In Love With An Older Man 29

Cindy was crying so hard that for a long time she couldn't say anything at all. Deeply concerned, Gary held his wife as fantastic notions of Jonathan's possible diagnosis went through his mind. Brain tumor? Surgery?

"Jonathan has Asperger's syndrome!" Cindy finally managed to get out.

"I've heard of that." Gary nodded. "Autism Awareness is one of the groups the radio station donates commercial time to."

"So you know that it's a form of autism, then." Cindy was beginning to feel just a tiny bit better about the devastating news.

Gary nodded. "I've been noticing that Jonathan seems to have some of the traits of Asperger's syndrome for a while now. I didn't say anything about it to you because I didn't want you to worry needlessly in case I was wrong."

"What are we going to do?" Cindy's voice was small.

"We're going to keep on loving Jonathan and supporting him in every way we can, of course," Gary said.

"I'm scared, Gary. I've never known anyone with Asperger's syndrome before." Cindy buried her face in her hands.

"I know, sweetheart." Gary's voice was gentle as he took his wife into his arms. "We'll get through this together, somehow."

Later Cindy called her mother to tell her the news. Carol had, of course, never heard of Asperger's syndrome either, and so had dozens of questions about it. Cindy promised to bring over the literature the psychiatrist had given her. After settling the twins down for the night, Cindy attempted to look over the literature herself, but drowsiness soon overtook her, so she decided to put it off until another time.

A few days later Cindy received a phone call from Dr. Wheeler's nurse, Jeannie.

"I wanted to let you know about the support group for parents of children on the autism spectrum, in case you and your husband might want to attend," Jeannie said. It's the first Thursday of the month at six thirty in the evening, and child care is provided."

Gary and Cindy arrived at the support group meeting not sure what to expect, as they'd never been to anything like it before. They took Rebecca and Jonathan to the play area, where they saw perhaps ten or twelve children of varying ages, many of them near the twins' age, and then went to sit in the meeting room with the other adults.

"Hi, I'm Donna." A middle-aged woman smiled and shook hands with Gary and Cindy. "I started this support group about ten years ago when my son David was diagnosed with Asperger's syndrome. He's sixteen now and is doing very well in school. He takes almost all general education courses and wants to be a computer programmer someday."

"I love to play video games," interjected David, who sat beside his mother.

"It's nice to meet you all. We're Gary and Cindy Greenberg," Gary told the others. "I have two adult children from a previous marriage, and Cindy and I are the parents of twins, Rebecca and Jonathan. Jonathan was recently diagnosed with Asperger's syndrome during a pre-kindergarten screening."

"My name is Sakura," said a Japanese woman who was sitting across from Donna and David. "My husband is an American sailor. I married him and moved back to his country with him. We have a five-year-old daughter, Kristy. She is on the autism spectrum too."

"Is she going into kindergarten next year as well?" asked Cindy.

Sakura nodded.

"Maybe she'll be in Jonathan's class," said Cindy.

"Maybe." Sakura smiled.

"Well, what did you think?" Gary asked his wife on the way home.

"I feel a whole lot better now," Cindy told him. "At least I don't feel like we're the only ones anymore."

"Of course we're not." Gary grinned. "It does help to talk to people who are in the same situation, doesn't it?"

"Yes, it does," Cindy agreed.

The twins celebrated their fifth birthday in June. Cindy invited Sakura and Kristy, and all the twins' younger cousins attended as well. Dylan was now seven, Holly was one and a half, Peyton was five, Preston was two, and Justin was not quite four.

"Big news," Lacy announced. "Justin's going to have a baby brother or sister in seven more months."

"That's wonderful, Lacy! Congratulations!" Cindy gave her sister-in-law a big hug. "How's Billy's new job going?" Billy had recently received his bachelor's degree in social work and taken his first job as a counselor.

"Just fine, so far," Lacy replied. "He's says it's a really good feeling to be able to help people who are in the same position he himself once was."

Wendy, Jane, and Lacy were, of course, curious about where Cindy had met Sakura, which meant that she had to tell them about Jonathan's diagnosis. Cindy had been very nervous about doing that, as she feared what their reactions might be. To her relief, all three of them were very understanding and supportive.

"Dylan had a classmate last year with that same diagnosis," Wendy said.

"It looks like Peyton's made a new friend," Jane commented, nodding to where Peyton, Rebecca, and Kristy were busily playing in the sandbox.

"I am so happy for Kristy to have new friends," said Sakura. "Thank you very much for inviting us to your party, Cindy."

"It's no problem at all." Cindy smiled at her new friend. "I'm so glad you could come."