We're a Wonderful Wife Ch. 09

"Stop," she whispered, "stop trying to make me feel good." It's been nearly a decade since they found out she couldn't bear children and although they've learned to live with it, it still hurts. She rolled over with her back to him, and when he pulled her close, she wiggled back against him to get closer until her tiny butt was flush against him. Soon her shuddering settled down and feeling secure, forgiven, and loved she drifted off to sleep. They were both asleep when Arlo crawled in bed with them.

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"What are you doing?" hissed Kim-ly in the dark as Karole tried to dress using her cell phone as a light.

"Ah wanna see the cows! Ah ain't milked a cow in a forever or two," said Karole as she pulled her sweatpants over her baby belly.

"You're insane, it's freezing out there," Kim-ly pulled the quilt up over her nose and shivered thinking about the early dawn.

"Wuss," sneered Karole as she pulled a second pair of heavy wool socks over the heavy socks she was already wearing. Lanh has taught her how to dress for a Minnesota winter - layers covered by layers. "You sure you ain't coming?"

"I've been helping with milking for the past ten years, I have an exemption now and I'm going to be milking that," said Kim-ly as she pulled the blankets up.

Karole chuckled as she pulled on a sweater "You're exempt now?"

"The smell of cow shit makes me puke," the look on her face left no doubt in Karole's mind that Kim-ly left a few meals on the floor of Ralph's milking parlor.

"Ah sure hope ah don't upchuck on one of the girls," said Karole then looking at Kim-ly she asked, "what chu gonna name that little feller of yours anyhow?"

"I'm going to name him after his father," said Kim-ly then paused making Karole wait for it. "Handsome Stranger." Handsome Stranger was a roll played by Arnold Schwarzenegger in the 1979 movie "The Villian," he was named after his father.

Karole snerked a laugh then asked again, "So what are you really going to name him?"

"Danh," Kim-ly smiled.

"DON?" Karole almost shrieked the name out loud. After all, Kim-ly just said she was going to name her son after his father, and Kim-ly is just the kind of woman to hide the truth behind a joke.

"No, no, no. D-A-H-N, the name is 100% Vietnamese and so is the baby. Dahn means 'famous,' ok? No, I'm not going to tell you who his father is, but it's certainly not Don." Then she added with a wicked grin, "but close though."

"What do you mean?" Karole asked.

"Lanh tells it better than I do, you'll have to ask her," then she pulled her cover over her head and the only thing that she'd say after that was, "be sure to turn off the light."

Karole eased her way through the big old farmhouse, making her way to the kitchen she cut through the parlor, a room only used by Sandy when she practices her piano. The entire room harkened back to the 1930's with vintage furniture, a spinet piano, shelves of classic books, and a beautiful iron parlor stove. Even this room was decorated for Christmas with boughs of evergreen and holly. The walls were covered with photographs of Campbells past, proudly standing on the porch of this beautiful house or in front of farm equipment from yesteryear. "Ah wonder if my great grandma had a house like this," Karole murmured. "Nah, she prolly bedhopped from shack to shack an' taught my granny and momma how to live like that."

Karole's anger at her probable white trash ancestry descended into despair as Krissy started turning in her womb. "Oh damn," she groaned, "ah'm heading down the same damn path." She hadn't heard from Jayce since the day he came home with his girlfriend, a skank doper. Karole demanded that the skank wait out in the car and Jace punched Karole in the face. Now here she was, right where she didn't want to be, pregnant and alone in someone else's house. She continued to scan the walls and noticed a section of the wall dedicated to wedding photos. She found what looked to be a young Ralph marrying a beautiful young woman which had to be Don's mom. Then a picture of Ralph and Sandy, the joy just radiated off their faces.

Then there was a picture of Don and Lanh, so beautiful in her white ao dai, then another in her traditional white wedding gown, then another in a red ao dai. Don was with her in his black tux, and one in his dress blues... they were such kids! They were children playing dress up. There was one picture of the wedding that she loved, it showed the head table at the reception, the wedding party is split into pairs and they're smiling naturally so this wasn't a staged photo. She recognized Rosa and Bao, Tam and Jake, and of course Don and Lanh in the center, glowing with joy and Kim-ly was behind them, hugging them both, grinning into the camera. Just over her shoulder was a face shaped blob, kind of like a double exposure and someone was there from another shot. It's strange how Lanh kept that photo with that blob, it must be the smiles that everybody was wearing.

"Ah ain't never gonna be on a wall like that," said Karole sadly. She gently stroked her tummy and said "We're shore gonna git you a pretty weddin' dress and put your happy wedding picture on the wall little girl. The Krigbaum curse ends now!"

Still feeling sorry for herself she walked into the dark kitchen, only a small nightlight shown from under the cabinets to guide her. She heard a gurgle and realized the coffee machine was starting up and preparing the black elixir she craved. Somewhere in the house she could hear Ralph and Sandy getting out of bed. The phone rang, scaring the wits out of her, but Ralph picked it up upstairs. She wandered into Lanh's addition and found the fire cold, the artificial tree still glowing brightly, and Arlo's cot empty. She peeked through the open bedroom door and in the dim light of the Christmas lights around the window she spotted Arlo snuggled between Don and Lanh.

"Good morning beautiful," said Don quietly.

Karole started to withdraw from the doorway when she realized that Don was talking to her! She froze to her spot, terrified of retribution especially when Lanh said, "Who's there?"

"Karole's here," said Don as he leaned forward and kissed his bride of over a decade.

Lanh rolled and looked over her shoulder and saw Karole standing in the doorway and suddenly broke into a huge smile that radiated warmth and welcoming. The perfect antidote to the depression she had been working herself into. "Good morning gorgeous!" she whispered.

"Hey guys," Karole whispered, stunned. Beautiful? Gorgeous? At 4:00 AM?

"Hang on a second," Lanh disappeared into the bathroom and came out wearing her 'Blue Polys,' skintight navy-blue polyester thermal underwear. In the predawn gloom all that could be seen of Lanh was her head, hands and feet. The dark blue skintight underwear made her body and limbs disappear in the darkness. Don eased out of bed making sure not to wake Arlo and came up behind Lanh and began running his hands over her body. "Mmmmm, Dragon Lady, my favorite ninja. We meet again." He cupped her breasts and squeezed tight.

Lanh twisted in his grasp to face him and grabbed his crotch, in a bad accent she said "Sooo, agent Double Oh Seven and Five Eighths, you are here, so it begins." Karole was about to laugh but suddenly Don pulled Lanh tight against him, his fingers coiling in her raven hair, possessing her. He held her tight and pulled her hair, tipping her head back and their lips met with a hunger and passion that had Karole gasping. She's seen kisses like that in movies, but never in real life and definitely not with her lips in the starring role. Her mouth went dry with envy as Lanh writhed in her lover's arms, so she stepped out of the bedroom doorway and returned to the kitchen.

When Don and Lanh joined Karole she was standing over the coffee machine with a cup in her hand, waiting anxiously for the last drip to complete its fall. Lanh came up behind her and gave her a tight hug. "Feels like the baby's awake."

"I guess..." muttered Karole, "I know I am."

"I'm sorry," whispered Lanh, "did we embarrass you?"

"No," said Karole softly while staring at the coffee maker, her words were just barely audible. "It's just... your kiss... Lawd... it was so fucking hot."

"Did it disturb you?"

"In... in a way ah haven't been disturbed in ages." Karole sadly rubbed her growing stomach.

"Oh darling," said Lanh sadly as she hugged Karole from behind. "He didn't kiss me like that to make you feel bad," she snuggled as close to her statuesque friend as she could, "he did it to make me horny."

Karole's reaction was drowned out by the sound of Don spraying his mouthful of orange juice over the kitchen counter. Lanh and Karole glared at Don, then went back to their conversation. "Men just don't think sometimes..."

"You can say that again," said Sandy who just stepped into the kitchen. "What did he do this time?" she stood cross armed and used her Mom Voice, the voice that children of any age cannot deny.

"Why is it always my fault?"

"Because you're a man," said Sandy.

"Oh... nothin'," sighed Karole. "They wuz gettin' all mushy and I got... lonely."

"They weren't doing the Dragon Lady and the Secret Agent game, were they?" asked Ralph as he dug out two insulated mugs out of the clean dishes in the dishwasher.

"Yeah they wuz."

Ralph chuckled, "They started that game back in high school, and they thought we didn't catch on to what they were up to." He knew full well that the Dragon Lady and Agent Double Oh Seven and Five Eighths was foreplay. He and Lanh's parents were worried that they were having sex, but the two kids were eighteen and there was nothing they could do about it. Just as long as they graduated...

"Ah didn't mean nothin' by it..." Karole started to apologize.

"Shush you," said Lanh putting a fingertip on Karole's lips. "We were getting frisky, and you were embarrassed, and we apologize, don't we Don."

Don wanted to say, 'I have nothing to apologize for,' but Lanh's glare and commanding tone of voice made that a bad choice. He merely said "Yes we do. Now if you people don't mind, I have breakfast to create. Git outta my kitchen... please?"

"Are you coming with Karole?" asked Ralph as he, Sandy and Lanh put their jackets on, "we may have to put you to work. Gary our foreman can't make it this morning."

"Ah ain't afraid o' no work," she said as she zipped up her parka. "Ah hope he's feelin' better soon."

"Oh no, he's feeling fine," said Sandy as she opened the kitchen door revealing a white wall of snow, "he just couldn't get out of his driveway."

Karole's face was a study in astonishment, she's never seen a flake of snow in her life before yesterday, her expression caused Don to start laughing. "Don't make fun," warned Lanh and she gave Don a kiss.

"Put the rope up," he said sternly and handed her a coiled length of clothesline rope.

"Yes daddy," and with a final kiss she stepped out connected a snap swivel on one end of the rope to a loop on the house, then headed out into the snow.

Karole found herself in a world she didn't realize existed. The snow flowed softly down from the sky and piled up in waves and drifts throughout the farmyard. Already knee deep it looked like the snow would never stop. She stopped to scoop up a handful and packed it into a snowball, but the ball fell apart. "Ah think this isn't snow," she said as she tried another snowball.

"It's too cold to make a snowball," Lanh informed her.

"Then what's the good in havin' it?" sighed Karole as she watched her snowball fall apart.

"Come on, we have cows to feed!" Karole followed Lanh to the barn where Lanh connected the other end of the rope to a loop on the barn then they went to the milking parlor and got the parlor ready for the cows. It didn't take long to prepare the milking parlor, but Lanh's priority was getting feed for the cows and Karole was helping. They hauled down several bales of hay but set them aside, those are for later. They spent the morning feeding the girls in the milking stalls silage while they were being milked, then they cleaned out the stalls with scalding hot water, flushed out the sewage (why do cows always poop in the barn?) and then when Ralph and Sandy were finished with the last cows, they sterilized the milking equipment. Their last chore was to set the bales of hay out for the cows to munch on between milkings.

Finally, Ralph indicated a return to the farmhouse was in order and they headed back to the house guided by the Clothesline rope that Lanh had set out. By now the snow volume had increased and if the rope wasn't set, they could have missed the house. Ralph's rule of thumb: if you can't see the house and the rope isn't up, you stay in the barn until you can see the house. Many a Minnesota farmer has died in that 100-yard walk from the barn to the house. The wind comes up and the farmer gets turned around in the blizzard and freezes to death.

"Mah footsteps have filled in with snow," gasped Karole as she trudged through the ever-deepening snow. She had hoped to follow her footsteps that led out to the barn, but they were all filled with snow and were now just dimples in the powdery surface.

"Follow behind me," said Lanh whose legs were much shorter than Karole's, "and just pray the wind doesn't come up in the next few minutes." Lanh has had years of practice fighting Minnesota winters, so she led a wobbly Karole and a chuckling Ralph and Sandy back to the house into the warmth of the mudroom where they drop their winter gear and Lanh put the coiled up rope back under the bench. Even the mudroom was decorated with lights and garland providing a festive and warm welcome into the house. Karole sat on a bench and Lanh helped Karole off with the USAF issued mukluks that she borrowed from Don.

"Them canvas boots are toasty warm!" said Karole as Lanh pulled them off.

"They're much better than my snowmobile boots," said Lanh. Then she turned to Ralph, "can we take out the Ski Doo later?"

"If that husband of yours can get it started," smiled Ralph who was already heading for the coffee pot.

The mudroom has two benches facing each other, Sandy sat across from Karole and patted the tall blond's knee. "You did incredible out there this morning, and believe me, I know how tough it is carrying a little one."

"Ah'll admit, ah'm a touch outta practice," said Karole. "It's been a few years since I had ta scrape cow shit off mah boots."

"You're a farm girl?" asked Sandy, her elegant eyebrows shot up.

"This lil' ol' country accent ain't just for show," said Karole as she squirmed out of the parka. "The best part of mah questionable upbringin' was spent scrapin' up after incontinent cows."

"Hurry up you two," called Lanh as she hung her parka and disappeared into the kitchen.

"I need to ask you a question," said Sandy, a look of dark concern passed over her face. "I've been watching the way that Don dotes over you and looks at you when Lanh isn't around, and you don't have to answer, and if you want to hit me, go ahead..."

"Ah ain't gonna hit ya," said Karole. She knew what the question was going to be.

Sandy was blunt. "Is Don the father of your baby?"

That wasn't the question Karole was expecting. She was expecting Sandy to ask why shithead left her or something like that. She was stunned to silence at first, but she answered, "Lawd no. But sometimes ah wish he was!" Karole smiled, but her smile quickly faded. "Krissy was conceived in Denver jus' before ah moved to Greeley. Ah guess you kin say she's my housewarming present... Krissy's father runned off on us the day ah tol' him he's a daddy, and that position is open... ah think he and Lanh are going to take the job..." She scoffed and shook her head sadly. "Or they're going to try..." She sniffed back a growing tear, "... for a while anyhow. In the end everyone leaves..." and that fuzzy, mind warping depression that accompanies her in the dark of the night descended.

"Hey!" Sandy nearly shouted; her call woke Karole out of her gloom, then she softened, "I just wanted to make sure." She put a concerned hand on Karole's knee. "I'm sorry if I offended you."

"Naw, it's ok, it's what happens when you're like me..." she gestured to her belly where Krissy rested, "all alone 'n stuff... Mah momma would answer those questions with just one finger, and a puff of her Marlboro."

"Do not think you're alone. I know Mai and Duong made you an offer, and I'm going to repeat it. If you want a big, goofy Irish-Norwegian-Vietnamese family, you're more than welcome here, we WANT you here. Ok? You can be a Nguyen or a Campbell or a Krigbaum or Jane Doe. You can have a life here where you can start over. There's a big hospital in town and with your credentials you can get a job there. Besides, Kim-ly is going to need some help with her little one, her baby's father left her too."

"That's so tempting, ah'm tied to a house now but it feels so good knowing ah have a safety net."

"You're going to have some dark days ahead, and sometimes just talking it out with someone helps more than you know. I want you to call me every week, OK?"

"Are you sure? When ah git on a roll ah kin talk your ear off," Karole said, now fighting back some tears, but these were tears of relief. She's not used to someone giving a damn about her.

"I raised four girls by myself, I know how bad it can be, and how wonderful it is." Sandy rose then held her hands out to help Karole up. "Promise me, or I will call you every day until you remember."

"Ah promise," sighed Karole.

"Ok, let's go get some breakfast."

Sandy led Karole into the kitchen where they found Don hugging a shivering Lanh. When Don saw Karole, he held out a hand inviting her to join their hug. She reached out to him and both he and Lanh pulled Karole into the hug near the heat of the oven. The group hug went on for a long time until Karole finally said, "What are we doing here?"

"Waiting for the stove timer," answered Don.

Lanh thumped him on the chest with an open hand. "Way to ruin a moment, darling."

"Y'all just crazy," laughed Karole as she broke free and headed to the coffee pots. Don had set up two pump pots, one with "Unleaded" (defcaf) for Karole, Kim-ly, and Sandy, and "Premium" (Caffinated) for Lanh, Don, and Ralph).

"I thought you didn't like cream and sugar," remarked Don as he watched Karole prepare her coffee.

"Ah don't, but Krissy sure do. She's gonna be one milk drinkin' little booger." Karole eased into a chair at the kitchen table and considered the sugar bowl. It was crystal and filled with Christmas sugar, large crystal sugar, the kind you would use on a cookie, a mix of clear, red, and green crystals. "Y'all even decorate the sugar here, y'all tryin' to convert a Grinch like me?"

Sandy sipped her decaf and smiled, "I have the same cross to bear as Lanh, I married a Grinch, but I think I have him converted. He had all the exterior lights up before we went down to Colorado for Thanksgiving with you."

"Ah ain't never done a Christmas with all the fixin's. Ah suppose y'all have a who-beast dinner with razzleberry dressing, and everybody holds hands and sings Wah-hoo Doraze?"

"This isn't Whoville," said Lanh as she hugged Karole from behind and sat next to her. "We sing Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer."

"Razzleberry dressing?" said Don as he brought the breakfast casserole to the table. Then he remembered the reference to Mr. Magoo's Christmas cartoon and smiled, "I'm sure we can arrange something." As soon as Don started dishing up breakfast Kim-ly breezed into the kitchen. "Well! Look who shows up now that the work is all done."

"Is all the work done?" she asked innocently as she pushed the button on top of the pot for her coffee, "I missed it again?" She eased into her seat at the table. "I am so, so sorry." Her voice dripped of insincerity.