Already, her cynical widowed aunt was rising from her seat behind them to interrupt this scene. Don Juan hadn't listened, nor did he appear to have any sense left to him if he was kneeling this close to her. Valencia supposed she ought to have been flattered by his insistence and compliments, but she just felt exhausted by it.

"Family is important." She quietly reminded him. That he was so quick to shirk his own didn't sit well with her. "It is ... it is everything." She floundered while looking for the right words in English to get her point across, the translating a soothing distraction from all the questions raised. "Please, do not ... forget this."

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