We're a Wonderful Wife Ch. 07

"Oh," the housing representative, a middle-aged woman from somewhere in the Midwest looked saddened. "Look, don't take my word for it, but you know the adoption probably won't happen while you're over here, right?"

"What do you mean?" asked Lanh.

"Talk to your lawyer, you have an adoption lawyer, right? Talk to them first," implored the woman. "I heard that an accompanied tour overseas would set you back and you have to start the process all over again from square one."

It wasn't fair! They were here, falling in love with a foreign country with the means to stay here, and suddenly, now that they're making headway on the adoption, it was all unraveling. Lanh buried her face in Don's chest and tried not to cry. The rest of the day in Osan was miserable for her. They did some shopping and found a tailor that could make jackets with an American Legion patch for Ralph and Duong along with their names and their post number, they had them made in less than an hour. However, the joy was sucked out of the day for Lanh, and they returned to Kunsan quietly, cuddling together on The Wheels, thinking of what might have been.

Later that night Don emailed their adoption attorney who responded before Lanh flew back home, yes, the lady at housing was correct, their best bet was to come back home, get their baby and then go globe hopping.

CANNON AFB, NM

On the Ass End of Nowhere

They were still unpacking their hold baggage as they settled in base housing in the one place they didn't want to be, but they needed to be stateside to finish up the adoption before they could travel again, maybe England or Italy next. Lanh had sent her new phone number to everyone she knew and the first person to call was a complete shock.

"Doctor Lanh Huong Campbell! I can't believe it!" gushed Sydney as she and Lanh talked in their first gab session in years.

"That's me, doctor of speech pathology, now I know exactly why my English and my Vietnamese get mixed up!"

"Can you fix it?" asked Syd.

"Yeah, but what would be the fun in that? Don submitted his thesis months ago; we're still waiting for word from on high."

"How did you two fast track it so much?"

"It was the book!" exclaimed Lanh, "the university wants their doctoral candidates published, and when they found out we published our book right out of high school it was huge brownie points for both of us."

"What about the baby? Did your two years in Osan set you back that far?"

"Nah, we're good, Huy acted as our legal representative, and everything kept moving along." Then in a conspiratorial tone Lanh added "I had Don assembling baby furniture before he shipped out." Right now, Don was on Temporary Duty in Saudi Arabia with a detachment keeping eye on the middle east.

"You're that close?" Sydney practically squealed.

"Maybe," Lanh couldn't hold back anymore, and she let the secret out, "a little Thai girl, nine months old, her name is Sue Lin."

"I'm so happy for you! So, what made you change your mind, what made you decide to take the follow-on to Osan?"

"When we got back to The Kun," said Lanh using the popular nickname for Kunsan, "Don told me "Look, we're spending money faster than we can make it on this adoption and there's no guarantee. We can do a tour in Osan, the paperwork is ready to sign. Let's see what Huy can do for us," so we emailed Huy, and he said he'd represent us in the adoption. In the end, Don serving in the Air Force was a plus."

UNIVERSITY OF GEORGIA

Athens, GA

University of Georgia coed Karole Krigbaum woke with a start. The beautiful, tall, buxom blond was being shaken awake by her roommate. "What? Was I snorin'? Ah'm sorry if I were." Karole's southern accent was so thick you could mortar a brick wall with it.

"No, you were talking about HIM again in your sleep," said her roommate Norma Rodriguez. Norma is a junior like Karole, and like Karole is a strikingly beautiful woman, but she is almost Karole's polar opposite. Where Karole's figure is lush and curvaceous, Norma is athletic and firm with B cup breasts that never needed a bra. Karole's breasts are large and heavy, and her nipples are always erect, and she often thought of breast reduction surgery. The only thing that came between her and the knife, besides the cost, was Norma talking her down off the ledge.

"Who is HIM?" demanded Karole.

"You know, Reggie? Your mystery man?"

"Oh shee-it. Reggie is an imaginary baby. Ah always wanted ta name mah baby after mah daddy, 'cept ah don't know who he is. Hell, the way my bitch momma slept aroun', mah daddy coulda been HER daddy. So, when ah were a kid ah decided ah'd name my baby Reggie and tell everyone that was mah daddies name."

"You're so fucked up," said Norma shaking her head, "I knew better than to get involved with white trash."

"Beaner!"

"Fuck you!" snarled Norma.

"Eat my pussy," demanded Karole.

"Only if you say please."

Karole looked into Norma's deep brown eyes. "Por favor mi amor?"

Norma smiled and settled down between Karole's long legs which spread wide invitingly. "I love it when you talk sexy," she sighed and took a slow gentle lick of Karole's pussy. Norma and Karole were indeed lovers, or more accurately LUGs, Lesbian Until Graduation. Both wanted sex, but neither wanted entanglement and pregnancy, neither was a lesbian, in fact most of their best sex was fired and inspired by a hot new guy that either one saw, or by a particularly hot actor on the movie they were watching. It was an arrangement of convenience that both enjoyed but both knew that it wouldn't last.

Karole propped herself up on her elbows and watched Norma tease and flicker her clit with her long, practiced tongue. Damn! If only Mickey Fields, the boy who took her virginity, could have done her the way Norma does her, maybe he'd still be around. Norma looked up and saw Karole looking down on her, feasting on the sight of Norma's beautiful brown skin against Karole's wintertime classroom pallor, Gawd! If she only had a dick! Norma winked at Karole then suddenly launched an attack on Karole's clit that had the statuesque blond throw herself back on the bed in boneless ecstasy. Sucking hard Norma tongue lashed Karole into delirium. While Karole writhed in ecstasy, Norma shifted around and was now crouching over Karole in the classic 69 position, but she didn't force herself on Karole, that's not how they play.

When Karole finally opened her eyes and saw Norma's moist brown pussy perched above her Karole reached up through her euphoric delirium and pulled Norma's hips down to her so she could get to that delectable pussy. Norma's pussy was an entire pallet of colors, her beautiful tan skin darkened as it got closer to her labia which were so dark they were almost black, but when you spread them, her pussy was a pretty, glowing pink. Unless she was really turned on, then her labia were quite swollen and there was a flush red undertone to her skin color... like now.

Karole sucked on two fingers, getting them good and wet, then slid them into Norma's hot, steamy pussy then began finger fucking her slowly, steadily, all the while suckling on her trembling clit. "Ohhh, fuck me you bitch," groaned Norma as Karole began her assault on Norma's pussy and clit. Karole felt Norma slide two fingers into her pussy, and they began fucking each other as they sucked and slobbered on each other's clits. Soon both girls were gasping and shrieking into each other's cunts, their bodies shaking and trembling as they came on each other's tongue, waves of elation and sexual release crashed over them as they came explosively.

Exhausted from their workout, Norma and Karole curled up in Karole's bed, their bodies trembling with aftershocks. "Gawd dawg, that was a good one girl!" Karole finally gasped. She loved their quickies.

"You ain't so bad yourself," Norma said as she kissed Karole's large breast.

"Don't you go getting' me all riled up again," Karole warned, "Ah'll have ta whup your skinny ass."

Norma ignored the threat and kissed Karole's nipple. "What got you thinking about Reggie?"

"Ah don't know, ah ain't thought 'bout him in two... no... three years now." She thought about it for a long time. "There was an ol' witch that lived out in the Okefenokee swamp, Grandma Noah she call herself. Ah don't know if she were a witch, but she said she was and she were plenty spooky, so that were good enough for me. Ah'd row out there in an ol' wooden boat fishin' for catfish and ah'd bring her some, and she'd tell me things. She tol' me that ah was gunna have five childrens total, four of 'em before I were thirty, and my first-born boy I'd call Reggie, which really freaked me out because I had already decided I was going to call my baby Reggie an ah never tol anyone." Karole also remembered that the old woman told her that the real pain would start and end long before she was pregnant with Reggie.

"Is that true?" asked a skeptical Norma.

"Honest injun," said Karole holding up three fingers in a boy scout salute.

"That's not very politically correct... did she tell you about me?" Norma asked.

"Oh, hell no!" said Karole, hoping her lie was convincing, Grandma Noah told her all about Norma years before Karole met the leggy Hispanic beauty.

~~~~~~~~*~~~~~~~~

The doorbell rang and Lanh answered it, she was just finishing up painting the nursery a perfect pastel pink, a color she and Don agreed upon years ago, before she found out that she was... that she couldn't... before they started the adoption process. She opened the door and saw a full bird colonel and a lieutenant colonel standing there both wearing flight suits along with the first sergeant, Senior Master Sergeant David Olson. Dave's wife was a good friend of Lanh's at the Enlisted Wives Club. "Mrs. Campbell?" the colonel asked in a polite tone of voice.

"It's ok," she told herself when her heart started fluttering, "they're smiling. People who tell you your husband is dead don't smile at you."

"Doctor Campbell," she corrected. She loved doing that, and she was beginning to wonder if she went through all that schooling just to be able to say that.

"Yes, that's one of the things that we're here about Mrs. Campbell," the lieutenant colonel said.

Lanh pointed to herself and said "Doctor Campbell if you don't mind lieutenant colonel. We have both earned our titles."

The full colonel's eyes opened wide, "I'm sorry, we didn't realize that you were a doctor also."

"Also..." her eyes suddenly brightened, "also? You mean my Don made it?" She squealed with glee and threw her arms around the colonel and kissed his cheeks.

"May we come in ma'am... sorry, doctor?"

"Yes, please, come in..." As they entered, they took off their flight caps and stuffed them in their leg pockets. She gave sergeant Olson a good-natured fist bump, both of them ended the bump by spreading their fingers out wide to simulate an explosion. "Can I offer you some coffee?"

"Only if you have some made, otherwise we're good," said the full bird.

"It's a shame, I was just getting ready to make Vietnamese coffee."

"We will all take some," said Dave as he sat down at the dinner table. The colonels looked at him in shock, but he said, "Believe me sir, if you like coffee, you can't miss this."

"Dave and Lydia have been here before," said Lanh.

"Her Vietnamese fried noodles are outstanding!" said Dave.

"My folks have a Vietnamese restaurant up north," she said. "Don's the real cook, they put him in the kitchen because he can't wait tables."

"You guys wait tables?"

"Everyone works. In my family, counting the spouses, there's two lawyers, a psychologist, a doctor of agronomy, an agronomist, two accountants with MBAs, a doctor of speech pathology, and now a Doctor of Education. We all work for má and ba unless we're on the farm working for Don's dad." She sat a cup in front each of the colonels then bustled back into the kitchen saying, "We also have a professor of ancient English literature, but he's blind so takes care of the kids when we're working."

"And you all work at the restaurant?" asked the full bird colonel.

"Uh huh, my folks are semi-retired now so my oldest sister Tam, she's the chair of the psychology department at Bemidji State, she's the official manager, but my sister-in-law Rosa is the real driving force there now." Lanh put a cup in front of Dave and sat down. "I'm sorry, I didn't catch your names."

"Lanh," said Dave, "this is Colonel Daniel Gilliam, the wing commander, and this is lieutenant colonel Joseph Dawson, our squadron commander."

"So, they accepted Don's doctoral thesis? He's going to be so happy," smiled Lanh. "I knew writing that book was going to amount to something!"

"Book?" Lieutenant Colonel Dawson looked perplexed.

"Don and I are published, hang on a second..." Lanh got up and went into a storage room and came out with two copies of Journey to Freedom, then autographed each copy and handed them to the colonels. "It was a high school term paper that he wrote. We had a teacher that didn't like Vietnamese and he wrote this paper to show her what my family went through to get here." She smiled a dreamy smile as she sat down. "He called all of my relatives, my siblings helped him with translations as he took down their stories and he did it all as a surprise for me. Our school was so impressed that they made enough copies for my family at our wedding, and it was in such demand they went ahead and published it. I helped edit and bump up the narrative while he was in basic training."

"Wow," said Colonel Gilliam. "Just wow." He read the back of the book's jacket, "State record in 200 freestyle?"

"It still stands," nodded Lanh as she pointed to Don's medal and certificate on the wall.

"And you were his coach?" said Lt. Col. Dawson as he read further down on the back of the book.

"Yeah, unofficial, but Coach Mach asked me to help coach him and another swimmer, she won gold too and is now running my parent's restaurant. She ended up marrying my brother Bao."

"Just wow," agreed Lt. Col. Dawson.

"So why are you two gentlemen here? Just to tell me that Don's doctoral thesis has been approved?"

"Well... no. That is part of it, however. Doctor Campbell, in the past, did they ever prank your husband when he got promoted?"

At eleven thirty that evening, Dave Olson showed up to drive Lanh over to the Wing command post where Colonel Gilliam has his office. The colonel met her at the door and escorted her into his plush office. "Thank you for joining us in this little game doctor," he said as he opened the door for her.

"I was part of the prank when he made tech," she said then gasped as she saw the crowd in the office, along with herself, Col. Gilliam, and SMSgt Olson, there was Lt. Col. Dawson, Chief Master Sergeant Jackson the chief of maintenance, Colonel Winston the deputy commander for maintenance SMSgt Donaldson, Don's flight chief, and others that Colonel Gilliam introduced but Lanh was so overwhelmed she couldn't remember their names or positions. "We got time," said Dan Gilliam, "Let's line up for a photo for Doctor and Doctor Campbell."

As they lined up with Lanh in the front holding a certificate her head swam, the colonel said, "Doctor and Doctor Campbell," a dream she could barely imagine on that cold Minnesota evening fifteen years ago at the truck stop where she agreed to tutor Don has come true. She looked at the photo on her phone when they were done and almost wept with joy and pride. Chairs were brought forward, and the group crowded around the commander's desk as Don's shop chief SMSgt Donaldson explained to Lanh what was happening in Saudi Arabia at the moment. "Don was called into the detachment commander; Major Highway's office and the major is treating him like he's in trouble."

"Hershey?" asked Lanh.

"You know Major Highway?"

Lanh nodded, "I know his wife, Melissa."

"Ok, all you have to do is tell the truth, tell Don that you were driven to the wing commander's office at midnight and you're worried. Ok? That's when Major Highway will tell Don about his promotion and then the colonel will tell Don about his degree."

Lanh smiled, "ok, but I have good news for him too, is that ok?"

Just then the phone rang, and Colonel Gilliam put it on speaker. "Sir, this Airman Cross at Det 37, Major Highway has Sergeant Campbell in his office, and they are waiting for you to come on the line."

"Thank you, airman, go ahead and transfer us when you're ready."

Soon Lanh heard the familiar voice of Major Highway "Ma'am, this is Major Dale Hershey, commander of Det 37 of the 4404^th provisional wing here at King Aziz-Abdul Airbase, please standby for Sergeant Campbell." Then in the background she could hear Dale say to Don "At ease sergeant, take this. It's your wife."

Don came on the line as the phone was handed to him, "What the... Hello? Honey?" He was clearly unnerved by whatever was going on over there.

Now it was Lanh's turn. The assembled officers and NCOs were unprepared for the transformation that came over Doctor Campbell's voice. "Don! What wrong? They drag me to wing commander office to talk to you at midnight! Are you ok?" Her voice now had a deep Vietnamese accent, her words were barely discernable English. They didn't know, but Don knew that when she was upset English became difficult for her to speak.

In the background they could hear Major Highway hand a note to Don and told him to read it. There was a slight pause then "Oh you sons of... you got me."

"Baby what!" cried Lanh.

"I made master sergeant baby; I'm getting promoted."

Lanh whooped and said, "Oh I'm so happy for you! And let Highway know that this was the best trick yet!"

"You were in on this too?" he asked.

"Oh yes, we had a long talk this afternoon." Lanh finally dropped the excited accent, "they visited me today and told me what they would do, I'm on the autovon phone in Colonel Gilliam's office, he has news for you too, but not as good as mine. Here's Daniel..."

The Wing Commander leaned into the speaker phone and said, "Sergeant Campbell, this is Colonel Gilliam."

"Yes sir," Don sounded both nervous and relieved.

"I've been in the Air Force over twenty years," said Colonel Gilliam, "and in my entire career I've never, ever had the opportunity to say the following words, so here goes. I received notice from the base education office that the University of New Mexico at Portales has approved your doctoral thesis. Congratulations Doctor Campbell, you are a PhD. Major Hershey will hand you a copy of the notice I received."

Don sounded choked up when he finally said, "Thank you, sir, this is exciting news."

"No, thank YOU Doctor Campbell, I want to see you in my office in seventy-two hours. Let's talk bootstrap. Here's the other Doctor Campbell."

Lanh was trembling, and bootstrap? That's the USAF program to promote enlisted airmen into the officer corps. But her news was better. She leaned into the phone and said, "Honey, we only have a few minutes, but I got the call yesterday from the adoption agency, everything has been approved! On Christmas eve the agency will come to our house to sign the final papers and Sue Lin will be our baby!"

A sudden surprised cheer went up in the office at her announcement that almost drown out Don's howl of excitement. After a series of protracted goodbyes Colonel Gilliam hung up the phone and said "Wow, that was good news!"

Lanh grinned her impish smile, "I was painting the nursery this afternoon when you stopped by."

"That makes Don the first man off the airplane in a couple of days!" said Don's commander. It was tradition that the father of any baby born during a deployment is the first off of the transport when they return to home base. "One more day of flying and they pack up to come home. Our relief plane takes off in a few hours."