Claudia Joy knocked on the door to the Sherwood house. She couldn't believe how she had been back for almost a week and hadn't found the time to see Denise. With the group of transfers coming from Fort Hope plus the merger with the local Air Force base, she had been extremely busy with FRG matters while Michael had been busy on the military end. When Denise answered the door, Claudia Joy said, "Better late than never!"
"Oh my goodness, Claudia Joy!" shouted Denise surprised, "Wow, how are you? How was your trip? I wasn't expecting to see you today."
"I've been good, just been busy with the Fort Hope and Air Force base mergers," she said, "And the trip was fantastic. Everything I dreamed it would be and more."
"Where did you go?" asked Denise letting Claudia Joy into the house and sitting on the couch with her.
"Well, let's see. I saw London, Edinburgh, Paris, Rome, and Bavaria," said Claudia Joy, "But it's great to be back in the U.S."
"I'm sure," said Denise.
"So how's your life been?" asked Claudia Joy.
Denise said, "Well, Tonya emailed me. She's in town with Blake for the next week or so and we're having lunch together a little later today."
"Really? How's she doing?" asked Claudia Joy.
"She seems to be doing well. I mean, she said that the two of them have some news and then wanted to tell me face to face. So I hope that's good news," said Denise.
"I'm sure it is," said Claudia Joy standing up, "Well I don't to be the reason you're late so it was nice seeing and maybe we can have lunch tomorrow?"
"That would be lovely," said Denise.
Denise walked into the restaurant to find Blake and Tonya waiting at the entrance. Tonya stood upon Denise's arrival and wrapped her arms around her, "It is so good to see you Tonya!"
"Good to see you too!" Tonya said, "It's a shame Frank couldn't have been here."
"Yeah well, what can you do that's the Army," said Denise.
Blake stood and came over to the two of them, "Nice to see you Mrs. Sherwood," he said and shook her hand.
"Same Major Hanson," said Denise.
"Is it a table for three sir?" asked the hostess.
"Yes, mam," said Blake.
Once the three of them were seated and the food and drinks were ordered, Denise finally took a deep breath and asked, "So, how's life been for you two?"
Blake and Tonya looked at each other and Blake said, "That's what we wanted to talk about mam. For starters, Tonya and I we, recently got married."
Denise looked at the couple shockingly and then looked down at their ring fingers. She hadn't even noticed the wedding bands that now resided there, "Wow. That was fast. I didn't even realize you're Tonya Hanson now."
"Yeah we know it's a shock but we got married so quickly because we figured it would be best if it said Hanson all around on the birth certificate," said Tonya, a small smile forming on her face.
"Yes, I suppose that would be. Wait a minute? Birth certificate?" asked Denise suddenly.
"Yeah," said Blake, a smile forming on his face as well.
"You're pregnant?" asked Denise to Tonya excitement building up inside her.
"Yeah," said Tonya happily, her hand finding her abdomen for emphasis.
"Well, how far along are you? When did you find out? When did you both get married?" asked Denise, one question coming after the other.
"Ten weeks along, we found out when she was eight weeks along so two weeks ago, and we married in the courthouse soon after we found out so two weeks ago as well," said Blake.
Denise breathed a sigh and said, "Well congratulations to both of you. I'm so happy for you." And she meant it. She always felt Tonya would make a great mother and as long as Blake was happy about the baby, she was happy, "Do you have, you know, visual confirmation?"
"She only carries it everywhere and sleeps with it now," said Blake jokingly.
"Oh Blake, stop it," said Tonya pulling a sonogram out of her purse and handing it to Denise. She pointed to the little blob in the center and said, "That's our baby."
"He or she is beautiful," said Denise, "When are you due? How have you been feeling?"
"End of December approximately, and I've been better to be honest with you," said Tonya unhappily.
"Morning sickness?" Denise ventured.
"A lot of it," admitted Blake.
"I think this is going to be the first meal I've kept down in a while," said Tonya.
Denise nodded understandingly, "It'll get better soon. I promise."
"And I know Frank isn't here but there was something else Blake and I wanted to ask you," said Tonya.
"Go ahead," said Denise.
"Well after all we've been through together, Blake and I still want you and Frank in this baby's life, so we wanted to know if you both wanted to be the Godparents?"
Denise was shocked. After Tonya had moved to Fort Lee to be with Blake, she hadn't expected to hear from her again, let alone be involved in her child's life. She didn't know how Frank would react to all of this but she couldn't leave them hanging. Almost like he knew what she was thinking, Blake interrupted her thoughts.
"If you need to talk to Colonel Sherwood, we understand," said Blake.
"Um no, it's okay," said Denise, "I'll talk to Frank for sure, but most likely we accept."
When Denise arrived home from lunch, she noticed she had several messages on the machine. The first one was from Jackie Clarke about FRG matters, the second one from Claudia Joy about lunch, and the last one was from Frank, "Hey Dee. I just wanted to let you know we got here safely and that I'll be in the command tent all day today if you want to call or Skype me. I love you."
Denise looked at the time and figured it was evening hours in Afghanistan so she could Skype Frank. She opened her laptop and waited for the signal to go through. Shortly, Frank's face appeared on the screen, "Hey baby, how are you?"
"Pretty good. Missing you," replied Denise, "I saw Claudia Joy today?"
"How was her trip?" asked Frank.
"She loved it but she's glad to be back home," said Denise and then looked down, "I also saw Tonya today."
Frank nodded and said, "Is she still with that doctor she was dating?"
Denise sighed and nodded, "Blake Hanson? Yeah. In fact, they're married now."
Frank looked a little surprised and said, "Wow. Married huh? For how long?"
"They married at the Virginia Courthouse two weeks ago. And they had more news Frank," said Denise. Frank nodded though he had the feeling he knew what was coming next, "Tonya's pregnant."
Frank said, "So that's why they married so fast. How far along is she?"
"Ten weeks," answered Denise, "They have visual confirmation. The fetus is healthy and as far as I can tell she's been taking care of herself and they're both really excited."
"Well good. I'm happy for them," said Frank. Denise knew he wasn't 100% pleased, but they both loved Tonya like a daughter so she assumed he would be the same way with Molly in the future.
"They also asked us to be the baby's Godparents," Denise threw in casually.
Frank stayed silent for a few moments and then chuckled lightly, "Wow. Really?"
"Yeah," Denise smiled relaxing knowing that Frank was excited.
"Well make sure you let them know that we can't wait to meet our Godson or Goddaughter."
Claudia Joy and Jackie sat at the head table of the weekly FRG concerns meeting. There was a fairly large turn out so the two women knew there was probably going to be a lot of concerns. Denise arrived shortly afterwards.
"Hey how was lunch with Tonya?" whispered Claudia Joy.
"They had a lot of news but I'll tell you later," whispered Denise back. Once the meeting started, the first concern was from a brunette woman whose family was currently in an apartment.
Jackie finally commented, "We promise we're working on it as fast as we can.
"With all due respects mam. I don't know if my family can handle the apartment much longer," said the woman.
Claudia Joy took the microphone and said, "Why don't you see us after the meeting, um, what's your name mam?"
"Margaret Hall. You can call me Maggie," she said. After another concern brought up by a woman named Latasha Montclair, the meeting was dismissed and Claudia Joy, Denise, and Jackie decided to have lunch at Denise's house.
"So Denise, you said Tonya had some news," said Claudia Joy taking a seat at the kitchen table.
"Big news actually," Denise chuckled, "You know the doctor she was dating?"
"Major Hanson correct?" asked Jackie. Denise nodded.
"Did they break up or something?" asked Claudia Joy.
"Close. They got married," said Denise.
"Really?" asked Jackie, "Why so fast?"
Denise shrugged, "The fact that Tonya's carrying my future Godchild might have something to do with it."
"Tonya's pregnant!" Claudia Joy said excitedly. Denise nodded happily, "How far along is she? How's she doing?" Claudia Joy asked all of the same questions Denise had asked Tonya.
"She's ten weeks along. She says she's been having a lot of morning sickness but overall doing pretty well," informed Denise.
"Well as long as both Mom and baby are healthy," said Jackie going to get more tea. The phone rang and Denise asked Jackie to answer it, "Colonel Sherwood's residence."
The voice on the other end seemed confused, "Denise?"
"No, Jackie Clarke. Sorry General Holden. Denise told me to answer the phone," said Jackie.
"No problem. Listen Jackie there's been some trouble over in Afghanistan and I'm sure that the other wives will be approaching you and Claudia Joy for information, but you need to continue to tell them to disregard anything they hear on the news. If there's something important that happens, either your husband or I will make an announcement," said Michael.
"Okay sir," said Jackie, "Have a good day," she said and hung up the phone.
"What did Michael say?" asked Claudia Joy.
"They're having some trouble over in Afghanistan and your husband told us to tell the other wives to disregard the news. If there's anything important Michael or Kevin will announce it," said Jackie.
Denise nodded suddenly worried about Frank, "So is Frank okay."
Claudia Joy grabbed her hand, "Until another report is announced, he's okay."
Jackie answered the door when the wives heard a knock. Charlie and Roland were on the other side, "I just heard the news overseas. Are Colonel Burton and Niki okay?" Jackie let the two of them into the house and soon afterwards, Gloria and another young girl followed.
"Sorry for interrupting ladies. We just heard the news and we wanted to make sure the guys are okay. And guys this is Holly Truman, she works at the Hump Bar. Her husband is Private Tim Truman who's in Hector's unit. Holly this is Roland Burton, Charlie Mayfield, Denise Sherwood, Jackie Clarke, and Claudia Joy Holden," said Gloria.
"Wait a minute? Clarke? Holden?" asked Holly.
"Yes, their husbands are Genereal Clarke and General Holden," said Gloria.
Holly turned to the two older women and asked, "Really?"
"Yes really," confirmed Jackie and Claudia Joy nodded.
"And I'm assuming you two are the spouses of Colonel Burton and Colonel Sherwood?" asked Holly to Denise and Roland. They both nodded, "And you?" she motioned towards Charlie.
I'm married to Captain Galassini," said Charlie a little uncomfortably. Though DADT had been repealed and most people were okay with them, there were still a select few that didn't like their lifestyle.
"The intelligence captain?" asked Holly. Charlie nodded in confirmation and holly nodded as well. There had been rumors about Captain Galassini but nothing confirmed until then for her. Soon after Maggie Hall, wife of Staff Sergeant Eddie Hall, and Latasha Montclair, wife of Corporal Quincy Montclair, joined the group to talk and comfort into the night, the beginning of a new group of friends.