I’m a step parent and the thought of all of us, me and my husband and his ex wife and her partner, not all being at their parties and events is ridiculous. If you are all thinking of the kids before yourselves you put your differences aside and do what’s right.
i fully understand that there going to be situations where a kid is part of a family where circumstances mean their parents aren't able to spend any occasions together, but with Louise and Matt, it never seemed that there were any issues with DV etc, and when she used to talk about him, in the context of a divorced couple ir relationship seemed fairly amicable. even if there are/were issues between Louise and Devon or whatever, it seems a shame that they are unable to out whatever issues they have to the side just for a few hours for the sake of Darcy when it's her 13th birthday party and Louise has made it into such a huge event - which is exactly why I think she has made SUCH a point of sharing it on IG and emphasising that all HER family members were invited and that good egg Liam made the "proud father" speech, because it very much highlighted that Darcy's dad WASN'T there.
ofc there will be situations where it isn't safe or there are specific reasons why a party with both parents and step parents etc can't all be involved, but unless there has been a huge custody battle and huge fights behind the scenes - which, if that was a situation Liam was hinting at in his speech when he mentioned the "difficult situations" Darcy has been dealing with was yet another sprinkle of spite and bitterness given thta she knew Matt would hear it - I didn't get the impression that it was anything more than the usual divorced parents who don't always get on kinda situation, in which case, put the child first.
tbh, knowing how petty Louise can be, it wouldn't surprise me if she DID invite Matt, but
only Matt, making it very clear that Devon was not invited.