Chapter 92


    Chapter 92: Love and Marriage


    Moana


    The children quickly forgot about the emotional moment between Edrick and I by the time they finished


    their ice cream, and we left the ice cream parlor to make our way back to the orphanage.


    By the time we made it back to the orphanage, the sun was already beginning to set. E would have


    her werewolf training in the morning, so we needed to get home in time for dinner and bedtime. As E


    said her goodbyes to her friends in the foyer, Edrick and I stood patiently by the door.


    Finally, when E had hugged all of her new friends as though she would never see them again, I gave


    Sophia myst goodbye and we began to head out.


    “Wait! Moana! Mr. Morgan!” ra’s little voice called out, causing us to stop in our tracks. “I have a


    question!”


    “What is it, ra?” I asked, feeling a smirk spread across my face at the little girl’s urgent demeanor.


    “Um… Well, actually…” She turned to face her friends. They all whispered for a moment before Joshua


    reached out and spun ra back around to face us. Her face was red from embarrassment. “We want


    to know… When are you and Mr. Morgan getting married?”


    I froze, as did Edrick beside me.


    “ra, let’s not ask such personal questions,” Sophia said, shooting me an apologetic nce as she


    walked up to ra.


    “Oh… Sorry, Moana and Mr. Morgan,” ra said.


    “It’s okay,” I replied, crouching down and nting a kiss on the little girl’s cheek. I felt bad for not being


    able to exin anything more, but it wasn’t entirely my call. Edrick’s silence told me that he wasn’t


    ready to talk to outsiders about our situation just yet, and I wanted to respect that. “I’ll see you guys


    later, okay?”


    “Okay.”


    With that, Edrick, E and I returned to the car where the driver was waiting. Edrick opened the door for


    E and myself, and while I buckled E into her car seat, Edrick got in on the other side.


    The ride home was quiet. E seemed too sleepy from her exciting day to say much, and instead


    swung her legs happily in her seat as she yed with the wooden puzzle that I kept in my purse to


    keep her busy during car rides. Meanwhile, Edrick stared quietly out the window without so much as


    turning even once to look back at me. I could tell that ra’s question took him just as off guard as it


    did to me, and I knew that it made us equally ufortable. It was a confusing and awkward subject to


    broach, and what made it even worse was that the children at the orphanage — and Sophia — didn’t


    even know about the pregnancy yet. How would we be able to exin something like that when my


    belly eventually grew to the point where there was no hiding it?


    When we got back to the penthouse, Edrick retreated to his study and shut the door. I sighed as I heard


    the door click shut, but kept my chin up for E and helped Selina and the maids prepare dinner. E


    was thankfully just too preupied with her exciting day to notice her father’s sullenness after the


    question that ra asked, but I couldn’t stop thinking about it as we ate dinner and I gave E her


    bath.


    Would I even want to marry a man who was sleeping with other women during my pregnancy? I felt


    almost betrayed; even though we weren’t technically together, I felt as though I was doing my due


    diligence and being faithful for both E’s and the baby’s sake despite the fact that I was just as lonely


    as Edrick was. Meanwhile, he was having one night stands with other women. Just because I caught


    him this time, too, didn’t necessarily mean that there hadn’t been other times. Even just thinking about


    it made my blood boil, however, so I tried not to let it get to me as I got E ready for bed.


    N?velDrama.Org: text ? owner.


    Finally, I finished E’s bath and dried her off, then got her into her pajamas andbed out her long


    hair. It had be a bit of a ritual at this point for us to sit in front of her mirror at night while I brushed


    her hair one hundred times and braided it, and just like any other night, we did just that.


    I expected E to chatter on about her exciting day, but she didn’t. Much to my surprise, she was


    mostly quiet while I brushed and braided her hair. I figured that she was just tired, but it wasn’t until I


    tucked her into bed for the night that she finally spoke.


    “Um… Moana?” she said, just as I was about to shut off the light.


    I stopped, turning to look at her. She was tucked into her nket up to her chin, with her favorite stuffed


    animal — the little handmade stuffed duck that I’d purchased for her at the farmers’ market all those


    weeks ago — nestled into the crook of her neck. “Yes, love?” I asked.


    “Um… Do you think that you and my daddy really will get married one day?” she asked.


    I was taken aback by her question, but I supposed that I knew it woulde out eventually. Between


    mine and Edrick’s shocked silence in response to ra’s question earlier and the way that Sophia


    pulled her away, it was bound to have struck E. Not only that, but the way that her father went silent


    and disappeared into his study for the remainder of the night was also bound to make her


    ufortable. It was only now that I realized that she was probably mulling over the subject as well,


    and that was why she was so quiet all evening.


    E kept looking up at me curiously with her big doe eyes, and I finally let out a sigh and sat down on


    the edge of her bed. I reached out and brushed a loose strand of hair out of her eyes before I spoke.


    “Sometimes things just don’t work out that way,” I said gently.


    “Well… Why not?” she asked. “In all of my fairytales and princess movies, the boy and the girl always


    fall in love and get married and live happily ever after.”


    I paused, biting my lip. “Real life just isn’t always like your fairytales or princess movies,” I finally said


    after some contemtion. “But that’s okay. I promise that we’ll all still have our happily ever after… It’ll


    just be a little bit different.”


    E didn’t answer for a minute. I watched as she scrunched up her nose, chewing and digesting what I


    had just told her. Of course it broke my heart a little bit to have to tell a little girl that happily ever after


    wasn’t always like fairytales or princess movies; sometimes, instead of a prince, the boy was a cold


    CEO who couldn’tmit because of social status. And sometimes, instead of a princess, the girl was


    a human nanny who got herself into a rather sticky situation.


    But that didn’t mean that we couldn’t have our own happy ending in one way or another.