Moana
Swallowing my anger over Edrick’s sudden choice to leave me at the hospital overnight and chalking it up to him simply wanting to protect his daughter, I took a deep breath and opened the car door before stepping out.
I walked into the spacious lobby, where a secretary was sitting at a small desk. She shot me a confused look as I entered.
“Ma’am, this is a werewolf hospital,” she said, her tone of voice sounding flat and annoyed.
This angered me even more than what Edrick had said in the car.
“I know,” I replied, walking up to her desk. “I have an appointment.”
The secretary stared at me for a moment, looking me up and down briefly, before she returned to slowly chewing her gum and clicking around on her computer. “Name?”
“Moana Fowler,
EdrickAs I watched Moana walk into the hospital, I already had my doubts. I was already uneasy enough as we pulled up to the front doors, but seeing her walk away only solidified that feeling.My wolf was just as distraught.“You’re really gonna let her do this?” he asked with a growl. “It’s your baby, too. Think about what it was like when you held Ella for the first time, and then imagine how it would feel with this new baby. You’ve always secretly wanted to experience that feeling again, and now you’re letting this opportunity get away from you.”I shook my head as I watched the doors close behind Moana, then put the car in drive and pulled out of the hospital parking lot.“I know you don’t want this to happen,” I said to my wolf out loud now that we were alone, “a
Moana“Did you decide?” the doctor asked.I felt completely helpless, and began to cry harder. The doctor was silent and let me cry, and when I was finally able to speak around my sobs, I looked up at him and shook my head.“I can’t do it,” I said, my chest heaving with each word as my lungs felt like they would explode. “I don’t want to go through with the abortion.”The doctor nodded. “Okay then,” he said with a warm smile. “You don’t have to do it.”He left to let me get dressed again. As I did, I felt Mina practically leaping with joy inside of me, and I couldn’t help but smile a bit. I finished dressing, then headed back out to the elevator with the intention of calling a cab home since Edrick thought that I would be spending the night here.
MoanaEdrick and I agreed with Selina that Ella had to be carefully introduced to the topic of having a new sibling. Not only could it be harmful to her self esteem to think that she might be ‘replaced’ or get less attention, but it could also be harmful to both her relationship with her father and her relationship with me. Considering the fact that we both decided that it would be best for me to continue to live with them as we raised the new child, it was important for us all to get along.We didn’t say anything for a few days, as we both wanted to give ourselves time to come up with a strategy before we told Ella. But, as Selina warned, I would begin to show soon. Since the baby was a little werewolf and not a human, the pregnancy would be a bit different, and I would show sooner. My belly was already starting to look a little more bloated than usual, as I had learned at the charity gala.
EdrickNow that the issue of Moana’s pregnancy was settled, in our household at least, I felt much more at peace than before. Ella seemed to get happier by the day, and would chatter away about her future sibling almost every night at dinner. The issue of figuring out how to best bring it up to my parents was still something I would have to deal with, but at least I had a little time; it’ wasn’t as though my father was walking around my penthouse and would see Moana’s growing belly, unlike Ella, who would’ve seen it happening before her very eyes. Part of me wanted to keep up the lie and tell my parents that I wasn’t the father, but I knew that it would be useless with Ella running around. Eight year olds don’t exactly make the best keepers of secrets.Things seemed to settle down into a new normal over the next several days. The servants were kind to Moana and helped
MoanaOne night, I was reading a bedtime story to Ella when I found myself nodding off in the chair by her bed. I didn’t wake up until a couple of hours later. 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 glass of brown liquid.Furrowing my brow, I picked up the glass and inspected it. It was certainly one of Edrick’s whiskey glasses from his minibar, and when I sniffed its contents, I quickly
MoanaBy 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.”
MoanaThe gap that existed between Edrick and I could never be bridged; I knew that now.Our ride home was silent. The steak that I could still taste on my tongue now tasted foul. To think that I had spent the entire day feeling as though we could have some semblance of normalcy; even if we never became romantically involved, why couldn’t we still be proud of what we had created between us? Why did he always have to hide me and Ella? Would the new baby also face the same struggle of having a father who didn’t want anyone to know about his or her existence?We went home that night, still without a word spoken between us. I took Ella to bed with only a brief word of thanks for everything he did that day, but after that, I didn’t look at him again.…On Monday morning, I awoke to the sound of someone knocking on my door.
MoanaMy eyes widened when I saw Edrick, but at the same time, my body relaxed knowing that he was here to -- hopefully -- help us. He glanced over at me, but clearly didn’t want anyone to know we were together, and walked up to the desk.“Is there a problem here?” he asked the receptionist.“Yes, Mr. Morgan,” she said, gesturing to me, “this woman is a human and she’s trying to be served before werewolves. It’s our policy to serve werewolves first.” Her eyes were wide as she spoke, and her voice shook a bit. I could tell that she knew that she would be in deep trouble if Edrick Morgan himself was here.“Well, break policy just this once,” he said. He turned to the werewolf couple next, who still stood nearby looking utterly confused. “So sorry about that,” he said, then turned to Selina and