Chapter 152: Crepe Date
Moana
I didn’t know what Edrick and Michael were exactly talking about, but I had a pretty good idea of it. It was clearly because of his fake relationship with me, and when I heard raised voices and saw Michael storm out, followed by Edrick giving me a strange look and slamming the door, it only solidified my suspicions.
Edrick stayed in his study and didn’t come out for the remainder of the day; not even for dinner. In fact, I didn’t see or hear him ever come to bed, and he was gone again when I woke up the next morning as well.
To wake up without him sleeping beside me for the second morning in a row was not only a bit odd, but also a little heartbreaking. I had quickly grown used to feeling his presence beside me, whether his arms were wrapped warmly around me or not. Not only that, but it was Saturday morning; he rarely worked on Saturdays, and when he did, it was never this early. But maybe it was just because he needed to do extra work to mitigate the falling stock prices due to our fake relationship. However, I couldn’t deny the fact that there was a small part of me that wondered if he simply didn’t want to be around me. I hoped that that wasn’t the case.
Either way, Ella had training this morning and I needed to get her ready. So, swallowing my anxiety, I crawled out of bed and slipped on my robe and slippers, but as I did, something shiny caught my eye.
It was a little pair of scissors on Edrick’s bedside table.
I furrowed my brow as I walked over to look at them. Why did Edrick leave the bathroom scissors out on his bedside table, of all places? He was usually careful with things like that, and it was important to keep sharp things out of Ella’s reach in case she came in and accidentally hurt herself; but maybe he was just in a rush and had to cut a loose thread or something like that. Without another thought, I picked the scissors up and carried them over to the medicine cabinet.
After that, I made my way over to my bedroom, where I showered and got dressed for the day. I promised Sophia that I would also volunteer again at the orphanage, so I made sure to dress comfortably for a day of work and pack a small lunch.
Finally, I woke Ella up and got her ready for training.
“Moana?” she asked as I combed her hair and put it into two braids for her training.
“Yes, love?” I replied.
“Um… Can we have crepes for breakfast?” she asked, her voice sounding almost sheepish. “At the bakery downstairs. We haven’t gone in so long…”
I pursed my lips. Of course I wanted to go, and we hadn’t gone in weeks. But with the frenzy that the media was in recently, I didn’t want to just go out with her without Edrick there. After what happened last time, I was scared that she would get hurt again. I didn’t want to put her through that again, as it already scared her so much the first time.
“I’m sorry, sweetheart,” I said gently. “I don’t think we can go without your daddy. Remember what happened last time we went out with just the two of us?”
Ella let out a loud, long, almost dramatic sigh. “I suppose,” she muttered. When I looked up at her in the mirror, I could see that she was hanging her head and pushing her lower lip out in a pout. But what was I supposed to do? Without her father here, I couldn’t even get permission from him if it was okay to go.
Suddenly, I heard Selena’s voice call through the door. When I looked up, she was standing in the doorway. “You can bring one of the bodyguards,” she said, causing Ella’s head to jerk up excitedly. “It’s just next door. It’ll be fine.”
I was shocked. “Really?” I asked. “You don’t think Edrick will be worried?”
Selina shrugged. “He hired you both a bodyguard for a reason. And besides, you two can’t stay cooped up here forever.”
I couldn’t help but smile. Maybe Selina was right; we couldn’t spend the rest of our lives feeling terrified of the outside world after one bad experience with the paparazzi. With a trained bodyguard protecting us and our hats on to cover up our faces a little bit, it would be okay.
“Alright,” I said, causing Ella to let out an excited gasp. “Let’s go quick, though. You’ve got training today.”
…
Later, Ella and I were seated at one of the tables in the bakery with two plates of delicious crepes, fresh fruit, and whipped cream sitting in front of us. I ordered a fancy coffee for myself as well, and as I watched Ella happily eating with whipped cream all over her face, I couldn’t help but smile even more. It made me happy to see Ella happy, and despite everything with the paparazzi and Michael lately, I knew that Edrick’s public announcement was good for her. It was allowing her to get out of the house without having to hide her identity, and she could enjoy being a child. I kept thinking about how happy she was at the picnic the other day, when she spent the entire morning and afternoon playing tirelessly with other children. I wanted her to be able to enjoy things like that even more.
While we ate, Ella prattled on about all sorts of things. She was excited for training, just as she always was, and asked me to tell the other children at the orphanage that she said hello. She also couldn’t stop talking about the picnic as well, which made me laugh.
But then, suddenly, she set down her fork and gave me a very serious look.
“Moana,” she said, sounding almost like a little adult all of a sudden, “I have a question.”
“Okay,” I replied. I set down my coffee and looked at her with the same amount of seriousness, expecting her to ask me something silly, such as whether she could finish my crepe if I wasn’t going to eat all of it or if she could skip training to tag along to the orphanage. But what she said next took me by complete surprise.
“Do I always have to call you Moana?”
I furrowed my brow at this strange question. “What do you mean, love?” I asked, c*****g my head to the side. “That’s my name.”
Ella sighed. “Yes, but…” She paused. She seemed to be puzzling over how to word her thoughts properly, like it was extremely important to her. “You act like my mommy. Can’t I call you mommy sometimes?”
My eyes widened at this. It wasn’t anything that I had expected her to say, and while I had had moments in the past where I secretly thought that I felt as though Ella and I were a real mother and daughter, I never expected her to ask if she could refer to me as her mother.
“Um…” I stammered, trying to come up with the right response that wouldn’t hurt her feelings or give her too much false hope. “Why don’t we ask your dad about that later, hm? Let’s see what he has to say about it.”
Ella nodded understandingly. Sometimes, she seemed so mature for such a little girl that it took me by complete surprise. “Okay,” she said, rather calmly. “It’s okay if I can’t call you mommy. I know that I had a real mommy, and she died. But sometimes, I just feel like you’re… Sort of like a mommy to me.”
I couldn’t help but smile. I reached across the table and took Ella’s little hand in mine, blinking back the tears that formed in my eyes.
“I know, sweetheart,” I said gently. “Sometimes I feel that way, too.”
