Hearing Gabriel's apology, Shelby's anxiety calmed down. Gabriel was a very intelligent child and his words never fumbled up unless he had done something that he considered really bad. So, when she heard 'soowwy' instead of 'sorry', she knew that Gabriel was just feeling guilty and flustered. She rubbed his back fondly while on her knees in front of him.
Shelby only vaguely heard the name Avril and was not paying much attention to it. The only thing that struck her as odd was that, from all of her time in the Thornston household, this was the second female name she had heard apart from Aliya.
Shelby casually glanced up and then guided him to his seat after making sure that Gabriel was okay.
The broken particles had already been cleared. With Ian around, the workers dared not react like they had done in the past. Keeping their heads low, they cleaned up really quickly, and those in charge of setting the table went along as if nothing had happened.
