Chapter 54: Gala Day

Moana On the morning of the gala, I woke up early with Ella to get ready for the day. She had an appointment with a stylist and hairdresser before the gala. Selina explained to me, after I questioned the reasoning behind this for such a little girl, that it was commonplace for these sorts of events.

Even though Ella was not publicly known as Edrick’s daughter, everyone in attendance at the gala was aware of it, and it was important for public relations for Edrick’s daughter to look her best — even though she was only eight years old. It felt a little ridiculous to me for such a young girl to be subjected to hours of having her hair done and being fitted for a perfect dress, but I didn’t complain.

Once Ella was bathed, we walked out to the dining room for breakfast. Much to my surprise, Edrick was sitting there with his plate of food, a coffee, and a newspaper.

“Good morning, Daddy,” Ella said, walking up to him and planting a kiss on his cheek.

“Good morning, Princess,” he replied, not so much as looking in my general direction. “Are you excited to get your hair done?”

Ella sighed and sat down at the table. “No,” she grumbled as she began to pick at her eggs and sausage with her fork. “I hate getting my hair done.”

shirt to keep her from getting scrambled eggs on her clothes. “It’s no different from now you play with

a doll,” Ella said. “I’m a

filled with the sweet sound of the little girl’s laughter. I glanced up momentarily to see Edrick’s eyes gazing at me over his newspaper, but he quickly

the eggs and sausage hit me. I felt as though I was about to retch.

you okay, Moana?” she asked.

steady myself as I breathed

saw what was happening and rushed over. She took my plate away. I heard some

“Thank you,” I whispered.

returned as I looked up again to see that Edrick was now staring daggers at me over his newspaper. Surely he noticed that something was awry,

to the side with a concerned expression on her face. She spoke with her mouth full, giving her the appearance of a funny little chipmunk with her

sausage grease off of her lips, then pulled her plate closer to her and tapped the edge of it with my finger. “Eat your breakfast. The stylist will be here soon. Don’t you want to go on

over the prospect of our morning walk, wolfed down the rest of her breakfast. I soon felt the

afterwards. Once Ella was busy with the stylist, I headed to my room to get some rest before the gala. Not long

to me with something

glass of water and opening her other hand to reveal two large pills. “They’re vitamins for expecting

mouth and swallowed them. “Thank you,” I said. “And thank you for what you

didn’t answer. I watched as she walked over to the door, but just

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