The mate of his nanny final

Chapter 221: The Classroom Aide

Moana

Even though I half expected to hate the bodyguard who Edrick supposedly found for me, I actually wound up liking my new bodyguard, Kat, quite a lot. During my interview with her, I found out that she was funny and sweet, and she got along well with Ella and loved kids in general. She really seemed perfect — almost too good to be true. Although I still didn't like the idea of being followed around by a bodyguard all day, I figured that if I had to choose one, then I would choose Kat.

The next morning, I returned to work with Kat and Ella by my side. The headmistress and everyone else were under the impression that Kat was just a medical aide that my doctor wanted me to keep nearby due to pregnancy complications, and I preferred to keep it that way. If news got out that the late bloomer with all of the mysterious absences from work was walking around now with an undercover bodyguard, then it would only create more of a fuss over me.

I was already despised enough by most of the other teachers as it was, and I could only imagine what it would be like if they all figured out that I was being sent to work with a bodyguard because I was having crazy PTSD episodes due to the soap opera that was my life.
After the first class of the day, I was already happy to have Kat there.

She was actually very helpful with the classroom duties, and it took a lot of stress off of me. By the time that Ella's class came in, I was already feeling a lot better to be back at work. In fact, in between classes I even found myself talking to Kat quite a bit, and I had to admit that it felt nice to have someone at work who I could talk to since the other teachers seemed to collectively decide that I was a danger to be around.

By the middle of Ella's class, I had almost completely forgotten about my dream and my drawings as well, and everything felt normal for a little bit.

However, I quickly noticed that Ella was sitting by herself that day. Her little group of friends that she was normally stuck to like glue were sitting on the opposite side of the room, and every so often I would catch them giving her dirty looks or whispering. Ella kept her head down and just paid attention to her coloring, but I could tell that it was bothering her.

The whispers and gossip that I occasionally heard about myself bothered me, but not too much. But as I saw Ella being separated from her friends and being treated like an outcast, I couldn't help but think that it was because of me. Everyone still thought that I was bad luck because I was a late bloomer, and if they thought that Ella was my biological daughter, there was no doubt in my mind that they saw her as a pariah as well... And that hurt me to my core.

...

That night, as I tucked Ella into bed I decided that now would be a good time to talk to her about it. After I finished reading her bedtime story, I closed the book and set it down on the bedside table before leaning over and tucking her in.

"Ella, can I talk to you?" I asked gently, to which she nodded as she looked up at me with her big eyes peeking out over her blanket. I took in a deep, ragged breath, then reached out and brushed a loose strand of hair out of her face. "Is everything going okay at school? I noticed that you weren't sitting with your friends today."

Ella simply shrugged. I could tell that she didn't want to talk about it, but it needed to be addressed.

"You can be honest with me," I said. "If you had a fight or anything, I promise you won't get in trouble. I just want to know what's going on."

Finally, Ella sighed. "Well... I guess my friends just aren't my friends anymore," she said wistfully. "That's what they told me, anyway."

I felt my heart sink. "Why, love?" I asked.

Ella shrugged again. "They said that I'm a weirdo who's the kid of a freak. Since first you were a human and now you're a werewolf, they say that there's something wrong with you and something must be wrong with me, too."

"Oh, honey..." As Ella spoke, I felt my heart shatter into a million pieces. The thing that I feared the most, above all else, had come true; Ella was being alienated from the other kids because of me. Because they thought that I was her biological mother, and therefore that something was wrong with her. She had a chance to be a normal kid, but now it was ruined because of me. Tears came to my eyes just at the thought of it, and I bowed my head for a moment to collect myself. "I'm sorry, Ella."

Ella was silent for a moment. I looked up then and was surprised to see that she didn't look sad at all; in fact, she was smiling. Suddenly, she sat up and grinned, kissing me on the cheek and wrapping her arms around my neck.

"It's okay," she said, giggling. "I don't care about all of them. I'm just so happy to have the best mom ever. You're better than a million-bajillion friends."

Ella's words made me laugh. I wiped the tears from my eyes with my finger and pulled her close, holding her tight against my chest. I kissed the top of her head and smiled, then put her to bed.

However, although Ella's sweet words made me feel a bit better about the situation, it still broke my heart to know that she was having trouble at school, and so I vowed to make it right for her. That wasn't the only thing on my mind, though.
I found it sweet that Ella referred to me as her mom. In fact, it made me feel over the moon with happiness. But it also meant, to me, that Edrick still hadn't told her that her real mom was alive out there. It made me wonder when he planned on talking to Ella about her mom, if ever.

I also couldn't help but wonder where Olivia even was. Surely Ethan paid her handsomely for the trick she pulled on me, but the police didn't have her; in fact, after my meeting with her in the coffee shop, I never once saw her in person after that. Did she flee the country with the money, never to be seen or heard from again? Did she truly leave poor little Ella in the dust this time with no intention of ever rekindling her relationship with her own daughter?

If that was the case... Then maybe I didn't mind being seen as Ella's mom after all. But even so, she still deserved to know the truth. Eventually, she would figure it out one way or another.
And I didn't want her to hate Edrick or myself for keeping the truth from her.