I’m reading The Beauty of the Experience and oh my is it amazing! Chapter 28’s ending had me laughing like you wouldn’t believe. I wanted to ask, since Andy seems to be figuring out on her own what caused her parents separation, would she ever ask Lena or Andrea? Is that something her siblings or her will ever know? I ask because there’s a point where some things are just hard to hide and we also reach a point in life where we see people for who they are. And given that at some point white lies as described in the story can potentially become hurtful. Lena also mentions in thought that she hates lying to them. Would they see the pregnancy as yet another lie? In essence I guess what I’m trying to say is that even though they keep the kids in the dark to protect them they eventually come out of the dark themselves by picking up on things even if they don’t know what’s going on they pick up on emotions, body language, tone of voice etc. As Lillian points out they deserve to know. And further lying or prolonging of the truth can make it worse(by this I mean them realizing they knew a different version of the person that wasn’t the true version everyone knew because I think as people even if it was their parent they wouldn’t want to be around a person like that) But I like to think based on how you write them even if they hold back information from them Andy & Sophia, especially Andy, knows what’s up. That’s just the musings of my mind.
Gosh I meant to answer this a while back because it’s such a fantastic question! But here we are on chapter 30, so please forgive me.
One of the reasons I love writing this AU so much is because of the complexities and layers involving the kids, Andrea’s transgressions, and Lena’s attempts to protect her kids from the truth of how horrible her ex was. That being said, you’re right! White lies, while intended to be kind, end up no different than straight up lies the longer they drag on. And kids are magnificent sponges that just absorb everything around them, especially when you try to keep them in the dark.
Andy is undoubtedly smart and due to being the eldest she’s definitely more aware of Andrea’s behavior. She’s certainly pieced together enough to guess at what went down, and her little digs at Andrea hopefully make that clear. Sophia internalized a lot of what she witnessed with Andrea, and she’s coming to terms with what she processed and how she feels now that she’s growing into someone different from Andrea. There will be a point when Lena (and Andrea) will have to outright explain why their marriage dissolved because of Andrea’s infidelity. With any luck, it might help them begin to heal from it as a family, but if you're curious to how they’re all getting along so far, Chapter 36 is now on my Patreon and Chapter 30 is up on ao3.
