Chapter 7 – And Baby Makes Three

We had just come off a long stretch of duty. It was a difficult case. Sonja was out of the country allowing the time to go even faster and me to have less time to focus that she was all the way on the other side of the world.

Laurel came in just before lunch to see King. When I went into the kitchen, I found her modeling a dress that she would be wearing at the wedding of one of her high school friends. King was accommodating saying all the kind words that I had heard come out of my own father's mouth when talking with my sister.

After Laurel left, I mentioned on how diplomatic that he had been about what I perceived as an ugly dress. He looked at me and laughed and said "I'm sure your day will come as well". What he didn't see was the smile drop from my face as I turned away from him and walked back to my desk. Me having a child still seemed to be a distant dream. I sat down thinking that you have to be with your wife to actually make a baby.

I looked up about an hour later to see a delivery man with a bunch of balloons enter the front door. "Tammy's not here I" said off the cuff. "Well these are for a Christopher LaSalle" he replied just as confused as I was about a bunch of pink balloons. I sat the balloons down and began to fumble for a tip. "Don't worry sir, everything has been settled" and he turned and left the office.

I opened the attached card and found the following words "congratulations daddy, it's a girl!" "Oh my God" I exclaimed. Just then in walks Gregorio and Sebastian. "I'm going to be a father" I yelled. "Well it must be a girl from the color of the balloons" Tammy says grinning ear to ear.

When I got home, I found a handwritten letter from Sonja.

'My dearest husband. I am sorry that I could not be there to tell you this news in person, but I wanted you to have this happy moment as soon as possible. A friend helped me with a special surprise for you that you should have received by now.

Our daughter will arrive in January. I thought that we would have another year but it appears that your recent surprise visit to meet me in London has turned into a surprise for the both of us. I will contact you as soon as I land. I can't wait to see your smiling face and feel your arms around me once again. Love, Sonja.'

I was over joyed. I called momma a couple of days later to let her know where we were implementing our plan to care for our child. We had long decided that the children would live with me in New Orleans and that we would have a full time nanny. Momma shot that down real quick and said "I will take care of my grandchild not some stranger!"

A few months' later Rita flew in to spend a few days with King. "I thought you might want some help in equipping your nursey. Loretta and I would like to help if you would let us."

It was exhausting. Rita approached the effort as a case file. She pointed me on line for the furniture so all we had to do was agree of the pieces. Actually it was pretty much Sonja directing me on what to select. It took me a week to finally get the bed together and even then I had to solicit assistance from King.

I was glad that the women were around because I would have bought every pink thing in the world. They helped us understand that we want most of the clothing and blankets to be unisex colors so they could be reused for the future children.

Mary and her husband drove down to help set up the baby's room in D.C. The room was big enough to hold both a twin sized bed and the crib so that momma could stay comfortably in the room as well.

Sonja returned to New Orleans to give birth to our daughter surrounded by old friends and her own 'personal doctor', Loretta Wade. Now that she was married to me, she totally let down her guard about many issues in life. Sonja was scared about the whole birthing thing. I was glad that Loretta and Tammy were here to be with her. Her sister flew out a few days before the birth but like the other two women, she had never given birth either.

The wife of one of my old partners kind of inserted herself into the situation. I could see that her presence brought great comfort to my wife. Her old aerobics teacher was also around and helped her with the exercises identified in the birthing classes. I was no help and was quite upfront about the fact that I was just as scared as Sonja.

Later I heard a number of complaints from other women that the whole birth process that only lasted six hours for my wife was unfair. She was in excellent physical health and as her mother said had those 'Williams women hips' helping the baby to enter into the world just a little more easily.

We named the baby Catherine after one of Sonja's team members from her undercover days. Catherine was shot down during a drug bust while Sonja took a few days to go to D.C. for a coordination meeting with the Coast Guard. It was another of those things that haunted Sonja during the initial time period that Brody and I first met her. Sonja thought things might have gone differently had she been there that day.

Sonja settled in for four months as the ultimate mother. I was able to take an entire month off and then worked as needed for the next two. Momma had flown in and prepared a freezer full of food intended to last me until she returned two months later. She was unaware that we had our own personal chef named Duane Pride. I had to add a mile a day of running to offset the rich food prepared by him.

Sonja, momma and the baby flew back to D. C. until Sonja's first assignment overseas. I had recorded a number of oral letters to my daughter. Momma and Sonja would hang the device outside of Catherine's crib and watch her expressions as she heard my voice. One of my favorite activities had been talking to Sonja's belly the ninth month of her pregnancy so she knew my voice. I video chatted with Sonja and Catherine every opportunity that I could.

Sonja had taken one of my sweaty workout shirts with her at momma's suggestions leading me to once again appreciate one of those' old wives tales' things. Momma cut it up and would periodically replace one patch with another. I did not recognize why until momma and Catherine returned three months later. The air pressure had given the baby fits. I took the crying child from momma and witnessed the calming effect of her being in my arms as I rocked her back and forth. She knew my voice from our daily chats and recordings and my smell from the patches that were placed near her head in the crib.

Momma flew out to D.C. periodically. Catherine and I flew out for our first family Christmas and Mother's Day. Our family time was precious. The departures were often gut wrenching particularly after Cate's first birthday when we realized that she was quite aware of just who Sonja was to her. She did not want to leave her mother again after a short reunion and it broke my heart time after time.

Of course her first words were dada and daddy even though I encouraged her with mama. That came later. Catherine seemed to grow each day. I began to marvel how much she looked like her mother which only made me miss her more. Sonja's mother sent me a picture of Sonja's first birthday party and it was just amazing how much she looked like Sonja.

I was thankful to have 'Auntie Loretta' to help us with Catherine's very ethnic hair. Momma caught on just fine. Me, not so much. I knew the basic information about the hair care products but braiding would never become a skill that I would master.

We had birthday parties both in D.C. and 'Nola. Sonja cried through both of them. Walking came next and then the talking. As we approached terrible twos, I found my determination waning. This little girl had the same strong will as her mother and challenged me every day. Well, not just me, but momma as well. I was glad that momma was there to clue me in on what was going on. Having survived it with three children, she was able to give us many positive pointers to help Catherine grow as a human being.

Allowing her to 'choose' between two shirts or dresses permitted her to 'be in control'. The same choices with books and CDs worked just as well. I began speaking French to her about six months later. I was really surprised how well she picked it up. Tammy said that it shouldn't surprise me informing me that little girls who were destined to be royal brides in the medieval days often grew up learning at least three languages including Latin. One of the tongue of her intended and often a fourth, the language of their birth mother who was usually a foreign bride herself.

Time seemed to pass quicker now with the little person in the household. I missed Sonja so much and sometimes had to make myself be 'civil' in my daily life. I had become acquainted with a couple of men and women who were married to active duty service members. Their own experiences separated from their mates helped me to better accept the distance. Filling in the time with my daughter and a busier than usual work schedule helped the time to pass as well.