We're a Wonderful Wife Ch. 09

She took a tiny sip from her drink, her beautiful eyes rolling with pleasure. "Mmmmm, this is perfect! Tip the bartender generously, will you?" and she refused to say more until Don placed a few bills in the tip jar.

"Ok, what is up?" he demanded. He has reached the end of his patience with her.

"I need a coach."

He was going to make a wise ass comment of some nature, but he's never seen such sincerity in her eyes before. She wasn't talking about swimming, softball, or debate prep, he realized she was looking for a labor coach. "Why me?"

She shrugged her shoulder. "I guess I'm old fashioned, I want a guy to hold my hand. And besides, you were nice enough to buy me my last drink for a year." She raised her glass in a toast then took another sip and handed it to him.

"Why not the father?" Don finished his beer and took her glass. He was sure the father wasn't her boyfriend Tim, he always had suspicions about her relationship with Tim.

"He doesn't know." Kim-ly's face suddenly became serious, accountant serious. "Please?

"You know I will," said Don softly. "I could never deny you anything." Suddenly squeals of surprise and joy came from Lanh and Karole. "They got your box open," said Don. "It was your pregnancy test, wasn't it."

"Yeah, I thought I taped it up better than that," she said as she put on a happy face and turned to join Lanh and Karole but before she could head over to "her girls" Don stopped her.

"You didn't get a look at Karole," said Don.

"No, I didn't, why?"

"Shithead paid her a visit last week, she uh... she got hurt."

Kim-ly went ice cold. "How bad?"

"She's been living with us ever since bad."

"I'll kill the cocksucker," she snarled as Lanh arrived behind her and dragged her away. "Hitting a pregnant woman? I'll beat the fuck outta him!" she shouted across the bar.

"Is she talking about the shithead that hit Karole?" asked Linda who heard every word of the conversation between Don and Kim-ly. Nothing inside the Legion post escapes Linda's scrutiny.

"Yep," said Don as the bar tender handed him another cold beer.

"It would serve him right to get the crap beat out of him by a pregnant woman for hitting a pregnant woman."

"Yes, it would," agreed Don as he prepared to head over to the girls. He ceased to be amazed at the things Linda knew, she was up on all the news almost before it happened.

"Before you go," said Linda as she grabbed his arm, "tell me why she called you Doctor Campbell."

"Something you didn't know?" With a chuckle, Don pulled up a barstool next to Linda. He would get no peace until she got the story so he might as well get this done with while the girls were talking babies.

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Lanh, Karole, and Don pulled into the Campbell's farm in Grant Valley MN for Christmas vacation last night, they were planning to arrive earlier, but they stopped off at Grand Forks AFB just to show Karole where they used to live and they ended up pulling in to the farm late. Karole was overwhelmed with the cold temperatures and the warm reception.

Kim-ly appeared from the back, her own baby bump preceding her. She saw Karole and her eyes lit up and with a squeal of joy she rushed into Karole's arms, "Little sister!" she called, and as their bellies touched Kim-ly's eyes flew wide open. "He kicked!" she gasped, holding her belly.

"He never kicked before?" asked Karole.

"Not like this!" gasped Kim-ly, "he's turning summersaults!"

Karole took Kim-ly's hand and put it on her stomach, "Krissy wants to play too," and Kim-ly smiled as she felt Karole's baby churning away. The two first time mothers separated by a decade in age and by two months in delivery dates were united in the miracles growing in their wombs.

Finally Kim-ly broke the spell and said, "Come see Sandy's house," and she led Karole around the house that's been her residence since Don left for basic training.

"This house is beautiful!" gasped Karole as they gave her a tour of the house. Sandy had outdone herself with the Christmas decorations knowing that Lanh and Don would be home for the holidays this year and how important the Christmas holiday was to them. Karole actually gasped when she saw the table setting in the big dining room. "It's like a magazine cover!" The table had been set in its holiday finest gayly displaying the dishware, the silver, the glasses all holiday themed, the garlands and decorations were tasteful and luxurious. Electric candles expertly mimicked their open flame cousins, adding beauty and elegance to the table setting.

"I want to show you what Don gave me for a wedding present," said Lanh as she moved over to the French doors. "When I first saw this house, this room was an old bunkhouse for the farm hands a hundred years ago when the house was built, these guys were just using it for a storeroom."

"Well yeah," said Don, "the attic and basement stairs are steep. It's hard to carry boxes up and down stairs."

"These doors were just painted plywood when I first saw this house," said Lanh as she started to open the doors, "it's where Don and I would hide and smooch, it was an empty room with a nasty shower and a broken toilet back in the corner. But Don made a home for us..." and she threw the doors wide open. Karole was impressed by the sitting room before her, a cheery fire in the fireplace, a gayly decorated artificial Christmas tree, candles and garland, pine boughs on the mantle, stockings hung by the fire. The smell of a sweet birch fire and the scent of evergreen boughs filled the room, it was like being in a cozy country cabin for Christmas.

"Oh, there they were! I didn't see them in the living room, I was afraid that dad threw them out!" Don happily ran his hands over the matched pair of wingback reading chairs sitting before the fire. Such stern looking chairs were in reality so warm and comfortable, a perfect foil to a Minnesota winter. Don eased down into a chair and pulled Lanh into his lap.

"Hey, you guys, we have company," warned Kim-ly.

"We're just being nostalgic," said Don with a dismissive wave. Lanh lay her head on his shoulder and snuggled up close as Don tapped a remote control, and the sound of a well-played acoustic guitar filled the room with holiday cheer.

"This is so cute!" gushed Karole. "And look at that floor... it ain't laminate, is this real hardwood?"

"Yes, it's the original floor. Don sanded it down, stained it, then gave it several good coats of sealer," said Kim-ly proudly. "This place was a wreck, and he did it all in five months."

"All by himself?"

"At first, then his dad started helping, then my brothers Bao and Huy pitched in, then Tam and I started helping," smiled Kim-ly remembering the last night fighting those French Doors into place, then coving them with paper and ribbon to make them look like a gift for Lanh to open on her wedding day. "This was the bridal suite," said Kim-ly and she opened up a photo album of Don and Lanh's wedding. "We had a whole seamstress station here with racks of Ao Dai's and gowns, a chocolate fountain there, espresso machine there, mom and Sandy on their sewing machines over there where my desk is..."

"Wow, a professional production!" said Karole.

"No, it was a bunch of friends who got together and decided to help our friends realize a dream." Kim-ly put her hand on her stomach and felt her little boy snuggle in for the night. "I just wish their biggest dream had come true..." she said wistfully. Then cheering she said, "Come on, you have to see this bathroom..."

She led Karole into the bedroom, "Where they really virgins when they married?" asked Karole.

"Yeah, I mean, they fooled around quite a bit, má and ba even had a maternity gown ready for her the way those two carried on, but they were virgins at the altar."

Karole laughed at Kim-ly's distress. "You don't look happy about it."

"I lost fifty bucks to my brother on that bet... and he got laid that night too." All those years and two nieces later yet Kim-ly was still angry with Bao over that.

Karole sat down on the bed, "so this is where you lost half a c-note, eh?"

"They waited until they got married, but they didn't wait long after saying I do," grinned Kim-ly. "They put their photographer and everyone else on hold and disappeared into the woods for an hour."

"Lawd love a cow!" laughed Karole.

"What?" whooped Kim-ly. "What did you say?"

"Lawd love a cow, it's so much more polite that saying sonofabitch."

"That's silly, come see this bathroom." Kim-ly showed Karole the beautiful bathroom that Ralph and Don made for Lanh. "This soaking tub is new, they put it in when he came home all busted up, it helps with his back. Other than that, this is exactly the same as how he built it."

Karole nodded, "he's constantly in the hot tub in Greeley."

Kim-ly opened the door to the large walk-in shower. "Party size!" she grinned. "We're staying upstairs but if you're smart, you'll come down here and shower. This bathroom has its own water heater, so you have hot water the moment you turn on the faucet. There are bathtubs with showers upstairs, stepping over the side of a tub when you're off balance is tricky," said Kim-ly as they stepped back into the bedroom and into the sitting room. She looked at Don and Lanh who were cuddling and kissing passionately. Don now had his shirt open and Lanh's blouse was half unbuttoned. "Aaaaaaand... we lost them. Come on, grab your things, I'll show you to your room."

"Wait... what?" said Karole as she followed Kim-ly.

"Every year it's the same thing. She didn't tell you about Christmas?" Kim-ly closed the French doors and turned off the dining room lights but left the electric candles on the gayly set table burning.

"She said they met at a Christmas school dance," said Karole as she lugged her suitcase up the stairs behind Kim-ly.

"Don's mom died on Christmas day, they met at a Christmas Dance, they first said 'I love you' on Christmas eve right there on that couch, their first real kiss was on a Christmas eve in that doorway, he proposed on a Christmas eve right there in front of dad, she found out she couldn't conceive on Christmas Eve, they lost their chance to adopt a baby on Christmas eve..." Kim-ly turned and saw the look of disbelief on Karole's face. "Didn't she tell you?"

Karole shook her head.

"There's no middle of the road for those two when it comes to Christmas, it's either great, or it's a horror story. When it's bad, they make up for it next year; when it's good, they try to top it. Here we are..." Kim-ly opened up a door that led to a bedroom decorated in pink with two lacy canopy beds. "This is the granddaughter room; I'll be in the grandson room right over there."

"Three bedrooms not counting their suite? Nice." Where Karole comes from, two bedrooms is the norm, three is luxury.

"Five bedrooms," corrected Kim-ly, "there's another pair right across the hall. These Minnesota farm families used to be huge!"

"I thought you live downstairs..." Karole said as she eased her aching back by sitting on the bed.

"I do, but that is their house, he made it for Lanh, so I evacuate when they're in town." Kim-ly leaned on a door that Karole thought was a closet. "This is a jack and jill bathroom, and I'm right on the other side." With a mischievous grin she continued, "If you get lonely or want to get lucky, just sneak through," and she winked a playful wink.

Karole was shocked, she found out her secret? She and Norma swore each other to secrecy, that it was fun and nothing more, a way to relieve sexual tension and not get pregnant. "How... how did you know?" she gasped.

"I didn't," she sat down next to Karole. "I took a chance. If I'm wrong, I'm sorry, if I stirred up something bad, I'm very sorry, if I stirred up something good..." and she gave her a saucy wink. "All I know about you for sure is that Lanh loves you."

"Sh... she loves me?"

"Oh yeah, she's crazy about you. Look, even though I'm the black sheep of the family, I will not mess anything up for her." Kim-ly took Karole's hand in hers. "I was pretty rotten to her when we were young, I think I'm the reason why she wanted to kill herself..." And then Karole saw Kim-ly do something that very, very few people on earth have ever seen her do: cry.

"Ah'm sorry, ah didn't wanna stir up bad memories..."

"It's not you," sniffed Kim-ly. "I was pretty shitty to Lanh when we were kids, I didn't pull my head out of my ass until she brought Don to the restaurant... she actually had to play hooky for me to realize that she was a real person..."

Kim-ly and Karole sat up for hours telling stories, comparing baby kicks, and sharing dreams, two single moms scared to the core yet excited for the future. They talked long into the night and fell asleep in Kim-ly's bed.

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For the first time in her adult life, Karole woke up in the arms of someone she did not have sex with. They sat up for a long time talking about their childhoods and their plans for their kids until they drifted off to sleep. When Karole woke it was pitch black in the room, she felt well rested, but it was so dark and she couldn't find her watch to check the time. Her movements woke Kim-ly who won the race to the bathroom.

They crept down the stairs in their bathrobes, trying to keep quiet, letting Ralph and Sandy sleep but when they got to the bottom of the stairs, they found the kitchen flooded with light. "Good morning sleepyheads!" called Sandy. Karole and Kim-ly found Sandy, Ralph, Don and Lanh gathered around the kitchen table finishing up breakfast. Don got up and started preparing breakfast for the two late risers.

"You guys must have been pretty tired to sleep in so long," said a smiling Lanh as she brought Kim-ly and Karole glasses of fresh milk.

"Wha? It's pitch black out! It can't be..." Karole looked up and the kitchen clock which showed a time of 7:45. "Ah coulda swore it were four thirty," she said, blushing with embarrassment.

"Welcome to the great white north," said Don as he set another pot of coffee to brew.

"And you didn't say anything?" Sandy scolded Kim-ly.

"I thought she wanted to sleep late," Kim-ly shrugged as she sipped her milk.

Ralph leaned over and patted Karole's hand, "Up north here the sun rises late and sets early in the winter."

"The sun sets at four thirty tonight," nodded Sandy.

"Oh my Gawd!" gasped Karole. "Y'all jus like Eskimos! The night is six months long!"

"Pretty close. We make up for it in the summer," added Ralph. "The sun is up before six and doesn't set till nearly eleven. Makes it difficult to take the kids to the outdoor."

"The Outdoor?"

"Drive in theater," Lanh translated.

"Y'all still have drive-ins?" Karole hasn't seen a drive-in theater since she became old enough to enjoy one properly. "Ah wanna go to one!"

Lanh nodded happily, "The Moonlighter! We saw a few movies there, didn't we honey?"

"Yes, we did, but I can't remember a single one," said Don as he leaned over from behind Lanh and gave her a kiss. He then set out plates of scrambled eggs with venison sausage and bowls of white mush in front of Kim-ly and Karole.

Karole watched as Kim-ly seasoned her eggs with multiple kinds of Asian hot sauces, mostly Siracha, then she tried the mush. Her face showed that she thought it was disgusting. "What's the matter?" asked Don as he set cups of decaf in front of the expectant mothers.

"Ah'll have to tell ya, ah've had all kinda your cookin' and loved every bite, but grits just ain't your thang."

"I've never made grits," said Don. "That's cream of wheat."

"Whut?"

"It's like grits but made from wheat instead of corn," said Lanh. "I put brown sugar on mine, Don puts maple syrup on his."

"I use both," said Kim-ly around a spoonful.

Karole reached past Lanh with her spoon and dipped a little out of Kim-ly's bowl and tried it. "Too maple," she said as she added brown sugar to her dish.

Ralph looked at Don a bit confused, but Don and Lanh knew exactly what Karole's complaint was about. "They don't do actual maple syrup down south Dad."

Lanh nodded. "I've seen them put corn syrup on pancakes... where were we... Texas?"

"Yeah, we were in Muleshoe Texas," agreed Don. "Home of Leeeeee Horsely!" he added in unison with Lanh.

"They all crazy in Texas," said Karole. "If y'all want maple, you go to Cracker Barrel, everyone knows that." She put katsup on her eggs, but she looked longingly at the bottle of tobacco. She wanted to spice up her eggs like Kim-ly did, but Krissy will just kick it back out. That little booger doesn't like spicy food.

"So what is everybody doing today?" asked Sandy.

"I have papers to grade," said Lanh.

"I have to go over the books for the restaurant and close out the quarter, then start on the farm's books," said Kim-ly.

"I promised ma that I'd help with the lunch shift," said Don, "so I'll be heading to the restaurant at ten thirty."

Karole just shrugged. It was the very first day she could ever remember when she didn't have something to do and she didn't have a book to read. "I think I'm going to take a tour of the farm then tag along with Don." She took a long drink of milk, her eyes rolling back with pleasure. It's been ages since she had fresh whole milk. "I want to thank the girls for their part in breakfast."

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When they finally got Karole to Nguyen Pho, Don gave her a tour of the restaurant. "Ah don' think I'll ever learn this menu," said Karole as she waived the lunch menu around.

"Don't worry about it," said Don as he prepared his station, Don was getting ready to cook for the lunch rush. "Our lunch crowd knows what they like so most won't even look at the menu. You'll pick it up as you go and I'll be giving you little tastes as I make something."

As he pointed everything out Karole constantly rubbed her tummy, it was almost as if Krissy was excited to be at the restaurant. Rosa watched from a distance then finally said to Mai, "She's going to wear a hole in that apron petting that baby like that."

"First baby," said Mai with a grin, "You remember how it was, everything was new and exciting."

"I remember your grandchildren dancing on my bladder for eighteen months. The only excitement I had was making sure I wasn't more than ten steps from a bathroom... so who's the blond?"

"That's your new kid sister," said Duong as he set out silverware and napkins on a table.

"That's the stray that Don and Lanh adopted?"

Mai gave Rosa, the manager of her restaurant, a close friend of her youngest daughter, wife of her youngest son, and mother of her first grandchild a withering look. "Hush!" Mai scolded. "You of anyone in this family should know what being passed from house to house is like for a child. Where would you be right now if Lanh and Bao hadn't adopted my favorite stray?"

Rosa's childhood was a nightmare of being shipped from one foster home to another, she was a wild child with no direction and little guidance, she had no idea if Mendez was her real last name or a name she picked up along the way. Her life changed the day that Coach Mach challenged Lanh to coach her individually for the swim team and suddenly her life had focus, and some true friends. Her life changed again when on a whim she found herself swept up in the emotions of Don and Lanh's wedding and tried to seduce Bao, who gladly let her seduce him and just as gladly became her husband of over a dozen years. "I'm sorry má..." said Rosa, "I guess I'm just jealous..."

"Jealous of what? She's pregnant, her fiancé left her, now she has all those bills, she's all alone..."

"Because she gets to see Lanh every day! I miss her!" Rosa blurted out. Then she cupped her hands in front of her chest, "And..." indicating Karole's big breasts.