 93

#Chapter 93: Regrets

Edrick

I was passing by Ella’s room when I overheard Moana and Ella talking, and my heart sank a little when I heard Ella’s question.

“Um… Do you think that you and my daddy really will get married one day?” she asked, no doubt because of the children at the orphanage thinking that Moana and I were engaged.

There was a long pause; I almost considered going in there and talking to Ella myself as I wasn’t quite sure how well Moana would handle it, especially after how upset she’d been that morning, but it turned out that I didn’t need to.

“Sometimes things just don’t work out that way,” Moana finally replied. Her voice was soft and gentle.

“Well… Why not?” Ella asked. “In all of my fairytales and princess movies, the boy and the girl always fall in love and get married and live happily ever after.”

Another pause.

“Real life just isn’t always like your fairytales or princess movies,” Moana said after several long moments. “But that’s okay. I promise that we’ll all still have our happily ever after… It’ll just be a little bit different.”

I was a bit taken aback by how well Moana handled the situation. It warmed my heart, honestly, to hear how sweetly she spoke to Ella. She could have easily said something sarcastic or backhanded because of how angry she was with me for what happened that morning, but she didn’t tarnish my daughter’s perception of me. Honestly, did I even deserve that? Sometimes I wondered if Ella should know that her father was… Not the man she thought I was. I couldn’t help but wonder, either, if Ella would always feel a little bitter about my relationship with Moana; especially if she ever found out that her mother wasn’t actually dead.

Ella seemed satisfied by this response, and as I stood there, I saw the light flick off in the room followed by the sound of Moana’s footsteps approaching. I didn’t have time to move out of the way before she opened the door and saw me standing there.

“Oh,” she said, her face grim and cold, “I didn’t know you were here.”

“I was just coming to say goodnight,” I replied.

Moana nodded. “Well, she’s still awake, so now’s your chance.” She then stepped out of my way, avoiding my gaze, and headed toward her room — but I couldn’t contain my frustration any longer, and I followed her.

“Actually,” I said, standing behind her as she opened her bedroom door, “I’d like to talk to you.”

Moana froze, her hand still on the doorknob. She seemed to be unsure as to whether she wanted to speak to me or not, and I understood that, but at the same time I felt as though I had a right to explain myself. She got some seriously wrong ideas about me that morning that I needed to set straight, and she hadn’t given me a chance all day to explain anything. Even though I tried to make it up to both her and Ella today, she still didn’t seem satisfied.

“Fine,” she finally said, her voice low. She opened her door and stepped in. I followed and closed the door behind us. “What is it?” she asked as she folded her arms across her chest.

I frowned, a bit annoyed still by her harsh attitude, but I decided to push my own angry thoughts down to at least try to have a civil conversation.