Late May...

Skye Penderwick, Ph.D., was bored out of her mind. MIT's graduations always were rather dry. They were the usual sort of thing with the black gowns and hats, and the speeches and the diplomas. Granted, what most people didn't know about was the after-parties which, considering they were organized by the nerdiest people of each generation, were actually quite fun. Skye was still recovering from the one that had been thrown the night before, which was quite possibly why she was so annoyed about her current situation.

Sure, yesterday's ceremony to change her title from Mrs. to Dr. hadn't been particularly thrilling (at least not to anyone but her), but this was crazy. Berklee College of Music took dull to a whole nother level. Someone on their board of directors had decided to forgo the standard ceremony procedure and had come up with a 'brilliant new idea'. Each student who was graduating from the Master's program was to perform a music selection of their choice, and then be presented with their diploma as they left the stage.

In theory, it didn't sound too terrible, but the reality was that it meant everyone in the audience had to sit through 250 selections. 250! Skye glanced down at the tally sheet on her lap (she had been keeping track of how many had already gone) and sighed in relief. Only five more to go. Had she know before that Jeffrey would be in those last five, she wouldn't have bothered being there for the first three hours of the recital. After all, she had better things to do with her time.

Her whole family was in Boston. Her WHOLE family. They had been there for her graduation and had decided to make it a reunion. Her dad and Iantha had brought the twins, Batty, and Ben with them from Cameron. Jane and Nathaniel, both recently graduated themselves, were up from Georgia for the occasion. But the crowning glory of the week was that Rosalind and her new husband, Dr. Charles, were visiting from Africa.

Oh, yes; Dr. Charles. That was another thing that had put Skye in this rather touchy mood. Her new brother-in-law or, as she and Batty had secretly christened him, her new bother-in-law. He and Rosy had only flown in yesterday morning, but it was already rather apparent that Charles Brighton, M.D., was a bit of a stuffed shirt. In fact, that was obvious from the minute Skye picked them up from the airport.

It had been a crazy morning anyways for her, what with getting ready to graduate from MIT's Ph.D. program, dealing with the ten family members staying in her and Jeffrey's rather small house, and being five months pregnant. Needless to say, when she volunteered to pick up her sister and her brother-in-law from the airport at 9 am, she thought she was being rather generous.

Apparently, Dr. Brighton didn't share that opinion though. In fact, he didn't see to share any opinions with anyone. He was the single quietest person Skye Penderwick had ever met, and being an astrophysicist she had met a good deal of very shy people. To make matters worse, Rosy had a sore throat and couldn't talk any, either. The conversation on the car ride home had gone something like this...

"So, Charles... Rosy told us that you're from Pennsylvania."

"Uh, huh."

"Did you like growing up there?"

"Yeah."

"Where did you go to college?"

"Johns Hopkins."

"Wow. Did you like it there?"

"Yeah."

At this point, Skye, never a huge fan of small talk, began to run out of safe topics to discuss.

"Um, you're an M.D., right?'

"Yeah."

"You don't know anyone here in Boston, do you? I don't really like my obstetrician. We tend to butt heads rather too often."

"Oh. You're what, six months pregnant?"

"Five."

"Oh. You're on the large side, aren't you?"

Rosy, silently stepping in from the sidelines, elbowed her husband in the ribs and shook her head in exasperation. Skye, deciding that if she was going to be stuck with this robot, she might as well try and make the best of it, took control of the conversation yet again.

"How did you decide you wanted to work for the Peace Corps?"

"I have a very good bedside manner."

Despite her best efforts to pass her snort of laughter off as a cough, Skye could feel Rosy's laser glare on her for the rest of the ride. To be perfectly fair, he did warm up a little bit once he was introduced to the rest of the family, but he was still a bit stiff.

A well aimed elbow in the ribs brought Skye back from her reverie. Alec smirked from the seat next to her.

"As much as I don't blame you for wanting to zone out, daughter-in-law of mine, your husband might be a bit annoyed if you don't have anything to say about his performance."

Glancing down at the stage, she could see Jeffery getting situated at the piano bench.

"Uh, oh. Thanks. He probably would have killed me."

Batty, sitting on her other side, glanced over. "And he would have been right to, too. He's your husband, Skye! And he's an amazing musician. Anyone who doesn't pay attention to his performances should be killed."

"Oh, be quite. I'm alert now, okay?"

Batty had applied to BCM in that fall, and was accepted. She still thought the world of her brother-in-law, and now planned on following in his footsteps. Unfortunately for Skye, however, that meant that she now had to deal with two music nuts. Three if she counted Alec.

Before she could dwell on that depressing thought too much, her attention was drawn to the stage. All the other lights dimmed to darkness, and soon all she could see was her husband, dressed to the t's in a black tux, seated perfectly still in front of a huge black grand piano. There was a moment of absolute silence, and then it began.

Either this was a piece he had been saving as a surprise, or Skye had been tuning him out even more than she had known, because she had never heard it before. She knew with in an instant, though, that it was her favorite song her husband could play. It was slow and haunting and the sound echoed through the dark concert hall.

Jeffrey swayed gently in time to the melody, his fingers barely gracing the keys. She knew from experience that his eyes were closed and there was a small smile on her face. As much as his music annoyed her, she never found him as attractive as when he was in a music-swoon. It was when he was oblivious to everything around him, and it yet was when he was most completely himself.
As the song drew to a close, Skye was shocked to find tears in her eyes. Embarrassed, she wiped them away fiercely. There were only a few, after all. The rest of the stage lights turned on again, and the dean of the college stepped up next to Jeffrey. He shook his hand and then turned and smiled at the audience.

"Mr. Penderwick wrote that piece himself, and there's a very lovely story behind it." From the look on Jeffrey's face, it was obvious that this was not planned. The dean turned to him and smiled. "Would you mind sharing?"

Rolling her eyes, Skye slouched down in her seat. This had to be a doozy. She watched in half-hearted amusement as her husband blushed and took a deep breath.

"Well, she'll probably kill me for it when she finds out, but I wrote that song for my wife."

Skye jolted upright in her seat, suddenly paying attention.

"There was an incident a few weeks ago that made me realize how absolutely wrecked I would be if I ever lost her. I wrote this song later that night. If she stuck around long enough, this is the first time she's heard it. She doesn't ever mean to, but she inspires me in every thing I do."

He looked right at her, as if he could somehow pinpoint her exact location in the dark concert hall. She felt a shiver of pleasure shoot through her as he smiled.

"I love you, Skye."

With that, he excited the stage. The lights turned up the dean began speaking again. She ignored the tears that were blurring her vision, she ignored the whispered questions of where she was going, and she ignored Dr. Charles' voiced concerns that running wasn't a safe action for a pregnant woman. She just shoved her way through the aisle until she reached the stairs, and then ran as fast as she could backstage.

She wove her way in and out of 250 graduates celebrating until she found who she was looking for. He was standing in the corner, talking to one of the professors and grinning. Throwing propriety to the wind, she hurled herself into his arms, nearly knocking them both to the ground.

"Skye! What are you doing here? Are you okay?!" He pulled back, studying her face. Suddenly, his face morphed in concern. "Skye! Are you crying?!"

She shook her head frantically, trying desperately to brush away the tell-tale tears.

"You are crying! Oh, god, Skye. Please don't cry!"

Taking a deep breath, she shook her head again. "I'm not! I mean, I've stopped."

She took a moment to compose herself and then swallowed thickly. "Did you really write that song for me?"

Looking rather nervous, he nodded. "Yes, I did. Look, Skye, I'm sorry. I had no idea you would react this way. Had I known, I -"

Grinning, she grabbed his face in her hands. "Oh, shut up, you idiot! It was beautiful. I can't believe you wrote that!"

"Yeah, well, I had very good inspiration."

She blushed and dragged his lips towards hers. Before they could meet, however, a voice broke through the room.

"You know, it has been clinically proven that kissing upsets unborn babies. It has also been known to cause premature births. I always recommend that my patients keep that excise to a minimum."

For a second, the two just stared at each other in complete disbelief. And then the grinned and mouthed one phrase together in perfect unison.

"Bother-in-law."

Hey, guys. Sorry for the outrageously long wait. We had a bit of a family crisis come up this weekend. Everyone is fine at the moment, but it was a bit stressful. Thank you for being patient.

I did want to warn you, though. My family have very strict rules about summer screen time limits. We only get 30 minutes a week. As a result, updates this summer will probably come about every two weeks. Sorry! I would change it if I could. Believe me... :-)

babybeluga747 - Aww...you're too sweet.

babybubble262 - Thank you!

Smokepaw - Hahaha. :-) Thanks!

The One You Never Suspected - :-)

Hope - You're welcome! Thank you for reading!

JaybirdBlue - Thank you!

RS42 - I like it shortened. :-) Wow. You're going to give me a fat head...

GuestI - Thanks!

km28ave - Oh, gosh. You're really too kind! Thank you so much!

Are you done yet - Not yet, sorry to say. :-) I respect and appreciate your opinion, and I love that you are willing to share it, but, at the moment at least, it isn't really in line with what I am hearing from my other reviewers. If you are looking for something different, I highly recommend Returning To Aundrel by Shastafire, and More Things Change by Spark Writer. Those are some of my favorites! :-)

GuestII - Thanks! Um, right now, I guess. :-)

A Diehard Penderwicks Fan - Wow. Thanks for the awesome feedback. I love how detailed you are! Haha. I've got you beat. I've read book 1 42 times, book 2 37 times, and book three 32 times. OCD, much? :-) Its wonderful to know I'm not the only kook out there... :-) But really, thank you!

GuestIII - Thank you! :-)

iluvzhorsesz - Oh, boy. I feel for you... Hang in there, okay? Not much longer to go, now...

Thank you all! You guys are the best!