Moana “You’re not pregnant, are you?” I froze at Ethan’s words, my eyes wide as I stuttered to come up with a response. “I-- I’m not--” Ethan, seeing my uncomfortable struggle, lowered his glass and quickly shook his head to dispel the seriousness of the suggestion he had just made. “I’m sorry,” he said. “I was only joking. Maybe that wasn’t a very appropriate thing to joke about. It’s fine if you don’t want to drink alcohol tonight.” I tried to laugh off Ethan’s joke, but it was almost embarrassing how astute that joke actually was -- if only he actually knew. Then, quickly, I fumbled in my mind to find the right excuse so as not to raise any more red flags about the reality of the situation. “I just… I need to be up early tomorrow, to take Ella to her training.&

Moana On the morning of the gala, I woke up early with Ella to get ready for the day. She had an appointment with a stylist and hairdresser before the gala. Selina explained to me, after I questioned the reasoning behind this for such a little girl, that it was commonplace for these sorts of events. Even though Ella was not publicly known as Edrick’s daughter, everyone in attendance at the gala was aware of it, and it was important for public relations for Edrick’s daughter to look her best -- even though she was only eight years old. It felt a little ridiculous to me for such a young girl to be subjected to hours of having her hair done and being fitted for a perfect dress, but I didn’t complain. Once Ella was bathed, we walked out to the dining room for breakfast. Much to my surprise, Edrick was sitting there with his plate of food, a coffee, and a newspaper. “Good morning, Daddy,&rdquo

Moana Just as Sophia was going to ask if I was going to dance, her eyes caught something behind me and her face lit up. “Kelly!” she exclaimed, waving over my shoulder. “How nice to see you!” I felt myself tense, as did Ella, who was still holding my hand. I turned around slowly to see Kelly approaching. I hadn’t noticed before from where I stood and because she was standing behind the podium, but her dress was inappropriately tight and low cut for a charity gala, and she appeared to already be tipsy as she walked up to us. She brushed right past me, as if I wasn’t even there, and walked straight up to Sophia. “Thank you so much for your donation,” Sophia said, smiling widely and holding her hand out for Kelly to shake. Kelly gave Sophia’s hand a half-hearted -- and almost disgusted -- squeeze and swirled the bubbly champagne aro

Moana Edrick’s eyes flashed with recognition as I refused a drink. I knew, then, that he was onto me. Edrick quickly disappeared into the crowd again, leaving me alone with Verona once more, but that interaction alone was enough to cause me such stress that I suddenly felt as though I was going to throw up. “Excuse me,” I said, pushing my chair back and standing. “I’ll be back in a moment.” Before Verona had the chance to respond, I quickly turned on my heel and beelined for the bathroom, holding my hand over my mouth to keep myself from vomiting. Thankfully, the bathroom was empty when I entered, and I barely made it to the toilet before the contents of my stomach poured out. When I was finished throwing up, I flushed the toilet and stood shakily, leaning on the side of the bathroom stall for a moment to steady myself before walking over to the sink. I to

Moana I had just begun to drift off to sleep. Somehow, I had made it through the gala, and Edrick hadn’t pried about the pregnancy. Maybe he didn’t actually realize it after all; maybe it was just my nerves getting to me, and the Edrick I saw that night was only him being his usual abrasive and cold self. As I began to fade off into sleep, the tears on my cheek drying, I felt much more at peace. I would still have to make a decision soon, but at least I could do it in my own time. Oh, how wrong I was! I must not have been asleep for more than ten minutes at the most when I was suddenly startled awake by the sound of my door flinging open. I gasped and sat up in bed, my eyes wide and still full of tears from before and my heart racing as my fight or flight response kicked in, to see Edrick standing in my doorway. “Edrick…?” I said,