His Nanny Mate By Eve Above Story

Chapter 55: Out of Place

Moana The drive to the gala was quiet. Ella was too busy fiddling with the beads on her dress to talk much, and Edrick made no attempts at holding a conversation with me. I felt self conscious after the way he looked at my belly when I got in the car — was I already beginning to show signs of being pregnant, or was it only a coincidence?

Eventually, the driver pulled up to the curb outside a large stone building with huge marble columns on the front. Edrick told us to wait until the driver came and opened the door, then Ella and I got out first. She held firmly onto my hand as we approached the building, clearly just as nervous as I was. Her nerves only seemed to heighten when we stepped inside and she realized that there were no other children around.

“Moana?” Ella whispered, tugging at my dress while giving me big doe eyes. “I don’t like it here.”

“I know, love,” I said, pulling her closer. “It’s okay, though. We’ll stick together all night.”

Ella nodded. Edrick was already being accosted by wealthy werewolf socialites and fellow CEOs, so Ella and I quietly slipped away.

We weaved our way through the small crowd. The gala appeared to be fairly private, with only a few journalists milling about and taking photos of people. It was lovely, but I felt out of place as a human. The inside of the building was old and well-kept, with tall ceilings, marble floors, and enormous marble columns throughout. The sound of the orchestra playing music echoed through the air along with the sounds of people’s voices. There were rows of tables covered in beautiful meals and hors d’oeuvres, although I couldn’t help but wonder if I could even eat any of it without getting sick. Selina had given me that medicine earlier and it made me feel much better, but I was still traumatized from all of my vomiting spells over the past couple of weeks.

tap on my shoulder

Ella!” I said, tugging on Ella’s hand and breaking her from her trance as she stared at a plate of desserts. “It’s Sophia.” Ella immediately whipped around, her face lighting up as she saw Sophia. I watched as they hugged, then felt a smile spread across my face as Sophia straightened back up to hug me next. She appeared more vibrant and happy than I’d ever seen her; there was no doubt in my mind that Edrick’s donations were making her life and the children’s lives so much better. Even if he was only doing this to make himself look good in the public

I

smiling, but her smile faded as she looked at me. “Are you alright?” she said, still holding me by both arms. “You look

come up with an excuse; I knew that I looked

fine,” I said with a smile. “I had

same way that Edrick had in the car. It was impossible for me to be showing already, wasn’t it? But then again, I knew next to nothing about werewolf pregnancies. Maybe they showed sooner. After Sophia looked at me like that, I made sure to hold my purse in

isn’t it?” I said nervously, just

said, tearing her eyes away from my belly and looking out over the crowd. “Edrick

bit relieved. “You know, I really am so grateful for all of this,” she said to me. If I looked closely enough, I could see what looked like tears beginning to well up in her eyes. “With the official start of the foundation, so many children’s lives are going to be changed for the

why you chose this career?” I asked, realizing now that I had never had the chance to talk deeply with Sophia about her goals and

opportunity to grow up in a loving home where they can be well fed and have a promising future, and it’s

squeezing Sophia’s shoulder. “It’s okay, Sophia,” I said. “Your emotions are what will

Sophia smiled tearfully.