Soon!

Chapter 5 - Sharing My Joy

I was not looking forward to going back to 'Nola and leaving the girls behind. The week had gone by fast and thanks to Sonja keeping my photos available to Chrissy we bonded quite quickly. It was going to take a lot of talking to convince Sonja that I really wanted to make us a family. Maybe momma's presence will break her down.

I offered to buy Sonja a home and told her to call an agent and work with a staff member at LaSalle Industries for the closing. I put a check on her dresser as I left. She'll have a fit, but I figured the amount would cover the proper amount of child support that I owed her for two years.

Percy and Chrissy walked me to my gate. There's the last call. I have no choice but to board. At the end I'm not sure who was crying the most Sonja or Chrissy. My baby girl clung to my neck as I handed her back to Sonja. Seeing her fall out crying like a normal two year old only caused Sonja to cry more.

I find my seat thankful that I had a first class ticket and still had room to stow my suitcase. As soon as my butt hit the chair the tears started. First over what Sonja had done to me and second because I had let some bullshit reason separate me from this woman that I so deeply loved. I could only wonder what the future had instore for Chrissy and I. I had fallen in love with Tucker so quickly and now have another little one who will be in my life for eternity. I accepted the complimentary drinks and added a few of my own. Buoyed by the alcohol, I quickly fell asleep and only awoke when I heard the captain tell us to fasten our seatbelts on the final approach. My head was throbbing as I got off the plane. I was very surprised to see Tammy at the end of the walkway. "What are you doing here?" "I came to get you and in response to the look on my face, said "Percy called me. I know that we needed to talk and I see no sense in delaying the inevitable."

Once in Tammy's SUV I wasted no time laying into her about keeping the information of my daughter from me. She kept saying how sorry she was. Now hung over, I must have gone to sleep again because I looked up to see that Tammy was stopped in front of my house. "You're home LaSalle. Call me if you want to talk were her last words". I managed to get inside and lay undressed on the bed until morning.

I had a lot of catch up work to do. Less than an hour in, I called Rachel at LaSalle industries and told her not to bother coming out on Thursday. I just explained that I had work business to attend to. I told her that I would e-mail some information to her so she could update my will. Quite frankly I just didn't want to see her face.

I heard Tammy get up and soon she was standing at my desk coffee cups in hand. Hey, Chris, why don't you step out into the courtyard with me? I started to say no, but I knew I need to stretch out. I wasn't getting much done anyway.

"So how did it go?" I told her some updated information from my early morning phone call with Sonja. Tammy was happy that momma was flying out to be with the girls for a while. I told her that I had sent a real estate agent from the company to help Sonja buy a house. In the end she settled on four bedroom ranch with a yard for Chrissy to play in. She refused to take any more money from me for the house. What she didn't know was that my staff person had contacted the seller's agent before Sonja even looked at the house. Sonja was thrilled she got such a great bargain not realizing that I had paid more than 1/3 of the price. The house had a mother in laws apartment which would be perfect for momma. It was down the street from an elementary school. We had talked about putting Chrissy in a public school at the start of her education. While we know there are some good private schools in town, Sonja had heard that it would be good for all the kids to have little 'Ms LaSalle' in attendance.

King sent a memo that we would have a staff lunch on Friday. It turned out that it was a surprise shower for me. The best gifts were the many parenting books that I got. Two personal items left me on the verge of tears. One was a diary from King telling me how to raise a 'Princess'. The second was a baby book from Tammy with pictures of Chrissy from her first day on earth through the time I spent with her last week.