MoanaI felt my heart sink into the pit of my stomach at the attendant’s words.“She left quite a while ago. Did you not pick her up?”“Hold on,” I replied, walking away briskly and trying to stay calm as I dialed the penthouse phone number into my cell phone and asked the concierge to direct me to Edrick’s suite. This had to be some misunderstanding. Surely Ella was safely home. Maybe Amy or Lily got confused with the schedule and picked her up without letting me know.“Hello?” Selina’s voice said on the other line after a few rings.“Selina,” I said, trying to sound as calm and collected as possible, “did Amy or Lily pick up Ella from her training?”Selina was silent for a few moments before responding. “No. That’s your job.” Her voice sounded stern and cold, but I could sense a hint of fear behind it as she seemed to put two and two together. I knew that Selina cared for Ella just as much as I did, and the last thing she would ever want would be for something bad to happen to Ella.

Moana“I’ll pay.”Ella and I were both shocked when we turned around to see Edrick standing there, credit card in hand, his face covered by sunglasses and a surgical mask.“Daddy!” Ella exclaimed.Edrick handed the ice cream salesman his credit card and ruffled Ella’s hair. “Eat your ice cream before it melts,” he said, guiding us away from the stand and the people behind us who were getting quickly annoyed at us for holding up the line to get ice cream.“I thought you had to work,” Ella said.“I decided to come home early so I could spend your birthday with you after all,” Edrick replied. “But you weren’t home. Selina told me that you went on an outing…” I couldn’t see his eyes through his sunglasses, but the way his head slowly turned toward me told me everything I needed to know.I felt my shoulders droop and looked embarrassingly down at my rapidly-melting ice cream. We approached a bench and Edrick instructed Ella to sit while she finished her ice cream, then he stood next to me

EdrickI lifted my blindfold, as did she. The sweet scent that I smelled was definitely Moana…Or so I thought. It faded so quickly that I was no longer sure if it was her who I smelled, or someone else. It couldn’t be her, anyway; she was a human. She had no scent.“It looks like we have our first winners!” the announcer called over the microphone.As Ella squealed with delight on the platform above, I realized that I was holding Moana’s hand. I saw her blushing and I quickly dropped her hand. When we re-emerged from the maze, Ella was standing at the entrance with one of the staff members -- the same girl from before.The staff member gave Moana and I a strange look, but still said nothing and instead handed Ella the grand prize; the rare doll that Ella had so desperately wanted.As we walked back to the car, Ella couldn’t stop chattering about how much she loved her doll, how amazing it was that she was able to make me find Moana so quickly, and how this was the best birthday she h

MoanaI finished preparing lunch with the maids and helped them to set the meal out on the dining room table. Although I had already eaten a quick meal in the kitchen earlier as we prepared the food, it was still my duty as Ella’s nanny to stay with her and help her if she needed anything. Besides, the grumpy look on Ella’s face whenever Kelly was around only softened when I was near her, which made me want to be near her even more as support.I sat beside Ella for the duration of the lunch, helping her to cut her food, keep her clothes clean, and get her whatever she needed. Edrick, Verona, and Kelly spoke with each other about trivial things as though I wasn’t even there, which was fine with me. If they had tried to involve me in their conversation, I likely wouldn’t have known the right things to say. I’d never dealt with such wealthy people in my life, let alone tried to have meaningful conversation with them.Not being personally involved in the conversation also allowed me to be

MoanaThe day of the Morgan family dinner banquet finally came. Selina informed me that anyone attending these banquets was expected to dress formally, so I found a nice, dark blue dress with bows in Ella’s closet and dressed her up with cute socks and shoes, then curled her hair and put a big bow in it. She seemed to have completely forgotten Kelly’s rude comments at the luncheon the week before, and if she didn’t forget, she at least didn’t seem to let it bother her.“Wow! My hair’s so curly!” Ella said, bobbing her head to make her curls bounce. “Thank you, Moana!”I smiled at the little girl in the mirror and squeezed her shoulders. All of a sudden, her gaze slipped over to my outfit, and her smile faded.“Are you going to dress up?” she asked.I looked down at my own outfit with a slight frown. I had chosen the nicest clothes I owned that were also appropriate for a nanny at a family gathering: a simple dress, low heeled shoes, and no jewelry so as not to stand out too much. I th