"Is that lady a bad person?" Liam asked, his small face scrunched in confusion. "And why did she say you and Auntie have been to jail?"
Lauren was speechless, her heart aching.
How do you explain something like that to a child? Rachel knelt down, coming to eye level with the little boy, and gently patted his head.
"Even if someone has been to jail, Liam, it doesn't mean they're a bad person," Rachel explained softly. "Look at Auntie. I was sent to jail because bad people told lies about me. But in the end, the law figured out the truth and caught the real bad guys."
Liam listened, his brow still furrowed, but he seemed to relax a little when he heard the real criminals had been caught.
"What about Mommy?" he asked, turning his big, worried eyes back to Lauren. "Was Mommy also tricked by bad people?"
Lauren took a deep, shaky breath. This was the moment she'd been dreading, the conversation she'd tried to avoid.
