Chapter 70: An Unbridgeable Gap
Moana
By the time Ella’s training was about to end, Edrick and I had purchased a whole host of baby supplies. He insisted on buying the bassinet anyway, as well as anything else the baby might need. Although I thought it was a bit irresponsible for him to spend so much on certain items, I figured that he knew what he was doing, and I didn’t argue any further. Besides: I couldn’t help but feel happy to spoil our future child as well.
We picked Ella up at training, then Edrick pulled out of the parking lot and began driving in the opposite direction of the penthouse.
“Um, daddy?” Ella called from the back seat, twisting in her car seat to look intensely out the window. “I think you’re going the wrong way.”
Edrick smirked, then shook his head. “No, Princess. We’re going out for dinner.”
Ella gasped and squealed excitedly. “Really?” she asked.
“Really.”
“Really really?”
“Really really.”
Ella squealed excitedly again, which made both Edrick and I smile. I was sitting in the back with her to keep her company, and at one point I looked up to see Edrick’s gray eyes on me in the rear view mirror. I blushed and quickly looked away. When I glanced back up, he was looking at the road again.
“What did you learn at training today?” I asked Ella as Edrick drove.
“Oh, lots of things,” she said. “We did an obstacle course.”
“An obstacle course?” Edrick asked as he guided the car around a corner. “How did you do?”
“The teacher said I was the best in the class,” she boasted, placing her hands on her hips with a gloating smile. “I didn’t miss any of the jumps, and I kept my balance the whole way on the beam. Oh, and then after that, we practiced shifting…”
As Ella continued to prattle on about her exciting day of training, I felt a tear come to my eye. That day, I really felt like we were a little family; we were a strange little family, but we were a family nonetheless. I quickly looked out the window before either of them could see my tear, but I couldn’t contain my smile.
When we arrived at the restaurant, I was amazed by how beautiful it was.
“Right this way,” the host said as we entered the restaurant. I walked behind the host and Edrick, who was wearing his mask, and looked around as I held Ella’s hand. The restaurant was located at the top of a tall building, and we had to take an elevator to get up to it. It was spacious and peaceful at the top, with little trickling fountains and a greenhouse feel to it. There was a big glass ceiling with an observation deck for people to walk around and look at the city view. Meanwhile, green plants hung down from the ceiling, lined the walls in pots, and little gardens were dotted around the restaurant.
The host led us to a small, private room with one wall that was entirely glass so we could see out over the cityscape. He left us with the menus, and when he did, Edrick finally took off his mask. Much to my pleasure, the Alpha billionaire was smiling. He pulled Ella’s chair out, then mine, which made me blush.
“Get anything you want,” he said, flipping through the menu. “Both of you.”
“Hm…” Ella tapped her chin thoughtfully, then leaned over from where she was sitting next to me and pushed the menu toward me. “Do they have chicken tenders?”
I laughed. “Chicken tenders?!” I asked in a playful tone of voice. “Don’t you want something fancy?”
“Chicken tenders are fancy,” Ella insisted, folding her arms across her chest.
I heard Edrick chortle across from me. “You’re right, Princess,” he said. “Chicken tenders are indeed the fanciest of all dinners.” He didn’t look up from his menu as he spoke, aside from a quick glance up — and as he did, I caught his eyes sliding over my dress, my belly, then up to my hair and eventually they met my own eyes. Once he noticed that I was looking, he quickly looked away again.
“What about you, Moana?” he asked. “What are you having?”
I swallowed, taken aback that he cared to know what I was going to order. Lately, I’d been craving a lot of meat; no doubt it was due to the pregnancy. I was carrying a little werewolf, after all.
“Um… Steak sounds good,” I said.
Edrick furrowed his brow. “Are you sure that it’s safe for a pregnant woman to eat something like that?” he asked. “I just don’t want you to feel sick later.”
“I think it’s okay,” I said, feeling my face blush from the Alpha’s concern for my health and the baby’s health. “But I can get something else, if you’re that worried. I’ve just had a craving for red meat lately.”
“Hmm… Let’s see,” Edrick said, pulling out his phone. He quickly typed something, then was silent for a moment and nodded his head. “It says that protein is actually recommended, as well as the vitamins in red meat. You should eat it if you want it. Maybe a craving like that is a good thing.”
Under any other circumstances, I would have been a bit discouraged by a man questioning my choice of food like that, but this was different; I began to feel as though I really did make the right choice. Edrick clearly cared about me and the baby, and it warmed my heart.
…
After dinner, and even a little dessert, Edrick paid the bill and we left. I felt indescribably happy after such a lovely day.
Edrick also must have had a wonderful day, because on the way back down in the elevator, he instinctively placed his hand on my lower back as we stood next to each other. I felt my heart skip and chanced to look up at him to see that he seemed to be doing it naturally, and he didn’t even seem to realize it himself. I blushed, looking back down at my feet, and rubbed my hand over my belly. Somehow, this all felt so natural.
The elevator doors opened at the bottom and we stepped out, only to be surprised by a bright camera flash in front of us.
My eyes widened. I glanced up at Edrick to see that he had forgotten to wear his mask down to the lobby, and he was frowning deeply — such a stark contrast from the smiling man who I just had dinner with. He quickly dropped his hand from my back and stormed out of the elevator, putting on his mask as he did so to avoid more photos, and then pulled out his wallet as he walked up to the photographer.
“How much?” he snarled, digging into his wallet. “Let me buy that picture. I can guarantee I’ll pay more than any tabloid you could possibly sell it to.”
“Erhm… How much you got there?” the photographer asked, peering into Edrick’s wallet.
My heart sank. “Come on, love,” I whispered to Ella as Edrick continued to barter with the photographer. I didn’t want her to see what was happening and get a bad impression, so I took her hand and ushered her over to the car, where I busied myself with putting her in the car seat and getting her situated for the ride home in order to keep myself from crying.
For some reason that day, I’d forgotten that Edrick wanted to hide me, his daughter, and his future baby. Things had felt so natural for a short while that we almost felt like an ordinary little family.
That picture that Edrick was paying the photographer so handsomely for was immediately a cold reminder of the gap between us that could never be bridged, no matter the circumstances.
