Chapter 252: Nanny and the Alpha Daddy
Moana
I couldn’t help but laugh as I thought back on the beginning of our relationship.
To think that, just a year prior, I was just Edrick’s one night stand who also became his nanny… And now, here I was, standing in front of the mirror in my wedding dress.
The dress that I picked out was beautiful. We planned to have a late summer wedding to commemorate our meeting, six months after little Daisy was born. My dress was a blush pink color. It was soft and flowy with a beautiful floral embroidered pattern, and sleeves that fluttered in the breeze. It hugged my waist in all of the right places and made me feel more beautiful than ever.
Daisy was six months old now, and Ella often mentioned how she no longer looked like a squished little grape. Ella had just turned nine, and thought that she was a grown-up, although she still liked to hold Edrick’s and my hands as we walked her to school. I treasured those moments and would never forget them when she eventually got too old to hold her mommy and daddy’s hands.
Our wedding was to be held at Verona’s mansion, in one of the sprawling gardens. I got dressed in one of the spare rooms with Sophia as my maid of honor and Mia, who had become a good friend to me over the past year, as my bridesmaid.
“You look stunning,” Sophia said with tears in her eyes as she finished placing my veil on my head. “The prettiest bride I’ve ever seen.”
“You’re just flattering me,” I teased, to which Sophia responded by pinching my arm.
Mia came up behind me and fixed my hair a bit. “Are you ready?” she asked. “You know, you can still run away from Edrick.”
I couldn’t help but laugh. “Trust me, I’ve thought about it,” I replied jokingly with a smirk. “He’d just find me and make me come back.”
Mia and Sophia led me downstairs shortly after, and took me to the large double doors that led out to the garden where the ceremony would be held. In the banquet hall, I could hear the clamoring sounds of the reception being prepared.
Ella, who was wearing a little blue dress with bows and ruffles — she picked it out herself — had a basket full of flower petals in her hand and a wide-eyed look on her face.
“Mom, I’m nervous,” she whispered as she tugged on my dress. “Can I hold your hand?”
I chuckled as I crouched down and pinched her cheek. “I’ll be right behind you,” I said. “Plus, Mia will be holding your hand. It’ll be okay.”
“Okay…” Ella looked a bit unsure, but held her chin high.
The double doors opened. I felt my heart leap as I heard the music begin to play, and then Mia, Ella, Sophia, and Jolene filed out ahead of me. I watched from around the corner, where the guests couldn’t see me, as Ella began to march proudly down the aisle with her basket of petals.
She made it about halfway before she suddenly saw her father, stopped throwing her petals, dropped the basket on the ground and ran up to him.
I stifled a laugh as she was scooped up by Edrick. The wedding goers chuckled at Ella’s embarrassment, and it was then that I came out and began to walk up the aisle.
Everyone’s eyes were on me. I felt both nervous and excited as I slowly walked up the aisle with my bouquet of sunflowers in my hand. Up ahead, Edrick held Ella, and Verona was sitting off to the side with Daisy in her arms. In my eyes, everyone else faded away. It was just them now; my little family.
It was a beautiful ceremony, but it went by all too quickly. Before I knew it, Edrick and I were putting the rings on each other’s fingers and saying “I do.”
“I now pronounce you husband and wife,” the priest said. “You may kiss the bride.”
With a cheeky grin, Edrick pulled me close and kissed me more deeply than ever before.
…
“She’s so precious,” Sophia said, pinching Daisy’s chubby little cheek. “She looks just like you when you were a baby.”
The reception was raucous and full of life and music. Surprisingly, Daisy was cheerful and smiling throughout the entire thing, and didn’t cry once.
I smiled as Sophia doted on her. It seemed as though everyone was doting on her, but I didn’t mind. It made me happy to sit with my husband and show off our baby, even if it took up the entire night. It was, after all, the first time that most of them met her.
“I can’t wait for Daisy to get big so she can play with me,” Ella said as she stood between Edrick and I and proudly held her little sister’s tiny hand. “But mom says that she’s too little now to play cops and robbers.”
Sophia laughed. “Well, the other kids from the orphanage want to play with you,” she said, pointing at the gaggle of children that were playing on the lawn.
Ella looked over at me curiously. I nodded, and watched with a smile as she ran off to join her friends.
“Well?” Jolene asked as she came up to us with a glass of champagne in her hand. “What do you think? Best wedding ever?”
Jolene, a spirited and kind older woman, had become a fast friend since I joined her foundation.
And, Jolene was the one who went to all the trouble to plan our wedding.
“It’s amazing,” I replied dreamily, bouncing Daisy in my lap while she gurgled happily and played with my necklace. “Really, Jolene. We can’t thank you enough.”
Jolene chuckled and leaned forward, pinching Daisy’s cheek. I was convinced that Daisy would have a permanent red spot on her little cheek from everyone pinching it, but she didn’t seem to mind.
“All any of us want is for you both to be happy,” she said, glancing over at Sophia, who nodded in agreement. I had to blink back tears of joy as they both hugged me.
Between Jolene, Sophia, Mia, and even Selina, I finally felt as though I had a group of real friends; people who genuinely cared for me, and I cared for them.
I felt Edrick’s arm slip around me as Sophia and Jolene walked away. He leaned over and kissed my temple. His sweet scent filled my nostrils and made my body relax. As fun as our wedding was, I couldn’t wait to get home and spend some alone time with Edrick.
We planned to spend our honeymoon in Europe for a week with just the two of us. It terrified me to leave Ella and Daisy behind, but I knew that Selina and the maids would take excellent care of them. For the first time, it would just be Edrick and I together without any distractions.
“Hmm…” I looked down at Daisy and smelled her sweet baby scent. “When should we have another?”
Edrick blushed. “Give it time,” he teased. “Although… Maybe soon.”
I chuckled.
“I meant what I said earlier, during my vows,” Edrick said, leaning close so that I could hear him over the music. “When I said that I always knew it was you.”
I raised an eyebrow. “Did you really?” I asked, c*****g my head a bit as I bounced Daisy in my lap and listened to her happy gurgles.
Edrick nodded. “Of course. That day at the maze, I picked up your scent. I knew that it had to belong to my mate… I guess it took a little time for me to stop being such a jerk and admit it, but I always knew.”
A smile came across my lips as I leaned my head on Edrick’s shoulder.
Just then, the orchestra began playing a different song. It was soft and slower than the last one, and I found myself humming along to it.
Edrick suddenly stood and held out his hand. “Let’s dance,” he said with a smile.
“But Daisy—”
“Bring her, too.”
I smiled as I followed Edrick out onto the dance floor. We held Daisy between us as we came close together and began to sway along to the music.
It wasn’t very long before Ella’s little body suddenly pressed itself between our legs. She held her arms up for her father, and with a grin he picked her up with one arm while still keeping his other arm around me.
Together, the four of us moved to the music.
We were a little family at last, and I was the happiest woman on the planet.
