[alaskayorkie]

Ugh, this reminds me of something we went through recently. A brother in law who was not a good person. We cut off all contact with him for 4 or 5 years. Then he got cancer and was dying a slow, miserable death. He needed my wife to be there for him, and he apologized for the wrongs he committed to us. We couldn't forgive him for all the bad things he'd done in his life, but we forgave him for what he did to us. We were there for him at the end, and all of us regretted losing that 4 or 5 years while we were estranged.

I'm not suggesting you forgive someone who doesn't apologize, just realize there is a cost. In this case, I'd hate to see you lose contact with your nieces. Maybe there's a way to mend enough fences to preserve that.

Good luck.