Chapter 12 – Riding Into the Sunset
Another year had passed and the time had come for us to celebrate another benchmark year of marriage. I'm not sure how my husband became more charming each year we were together but he did. Merrie continued to evoke the dedication, love, sorrow and worry that Chris had spent during my injury and recovery. I could read books about men like him but I knew that I was abundantly blessed for having such a compassionate and loving husband.
I only told Tammy and Christopher that if I could only remember one person, I was glad that it was Chris. I thought others would say it should be Catherine but as my memory returned the more I was able to remember the many times that Chris had saved my life or made me laugh.
Catherine and Tammy helped nurture my heart reuniting with Chris.
Tammy had photos that I had long forgotten about that included Chris and I as partners, adversaries in sports, card games and drinking at Pride's bar. She could fill in the blanks about how I came to love Christopher LaSalle and both the fun and challenging times that we all shared as a team.
Catherine always wanted us together whether it was pushing her on the swing, giving her bath or reading a book. She would often come and get me and take me by the hand to the master bedroom wanting the three of us to lie in bed together or sit on the sofa or on the porch swing. Of course it did not take me long to feel love for my little girl again. I could sense that Chris was not only a nice man but that he deeply cared for me. There were many days that I saw the pain in his face when he carried a sleeping Catherine to her own bedroom only to have me say good night to him as I walked toward mine.
So it was a joyous day when I went into his room for some shampoo and picked up a bottle of his cologne and smelled it. Right then and there it was like something smacked me in the face. Flash! I could see us setting in his truck. Then I saw the City building in Copenhagen where we were married. I sat down on the bed and remembered more and more and more. I heard Catherine calling 'mommy' and went to see what she needed. She wanted some milk. As I poured it for her, I could see Chris sitting at a counter eating crawfish. I realized that it was the office we shared with Tammy and Pride.
I must have been crying when Mother LaSalle came into the kitchen. "Cate" she says "why don't you go find your baby doll?"
"What's wrong Sonja"" she asked?
"Oh nothing's wrong, I remember Marie. I remember Christopher. I remember meeting him and falling in love with him and wanting him and leaving him and marrying him."
I got up and went into the study to call my doctor. She had an early morning appointment available. I told her what had happen and we discussed intimacy. "If you remember Sonja, I'm not going to stop you from being intimate with your husband. I don't want you become pregnant yet so we need to decide on a birth control method for you."
With all that settled, I hurried home to day dream about Christopher's return home that night. I had the driver stop at the drug store real quick to take care of Chris' items and then went to tell my plan to Marie.
One night while lying in bed wrapped in Christopher's arms I proposed that we have a remarriage ceremony. Inside my own heart I wanted to recommit myself to Chris while at the same time recognize how he had stood by me through the most difficult time of my life.
The second wedding was a more than a success. This time we were surrounded by the many friends and family members who loved us and stood by us for the decade of our own friendship and courtship.
Merrie and my sisters stood by me as Pride, Tammy and Chris' old partner stood by him. While Catherine admirably did her duty as the flower girl, she spent most of the time in the chapel wrapped around her father's legs not quite understanding just what was going on.
We took the rest of the weekend as a family spending time at the Butler Greenwood Plantation. Having a private cottage allowed us to keep Catherine with us and not bother the other guest. Catherine and daddy spent a lot of time swinging together on the porch swing and eating daddy's cooking. Chris was able to get out on the water for a couple of hours doing what he loved the most, fishing.
Years later we decided to go back to New Orleans to celebrate a special anniversary at a jazz club down in the old city. I had a surprise for Christopher.
We had reservations and shortly after we had finished our dinner, the live band came back on stage. The band leader got up to make an announcement. We're very happy tonight to wish a twentieth anniversary to a very special couple Christopher and Sonja LaSalle. We want to invite Mrs. LaSalle to join us here on stage to sing their special song. I couldn't believe that I had pulled off the surprise. At that the band plays the old Johnny Mathis hit 'Until the Twelfth of Never.'
I sang the words lovingly to my dearest Christopher.
You ask me how much I need you, must I explain?
I need you, oh my darling, like roses need rain
You ask how long I'll love you, I'll tell you true
Until the Twelfth of Never, I'll still be loving you
Hold me close, never let me go
Hold me close, melt my heart like April snow
I'll love you 'til the bluebells forget to bloom
I'll love you 'til the clover has lost its perfume
I'll love you 'til the poets run out of rhyme
Until the Twelfth of Never and that's a long, long time
Until the Twelfth of Never and that's a long, long time
We had been through so much. I will always be eternally grateful that I remembered how much we loved each other.
Our lives moved on as we welcomed two more grandchildren and buried several loved ones. First mother LaSalle then Isler. Loretta and King died within days of each other. My old partner Jake Roman was shot in a courtroom while escorting a prisoner.
Our old team had long split a part. Triple P retired from working with the CIA and Tammy from NCIS. Brody and her husband moved to Naples to work for the U.N. We received holiday notes from Loretta's Danny and CJ each year. Laurel called Chris often to check up on him as her unofficial uncle.
Every once in a while I will come across a photo of a place or face that I don't recognize. Loretta had taken great care to visit with my family and D.C. friends when they came to visit during the two years that I was back in 'Nola and noted who they were or where the photo was taken. The skill that she and the' Nerdy one' had trained for in their precise field was used in love to document my forgotten moments. The results blessed me and could never be counted in the joy that they brought me.
I look forward to many more precious days with the world's most wonderful husband. "Hey Butch, what's up" I say as I look up and witness that classic LaSalle smile.
January 17, 2019 Page 3 of 3