Chapter 69


    Chapter 69: Shopping for Baby


    Moana


    One night, I was reading a bedtime story to E when I found myself nodding off in the chair by her


    bed. I didn’t wake up until a couple of hourster. She was fast asleep and I didn’t want to wake her, so


    I quietly got up and slipped back into my room to go back to sleep.


    When I walked back into my room, I didn’t notice anything out of the ordinary, seeing as how tired I


    was. I moved my sketchbook aside and climbed into the covers, and quickly fell asleep.


    The next morning, I woke up with a headache. I groaned and sat up, rubbing my eyes, and as I did so I


    noticed something sitting on my bedside table that I hadn’t noticed the night before: a ss of brown


    liquid.


    Furrowing my brow, I picked up the ss and inspected it. It was certainly one of Edrick’s whiskey


    sses from his minibar, and when I sniffed its contents, I quickly realized that it was, in fact, whiskey.


    I frowned. Why was there a ss of whiskey on my bedside table? I hadn’t noticed anything out of the


    ordinary the night before; had Edricke into my room looking for me?


    I decided that I would ask him about itter, and got up to start getting ready for the day.


    …


    When I came out of my room and walked over to the dining room, Edrick was already awake and was


    sitting at the dining room table with a te of toast, a coffee, and a stack of financial reports in front of


    him. He looked up when I entered, and immediately I could tell that he was guilty when his eyes


    flickered to the now-empty whiskey ss that I’d dumped out into my bathroom sink.


    “Were you in my roomst night?” I asked, setting the ss down on the table in front of him.


    He paused, then finally nodded his head. “Yes. I saw that your light was on, so I went to shut it off. I


    guess I set my drink down.”


    I frowned and opened my mouth to tell him that he shouldn’t have been drinking so much in the middle


    of the night that he would forget a whiskey ss on my bedside table, but before I could, he suddenly


    spoke.


    “Get dressed,” he said, taking a nonchnt sip of his coffee. “I’m going to the baby supply store while


    E is in training. You shoulde with me. Afterwards, we’ll pick E up and I’ll take you both out for


    dinner.”


    I felt a little surprised by this sudden proposal. Already he was looking into buying baby supplies? And,


    even more surprising than that, he was going out in public with me and was even nning on taking


    me for dinner? I didn’t protest, however, and simply turned around to go back to my room and put on a


    nicer outfit. I opted for the same blue dress I bought at the farmers’ market. As I put it on, I looked in


    the mirror and noticed that it seemed to hug my slightly growing belly well, and I even found myself


    running my hands along my belly with a smile on my face as I looked in the mirror. I couldn’t wait to


    watch my belly grow over theing months.


    Once I was dressed, Edrick and I took E to training and dropped her off. Then, he drove just the two


    of us to a local strip of expensive outlet stores. As we pulled into the parking lot, I was a bit taken aback


    by all of the luxury sports cars that were parked outside. Happy families dressed in designer clothes


    roamed around outside as they walked from store to store, and there was arge marble fountain with


    a statue in the center surrounded by a small park with benches. I’d never been to outlet stores that


    were this nice, and even though I felt good in my dress, I still felt a little out of ce.


    Before we got out of the car, Edrick put on his face mask again to hide his identity.


    “Wait,” he said sternly before I opened my car door. I watched as he climbed out and then jogged


    around to my side of the car. He opened the car door for me and even held out his hand to help me out.


    As I felt my hand in hisrge palm, my heart started to pound and I felt my face getting hot.


    N?velDrama.Org: text ? owner.


    “Thank you,” I murmured, staring at the ground. There was a moment of silence, during which time I felt


    his eyes wander down to my dress, then linger on my belly.


    But, just as quickly as it came, his gentlemanly nature faded. “Come on,” he said, turning on his heel


    and starting to walk toward the stores, “we’ve got a lot to do before E gets out of training.”


    I followed as he walked briskly toward the baby supply store, and by the time we arrived, I was already


    a little out of breath from trying to keep up with his long strides.


    The store was full of other expecting parents, as well as parents with infants and toddlers. We began to


    walk around the store and look at all of the supplies, but as we did, I also looked around a bit at the


    other customers. I couldn’t help but notice that many of the parents with young children also seemed to


    have human nannies with them that were doing all of the work to take care of the children. Admittedly, it


    bothered me a little bit that some couples were ignoring their children while their nannies did all of the


    work. I was a bit grateful that Edrick never acted like that, despite his cold and indifferent demeanor.


    Not long after we began shopping, an attendant came to us with a smile on her face.


    “Looking for newborn supplies?” she asked, nodding her head toward my belly. I hadn’t realized it, but I


    was rubbing my belly as I walked around. I almost went to take my hand away, but then I remembered


    that I could be open with my pregnancy now, which filled me with an immense amount of joy.


    “Yes,” Edrick replied with a nod.


    The attendant’s smile widened. She then pulled out a handheld scanner and handed it to me. “If you’d


    like, you can walk around the store and use this to scan anything you want. Then, once you pay at the


    register, one of our employees will gather everything and we can either have it delivered to your home


    or help you bring it out to your car.”


    “Thank you,” I replied. Edrick and I walked away and continued to look. My jaw dropped when I spotted


    a lovely disy with a cream-colored wicker bass. As I walked up to it and ran my hand along the


    fabric that was lined on the inside, it felt softer than anything I’d ever touched…


    But it cost almost a thousand dors.


    “Do you want that?” Edrick asked, walking up to me.


    I hesitated, biting my lip, before shaking my head. “No. It’s too expensive.”


    “Nonsense,” Edrick said. He grabbed the scanner out of my hand and immediately scanned the


    barcode on the bass before I could stop him.


    “Edrick!” I said, grabbing the scanner back. “That bass is almost a thousand dors! It’s too


    expensive for something that will only be used for the first few months of the baby’s life.”


    Edrick merely shrugged in response. “So?” he asked, folding his arms across his chest. “I have the


    money. I want this baby to have the best of everything.”


    “Even so,” I replied, “it’s wasteful to spend so much. It’s pretty, sure, but there’s no real need for such


    an expensive bass.”


    Just then, another couple passed as we argued over the bass. The wife chuckled, and the husband


    leaned over toward Edrick with a yful smirk on his face. “The first rule of being an expecting father is


    to never argue with the baby’s mother,” the husband said with a wink before walking away.


    Edrick, who had his mouth open already to speak, suddenly shut it.


    I couldn’t help it; the fact that the other man’s words somehow managed to shut up the Alpha CEO


    made meugh.