Love Knows No Boundry

Chapter 11 - Moving On

One day my phoned buzzed and there was Sonja again. I rarely knew when she would be back in country. Often she would call immediately after touching down then call me back an hour or two later for an extended conversation.

"So can we meet somewhere" Sonja asks? "I don't think that I can get away right now I say. Kelly is away at school. I really don't want to feel like I'm pressuring King. Why don't you come here? I can tell you every flight from D.C. to New Orleans from personal experience."

"Percy did you hear me?" "Yes" she responds. "Alright, how can I protest".

The greeting at the airport went well. Friday night at King's bar also went fine but then I got a 2 p.m. Saturday phone summons and was tied up most of the weekend. While I made it back to my place early Sunday morning, I just had time to catch a few hours of sleep and eat before I had to get back to the office. I thought she deserved more than a quick roll in the hay, but that's all the time that I had. I felt bad. I was back again early Monday morning before the sun was up. Sonja was not very responsive as she had managed to console herself with her favorite New Orleans wine while both Tammy and I worked the case.

I took a very unhappy City Mouse to the airport mid-day Monday for her return flight to D.C. Disappointment and a horrible hang over didn't help the situation. A lot of tears were shed that day. I found myself thankful none of them came from me.

This time we made formal plans to meet up four weeks later. The where would be decided later.

Distance was not the only issue between trying to maintain some type of relationship with Sonja. I had forgotten how smart Sonja was and somehow let my guard down. Yeah, that's how I justify it to myself.

Sonja sent me a brochure on fishing at a place called Burke Lake Park in VA. I couldn't believe my good fortune. I could fish all day while Sonja went shopping. We spent evenings on or near the water as well.

Thursday night we were out and about with the local police chief and a friend of his. "Hey LaSalle" he said later on, "we're all going out tomorrow. Why don't you join us?" "I appreciate the invite guys, but I need to spend some time with my lady." That remark drew a series of catcalls which also drew Percy's attention. "So Percy" shouted one of the guys "how do you keep your man in line like that" "Like what?" she responds. "We want him to go out with us tomorrow." "Well, I hope you guys all have a good time! He's on vacation too."

That should have been my first clue. My second should have been when Percy offered to get up and drop me off at the boat slip very early the next morning. The more the fish were biting, the more beer we downed. The boat was just beautiful. The water reminded me more and more of Sipsey Fork of the Black Warrior River back in Alabama as each hour passed by.

"Well if you like it so much, why don't you just move here" someone asked. "To a cold water lake and Nor Easters? I don't think so." "How could that be any worse than all those Cat 1 storms you get from the Gulf of Mexico" someone chimes in.

"Say LaSalle is it" somebody asked? "I have a Lieutenant's position open right now. I intend to retire in two years. I couldn't promise you the Chief's job but I could be sure get you exposed to the council members and put you in line for a promotion if you were interested."

I was shocked that I even gave the offer a second thought. That night in bed Sonja and I recounted my day. Sonja remained unusually quiet. "That place is only 50 minutes by train from my office" Sonja finally says. Those were the last words I heard that night. Sonja let me sleep in Saturday morning

I came out of the bedroom to find Sonja on the landline phone with her sister. Evidentially her nephew had broken his arm while skateboarding. Sonja and I had turned our phones off while giving our bosses the hotel's front desk phone number for emergency calls. No one dared to call.

"Why don't you come back to bed" I whispered in her ear.

"Look sis, I'm being summoned." I heard Percy say then she made a running start and jumped on my back.

After we showered, I cooked us breakfast and I turned on a Faith Hill recording.

"I'm thinking about that job offer." "Really?" Percy says." "Yeah. There would have to be a condition though." "You're going to make them give you something" Percy asked? "No you Sonja. You would have to agree to marry me." "Marry you?" "Oh Chris" she says as she plants one on me.

Well those words earned me a return trip to the bedroom where we managed to remain until afternoon.

Saturday night we had a romantic dinner on a boat and met friends later for drinks. My soon to be boss ordered champagne to celebrate our engagement.

Sunday morning we broke our agreement about the cellphone usage to call Tammy, Momma, Cade and Percy's mother to tell them that we were getting married.

King took the news in stride stating "you haven't really been here for the past year anyway. Well maybe your head but not your heart and even that was questionable some days." We were married at the historic Howard University. Sonja complained that she thought she was going to have to promise to give her first borne to have the wedding on the campus. In the end she was able to book the Chapel.

It is wonderful to look at the photos and see all of our family and friends who have poured into our lives and into our relationship. Brody and Tammy stood with Sonja's sisters by her side. The two women brought both their strength and vulnerabilities into Sonja's life. She was able to love them as sisters, gird them up and rely on them as she walked out of her personal darkness.

King and Cade who literally saved my life when the two worse times of my life occurred stood by me again. My new friend Triple P and my old partner Marcus filled spots that Cade couldn't during the times when both Cade and I were bound by the pain and rejection of our father and the other horrors that life threw our way.

Momma was so happy that I finally found a woman who could share my adventures and knew and understood the details of my work. She was also happy to know that grandchildren were forthcoming finally.

Our premarital counseling revealed even more hurt and in doing so allowed the counselor to provide tips to combat what came out into the open. Relieved of some of the guilt and pain, we could have a firm foundation and also understand that love was indeed a two way street. I still needed to let go of the absolute need to know that I could not protect Sonja from everything and she needed to understand that she could count on me to be a sounding board and a comforter rather than her carrying the weight of life all by herself.