Becoming Antonia Part 15.

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“It’s 3am here, so that would put it 6am you’re time?”

“What are you doing up Kahlene?”

“I couldn’t sleep. Look, there’s trouble brewing, and I wanted you give you a heads up.”


Becoming Antonia Part 15

By She who is not a morning person, and Zomba

 

I awoke to the sound of my cell phone going off and Sarah moaning for me to shut it off.

“This is Toni.”

“Toni, it’s Kahlene. Did I wake you?”

“Yeah, what time is it?”

“It’s 3am here, so that would put it 6am you’re time?”

“What are you doing up Kahlene?”

“I couldn’t sleep. Look, there’s trouble brewing, and I wanted you give you a heads up.”

“Ok, what is it this time?” I asked with a sigh.

“It’s Breck. He’s been telling everyone that you had a sex change and you tried to hit on him when you worked out here, so that’s why he fired you.”

“You’re shitting me right?” I asked trying to comprehend what she was telling me.

“I wish I were. He showed up drunk the other night with a news crew, and they were asking all about you.”

“What did you tell them?”

“Just you were the best mechanic I ever had work for me, and if I could have afforded to keep you on when you quit Breck, that I’d still have you working for me today.”

“Thanks, that means a lot.” I told her and tried to clear my head. “What did you say about my um... sex?”

“I told them to take a good look at Breck. Then asked what a good looking woman like yourself would ever want with a drunk like him,” she told me with a slight laugh.

“Seriously? What’s he thinking? How did he know who I was?”

“I think one of the kids let it slip. Don’t worry though, I think he’s lost most of his credibility with the media.”

“Well that might explain about the incident on MTV last year.”

“He already admitted to that. He thinks it’s a bunch of shit that you’re making something of your life and he’s pretty much lost everything. He even wrapped his car around a tree the other night on the way home from the bar.”

“Was there anyone else in the car with him?”

“No, he was alone. Melissa and the kids were here.”

“Good, that’s a relief. At least he didn’t hurt anyone but himself.”

“So what are you going to do Toni?”

“I have to make a phone call,” I told her with a sigh. “Look, here’s what I need you to do. Tell Melissa that the kids need to stay away from him for the next couple days, and that if there are any loose ends she needs to tie up, get it taken care of today. She won’t have a chance after I make that call, and thanks Kah. If you ever need anything, let me know,” I told her.

“Well now that you mention it. We’ll be running Bren in the little 500, so if you could stop down that would be great.”

“I wouldn’t miss it for the world,” I told her. “See you there.”

As I hung up the phone I grabbed my brief case and started looking for the number I needed for the law firm for the University. I found it and went down stairs to start breakfast for Sarah and the kids. When they finally came down, I had a stack of french toast and bacon waiting on the table. It felt good to play the parent roll with my son and his sister. I guess I should start calling her my daughter since we’ll be one big family before too much longer. The kids devoured the food and went to go play as Sarah sat there sipping her tea while I cleaned up.

“Who called at oh dark thirty this morning?”

“It was Kahlene. You remember her, she’s the woman I worked for out in Arizona.”

“Yeah, but what the hell was she calling at such and early hour for?”

“She couldn’t sleep. She had to tell me that there might be a problem brewing,” I said, and told her everything Kahlene told me.

“So what are you going to do Toni?”

I looked at the clock and saw it was nearly time for someone to be in the law office. “I have to make a phone call. I don’t think this is going to be pretty, but I need to do this. It’s all part of the deal I made with the university with my settlement.” I told her. She just nodded, and left me there to do what I had to do, and she went to check on the kids.

I got a hold of the lawyer who had handled my case before and recounted everything that I had been told earlier. To say he was disturbed by the events would be a gross understatement. Livid would be more appropriate. He told me it would be taken care of and I needn’t worry about this happening again, at least not from Breck.

A couple days later, I heard from Kahlene that Breck had been put into a psych ward and was being given heavy doses of anti-psychotics. I didn’t ask her who admitted him, nor did I call the lawyer to ask either. I didn’t want to know.

Sarah and I spent the next week together, trying to set a time frame for the wedding. It amazes me how much has changed since I first changed. When I was going to marry Britt, we had to move to Canada because NY didn’t recognize same sex marriage. Now it's a couple years later and we have a female president, and it’s now legal in the entire country to do so. Sarah told me that she really wanted to home school the kids, and we had talked about it before. Back when I was Pat, we had both thought it was a good idea, if we had the ways and means to do it. Now, here we are, and it is becoming a reality.

We set the date for the weekend after INDY. That way I would be assured to have an off weekend and be able to help finalize the ceremony. Of course, Mandy is going to be Sarah’s matron of honor, and Marah will be her maid of honor. I asked Jess to be my maid of honor, and she made me a promise that she’d be there standing by my side. I don’t doubt for a moment that she’ll do it either.

As much fun as it was for me to go back to Syracuse, I needed to get back to the shop and finish putting the finishing touches on the car for the season opener. No worries though, Sarah and the kids are going to be moving to Indianapolis with me in a couple of weeks. I kissed the kids and gave my bride to be a long hug and a soft kiss as I got on the plane to fly back. On the flight, I couldn’t help but let my mind drift to strange thoughts, and how my life sounds like one lame story written by a guy who REALLY needs to get out of the house more often. If I ever meet this guy, I’m going to kick his ass up and down pit row at Daytona.

The pilot woke me up just before we touched down in INDY, He had let Chip know that I was inbound, and Chip had asked if I could meet him at the shop. I collected my things and loaded my bags into my truck then headed to find out what was so important for Chip to want to see me about. I pulled into the parking lot and could see that most of the crew was there, which was strange for a weekend, but I didn’t think too much of it, since we were trying to get a second car ready for the season. I made my way into the office and found Chip.”

“What’s up Chip? You wanted to see me?” I asked as I walked in to find him doing some work in the computer.

“Toni, glad to see you made it back in one piece. How was Syracuse?”

“Great. I’m getting married.”

“Congratulations, who’s the lucky girl?”

“A dear old friend.” I told him, not wanting to drop the bomb about her also being the mother of my son.

“Have a seat, we need to talk.” he told me with the most serious look I’ve ever seen on his face. I shut the door and took a seat, preparing for the worst. “Let me start by saying that I meant what I said before you left for Syracuse. You are NOT, and I repeat, not being fired. But I do need you to level with me. I have some reports here that I just can’t wrap my head around. When you were on MTV last year, I didn’t think much of it at the time. I thought it was someone just screwing with you, but here are 3 different reports that you used to be a guy. If you had a sex change, I don’t care. You are with out a doubt the best racing mind I’ve ever met and there is no way I’m letting you go. But what gives?”

I was floored. I didn’t know what to do at this point, so I felt that since Chip always shot straight with me, I’d do the same with him.

“Yes, I did used to be a guy.” I told him and you could see all the color drain from his face. “However, I did not have sexual reassignment surgery. What happened to me was a freak accident involving some toxic waste that had been dumped illegally behind the college near where Jess, Britt and I went to school. I have an idea of what you’re going thru right now Chip.” I told him with a worried look on my face. “It’s kind of a hard thing to come to grips with,” I said as I watched him look at me, trying to think.

“Um, do you have any pictures of what you used to look like?” he asked me. So, I pulled out the picture book Sarah had made for me as basically a time line of my life. She had gotten my baby pictures from my mom and some of me with my quarter midgets. Then there were pictures of me playing soccer, baseball, football and basketball as I grew up. Then my highschool track & field team picture, and a copy of my yearbook photo. Opiee had given her some pictures of me from college, and then she had the picture of myself and Morgan Shepherd at the Brickyard 400 when I worked for him. That was the one Chip stopped on. I had never noticed before, but in the corner of the picture I had, you could see Chip and his driver at the time in the cup talking. They had been right behind us in qualifying. He looked at the picture then back at me, then back at the picture, then back at me.

“You know Toni, I remember when this was taken. You and that big blond kid that worked with you were the only two on that crew that presented yourselves in a professional manner. If I had known that you were unhappy at Morgan’s, I would have offered you a job myself, back then.”

“Wow, thanks Chip that means a lot to me. But keep going, the next section after the photos of me with Kahlene are of the change at the hospital,” I told him, and he started to flip the page.

The next photos were of myself with Kahlene and Brendan when I worked on their cars. Then there was a couple more photos from Opiee, from Hell Night, before the accident. The hospital photo’s came next. I could watch all the color drain from Chips face again. This was the first time he’d seen me “sans clothing.” He blushed a bit, but the rest of his face was pale as a ghost. He finished the hospital photos, then saw me going through as Psi Sigma Psi, and then Britt and I getting married. The final page was of the Sprint Nationals, and of the Cup banquet. The final picture was one taken before I left Syracuse, of Sarah, Isabelle, Patrick, and myself. Chip saw me holding Patrick and smiled at me.

“Your son looks just like you Toni. Well that is to say...” he stumbled over what to say.

“I know what you mean Chip. The thing that scares the hell out of me is that he acts like I did at his age too,” I told him giggling. “So now you know the truth, what do we do now?”

“We don’t do anything,” he told me with a Cheshire cat grin on his face. “We let the lawyers handle it. If anyone asks just refer them to the lawyers, and say no comment.”

“You’re the boss. I’ll try to keep my cool, but I make no guaranties.”

“So when is the wedding?” he asked me trying to lighten the mood.

“The weekend after INDY,” I told him.

“Am I to assume that Sarah is the mother of your son?”

“Um, yeah, it’s a long story, but I do have something to ask you, if it’s alright.”

“Ask away. I don’t think there is anything you could ask me that would be near as bad as I just had you go through for me.”

“Okay,” I told him as I started to bite my upper lip. “Well you know my father passed away a couple years back. And well, you’re as close to a father figure as I have in my life right now Chip.” I started to sweat, as I tried to think of how to ask him.

“And you want me to walk you down the isle?”

“Well, if you’re free that weekend...”

“I’d be honored to give away one of the brides,” he told me as he stood up and walked around the desk to give me a tender, fatherly hug.

“Thanks Chip. You know, I think that with everything that’s gone on in my life, you’re the first person who I’ve met, other then Sarah, of course, who I feel safe enough around to open up to. I mean, I’ve opened up a little to Jess, but most of my energy is spent trying to keep her safe, that I just can’t let go. I think you learned more about my life in these past 30 minutes then she has in the past 4 years.”

“Then I should be thanking you for letting me into your inner sanctum,” he smiled as we both got ready to head out for the day. “Oh, one more thing. Alex is coming in tomorrow to get fitted for his new car, and he requested that you be here to do it.”

“Just try to keep me away,” I told him as I picked up my book and then headed out for home.

To be continued:

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Comments

Becoming Antonia

Ok now you have me excited and stumped. I figured that you were going to get Alex Zenardi into the race but I can't figure out what is going to happen next to mess up Toni's life.

Melanie

i love to keep my readers guessing.... hehehehe

Just so you know, I have 5 more in the box right now. The best eyes in the business are currently looking them over, and you should be able to expect a guest apperance from the communities favorite daughters in chapter 20. That is all I'm at liberty to say for now. Just know that after the next chapter, there WILL be more.

Toni

5 Stars

Toni anouther supper chapter!
Melissa C

Becoming Antonia

Another wonderful chapter of a really great story. I can hardly wait for more and to see what kind of trouble Toni gets into next.
Always
Patti

Part ??

Hi lass

Nice like this story very much supper part, but me lass you have it as Part 5? Know it's a mistake as it's 15. Like i said love this and the other two storys keep up the good work Lass.

Hugs and Kisses
Melissa Ann

Hugs and Kisses
Melissa Ann