Chapter 11 – It's All About Love
I was looking forward to the short day at work. The team was going on a week-long break. I would have time to focus totally on Sonja and Catherine once again.
The first thing I noticed when I got home was that momma's car was in the garage. Odd for that time of the day I thought. The second thing that I noticed was that it was quiet. No little person, no radio, actually no one. Strange I thought as I moved through the house and entered my bedroom.
I glanced over to the nightstand on my side of the bed and noticed a vase of yellow roses and Alabama camellia and a small gift wrapped box. Yellow roses are Sonja's favorite flower. I picked up the box and tore off the card with Sonja's handwriting that simply said "I remember". I opened the package to find a box of my favored condoms of years gone by. What? I thought.
I looked up to see Sonja in the door way attired in a nightgown that I remembered from our honeymoon. As I looked at her in wonder she starts talking. "I remember Chris. I remember wearing this gown. I remember our honeymoon and the beautiful old building where we got married. I remember how much I loved you. Now I want to remember how much I loved you making love to me. I went to the doctor this morning and she inserted an IUD but wants us to be careful for a month to make sure it stays in place.
I could hardly believe it. I wanted to laugh and cry at the same time. The love of my life has finally been able to come back. It was sweet joy to have my wife back into my bed. Momma had left dinner for us and along with a note that she and Cate were staying overnight with Ms. Loretta.
Waking up the next morning, I sat up with a start wondering if I had dreamed the night before. But no, there was the most beautiful woman in the world lying next to me in bed.
Sonja continued to remember more each day, sometimes hour by hour. I noticed that our mirrored speech was returning. Her phone calls with Merrie became more enjoyable as they talked about events from their own history. She quizzed Tammy about her ex and recounted some of the many conversations that they had shared together at their condo.
Her rehab included riding around the city and relearning the landmarks. However, I did become concerned about her continued presence and safety in New Orleans where she had apprehended so many bad guys. That led to my decision to relocate our family to the Southeast Field office. I landed at the NCISRU office in Memphis. I loved living in another 'old city'.
We bought a home in Germantown, a wonderful master planned community. A year after we relocated, we decided to have a second child. Our son, Christopher Michael King LaSalle. was born much to Sonja's discomfort. The doctors had readied an operating room to do a C-section when suddenly he turned and his shoulder appeared. A quick episiotomy allowed his head to follow. By then Sonja's sometimes prickly personality had reappeared and she was more than pissed at having to be sewed up and endure the discomfort for several weeks. Daddy wasn't too happy either at the recovery time which delayed the renewal of our intimacy.
Sonja still did not remember the early care of Cate so she chose to breast feed CJ and in my opinion over did the mothering thing. To her dismay, my son was just that 'my son'. Once he could walk there was rarely any distance between the two of us when I was in the house. He tried everything that dad did. I had to be careful at showing him new things because we never knew when he would try them on his own.
He did realize however, that his mother was physically fit nut. It was Sonja who ran him through his sprints and distances for football. Even the coaches marveled at her ability to keep up with the boys throughout his time in organized sports. Sonja was still a looker at 45. CJ teammates often mistook her for an older sister or auntie. More than once an angry Chris came home from practice where a new kid had made a comment about the 'pretty' assistant coach.
Catherine became a fierce soccer player making all conference both her junior and senior year. She headed off to Duke and never looked back. Sonja thought she spent too much time in the books but Cate wanted to be a doctor. She learned about the U.S. Army Medicine Civilian Corps at a job fair her first year at Duke. Working for the Corps allowed her to be in a military hospital without having to enlist in the Army. Her last two years of undergrad work and medical school were paid for. Accepted into the Duke medical school, she looked forward to a semester abroad in China.
The time soon came for CJ to head off to college as well. He didn't venture too far attending Alabama to my eternal bliss. He continued his success in the classroom graduating with honors and headed off to Stanford for his graduate work. He stuck with football for two years but with continued success of the team found that his skill level regulated him to third string. While in high school and while on break from college he often met me at the police gym where we would run our distances side by side. He was still 'my boy' and I enjoyed the relationship that we were able to maintain long after my retirement.
CJ had returned to teach at the University of Alabama. He turned down several opportunities to move into management not willing to give up the interaction with his students. His first year on staff he met one of the assistant basketball coaches and married her after a whirlwind courtship. It took forever for them to give me a grandchild which I remarked about at every Thanksgiving and Christmas meal.
Catherine ended up on staff at Fort Campbell in Kentucky. She married a lawyer who worked for the State of Kentucky. The short distance allowed us frequently to visit especially after our first grandchild finally arrived.
By the time that the children left, Sonja expanded her vegan lifestyle into growing most of her own food. She worked with a local food bank to plant gardens throughout neighborhoods across the city. Working with Tuskegee University, the growing program offered undergraduate internships in urban gardening.
