Chapter 38

Two days later, Elaine Martin, joined them in Bermuda from the U.S. She was the middle-aged, highly-recommended nanny that Vanessa had chosen for Zoe. Both Derek and Rachel had interviewed Elaine over Skype the day before and they were relieved when she’d said she was ready to travel right away to resume work.

When the woman arrived, Rachel was instantly taken with the nanny’s warm nature and friendliness. It was even more satisfying to see that Zoe liked her too.

She and Derek spent the first few hours of Elaine’s arrival bringing her up to speed with Zoe’s routines and their expectations going forward. Once all of that was sorted out, the nanny was shown to her room in the villa to settle in and join the family for dinner later on.

Derek had hired a team of caterers led by a renowned chef in town to prepare their meal for the evening. He was in the mood for some fine dining but he didn’t feel like going out, so he decided to bring the experience to the villa instead.

“I think I should resume creating content for my YouTube channel,” said Rachel. She and Derek were sitting in the gazebo outside while Zoe drove around in her automatic car nearby.

“I thought we were on vacation,” Derek countered.

“Yeah, and that’s why being here is a perfect opportunity for me to create loads of content for my channel. I do a bit of travel vlogging too, you know.”

Derek sighed. “I’m not sure that’s a good idea.”

“Why not?”

“Have you forgotten that there’s a legion of paparazzi scampering about in the U.S. trying to figure out where we are right now. Filming a video and uploading it is like giving them a map to locate us. Why would you want to do that?”

His tone annoyed her. “I’m not stupid, Derek. I said I wanted to film, I never said anything about uploading them to the channel.”

“Well, that’s good to hear, as long as Zoe doesn’t feature in any of the videos.”

“Since when did you become Zoe’s custodian? If I remember correctly, she has been perfectly safe before you showed up in our lives,” she said icily.

Derek didn’t like where this conversation was going so he changed tactics. “I am not trying to question your judgment, Rachel. You are a great mom but you need to understand that our family dynamics have changed and we need to do everything we can to protect Zoe from public scrutiny. You wanted her to have what you called a ‘normal life’, but how normal will her life be now that the world knows that she’s my daughter? The best way to protect her from internet trolls is to keep her away from their reach.”

Her raging temper simmered down after his little speech. She didn’t know why she became defensive whenever Derek tried to be protective of Zoe. Probably because she felt as if he was implying that she couldn’t handle the task of keeping her daughter safe without his help, but that wasn’t right. He was just being a father and she’d nearly bitten his head off for responding to his paternal instincts.

“I’m sorry,” she apologized. “I didn’t mean to go off on you like that.”

“I’m sorry too. I think I didn’t do a good job of explaining myself properly the first time. I think I need to work on my communication skills.”

She chuckled.

“Dinner is served,” the chef announced as he came to join them at the gazebo.

“Ooh, Bon Appetit!” Rachel squealed and clapped her hands gleefully. “Let’s go!”

Elaine showed up just in time to take Zoe inside the house with them. When they got to the dining room, everyone except Zoe and the chef oohed and aahed at the sight of the fabulous table that was lined with an array of gourmet dishes.

“I can’t wait to taste these,” said Rachel excitedly.

“And I cannot wait to hear your feedback,” replied the chef. “Enjoy.”

They all sat down to eat and Elaine was tasked with feeding Zoe. It was the first time in over a year that Rachel wasn’t solely responsible for feeding her daughter, except for the times that Derek had stepped in to do it, and she felt somewhat relieved.

“Oh my gosh, this tastes amazing,” she gushed as she feasted on her Coq au vin.

“I’m glad you like it,” Derek smiled. He loved to watch her eat because she always did justice to any plate of food presented to her and he liked that about her.

When dessert arrived, Rachel wasn’t sure that it would be a good idea to participate in eating it because she was stuffed.

“If I eat another morsel of food, I might explode,” she laughed.

“Please, don’t tell me that you’re going take even a bite of this insanely delicious chocolate souffle?” Derek teased her.

“Stop it, Derek,” she laughed. “I really shouldn’t eat anymore. I feel like a stuffed whale already.”

“Come on, take a bite,” he insisted. “Vacation calories don’t count.”

“You are a bad influence on me, Mr. Derek Fraser,” she said, even as she picked up her dessert fork and took a small slice of the souffle. “Oh, God! That is so good!”

He laughed. “Told ya!”

“I’ll take Zoe inside for her bath now,” Elaine informed them. Poor Zoe was fully fed and nodding off already.

“Oh, don’t worry. I’ll handle that,” said Rachel, getting to her feet.

“Rachel darling, please let the woman do her job,” said Derek with a smile. “This is one of the reasons we hired her, remember?”

“Ah… yes, yes, of course,” she said, slightly embarrassed. “Go ahead, Elaine. Let me know if you need anything while you’re at it.”

“You’ll get used to it. Just give yourself some time,” said Derek after Elaine had left with Zoe.

Rachel sighed. “I should be grateful for the help but it feels odd. I’m used to doing everything for and with Zoe, so this sort of feels weird, you know.”

“Yes, I know. And having a nanny doesn’t make you a bad mom. Everyone needs help, including moms.”

She smiled. “Thanks for that cute pep talk. I truly needed that.”

“You’re welcome,” he smiled. “So, now that we have someone to look after Zoe for us, what do you say about us hanging out together like a regular couple. We’ve never really gone on a date together before, have we?”

“That’s true. What do you have in mind?”

“I was thinking maybe a boat cruise? Or we could charter a yacht and take a trip across the marina to one of the island resorts.”

“Well, that sounds classy,” she said excitedly. “I’ve never been on any kind of cruise before.”

“There’s a first time for everything, my dear. We could spend the whole day there.”

“The whole day? What about Zoe?”

“She will be fine. Shane will be here with Zoe and we could double the security and let Ed stay with them too. We’ll video call Elaine every hour to see how Zoe is doing.”

“I don’t mean to sound paranoid but I don’t know how I feel about leaving her in the care of strangers.”

Derek sighed. “All right then, we’ll take all of them with us on the cruise.”

She heard the disappointment in his voice and she felt silly for worrying so much. These people have excellent track records and they’d all worked with Derek for years, except Elaine. If he trusted them with Zoe’s safety, then she needed to do the same because he wouldn’t leave his daughter with people he wasn’t sure about.

“No, we’ll go alone,” she said quickly. “We both need a proper adult outing.”

“I’m glad to hear that,” he said, his smile returning. “Now that that’s settled, I suggest we retire and get some rest. I suspect tomorrow’s going to be a loaded day.”
The Billionaire's Unexpected Fatherly Fate: Derek and Rachel's Stormy Saga
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