Nanny and the Alpha Daddy

#Chapter 73: Keeping Secrets

Edrick

“Edrick…” My mother dropped her tone of voice and leaned closer to me. She took my hand in hers and gave me a serious, knowing look that only a mother could have. “Is she pregnant?”

I frowned, hiding the fact that my heart had just started beating rapidly. “What?” I said, shaking my head. “What makes you think that?”

My mother folded her arms across her chest and narrowed her eyes. “Edrick, I’m your mother. You can’t lie to me.” There was a long silence after she spoke, but her eyes never wavered from mine. Even in her old age, she was still just as astute and level-headed as ever. I had never been able to lie to my mother, and she knew that. Finally, I caved.

“Yes,” I replied quietly. “She is pregnant.”

“I knew it,” my mother said. I could tell that she was hiding a bit of a smirk at her miniature victory, but at the same time, she was dead serious. “Is it yours?”

I didn’t answer right away. I felt a lump rise in my throat after being put on the spot. Sure, I was planning on telling my mother eventually, but now? Like this? It felt so out of the blue, and I had no time at all to prepare an explanation.

“It’s not—”

know, the way you act around Ella,” my mother interrupted, lowering her voice even more, “if you had another illegitimate child… It would only cause more problems for you, for the daughter you already have, and the baby. Not to mention the emotional toll it would take on that poor girl to feel

head. “It’s not mine, mom,” I lied, this time taking care to hide my lie even though it

didn’t believe me. “Darling, I already heard all about your visit to the hospital this morning,” she admitted. “You know, the couples that you let her ahead of are well known, after all, and they were very put out by the entire thing. But I digress, and it was

to help her,” I lied once more. “She doesn’t have anyone else, and those human doctors…” What was I supposed to say? That I cared about my daughter’s nanny out of the kindness of my heart and didn’t want her visiting some

with a slight sigh, leaning back in her chair. “That’s very nice of you. I wish her

She set the tray down, then began to pour a cup for my

won’t be necessary,” my mother said, standing. “I only wanted to pop

to know that such a difficult conversation was over for now. At the same time, however, I couldn’t help but feel

…

to address this soon; eventually, my family would find out. I couldn’t hide it forever, and already I was on thin ice for blatantly lying to my mother’s face like that in a way that no son ever should. But what was I supposed to do? I was put on the spot, and I hadn’t prepared yet. While my mother was a perfectly reasonable and kind

have certainly been here by now, berating me for hours. That was what he had done with Ella, and she was a purebred werewolf. I could only imagine his reaction when he found out that I was not only getting ready

when I arrived. Moana was tucking a napkin into the front of Ella’s shirt

in my chair. “Work got ahead of me this afternoon.” Of course, I wasn’t going to divulge to Moana that I’d actually spent the afternoon doing nothing but pondering how to tell my mother about

answer. I didn’t think much of it at first and began to cut my steak, but when the table remained silent whereas Moana would have normally begun to ask Ella questions about her day by now, I began to get suspicious. When I glanced up from my steak, I saw her glaring at me. She quickly looked away and popped a bite of glistening steak into her mouth, chewing slowly, but I saw the look she