Nanny and the Alpha Daddy

#Chapter 163: Art Department

Moana

Both Ella’s and my eyes widened when Edrick came out into the dining room early the next morning and announced his plans.

“Get dressed, both of you,” he said. “We’re going to look at a school today.”

Ella’s jaw dropped. “A school?!” she shrieked, jumping up from her chair excitedly. “Really?”

Edrick nodded with a slight smile. “Yep. We’re gonna look into sending you to school like all of the other kids. Would you like that?”

With a wide, ecstatic grin, Ella nodded vehemently and ran over to her father. She threw her little arms around his legs and hugged him tightly. “Yes, daddy!” she shouted. “I really really want to go to school!”

Ella’s excitement made me smile, and I could tell that Edrick was trying — and failing — to hide a smile of his own. “Go get dressed, then,” he said. “We don’t have a lot of time. I told the headmistress we’d be there soon.”

Ella took off at a full sprint toward her room. I thought I heard the sound of her tripping, falling, and skidding across the floor on her way, but she seemed fine. I stood, smiling, and placed my hands on my hips.

think about it,

in school, and she deserves to socialize with other kids. Besides… With the baby coming, having her at school during the day will be a good thing for

my own, so long as I had just a little help — but I wasn’t about to argue with Edrick.

so we walked to meet the headmistress. Ella walked between us, holding one of each of our hands, and it really did

pictures. It was an old building with tall windows, stone facades, and arched wooden doors. There was a playground out front with lots of shade from trees and plenty of playground equipment, and there was even a garden on the other side with planter boxes for fruit and vegetables. As we walked up the long pebble pathway to the front door, an elderly woman stepped out onto the front stoop and waved to us. She had long white hair that was piled into a neat bun on top

Mr. Morgan, Miss Ella, and…” she turned toward me, pausing and

replied, holding out my hand. The

Hawkins,” she replied, then turned and held open the heavy wooden door for us. “Come on in. Let’s

she showed us everything. The inside of the school was even more lovely, with tile floors, high ceilings, and a lot of natural light. There was a gymnasium, auditorium, countless classrooms, a cafeteria, a beautiful inner courtyard with a fountain, and plenty of recreation spaces. She showed us the music room, the science lab, the daycare room, and the library, and before we knew it we had spent well over an hour just touring

to a closed and rather dusty looking door. “Well… It was the

dark room with all of the furniture covered by white sheets. The curtains were closed and there were boxes everywhere, as though it was being

it not being used?” I asked, turning

nodded. “I’m afraid our art program isn’t what it used to be,” she replied. “And by that

I frowned. “What happened?”

her voice a bit. “Our beloved art teacher passed away a couple of years ago,” she said. “She was getting on in age. We haven’t found a good enough replacement, so unfortunately our art department is currently on

now put a bit of a damper on my opinion of the school. Of course it was out of the headmistress’s control, but I wanted to make sure that Ella went to a school with a good art program, and now I wasn’t so sure if this