Chapter 12

The Prodigal Brother

Ralph Campbell stood on the porch of his huge, beautiful farmhouse, staring out over the sweeping front lawn, the snow was coming down gently, beautiful individual flakes fluttering gently from the dark early morning sky. They coated the branches of the big maple tree and covered the pines in the forest beyond. The tire swing still hung from the tree; it too had a coating of snow. Ralph remembered the first day Lanh saw that tree and she begged him to hang a tire swing from a branch on that tree. She was so cute pleading her case, so he put the swing up for her... just for her... and she swung on it all summer long, her long ebony hair trailing in the breeze behind her. A tiny high school junior, captain of the debate team, academic leader of the class, laughing and playing in that tree like a grade schooler, climbing it like a lithe monkey. Then, in a blink of an eye, she and Don posed under its familiar branches at their wedding, but it was a few years later that her brother Bao and his wife, Lanh's high school chum Rosa, showed up with children who would want to use that swing.

Lanh became his little girl. Yes, Sandy came to him with four daughters and now seven grandchildren, but tiny Lanh became his girl the moment he watched Don escort her onto the ice out at the arena on their first date. She was so small, and so scared, and Ralph fell in love the moment he saw them together. As they slowly skated around the rink Ralph called out to his departed wife, "Look Emily, our boy found his love!" He cheered their victories and wept at their defeats. He marveled at their academic achievements and Don's military advancements, but suddenly Don was injured, and Lanh was winging her way to Germany to be with him, and Ralph had nightmares over his poor little girl, how terrified she must have been! But Lanh's inner strength carried her and Don to their next adventure.

It all came to a halt last night when Don called in tears, he reported that Lanh, Mai, and Karole all were run over by a car. Kim-ly grabbed the baby and she left immediately with her brother Huy and her father Duong for Colorado. She called back a little after midnight and reported that Mai was slightly injured, Lanh's leg and wrist were injured, she also had internal injuries and was unconscious. Karole was near death. As for Don, he was so eaten up with grief and guilt that he was inconsolable. He clung to Kim-ly's baby Danh as he would a lifeboat, the child providing him with the soul source of sanity.

The sun was coming up, but the thick clouds let very little sunlight through and the snowfall began to increase in intensity. It reminded Ralph of the first Christmas the kids had together, it was dark and very blustery that year, the kids were snowed in, and thanks to his little girl they had the best Christmas since before Emily died. But that was then...

Ralph had received several calls throughout the night but the last one from Kim-ly, her voice filled with terror. "Lanh woke up in pain, her side was black. The nurse took one look at her abdomen, and they wheeled her straight into surgery." Since that call Ralph paced the floors of that big old farmhouse and cursed himself. "I should have put my foot down," he muttered, "I should have said No! Stay here where it's safe!" But that's not a father's job. He watched the snow fall and prayed for Lanh and Karole... that's a father's job.

Sandy stepped out onto the wide snow-covered porch; she was covered with a blanket and carried a cup of coffee out to Ralph. Folgers - the Minnesota cure-all. She wrapped her arms around her man and tried to warm the sorrowful father. "Any word?"

"No, she's still in surgery, Don hasn't spoken to anyone."

"She'll be ok," whispered Sandy.

"I worry about Don," said Ralph. "If we lose her, we'll lose him too."

"You don't think that he would..." She left the question hanging in the air as the snow started to come down heavier. "Come inside by the fire, I made sticky buns."

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Huy Nguyen's hand was shaking as he held his phone to his ear. "It's bad honey, it's really bad. I don't believe this is happening." He, his dad Duong, and sister Kim-ly raced through the night to catch the last flight to Denver from Grand Forks ND. From the airport they drove through the dark quiet of the first minutes of Christmas morning north to Mercy General hospital in Loveland CO. Throughout Colorado families were sleeping, hoping for what may be the best morning of their lives unaware of the drama that was taking place in Mercy General hospital.

The room that their mother Mai was assigned to was empty, it looked like it had never been used. Mai had abandoned her room to stay on the couch in her daughter Lanh's room and no convincing on the part of the hospital staff could convince her to move back to her own room.

Ahnjong took a deep shaking breath and began asking questions she didn't want to ask. "How is Lanh?"

Huy Nguyen didn't want to answer, it was like avoiding the question would make it less real. Eventually he said, "She's in surgery." When they had arrived at Lanh's room it too was empty, even Lanh's bed was gone.

"Surgery! It's Christmas morning! I thought her surgery was tomorrow."

"She woke up with a lot of abdominal pain and they sent her down for CT scans and found internal bleeding," said Huy. "They rushed her right into surgery."

"Oh my God, how is Don?" asked Ahnjong.

"Bad. God knows the last time he ate or slept, he only speaks to Karole or to Krissy. We found him and Mai in the surgical waiting room but He's in and out of the waiting room, walking back and forth between Lanh's room and Karole down in the ICU."

"Try this, next time he's in the room with you, ask him to keep an eye on Mai and everybody leave, let mom talk to him."

"And if that doesn't work?"

Ahnie frowned, "Well, he's attorney-in-fact for Karole's care, is he capable of making sound decisions for her medical care right now? You are a lawyer, have a chat with an official in the hospital."

"I don't want to, but you're right. Let's get mom on her feet and we'll start moving forward with her case." After talking with his wife, Huy went looking for his mom and his brother-in-law. Don wasn't in Lanh's room, the empty space where her bed was sitting scared and depressed him, so he's been moving back and forth between the ICU where Karole was lying unconscious and the surgical waiting area where a large status board showed that Lanh was the only patient undergoing surgery and there's no information to show her status, which worried Don even more.

Huy located his mother in the surgical waiting room. She was going to be discharged today so he led her back to Lanh's room where she sat and leaned on Duong who held Krissy and they talked quietly in Vietnamese. "Ok, you guys stay here, I'm going to go find Don and Kim-ly," Huy announced, and he headed for the ICU. Down there he found that Karole was still unconscious, and that Don was not there. "Has Don been here?" Huy asked one of the nurses.

"He was here not too long ago checking in on her," said the nurse.

"How is she doing?"

The nurse looked at her monitor and smiled. "It's funny, but ever since her husband ordered her to get better, her stats have stabilized."

Huy was surprised to hear the ICU nurses calling Don Karole's husband, he chose not to correct them. "He what?"

The nurse attempted to suppress a smile as she looked at the computer screen. "That's what the previous shift noted, he ordered her to heal herself."

"Well," Huy laughed, "he used to be a sergeant, maybe he thought that would help. Can you do me a favor and keep an eye on him? All three women that were injured were especially important to him, and I'm worried about his mental health."

"How so?"

"We don't know when the last time he slept was, or eaten, he's got us worried." He handed the nurse his card. "I'm his lawyer and his brother-in-law."

"Are they getting divorced?" asked the nurse. "I shouldn't ask but it's strange that they have two different lawyers."

"Pardon?"

The nurse showed Huy another business card, "this fellow showed up right after she arrived, we thought he was an ambulance chaser, but he had all of her personal information right. He wanted to know everything about her condition and wanted to be kept updated."

"Interesting," said Huy as he took a picture of the lawyer's card, Gaarder Fiske, esq. and sent it to his wife to look up. "What did you tell him?"

"Well, the guy looked a bit..." the nurse shrugged, "...slimy. So, we said "We can't make an accurate assessment until she's been thoroughly examined by the ICU resident."

"I'm sure that didn't satisfy him," said Huy.

"No, he kept up with that "you're a nurse, you know a thing or two..." typical ambulance chaser. So we decided to wait and see what happened. You didn't take long to get here; how can I be sure you're not chasing an ambulance yourself?"

Huy couldn't blame the nurse for being skeptical, in fact he was glad for it. "The woman she was injured with is my sister, so I'm here on purely personal reasons, but it looks like I should have brought my lawyer hat with me."

-

Don was standing in the surgical waiting room staring at the surgery board, Lanh was no longer there on the board... what did that mean? He stood shaking, unable to come to a conclusion, he had no idea what to think. Was she done? Did she die? Did she leave? He didn't even think to look at the In Recovery board next to the surgical status board. Don didn't notice that Mai and Krissy were gone too.

He started walking, and as he walked, he muttered over and over, "Not today... not today... not today..."

"Don, Don honey, come lay down."

He looked around for the source of the voice and didn't see anyone. He was so confused, he looked in all directions, but there was no one. "Don honey, follow me."

"Mom?"

"Come on honey, hurry, or you'll miss her."

"I failed mom, I couldn't protect her," gasped Don as he tried to keep up.

"You did your best, you kept the baby safe, warm, and loved. That was your job. But now is when you must be strong, recovery is the hard part."

"Mom, stop, I want to see you!"

"Merry Christmas darling, now in here, hurry!"

Don entered Lanh's room and found everybody was there except for Lanh. He looked around the room confused, he saw Mai and Duong, Huy and Kim-ly, Danh and Krissy, but where was his mom? He swore he had followed her here. "Sit!" ordered Kim-ly. "Sit down before you fall down. You've been wandering back and forth in this hospital like some ghoul for sixteen hours." She grabbed his wrist and looked at the step count on his watch. "You got your walking done for a couple of months." She pushed Don back into the recliner and pinned him in place by setting Danh and Krissy on his lap.

"The doctor will be here in a few minutes to tell us about Lanh, and Karole," said Duong.

"You need your sleep!" said Mai, who for the past two decades was the mother in Don's life.

"I'll sleep when I'm dead," said Don.

"If you don't get to sleep you will be dead," responded Kim-ly and Mai at the same time. But Don wasn't paying attention to them, he was marveling at the two small children on his lap who seem to be bonded already. They were smiling and laughing at each other, it was so good to see a smile on Krissy's face considering the horror she had been through this past day.

And then the horror that her mom went through came rushing back, the memory of Karole saying "Mommy's sorry Krissy," the memory of hearing Lanh's tiny, terrified voice call for "help" and there was nothing he could do...

It all flowed back into him, the horror he felt when Karole was crushed... dying... when Lanh was trapped... in pain... begging for his help and there was nothing he could do... his self-loathing at his inadequacy swelled up in him, he needed to scream, he needed to do something - ANYTHING. "I gotta go," Don tried to get up, but Huy stepped forward and pushed him back then crouched down and looked him square in the eye.

"Don, I love you like a brother, and like a brother I'm going to tell you that you need to talk to má. We're going to step outside, you stay and talk."

"But I..."

"No. We go, you stay." There was iron in Huy's words and Don stayed on the recliner with the two babies that were now feeding, suckling intently at their formula bottles. While Mai came over and checked on the babies and showed Don how to hold two of them, Kim-ly, Duong, and Huy left.

"What's wrong?" asked Mai, she gave Don a look that he learned a long time ago meant business.

"I need to see if Karole's..."

"She's not awake, they're keeping her sedated for a few more days, honey." When Mai said "Honey" her accent made it sound like "Han-eee" the same way Lanh says it, which for some reason made him feel comfortable and smile.

"I need to do something," said Don, "Mom... I failed, if I had my head pulled out of my ass none of you would have been hurt. I can't... not today, I just can't sit and do nothing."

Mai shook her head and sighed... her boys - Duong, Huy, Trung, Bao, Don, and Jake, they all have a need to fix everything. "Don, you more than anyone should know that you can't fix everything, we deal with whatever comes our way. Chip date Sega."

Don frowned and shook his head, Lanh, the love of his life is in so much pain, she may be dying right now! He needs to fix it, and why would her mom say something so weird like "Chip date Sega." Then he thought it over, she didn't say chip date Sega, she was speaking Vietnamese. While it sounds to western ears like chip date Sega, what she said was Chết tiệt xảy ra which translates to "Shit Happens." He looked at his mother-in-law in a whole new light. "You said shit!"

"I did no such thing Donovan Aloysius Campbell! And if you tell anyone that I did, I won't let you take my daughter out anymore!"

Don laughed until he had to extract his son's hand from his mouth, the little guy decided to explore his daddy's mouth when Don started laughing. "It's a little late for that don't you think?" said Don as he pulled Danh's hand out of his mouth. The next thing he knew was that Krissy and Danh both decided to put their hands in Don's mouth, and he soon had four wet baby hands rubbing over his face and glasses. His laughing started the little ones giggling, and he began tickling their tummies to keep them from destroying his glasses.

When they settled down Mai showed Don the pictures, she took of the babies tussling with their daddy and said, "they need you. If you had gone you would have missed this."

"And I would have missed hearing you say Chết tiệt xảy ra, which is what Tam tried to teach me in Saudi," said Don, "except Tam used Latin." He searched his memory for those pain filled days four years ago... "Stercore accidit," Latin for shit happens.

"She just used the same lecture on me," said Mai patting her phone, "but for me she used Vietnamese instead of Latin." She got up, dropped two diapers in Don's lap then took Krissy. "But I do remember babies, and they're both wet."

Don unsnapped Danh's sleeper, got the little guy's lower end free and checked his diaper, he was soaked. "Why did you give me two diapers?" asked Don as he pulled off Danh's wet diaper.

"Because I also remember boys," smiled Mai, and suddenly Don realized that he had a giggling fountain laying on his lap, as Danh lay undiapered he began peeing straight up into the air and appeared to be very happy about it. Don quickly took a diaper to catch the spray and placed it over his son who looked happy and relieved and very wet.

"Ha, ha. Ya missed me," taunted Don. "Ya only got yerself," and he started to take off Danh's soaked sleeper. Using several baby-wipes and the second diaper that Mai gave him he wrestled Danh into a dry sleeper that Kim-ly provided and soon Danh was dressed and ready to go, now an eight-month-old member of the Minnesota Vikings.

"You would have missed this if you had left us," said Mai as she placed a freshly changed Krissy on Don's lap with Danh.

"Don't go anywhere," came another voice, "You're needed here."

"Mom?" Don clearly heard the voice now, he looked around the room and noticed a woman sitting in the corner, she rose and walked toward Don. Tall, very slender, mousy brown hair, she was in her late fifties and her crow's feet testified to years of concern. Don realized that he didn't recognize this woman from anywhere, and she was definitely not his mom, but she sounded like her. "Where did you come from?" Don asked.

"I'm Doctor Snider, I came in while you were changing the baby." They shook hands and the Doctor sat down on the couch next to Mai. "I performed Lanh's procedure; and she came through perfectly. She had a few broken blood vessels in her abdomen, and we were able to cauterize the bleeders. She came through just fine."

"Will this affect her surgery tomorrow?" Don asked.

Doctor Snider smiled, "while we had her under, Doctor Becker worked on her leg and immobilized the fractures with two plates and an external frame. It's not pretty but it will do the trick. She'll be back here in a few minutes and Doctor Becker will be here to explain the procedure."

Relief flooded through Don for the first time since Lanh woke up early this morning with severe pain and her left side dark blue. He was so terrified that he had lost her, a shock that he couldn't take a second time after yesterday's disaster. He could tell that Doctor Snider was talking to him, but he wasn't paying attention, he was concentrating on little Danh as he crawled up to rub noses with Don. Krissy saw that and decided she wanted a kiss and soon Don had both babies in his face. They weren't fighting each other but they did frustrate each other causing Don to chuckle.

"He's not paying attention to you, doctor," scolded Mai. "He hasn't slept in two days and he's not thinking."

"These things happen," sighed Doctor Snider, "I take it he and Lanh are very close?"

Mai nodded, "they're on year fifteen of their honeymoon." Seeing the shocked look on the doctor's face Mai simply nodded. "Watch them when she comes back." It wasn't long before Lanh was wheeled back into the room, the transport technician quickly hooked up her monitor leads and connected power to her bed, but all the time Don and Lanh were kissing.

"I'm so sorry honey, were you ok without me?" Lanh asked.

"Danh peed on me and these two think I'm crazy," Don said with a sweeping gesture toward Mai and Doctor Snider. "I'm sorry I didn't go with you, are you ok?" Somehow Krissy climbed on the bed with Lanh and sat next to Lanh smiling at Danh who was starting to fall asleep on Don's lap.

"Who is that?" Lanh whispered. They now had the bed and recliner pushed tight to each other.

"Oh, Doctor Nguyen, this is Doctor Snyder, she soldered you closed."

"It's not exactly like that," said Doctor Snyder then she paused and said, "actually it is like that. I'm Bernice and I was wearing a mask and gown when we met."

"Thank you, Bernice, I feel better now... Doctor Campbell, what are you doing?"

"I was checking her work," said Don who was peeking under Lanh's gown. Doctor Snyder was forgotten.

"Did you get any sleep while I was gone?" asked Lanh.

"No, I spent my time checking on Karole," said Don. Just then a nurse arrived with Lanh's medications. As Dr. Snyder came over to check on Lanh's incision the nurse checked Lanh's vitals, then began to cover Don and Danh up with blankets.

"If you don't mind," said Dr. Snyder to Don, "Since you're not eating or sleeping, do you mind if we administer some vitamins?" She picked up a syringe and needle from the table that the nurse brought in.

"Sure, go for it," said Don as he rolled up his sleeve.

"When is the last time you ate?" demanded Mai.

"When you made that Kow Pot," said Don, "I made a pig of myself."

"That was days ago!" demanded Mai.

"What's Kow Pot?" Dr. Snyder quietly asked Lanh as she placed a stethoscope on Lanh's back.

"Thai fried rice," whispered Lanh as her mother berated Don for not taking care of himself. "He's been having problems sleeping."

"Not today," whispered Dr. Snyder, and she was right. Within 10 minutes Don was sound asleep and the rest of the family returned. "He must have been really tired," said Dr. Snyder to Lanh, "usually, the Benadryl doesn't work that quickly."

Duong, Huy, and Kim-ly came back in and found Lanh nearly in tears as she kissed her sleeping husband's hand. "Of all the days for this to happen," she whispered, "I'm so sorry honey."

"It's not your fault," Duong said as he kissed his daughter's forehead and stroked her hair.

"No, it is, I know better than to take risks on Christmas... his mom!"

"What about his mom?" asked Kim-ly.

"She died on Christmas, that's what started our whole "Christmas Revival Project," said Lanh. "Oh God, what must have been going through his mind when they wheeled me out..."

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Don found himself walking down a long, cold corridor, the overhead lights were too bright but at the same time they illuminated very little. The whole length of the corridor was circles of painfully bright white surrounded by total inky black and there was a buzzing noise in the background that was annoying and hypnotic at the same time. After a long walk down the corridor Don began to notice a hospital bed at the end of the hallway and without knowing how he knew, he knew that Karole was lying on the bed.

As he stepped from one pool of light to another a shape stepped out from shadow into a pool of light ahead of him. The shape was clearly human, and clearly female, she looked young, but the glaring light and the deep black shadows made it very difficult to see her features. "Who are you?" Don asked.

"Who are you looking for?" she countered.

"Karole."

"She's busy."

Don looked around the apparition's shoulder at the hospital bed at the end of the hall, "What could she possibly be doing?"

"Dying. Leave her alone."

"Who are you?" demanded Don and he pushed past the specter. The specter reappeared at the edge of the next pool of light but this time it was a small Asian boy.

"Mom says I can't say."

Don crouched down and said, "I'm a friend of your mom, that makes us friends, right?" The little boy looked confused, but he nodded. "Friends don't keep secrets from each other, who are you?" The little boy twisted in the agony of indecision then sprinted off into the darkness.

As Don got closer to the hospital bed the children appearing to him seemed to be getting younger and younger. Finally, a little three-year-old girl with the laugh and the grin of a born troublemaker answered his question. "We are Reggie!"

"Isn't that a boy's name?" asked Don.

"It our name!" and with a laugh she ran off into the dark.

What the hell? Don thought when a girl that looked to be five years old stepped tentatively into the light, and she was carrying a baby. The child looked incredibly familiar to him and before he could say a word, she looked up at him with tear filled eyes and said "Daddy Don?"

"Krissy? What's going on here?"

"Help momma, she won't talk to us," and the little girl broke into heart rending sobs, and the baby started to slip from her grip.

Don quickly grabbed the baby before she dropped him and unconsciously tucked the little one in the crook of his arm, he was clearly newborn and swaddled tight. Don has seen two newborn babies in his life, Krissy and Danh, this one was perfect, a beautiful, beautiful baby. Don couldn't say why he thought that this child was so much more attractive than his own son, but he is. "Who is this?" he asked Krissy.

"He's Reggie, my lil' bruver."

"Come on, let's see your mom." He led Krissy by the hand to the hospital bed where her mother lay. She was banged up, bruised, and swollen. Her legs were splintered and bandaged and lifted in traction like her right arm. Before he could say anything, Karole's eyes opened and she turned to him and said, "Norma's calling, please get that for me."

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Don awoke with a start and found that his right hand, which was holding five-year-old Krissy's hand, was now gently holding Lanh's damaged hand, and the other arm which was holding Reggie was empty. "Where... where's the baby?"

"Good morning," said Lanh softly, "you had a good nap." Don could still feel the warmth, the weight of the newborn in his arm. Terrified that he dropped the baby when he woke up, Don leaned over to see if there was a baby on the floor. "What are you looking for?" asked Lanh.

"I had a baby, I was holding him in my arm, now he's gone," gasped Don who was still coming to terms with the fact that he was asleep. "He was Karole's son."

Lanh chuckled, "How do you know he was Karole's son?"

"Krissy told me."

"Krissy told you?" Lanh shook her head in disbelief. "Krissy is eleven months old; she knows one word."

"He was right here," said Don ignoring Lanh's argument. "I can still feel him in my arm..."

Suddenly they heard: You're a mean one, Mr. Grinch, you really are a heel, you're as cuddly as a cactus, you're as charming as an eel. Mr. Grinch! It was the ringtone that Don had put on Karole's phone poking fun at her anti-Christmas sentiment. Both Don and Lanh looked around the room, then Lanh gestured to a clear plastic bag that held the items that were recovered when they got Karole out from under Bradley Davis's car. Don pulled the phone out of the bag and saw the name of the caller displayed on the phone: Norma.

Don had heard the name Norma come up once, maybe twice, when Karole talked about college in Athens Georgia, but he knew nothing of their relationship. Nervously Don glanced over to Lanh who nodded, and he hit the button, "Hello?"

A cheerful voice with a slight Hispanic accent said, "Hey Merry Christmas! You ain't my girl? Where's my Christmas Karole?"

"Norma? Hi, I'm... uh... Don and this is my wife Lanh..."

"Hi," said Lanh weakly.

"I've heard so much about you guys!" cried Norma, "where's my girl? It's time for her secrets to end!"

With her uninjured hand Lanh gestured to Don to hand her the phone. "Norma? This is Lanh, we never spoke, and Karole only mentioned you a few times..."

"She told me all about you," said Norma happily. "I've been waiting for a chance to meet you guys, she was supposed to introduce us, but all that shit happened with Jayce."

"Norma, please listen," Lanh tried to start over, but her voice was wavering in sorrow.

"What's the matter? What happened? You sound like ..."

Don wasn't the type to ease the Band-Aid off, he was the grab and yank quickly type. "Norma, there was an accident, a drunk was driving on an ice-covered parking lot, he was showing off..."

"Oh God, he killed her!" howled Norma.

"She's not dead. Norma, she's banged up pretty bad but she's still alive."

"How banged up?" asked Norma through her tears. Don proceeded to list the injuries that Karole suffered and with each one Norma gasped and whimpered trying to hold back a sob as did Lanh who hadn't heard the full list of injuries. "And she's still alive?" wept Norma.

"She saved my life," said Lanh. "She ran across the parking lot and shoved me out of the way at the last moment... I don't know where she came from..."

"Oh God damn..." groaned Norma and she began weeping with Lanh. Don got on the bed and held Lanh tight while through her tears Norma said, "She saved my life too... dumb-ass innocent virgin in a huge university, I must have tried every drug someone brought on campus, I was passed around more than a crack pipe. She finally told me to clean my act up or she's kicking me out of our room, I guess I reminded her of her mother."

"Yeah," sniffed Don, "she banned us from ever mentioning her mother in front of Krissy. She said, "if Krissy ever asks you, tell her that her grandmother is an Asian woman in Minnesota." Lanh tried not to laugh but she remembered the day that Karole had sickened herself with memories of her mother and banned that old drunk from her life.

"I thought she would have said an old black witch that lived in the Okefenokee Swamp," said Norma.

"Who?" said Lanh finally choking back the tears.

"Grandma Noah," Norma waited for a reaction but got nothing, "she didn't mention Grandma Noah?"

"I would have remembered that," said Lanh.

"She never mentioned it to me," said Don.

"Really? Karole told me all about the crazy old witch she used to give catfish to when she went fishing in the swamp," said Norma. "The crazy old girl told Karole that she was going to have five kids and she was going to call her first boy Reggie."

Don suddenly went white, "Oh God," he muttered.

"What - what's wrong dear?" Lanh asked.

"The baby I was holding in my dream, his name was Reggie."

"No!" gasped Lanh.

"What dream?" asked Norma.

"I've been having weird dreams and sometimes they were pretty scary," explained Don. "They're always about..." Don shook his head; he couldn't bear think about it. "In this last one I was holding a baby, Krissy told me that the baby was named Reggie and Karole woke up and told me to answer the phone."

"Wait," said Norma, "she told you to answer the phone?"

Don nodded, "Yes, she said, "Norma's calling, please get that for me," and I woke up immediately. I spoke with Lanh for a little bit then the phone rang, and it was you."

Ten minutes later Don was in the ICU with Karole, they added his phone to the conversation and Don placed his phone on speaker and held it near Karole's ear, one of the few undamaged parts of her body. "What's that noise?" asked Norma.

"That's the ventilator, it's breathing for her, I can hit mute." Don muted the phone then paused a moment when Lanh wondered if he was still there. "I'm still here," he said after unmuting the phone. "Just tell me to unmute, that machine is pretty loud, but you guys go ahead, she'll hear you." And he muted again. "Karole honey, I have a surprise for you, Norma and Lanh are here for you."

Norma and Lanh whispered encouragement and memories of days gone by and as they spoke Don noticed that Karole's heart rate climbed, before they started her heart rate was rock solid at 60 beats per minute but now, she was up to a steady sixty-four. As they were encouraging Karole a nurse came in and whispered in Don's ear, he responded "Ok, give me a moment." He then unmuted the phone and said, "Ok girls, the nurses have to work with Karole, let's say our cheerful goodbyes," he stressed the word cheerful hoping that maybe, deep down, if Karole is listening, their cheerful voices help lift her spirits.

Finally, when the goodbyes from Lanh and Norma were over, he whispered in Karole's ear, "I don't know where we are going with this crazy-ass relationship the four of us have, you, me, Lanh, and Kim-ly, but right now Kim-ly and I are driving. We're going to sell that house of yours and you're living with us. I'm sending out the change of address notices starting tomorrow. When you and Lanh are ready for transport, we will move back to the farm and sell our house. Dad and Sandy are excited and can't wait to help you move in. We have a lawyer investigating this whole mess right now, and tomorrow we will have a team of lawyers working on the case, ok? Now you rest and let me take care of you." He leaned forward and kissed her cheek then added, "I love you, and I can't wait to give you a proper kiss."

As he left Don noticed that Karole's heart rate was holding steady at 65 beats per minute, and he asked a nurse about it.

"Sixty-five is a good heartrate," said the nurse, "noting to be worried about."

"No, what I'm saying is that all day her heart rate has been fifty-nine or sixty," said Don. "I put a phone up to her ear and her friends were talking to her and her heart rate went up to sixty-five, is that a good thing?

The nurse gave a rueful smile, she's seen families of the critically injured or hopelessly ill grasping at any response hoping it was a sign of recovery. The canned, pre-planned answer fit this situation as good as any. "We can't know for sure, and she may not know, but we keep trying, and sometimes being positive is a huge help."

An hour later Kim-ly stepped into Lanh's room with a picnic hamper. At first glance it looked like Don and Lanh were lying together in a full-size bed, but the big recliner was pushed up against the bed and the bed was adjusted to match the recliner's contours and they had a large blanket pulled over them. When Kim-ly walked in they were laughing riotously which caused Lanh some pain, but it didn't stop their laughing. "All right you guys, what is so funny?"

"We were just reviewing our greatest Christmas hits," said Don.

"What do you mean? Jingle Bell Rock? Those kinds of hits?"

"No," scoffed Lanh. "We know for a fact that we missed one Christmas together when he was in Germany looking for an apartment and I was home crying myself to sleep with you..."

Kim-ly rolled her eyes, "how could I forget that Christmas!" She set down the hamper and slipped off her jacket and gave Don a hug. "Don't worry about Lanh, she's exaggerating, she did not cry herself to sleep, she never went to sleep!"

"We just talked to Ralph and Sandy and Sandy had to remind us of that," said Lanh who would have been happy not to have remembered it.

"That Christmas apart, that was the worst," said Don.

"What about Wiesbaden? We thought you were going to die!" cried Kim-ly, "You lost your chance to adopt!"

"But we were together," said Lanh as her fingers entwined with Don's.

Don smiled and kissed her cheek "We came close to having a bad one in Korea."

"I'll say! We just get you back in the land of the living after that damn doctor..." Kim-ly growled at the thought of a doctor of any pedigree telling a young woman she's infertile on Christmas Eve... "Don gets sent away to Korea and you disappear! We were freaking out for almost a week!"

"I left you a note! It said, "I'm going to Korea for Christmas!" insisted Lanh.

"We thought that was a euphemism!" Kim-ly nearly shrieked. She crawled up on Don's lap facing him and hugged Don and Lanh. "You two are driving me crazy!"

"Why? Korea was fun!" said Lanh. "You came and stayed with us for a couple of months when we were at Osan."

"I was never mistaken for a Korean hooker," pouted Kim-ly, "Unlike some people I know."

There came the gentle tap-tap on the door that medical professionals practice for years to get just right. "We have Korean hookers in here?" asked Leanne, the evening nurse.

"No. Just us Viets," said Kim-ly.

"Oh! Chào buổi tối," said Leanne.

Don looked up when she said "Good evening" in Vietnamese, although she was blond, her eyes showed her Asian heritage. "We were just discussing the ghosts of Christmases past."

"Which includes Korean hookers?" smiled Leanne as she took Lanh's blood pressure.

It fell to Don to tell the story. By the time he completed the story of how Lanh flew to Korea, got into his dorm room, fell asleep naked on his bunk, and was discovered by his Korean housekeeper, Leanne had all of Lanh's vitals taken and Kim-ly had gotten up and set out the Christmas dinner she brought for them.

"How is Krissy doing, is she sleeping?" Don asked as Kim-ly packed up to head back home.

"Not well," Kim-ly said sadly. "Danh is a great distraction, but I don't know how long before missing her mommy takes over."

Don looked sadly at Lanh; they both knew what he had to do. Krissy was as familiar with Don as she was with her mother, she may sleep for him. "Go," said Lanh. "We've had worse Christmases."

"You didn't leave me in Germany..." started Don.

"I couldn't," said Lanh, "I had nowhere else to go." When Don looked torn, she added, "She needs you, I just had a cup full of pain killers that are knocking me out. Go. I'll call you when I wake up."

"Ok," and with a sad kiss they parted. Don and Kim-ly headed down to the ICU in silence and said a quick goodbye to Karole, praying silently that she would still be alive in the morning.

Outside in the parking lot Kim-ly turned to Don with a serious scowl, held out her hand and said, "Give 'em to me."

"Give you what."

"You know what I'm talking about," Kim-ly showed Don a switch blade knife. "I got this from her, you give me yours."

With a sigh Don pulled a bottle full of pills out of his pocket and handed them to Kim-ly. "You know I would have gone after her," he said. "I would have found her too."

"I know," sighed Kim-ly. He probably would have found her over there on the other side Kim-ly thought.

֎ ֎ ֎ ֎ ֎ ֎ ֎ ֎ ֎

"You guys must smell blood in the water," said Don as he tried to break up a "fight" between Krissy and Danh. For some reason these two wanted to take each other's pacifier. They were sitting side by side in highchairs gnawing on their binkies when suddenly Krissy reached over and grabbed Danh's pacifier and pulled it out of his mouth. Immediately Danh grabbed Krissy's pacifier, pulled it out of her mouth and put it in his. This would go on for three or four rounds until they would stop for no reason.

"Why do you say that?" asked Ahnjong, as she bustled around Don's kitchen alternately making coffee and reviewing a stack of documents that she drew out of her briefcase.

"You have been here two days and all you've done is make calls to anybody that knows anything about Torgeson and Briggs Financial Consulting," said Don as he moved the children apart. That backfired immediately as the two began crying and continued to wail loudly until he pushed their chairs back together and peace resumed.

"They're scum," said Ahnjong. "What were you doing last night? You came home late from the hospital and were puttering around in the kitchen until two AM."

"Closer to three. I was trying out a noodle recipe. Lanh's night nurse Leanne's mom is Viet and she brought me a recipe for Phở Chiên Phồng and I think I can nail it every time." He put a paper plate on the table and took off the paper towel that covered it to reveal a mound of small, golden pillows.

"Giant pizza rolls?" asked Ahnjong.

"Taste," said Don and handed her a pillow.

It was incredibly light, so whatever he filled it with was extremely light. She bit in and found that it was completely hollow. "Tiny square sopas?"

Don was about to answer when Huy came up from the suite in the basement. As he straightened up his tie, he looked at the plate. "Puffers! I haven't had one of these in ages!" He snatched one off the plate and bit in. "Mmmm that's perfect, just like Grandma Tri made, where did you get those?"

"I made them last night," said Don. They were simply a typical pho noodle, but drawn out wide and flat then cut into square pieces and fried (chiên) in very hot oil. The noodle would fill up with air and become a puff (phồng).

"And they're still puffed up?" asked Huy as he inspected the remaining half of the pho in his hand. "They usually flatten out by now."

"They're a little overcooked, I fried them a bit longer than normal to make them sturdier," said Don. "You like?"

"I love it! Má is going to be so jealous. Why were you up all night making noodles?"

"You guys gave me the noodle maker." When Don submitted his dissertation for his PhD, Huy gave him a machine for making noodles to encourage him to be the first "Doctor of Education that actually works for a living."

"You know why he was up," said Kim-ly from the corner where she sat studying her cup of coffee. She was up all night also, too excited to sleep. Lanh is coming home today, New Year's Eve, a full week from the day she was hit. "You going to make it to midnight lil' bro?"

"Who cares?" said Don. "Just as long as I'm with Lanh... we haven't slept apart this much since I was in rehab."

"It's her turn for the rehab now," said Huy, "has she decided where she wants to go?"

"St. Stanislaus in Greeley until we can move Karole to Grand Forks," said Don.

"Enough talk," said Kim-ly, "Go get Lanh so we can have some of these noodles for dinner." She had bitten a hole in a puffed noodle and was wearing it like a false clown nose to the amusement of Krissy and Danh.

Ahnjong cleared her throat and said, "first we have a quick appointment scheduled to discuss Gaarder Fiske, esq Attorney at Law."

"Who is Gaarder Fiske, esq Attorney at Law?" asked Don.

"Gaarder Fiske, esq Attorney at Law is a partner in the law firm of Fisk, Damon, Ramirez, & Fisk," said Ahnjong.

"And Fisk, Damon, Ramirez, & Fisk is the law firm that represents our friends at Torgeson and Briggs Financial Consulting," said Huy.

"And young Gaarder Fiske, esq Attorney at Law passed himself off as Karole's personal injury attorney to the medical staff at Mercy General Hospital," said Ahnie.

"That's very cute," said Kim-ly. "Do you guys complete each other's sentences in court too?"

An hour later Don found himself in a conference room in the law offices of Fisk, Damon, Ramirez, & Fisk. This was a conference room that put movie lawyer offices to shame. The beautiful teak woodwork on the walls, bookshelves and furnishings of this room would look more at home on the deck of a multi-million-dollar yacht than lining the walls of a conference room owned by a bunch of shysters. The hand rubbed lacquer finish on the conference table looked like inch thick glass, and the comfort of the office chairs around the table put Don's recliner at home to shame.

Huy and Ahnjong sat at the conference table, Don sat in a chair behind them against the wall. As the scheduled meeting time came and went, Huy and Ahnjong turned around to Don to let him know how the game was played. "Do not let this freak you out," said Huy, "they're going to try to antagonize you into saying something stupid that they can use in court. Don't give them the satisfaction."

"Typically, they'll keep us waiting fifteen minutes or more," said Ahnjong. She patted Don's knee, "Just stay cool and let us do the talking. We'll let them babble for a while, then we'll drop the bomb on them and walk out, ok?"

Don nodded agreement but he hated every minute in that office that reeked of Scotts Liquid Gold, even though that was his favorite wood polish too. The meeting was scheduled for 10:00 AM, but they were kept waiting in the conference room until 10:30 when six impeccably dressed lawyers came in, four men ranging from early 30's to late 70's and two women, both slim and angry looking. Don figured he would be angry too if all he ever ate was kale and bitter white wine.

The elder gentleman who Don guessed was Gaarder Fiske senior started the meeting with "I'm sorry we were late; we had an important case we had to clear up. How may we help you?" Ahnjong put a tissue to her nose and sniffed, a prearranged signal to Don telling him that they knew what Fiske said was a lie.

How can we help you? That surprised Don, they were asking six million dollars in damages plus legal and medical expenses for both Mai, Lanh and Karole. You can help us by writing some checks, Huy and Ahnjong's bosses and the courts would decide who would get how much money. "We're prepared to offer you eight hundred and fifty thousand dollars," said the younger of the two women.

"Each?" asked Ahnjong after a sniff into her tissue. "Because their medical bills have already exceeded that." Don wasn't too worried about Lanh because of her university healthcare and their military healthcare, but poor Karole has practically nothing, just enough to make it legal and cover Krissy. Don tuned them out, he had his iPad and was downloading a movie using the complimentary Wi-Fi when he suddenly heard one of the lawyers accuse Lanh of enticing Bradly Davis "like a Saigon bar girl while her madam sat right there cheering her on." It was Gaarder Fiske Esq. the younger of the two slime wallowers.

Don saw Ahnjong's hand grasp Huy's hand under the table and they gripped each other tightly, clearly a signal to each other to calm down. Don tried to imagine what Lanh's signal to calm down would be, but he would like to think that she would say, "Beat the fuck out of him, please."

Finally, Ahnjong said, "Mister Gaarder Fiske, esquire, on December twenty fourth you informed the head nurse at the Mercy General ICU that you were the legal representative for Miss Karole Krigbaum and that the hospital was obligated to keep you informed of her progress..."

"No, I'm sorry Ms. Park, someone must be mistaken..."

Ahnjong stepped back from the plate, rubbed some dirt on her hands, pointed to the center field stands, then stepped back to the plate. The crowd went silent as she picked up her bat, set her stance, gripped the bat tight, and swung...

"Mister Fisk, all conversations in the ICU are recorded because of frivolous lawsuits, and all interactions with the nursing desk are videotaped for the same reason. A copy of the video, and transcripts of the conversation signed by the nurses involved and your business card which you handed to them are ready to be sent to the state bar along with an affidavit stating that Donovon Campbell has power of attorney over her affairs and that he has retained Huy Nguyen and the law firm of Haas, Vandermeer, and Nguyen as her legal counsel. This information is also ready to be forwarded to your client."

The crack of her bat striking the ball echoed through the stadium and the crowd went wild as the ball cleared the center field stands and soared into the parking lot. Ahnjong is not above blackmail, not when family is involved.

The room went deathly silent, Don would later say that all that could be heard was the sound of dripping sweat from the Fisk, Damon, Ramirez, & Fisk side of the table. Huy finally broke the silence by saying, "Please inform your clients that we will be asking for a settlement of eight point five million dollars, and all medical and legal costs to include relocation costs."

Ahnjong turned around to Don and asked, "Doctor Campbell, is there anything you would like to add?"

Don got up and stepped behind Ahnjong's chair and glared at the lawyer who called his wife a whore. He used the glare he honed to perfection on truculent airmen who scoffed at safety regulations, and the younger Fisk fucked up and let his eyes meet Don's. Don held him in his glare for a very long time, which turned out to be the perfect length of time because Don saw fear and uncertainty enter into Fisk's eyes. "Twelve million," he said firmly then turned and without a further word he left.

Huy snapped his briefcase closed as he and Ahnjong stood. "I stand corrected, my client requires twelve million plus medical and relocation expenses. We'll be in touch." And they left the room bathed in stunned silence. Nothing is as weak and silent as a lawyer that realizes that they just underestimated Huy and Ahnjong Nguyen.

֎ ֎ ֎ ֎ ֎ ֎ ֎ ֎ ֎

"That's it?" asked Lanh, "you just left?"

"Yeah," said Don as they relaxed in her room while waiting for the discharge papers to arrive. "He's going to be looking over his shoulder for me for months." They were looking over some plans that they had in mind for Sandy and Ralph, Mai, and Duong. "An extra three and a half million would help these plans along."

"Oh yes they would," smiled Huy as he pointed out a few items to Lanh. Both couples wanted to completely retire, get away from the farm and the restaurant, and from the big houses they no longer needed and the grandchildren that they loved but no longer had the energy to invest on a full-time basis, yet stay close to their families and each other as the two couple have grown to be great friends over the years since their children met. Don and Huy had a plan to satisfy their wishes whether they won this case or not.

Eventually the discharge nurse came in and went over a long series of instructions for Lanh's caregivers. Over the past week Don has had classes that were as intense as the newborn classes he went to when Danh was born, this time on caring for Lanh's injuries and just as importantly safely transferring her in and out of vehicles, chairs, and beds. He's also planning on caring for Karole, they're going to wake and extubate her on January 9.

"I am so ready to go!" said Lanh as Don finished transferring her to the wheelchair. "Where's the babies? I want to give them a ride."

"They're with mamma Kim-ly waiting for us. I have her slicing the beef and veggies for dinner tonight. I'm making Phở Chiên Phồng and Rosa says that if you like it, she will put it on the menu when we get back.

"I can't wait," and with a series of goodbyes to her nurses and Dr. Snider she was wheeled to the ICU where she got her first glimpse of Karole. She sat in shocked silence as she saw her dear friend broken and bandaged, the only signs of life were shown on a computer monitor.

"Her heartbeat is up some more," whispered Don, "so is her blood oxygen levels and look! Her blood pressure is nearly perfect! She was so low; it was so scary." But Lanh didn't hear, she was weeping.

"My friend!" Lanh gasped. How could such a thing happen? Twelve million wasn't enough, those bastards owe this woman everything! "Closer," she whispered to Don and when He pushed her right up to Karole's bed, she softly said, "Please give us a little space."

"I understand," and Don backed away.

"Why? Why did you do this? I'm not worth this pain," wept Lanh as she gently held Karole's arm. "Please don't leave me. When we're better we can raise our cows and work together in the restaurant and hide from this world..."

Don let Lanh remain close to Karole for a long time, and when he realized that Lanh was weeping so hard, she was making herself sick he whispered in Lanh's ear, "we should go baby, Karole needs her rest."

"Ok," said Lanh weakly and Don wheeled her out to the main entrance where Huy waited in Lanh's SUV. He hopped out to help Don and Ahnjong get Lanh into the SUV, but Lanh wanted to do as much as she could herself. She got herself standing on her good leg and her back to the rear seat, she couldn't remember what the next step was. Don stepped up and swept her up in his arms and gently seated his tiny wife in the back seat and buckled her in.

She fumbled for a proper thank you, but Don took her chilly cheeks in his fingers, turned her face to him and kissed her gently. As their lips parted, their eyes met and he said, "That's all you have to say, and anything you want is yours."

She wrapped her right arm around him and pulled him close. "I missed us so much," she wept as they held each other close.

Realizing that they were blocking traffic Huy made a show of putting her clothes and other items in the back of the SUV as Don got in his seat next to Lanh. They pulled away, swung through a Dunkin Donuts, got Lanh a hot chocolate and headed for their house in Greeley.

Dinner was a success, the Phở Chiên Phồng was perfect, and for the first time in what felt like ages, Lanh was able to eat her fill. That evening she sat and watched how the Grinch Stole Christmas with Danh and Krissy on her lap and both were asleep before the Grinch cleaned out Whoville.

Don and Kim-ly lifted Krissy and Danh from Lanh's lap and carried them off to bed, they were both in a crib in Kim-ly's room. Returning to the living room Don noticed that Lanh could barely keep her eyes open. "Are you ready for bed too?" Don asked.

"Yeah, I'm not going to make it to midnight tonight darling," said Lanh.

"It's ok, we're together," said Don. "Do we want to try the shower chair?"

"Ok," then as Don wheeled her out of the living room Lanh called out, "Good night, Happy New Years, and Thank you."

"Don't you worry em," said Huy as he leaned over to kiss her forehead, "Thank you for letting us help." Lanh waved goodnight to Ahnjong who was talking to the twins on the phone and Kim-ly was reading to Danh and Krissy.

Don carefully undressed Lanh and with a few bumps that caused pain he soon had her undressed and in the shower chair. Don worried and fussed about her like a nervous mother hen until Lanh said "Stop, stop, stop. I'm not..." she paused to search for the word.

"Fragile?" asked Don. "Yes, you are. I almost lost you; I can't let that happen again." He looked her in the eye and said, "Please, let me worry over you, let me do everything I can to care for you."

"You already do," she said. "I don't want you making yourself sick taking care of me."

"No, let me. Let me care, you did it for me." Lanh realized how much this meant to him that he could actually do something, and her heart soared. She was free from the hospital and sleeping alone, the pain wasn't gone but the loneliness was. They kissed under the spray of the shower with a tender love that she missed so much in the hospital.

"Ok, but you need to know, you can soap my boobs all you want, it's not getting you anywhere for a while."

Don chuckled, his hands on her delightful little breasts, "I'm keeping in practice." He did get some props for the towels he patted her dry with. "God, I missed your softener skills, the towels at the hospital were sandpaper!" sighed Lanh as Don gently dried her then, peeled the plastic bags off of her injury sites.

Not long later Kim-ly peeked in to say good night to Lanh but she and Don were curled together in bed, but she saw Don looking up at her, he put his finger to his lips so Kim-ly just waggled her fingers at him and went back to the room she was using across the hall. Huy and Ahnjong had gone downstairs to their apartment. She opened up her iPad and started to read. At about 10:30 Mountain time she called a friend in the eastern time zone who was 30 minutes into the new year. "Happy New Year! Do we have flying cars in your time yet?"

They chatted for a while, Kim-ly updated her on the hell her brother-in-law and sister had to survive for the past four years, now capped with Lanh's personal nightmare. "Yeah, seriously, the guy that grabbed her in the bar ran her over in the parking lot... What?... I have no idea if he was aiming at her, but Huy won't let a jury forget what happened..." suddenly a screaming came from Don and Lanh's room, it was Lanh shrieking in terror. "I gotta go, call ya back." She hung up and tossed her phone on the bed and dashed across the hall.

In Lanh's room she fumbled with the light switch, there was a slider to adjust brightness but also a rocking on/off switch under the slider. She finally got some lights on, and Lanh was shrieking, her unseeing eyes were rolling, her legs kicking and causing herself pain, she was shouting "Get it off!" while Don tried to hold her hands back. He was softly saying, "It's me, you're ok, you're safe!" he was clearly terrified for her.

Kim-ly immediately jumped in to hold back Lanh's injured right leg and her uninjured left leg so she wouldn't kick the injury. "It's ok, you're safe, Karole is safe."

"Honey please, calm down," Don was in tears, he was truly heading into shock himself.

Just then Huy joined them. "Not this again," he said with a sigh, and he leaned forward and started stroking Lanh's hair. "It's ok baby, it's all over," he whispered in her ear. "We love you, you're ok." And shortly, like a runaway locomotive running out of fuel, Lanh started to calm down, she soon stopped fighting and kicking, and she curled up and shuddered. Don looked at Huy questioningly. Huy shrugged, "stroking her hair, it's the only thing we found that worked."

"What do you mean?" asked Kim-ly softly.

"When she was little she used to have nightmares; Tam was the only one that could calm her down until she showed me how." He straightened up and said, "You guys good?"

"Thanks, Huy," said Don as he got up and gave Huy a hug. "You're always there for me."

"Go back to bed before this gets weird," kidded Huy and he headed back to the basement while Don went to the bathroom and splashed water on his face and held back the scream of terror that almost worked its way out. When he returned to bed Lanh was completely comatose. He rearranged the blankets and pillows again, building a stack of pillows to elevate her injured leg. As he did that, Kim-ly grabbed her pillow and leaving the door open so she could hear the babies she climbed in bed with Don and Lanh, and soon, laying on opposite sides of Lanh, Don and Kim-ly kept an eye on the little woman they love so much, both worried sick over her.

At some point in the night Kim-ly's cell phone quietly chimed and she lifted up on one elbow. Her first New Year's Eve with people her own age in the area in years and they're all asleep. At least they're all asleep in the same bed, I could make a story up about this. "You ok?" whispered Don.

"Happy New Year," whispered Kim-ly sadly.

Don lifted up and leaned over and gave Kim-ly a little kiss and as they lay back down, Lanh groaned, "You guys' kiss like third graders."

"What?" chuckled Kim-ly.

"It's New Years! You guys should be partying!" She snaked her good hand under Kim-ly and tickled her sister's ribs.

"Ok, ok" groaned Kim-ly and she leaned over Lanh and kissed Don again.

"Better?" Don asked, but Lanh didn't verbally respond because her tongue was in his mouth.

֎ ֎ ֎ ֎ ֎ ֎ ֎ ֎ ֎

Ten-year-old Karole Krigbaum poled her old flat bottom boat through the narrow creeks and ways of the Okefenokee swamp, following canals so shallow and narrow that the alligators ignored them. The swamp isn't all wetland, there's plenty of dry land that folks farm on, but you need to know your way through the wetland to get to the dry areas.

Young Karole knew she was getting close to Grandma Noah's cabin because the alligators stopped sliding into the black water and turtles stopped leaping off the branches that hung out over the water. Like the birds, the turtles and the gators just watched her with mild disinterest as she drifted past. They knew that they were protected by Grandma Noah and no harm would befall them from this young girl. The catfish knew they were fair game and stayed near the bottom as she passed right over their heads.

The young girl rounded a corner of the canal and there ahead, in a cypress grove, was her cabin. It was ancient, but being made of cypress wood it would last forever. A covered porch faced the water, and she could nearly row right up to the porch. "Grandma! Grandma Noah!" called young Karole, but instead of a wizen old woman, an ancient man stepped out of the cabin. He was very, very tall, slim, and completely bald.

"Who is come callin'?" he asked as he slowly lowered himself into Grandma Noah's rocking chair on the porch.

"Who are you?" demanded Karole as she poled up to Grandma Noah's dock.

"I'm the one that owns this cabin and more importantly, I'm the one that you caught those catfish for," he replied as he pointed at her boat.

"Ah caught them all fer Grandma Noah, not you," insisted young Karole as she climbed onto the dock and lifted an old enamel pail out of the bottom of the boat. The catfish in the pail woke up and began slithering around causing the pail to wiggle. "Hush you," she scolded the fish.

"Why don't you bring them here little kittenfish, and I'll make us a nice catfish dinner."

"Only Grandma Noah called me that, who are you?" demanded the child that will become the Karole that Lanh knows.

"Things have changed little one. I suppose you can call me Grandpa Noah now, if you want."

Karole walked up to the edge of the porch, she wasn't angry, but she was confused, and she hates being confused. "What happened? Where is Grandma Noah?" Karole looked out over the sweltering hot swamp, what would this place do without their witch to make sure the swamp was taken care of?

"To answer your last question first," said Grandpa Noah, "ah'll be takin' care of the swamp just like ah always used to."

Karole sighed and pulled herself up on the other rocking chair. He sure talks like Grandma Noah, she always ignored what Karole asked and answered the questions that Karole never said out loud. "You sure are Grandma Noah, you never answer my questions."

"It's probably because you don't ask the right question," smiled the old man mysteriously.

"What happened?" she demanded loudly and crossed her arms letting Grandpa Noah know she wasn't moving until he answered her question.

"What happened?" he laughed with a loud hoot, "What happened was that you learned how to walk on ice. No one ever thought you could do it, but you sure did!" he slapped his skinny thigh with a laugh.

"Walk on ice?!?" Karole wrinkled her nose in confusion. Walk on ice? That was impossible to young Karole who has never been north of Waycross Georgia where the coldest day in winter bottomed out at forty-five degrees. To her ice exists only inside freezers. In nature it is only found in small cubes cooling drinks like cola or lemonade.

Grandpa Noah nodded, "Up north where winter will kill you just as soon as look at you, ice can grow several feet thick, and you can drive a semi across a lake."

Karole shook her head like she just tasted something sour. "Why would anyone wanna live there?"

"Because it's where they are. It's as simple as that. When you grow up making snowmen and throwing snowballs it's what you do every winter."

"So where is Grandma Noah!" Karole nearly shouted, her fine blond hair waiving as she waved her hands madly.

Grandpa Noah pulled the pail of fish to his feet and made an inventory of the fish as they squirmed in the shallow water. "One day, years from now, you were offered a choice, you could have had A, or you could have had B, either way you could have ended up happy with a man that you loved, but your best friend would have died. Instead, you went right past J and K. You ignored L and grabbed for M. The man remained happily married and your best friend lived."

"But what happened to ME?" demanded Karole.

"Now that really is the right question, isn't it?" smiled Grandpa Noah. "Let's go get these fish filleted and fried up, it's almost time for you to wake up.

"Ok!"

֎ ֎ ֎ ֎ ֎ ֎ ֎ ֎ ֎

"Karole honey, don't try to talk, shhh, shhh, shhh." The ICU nurse was working to get the ICU bed ready for Karole's first breaths on her own in two weeks. Removing the endotracheal tube that has been her connection to the mechanical ventilator for the past two weeks is a process called extubation that is long and complicated and actually began as the tube was being put into her trachea to save her life on that horrible Christmas Eve.

As the nurse started to remove the tape that held the tube in place she explained to Karole, "This is Nancy, she's the respiratory therapist, and this is Doctor Witcomb who will be taking the tube out and I'm Crystal, I'll get you anything you need. Are you ready?"

Karole nodded; she was terrified but she had to get this thing out of her mouth.

"That's great, just a moment we'll get this out and you'll be singing again," said Dr. Witcomb. He nodded to Crystal who took a suction hose and vacuumed all the saliva and other gook out of Karole's mouth. "Now take a deep, deep breath, now exhale hard." As she exhaled Dr. Witcomb eased the endotracheal tube out of Karole's trachea. "Now cough out all that stuff," he said.

There was no way she could do anything but cough. A mouthful of glop came out that was caught in a pan that was held under her chin. A nasal canula was put on her and pure oxygen was being blown into her nose as she began breathing on her own. She didn't realize how much work breathing is when you have to relearn it all over again.

The nurses fussed over her, cleaning the goo from the tape off of her face, bandages were changed. Finally, she croaked her first word in weeks, "stop."

"We have to get you all pretty, there's a crowd of people out there waiting to talk to you."

Karole didn't want to see anyone. Didn't they know that this whole thing was a supernatural attempt to steal Don from Lanh? It was supposed to be Lanh laying here dead and Karole was supposed to be comforting Don right now, they were supposed to be burying Lanh's ashes out by the pond and marking the site with a piece of rose quartz. She suddenly felt nauseous. She closed her eyes and wished this would all go away, and when she opened them again there was Tam and Mai. Karole tried to say, "I want to sleep, leave me alone," but all that came out was "Ah..."

Tam brushed Karoles bruised and battered cheek with her elegant hand and said, "Thank you for saving our little girl."

"I tried..." Karole wanted to say that she tried to steal Don, but Mai interrupted her.

"If you ever run out in traffic again, so help me you'll be grounded! You scared us!"

She was crying! Poor Mai who suffered so much with her own family was in tears over some random redneck loser. Karole was so moved that she said something she has never said in her entire life. "I'm sorry momma." Her own mother was Ma or Mother, never momma or mommy. Karole now realized that she had a mommy, and she was crying with Mai and Tam.

Out in the main lobby waiting area Don and Lanh nervously waited their turn to see Karole, how do you properly thank the person who saved your life at the risk of their own? Krissy lay face down on Don's lap, she's been a fussy child this morning, she even pushed Danh away, she just wanted Don. Unfortunately, she doesn't get to see mommy, there's too many wires and tubes attached to momma, each one a temptation to little hands, so until Karole can get to a ward where the monitoring equipment can be removed, the little one will have to wait to see her momma.

Mai came near Don and Lanh to sit down after her talk with Karole, her eyes still filled with tears, but Duong gently tugged her sleeve and whispered in her ear. Mai's eyes opened with a combination of concern and delight, and she hustled away with Duong. "What was that about?" Don asked Lanh. She was sitting closer to the door and whatever Duong said was in Vietnamese. Don can understand Vietnamese, but it needs to be clear and distinct for him to get a full understanding of what was said.

"Someone is here. I didn't catch who it was, but ba is happy about it," said Lanh. Then she watched what Don was doing with Krissy. The baby was lying face down sideways across his thighs and laying limp. Don's feet were up on his toes, and he was shaking his legs causing little Krissy to vibrate. She lay there, drool coming out of her mouth enjoying being vibrated when suddenly she sang out with a loud, raucous belch. "Very ladylike," Lanh scolded the infant with a laugh.

"Don't listen to her," said Don as he sat a much happier Krissy upright and wiped her mouth, "she gets cranky because I don't burp her too."

"Only babies get cranky," corrected Lanh, "grownups get grumpy."

"My mistake," said Don and he let Krissy go and she began to crawl along the long couch he was sitting on.

The next people to see Karole were Don's parents Sandy and Ralph. Poor Ralph was so shattered he could barely speak, and he left it to Sandy. Ralph always considered Lanh his daughter, but there was obviously more that needed to be said. Sandy finally spoke, "On Christmas Day, twenty-five years ago we lost Don's mom Emily, she was my best friend. If we lost Lanh on that dark anniversary, we would have lost Don also. I know for a fact that he would not have waited to follow her." Sandy took a deep shaking breath, she had a long, sorrowful talk with Kim-ly and Kim-ly told her about Don's stash of pills and is still in shock over how close they came to losing them both.

Karole looked at Ralph who suddenly looked so old and frail. "I'm sorry daddy."

Ralph was confused, she saved Lanh's life and she's saying that she's sorry. "Don't be sorry," he said. "It's us who are sorry you went through such pain."

I deserve it for thinking I could steal Don, thought Karole. "I'm going to get better daddy and help with the farm. You're not going to have to work never again."

"I'm going to hold you to that," said Ralph.

Karole closed her eyes, she was so tired, and when she opened them there was Huy and Ahnjong. "Hey dangsin," said Ahnjong. Karole did not know them well, but they came to her rescue with legal help when the DEA, FBI, DHS, and RCMP treated her like a MAGA hat wearing veteran at an ANTIFA rally... and she had fun playing with the twins last summer.

"What did y'all call me?"

"That was Korean for sweetheart," said Huy. "We just want you to know that Don retained us again. I'm heading back to Minnesota tonight, Ahnie will stay and clean up the legalities. Is there anything you want? Bigger TV? Cold glass of coke?

"Ah don' think ah kin afford the ice to put in that coke, but thank you," rasped Karole.

"Don't worry about price," smiled Ahnjong, "Torgeson and Briggs Financial Consulting will be footing the bill."

"Huh?" Karole had no charity in her heart for that organization, only pity for the workers on the phones. What would those cheap bastards be doing..."

"Don't you worry, darling. You need to concentrate on getting out of the ICU so you can see Krissy," said Huy as he leaned over and kissed her cheek.

"I'll be back tomorrow and we'll go over some paperwork and we'll have Don with us to sign documents for you and make sure everything is legal... ok?"

"Ok," Karole said weakly, and she drifted off to sleep.

"I'm sorry, that's enough for tonight," said the nurse as Ahnjong and Huy packed up to leave. As they turned to go, they saw a familiar figure turn and walk out of the ICU.

"I've got to go get him," Huy said to Ahnjong, then he dashed out after the figure, wanting to call out his name but because it's a hospital he remained quiet until they hit the main lobby and his quarry didn't show any signs of slowing. Huy couldn't hold back. "Trung! Wait!"

Lanh perked up from the book she was reading. Trung? She hasn't seen her older brother Trung in almost two years. She looked up and there he was fast walking through the big lobby with Huy coming up behind. "TRUNG!"

Trung stopped when he heard his little sister call, he has had so many failures in his life and the one he regrets most of all is not spending more time with Lanh. He had blinked and the tiny annoyance became a fairy princess getting married to a man that adores her. He blinked again and she became an elegant professional woman teaching at a college, practicing at a hospital, and he had nothing to connect the dots. Sadly, he turned to look and here she comes, in a wheelchair, her face covered in bruises, a black eye that is fading to yellow, her leg pinned and splinted, her hand and wrist wrapped with an ace bandage. "Please don't leave me!"

With her husband Don pushing, and a blond baby on her lap Lanh was chasing after him calling "Trung! Trung wait for me! Please?" in that same little voice that broke his heart when he went away to college and left her life.

He couldn't leave her again, not again... not now. His shoulders slumped and he stopped and turned; his face was a mask of sorrow and embarrassment. "Hey little bit," he said softly, calling Lanh by the nickname he used to call her. Huy came up to Trung, and as Trung held his hand out to shake Huy's hand, Huy pushed Trung's hand aside and threw his arms around his younger brother.

"God, I missed you," said Huy and Lanh saw Trung's face become a mask of surprise. Trung clearly didn't know what to do with his hands, so eventually he settled on returning Huy's hugs. As he was hugging his older brother Trung felt a tug at his jacket and he saw his little sister looking up at him with a lost, longing look on her face.

"Where have you been?" she asked softly.

"Somewhere else," he said as he tapped his temple with a finger.

"Sit!" Huy ordered and he indicated a couch nearby. They ended up sitting on a couch in front of a fireplace where a fire burned happily, in the background a player baby grand piano played soft classical music and soon they were joined by the rest of their brothers and sisters. The whole family was in Loveland Colorado to welcome Karole back to the land of the living.

"Where's Angela?" asked Lanh.

"I guess..." Trung frowned and took a deep breath. "I thought she wanted to marry an agronomist, turns out she was more interested in a hockey player. She's living with a semi-professional up in Regina Saskatchewan, they're expecting their second kid."

"I'm sorry dude," gasped Don. He was sure that Trung and Angela were on vacation or something like that, it's been ages since he's seen his brother-in-law.

"Why didn't you come and talk with us?" asked Bao as he and Rosa sat down on the couch. Kim-ly came in with them and sat down between Don and Trung and she rested her head on her big brother's shoulder.

"I was embarrassed," said Trung. "You guys have these perfect marriages; all Angela and I did after we got married was fight." He shook his head, "God, we fought over everything."

"Nobody's marriage here is perfect," said Bao. "Chicka and I work so much we barely have any time for each other." Rosa nodded sadly, this trip to visit Karole was their first "vacation" together in years.

"All Lanh and I do is swap hospital stories," said Don.

"I don't know," shrugged Tam. "Jake never complains about what I'm wearing, and I can never tell if he's reading porn, so we're doing ok." Which brought groans from all of her siblings.

Meanwhile Krissy crawled off of Don's lap, across Kim-ly's lap and on to Trung's lap then stood up on his lap and started smacking her lips. "Aww, she wants a kiss!" sighed Rosa. "Give her a kiss, ya big lug." Trung gave Krissy a kiss and the baby smiled and hit him in the face with a wet little hand.

"Typical blond," groaned Trung to the laughter of his family.

"Ok, it's late, Karole is asleep, let's call it a night," said Don. "Trung, you're staying with us, we have a spare room and I'm keeping an eye on you. I don't want to lose you again."

They all reconvened at Don and Lanh's ten minutes before the pizza delivery arrived. "Don't get used to eating this good," said Lanh. "Tomorrow night we're going to Nordy's for barbeque." After dinner they settled in, Tam, Jake, Huy and Ahnjong settled in the suite in the basement, Bao and Rosa took one spare bedroom upstairs and Trung took the other.

"You ok in here?" Don asked Trung.

"Yeah, it's just..." Trung chuckled, "This is the first time we've all been under the same roof since you met Lanh."

Don sat down on the end of Trung's bed and said, "Look, anything you want, just ask. I just ask that you don't mess the place up, it's on the market."

"You selling?" asked Trung.

"Yeah, Colorado isn't working out. We want to move back home as soon as Karole can move. I've already got a few good offers on her house; we need to talk about it in the morning."

"Where is she moving to?" asked Trung.

"She's moving home with us." Don smiled and smacked Trung's leg, "You should come too, má would love it."

"I don't know. I don't even have a job now..." groaned Trung.

"Hey, you're an agronomist, I have a farm. We should be able to figure something out, right?"

Trung chuckled sadly, "Yeah sure."

"You should have a chat with Karole tomorrow," said Don.

"She's got enough of her own problems; she doesn't need to hear mine."

"Ya know, sometimes two broken people make the nicest couples... just sayin'."

"Good night dad," moaned Trung.

Don slipped into bed with Lanh and Kim-ly, it's starting to become a permanent thing, but tonight Lanh and Kim-ly insisted that he slide in between them.

֎ ֎ ֎ ֎ ֎ ֎ ֎ ֎ ֎

"I got a call from Dr. Roberts this morning," said Don.

"Andi?" asked Lanh. She was startled, they hadn't spoken with Dr. Roberts since she disappeared a year ago. They got a card that announced her marriage, she eloped! Then just last month they got a card that showed the picture of the whole family, Andi, her husband Paul, the twins, and their new baby Daniel. "What did she have to say? Are they going to be the first family on the moon?"

"No, she called to say that if there's anything she can do to help, just let her know. And she offered us a ride on her boat."

"Ride on a boat... yeah right," Lanh scoffed. Then Don showed her a picture of the boat, a Riviera 72 sport motor yacht. "Oh my god!" gasped Lanh. "Can we take Kim-ly?"

-

Meanwhile Ahnjong's recitation of the civil suit that they were planning to bring against Karole's former employer Torgeson and Briggs Financial Consulting didn't take long. She listed the crimes that were committed against Karole, Lanh and Mai including assault on Lanh inside Don Pollo's Margarita Grille, hitting the three of them with a car while drunk as part of a company sponsored party, and Mr. Gaarder Fisk esq. while acting on behalf of Torgeson and Briggs Financial Consulting fraudulently informing the hospital that he was Karole's attorney. "Is it too late to ask for more?" Karole said weakly. She just found out that Torgeson and Briggs Financial Consulting was her former employer because when Karole didn't show up for work on the day after Christmas, they fired her. Someone actually brought her notice of termination to the hospital where it was waiting for her when she came out of the coma.

"We originally asked for eight million, but when they asked Don if he had anything to say at our little tête-à-tête he stood up and stared at one of the lawyers then said, "Twelve million" and walked out."

"I know that stare," said Karole softly, her voice still raspy, her throat still sore. "He used it on Jayce once, he had that worm nearly crying." She sighed and twisted a little, trying to change positions. "I'm surprised that they didn't settle."

"We have a feeling that they will," said Ahnie. "So, you need to get your financial ducks together. I'll send in Bao and Kim-ly to talk to you about it, so you're ready if they decide to settle. Maybe Don helped us, maybe they'll go for three million."

"That would be nice," sighed Karole. She closed her eyes for a moment and when she opened them, she saw that Ahnie had become Bao and Kim-ly. "Did I drift off?"

"For a while," said Kim-ly.

"How long?" Karole saw the twins silently conferring with each other then quickly said, "Be honest, I hate it when people hide behind a fib thinking they're protecting me."

"About two hours," said Bao.

"Just enough time," said Kim-ly as Ahnie hustled Don, Lanh, Mai, and Duong into the area with them.

"Enough time for what?" said Karole weakly.

Ahnie took some documents out of a large envelope and scanned them quickly, just to be sure that she didn't misread the documents the first seven times she went over them. "I just received an affidavit from the law firm of Fisk, Damon, Ramirez, & Fisk which states in part that Fisk, Damon, Ramirez, & Fisk along with the company formerly known as Torgeson and Briggs Financial Consulting now known as TBF Consulting have agreed to settle in whole..." She paused while a collective gasp rose.

Twelve million dollars!

Glances were exchanged around the room; they were suddenly rich! And as they looked excitedly at each other, Lanh looked saddened, tears started welling up in her eyes. "What's the matter em yêu?" (sweetheart) asked Don.

"I've seen how money can tear families apart, you see it happen to lottery winners all the time," said Lanh as she fought back the tears.

Bao and Kim-ly knelt at Lanh's side while Don leaned over the back of her wheelchair and gently kissed her head. "That's what happens to dumb people who let the money rule their lives," said Bao.

"A good accountant can set up an investment account where your money gains safe interest, like an IRA, and you live off the interest leaving the cash in the bank for when you need it for emergencies," Kim-ly said. Then she whispered in Lanh's ear, "We could use that money for Operation Sue Lynn."

That settled it for Lanh. "Let's do this!"

An excited chatter rose through the room with Mai, Lanh, and Karole all asking for information from Ahnie, Bao, and Kim-ly at the same time, finally Ahnie said, "Ok, slow down people, I'll sit down with each of you and we'll go over your part of the settlement and you'll have non-disclosure agreements to sign before we advance."

"How about a reciprocal agreement from our friends in Fisk, Damon, Ramirez, & Fisk and Torgeson and Briggs Financial Consulting?" said Don. "I would hate to have a thousand charities and scam artists banging at our doors because those gentlemen happened to let it slip that we just received a large check."

"That seems fair to me," said Mai. "If they're going to take Karole and Lanh's money away for talking, it would only be fair that they would have to pay a penalty for talking too."

"Ok, everybody go away," said Lanh. "Karole needs a rest." Soon everyone had left except Lanh and Don, and Lanh turned to Don and said, "Come back in about fifteen minutes, please?" Don replied with a kiss, and he exited the curtained off area and waited nearby for his girls to finish.

"Stop," said Karole before Lanh could say a word. Lanh looked confused but Karole continued, "You were going to ask me why ah did it. Ah did it to save you, that's it, no other reason. Ah saw that ol' drunk slidin' aroun' an' ah knew he was gonna hurt someone. When ah saw him headin' at you and Mom ah knew what ah had to do." Karole looked at Lanh and saw the heart broken look on her face and said, "There wouldn't be nothing left for me if you were gone."

"I can never thank you enough," said Lanh, then she broke down in tears, "you... you're a mom, Krissy needs you, I'm not... not..."

"Stop," begged Karole as her tears came on, "we can't do this."

"Why not?" wept Lanh.

"Because neither one of us can wipe my nose."

"Stop making me laugh when I'm trying to cry," demanded Lanh.

Don, who had heard everything the two had said, stepped into the curtained off area with a box of tissues and dried eyes and wiped noses. "Ok you two, enough true confessions for one evening, Karole, you have a dozen nurses who want to use your body. Lanh, we have a dinner with the gang."

"Oh kay," groaned the two in unison.

֎ ֎ ֎ ֎ ֎ ֎ ֎ ֎ ֎

Don and Lanh joined their family not far away at Nordy's, a large Barbeque restaurant, even Danh and Krissy were there, they were in highchairs enjoying apple sauce as Mai and Sandy fed them. "Are we ready?" asked Don as he wheeled Lanh into the restaurant. Tam waved a roll of paper at Don showing that she was ready. "Ok, Dad, Sandy, Mai, Duong, if you want to gather round, this is an idea that Tam and I came up with a while ago and it was passed by a committee of the whole." Tam unrolled a sheet of paper which was a map of the farm.

"As you can see, this is the farm, down here on the southeast corner is the house, tractor shed, barn... up here on the northeast corner where the farm meets Buck Tanner Road used to be pasture but was left fallow a few decades ago and is now forested. Our plan is to clear a half-acre creating two lots..." Tam rolled out another map and it showed a pair of squares in the northeast corner. "Ok, this has been completed, RJ just finished clearing out both lots. If you notice that there's privacy tree lines and curved driveways for privacy. Being right there on Buck Tanner Road gives access to..."

"What is all this?" asked Ralph.

"Isn't it obvious? By July we will have two modular homes built back here, connected to utilities..."

"For what?" asked Duong.

"For you guys!" said Tam. "We're building you a retirement homes of your very own." Mai and Sandy collapsed into each other's arms, overcome with gratitude as Tam and Don explained the details of the homes, they were planning to build for their parents...

֎ ֎ ֎ ֎ ֎ ֎ ֎ ֎ ֎

Something enticed Karole to open her eyes, it was a smell... hickory smoke and pork... barbeque! "God that smells good," she rasped. She opened her eyes a little and there, on her bed table she saw a familiar white foam container - restaurant takeout. She closed her eyes and purred, "That smells like Nordy's."

"I didn't know if you preferred ribs or brisket, so I brought some of both," said a very sexy voice. That voice promised fun, mystery, and barbeque.

"If this is a form of seduction, I approve," said Karole in her raspy voice.

"Not a seduction, let's call this a bribe... Open wide..."

Without opening her eyes Karole opened her mouth and whoever it was that her eyes didn't focus on placed a morsel of the most delicious smoked brisket she ever tasted in her mouth. "Mmmm... you have a funny way of not seducing a person."

"I don't seduce," he said. "I had let myself get seduced and look where it got me."

Karole opened her eyes a little and was shocked to see the most handsome man she has ever spoken to, Lanh's brother Trung. She gasped a little bit and as he leaned forward with a piece of rib meat with sauce, she whimpered a little. How did a girl get so lucky? "Why are you here?" she asked before she could stop herself.

"That was the sweet sauce," said Trung as he moved the chair closer. He pulled off another chunk of meat from the rib and dipped it in a different cup of sauce, "This one is a bit spicy, open wide..."

"No, I... mmm... that's good!" Trung then held the water cup up so she could sip some water from the straw. When she was done drinking, she demanded an answer to her question, "Why are you here?"

"Promise you won't laugh?"

"Promise," nodded Karole.

"People look at me and they expect me to be some macho stud, but that's not me. Yeah, I play hockey, that's because I like skating and sports, and farming isn't exactly romantic... tonight Krissy crawled up on my lap, she just wanted me to hold her and it felt so good to just be kind to her, something that I wanted to do but never got the chance. Angela... she wanted something else; she wanted a macho stud that treated her... differently. When the opportunity came, she grabbed it and never said goodbye."

He looked so hurt, so broken, to Karole it looked like he was as busted up on the inside as she was on the outside and she suddenly felt an intense need to change the subject. "So... what happens when you mix the sweet sauce with the spicy?"

Trung grinned, "I don't know, let's try it."

A little while later the ICU nurse monitoring Karole heard laughter coming from her bed, a very handsome Asian man was standing by her head holding a rib bone for her so she could "Eat barbeque properly," which was giving them the opportunity to make a few jokes about Karole's love of "gnawing on a bone."

֎ ֎ ֎ ֎ ֎ ֎ ֎ ֎ ֎

"Hurry up before the water gets cold," called Lanh.

"I'm coming!" He had just put down Krissy and Danh, the little boogers were so tired from being handed from relative to relative that they fell asleep almost instantly. While he was putting the little ones to bed, Kim-ly had undressed Lanh, put the bags over her hand, abdomen, and leg injuries, and wheeled her into the shower.

"I'm waiting!" taunted Lanh.

Don quickly stripped and stepped into the bathroom, his erection leading the way. He wasn't sure his erection would get any relief but the chance to run his soapy hands over Lanh's body was worth whatever pain he may experience from blue balls. He pushed back the curtain from the walk-in shower, and she was there, in her chair smiling at him. She reached out and her good hand, her right hand, caressed his balls and tugged him closer. What was it that they used to say when he was in the Air Force? "When you have them by the balls, their hearts and minds will soon follow."

Their eyes met and she pulled him close, then she smiled, turned her head to look at the head of his cock. Her mouth opened and drew him in, her small hand closed around his length and began to stroke as her tongue slithered over his cock, sliding and slinking over the sensitive underside, coaxing him to orgasm. He placed a hand on her head and guided her mouth up and down, up and down... "Oh God Lanh, I love you so much!" he gasped as she redoubled her efforts. He was so close so fast! It's almost ...

Then he felt the breasts press against his back, a hand on his chest pulling him back... he saw another hand, more feminine and delicate join his in guiding Lanh's head. Time stopped as his orgasm started, a huge wave of explosive release washed over him as he felt her lips on his ear and Kim-ly's voice saying "I love you too..."