We're a Wonderful Wife

Chapter 10

Dark Angels

Finally, after what seemed like a month but was only a week Lanh's big SUV was loaded, mostly with Krissy's gifts, and the kids were all hugged and kissed one last time and it was time for Lanh, Don, and 8-month pregnant Karole to head back to Colorado. Their Christmas visit to Minnesota had been short and sweet, and for the first time in her life Karole felt sorrow at leaving somewhere. Arlo cried his little eyes out, he wanted to go with Aunt Karole but when he found out that his mom wasn't going to come with him, that made his decision even tougher. He looked longingly at Aunty Karole and back at Mom heartbroken over the decision that life forced on a two-year-old.

Karole's heart was aching for the little guy, just days ago he was afraid of her because when he felt her baby move, he thought that Karole ate a baby. But since his Uncle Don vouched for her, Arlo and Karole been almost inseparable. Karole looked at Tam, Arlo's mother, whose eyes were moist, her heart was aching for her little boy's quandary too. "Ah'll be back little guy, and ah'll have a little girl to come see you. We can teach her how to go fishin' an stuff like that, ok?"

"An' baseball too?" sniffed the heartbroken two-year-old.

"If you'd like," said Karole as she tousled his black locks of hair. "And Aunty Kim-ly will have a baby boy, we can teach him too."

Hope began to spring in Arlo's broken heart. He looked up at Aunt Karole with big tear filled but hopeful eyes. "An me? You teach me?"

"Yeah lil' fella, we'll teach you baseball too," said Aunt Karole as she gave Arlo one last hug. "And maybe Reggie soon too," came an unbidden thought leaving her to wonder where that came from.

That evening Karole and Kim-ly had retired to their bedrooms early so Karole could get up, help milk the cows and have a good breakfast before heading out, and as usual they ended up sitting on Kim-ly's bed, leaning on each other talking about everything, usually men. Both had a varied and exciting love life, and both lived in terror of becoming exactly what they were right now, pregnant unwed women. "What birth control did you use in college?" Kim-ly asked Karole that late evening.

"Promise you won't tell?" asked Karole sheepishly.

"Promise!" said Kim-ly as she crossed her heart.

"Mah roommate," said Karole quietly.

"What?" asked Kim-ly almost laughing. "Your roommate? How does that work?"

Karole blushed and said softly. "You know, you see that guy with them shoulders, and that tight ass and that big ol' package and you know he'd do you cross-eyed, or you'd see that superhot professor with just the right amount of gray in his beard and he smells like sweet pipe tobacco and drives a Mercedes and when he looks at you your panties just melt, ya know what ah mean?"

Kim-ly could feel her nipples hardening just from Karole's descriptions. "Oh, I know, what about it?"

"Well, you come back to your room and your roommate just gets out of the shower and you tell her all about Mister Wonderful and how he got your juices flowin.' Next thing you know you an' your roommate are working out those frustrations and a toy from your sock drawer joins the party an'..."

"No!" gasped Kim-ly, "You? Really? That's so HAWT!"

Karole was ecstatic that Kim-ly didn't think she was a pervert for her lesbian affairs, she smiled in relief and went on. "Ah missed guys but for birth control it worked, ain't no chick ever knock up another chick..."

"Wellllll..." said Kim-ly, "that's not exactly true..." she patted her tummy.

"What do you mean... how can a woman do that..." She shrugged her shoulders dumbfounded.

"My OB/Gyn... I found a sperm donor and Dr. Schaeffer, a woman, took care of the rest."

"Couldn't you do it the old-fashioned way?" asked Karole.

"No, it's too..." Kim-ly rolled her eyes in thought. "No, I'm not going to say. Just leave it at that, let's just say that my Danh is a Turkey Baster baby."

"A what?" laughed Karole.

Downstairs in their suite, Don and Lanh embraced in their shower. As their lips parted, their eyes met, and Lanh slowly eased her way into the shower chair. They realized that this would be the last time they were in this room until May, their wedding anniversary, and the anniversary of the rebuilding of the bunkhouse into Lanh's house, so they were a little sad. This house and these people meant so much to Don and Lanh that they felt sad to leave, and even though Colorado brought them and Karole together, they were both beginning to feel that the move was a huge mistake.

Lanh eased down on the shower chair; Don leaned forward for a kiss but Lanh pressed down on his shoulders. Lanh is in charge tonight and Don smiled, since she realized that she could take charge any time she desires, she's become a more passionate lover. She pushed downward on Don's shoulders forcing his kisses lower and lower. He enjoyed blowjobs under the warm spray of the shower, she now wants to see what he enjoys so much.

Lower and lower he kissed, straight down between her small, round breasts, down to her naval where his tongue explored for a moment making her giggle, then lower. One of Don's great loves is to linger in "The Black Forest" a term that embarrasses Lanh, it implies that she's incredibly hairy down there, but quite the opposite is true. Don loves what hair she does have gracing her pelvic mound, soft ebony hair, so gentle on his lips and tongue. "Love me here," she whispered as she continued to push. Lanh still won't say "eat me" until she's so horny she can barely think, but now she guided his mouth between her widespread legs. He gently began to lick her pussy lips, the tip of his tongue drawing up between them, penetrating slightly.

"Noooo," she groaned, "don't tease." But Don looked up and chuckled, he was planning to tease his woman until she screamed. He continued to lick gently and she shuddered, her head rolled back and she sighed, "Ohhhh you bastard."

"What did you just call me?" he laughed. He's never heard this out of her before.

"Don't stop!" she cried and pulled his head to her pussy. "Eat me!" she demanded.

"You just had to ask," he chuckled but he didn't quite finish his statement as she grabbed his ears and pulled his mouth back to her pussy and he began suckling on her clit, his tongue dancing there, driving her crazy.

Don drew his finger nails up the length of her inner thighs causing her to gasp and arch her back, forcing her clit and pussy against his mouth harder. Now she grasped his wrists, his left wrist she pulled upwards until his hand was cupping her breast, where he began squeezing the delightful, baseball size mound capped by a hard, prominent, sensitive nipple. As he pinched and twisted her nipple with his thumb and forefinger on his left hand, she pushed his right hand down to where his mouth was worrying at her most sensitive tissue.

"Ohhhh Yes! Ohhh Yes! Ohhh Yes!" she softly chanted as two of Don's fingers slid in and out of her pussy, his fingers curled and tickling her g-spot perfectly. His fingers probed around doing what Kim-ly called "reaching for the last olive left in the jar," and it worked perfectly, Lanh was going out of her mind. His mouth suckling at her clit, his tongue stroking her clit in time with his fingers, his left-hand pinching and tugging on her right nipple, her left hand pinching and rolling her left nipple, her right hand clutching his head and holding him to her pussy just in case he had ideas of doing something else.

The warm water splashed and tingled over her body, and she loved the sensation, her eyes rolled back in her head as her chanting of "Ohhhh Yes!" went on and on. At one point she reached over and slapped off the water then went back to clutching his head, they were almost out of hot water.

Her chant soon changed to, "Ok, stop... ok, stop... ok, stop..." but Don didn't stop. She didn't particularly want him to stop, she wanted him to cum when she does, but her words had no power behind them, Don continued to play her body like a fine-tuned instrument, and she did nothing to stop him other than her tiny groans.

Soon it was on her, whatever control she had over Don was lost, her body was a wound as tight as a clock spring. Her knees came up and spread wide offering herself to him, she wanted to cry "Fuck me!" but she was wound up so tight that nothing came out. Now both of her hands were on his head, her fingers wound in his hair, holding his ravenous mouth in place, and then with a grunt it was on her, that delicious, mind warping assault of release. The tension flowed out of her as waves of passion coursed through her body. She trembled and shook, her fine little legs wrapped around Don's head and squeezed with all her strength as she enjoyed a delicious orgasm that went on and on and on...

As she came back to herself, she found that she was on their bed and Don was between her legs, his big hard cock leading the way, aimed directly at her pussy. They had been so busy with Christmas and the family that this was the first real chance they had to make love in their own bed and Don was aching with need. She reached for his cock and found that it was harder than it has been for ages, a drop of pre-cum hung by a tread from the angry red head of his cock. From the feel of the scalding iron in his cock and the fire in his eyes, Lanh realized that she was in for a fucking the likes of which she hasn't experienced in what seemed like ages, and she can't wait!

Quickly she spit on her hand then slathered her saliva on his cock, years ago she wouldn't have dreamed of doing something so base, so gross... but now she knows, when she's in bed with the man she loves, whatever feels good, is good. His spit slickened cock slid into her folds easily, stretching her out, spreading her open. "Oh God!" she gasped, the sensation came as a surprise and her hands slammed down on the mattress, her fingers clutched the sheets tightly as Don plunged deeper and deeper inside of her until there was little of her vagina that wasn't filled with his cock.

Don paused for a moment, their eyes searching each other's eyes, she practically swam in his soft blue eyes and wondered how she became so lucky that he chose her. Don studied Lanh's beautiful dark brown, almost black almond shaped eyes and fell in love with her all over again. They paused for an eternal moment, then it began. His hips commenced driving his cock into her pussy relentlessly, the sound of the slapping of their wet groins together filled the room. They kissed passionately as they made love but soon, they were too far gone for kisses and Lanh was cumming again. She wrapped herself around Don and held on tight as another orgasm took over her body, it was the most powerful orgasm to date, and it felt like she left her body behind as the orgasm coursed through her. She remembered planting her feet on the mattress and pushing her pussy up to meet Don's relentless thrusts, her hands holding tight, then at the crest of the sweetest orgasm in her life she closed her eyes softly. Opening her eyes she found Don laying next to her. When did he stop?

"Welcome back," he smiled.

"What do you mean?" Lanh blinked her eyes and tried to fight back the woozy feeling that somehow overtook her.

"You fainted," said Don.

"No, you are clearly mistaken," teased Lanh. She realized now that she fainted, when Don wrings those massive orgasms out of her, it sometimes happens. Then she realized that she was covered up. "When did you put this blanket on me?"

"About five minutes ago."

"You're clearly crazy, no such thing happened..." The teasing and love play continued as they kissed gently. Then while smiling at each other she saw the damage to his shoulder and gasped, "What happened to your shoulder?" Lanh ran her hand over what appeared to be bite marks, vicious ones. "Were you out in the milking parlor again? Those cows can get vicious if you're not careful around them."

"No, I got that from my wife."

"The bitch! Point her out, I'll kill her!" Chuckling Don pulled Lanh close and kissed her tenderly. "I'm sorry," Lanh sniffed, "I'm sorry, I don't mean to bite..."

"Hey, it's ok, you haven't done that since before my accident." Don pulled her closer, "It's kind of like a welcome home. It means I finally got it right."

Lanh had a realization that they really were going to be ok, and she snuggled close to Don, resting her head on his unchewed shoulder. Through the open bedroom doorway, they watched the fire burn down in their little fireplace and the Christmas lights twinkle on the tiny tree, and as they drifted off to sleep, they both dreamed of the day when they could return home to stay.

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The trip back to Colorado was a mixed bag of emotions for Karole. The days leading up to Christmas were crazy, she watched this big happy family celebrate their favorite holiday and they kept drawing Karole into their celebration of joy, but she wanted to "celebrate" by watching from the outside. Eventually she began to feel the love that was radiating from her friends and all in all it was her best vacation to date. She learned new passions for Pho and lefse, she learned how to go ice fishing out on the big pond out back, and she got to go on a winter hayride with all the kids before they went back to school.

If anything, her trip back to Colorado was filled with reluctance. Karole passionately loved her job, but she hated her house, it was supposed to be a cradle of love for her and Jayce and their daughter, but now she's alone and cold and for the first time in her life she felt truly at home somewhere and it turned out to be in that big drafty old farmhouse in Minnesota. She was offered a whole Jack and Jill suite for her and Krissy to live in, and before she left, the plaster was patched the new paint was up, and the painting was done by herself, Lanh, and Kim-ly.

But all too soon it was time to go, Mai, Sandy, and Tam were there to see her off, but the real tears came when it was time to say goodbye to Kim-ly. No one remembered seeing Kim-ly so emotional before, the Vietnamese tough chick looked positively heartbroken, and she even made Don and Lanh promise to take special care of Karole back in Greeley. As the sun came up on the Northwoods, Don, Lanh and Karole sadly headed west to their current home.

As they crossed into North Dakota the scenery was the most alien that Karole had ever seen. On the way up from Colorado it was bright and sunny, in South Dakota they even stopped at Mt. Rushmore for pictures. Now it was snowing, the landscape was stark, baren, and frigid. The land was billiard table flat here in the Red River Valley, the farms were huge and stretched on forever. Wheat stubble was left in the field, and it was catching the snow that blew across the barren open land, fields were lined with narrow strips of trees and underbrush which were called shelter belts which protect the fields from the harsh wind. Other than the occasional farmhouse and steel sheds, all that could been seen were the strips of trees surrounding inky black stretches of fields that were highlighted with the glaring white snow that was being trapped by the remaining stubble. It was a cloudy gray day with the ugliest snow Karole had ever seen. The flakes were tiny, more like flake fragments, not pretty like in Minnesota. Here the snow looked more like fog than a snowfall.

"How did y'all handle leaving when you got orders overseas?" asked Karole, wondering if she were alone in this gloomy feeling.

"Not well," said Lanh. "If it wasn't for Sandy and Kim-ly, I don't know how I would have made it." She turned in her seat to see Karole in the back, "Once we got to the point where we learned to depend on each other, we were doing better, but it still hurt."

Karole had another question ready but just as she was getting ready to ask, her phone rang, it was Kim-ly again, this was her third call since they left. "Hey sweetie, how ya doin'?" and she and Karole went into a long-term discussion on what they discovered about diapers.

"I think this trip is the best thing we could ever have done for Karole and Kim-ly," said Lanh as she and Don held hands.

"I also think it's the best thing we could ever have done for Krissy and Danh," said Don as he drove for the first leg of the trip.

"What do you mean?"

"Before we left, Karole was completely like, "Yeah, I'm pregnant, I'll figure it out when the baby gets here," and Bao says that Kim-ly was the same way. After a week and a half together comparing notes and mom pheromones, and they've both become supermoms in full nesting mode."

"Mom pheromones?" laughed Lanh. "What is a mom pheromone?"

"It's a paper I've been working on, expectant mothers put out pheromones that other expectant mothers' pickup on which helps them group together for mutual support. Men pick up on them too and they inspire men to perform great feats of construction."

"Feats of construction? Like what?" Lanh couldn't wait for this.

"Things like nurseries, repainting the baby's room four times, but most importantly building man caves, sports bars, cigar bars... hey! Don't hit the driver so hard!"

They stopped for lunch at a Kroll's Diner in Bismark, it's a German themed restaurant that has a lot of German sounding items on the menu, but for someone who enjoys German food it's the equivalent of what the Olive Garden does to Italian cuisine. Lanh had cabbage rolls and Don had a Ruben sandwich, those were their favorites when they would stop at a Kroll's for a late-night meal after a movie when they were stationed at Grand Forks AFB. Karole was starving but Krissy was being picky, so she eventually settled on a salad and a bowl of knoephla, a delicious soup that her new dad, Ralph, made for them the day they put up the Christmas tree. The salad was good, but sadly the knoephla was flavorless compared to Ralph's. "What did they do to my soup?" said Karole sadly, knowing that it would be a couple of years before she got a bowl of hot knoephla ever again.

"This is one of those places where you need to learn the menu," said Lanh. "Here, try this," and she gave Karole a taste of her cabbage roll.

"That's incredible!" said Karole as her eyebrows went up in delight. "Ah thought you were crazy when you put the pancake syrup on it."

Lanh squeezed Don's arm. "It's his mom's recipe, just a touch of maple syrup."

They arrived home in time for New Year's Eve, as they carried Karoles boxes of gifts into her house Lanh whispered quietly, "if you want, you can come over to our house."

"Y'all been so generous and sweet to me, I couldn't possibly..."

"We know how it is," Lanh interrupted, "You're surrounded by family and friends and then suddenly you're sitting in an empty house and sometimes the silence becomes too loud."

"Ah know what you mean sweetie, but ah'll be fine."

Lanh smiled and hugged her angel. "Ok, but if Krissy gets lonely, you bring her right over. Her uncle Don gets lonely sometimes too. And by the way, do you have any frozen broccoli?"

"Yeah, I do. Somebody slipped it in my grocery cart last time I was shopping."

Not even trying to look guilty Lanh said, "Ok, New Year's dinner is tomorrow at four, bring the broccoli and come a little early ok?"

"Ok, don't you worry about me mom, you two go and have fun." After Lanh had left, Karole went about putting all the gifts she got for Krissy in Krissy's dresser, and again she was overwhelmed by the generosity of Lanh and Don's families. Someone had given her sleepers for a whole year, a beautiful collection of pink sleepers in Newborn, 0-3 months, 3-6 months, and 6-12 months sizes. There was a card with it, but the message was in a different language, probably Vietnamese, but don't they use Chinese writing?

Karole walked past the window and some movement outside caught her eye. Stepping up to the window she saw it was snowing, not that vicious, angry snow like she saw in North and South Dakota, but that nice fluffy snow she saw in Minnesota. She stepped out onto her porch and looked over at Don and Lanh's house and saw that their Christmas lights were on and suddenly Krissy got lonely. Karole put her hand on her tummy and said, "Ok lil' girl. Just this one time, ah don't want you gettin' spoilt."

A few minutes later Don opened the door and there was Karole looking sheepish and holding a bag of frozen broccoli. "Ah need help translatin' a card Krissy got."

"Come on in beautiful, Lanh is in the kitchen waiting for you." Don waved in the direction of the kitchen then headed out to the patio where the turkey for tomorrow's dinner was in the smoker. Karole stepped into their kitchen and found Lanh chopping vegetables for tomorrow's dinner, her phone was propped up against a can of pears.

"She's here," said Lanh without turning around. "Did you bring your nighty?"

"Yes," said Karole with a guilty grin.

"Damn girl, your estimate was only ten minutes off," said the smiling voice of Kim-ly from Lanh's phone.

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Three days into the new year Lanh convinced Don to go to the sleep clinic to see Dr. Adrianna "Andi" Roberts because he was having problems sleeping. He would wake up gasping and sit up gulping for air, then quite often he would fall asleep sitting up, other times he would start snoring horribly. According to Don, Andi is the smallest doctor in the world, she's the same size as Lanh, which is probably why they enjoy each other's company. As they sat in Andi's office a pair of tiny identical twin girls would peek at them through the door of the adjoining office.

Dr. Roberts determined that he had sleep apnea and reluctantly Don got fitted for a mask and CPAP. He reluctantly hooked up the machine and tried on the mask that night. "I hate this," frowned Don as he lay back and tried to get comfortable.

"Try it, if it doesn't work, we'll send it back," said Lanh as she kissed his forehead then went back to the magazine article she was reading. When she finished the paragraph that she was reading she put her magazine down and looked over at her husband, and he was completely asleep.

Don sat in his favorite chair with a small blond girl in his lap, he was reading her the story that Arlo loves, The Caterpillar's Christmas. He was expecting Lanh to come home at any moment, in fact she was late. Just as the little girl came to the part where she was to read her words "Wiggle wiggle wiggle" his phone rang. Don was going to let the phone ring because as an educator he realized that very little in life is more important than reading to a small child. This is where they learn how to learn, so each moment with a book must be treasured.

However, the ring-tone shrieking from his phone was different, instead of a bright, cheery holiday ringtone that he normally uses, this one sounded harsh, crucial, something that cannot be ignored. He picked up the phone and it was Mai, Lanh's mother on the other end of the call. She was speaking quickly; her voice was drenched in horror. She was speaking so fast that he couldn't understand what she was saying, but he did pick out that she was saying that Lanh was gone? It didn't make sense. Lanh was dead? That wasn't possible!

Then a woman appeared standing next to him telling him that Lanh really was gone but it was ok, she was there for him. "No, I have to go to Lanh!" he shouted but the little girl on his lap was now an anchor, he couldn't move, he fought to get her off of him, but she got heavier. When he finally did get free, the little girl grabbed onto his wrist and wouldn't let go, she was crying "Daddy don't leave me!"

"You can't go, but I'm here for you," the woman said, and she wrapped her arms around him further preventing him from getting to Lanh. He looked desperately for an exit, and he saw them, Lanh's Angels, two nearly identical apparitions watching his struggle and grinning.

With a gasp Don kicked off the covers and sprang from bed. He had forgotten about the hose that connected his nose to a CPAP machine and he pulled the CPAP off the headboard. "Damn it Andi!" He growled as he fumbled for the off button before the machine woke up Lanh. He sat on the edge of his bed and slid to the floor, shaking and sweating. The images of the dream faded but the terror remained, and he fought his way to his feet and in the dim light of the bedroom he saw Lanh laying peacefully on her side of the bed. He got back in bed and snuggled close, happy to be near her and terrified of losing her.

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Not long after returning to work from her Christmas vacation Karole started showing signs of labor. She was at work and had just finished up with a patient when she felt weird cramps, she touched her belly and realized that her muscles were all tensed up. "Look at this!" she said to her supervisor, and she poked her stomach, her stomach was rock hard.

"You better get yourself over to the hospital and get yourself checked out," her supervisor warned.

"Ah got sumpin more important to do!" she said and pulled out her cell phone. She hit her top number on speeddial and when Lanh picked up she squealed, "Ah'm havin' my first contraction!"

"When?" gasped Lanh.

"Right now!" gasped Karole

"Got it, very first contraction on Thursday the fifteenth at one forty-five," said Lanh as she marked down the note for the baby book. "Are you meeting the 411?"

"This didn't last a minute, but ah'll keep track!" grinned Karole. This was getting exciting for her. The 411 rule is how expectant mothers determine when to head to the hospital. Contractions 4 minutes apart each contraction lasting 1 minute, when it's been happening for 1 hour that means it's time to head to the hospital.

Occasionally through the weekend the muscles in her belly would tighten up, and muscles deeper within, muscles she didn't know she had were flexing. She looked in the mirror and it looked like Krissy was trying to kick her way out, protrusions from baby limbs pressing from within were causing interesting bumps on her tummy. Timing her contractions and concentrating on relaxing Karole realized that she hit 411, contractions 4 minutes apart, each one lasting minute and this had been going on for an hour, it was time to go to the hospital. Lanh pulled up to Karole's house and she and Don hopped out of the car. Karole suddenly looked shy. When she got in the front seat of Lanh's SUV she leaned over and whispered, "Why is Don here?"

"He needs practice," said Lanh wondering why Karole got so shy all of a sudden, "he's Kim-ly's coach."

"Ok," but Karole sounded worried.

Shortly before they got to the hospital, Karole's contractions stopped. "Aww Krissy!" she cried, "Yer drivin' yer mama crazy!"

"It's ok," said the obstetrics nurse. "Let's take a look and see what she's doing in there." Karole lay back on the examination table and slipped her shirt up exposing her belly as the nurse brought the ultrasound emitter close. She squirted some jell on Karole's belly and pressed the emitter to her stomach and began to search around. "Here, take a look at this," said the nurse smiling. She turned the screen so Karole could see it. "See? She's dropped even further, she's getting ready to join us."

"If she drops even further she'll be in my lap," said Karole as she looked at the fuzzy images of her daughter.

The next week she had two more false alarms, contractions met the 411 rule and they dashed to the hospital only to have the contractions disappear and she was sent home and told to come back when it happened again.

On January twenty second, Don had just finished shoveling two inches of snow from Karole's sidewalk and had scattered salt on the sidewalk. He was panting heavily when he finished the job, it seemed like the simplest of tasks were starting to run him out of breath. He's seeing Dr. Andi, she's a pulmonologist but she... Don had turned around to see Karole coming out of the house in her oversized parka, one hand was on her tummy the other hand clutching her "Go Bag," and she was breathing heavily too, but her breathing came out, "Heee Heee hoo hoo," over and over. "It's time," she said without looking up, she was taking tiny careful steps.

"Oh shit," thought Don. "Stay right there!" he called. He dashed up to the porch and helped her down the steps one by one. "You stay here, I'll go get my car."

"Ain't no time for that, my water broke... Heee Heee hoo hoo." She handed him her key fob and with tiny, careful steps Don led her to her pickup truck and he placed a small step stool by the passenger door to help her into the truck. The temperature was about ten degrees which made Don feel like he was home, but it didn't impress Karole, her breath came out in white puffs that hung in the air and obscured her vision.

As she got settled in the passenger seat she turned to Don and asked him the last words he ever wanted to hear, "Are you driving?" He knew he was, but just saying the words made it all that more terrible. He nodded, too shook to invent some false bravado. He was fine driving a vehicle he was used to, his old truck at the farm, the old beater he has here to go to appointments when Lanh isn't available, and Lanh's SUV, but that was it. Now she wants him to drive a huge, new pickup truck? Not only was he unfamiliar with it, but the luxury in that beast was unfathomable to a farm boy and Don felt the terror building. To Don this truck is a Rolls-Royce Wraith, a Bently Continental GTC, Mercedes-Maybach... "Stop droolin' an' jest git in!"

"Yes ma'am!"

"Lanh not coming," Karole said, "did you text her too?"

Of course, he texted her, he looked at his phone and read Lanh's response one more time praying that maybe this time he looked it would say something different. "I can't get out of clinic. I know you can do it! I will be there as soon as I can, I love you."

Nope, it didn't change. Lanh is in clinic today, evaluating potential new patients who were almost always young children. Lanh can never say no to a child in need. Don climbed into the driver's seat of the overly luxurious monstrosity that is what Detroit now calls a pickup truck and took a deep shuddering breath. How the hell do you start one of these things? He mashed down on the brake pedal and hit the starter button and the dashboard scolded him for not wearing a seatbelt and it refused to start. He clicked the restraint in placed, pushed down on the brake and pressed the start button and the nearly silent engine fired up. So far so good. He looked over at Karole and saw those exhaust ports of that huge ugly F-15 staring back at him, they had been gone for so long but now they're back, taunting him, glaring at him, but nothing happened. They remained silent, but they were there, ready to roast him alive like they did his friend Mack... or blow him into a post and bend him 90 degrees backwards and snap his spine like they did to Cynthia, or crush and warp his skull like they did to Wendy, or crush the truck around him like an aluminum can... again... He squeezed his eyes closed and then opened them again and there was Karole looking at him.

"Are you ok to drive?" asked a worried Karole.

"Oh, yeah. I'm perfectly fine." Don's voice trembled, his skin was pale, he was soaked with sweat, and he was shaking with terror, but he put the truck in gear, and they started to move. For Karole the trip was uneventful, as they headed into town she notified the hospital they were coming in and had regular contractions, and her water broke. During the trip Don made one huge mistake. He reached over and held Karole's hand during a contraction, and she crushed his hand with such force that she scared the F-15 away. Fear that he would never regain usage of his hand caused him to pick up the pace and they were at Greeley Children's Hospital in record time.

As practiced in several false alarms, Don grabbed a wheelchair and took Karole straight up to obstetrics where her room was ready for her, and a nurse was there to help her undress. While Karole was getting situated in her bed the check-in orderly showed up with a computer on a wheeled standing workstation. She asked Don for all of Karole's information and as planned, he had every bit of information that the hospital would need, birthdate, insurance cards, etc. "Is there anything we can do for you?" asked the orderly.

Donning his best professional voice Don said, "Ahhh, yes. Could you page Doctor Campbell and have her come down here as soon as possible? She's in clinic today. Thank you."

"No problem," she said brightly and clicked a few keys. "The page is sent and... Doctor Campbell?"

"Yes?" answered Don.

"You wanted Doctor Lanh Campbell?"

"Oh sorry, I thought you were talking to me. It would make no sense to page me, I'm already here." He turned to Karole and said, "I am already here, aren't I?"

Karole recognized Don's absent-minded professor act and he's getting pretty good at it. He's been practicing in case some college messes up and attempts to hire him. She also knew he was doing it to get her to smile. "Yes Doctor, you're here."

"Yes, of course, thank you." He turned to the orderly and smiled, "We agree, it wouldn't help to page me so yes, please page Doctor Lanh Campbell."

It was clear that the orderly was desperately fighting the urge to run. "But she's a speech pathologist..."

"Yes, absolutely. Just in case baby's first words come early, we may need her help translating." Don gave her a look of wide-eyed innocence while Karole nodded from over on the bed.

The look on the orderly's face was priceless, she was sure someone in the room was crazy and was beginning to wonder if it was herself. Karole came to the girl's rescue by saying, "Don, leave her alone. Doctor Lanh is my coach; Doctor Don is her comedy relief." With a sigh of relief, the orderly rushed out of the room hoping the next check-in would be someone in mortal agony or chemically dependent, someone who wasn't as crazy.

It wasn't long before the real work of labor began, and once the real labor pains hit Karole began second guessing her decision to keep Krissy. "Ah ain't got no man to help me, ah'm all alone," she moaned as she tried to relax between contractions.

"If you want, we can pack you up and move you to Minnesota next week, you can be there when Kim-ly has her baby."

Karole panted, she was exhausted already, "Ah don't think ah should move just yet," then very softly she asked, "kin I git some water please?"

"Just this," said Don as he extended a spoonful of crushed ice to the sweat drenched beauty. "We don't want you taking a big old drink when a contraction hits."

"Ah might spit water on the baby?"

"It could go the other way and end up in your lungs. That would be bad."

"How are we doing here Karole?" said her OB/Gyn Dr. O'Connor said cheerfully. "Are we going to make a Krissymas Karole?"

"Ah knew ah shoulda picked a better name for her," groaned Karole. She immediately hated the term "Krissymas Karole."

"What... you don't like that?" said Gale as she pulled on gloves and sat down between Karole's legs. "Krissy could be here any time now, is Doctor Campbell here yet?"

"I'm right here," said Don.

"Doctor Campbell, your voice has changed since the last time we spoke."

"Oh, please don't let him start," groaned Karole as the next contraction started. She was tired of the absent-minded birthing coach routine and just wanted to go home.

Once the OB/Gyn Dr. Gale O'Connor said it could be any time, Don became the model coach, his comedic banter really did help Karole as they waited for either the baby or Lanh to show up. Don was becoming fond of saying, "We can either laugh or cry, laughing hurts less," but now his tone gentled and he now acted the concerned partner. He brought out a deck of cards and between contractions they played Rummy or War until the next contraction started.

When Karole's water broke earlier it was a signal to all that Krissy was on her way, one way or another and there was no backing out this time. Labor began to become intense before Lanh was able to free herself and dash to the delivery room. "Uncross your legs," insisted Doctor O'Connor as she checked Karole's cervical dilation.

"My legs aren't crossed!" Karole nearly screamed. Her feet were in stirrups, her legs couldn't be crossed without the help of several nurses.

"She means relax, she thinks you're too tense and that's holding Krissy back," said Don as he wiped the hair from Karole's sweaty brow. He leaned forward and kissed her cheek, "You're really doing wonderful," he whispered to the terrified woman.

"Thank you, daddy," said Dr. O'Connor as she rose and pulled her gloves off. They had explained to all the nurses that Don wasn't the daddy, he was just there until her coach arrived, but it sure didn't look that way. He was very attentive, constantly caressing and reassuring, anything she wanted or needed was hers without asking. Don was pouring all his love into this because he sadly realized he would never be able to do it for the woman he loved most.

"I have another little one to check on, I'll be back," said the doctor as she left. And shortly after she left Lanh dashed into the delivery room wearing scrubs, "Not yet?" she gasped as Don stood and relinquished his stool to Lanh. "How is she?" Lanh whispered.

"She's stalled at eight centimeters," whispered Don as he moved to a chair nearby.

"Lanh," gasped Karole, "tell me..." her mouth and throat were dry, she was in so much pain, "if anything happens that you and Don will take care of Krissy."

"Yes, we will," said Lanh as she mopped her dearest friend's brow then offered her a teaspoon of ice chips. This was the closest Lanh had ever come to a friend. Even Rosa and Syd, her dearest (and only) friends in school, were never as close to Lanh's heart as Karole has come. "And if anything happens, we'll take care of you too. We're family now, and that's what families do."

"Family," Karole smiled as she lay back against the bed. She rubbed her rock-hard tummy and whispered, "we got us a family baby." Such a powerful word, so comforting. Suddenly she completely tightened up, the contraction bent her over and it seemed to go on forever.

When Karole's body finally relaxed Lanh smiled at her, "That was a good one, take some big deep breaths. The nurse in the room checked Karole's cervical dilatation and said, "it looks like little Krissy wants to come see mommy." Don sat up in his chair and leaned forward, an excitement clutched his soul and his eyes met with Lanh's. This is it, the moment they've been waiting for since they were teenagers, a baby! Sadly, it's not their baby, but at least they can love this one too.

Doctor O'Connor was recalled, and she took her place between Karole's splayed legs and the back of the bed was raised until Karole was sitting almost straight up. The labor seemed to go on forever, contraction after contraction, push after push. After what seemed like a week Karole was completely spent, and still, another contraction was coming. "Time to push sis," Lanh said.

"Ah can't, ah'm so tired," groaned Karole.

"Ok, honey chil'," said Dr. O'Conner letting her native accent free finally, "Us Georgia girls gotta stick together, am ah rat? Let's get this lil' Bulldawg fan out here. Now push with everything you got chil'."

Of the moments Lanh will remember for the rest of her life was the look of wonder on Don's face as Krissy emerged from the birth canal, the joy and surprise when he saw a new born baby for the first time in his life, his look of sorrow and pity for the scared little thing when little Krissy began to cry, his look of concern as he cut her umbilical cord worried that he was hurting Krissy, and the look of adoration as he watched the doctor hand Krissy to Karole for the first time. As mother and daughter gazed into each other's eyes, Don and Lanh melted into each other's arms. They saw the love in each other's eyes but also the pain of separating from Krissy even though Don only touched her for a moment. They stepped back and watched Krissy and Karole communicate wordlessly while the nurses tried to tell Karole the volumes of information that she needed to know for caring for her new baby.

"I take it you two don't have any?" asked Doctor O'Conner. Before Lanh could say anything, the doctor said, "I could see it in your eyes. Have you tried to adopt a child?"

"Yes, but he was injured overseas, and we missed our appointment..." Lanh's voice trailed off, she couldn't' believe how much it still hurt.

"Have you looked into foster care?" They hadn't, they hadn't even considered it. "There's hundreds of kids that need a loving foster parent," said Dr. O'Conner. They could do that! Lanh looked around for Don, but he was gone.

It was cold outside in the parking lot, after the sun set behind the mountains the temperature started to slide downward past zero, but luckily there was no wind. Don sat on a bench near the main entrance and berated himself, he should be feeling joy for Karole, her daughter was born healthy and strong! But all he could think of was the love on Karole and Krissy's faces when their eyes met and how the beauty and the joy of that moment had been denied to Lanh. He was losing the fight to hold back the tears and he didn't notice Lanh sit down next to him. "You look like you lost your best friend mister."

"No, I've done nothing but hurt my best friend," said Don sadly.

Lanh leaned against him; she was sure he was feeling the same thing she was. "I've done a lot of that too," she said softly. "The doctor figured out we can't have kids," Lanh sighed.

"I guess it's pretty obvious," said Don. They sat and watched the moisture in the air freeze into tiny ice crystals that hung suspended in the air. The crystals twinkled and flashed slowly as they rotated under the exterior hospital lights. "Let's go home," Don said. "I'm out of happy."

"You take Karole's truck home and I'll catch up with you," said Lanh. "I'll go up and say goodnight."

Later they soaked in the hot tub, neither had an appetite to eat, maybe soaking naked in the tub would help, and it did somewhat. Finally, Lanh said, "Doctor O'Conner thinks we might be able to foster."

"Couldn't be hard to figure out," said Don, "we just ask Rosa what her folks did, and we just do the opposite."

Lanh splashed water in Don's face, "that's mean!"

"It's true though," said Don, then he thought about the idea. "We'll be great, when we go back to Minnesota we can start over." He made a mental note to himself to call his sister-in-law Ahnjong and ask her to get the ball rolling. She's a legal wizard, she's tops in Family Law and when it came to legal roadblocks, Annie was a steamroller. With Annie's help their legal nightmare should be complete by the time Lanh's contract expires and they move back to the farm. Maybe they'll be allowed to adopt again!

Lanh grinned; they could do it! She saw that spark in Don's eyes, she hasn't see that spark in years.

The next morning, they went to visit Karole, they found her exhausted, she was trying to get Krissy to feed but the little booger wasn't quite in the mood for it. When Don came up from the gift shop with flowers, he found that Lanh was holding Krissy, and Karole was on the bed and was drifting in and out of sleep, there was a spray of flowers from her coworkers at Mountain Sports Medicine sat on the side table and Don put their flowers there with them. Through the partially open door came the call, "Knock knock... can we come in?"

Karole and Lanh looked up and expecting another nurse, Karole said, "Come on in," and in walked Don's stepmother Sandy and Lanh's mother Mai, "Grandma's here!" called Sandy.

"Grandma?" asked Karole blearily, then she looked up and saw Sandy and Mai at the door, their arms full of flowers, balloons, dolls, and packages wrapped in "It's a Girl!" giftwrap.

"Oh you!" called an exhausted Karole, "You shouldn'a done it. Y'all come all th' way up here..." Karole could barely keep her eyes open, but she was overwhelmed at the show of love. "Y'all didn' have ta do it..."

"Yes we did," said Sandy. "It's what family does."

"Now you go right back to sleep, you probably need it more than anything else," said Mai. "Do you mind if we hold the baby?"

"Nah... ah reckon y'all r'member how..." and Karole drifted off to sleep, happy and feeling loved.

꙳꙳꙳꙳꙳꙳꙳꙳꙳꙳꙳꙳꙳꙳꙳꙳꙳꙳꙳꙳꙳꙳꙳꙳꙳꙳꙳꙳꙳꙳꙳꙳꙳

Don and Lanh set up a bedroom for Karol and Krissy and the two spent two weeks living with Don and Lanh until Karole felt guilty that she was living off the unearned largess of her neighbors, "Ah really need to get back to my own house, and get my own life started again. Ah love y'all but you probably want to start getting some sleep at night."

"We don't mind, really," said Lanh, "but if you need help..."

"No... you guys have done so much already! Ah need to get back into my own life, besides, y'all's doing daycare, that's more than enough!"

"Ok," said Lanh reluctantly. She gave Karole a hug and said, "If you need help and you don't call, we'll be angry."

"Ah know, ah know, and Don?"

"Yes?" asked Don as he started heading back to the living room.

"Can I have my baby back?"

"I suppose..."

Time passed and life changed and soon it was time to go help with Kim-ly. It will be wonderful to be able to spend a month in Minnesota with family and preparing for the baby's arrival but before he left Colorado there was something Lanh had to say that she couldn't hold back.

The day before she was planning to drive him out to Denver airport her language skills started to break down until speaking English around Don was nearly impossible. He finally sat down and pulled her into his lap. Physically it was a bad day, he was having problems breathing, it had to be that purple K he inhaled when he was trapped in Saudi Arabia, along with other physical damage that was causing it. He was seeing Doctor Andi Roberts in Denver about it, and she was touted to him as a genius. Additionally, his back and legs were killing him. How is he going to work on the farm with this much pain?

"What is going on?" he finally asked Lanh.

"No yell," she said.

"I won't yell at you," said Don.

"Xin đừng đánh tôi."

"What?" Don was shocked. "I will not hit you. I would never hit you!" Now he was concerned, she clearly had something to say that upset her. He's never hit her, not even accidentally, except for the occasional erotic spanking. "What's wrong?"

"I lie," she said sadly.

"Whatever it was it can't be that bad," said Don "we all lie, people do it and we learn to deal with it."

"Lie of omission is still lie," she said softly.

Don was concerned, when she was under emotional stress her language skills fall apart, and no matter how cute she sounded, Don has learned that when she's sad it's never a good sign. "You can tell me, I won't hate you."

Lanh began weeping softly, "It ok to hate me, please don't hate baby Danh."

"I don't hate you and Little Danh is a baby, he's not even born yet, how could I hate him?" What was bothering Lanh? This was starting to confuse Don. It was time to end this. He put a finger on Lanh's chin and turned her face to face him. "Please darling, tell me. Just come out with it, I won't yell, I won't hate you."

"Danh... father... you."

It took Don a moment to understand what she was saying, then it hit, Danh's father is you... "Lanh baby, there's no way, I never touched Kim-ly, I'd never do that to you, I love you and you only, I never..."

Lanh stopped him with a finger to the lips. "No, that's not how..."

"Then how? Was it at the sex shop?" Don was suspicious of that whole Glory Hole idea.

"No," said Lanh, she was terrified. "It was artificial, I gave her the condoms from the theater and the changing room at Target."

Condoms from the theater? What was she saying... Then Don remembered, Lanh's new found thrill of having sex in public places, a couple of times she caught his sperm in a condom last summer. Don froze, he didn't know what to think of that, the realization that Kim-ly was carrying his son hit like a well swung baseball bat. "I... just..." he was completely lost for words. "Why?" he finally asked.

"Kim-ly... wants baby, not husband... It something we thought about long time..." the tears were really starting to flow Lanh got up and grabbed a tissue and turned her back on Don. "Just got courage now."

Don didn't say anything for a long time. Lanh finally broke the silence by saying, "You hate baby now."

"No, I don't, I love him more now, but don't you see? Five minutes ago, he was my nephew, and I could come back here and if Kim-ly finds a nice man they can go live wherever they want, and I'd be happy for them. But now he's my son, and how can I come back here and not worry about him? How can I not miss him every day?" Images of the horrors of custody battles rifled through his head, lawyers getting rich off of their agony...

"Like I missed you every day when you were in Spain, and Turkey, and Guam, and Korea!" cried Lanh. "I so scared! Every time, every minute... Germany and Korea were worst! What would happen if you were killed on a deployment... I'm abandoned overseas... so worried every moment... if we had baby, I could have some of you to hold... not matter if Kim-ly was mother... THEN YOU GO TO SAUDI AND IT HAPPEN!"

Lanh broke down into gales of weeping, the horror and sorrow of what she endured while he lay bent and broken in the hospital finally came to the surface. So much terror she felt when he was near death, but she stayed strong for him, she kept her horror hidden... Don rose to try to comfort her, but she would have nothing to do with him, she twisted away every time he tried to put his arms around her. "You don't know how scared!" she cried out and fought even harder. Don finally got his arms around her from behind and held her tiny wrists as she tried to fight him off. Weeping and mourning in Vietnamese she shook in sorrow as she struggled to get free.

Eventually she did get free, and when she did, she whirled around and slapped Don as hard as she could. All the fear, all the anger, all the sadness that she hid from him for years was wound up in that one tiny slap, and then her legs gave out and she sagged to the floor. "I deserve that," he said softly, then Don scooped her up. In the past she was light as a feather to him, but now lifting her up is a huge struggle. Not because she gained weight, but because Don has lost so much strength and the pain from his injuries flares up with exertion. He carried her to the couch where they sat in the dark and wished they were home, but neither one dared to say it. Don broke the silence when he said, "Remember last week when I woke up in the night and I said it was a leg cramp?"

"You were scared," said Lanh softly. "I know when you are scared and when you hurt."

"I supposed you do by now," he said sadly. Memories of the incident that took so much from them still haunt Don's dreams. "Lately it's been different. I dreamed that your angels came to me. I was babysitting Krissy when Karole came to pick her up and the angels came to comfort us. I said why are you doing that? Then your mom called and said that you had been run over. I was so lost, so alone, and when I tried to go join you, Karole stopped me. I ran away, I went up to Guanella Pass to jump off a cliff and your angels said, "You promised to watch over Krissy," and they wouldn't let me jump. I tried over and over, and your angels held me back."

Lanh softly nodded her head; she knew the feeling. She wanted to end the taunting and humiliation she was being subjected to in high school, and it was another outcast's caring for her that prevented her from ending it.

"Now there's two babies to hold me back if you go," said Don. The thought of sitting alone, staring at an empty chair, knowing that he couldn't do anything about it because of two babies that aren't in his life horrified him. It reminded him of the empty feeling he carried for years after his mother died.

"Let's go home," she finally whispered.

"But you love your job," Don replied.

"Love you more," Lanh whispered.

"No, I love YOU more."

"No, I love YOU more," Lanh insisted. They went back and forth with their silly argument until Don pulled a quilt over them and they went to sleep in each other's arms.

The next morning Lanh was in the kitchen making coffee when Karole came over with the baby to see Lanh and say good luck to Don before he left. This would be the first time he had ever flown on oxygen, and he was getting apprehensive about the process. As she came in, she saw Don sleeping on the couch and just had to say to Lanh, "Ah heard you two shoutin' las' night, you ok?"

"We worked it out," said Lanh as she poured Karole a cup.

"Can ah ask what it was all about?" asked Karole fulling expecting to hear Lanh give her a non-committal one-word answer.

Lanh sighed; Karole is going to find out eventually, chances are good that Kim-ly already told her. "I told Don that Kim-ly is carrying his baby."

"WHAT?" The statuesque blond wanted to shout but Krissy was asleep. "How could he NOT know? That kind of thing is a bit obvious."

"We didn't tell him," said Lanh as she took Krissy from Karole's arms. "We should have but we were afraid he would say no."

"Daaaamn! So, you knew before he did?" Karole was convinced that Lanh was pulling her leg. The girl had a great sense of humor, but this is way too soon for an April Fool's joke.

"It was my idea."

"Wait, y'all are just too weird, what are you talking about? How is it your idea?"

Lanh told Karole how she and Kim-ly came up with the idea and how Kim-ly became pregnant using Don's sperm that she gave to her doctor. That explained why Kim-ly was so cagy about the father's name. "Kim-ly told me yesterday she was too scared to tell him, so I told him."

"And that started the argument," said Karole. "Did he hit you?"

"No, I hit him."

"And he ended up sleeping on the couch," Karole shook her head.

"No, I did. He stayed to keep me company."

Karole started chuckling into her coffee cup. "That's why Krissy loves to come over here so much," she said as she pointed at her month-old daughter in Lanh's arms, "Y'all are jest so entertaining."

꙳꙳꙳꙳꙳꙳꙳꙳꙳꙳꙳꙳꙳꙳꙳꙳꙳꙳꙳꙳꙳꙳꙳꙳꙳꙳꙳꙳꙳꙳꙳꙳꙳

Don wasn't sure how to fly with oxygen, but he's heard horror stories from other patients of Dr. Roberts of how difficult it was to arrange, getting the doctors signature on the correct form, insuring you have enough battery life for your oxygen machine, and worst of all is the TSA. Dr. Andi Roberts prescribed oxygen to Don at night and when he's over 7,500 feet in altitude. Airplanes are pressurized to 8,500 feet so Don and Lanh found a portable oxygen concentrator with several batteries for trips via air and up into the mountains.

Don walked into the check-in area of Denver International Airport feeling awful, this will be the first time he's been separated from Lanh since he was shipped off to Saudi Arabia. She practically had to chase him into the terminal, he kept insisting on one more kiss until she had to call "Enough! Go! Go meet your baby."

That wasn't fair. He paused after entering the terminal and pulled out his phone and sent a text to Lanh, "I miss you" with a heart emoji, then he headed over to the check-in kiosk for his airline. He typed in his confirmation number and the screen lit up with the message "Go to counter" He looked over at the counter and the line for the common rabble was a mile long, but there was one person being served at the priority counter.

Shaking his head Don moved toward the long slow line when the woman at the priority counter waved him over. "Mr. Campbell?" she asked cheerily as he stepped up to the counter.

"Yes, how did you know?"

"Your oxygen machine, we want to make sure you have a comfortable flight. How many hours of battery do you have?" asked the pretty young woman at the priority counter. She clearly had been keeping an eye out for him. Part of the process of flying with oxygen is to notify the airline in advance that you will be bringing an airline rated oxygen concentrator on board. She hadn't asked how many batteries he had, she asked how long he could run his oxygen concentrator on batteries. The airline requirement is 50% more battery time than the flight's scheduled length.

"I have nine hours," he replied as the person at the counter tagged his baggage. He has 3 batteries and gets three hours per battery.

"Perfect," she smiled as she weighed and inspected his oxygen concentrator. "It's a 2-hour flight so we require 3 hours of battery life." Then with a little more chit-chat Don had his boarding pass, and he was on his way. His only hurdle was the TSA. Don didn't have any dots or check marks or other cryptic marks on his boarding pass that the savvy traveler knows will allow him into the TSA express line, so when he got to the TSA check point he knew this was not going to be fun. He was wearing the canula over his ears and in his nose as he stepped up to the TSA agent.

"Go ahead and take the machine off and step into the scanner."

"No." Don loved to say "No" to people in positions of authority who fail to say "Please."

The Single Stripe TSA agent looked at him with all of the disdain that a world weary twenty-one-year-old could manage. "You can take that off for a minute, now please sir, step into the scanner."

Don gazed at the agent; this was going to be fun. "Is that a medical opinion or are you questioning my doctor's ability to properly treat my condition?"

"Look, just take the machine off and step in the scanner."

Don was in a pissy mood and just felt the need to push back. "No, that's not how this is going to play out deputy. Either do your job and pat me down or call your supervisor over here and we'll explain to him how you're incapable of doing your job."

"It's going to take a while for him to get over here..."

"I can wait," smiled Don, "My flight doesn't leave for hours."

"Sir, you'll have to step to the side to let people come through."

Don glared at this guy, his name tag said "Brooks" but to Don he was a punk who thought he had authority when in reality he had none. He was a punk with a job to do and he thought that gave him power over the people paying his salary. "Say please," said Don.

"You're holding up the line!" snarled Agent Brooks.

"I am the one doing my job, I'm waiting for you to pat me down properly, you're the one holding up the line."

"Hell yeah!" agreed a fellow traveler in line behind Don.

Seeing that the line was being held up, the TSA supervisor arrived quickly and asked, "What appears to be happening here?"

Before Brooks could answer, Don chimed in, "Agent Brooks was letting me know that he wouldn't lower himself to do a manual search on a disabled veteran on oxygen and would rather I risk my life and take the oxygen off to make his life easier..." Don was having memories of a certain Airman First Class on a C-17 refusing to get a seat set up for Lanh.

"I did no such thing!" interrupted Agent Brooks.

"That is the impression I got from you. You were eager to make a disabled passenger feel that his health was secondary and that to get to my gate on time I may need to endanger my life," snarled Don.

Before Brooks could say anything, the supervisor gestured to a large stack of plastic tubs. "Take care of those," and Brooks sulkily went to distribute the tubs. Apologizing profusely to Don, the TSA supervisor did a pat down of Don, and soon Don was on his way down to the basement and on to the rubber tire train that took him to the appropriate terminal.

Don arrived at the gate just as they were starting to ask the passengers to line up to board the 737. "Mister Campbell!" smiled the gate attendant as Don approached pulling his oxygen concentrator along behind him. "Please follow me," and she led him down the jetway on to the jet. On the plane he moved as far back as he could get and sat on the aisle seat while he set up his oxygen system, then he buckled in for the flight to Minneapolis. By the time the flight attendants were handing out refreshments, Don was sound asleep.

He was awakened by a flight attendant a while later, "Your machine is beeping," she said. Don checked the oxygen concentrator, the battery had depleted, so he dropped in another battery and looked around to thank the flight attendant that woke him and told him about the battery, but he didn't see her. Flagging down a flight attendant he asked, "Where is the attendant that told me about my battery?"

The black flight attendant shrugged and asked, "What did he look like?"

"He? No, she was blond with her hair dyed purple at the ends," said Don.

"I'm the only female on the flight crew today," smiled the attendant and she tugged her ebony locks "No purple here. Maybe it was a passenger walking past."

"Maybe," said Don, but he wasn't convinced.

He didn't get much sleep last night, so when he leaned back and inhaled the renewed oxygen, he was asleep in moments. Don didn't wake up until the wheels hit the runway at Minneapolis and as planned, he was the last one off the plane.

Minneapolis St. Paul - Lindburg Airport is HUGE, one of the biggest airports that Don has ever seen, it's a mall, it's a transportation hub, it's a food court gone insane. When he was on active duty, he and Lanh loved to stop by the USO and relax, but that's just for active duty so today he walked past and looked in on the young kids watching TV. He glanced at his watch and realized that Lanh was still in class, she'd love to know that they opened a Charley's Cheese Steak in the food court. She could probably eat a quarter of one, but she'd keep it and gnaw on it all the way to Japan. Just thinking of their travels together made him lonely for his little bride of over a decade. He sent her a quick text letting her know he landed safely and quickly listed the body parts he was planning to kiss when she came out to see the baby and headed for the baggage carousel.

It was a great drive back to Grant Valley with his brother-in-law Huy who brought Don's youngest niece Ahn, it was the first time Don had seen Little Annie (Ahn) away from her twin brother Him-chan for more than a moment and she looked utterly heart broken. "They're fighting," said Huy. The five-year-old was almost in tears, but when she saw her Uncle Don she cheered right up and began chattering happily about life in first grade. Being able to read and write, and count past 100 among other skills, she and her twin brother were bored and disruptive in kindergarten and were placed in first grade. Don handed her a small doll to play with and sat up front with his brother-in-law and best friend and they caught up on what each other had been doing for the past three months.

"When we get back we're thinking about fostering," said Don.

"That will be great for you guys!" gushed Huy. "I'm surprised you guys didn't think about it sooner."

"We never had a plan that would allow us to foster, we've been moving around so much," said Don. "I wonder if we can try to adopt again."

"You'll have to talk to Ahnjong about that, she's the family law wiz," grinned Huy. "Now if you wanted to sue a baby out of General Motors, I'm the guy for you. Did my sister ever tell you who the dad of her baby was?"

Don didn't want to lie to his brother-in-law, especially being a lawyer, so he had to tread carefully. "Kim-ly never told me who the dad was. I always suspected it was some dude she met in a bar."

"That's what I was thinking too," said Huy.

"I told her that I would fill in if she needed a father figure in the little lad's life." He also told Karole the same thing, and little did he know but she took him seriously and put his name on the baby's birth certificate.

It was early evening when they reached the farm, evening milking was finished, and Sandy was setting dinner out for the evening meal. "Hi mom," said Don as he hugged Sandy then shook hands with his dad. To Don it just didn't feel like home, it felt like the big old farmhouse was even more empty than it has been in years and that feeling was really wearing on him. The feeling had an air of permanence to it, that he would be bathed in this feeling of emptiness for the rest of his life, alone, abandoned.

He looked around the kitchen, it was re-arranged by Sandy, it's her kitchen so it's her right to change it to her style, but it was alien to him. He felt something closing in on him and as his dad Ralph was asking about life in Colorado, Don interrupted him with a "'scuse me," and left dinner untouched. He stepped outside and it was a typical March evening on the farm, the air was frigid. Winter has yet to release its grip on Minnesota and Don had forgotten how long the cold remains in the northlands. Poor Marissa is gone now, the sweet little goat that helped Lanh survive her lonely months while Don was deployed had passed on to that goat pen in the great beyond. Marissa liked to climb, and Lanh had photo albums filled with pictures of Marissa standing on top of items that she was able to climb. Hopefully goat heaven had a lot of cars for her to stand on.

Don wandered around lost, like he had forgotten how to navigate the farm. He had this horrible feeling that he had never been here before, nothing he saw was familiar, everything was alien. Every piece of equipment in the tractor shed, the old GMC truck, the Ford tractor, the John Deere tractor, all three items he spent huge amounts of his life operating or repairing, but now all were different, foreign. His sister-in-law, Tam, would call this feeling jamais vu, seeing something that is familiar, but it seems novel and different.

Don went back inside and wandered through the house looking for something that would help him beat this strange feeling. He felt a bit better in the parlor, his mother used to sit in here and sew while he practiced his piano lessons on the old spinet, but as soon as she died, so did his interest in the piano. His piano teacher understood and didn't mind if he quit piano lessons, they were more for his mom anyhow. He saw that picture on the wall, the head table at their wedding. There was everyone paired off with people who would become their life partner, Rosa with Bao, Tam with Jake, Syd with Craig, Dad and Sandy, and in the middle was Don and Lanh with Kim-ly hugging them and over Kim-ly's shoulder is that odd blob that's starting to look more like a face. Poor Kim-ly, she doesn't seem to be interested in a long-term relationship, the longest one was with a fellow named Tim, was he a beard for her? Was she a beard for him?

With a sigh Don sat at the piano bench and opened the spinet to expose the keyboard, 88 former friends glared up at him waiting to humiliate him. He fumbled around until he found two keys that sounded good together and pressing the soft pedal, he began to play chopsticks.

He played through the old song several times until his piano teacher sat down next to him and gently began to play the left-hand part of the chopsticks duet. They played faster and faster while his teacher played a more complex version of the left-hand part with every repetition until she sounded like she was playing a Beethoven concerto. Don started laughing and stumbling as their fingers occasionally tangled but he continued playing the right-hand part until the song broke down in laughter. "Oh my, you still remember," laughed Sandy as she hugged Don.

"It's not easy to forget," said Don. "It's not all that complex of a song."

"Are you ok?" Sandy asked.

"I don't know," said Don. "Everything is unfamiliar, I feel like I've never been here before for some reason."

"When was the last time you were here without Lanh?" Sandy asked softly. "Maybe that's why it feels uncomfortable."

Could that be it? Could that be why Don was so melancholy? Was it that this isn't home without Lanh? Don thought back and realized with shock that Lanh has been a fixture here for over 17 years, since that first Christmas when she, Kim-ly and Bao came out to decorate for Christmas and got snowed in. To be honest, Kim-ly actually was a permanent fixture here. Kim-ly was here nearly every evening that Lanh stayed to make sure the teens didn't let their hormones overcome them and commute late at night between their bedrooms. She remained in the apartment Don made for Lanh and helps out on the farm and as an accountant she does the farm's financials for his dad.

That probably was it, when his mom died it took years for Don and Ralph to feel comfortable with the farm again. It was only when Lanh became the "Lady of the House" that Don felt happy with the farm, and he was sure that his dad Ralph felt the same way when he and Sandy married not long after Don and Lanh married.

"Where is Kim-ly now?" Don asked.

"She's down in her dungeon, it's tax season and she only comes up to eat and help with milking, but your dad chases her off. He doesn't like pregnant women working out there, he's afraid she'll get hurt."

"Has she mentioned the father of her baby?" Don asked.

"She told us that he's a nice guy but he's not a part of her life anymore," said Sandy. "We don't press her for details."

"I had better go down there and say hi," said Don as he got up from the piano bench. As he stood, he leaned over and gave Sandy a little kiss on her cheek, "thanks teach, mom would have loved that."

"We'll work on it when you move home," she smiled, causing Don to chuckle. She's obviously been talking to Lanh because he hasn't mentioned moving home to anyone yet.

Down in the basement Don found that Kim-ly built an efficient office for herself. There was a TV down here with a Roku for feed, right now it was playing a weather channel with the sound turned off. There was a Keurig machine nearby on top of a tiny fridge next to a trio of filing cabinets, there was also a laser printer/scanner/copier/fax at the ready. Kim-ly was at an ancient wooden desk in a conversation with her business partner and twin brother Bao and a client on the speaker phone, and her appearance startled Don. She was wearing her hair down, permed like Lanh tends to wear her hair, and she was wearing glasses that looked like the style Lanh wears.

Don was shocked at the resemblance between Kim-ly and her younger sister Lanh. Now that Kim-ly is not wearing makeup Don could see the facial features were almost identical with Lanh, especially their eyes have the same fire between them. When Don and Lanh first met, the only look in Lanh's eyes was fear, but when they got to know each other, he saw a change in her eyes, she was comfortable around him and eventually that look grew to include love. For her part Kim-ly had a smirk in her eyes whenever Don was around, but over the years she grew comfortable when Don was around and now did he see love in her eyes? She glanced up from a spreadsheet on her laptop and her eyes, once so haughty, now softened. She motioned him over and he came around behind the desk where she tugged on his shirt indicating wordlessly that she wanted him to bend down, the same tug that Lanh gives him when she wants him to bend over for a kiss. Don obliged Kim-ly and the surprised look she received as she kissed him without interrupting her conference call was precious.

"Ok, Bao, your brother-in-law is here, he's giving me that same look I get from his dad," she said to the conference call, "I think I'm in trouble."

"Did you eat?" Don asked quietly.

"Yeah, I'm in trouble," Kim-ly told her brother, "Let's pick this up tomorrow." After Kim-ly finished her call, Don stepped forward and pushed her laptop closed and glared down at her. She looked up at him and if she read his expression right, she was in trouble. "Lanh told you, didn't she."

"Obviously... and it looks like she didn't warn you," said Don firmly but still trying to hide the laugh. This was Lanh being assertive, leaving her big sister twisting in the wind. "Let's talk about it upstairs, come on." He took the laptop and headed upstairs and without turning said "follow me or the laptop gets it."

Kim-ly grabbed her notebook and cell phone and followed Don up the stairs and into the kitchen where Sandy was waiting for them. "Do you know what she had for lunch mom?" asked Don.

"She didn't eat lunch and I'm pretty sure she didn't have breakfast either. She went right to work after morning milking," said Sandy as she served both Don and Kim-ly porkchops and mashed potatoes she kept warm in the oven.

"No more milking," Don said in a voice that more befit a father talking to a calcitrant daughter.

"Good, I can spend more time at my job," said Kim-ly reaching for the laptop.

"Four hours a day, maximum," said Don. "I already texted Bao and he agrees. Tam will be over tomorrow morning to bring us the books we need."

"What books?" demanded Kim-ly.

"Natural childbirth, child rearing, children's health," said Don as he gave Kim-ly a spoonful of apple sauce to eat. He wanted to have a real conversation with her about the child, but Sandy and Ralph were hovering, happy to see Don was feeling better and Kim-ly was up from the basement.

"I got a magazine," pouted Kim-ly.

"When is your due date?" asked Don.

"The fifteenth."

"That's next Friday!"

Kim-ly nodded and said around a mouthful of mashed potatoes, "See? We have time."

꙳꙳꙳꙳꙳꙳꙳꙳꙳꙳꙳꙳꙳꙳꙳꙳꙳꙳꙳꙳꙳꙳꙳꙳꙳꙳꙳꙳꙳꙳꙳꙳꙳

Don had that dream again, those faceless, nameless women took Lanh away never to be seen again, the one with the purple tipped hair said, "Don't worry about it, Reggie will be ok," and Don was left shouting "Who's Reggie?" And the next thing he knew he was getting married again. He couldn't see who the bride was, but he knew she wasn't Lanh. He was shouting for Lanh when a screaming noise out shouted him and he woke to find that it was his cell phone. It was Kim-ly calling from downstairs, "My water broke, let's go for a ride."

Something in Don's heart was screaming, "This is all wrong!" He never got a chance to talk seriously with Kim-ly, they never got a chance to get their breathing practice done, they never read those books, instead of almost two weeks they had four days to get ready, and now she was in labor. This isn't right. He wanted to sit down and talk with Kim-ly and maybe find out some more about the mindset between her and Lanh that came down to this, he wanted to talk to Lanh but now it's too late, it's all too late.

As usual her cheerful effervescence kept Kim-ly afloat, a smile on her lips and an off-color joke always at the ready. She's been through this three times with Tam so she's an old hand and she guided Don through the prenatal procedures. Kim-ly called her mom who would notify the family, and the hospital that they were coming in, and she was chatting with Rosa as Don went outside and packed Kim-ly's "go bag" and started her car. It was -20 degrees, and her car was slow to start, but it finally fired up. Scraping her windows with a brass edge window scraper was a battle to say the least. Normally a brass edge scraper peals the frost off like the skin off an apple, but at -20 degrees frost is a different animal that doesn't release its grip on anything until heat is applied.

Kim-ly came out and handed Don a cup of coffee and said, "Let's go, the defroster will warm up as we drive. There was logic in her words so he helped her in the car then sat down in the driver's seat and just as he reached for the shift lever, she said, "Did you unplug the block heater?"

"You had to wait until I sat down?" he asked. It was frustrating, he knew about the plug, he just didn't think about it. He got out and unplugged the electric block heater and coiled up the extension cord. The block heater warms the anti-freeze inside the engine block which makes it possible to start the car in the arctic cold of Northern Minnesota. Even his antique John Deere tractor has a block heater.

As they drove through the pre-dawn darkness the defroster slowly kicked in and the porthole that Don scraped through the frost started to grow in size, he was soon able to drive without having to scrape the window continuously. As he drove and shivered, Kim-ly made call after call letting whoever came to mind know that she was heading to the hospital. She finally put her phone on speaker and said "Here, say hi to daddy, he's looking overwhelmed."

"Hi honey, are you ok?" said Lanh.

"Oh, I had that dream again, it's really unnerving." He talked to her about that dream in the past and it's starting to concern her. "Maybe... I don't know... I just don't feel ready for this, this whole trip has seemed off."

"I'm sorry, it's my fault. It's because I deceived you..."

"No, stop. I understand why you did what you did, and I love you for it," said Don. He felt a little better for saying it, maybe understanding the horror she felt when she thought she lost him was causing these dreams. Maybe his subconscious is taking Lanh in away in these dreams so it can say, "See? This is what Lanh felt like." He also had a horrible feeling that he was wrong. He wheeled into the hospital parking lot and Kim-ly pointed out where to park. "Ok, we're at the hospital, I'll give you a call when I get a chance. I love you."

"You're going to be fine," said Lanh, "now take care of my sister, I love you."

He felt better after their little talk, and as he parked in the Expectant Mommy parking spot, Kim-ly said "The reason why she asked me to do this, is the exact same reason why I agreed to do it." She grabbed his arm preventing him from opening the door, "We were terrified of losing you. Your son will give us a part of you to hold should you succeed in getting yourself killed." Kim-ly leaned over and kissed Don's cheek and whispered, "I love you." She was out of the car and walking toward the entrance before Don could react.

"So it's finally your turn, eh Kim-ly?" grinned Dr. Carol Schaeffer as she sat down between Kim-ly's legs. She remembers Kim-ly's antics when her sister Tam was in the exact same bed three times and hopefully, she'll be more subdued now that it's her turn.

"I hope you brought your catchers mit doc," grinned an exhausted Kim-ly, "He'll be hitting the ground running, right daddy?" She said that to get a rise out of Don, but he turned to her with a smile.

"Let's make a baby." If Kim-ly had a response it was lost behind clenched teeth her contraction. As his concern for Kim-ly and the baby grew, Don's trepidation about an unidentifiable problem faded into the background. Her labor was intense, her hospital gown was wide open and the only item remaining that she wore was warm fuzzy socks and a sensor belt around her midsection. "We're getting close!" Don said excitedly.

"What do you mean we?" Kim-ly growled around a spoonful of ice chips.

"You are the only woman to ever get pregnant from a handjob," said a familiar voice.

Kim-ly looked up and groaned "Oh no."

"That's right!" said her sister Tam in a sing-song voice. Tam leaned over Don's shoulder and gave Kim-ly a kiss. "It's payback time!"

"Isn't there a lock on the door here?" grumbled Kim-ly.

"There is, but Doctor Johnson was invited," said Dr. Schaeffer. "Ok darling, one more good push and this little fella is free. Ready?"

"Who invited her?" grunted Kim-ly as the next contraction built in intensity.

"I did," said Don.

"You never asked me," Kim-ly gasped.

"That seems to be going around," said Don which earned him an angry glare from Kim-ly.

"Enough chit-chat," said Tam, "let's get this baby out, the waiting room is full.

"I can't do it," gasped Kim-ly, "I'm too tired."

Don got as close to Kim-ly as he could without climbing in bed with her and whispered softly in her ear, "Let's get Danh born, after we rest up then we'll go have a nice dinner at the Wilderness on Lake Bemidji, just you and me."

Kim-ly's eyes opened wide, the Wilderness? "Spring Fling?" she gasped.

"Yes, Spring Fling," chuckled Don. Spring Fling is a beautiful, romantic evening and a show in the ballroom of the new Wilderness Inn on Lake Bemidji. It's becoming popular in the frigid north to build large entertainment complexes in the larger towns, these complexes become an oasis of warmth for the frozen people of the north, many of whom are suffering from severe cabin fever. Pools, spas, water parks, stores, "open air" restaurants and events. Spring Fling is as big if not bigger than their New Year's party; there is formal dining, live band, one act plays... no children allowed, it's a night for the grown-ups.

"Deal!" gasped Kim-ly, and as the next big contraction hit Don and Tam began to urge Kim-ly, "Pushpushpushpushpush!" and with a shriek from Kim-ly little Danh Lanh was born. To Don this was very different from when Krissy was born, Krissy was just a baby, this is Don's son and for him there was a huge emotional difference.

With a pinch little Danh began to cry, his high-pitched cries reminded Don of Lanh's tiny pet goat Marissa. Don cut the umbilical cord and like with Krissy he was surprised at the strength of that cord. He gently inspected Danh insuring everything was attached, fingers, toes, little boy bits, then he handed the tiny, squalling portion of his soul to Kim-ly. Unseen in the corner two tall blond apparitions watched and shed a tear of joy for the new parents.

Although Danh was his son, Kim-ly was not his wife, he felt he shouldn't be part of this moment as baby and mother bonded, but Tam pushed him closer and Kim-ly clasped his hand in hers. "When you move back," whispered Kim-ly, "you will be there for him, won't you?"

"Of course I will Kitty-Cat" Don used the nick-name that her dad used for her years ago.

"That's really all I want," smiled Kim-ly as exhaustion overwhelmed her.

"Dad, why don't you help the nurses with baby while we clean up mommy for her visitors," said Doctor Schaeffer, and Don and Danh were swept off to another room where a crying Danh was weighed, measured and inspected from end to end. Don had been through all of this with Krissy, but with Danh it felt more personal, every whimper out of the little guy was a stab in Don's heart and he fought to keep from crying along with him.

꙳꙳꙳꙳꙳꙳꙳꙳꙳꙳꙳꙳꙳꙳꙳꙳꙳꙳꙳꙳꙳꙳꙳꙳꙳꙳꙳꙳꙳꙳꙳꙳꙳

It was almost a week before Kim-ly felt ready to go out to dinner, Don was waiting in the kitchen for Kim-ly to "put her face on." As he waited for Kim-ly, their babysitter Chau Nguyen, Don and Kim-ly's oldest niece, was getting acquainted with her little cousin. Chau is the eldest daughter of Kim-ly's twin brother Bao and his wife, Don's old swimming teammate Rosa Mendez. Every time Don looks at Chau he's reminded how long he's been married to Lanh, Chau's parents fell for each other at Don and Lanh's wedding and married three months later, and Chau was born eight months after that.

Don was having problems believing that Chau was graduating high school next year, it seems like only yesterday she was as small as the baby in his arms. And now that Chau and her little sister Sophia who have both been babysitting for several years are teaching Don how to care for his own son. "How come you and Aunt Lanh don't have any babies?" asked Sophia, who didn't mind asking embarrassing questions.

"Aunt Lanh got sick several years ago and now she can't have babies," answered Don who was holding Danh. Danh made it clear that he was done nursing by turning his head away from the bottle that Don was holding. Because "Danh" sounds almost exactly like "Don," everyone was calling him "Little Danh" or Junior without realizing how close to the truth they were.

Don held up the tiny bottle to see how much Danh drank then wrote it down on his feeding schedule. "Now you have to burp him," said Chau.

As Don carefully lifted Danh to his shoulder the little blue tooth speaker came to life and Lanh said, "Uncle Don knows his way around a baby. He's been babysitting back here for two months."

"What are you doing Aunt Lanh?" called Sophia.

"I'm feeding a baby too."

"Uncle Don said you can't have babies!" Sophia wrinkled her nose in confusion.

"I'm borrowing one. This is Karole's baby, remember the lady came there for Christmas with us?"

"Auntie Karole!" cried Arlo who was visiting with his mother Tam.

"Yes, she lives right next door, I'm watching her little girl Krissy while she takes a nap."

"When are you coming back?" whined Liam, Arlo's older brother.

As Don shushed the boys, Lanh said, "It looks like it may be sooner than we expected. Don honey, can we talk when there's not as many ears in the room?"

Don turned to the collection of nieces and nephews who appeared to be hanging on every word. "I'll call you back in a few minutes," he chose wisely. Just then Tam led Kim-ly out of her apartment into the dining room. "Well?" asked Tam.

Kim-ly was dressed in a sapphire blue full-length dress with a plunging neckline, a string of pearls and her raven locks cascading over her shoulders. She looked nervous, like she was expecting disapproval, however Don rose and held her son to see what mommy looked like dressed up. Of course, the little guy was asleep, but Don didn't let that deter him, "Well buddy, what do you think?" Don bent and held his ear near Danh's sleeping mouth. "I agree, she cleans up really good. Let's go say nite, nite." Don carried Danh to Kim-ly who scooped him up. The tiny lad stretched his arms, smacked his lips, and went back to sleep.

After giving her son a kiss Kim-ly handed Danh to Chau while Don held her coat open for her and Tam herded the youngsters into the living room. "Ok munchkins, this is your cousin Danh's very, very first Saturday, what do we do on Saturday?"

After a pause Arlo the youngest answered, "We watch cartoons?"

"Exactly," smiled Tam, if her three boys get their chores done and let their parents get their chores done, they get to watch Bugs Bunny cartoons in the evening. Not the modern, touchy-feely flavorless woke cartoons but the WWII era funny cartoons. "Come on," she led the kids to the living room where grandpa Ralph and Grandma Sandy were watching a hockey game. As soon as the invasion began, they put on the Bugs Bunny film festival because the Winnipeg Jets were beating the living hell out of the Minnesota Wild anyhow. Arlo climbed up on Sandy's lap and Liam sat on the floor next to Grandpa Ralph while Chau and Sophia sat on the couch with a now tightly swaddled Danh between them.

Don put on his suit coat and adjusted his tie and Kim-ly looked at him up and down with approval. "You clean up pretty good yourself! That's a nice suit, where did you get it?"

Don looked a little embarrassed, "Goodwill." Deep down inside Don was still that kid that didn't have two nickels to rub together, and he felt most comfortable in secondhand clothing.

Kim-ly flattened the lapels and said, "It fits you perfectly! Come on stud, let's go set the woods on fire."

Somewhere people were appreciating the warmth of spring, in Minnesota it's still frigid even though the last day of winter was two days ago. The car started on second try and Don unplugged the block heater then they eased out of the driveway as Don hit the autodial for Lanh.

"Hey baby, I have Kim-ly here with me, is that ok?" asked Don.

"Yeah, I just didn't want little ears overhearing. I have good news and bad news. I was called into the department chair's office for a quarterly evail, everything is good with the University, in fact they give me a glowing review..."

"What's the problem?" asked Don.

"They're cutting back on speech pathology and being the new kid on the block, I'm getting the axe," sighed Lanh. "Next spring is my last semester."

"Oh wow, I'm sorry for that, what's the good news?"

"That was the good news, they're giving me a severance package to cover the last year of my contract. The bad news is that Children's hospital is cutting my hours, I'll be lucky to get twelve hours in a week" Lanh was sad about that bit of news, she really liked working with the kids and she made real progress with her patients. Many businesses don't lay people off, that costs money paying severance and unemployment. Instead, they slash a person's hours until the employee quits.

Don and Kim-ly were doing their best not to cheer and clap, Lanh loved her jobs almost as much as she hated being separated from her family and her cows. Don eventually said, "I guess I'll have to finish the basement," which was code between Don and Lanh for "getting the house ready to put on the market."

"I'll find a color of paint for the shutters," sighed Lanh. The basement is being decorated to look like a mountain cabin, including shutters for the windows, and the shutters are planned to be the last item. They're built and hung properly; they just need a coat of paint. "But wait, there's more."

"Now what," moaned Don. He hated the fact that good news comes in dribs and drabs, but bad news comes in bundles.

"Jayce was here again..."

"He didn't hit her, did he?" snarled Kim-ly. The last time Jayce was in the area he punched a pregnant Karole and Kim-ly almost went crazy trying to find him.

"No," Lanh lied, "but he did clean out her accounts, checking, savings, everything."

"I'll kill him!" shrieked Kim-ly. "I'll fucking kill him!"

Lanh went on to describe Karole's heartbreak when she went to buy formula for Krissy only to find out she had no money at all. Being someone who hates going into debt Karole never carries a credit card, she left the store weeping, a shopping cart full of needed items left behind.

"Pack her up and send her here now," said Don. He had a feeling that this was just the start of something worse. "Dad will ensure she's taken care of, and I'm sure you folks want her here too."

"I'll keep trying, but you know Karole and her stubborn streak."

After Don and Lanh said their goodbyes, the new parents drove up to Bemidji and soon 100% of the conversation was on Danh, every nuance of the child was examined and discussed, and the conversation continued as they walked through the Wilderness complex and into the ballroom. They found their candle lit table for four next to the dance floor, it was covered in fine China with dozens of glasses that Don and Kim-ly had no idea what more than two of the glasses were for. They sat close and studied the one-page menu.

"They have scallops, you said you like scallops," said Kim-ly.

"I don't want to try the scallops; Royce and Annie Brown took Lanh and myself scalloping in Florida. We caught them and cooked them up right there on the beach and they were so good! I suspect that scallops that have been frozen and dragged 1500 miles to my plate probably wouldn't taste the way I like," he replied.

"You caught scallops? I thought you dig them up," said the brand-new mother.

"No, you dig up clams. Scallops swim."

Kim-ly looked at Don like he was drunk. "Swimming shellfish? Seriously?"

"Yes, they swim," Don replied and he looked at his phone and in moments found a video of scallop divers.

Frowning Kim-ly returned to her menu. "What is Chicken Puttanesca?"

"Chicken Puttanesca is a type of stewed chicken."

"No, I'm tired of spicy," said Kim-ly. "All Little Don wanted was spicy. I was putting Siracha on my oatmeal." Back to the one-page menu. Prime rib was a choice too, but they eat a lot of beef on a dairy farm, so why bother. In the end Kim-ly decided on trout almondine, twice baked potatoes, and white asparagus while Don chose the Chicken Puttanesca on linguini.

At some point another couple joined the new parents, they looked to be in their forties and introduced themselves as Stuart and Ellie Haugen and they were from Grant Valley also, he was a banker at Wells Fargo, and she teaches elementary school in Grant Valley. Don introduced himself and Kim-ly as dairy farmers and didn't mention his doctorate in education or her CPA certification. When Ellie asked Kim-ly what she did for a living she said, "I'm a brand-new stay t' home mom and a dirt farmer."

"I swear we have met you before," said Stuart, "I cannot put my finger on where we have met."

Kim-ly smiled and pointed at Ellie "Pho, hold the jalapeno and siracha," then pointed at Stuart, "Either the fried noodles with shrimp or the combination rice bowl."

"Oh my God yes! Nguyen's Pho restaurant," cried Ellie, "Why didn't I recognize you... that baby! When did you have the baby? I swear I just saw you."

"Last Sunday, that morning when it was so cold..."

"You look wonderful!" gasped Ellie. "Your hair is beautiful!"

"Ya think? I usually just do it with a curry comb and a flat iron, but my sister did it up for me today."

And that broke the ice beautifully, as the girls talked about hair and the guys talked about the local economy, all got a complimentary glass of champagne. Kim-ly had gotten out of the habit of drinking but she did indulge this one glass as the two couples conversed and they discovered that it was Stuart and Ellie's sixteenth wedding anniversary. After that glass, the hotel brought Don and Kim-ly a bottle of champagne in a bucket but just as the waiter started to open it Don stopped him. "Thank you but no, we didn't order this."

"It's a gift sir," said the waiter as he started to uncork the champagne. A card came with the bottle showing that it was a gift from Carol Schaeffer.

"A gift from Doctor Schaeffer?" Stan's eyebrows shot up.

"Is she a friend of yours?" asked Ellie, eager to hear a story.

"No, I just met her on Sunday," said Don, but he was kicked under the table by Kim-ly.

The Haugens looked like they realized that something was up, then Stuart said to Don, "I know I recognize you from somewhere else..." then the clouds parted for Stuart, "your military retirement at the high school a couple of years ago, we were at the ceremony," said Stuart, "but I got the impression you were married to another person."

"Busted," sighed Don, "and it's weirder than you may believe. Yes, I'm still very happily married to Lanh, Kim-ly's sister." He paused and took a deep breath and continued. "If you remember how busted up I was at the retirement ceremony, my accident was really bad and that ceremony was held after a year of rehab and surgery, I honestly don't know how I survived it... it scared Lanh a lot... a whole lot... we can't have kids... we can't even adopt..."

Don was trying to explain why he was sitting at a fancy occasion with his sister-in-law and getting gifts from a well-known OB/Gyn but he was making a mess of it. Kim-ly patted Don's hand and said, "These two, all they ever wanted was children. When Don almost died, Lanh and I were horrified that he could go and there would be no one left behind for Lanh, so I carried a baby for them."

While she was speaking Don opened the card that came with the bottle of champagne and almost did a "spit take" with the sip of champagne he had in his mouth. He handed the card to Ellie who looked confused as did Stewart who handed the card to Kim-ly who was still explaining Danh. The card read "Congratulations to my favorite turkey baster baby!"

"It was kind of a hands-free operation," laughed Kim-ly.

"Kim-ly coached her older sister through three babies and she tends to keep the conversation in the delivery room... colorful," said Don. "When it was Kim-ly's turn for a baby it looks like Carol got her back."

"What are you going to do with the baby?" Ellie asked. "Legitimately he's Kim-ly's child and if she meets someone else..."

Don shrugged. "Right now, the plan is for Lanh and I to move back here when her contract expires and we'll all be living in the same house. We'll have to deal with it then."

"I wouldn't worry about that," said Kim-ly. "I've had men in my life, and the only one I'm happy with is about this big," and she held her hands about two feet apart indicating Danh. Don took out his phone and showed pictures of Kim-ly and Danh taken a few days ago.

Soon their dinner arrived, and conversation turned to more adult things, like how Kim-ly became a farmer. "I was hanging out at his house," she said poking Don, "and his father put me to work."

"I built an apartment on the side of Dad's farmhouse for her sister," said Don poking Kim-ly, "and when I enlisted and we went to Germany she moved in, so dad put her to work. When she's not milking cows and running my tractor out of gas..."

"That only happened once!" said Kim-ly.

"Three times, once cutting hay, once planting corn, and once plowing the driveway while you were pregnant. Sandy told me all about it."

"Your step-mother's a tattletale," mumbled Kim-ly.

"When she's not helping out on the farm, she's a CPA and does the books for the family businesses and she and her brother have several clients."

"I love math," said Kim-ly as she tasted her trout.

Stuart looked at Don and smiled. "What are you doing now Doctor Sergeant Campbell?"

Flustered that he remembered his title, Don shrugged, "Other than babysitting, nothing."

"It's not babysitting," said Kim-ly. "Babysitters get paid."

"Ok, my accountant reminded me that the babies in my life are a hobby, our next-door neighbor in Colorado had a daughter in January and her fiancé disappeared during the first trimester."

"She's pretty cool," said Kim-ly. "I decided to keep her."

"So what are you doing with your degree?" asked Stuart.

Don shrugged, "When you're disabled getting hired is difficult, so I study, and I write. I've had a few papers published here and there, mostly on the need to concentrate on core educational values, the three Rs."

"I thought an employer isn't allowed to discriminate based on disability," said Ellie.

"They're not," said Don, "in fact there's so much protection in place for a disabled person that even if I were robbing my employer blind, they'd find it nearly impossible to fire me. They may not want to hire somebody they can't fire if needed."

Stuart and Ellie looked at each other, then Ellie leaned forward as if sharing a clandestine secret, "Grant Valley needs thinking like yours on the school board."

"Fair warning - I didn't get a degree for public office; I got it because Lanh dared me to get it."

"Who cares how or why you got it," said Stuart, "you have it. Grant Valley needs a local voice on the school board. Half of the members aren't even from Minnesota, they moved here from places like Detroit and Milwaukee."

"Well, we can't have that," smiled Don, "But I'm not going to be moving back for a year, I don't know if..."

"That's perfect, that's when there will be elections for the school board, the board supervisors and two of the officers will be running for re-election, all three are carpetbaggers."

"Do it!" hissed Kim-ly. "Go into the family business!"

"What family business?" chuckled Don.

Kim-ly grabbed Don's wrist, "Lanh is teaching at NCU, Tam is head of the psychology department at Bemidji state, Angela is teaching at UND, Sandy teaches at..."

"Sandy gives piano lessons," said Don.

"She teaches music at Grant Valley now, didn't they tell you?" scowled Kim-ly.

"Life has been kind of crazy," said Don as he scanned his memory then realized that she mentioned something about teaching during their Christmas vacation, but he thought she was giving private lessons again. Life was crazy busy then.

"Sandy... Sandra Campbell?" asked Ellie.

Hearing Sandy's full name sounded alien to Don's ears. He knew her name was Sandra, but he's never heard her called that, it's been Sandy his entire life, Sandy Robertson, even calling her Sandy Campbell still feels new and untested after a decade and a half. "Yeah, she's my step-mom."

"She's teaching at the elementary school," said Ellie. "It's not a full-time position, but she's doing wonderful things with those kids."

"Ok, I'll bite, tell me more," said Don.

"Many of the children going to school in Grant Valley are farm kids, the FFA is still the biggest club in school," started Stuart. Don remembered his years in the Future Farmers of America, he won a few prizes for his calves. "Not a few people would like to see local farmers represented on the school board," he continued.

This idea was starting to sound good to Don.

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Lanh pulled into the farmyard late Friday afternoon, she drove a rental up from Minneapolis and was excited to see the baby and Tam was at the farm waiting for her. "Got your big girl panties on?" Tam asked.

"Why what's wrong?" asked Lanh as she hustled into the house. Tam's tone was grave, so Lanh was expecting Kim-ly and Don in a tug-of-war over the baby.

"Kim-ly is freaking out, she's terrified that they will find out who the dad is," said Tam as she led Lanh into the apartment that Don built for her. Inside there was a small fire in the little fireplace, Don was sitting in his wingback chair holding the baby while Kim-ly sat in the other wingback chair. With a little bit of arranging Lan curled up in Don's lap and she was holding Danh.

"He's so beautiful!" gasped Lanh and she looked to see the similarities between Don and Danh. "He's got your eyes," Lanh said.

"How is that possible?" laughed Don. "My eyes are blue and round, his eyes are brown, and he's got the Asian fold."

"It's not what they look like," said Lanh, "it's how they look." She tickled the baby's stomach to see if she could get a smile out of him, no smile, but he did look amused. "He looks at me and his eyes say, "I got that girl's heart, she's all mine!"

"Ok, I'll grant you that," said Don.

"I tell him the same thing and he says I'm crazy!" said Kim-ly. "But he believes you, what gives?"

Lanh shrugged but Don said, "I like having sex with Lanh and want to keep doing it." As Tam took pictures of Don, Lanh and Danh curled up on Don's chair Don said, "I'm going to assume that all three of you know who Danh's father is, is that a correct assumption?"

All three women nodded. Tam wasn't in on the conspiracy, but since they left their teens behind, the three of them have been closer than they ever had been in their lives. As far as Don was concerned, Kim-ly and Lanh didn't have to tell Tam, the knowledge would have passed via osmosis.

"I'm also going to assume the guys are completely out of the loop, am I right?" asked Don. The Guys he was referring to was their brothers, Bao, Trung, and Huy.

"What are you getting at honey?" Lanh asked.

Don sighed and tried to figure out a way to say it properly, and the only way to say it is head-on. "Sandy and Mai are one, maybe two mistakes heard in conversation from figuring out my identity and your sisters know this."

Lanh looked at Kim-ly and Tam and they both nodded, "How did you figure this out?" asked Lanh.

"I listen and take notes too." He looked at the three Nguyen sisters and for once Tam wasn't taking command of the situation. "It's time to go anyhow, let's go have dinner, just be careful with what you say." This was the first time since Christmas that everybody was in town, it's a rare occurrence to have the entire family together outside of a holiday, so everyone is gathering at Nguyen Pho for dinner in the large banquet room on the side where Thanksgiving and Boxing Day dinner is normally held.

Lanh couldn't believe how big their family had grown, from the original eight her family had swollen to twenty-five people with only Karole and Krissy missing. Don stepped into the banquet room and he found Jake, Tam's blind husband, standing in a corner trying to get someone's attention but with a new baby in the room that was hard. "How are you doing Jake," said Don as he gripped Jake's upper arm. "Need a hand with anything?"

"Don, just the guy I wanted to talk to," said Jake. "Help me through this crowd if you don't mind. Tam is busy and my boys have disappeared."

Jake's oldest boys, Chip and Liam, were normally there to guide Jake through the crowds, Don glanced around the room and saw that Don's boys were running around through the crowd with their cousins. He remembered fondly being that age and playing with his cousins Billy and Geoff at family gatherings. Don didn't mind helping Jake to his seat, and he sat and talked with Jake a bit. As people started to sit down Don said, "Gotta go, but lets get together tomorrow, I'll let you kick my ass at backgammon some more."

Jake grabbed Don's arm tightly and whispered. "Don, you know how I hear things, you need to know that Bao, Trung, and Huy suspect something and are planning to have a few words with you."

"Thanks Jake," said Don as he headed back to Lanh. A quiet spread over the family as they all sat down, Don stood up and said, "Excuse me, before we get started, could I have a moment?" Expecting Don to say grace everyone got quiet quickly, some even folded their hands.

"Don, don't!" whispered Lanh, she knew exactly what Don was going to do.

Don took her hand and held it and whispered, "It's ok," Then he continued, "I know you're all wondering who Danh's father is, that's natural, and I'll let you in on a secret. It's me."

Shock ran through the table, the room became icy silent, the delicious odors coming from the buffet seemed to have stopped also. Mai looked like she was ready to cry, and Duong looked like he was ready to kill. "Nothing physically happened between Kim-ly and I, I gave my contribution to Lanh who took it to Kim-ly's doctor who made the magic and here's Danh. If you don't believe me, you can look at the birth certificate."

Duong looked at Lanh and Kim-ly, "Is this true?"

Kim-ly nodded, "every word." Lanh bit her lower lip and nodded in agreement but remained silent.

"It's not my idea, but it is my fault," said Don. "I got busted up pretty bad, and that scared the bejeezuz out of Lanh, but she pretended to be brave, and she pretended so good that I believed her. But all the time on the inside she was hysterical with fear. And as my health started to slide, and she got scared again and thought if there was a little bit of me left behind for her when I go..."

"Is that true?" asked Duong. He looked terrified.

"Look, I know you want to talk, you need to talk," said Don, "I'll step out and let you discuss this, and I'll abide by anything you come up with," and he left the room.

The room was silent, everyone was looking at each other in confusion then Mai turned to her daughter Lanh and said, "I don't understand honey, what is going on?"

Lanh took a deep breath and steeled herself, her story was emotionally taxing, and she wanted to tell it without her verbal skills falling apart. "Sandy, when you lost Tom, you had Doris, Stephanie, Melissa, and Mary to care for. Ralph, when you lost Emily, you had Don to care for. You had a great responsibility, but you also had a piece of your lost spouse there to love and to love you."

"Yes," said Sandy, "that thought was actually a great help." She and Ralph knew exactly where she was going with this. "Lanh honey, you don't have to..."

"I DO have to; you need to know. Every military wife knows that when your husband's commander and first sergeant come to your house there is trouble. I opened my door at five forty-five in the morning and there was the commander, the first sergeant, and the chaplain, and they looked very upset. And I was not their first stop."

Mai covered her mouth and gasped while Duong lowered his head, they spent six years in the Army, Mai and Duong knew exactly what that means to a military wife. Ralph was a Marine; he knew it too.

"They told me that Don was hurt bad, that they had to fly him from Saudi Arabia to Germany for surgery or he would die and I had no one! There was no one to hold, no one to cry with me. If Don had died, I would have had nothing. Colonel Gilliam assigned an officer to help me, Captain Zoomer, but he wasn't family. And if Don had died in Germany I would have been alone over there, with nowhere to turn." She didn't mention that she fully intended to open her wrists if Don had died, instead she shuddered as she held back the tears.

"That's why we came for you em yêu..." started Tam, but Kim-ly quieted her with a raised hand, she knew where her little sister was going with this. The room was silent as they waited for Lanh to collect herself

"We get home and now Don is getting sick, and the doctors can't stop it..." Lanh paused and fought back the tears. She bent and gently picked up Danh and turned to Sandy. "Tom is here now," Lanh said to Sandy who was standing behind her youngest daughter Mary who loves these gatherings. She looked at Ralph and said, "Emily is here too, and because Kim-ly went through all that pain for me, Don is here. Even though Danh is not mine, I know if something happened, Kim-ly wouldn't mind having a roommate and Danh wouldn't mind an extra má."

Completely exhausted from exposing her heart to her family, Lanh sagged to her chair and gently hugged the tiny piece of her husband's soul that lay swaddled in her arms. Duong spoke for everyone when he sadly said, "We didn't realize..." and her family gathered around her.

Twenty minutes later Ralph found Don in the park sitting on a bench watching the 3-foot-wide Mississippi River flow past. Here local folks call it the Mississippi Creek to confound the tourists. "How did you find me?"

Ralph chuckled as he sat down next to Don. "You'd asked me that every time I found you here in the past, especially after your mom passed." He paused for a minute then said, "I can see you sitting here from Main Street. You didn't have to leave, they're not mad at you."

"Yes, I did, they need to know how scared Lanh was, and still is." Don threw a stick in the stream; it bounced off an ice floe before joining the current and started on a journey 2300 miles south to New Orleans. "I didn't know dad, she put on such a good show of being strong that I believed her, she had everybody else fooled too. They need to spend time with Lanh without me sucking up all the oxygen in the room."

"They've had enough time, let's go eat." He urged Don up off the bench and they walked back to the restaurant in the early evening dark. Ralph was amazed at Don's analysis of Lanh's fear and how he handled having a surprise son and asked, "When did you get so smart?"

Don scoffed and said, "Everything I ever needed to know, I learned from you."

The days are getting longer now, the sun sets around 7:30, the temperatures should start catching up with the sun and soon it will be planting time. They got back to the restaurant and the dinner was underway. Lanh was still holding Danh and the little guy looked like he was in distress. His face was red and scrunched up, he was making little grunting sounds and his younger cousins gathered around to see what was going on. Five-year-old Ahn was deeply concerned, "Is he ok?"

Her twin brother Him-chan was equally concerned, "Is he broken?"

Lanh was trying not to laugh the whole time. Like with Don, this is a fairly new experience for her, neither of them had ever babysat when they were young, they were gone when their nieces and nephews where this tiny, their first experience with a newborn was a two months ago with Krissy and they've been through this part so they know exactly what he's doing. Danh began to make a stuttering grunt and Sophia who has been babysitting called out "I know what he's doing!" without looking up from her rice bowl.

Her older sister Chau nodded and said, "I'm not cleaning up! Someone else can do it."

Finally, he stopped grunting and a look of pure relief spread over his little face. "He's done!" announced Lanh, then she turned and handed Danh to Don. "Here you go daddy!"

Don scooped up Danh and grabbed his baby bag and headed toward an open table in the back. The youngest kids tagged along demanding to know what happened. "Come here, I'll show you."

They all leaned in, watching with great interest as Don unzipped Danh's onesie. Don continued to undress the baby and suddenly a collective "EWWW!" went up from the children who sprinted back to Lanh.

"HE POOPED!" they shrieked in horror as they surrounded Lanh. "Aunty Lanh! He pooped on you!"

Don returned with a freshly cleaned baby boy. "He's ready for you mommy," and he carefully handed Danh back to Lanh then he sat down next to her and put his arm around her. "What happened when I left?"

"Oh, usual stuff. Gunplay, knife fights, and vandalism. Lots of vandalism." Lanh sighed. "He acts hungry, but he won't take the bottle." She inspected the bottle but didn't see a defect or something on it that would cause him to dislike it.

"He's spoiled already," said Kim-ly. "Daddy, my shade please." Don unfolded a receiving blanket and held it up so that it covered Kim-ly as she exposed a breast and lifted Danh to her nipple. After a moment or two he opened his mouth and began nursing. "Learning has occurred," said Kim-ly. "He's a smart baby."

"So, what happened while I was out?" asked Don.

"My little baby explained very eloquently why Danh is here," said Mai as she came up and peeked and watched Danh nursing along with Lanh.

After a few moments Kim-ly said, "Ya know, other girls get tips for putting on a show like this."

"Way to break a mood sis," said Don as he tucked a dollar bill under Kim-ly's bra strap and headed over to the Buffet to fill plates for himself and Lanh.

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Returning to Colorado was difficult for Don, not just because he had to say goodbye to his son, but because it was so hard to breathe, the change in altitude from 800 feet above sea level to 5,100 feet was telling on him. When they got home, he tried to make love to Lanh and was so horribly out of breath after a minute or two that he had to stop. As he lay on his back gasping for air Lanh watched in horror. Coming to her senses she put the pulse/ox on his finger and found that his blood/oxygen level was below eighty. She texted Dr. Roberts who immediately called her and said, "Take him to the ER, I've got an opening in my schedule tomorrow, be sure the ER runs a full CBC and bring him in to my office at noon, OK?"

Don was miserable, he hated flying with that damn canula in his nose, the plastic tube that supplied him with oxygen, but the ER gave him a metal tank full of oxygen in a carrier slung over his shoulder and he's sitting in the waiting room waiting to see Dr. Roberts. He spent the morning in the testing wing of the hospital breathing into computers, getting chest x-rays, even a CT scan. He and Lanh lost count of how many tubes of blood were drawn from his arm. Finally, he ended up in Dr. Robert's waiting room and as he waited a pair of tiny blond girls no older than two, maybe close to three, came out of the office across from the waiting room and walked up to him and stood staring at him. Regardless of how cute they were, he was unnerved by their steady unmoving gaze. They were obviously identical twins and were very tiny.

"They're preemies," whispered Lanh. "I was that little at their age."

Finally, one twin looked at the other and began muttering something that Don was unable to understand, and the other twin replied in the same babytalk which confused him even more. Lanh was reading a book and holding a sleeping Krissy when she heard the strange language her ears perked up and she put her book down.

One of the twins started looking in Lanh's book bag while the other twin continued to stare at Don. The twin looking in the bookbag looked up at Lanh and said, "Is that your baby?"

"You must be Sandy," said Lanh.

The twin nodded her head and pointed at Krissy and said, "Not your baby."

Don and Lanh looked at each other in surprise, did the twin know that Krissy was not their child because of her hair color? Neither she nor Don is blond, and Krissy is a brilliant bright blond like her mother Karole. Lanh finally decided to be completely honest and said, "our baby is in Minnesota with my sister. We just came back from seeing him."

Sandy looked confused. She pointed at Don and said, "You're daddy," then she pointed at Lanh and said, "You're..." just as she was about to say something, Dr. Roberts opened her office door and said, "Don?" She smiled when she saw Lanh and the baby and said, "Come on in," then seeing her daughters she glared at them. "Girls! Get back in your office."

Sandy threw up her hands and shrugged. "Work, work, work. That's all we ever do. Come on Madeline." The other twin waited for Don to stand, then she held on to a finger on his free hand and led him across the waiting room to her mother's office. Don and Lanh sat in the open chairs in Dr. Roberts' office and Madeline climbed up on Don's lap while Sandy stood on the chair next to Lanh and watched Krissy sleep. "Is this one yours?" Dr. Roberts cooed.

"No, little Danh is in Minnesota with my sister," said Lanh. "This one is our neighbor's daughter Krissy; she was born about nine weeks ago." She saw a bit of confusion on Dr. Roberts' face and said, "Don watches Krissy while her mom works, sometimes it's complicated, but it's working."

"Ok, as long as it's working for you and as long as the girls aren't bothering you. I can send them back to their playroom..." Dr. Roberts frowned; this is coming to a breaking point for her soon. She put on a smile and said, "my sitter bailed out on me yesterday..."

"It's fine," said Don before Lanh could respond. "And if you get stuck again, give me a call, I'm sure we can work something out. I'm getting the hang of daycare."

Dr. Adrianna Roberts, also known as Andi to her friends, thought for a moment. Could she accept an offer of daycare from a patient? She's going to have to check in on that, but for now she's got some bad news. "Yesterday the ER ran a CBC and considering your past injuries they included a d-dimer test, unfortunately the d-dimer test came back positive."

"What does that mean?" asked Lanh.

"Something bad that starts with the letter P," muttered Don sadly. He now had Krissy and both twins on his lap.

"Girls, back to work," said Andi and the girls reluctantly climbed down from Don's lap and walked slowly into the adjacent office. As soon as the twins were in the next office Dr. Robertson sat down and said, "it's pulmonary emboli."

"Told ya," said Don softly. As Lanh looked in shock at Don, Don sighed and said, "Don't sugarcoat it Doc, we're all educated here. Tell us honestly, we can handle it, and our insurance can handle it so give it to us straight."

Andi watched Don as he very gently patted the baby's tummy every time Krissy moved. "I'm going to be straight with you, it's not good, but it's not horrible. Your lungs are filled with blood clots, possibly from a DVT, a deep vein thrombosis in the leg. Did you have a series of chest pains that went away recently?

Don didn't say anything at first, but then said slowly, "Right after I saw my... our son for the first time, it was so beautiful, I thought... I thought I was just feeling... verklempt."

Andi noticeably sagged. "That was possibly a DVT breaking away from the leg and traveling through the heart and into the lungs. Your lungs now have blood clots blocking the flow of oxygen rich blood back to the body. Five years ago, I would have given you two years to live. Now I'd say, "who knows?" Treatments are developing rapidly. I'm going to start you on oxygen, diuretics and anticoagulants..." The rest of what she was saying was completely lost on Don, but he found himself with a stack of papers in his hand labeled "Pulmonary Hypertension."

"Hypertension?" Don said, "I don't have high blood pressure, I'm a carrier, I give it to other people." That's almost true, his blood pressure reading today was 120 over 75.

Dr. Robertson rolled her eyes, "This is high blood pressure inside the heart and inside the lungs, the blood clots are blocking the arteries inside your lungs which is causing back pressure. The condition that you have is CTEPH, Chronic Thromboembolic Pulmonary Hypertension."

"What do we do?" said Lanh, her nightmares were coming true again. When doctor Roberts said that five years ago Don would have had two years to live her heart stopped, what does that give him now?

Andi looked at Don and saw a look in his eyes that encouraged her, he clearly saw this as a challenge, but Lanh looked terrified, completely shattered. "There's a treatment available, it's called Adempas, it only works on two things, one of which is CTEPH, and I'll prescribe it. It's very strong, you'll start out on a small dose of.5 milligrams and titrate up every few weeks until you're at the maximum dose of 2.5 milligrams. You will have a nurse advising you."

"That's it? One pill?" Andi gasped. Her world was collapsing around her.

"It's the only treatment available for CTEPH, there are surgical procedures that we can discuss, neither one is pretty, and there's very few places that can do them." Andi paused, she's losing Lanh, the poor little Asian woman looked emotionally destroyed. "The closest place is the Mayo Clinic," she added but that cheered up Lanh.

"We're moving back to Minnesota," sighed Lanh. "Rochester isn't far!" As soon as they get home their problems will be over!

"There you go, don't make any decisions until you have both read through the material."

"Doc, when we went back to Minnesota I felt fine, I didn't actually feel any problems until we got on the airplane to come back," said Don. "When I got off the plane they didn't go away."

"That's part of the Pulmonary Hypertension," said Andi Roberts, "the change in altitude causes a change in air pressure. I advise my patients who have Pulmonary Hypertension to move to sea level."

"Is that what you tell your patients with CTEPH?" asked Lanh.

Andi looked at Lanh who was on the verge of tears. She needs to tell Lanh the truth, but how much more can she take? Might as well give it to her now so she's not hit with a surprise later. "CTEPH is incredibly rare, most pulmonologists never see it. We have a saying in our medical career, "When you hear hoofbeats, think of horses, not zebras."

"Occam's Razor," said Don.

"Exactly," said Andi. "It's a reminder to rule out the common causes before looking at more exotic causes. Unfortunately, when I heard hoofbeats with Don I found not just zebras, I found checkered zebras. The occurrence of CTEPH is one in a million. I encourage you to research, but also use the Pulmonary Hypertension website as the gold standard. There's some bad information out there on the internet, there's still some websites that still insist you have two years to live. I assure you that this isn't the case."

Later as they stood under the awning of the main entrance trying to remember where they parked their car, the enormity of Don's diagnosis struck, and they were both numb with fear. Just as they decided which direction to walk, they heard a voice call, "Doctor Campbell?"

Lanh turned and there was a tall slim woman that looked like she may have been beautiful at one time, now something looks strange about her face. "I'm sorry, I know you're not one of my students or patients, I practice under my maiden name. You have me at a loss."

"The last time we spoke was in New Mexico, I'm Wendy..."

"Wendy Addams!" Don cried, he turned and although he barely recognized her face, he recognized her voice. How many times did she interrupt his roll calls with an unintentionally silly question that caused the entire maintenance team to break up laughing? "Oh my God Wendy!" Don nearly wept as they hugged. Her face was still twisted but she looked so much better than she did before. Her long jet-black hair was bright purple now and her left eyeball had been replaced with a false eye, this one was yellow with a smiling face emoji.

"It's Wendy Daniels now, I don't know if you met my husband, Clark?"

Don remembered Clark Daniels, how bravely he stood holding his infant son and his toddler daughter while they lowered his wife Cynthia into the ground, and Lanh remembered him from when he was a member of the Spouses Club. "We were just going to get lunch; can you join us?"

"Not hospital food, ok?"

They found themselves at a Fish & Chips joint on Colfax Avenue that had family seating, so they ended up on a picnic table. "I thought you guys couldn't have kids," said Wendy as she tried to tickle a smile out of Krissy.

"We can't," said Lanh, "this one is a loaner."

"Lanh!" gasped Don, "A baby joke! I am so proud of you!"

"Laughing hurts less than crying," she said softly.

The two couples caught up. Clark was alone with two small children and Wendy was abandoned by her husband who was expecting a beauty queen to step off the medevac plane. Wendy and Clark leaned on each other for support and stayed together, eventually falling in love. "I'm so happy for you guys!" said Don after hearing their story. What are you guys up to?

"What else," Wendy shrugged, "I'm working on jet engines for Rolls Royce in Centennial."

"She's their lead Quality Assurance inspector at the test stand," said Clark,

"We are so happy you found each other," said Lanh.

"How are you doing with the nightmares," Don asked Wendy quietly.

She pursed her lips and finally said, "I get some sleep most nights now."

"Me too."

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Getting used to his new malady was trying on both Don and Lanh but studying the information and reading data from other sources Don found that his vascular condition was operable. "In your condition I would say that chances are good you would be a candidate for a Pulmonary Thromboendarterectomy," said Doctor Andi at their next appointment.

"Ugh, the word just sounds nasty," said Don.

"It is nasty," said Andi. "I won't hold back. They shut off your heart, put you on a heart and lung machine, slice your lungs open and scrape out the blood clots."

Lanh looked like she was going to swoon, she attempts to go to each appointment Don has so that she is there for these kinds of talks. "We were thinking of balloon angioplasty," said Don. It's a procedure where the clots are pushed out of the way by a balloon that is pushed into the artery and inflated.

"That's also very doable," said Andi. "We can reach out to the Mayo when you are ready, and you can speak to their team."

Heading home they had a new excitement that they hadn't felt since the first time they attempted to adopt a baby. They were almost home when Don noticed the myriad of cars and vans around Karole's house. "What the hell is going on?" gasped Don. There were police cars, vans, a SWAT van, and a lot of unmarked cars. Karole was standing outside of her house in handcuffs weeping openly. Don handed the baby carrier that contained Krissy to Lanh and said, "Get Krissy settled down, it looks like she's spending the night here."

"Don't cause trouble!" Lanh warned.

"I'm not going to cause trouble; I'm going to see what is going on. Probably something that asshole Jayce did," assured Don as he started across the lawn leaning heavily on his cane, his back was really hurting today.

He got about six steps toward Karole's house when one of the men over there turned, saw Don and Lanh and started running toward them. He was a scruffy, long haired hippy looking guy in a denim jacket, torn blue jeans and combat boots. Don immediately thought he was a prisoner who now escaped because half a dozen uniformed cops were chasing him. Don stopped, raised his free hand and said, "Relax buddy, we're just the neighbors," but the man pulled a gun and screamed something that sounded like lay down.

The man ignored Don and pulled a pistol and aimed it at Lanh. Immediately time slowed almost to a stop for Don, all he saw was the guy that was going to charge him, his gun was drawn, and he was raising the gun to point it at Lanh and the baby. Don immediately thought of Joshua Grimes, the beast that was going to rape Lanh in high school, he thought of all the chances to have a baby that were denied them, and something snapped.

Don moved toward the escaped prisoner and raised the end of his cane and brought it between the running man's ankles causing the man to trip and fall forward landing face first on the snow-covered muddy lawn. He dropped his gun, and it landed just a foot away from his outstretched hand, but as he grabbed for it, Don reached forward with the tip of his cane and flicked it out of the way.

"What the fuck do you think you're doing?" demanded Don.

"DEA!" shouted the man as he tried to get up.

"Traditionally you say that first, you ignorant piece of..." at that moment three other DEA agents slammed into Don driving him to the ground and after that things got a bit hazy for Don.

꙳꙳꙳꙳꙳꙳꙳꙳꙳꙳꙳꙳꙳꙳꙳꙳꙳꙳꙳꙳꙳꙳꙳꙳꙳꙳꙳꙳꙳꙳꙳꙳꙳

Don opened his eyes, and he was back in the Wiesbaden hospital in Germany, he looked and Lanh was sitting next to him reading a book, he could hear Cynthia's labored breathing and Wendy groaning in pain. At the end of the bed there was a translucent apparition, vaguely woman shaped, tall, long flowing silver/gold hair but the ends were purple, it was Lanh's angel. Another angel walked through the curtains that separated his bed from Wendy and Cynthia, this angel was very similar to the other angel, but the hair was all silver/gold, there was no purple.

The angel with purple in its hair was glaring at Lanh and snarled, "We could do it here."

The other angel was looking at Don and he could tell it was looking at him with pity, even though he was loopy out of his skull on pain killers he could tell that was what the angel was doing. It said, "Do what here?"

"Yeah, do what here?" mumbled Don.

"He heard you!" gasped the purple tipped angel and suddenly the angels disappeared.

"Did you say something honey?" said Lanh who leaned over him concerned but soon he slipped back into unconsciousness.

"What the fuck?" Don shot up gasping for air. He's only had it for weeks, but the CPAP was the best thing he's ever used and now he misses it. But a question filled his mind, was that a dream or was that a memory? He looked around his cell, the light was still on, it's always on. The tiny ten-foot by ten-foot cinder block cell has been his home for two days now, he hasn't heard from anyone except Huy who simply said, "Hang on, I can't practice law in Colorado, but I know someone who can." That was the last communication he heard from the outside world for two days.

"Da fuck man, what da hell is wrong wit you?" said Don's cell mate Darius. Darius is huge, black, and pissed off most of the time.

"I don't know, I had this dream of when I was all fucked up and in the hospital at Wiesbaden..."

"You was at Wiesbaden?" Darius asked. "I was there hittin' on the ladies. What did you do?"

"I was in a truck that got hit by jet blast and dropped into a ravine, then another truck landed on me, then a 150 pound purple K fire extinguisher which exploded. It was a bad day."

"No wonder why you're limpin' around like you' a hunnert years old," said Darius. "What was your AFSC man?"

"Two Alpha Six, aircraft electrical and environmental for fighters. Were you in?" asked Don.

Two Whiskey Zero, I was ammo. Spent four years building bombs and haulin' em out to d' planes, den haulin' em all back to da WSA."

"Were you injured? Is that how you know Wiesbaden hospital?"

"No man, I was at Ramstein, we'd go over to Wiesbaden and hit on the ladies over there."

Don chuckled, "You ammo guys..."

Before Don could finish his thought, his cell door swung open and Deputy Larry Henderson called, "Hey Don, your lawyer's here. She sprung you."

Don looked up. "She? Oh crap, is it Ahnjong?"

Larry looked at the card that the lawyer handed him. "Ahnjong Park Nu-guy-en."

"Close enough, her last name is pronounced n'Win, and I'm sorry dude."

"What do you mean sorry?" The guard asked as Don limped out of the cell.

"Annie is burn happy, if she gave you her card it means you've been marked. Did she take your picture?" When the guard nodded, Don continued, "It's for sure that she'll name you in the lawsuit. I'll vouch for you; you treated me nicely. Your union should cover you."

"Us Hams gotta stick together." Larry was K6ARP and someone both Don and Lanh had talked to in the past on the air when Don was stationed in New Mexico. "It's a shame we had to meet face to face like this."

Larry opened the last door and was met by Lanh and Ahnjong who hugged him at the same time. "Where's your oxygen?" demanded Annie.

"They took it," said Don as he leaned to kiss Lanh.

"They took your medical equipment?" demanded Annie in a very loud voice. "Congratulations Don, Weld County just made you a millionaire." She furiously began writing in her notebook.

The property sergeant placed Don's personal items on the desk, including his oxygen tank and canula. "We didn't want him to hang himself," said the sergeant.

"He isn't Jeffery Epstein," snarled Ahnjong and she took a picture of the property sergeant as he handed the oxygen tank to Don.

"I told you not to do that anymore," said Lanh as she hugged Don from behind.

"He pulled a gun on you, that stupid move did not put me in a happy place," said Don as he pulled on his vest. Like many Coloradans, Don wears an insulated vest rather than a large uncomfortable parka when the temperature is moderately cold. It's nowhere near Minnesota cold here on the Northern Colorado prairie.

Behind him a voice bellowed, "You attacked a cop!" Don turned and some guy in a business suit was glaring at him. His minions that surrounded him held him back and Don was sure that this was all part of a show. It was tempting to push back just to see how far the show was going to go by simply acting smug. He made a show of going through his pockets and possessions to ensure nothing was missing.

Ahnjong positioned herself between Don and the suit. "Your informant attacked my client's wife."

"He was undercover!" Snarled the suit. He advanced on Ahnjong and glared at her, but Annie knew how the game was played.

"He failed to identify himself as a law enforcement officer, in fact he has yet to identify himself." She didn't move, in fact her posture and attitude dared the suit to touch her. She leaned forward into his personal space silently daring him to touch her. Her husband Huy was a brilliant lawyer, but he was "business class," Ahnjong lived in the "danger zone."

For his part Don ignored them and began collecting his belongings, loose change, car keys, wallet, but the suit couldn't let it go. "I'm going to see to it that you spend the rest of your life in prison," He shouted over Annie's head.

Don smiled and said, "Hey buddy, hold that thought," he reached into his vest pocket and said, "I've got something to show you," and he pulled out his hand clenched in a fist, the middle finger pointing straight down. "Here, let me turn it up so you can hear it better." And he rotated his arm bringing his middle finger straight up.

"Yeah? Fuck you too!" the man shouted but Don held his single finger salute then waved bye-bye and turned to leave.

"Doctor Campbell," sighed Don's brother-in-law and husband of his attorney Huy Nguyen. "Do you realize that you just told the head of the central region of the DEA to get fucked?"

"Oh really?" said Don, a look of surprise on his face. "You should have told me; I would have used both hands."

"Please stop," groaned Lanh.

꙳꙳꙳꙳꙳꙳꙳꙳꙳꙳꙳꙳꙳꙳꙳꙳꙳꙳꙳꙳꙳꙳꙳꙳꙳꙳꙳꙳꙳꙳꙳꙳꙳

As they rode home in Huy's rental SUV he cuddled tightly with Lanh, "I'm sorry honey, but I couldn't let him attack you, all I could think of was Joshua Grimes."

"You can't protect me all the time," she whimpered. She felt weak and helpless, and she hated feeling that way, but all she could do when that filthy bearded man pulled a gun was shriek in terror.

Don held her close and kissed her temple, "Look at the bright side, your diction hasn't fallen apart." That is an improvement.

"You should have heard her when she called me yesterday, "He lock up twenty for hour, you fix!" laughed Huy.

"Huy, please. I know she's your kid sister but YOU ALL sound like that when you're stressed," scolded Don, then imitating his brother-in-law's voice almost perfectly, "Annie she have twin baby!" causing Annie's melodious laughter to ring through the SUV.

"He's right," said Ahnjong, family has been here four generations and their accent was more of a Chicago accent.

"Thank you," sniffed Lanh. He even protects her from her brothers, even though they spent their lives ignoring her. "Love you," she whispered. She simply tipped her head up and they kissed.

When they got home Karole was in a state of panic, she sat in the dark living room and was desperately trying to calm Krissy, but her nerves were causing Krissy to cry. Lanh had explained everything to Don as they brought him home. Karole's ex-fiancé Jayce was caught selling meth in Newfoundland Canada and he gave the RCMP Karole's name and address as his source for crystal methamphetamine. The drug dogs keyed on the corner of the garage where Don had stacked the boxes that Jayce had sprayed with "skunk piss" and they found a weak scent in the middle of the living room where they were stacked for about one day.

After they returned from the police station it was tempting for Huy and Ahnjong to take Krissy and calm the infant, but Karole wouldn't learn to calm Krissy that way, so Don and Lanh concentrated on calming Karole. She was in tears about her home being invaded by a squad of DEA agents who were right now going through every piece of her personal belongings leaving nothing untouched. "Ah even forgot to get diapers for ma' baby."

Don gave Karole a pad of legal-size paper and a pencil and said, "Make a list of everything you need from the house, ok? You're staying here as long as you need to, so include everything."

"K," Karole sniffed and with a trembling hand she drew up a simple list which Don took along with her keys to her house and headed out the front door.

"Where are you going?" asked Huy.

"Next door to get her belongings," said Don making sure to leave his cane behind.

"That's a crime scene, you're not allowed in there," said Huy who walked next door with Don. Karole's front door and garage door were covered with yellow CRIME SCENE tape. "As your lawyer I advise you not to disturb the crime scene tape, besides, they double locked the door." Huy pointed out a metal bar stretching top to bottom in the door frame, and it had a u-shaped bolt around the doorknob.

"I'm not going in the front door." They went around the back of the house and the back door was covered with CRIME SCENE tape also. Don led Huy to a piece of plywood lying next to the house, it was covered with a few bricks and a stack of about 15 sacks of topsoil. Don moved the bricks and soil and lifted the plywood exposing the doors to the exterior basement steps. Huy grinned at Don and Don said "What - she did a nice job painting these doors, I covered them up so they wouldn't get messed up before the paint dried."

"God, I love farmers," chuckled Huy. Don gave him a withering look, but Huy said, "You guys are so practical. Those cops never thought to look."

Don unlocked the doors and they went down the stairs leading to the basement. "I don't understand this Huy, in one month I became a father, I discover I've got a fatal lung condition, then I find my neighbor's house surrounded by feds and I spend three nights in jail... what's next?"

"What's really bothering you?" Huy suspected that there was something deep down that Don wasn't talking about. Huy was terrified that it was something he couldn't deal with at all, something like Lanh cheating on him or something like that.

"This dream I keep having!" Don thumped the heel of his palm into his forehead several times. "God, it's horrible!"

"The dream where you're trapped on a desert island with Shaniah Twain?" grinned Huy Don unlocked the basement door and they entered Karole's house. He was relieved that it was just a dream that was bothering Don.

"No, the one where I'm on the Bikini Atoll with Curtis LeMay, do you ever read my emails?"

"Just trying to lighten the mood, you woulda done the same for me," said Huy.

Of all of Lanh's siblings, other than Kim-ly, Don was closest to Huy and his wife Ahnjong. Neither man knows why but Don and Huy hit it off the day they met and have been as close to each other as a pair of friends could be. They made their way through the basement and up the stair into the kitchen where Don opened the refrigerator.

Don sighed as he grabbed a series of little bottles of breast milk that Karole had expressed and handed them to Huy. "It's not the same dream, they're different. The first night I was in my cell, I dreamed that Karole and I were burying Lanh." Don found a diaper bag and started filling it with Karole's underwear. "We had an urn, this awful purple urn, that gross shade of purple that Lanh likes, and it was full of Lanh's ashes. It was New Year's Day and we were back by the pond and we buried her urn near our campsite. We even covered it with a huge chunk of rose quartz. Grab that bikini."

"That's scary," said Huy when he found Karole's bikini and held it up to admire.

"It's just a bikini."

"No," groaned Huy, "your dream, it was scary."

"No, it was horrible, I woke up screaming, I was under my cot looking for Lanh's grave. I spent the rest of the night talking to some shrink the county brought in." Don grabbed all of Krissy's onesies and socks and put them in a shopping bag, then grabbed all of her diapers and handed them to Huy. "That wasn't the scary part though."

Loaded down with Karole and Krissy's clothes they went back down to the basement, came out through the back steps and started replacing the plywood and bricks on the basement stairs, Huy asked, "So what was the scary part?"

"Picture this, I'm burying Lanh's urn and Karole is helping. The whole family is standing ten feet away watching, yet at the same time Lanh and Karole are standing behind the family watching." Don stopped and looked up at the sky. The night sky was dark and foreboding, the stars were bright pinpoints and Don and Lanh's star, Arcturus, was not visible and Don was filled with terror.

"There you have it, proof that this whole thing is just a bug in your head," said Huy. "Lanh couldn't stand behind ANYTHING and still see what you're doing.

Don stopped and glared at Huy, then he scoffed for a moment, then laughed. "You dick. Thanks. I needed that, there's been too much seriousness in my life."

"I've got more Lanh being short jokes if you want them."

"Nah, I'm good."

The next morning, they sent Karole and Lanh off to work and then Don, Krissy, Huy, and Ahnjong went out to breakfast. "Any dreams last night?

"No, I was sleeping with Lanh. When I sleep with Lanh or Danhy I usually sleep pretty good, it's when I nod off alone is when that dream hits, it gets pretty bad."

"Donny?" laughed Huy, "You said you HATE being called Donny."

"I do," nodded Don as he sipped a fresh cup of coffee then went back to feeding Krissy. "But he likes it."

Ahnjong whooped with laughter, she had a magical, melodious laugh that rang through the restaurant. "Tell me where that's not hypocritical," she finally got out.

Don looked surprised. "My name is Donovan; my nickname is Don. His name is Danh, his nickname is Danhy. Makes perfect sense."

The waitress arrived with their breakfast plates, and she heard the conversation, "Makes sense to me too," she said as she set out the plates. "Is this your son?"

"No, that's his daughter," said Ahnnie, "he's still learning how to dress baby girls." Krissy was swaddled up tight like a newborn in a beautiful blue receiving blanket.

"Oh she's beautiful, how old is she?"

"She'll be three months next week," said Don.

"Oh, so precious! And how old is your son?"

"One month," Don said without thinking as he started to burp Krissy. The look that flashed across the waitresses face for a moment was priceless, and it set off more of Annie's laughter, but Don fumbled and finally said, "Krissy here is my neighbor's daughter, I take care of her, and these jokers call her my daughter. My son is home with his mom," he pointed to Huy and said, "Laughing boy's sister." Krissy punctuated Don's assessment of Huy with a relieving and slightly juicy burp.

An hour later they pulled into Don and Lanh's driveway to find Karole's truck sitting in Don's driveway and Karole sitting in her pickup truck crying her eyes out. "Karole!" said Don as he knocked on the window, she had the truck doors locked and she wasn't responding to knocks on the door. "Karole, open the door, Krissy wants her mommy."

"No one else does," wailed Karole breaking into a fresh round of weeping.

"Karole, open the door!" called Don, but Karole was somewhere else in her agony.

"Karole honey, it's me Annie, come on open the door, Krissy is right out here, she wants to see you."

Karole closed her eyes and leaned her forehead against the steering wheel and shuddered, then she groaned, "ah jus' wanna die." After a few moments she said it again, "git outta my way, ah can't take it... ah'm gonna die... ah gotta go..."

She started the engine and put the truck in reverse and hit the gas and she only stopped when she heard Ahnjong scream in horror, Don was standing behind the truck with Krissy in his arms. Karole stopped when she realized what she almost did and began to shake. Ahn was able to open the door and the Asian woman helped Karole ease out of the truck and helped the weeping Karole into the house led by Don who was carrying a tiny sleeping, Krissy.

Huy remained behind to shut off Karole's truck and he found a letter on the seat stating that because her husband was making and selling illegal drugs out of their home that her medical certification had been revoked. She loved her job and was proud of her accomplishment as a licensed respiratory therapist. She worked her way up from the dirt-poor daughter of a bar slut to a self-made medical icon. Her patients loved her and in two short years she made a huge change in their lives, and now she was gone, tossed aside like an old sock, all based on a lie.

When Lanh got home, she found Don on the phone with a near hysterical Kim-ly who was planning to swing by, drop Danh off then go hunt down Jayce. "I kicked his ass once already; I just want the chance to finish up the job."

"Kim-ly please relax, he's in prison right now," pleaded Don.

"Good! That means he won't get away," snarled Kim-ly. "I'm still pissed at you for stopping me when I had that asshole..."

"Kim-ly, please, just wait until we get..." Don looked up and saw Lanh looking down at him, her brow creased with concern. "Hang on Kim-ly, Lanh is here..." he put the phone on mute and Lanh sat down on his lap.

"What happening?"

"Kim-ly lost her certification because of Jayce, the hospital sent her home," frowned Don. "She's in the bedroom with Krissy and Ahnjong."

"How did that happen? That's insane!" Lanh was in shock, Karole loves her job, she worked so hard to get it.

"He claimed that he built a meth lab in their garage and was selling the crap straight out of their house," said Don. "I have no idea why he would say such a thing. The DEA, FBI, and every cop in Weld County has been next door, there's no evidence that any of that is true."

Lanh frowned, "Jayce is covering for someone. His dealer probably told him to take the fall and he'd let Jayce see something."

"What could the dealer let Jayce see that would be that valuable," asked Don.

"Tomorrow," said Lanh. "We hear a lot of stuff in hospitals, most of my patients are not from model families."

Don nodded sadly, they were protected from this side of life in the military, so when they "rejoined society" they couldn't believe how numbed to the horrors of illicit drugs their peers had gotten. "Here's the phone, Kim-ly and Tam are on the line."

Lanh took the phone and swept into the room with Karole and Ahnjong and turned on the speaker button. Meanwhile Huy looked at Don and said, "what are you going to do?"

"They kicked her out of her house, she lost her job, we can't throw her to the wolves, not with a baby in her arms. She's going to stay here."

Huy said, "No, what I mean was we can take her back to Bemidji with us... we can drop her at the farm. Ma and Rosa would love to have her back at the restaurant. Annie and I can work on getting her certification back."

"That's great," sighed Don. He will miss Krissy but it's probably best for Karole. "It's all up to her."

"There's no rush, Annie and I will stay another day or two while we straighten this mess out. You have a court date tomorrow also, I'm guessing you'll want help with that," said Huy.

"You're not licensed to practice law in Colorado."

"No, but these are federal charges and I'm eminently qualified to give legal aid to someone who chooses to represent himself," grinned Huy.

"I love it when you're sneaky," smiled Don.

"You look like you need a nap."

Don shook his head, "not if Lanh's not here."

"That dream?" asked Huy.

"Yeah, I nodded off when you were in with Karole and Annie and it hit," Don frowned.

Actually, the dream was pretty hot. Don dreamed that he was making love to Karole in his parents' bedroom. It was Christmas eve and they had just put Krissy down to sleep, she was a walking and talking 5-year-old, and they had another baby about 3 months old, he was in a bassinette in the bedroom with them. As they fucked there were 3 angels watching them, the one with the purple hair tips, the blond, and one with shorter, permed blond hair who was wearing a bathrobe that looked like a Santa Claus red with white trim jacket. While Don fucked Karole in the ass, the three angels masturbated themselves and each other. It became a ghostly orgy as he and Karole fucked... but where was Lanh? What the hell was going on? These dreams were driving him crazy.

"You cannot let this continue, it's eating you up," said Huy. "It's going to ruin your relationship with Lanh. I think you need to talk to Tam,"

"Ummm, no. She's not that type of psychiatrist."

"Psychologist," corrected Huy.

"Potato, potahtoe," said Don.

_____________________________________________________

We're a Wonderful Wife continues in Chapter 11 and is merely the background story to A Krissmas Karole. This has become such a delightful world that several side stories have been written, and more are being planned. Look in the Literotica Tag portal for the tag waww for all stories and more pertaining to Don and Lanh and their family. If you have any suggestions where to take the story please let me know, so much has changed for the better from reader feedback!

The 2022 Winter Holiday contest entry A Krissmas Karole is the origin of this series. Originally intended as a short back story to A Krissmas Karole, We're a Wonderful Wife took on a life of its own and with each chapter it actually changed the structure of A Krissmas Karole.