Aria's POV – Few Days Later
"Mama, did Aunt Vivian ever say sorry?"
Noah's question came out of nowhere during breakfast, his spoon paused halfway to his mouth, milk dripping back into his cereal bowl.
I exchanged a glance with Damien, who'd frozen mid-sip of his coffee. We hadn't talked about Vivian in days, not since that conversation where Noah had found out about her existence.
"No, baby," I said carefully. "She hasn't."
"But you said we have to forgive people when they say sorry." Noah set down his spoon, his little face scrunched with the same confusion from days ago. "You told me that when I fought with Mark."
"That's different, sweetheart"
"Why?" Noah asked. "You said family is important. And she's your sister. That makes her my aunt, right? So she's family."
My chest tightened. We'd had this conversation before, but clearly Noah had been thinking about it, processing it in that way kids do.
"Sometimes it's more complicated than that with grown-ups," I said.
