We had been stuck in the mansion for a while week after that snowstorm because the snow reached halfway up the door and we couldn't open it. We didn't mind. It was an excuse for family time. But poor Rosalie went through a lot in that week when she opened up to us all.

It turned out her family weren't treating her well at all. In fact they treated her horribly. She didn't feel like she fit in, because she was a beautiful black woman stuck with a racist stepmother. I would never understand how someone could think less of someone because of the colour of their skin or the difference in their features. We're all human and all beautiful in our own ways. But to take it to the level of treating people differently and badly, that's just messed up.

Poor Rosalie said she dealt with that her whole life. But that was over because she was one of us now and we wouldn't let anyone say anything to her or about her ever again. No one would harm my sister, that's for sure.

Eventually, after being stuck in the house for so long. The family decided to gather on the top floor balcony and throw someone down into the snow so that they could dig out the door. The weather was cold and it didn't seem to be getting any better anytime soon. So the tallest guy, Micah, jumped off the balcony into the snow and then they threw him a shovel and he carved out enough room to open the front door. Then all the guys got to work on shovelling us out.

By the time we got out of the mansion, Rosalie and Evan were kind of a thing. I wasn't sure if they'd made anything official yet, but they were so cute together and Evan was helping her move out of her father's apartment. Remi was working on making her father and stepmother face the consequences of their horrible actions towards her. And the rest of us just tried to make her feel welcome and safe in our family.

It had been a month since then and it had warmed up significantly. It wasn't winter anymore. Now all the girls were gathered at Aunt Em's clothing shop. Aunt Em was making Rosalie some cute clothes for when we visited the Island together. But I was zoned out. I was thinking about how long it was going to take for Vivi to finally love me. He still hadn't said it and that really hurt.

Ari sat down beside me when she noticed how lost I was in my thoughts and Momma came too.

"What's wrong, Kiara?" Ari asked me.

"Nothing...." I said softly.

"So something is wrong." Momma concluded.

"No, I was just thinking." I said and everyone gathered around us.

"Tell us." Ari requested.

"Well, I was just thinking about love.... And wondering how you know if someone loves you." I said.

"What?" Ava said in confusion.

"How do you know if a guy loves you?" I asked again.

"Why?" Juliet asked.

"I just want to know if Vidal really loves me." I said.

"He does. Of course he does!" Momma said, pulling me into a hug.

"Then why doesn't he tell me?" I asked her, my eyes welling up with tears.

"What? He hasn't told you?" Fifi asked.

"No. I say it every single day and he doesn't say it back. I don't know if he just misses it every time or what." I said.

"Oh my God! Can I beat him up?! Permission to beat him up, Haze?" Ari asked Momma.

"Permission granted!" Momma said. "He's stupid, Kiara. He does love you. Of course he does. He's just incapable of using his head sometimes."

"Maybe I need to ask him about it. I wish I could just hear it from him without having to ask." I sighed.

"You don't have to ask. Don't ask." Momma said, getting up when her phone started to ring. "It's ok, Princess. Don't let his stupidity bother you."

She left the room and answered the phone, immediately beginning to yell. Aunt Em followed her to make sure everything was ok and everyone else was trying to get me to stop crying.

Rosalie came over and hugged me tightly. So did Juliet. Ari and Ava joined in a few seconds later and squeezed the life out of me.

"Don't let that idiot bother you. He's just being dumb. To answer your question though... you know a guy loves you when he starts including you in different parts of his life. You know a guy loves you when he kisses you on the forehead and does silly things with you even if he's not a silly guy. When he calls you the most beautiful woman his eyes have ever seen. When he comes to you and wants to cuddle or kiss for a while. When he doesn't push you to do anything sexual with him." Ari said to me.

I wiped my tears away, remembering all the moments when he did that kind of stuff with me.

"He's very affectionate. I feel loved, but it doesn't feel real unless he tells me.... Does that make sense?" I asked.

"It does. Of course it does." Ava said to me.

Fifi joined Aunt Em and Momma on the phone and my Nanas came and surrounded me, wrapping me up in their arms and kissing my head.

Then Remi arrived with Eleanor and she ran over to me.

"Cupcake!" She cheered and I smiled, picking her up and placing her on my lap.

"Hey... why are you sad?" She asked me, wiping my tears away.

"I just feel a little sad." I said to her.

"Did Firefly do something stupid?" She asked me.

"Yeah." I nodded with a laugh.

"What did my idiot brother do?" Remi asked me.

"Nothing. He's not an idiot." I said.

"Fine, you big softie. But tell me what he did." Remi said.

"He hasn't told her that he loves her yet." Ari explained.

"How? How did someone so stupid end up getting a whole engineering degree. I swear, the things he does sometimes, they baffle me." Remi said, shaking his head.

"Maybe he d-doesn't love me." I said softly.

"He loves you." Nana Lucie said to me, making me look at her. "He's not a man of many words, and unfortunately, when he feels like everything's going well, he doesn't think twice about if things are really ok. That's why he probably doesn't even realize that he hasn't told you that he loves you yet."

I nodded, calming myself down and letting Eleanor make me feel better with her adorable stories about her day. She was dressed like a little Remi. She had a pair of track pants and an over-sized t-shirt on. She had her hair in little ponytails and she had a pair of sunglasses on.

"What did you do with Daddy?" I asked her.

"He took me go-karting and I beat him!" She squealed.

"You did?" I asked her.

"Yeah! And then we went and watched a movie and we ate some pizza!" She giggled.

I saw Juliet's expression change to such an emotional and happy one and then she grabbed Remi and kissed him passionately.

"Ok, you two! There are children here!" Ari said, pushing Remi.

I giggled and hugged Eleanor.

"I missed you." I said to her.

"I missed you too, so I bought you something!" She said.

"Really?" I asked.

"Yeah. I got you some gummy bears!" She cheered, handing me a large pack of gummy bears.

"Wow. Thank you." I said, kissing her chubby little cheeks.

"Cupcake, I love you!" She said, kissing my cheek.

"Aw, baby! I love you too!" I said, hugging her tightly and squeezing her.

"Is Firefly coming?" She asked me.

"No. I think Papa is coming to get me." I said.

"Papa Riki or Papa Coco... oh, or is it Papa Killian?" She asked.

"Papa Riki." I told her.

She nodded and then she went to go show her mom something.

I felt more cheerful now that everyone had made me feel a little better. I still felt a little sad about it, but I knew Vivi loved me and he'd tell me soon.

I just couldn't wait for that to happen. I didn't really know why that meant so much to me, but I just needed it to happen. I needed Vidal to finally tell me how he felt. They were three simple words, but they meant the world to me.