I believe "Aunt" is used in Britain in ways that aren't as common in the U.S. Alexandra calling her father's ex-wife "Aunt" wouldn't be completely implausible, but it's not really the norm.
I think it's regional in the US. I grew up in the mid-Atlantic region calling a lot of my parents' friends Aunt X and Uncle Y. I used to know a girl from Hawaii and there apparently Auntie and Uncle are used as terms of respect for any older person.
I feel pretty sure that in the UK (and in Italy too, if that matters), if someone like Thalia King were to admit the youngest child of her ex to her own family circle, and do it as whole-heartedly as she obviously has, one of the first things she would do would be to say "please, call me Thalia". Family members use the first name.
It's regional in the U.S., but it's also highly individual -- some people would have Alex call her "Aunt," others would tell her to use her first name (though that's rarer).
I've thought about what Alexandra should call Thalia, but I've kept it "Ms. King" because I think that reflects the fact that Alexandra still keeps an emotional distance around herself. At some point, Ms. King probably will tell her to call her something less formal.
I've actually made a thought experiment, because I do have a much younger half-sister. (I remember the time I first met her. There was her mother, a Czech refugee with handsome angular features, dark red hair and brown eyes, and there was this fourteen-year-old girl with my father's rounded features, black hair and blue eyes. And my father had told me that he had only recognized her so her mother could legally remain in Italy. Hello, Dad? I may have been born day-before-yesterday, but not quite yesterday.) I tried to imagine my mother's reaction, and I felt sure that she would be calling her by her first name within five minutes.
Rhemus
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-So this is real life...
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I've thought about what Alexandra should call Thalia, but I've kept it "Ms. King" because I think that reflects the fact that Alexandra still keeps an emotional distance around herself. At some point, Ms. King probably will tell her to call her something less formal.
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