His Nanny Mate By Eve Above Story
Chapter 17

Chapter 17

Chapter 17: The Guests Moana

When I woke up the morning after Ella’s birthday, I was shocked to discover that it was already eleveno’clock; three hours past my usual time to wake up in the morning. If it hadn’t been for my phonebuzzing on the bedside table, I likely would have slept in for even longer.

As I awoke, squinting against the bright sunlight coming in through the large window, I also discoveredsomething else: Edrick and I were cuddling again.

Feeling my face flush hot, I quickly climbed out of bed, taking care not to wake Edrick, and picked upmy phone to see Selina’s name on my screen.

“Selina?” I said quietly, walking away from the bed so as not to wake the still-sleeping Edrick.

“Where on earth are you?” she asked angrily, her voice quivering with rage. “You should’ve been uphours ago, and you haven’t answered even though I’ve been knocking on your door all morning.”

I gulped, feeling a wave of embarrassment wash over me. “I’m so sorry,” I stammered, trying to comeup with an excuse as the housekeeper was still oblivious to my new sleeping arrangement with Edrick,and she certainly wouldn’t understand it if I tried to explain it to her myself. “I-I was taking a shower justnow. I’ll be out soon.”

Selina grumbled on the other end of the phone. “Well, hurry up. We have guests who are expectingyou, Ella, and Mr. Morgan downstairs in the lobby as soon as possible.”

Before I could answer, Selina abruptly hung up the phone. It was at this point as well that Edrick sat upin bed, wide awake. Had I been talking so loudly that I woke him up? It always seemed that he fell

asleep as soon as I did, and woke up as soon as I woke up, which was strange, but I didn’t have timeto think about it.

“Did I hear something about guests?” Edrick said confusedly as I slid my feet into my slippers andshuffled off toward the door.

“Yes,” I replied, quickly opening the door and poking my head out to make sure no one was around.“I’m not sure who, though.”

Seeing that no one was around, I quickly ran out of Edrick’s bedroom and scurried off to my room,somehow managing to slip inside without being seen. I washed myself up, still groggy and sore fromspending my entire day yesterday at the theme park — with a sunburn across my nose to prove it —and then got dressed in clean clothes. I pulled my hair back into a low bun and, once I was satisfiedwith my appearance, I opened the door to my bedroom and quickly got Ella ready for our visitors.

By the time I was finished getting Ella ready, Edrick was already waiting for us in the foyer. We took theelevator down to the lobby to greet these mystery guests. I hid my bashfulness around Edrick in thesilent elevator as best I could and avoided eye contact at all costs, as it seemed that we would wake upcuddling every morning despite our agreement to not get romantically involved, and I didn’t want him tothink that I was trying to break the clauses in my contract; nor did I want to alert Ella, Selina, or themaids to our arrangement.

The elevator slowly ticked down the floors of the high rise building, finally opening with a ding at theground floor.

“Grandma!” Ella called when we saw our guests standing in the lobby. I was taken by surprise as Ellaran away excitedly to greet them.

As we approached, the two guests came into focus. One was an older woman with silver hair wearingan expensive-looking dress and a large sun hat, while the other was much younger with an equally

expensive-looking satin dress and perfectly curled blonde hair that fell down her back, her eyescovered by large sunglasses.

“Oh, hello, darling,” the older woman said, bending down to kiss Ella on both cheeks. “Happy belatedbirthday! Grandma has lots of presents for you.”

Ella squealed delightedly. Both women looked up as Edrick and I approached, eyeing me up and downsuspiciously.

“Say hello to Kelly, Ella,” Edrick said.

Ella reluctantly turned toward the younger woman, who pushed her sunglasses up onto her forehead toreveal dark brown eyes that stared at me icily for a split second before looking down at Ella. “Hello,Kelly,” Ella said, sounding much less enthusiastic than she did when she greeted her grandmother.Kelly bent down and kissed Ella on both cheeks, who stiffened at the young woman’s touch andstepped back toward me once Kelly stood again.

The two women continued to eye me, so I decided to end the awkward silence and introduce myself.

“I’m Moana,” I said with a slight, polite bow of my head. “I’m Ella’s nanny.”

“Ah, the au pair,” Verona said coldly. “I didn’t expect a human, so I was unsure.”

“Mother,” Edrick said, stepping forward to kiss her on both cheeks. He then turned toward Kelly, whobeamed widely at him, but she glared at me coldly over his shoulder as they kissed each other on thecheek.

Edrick took the two women’s bags and carried them to the elevator. We all stood quietly in the elevatoras it slowly carried us up to the penthouse. Suddenly, Kelly turned toward me, looking down her noseat me.

“So… Do you have the right qualifications to be Ella’s au pair?”

“Pardon me?” I asked, feeling as though Kelly was being rude.

“I only ask because I care deeply about Ella,” she said with a stiff smile. “Sometimes I feel as thoughElla is my own daughter.”

“Ella is the best nanny ever,” Ella chimed in. When I looked down at her, she was frowning up at Kellywith an angry glint in her eyes. Kelly merely nodded, not saying anything else; thankfully, the doorsopened and the two women became too distracted by the penthouse and ordering the serv ants aroundto disturb me any longer, which was a relief.

Edrick led Verona and Kelly to the dining room, with Ella trailing behind miserably. Selina beckoned forme to help her in the kitchen. Just before I lost sight of the group, I noticed Kelly attempting to talk toElla, who was acting aloof and disinterested.

“Is Kelly Edrick’s sister?” I asked Amy quietly as we worked side-by-side to prepare lunch.

Amy shook her head. “No,” she replied. I saw movement from the corner of my eye and looked over myshoulder to see Edrick passing by the doorway with Kelly on his heels. She appeared to be followinghim, chattering away about something. They looked to be headed in the direction of Edrick’s bedroom.

“A friend, then?” I asked.

Amy smirked. “I think if Ella wasn’t around, Kelly would already be Edrick’s wife by now.”

Selina shot Amy a disapproving look, abruptly ending the conversation.

Even though I knew that I wasn’t supposed to have any sort of feelings toward Edrick, there was nodenying the pit in my stomach as Amy told me this. Was Kelly Edrick’s girlfriend or fiancee?