Retrouvailles Revisited

Chapter 11 - Etcetera

 "So am I really pregnant?"

"Yes Mrs. LaSalle. You look to be about three months along. The nurse will be back in a few minutes to bring you some information about your care the next six months and your prescription for pre-natal vitamins."

A baby? Finally, a baby! Christopher will be thrilled Sonja thought.

She hurried toward home to tell her husband after she made a couple of stops.

"Can you wrap it" she asked the stunned clerk?

"I don't know, let me ask my boss."

"Of course we can wrap it ma'am" the supervisor assured her. "And you would like it delivered" he inquired.

"Yes, that would be perfect! Is 7 p.m. too late?"

"No, we are open until 9 p.m. I'll bring it by myself as I head home."

Next? Order dinner. Sonja was the first to admit that she still could not cook meat the way Chris liked it. She had found a restaurant the first month that she was in D.C. that had Iowa beef.

Upon arriving at the house Sonja stopped to set the table with her best dishes before she went in to take a quick shower.

It wasn't fifteen minutes that she heard Chris come thru the door. "Hi honey" she said. "I thought we would eat in tonight. Why don't you catch a quick shower? I laid out a shirt and trousers for you on the bed. I hope you don't mind."

"Well, Sonja LaSalle what are you up to" Chris asked with a gleam in his eye?

"I just want to show you how much I love you Country Mouse. Why would I have to be up to something"?

"I'm not so sure but you still have a tendency to catch me off guard every once in a while."

Sonja walked back into the kitchen to put Chris' champagne to chill. She spent some thought on how she would not spill the beans by not drinking alcohol with him. She finally decided that she would have two different bottles in the fridge. Then she would pour the drinks into their bride and groom glasses and immediately know which one was hers without the alcohol but also not raise Chris' scrutiny.

The dinner was wonderful. After she rinsed off the dishes, she put on a Bonnie Raitt CD who was one of Chris' favorite singers. As they danced the doorbell rang. Sonja took off toward the door to beat Chris and spoke over her shoulder for him to refill his glass.

She thanked the store manager and tried to tip him but he wouldn't have it. "Hey Country Mouse, there's a box here for you" She yelled back into to the living room.

"Me? I didn't order anything" Chris answered looking puzzled.

"Well maybe you did and you just forgot.

It took Chris a few moments to drag the box over to the sofa and find the box cutters. Sonja saw that immediate question on his face as it took him a few seconds to realize what was actually in the package then heard him holler that damn Alabama exclamation of 'yoo hoo'. With tears streaming down his face he said "really City Mouse? You're really going to have a baby?"

"Looks like it Papa LaSalle" she replied. At those words Chris lifted her in his arms and twirled them both around then kissed her hard.

"Chris? What are you doing" she asked as he started unbuttoning his shirt?

"Well, I never knowingly made love to a pregnant woman before. I just thought I would try it out."

Their son Dylan King LaSalle was born six months later. Sonja stayed home for three months and then benched her own self for nine more. Chris took an overseas assignment when Dylan was five months old. Crying in his beer one night in Tele Vive he swore that he would never do that again. It was the first time that he and Sonja had been apart for more than three days in six years

Their daughter Erin was born three years later. They asked Aaron's sister to be her godmother.

The LaSalles had chosen well in the purchase of their home. Both of their children excelled in the class room at fine schools. Dylan graduated as the Salutatorian and accepted a full scholarship at Harvard. After a year at Oxford, he returned to attend Harvard Law.

Erin did her pre-med at UNC at Chapel Hill and then attended the Mayo Clinic School of Medicine. Having all her future financial needs met through her trust fund from the sale of LaSalle oil shares that her grandmother had kept hidden from her ex-husband, Erin planned on practicing at one of the military hospitals in D.C. or the Army Medical Center at Fort Sam Houston, Texas. It pleased them both that her passion was to help America's wounded warriors.

Sonja and Chris probably could have worked into their sixties but decided to return to the warm waters of Alabama earlier than most. After helping them to raise their children, Momma LaSalle wanted to spend her last days at her farm. They built a new home on a rise of land on the north side of the property. Chris could see the island from the porch where he and his brother Cade spent so many hours on as boys. Chris dredged a channel allowing him to get his boat out to the open water.

Erin found a research project in her mental health rotation that had some promising papers on the condition of her Uncle Cade. He was able to get into a trial and responded well to the initial treatment. Now living on his own about 30 miles from their momma, he made it weekly down to see Chris and their sister.

Christopher thought that Sonja really wanted a third child but felt guilty of all the time she spent away from their first two children. Tammy suggested that she volunteer at the high school ROTC program near them. Soon their house was overrun by teenagers. Chris was also rewarded with some new hunting buddies. He realized that some them would learn from tracking animals and that the skill would come in handy for future service in the military or law enforcement.

Years later a new wave of babies invaded their lives. There were five LaSalles and many others from their ROTC brood.