When the invitation to Adam Bookabet and Ali Mentary-Hodgins’ wedding arrived, the big surprise was that it had taken so long. Ali apparently took a lot of time adjusting to Adam’s large and unruly family.

They kept the wedding modest — an arch Adam’s parents’ back yard and a reception inside with home cooking, dancing to the radio, and all the video games you could play.

The Bookabet house wasn’t huge, and it was stuffed with so many laughing, drinking people that it could be hard to get a place to breathe. That was probably why Xia walked in on Anita Bookabet in the bathroom. Anita stayed on the opposite side of the room from Xia after that. Xia murmurred to Sky under her breath, “I wish she’d stop looking at me like that! It was totally an accident. She’s not my type.”

After the obligatory first dance between bride and groom, they turned the music to live recordings of Ghostwriter, and Sky grabbed Adam for a dance or two.

“You finally did it,” Sky said to Adam. “I was wondering what took you so long.”

“Ali wasn’t sure she wanted to marry anyone,” Adam admitted, “but I brought her around.”

Ali had broken away from the crowd and was playing video games on her laptop in the kitchen. Big parties really didn’t seem to be her thing.

“Thing is, I’ve been wondering the same thing about you,” Adam said. “What’s taking YOU so long?”

Sky’s dance moves slowed. “Me? What’s taking me so long about what?”

Adam nodded over his shoulder to Xia, who was now tearing up the floor Adam’s elderly father, Franco.

Sky blanched pale silver. “I don’t know what you mean,” she said. “I already proved how bad I am at marriage. The last thing I want to do is screw things up with Xia by tying her down.”

Adam raised an eyebrow. “Have you ever asked her what she wants?” he asked.

“We talk about it all the time,” Sky said defensively. “No commitment.”

“Uhuh,” Adam said.

“You’re just going all newlywed on me!” Sky cried.

Adam laughed. “OK. You got me!”

Then there was cake, and finally everyone gathered on the porch to shower Adam and Ali Bookabet-Mentary on with glitter and confetti as they left on their honeymoon. Half drunk and laughing, Sky and Xia staggered home arm in arm to relieve the babysitter — almost, but not quite, like an old married couple.

Dylan’s birthday rolled around a few days later. They decided on a simple party at the park pavilion and invited family and Dylan’s friends from school.

This was the second time in recent memory that Sky’d had to share one of Dylan’s life moments with Leah and Plum. Xia squeezed her hand in silent support, and Sky kept her smile up and her mind on her oldest son.

Uncle Hunter arrived just after Dylan blew out the candles, looking more than a bit worse for wear.

Dylan laughed and couldn’t help but take a picture.

While everyone else was eating cake, Sky took a moment to audition with the pavilion director for a performance timeslot.

It went very well. It would be her first paid gig as a solo artist!

Sky realized that she was content.

Xia moved in without much fanfare. Dylan didn’t mind, and Abby was ecstatic to have her mum around more often. Now that she was there full-time, she picked up even more slack in the family routine and added a few extra embellishments. For one thing, she started reviving Hunter’s abandoned garden.

That reinforced Sky’s cooking efforts, which everyone admitted were getting better.

That was a very good thing because Riddle had an inflated sense of his territory and could be a real problem when he was bored.

Sky’s due date passed, and she began wishing for stronger contractions. At last they came. Xia rushed her to the hospital and stayed with her while Dylan and Abby visiting Hunter and Eliana. It was by far Sky’s most comfortable labor, and in due course Sawyer was born. Afterward, at her request, Dr. Sebastian Hodgins tied her tubes and ensured that this was the last child she would carry.

When she first laid eyes on him, Sky was pretty sure she knew who his mum was. He was silver-skinned like her, but his bright green eyes were distinctive. It was the come-hither look in Amy Winter’s identical bright green eyes that had caught Sky’s attention in the first place.

In between feedings and sleep, she and Xia had long, anxious conversations about what to do about Amy. Xia would not hear of Sky keeping the information from Amy the way she’d kept it from Xia. Finally, they agreed that Sky would call Amy and invite her over to tell the story and see what Amy thought.

It was a long, strange conversation. Sky held baby Sawyer in her arms for the entire time, and she mercifully slept for most of it. Amy was incredulous and said at least four times that if Sky intended to ask for child support, she’d want a parentage test to prove Sawyer was her child. Sky assured her that money was not an issue. They agreed at last that Sky would send Amy email reports on Sawyer’s development, and they would have the option to become involved in each other’s lives if Sawyer wanted it when he grew up.

“You know, I used to date her,” Xia said with a grimace as Amy left.

“The lesbian community in this town is just too small,” Sky said with a sigh. Amy was now living with February Callender, and February was carrying their child. I guess if Amy told February about her unexpected baby, February wouldn’t be able to get too angry, considering that she’d had her own fling with Sky.

Weeks later, February hired Sky to give Amy a Sing-A-Gram for her Elder birthday.

That was awkward, but it could have been worse.

Sawyer grew into a toddler reminiscent of both his mum and the grandfather he never met. Sky’s throat caught when she saw Charles’s hair.

But from the very beginning, there seemed to be something different about Sawyer. He didn’t respond well to being touched and was prone to nasty temper-tantrums for no apparent reason.

He was developmentally far enough behind Sky’s other two children that she and Xia decided to enroll him in speech therapy, and Sky spent hours sitting with him and working on his words.

The first word she could recognize was bug.

He was an exhausting toddler, and Sky and Xia tag-teamed his skills as much as possible.

As he approached Elementary School age, Sky with much trepidation took him for a psychiatric evaluation. The diagnosis was upsetting but not a complete surprise — Sawyer had a high-functioning Autism Spectrum Disorder.

The diagnosis came with a list of support groups and special educational programs. It was a huge relief to Sky to know what kind of help to seek for her son. Still, it was clear that helping Sawyer socialize and get a full education was going to be a lot of work.

——–

I scrounged up a decent number of pictures for this one. I’m pleased that I had the picture of Sawyer’s first word. The Sing-A-Gram to Amy was much later, but I thought it was worthwhile to get SOME picture of her in here.

Again, this would probably have been a couple of posts if there had been pictures. I guess this is advancing Sky’s story much faster than I’d have done on my own.

Missing pictures: The conversation between Sky and Amy about Sawyer did happen. Xia took Sky to the hospital, but for Amy was called also, and all three of them went home from the hospital together. Sky then stood in the front hall of the house and had a long talk with Amy while holding the newborn.

Also, Sky’s maternity Sing-A-Gram uniform was friggin’ adorable.

Sawyer was also born with the same pale, normal skintone. I also discovered that Abby didn’t have Xia’s eyes — she had the yellow preset color from CAS. Sawyer had the same eyes. His whole genetics were so in question that I just assigned all of them. The considered giving him Amy’s green skintone just so all three kids would have different skins, and now I’m kind of sorry I didn’t. But this glitch seems to happen when the game tries to assign Sky’s skintone, so I gave him silver. I just arbitrarily decided on Amy’s eyes and Charles’s hair because out of seven applicable kids at this point (including Hunter’s) NOBODY ever got it.

Sawyer rolled got a really rough set for his random traits, which is why I decided that he was Autism Spectrum. I’ll try not to write him too insensitively, but I don’t claim to actually know anyone who is Autistic since graduating from high school. I do have a friend with Asperger’s Syndrome.