We're a Wonderful Wife Ch. 11

"I'm coming for you em yêu!" In a matter of moments, he was up to speed on US 34 racing toward Loveland, four-way flashers warning traffic that their health was not his concern. A pill bottle in his pocket filled to the brim with saved oxycodone tablets show that his own health was not his concern either. If Lanh goes, he's not going to be far behind.

"Karole, she save me," gasped Lanh, her Vietnamese accent was making her English hard to understand, luckily Don has had over a decade to learn. "She hurt..." and Lanh burst into tears.

"Tell her like you did for me when I was hurt, tell her to stay with us, tell her how much we love her, tell her we are going to take care of her..." Suddenly Mai was talking.

"Help coming, hear sirens..."

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Bill Hutchinson was an off-duty fireman with the Loveland Colorado Fire Rescue Authority, his primary area of authority was rescue specialist in the Big Thompson Canyon west of Loveland near Estes Park, the gateway to the Rocky Mountain National Park. People tend to get themselves in all kinds of predicaments and if that doesn't keep him busy enough, the Big Thompson Canyon has a history of life-threatening floods that roar down from the mountains through the Big Thompson Canyon washing everything down the canyon in its fury.

Bill had one more item to get for tonight's Hutchinson Family Christmas Eve, a pint of sherbet and as he pulled in the shopping mall to hit the King Soopers supermarket, he saw a crowd of people over by Don Pollo's. Great, just where he wanted to drive to get to King Sooper. He started plotting out a different route through the icy parking lot when his radio came alive.

"Rescue 12, Rescue 27, Ambulance 1, please respond. Single vehicle accident outside of Don Pollo restaurant. Report of multiple victims trapped."

Bill groaned, his chief is going to kill him, he's got so much overtime logged this month he'll be able to send his kid to Harvard... if he ever gets born. His wife is a week overdue and they're going to induce labor if Bill Junior doesn't make an appearance for Christmas. He grabbed his hand-held radio and keyed the PTT button. "Rescue Unit 43, badge number 2771 is on scene." He got out of his Bronco and started slipping on the ice. Shit!

"Officer 2771, please evaluate and report," came the voice of Larimer County dispatch.

"Responding units be advised, it appears that this area received some freezing rain, the paved surfaces are very slippery. There appear to be multiple fender benders in the area."

"Rescue 12 copy."

"Rescue 27 copy."

Bill grabbed the big first aid kit out of his truck and headed over to the crowd. These people were plastered, and he practically had to fight his way through to the scene of the accident. He saw a middle age Asian woman laying on her back, a small pool of blood slowly growing around her head. Her leg was trapped under another Asian woman, younger, who was half under the car. It looked like her leg was being crushed by the front wheel. Then he looked under the car to ascertain the injuries to the young Asian woman and saw that there was a third woman under the car. "Save her first," gasped the younger Asian woman. "She tried to save me; she has a baby..."

"It's ok ma'am, I'm here for all of you." He turned to the blond trapped under the car, she was whimpering in pain, but Bill heard someone else, the voice of a fourth woman, she was whispering to the blond, "...it's ok now, just relax, Bill will save you..."

Who was that? And how did she know my name?!? Bill was stunned, for the first time in twenty years of rescue he was shocked. He finally grabbed his radio and called "Dispatch this is Officer 2771, we have three victims here, one female mid-twenties, one female early thirties, one female mid-sixties..."

"I fifty-nine!" shouted Mai.

"I'm sorry dear," said Bill with a smile as he emerged from under the car... where do we start? Visible injuries first. He looked around and noticed two Larimer County Sheriffs elbowing their way through the crowd. "Deputy!" called Bill. "I need one of you to grab a couple of sandbags out of my truck, I need the other one to start moving this crowd back."

He was bandaging Mai's head when the deputy arrived with the sandbags. "Scatter sand all around and under the car, we need some traction here, but don't get any on our victims!"

"Help her," whimpered Lanh weakly, "don't worry about me..." and she started crying.

"We have plenty of people, we're going to help you all." Then he turned his attention back to Mai, "are you ok momma?"

"Don't worry about me, help my girls."

As he was securing Mai's bandage he asked, "Are you from around here momma?"

"No, I from very far away... very far."

"Where's that?" he asked as he eased her head back down.

"Minnesota."

Bill almost laughed, he was expecting to hear China or Korea. "Me too, I'm from St. Cloud. Uff da! Us Minnesotan's gotta stick together, we gotta help each other, eh?"

"Uff da," said Mai weakly, trying not to cry. "Help my girls and I will make you some lefse," Mai worked so hard to hold back the tears. "Please?"

Bill smiled at the brave woman, "Uff da" is a Norwegian term which means the equivalent of "Oh shit" and can be considered the "battle cry" of Minnesota and North Dakota and Lefse is best described as a Norwegian tortilla and is known to Minnesotans as the food of the Gods. "You get that lefse roller ready momma, we're all getting out of here soon." He then went over to his truck and got a highlift jack, the sand that the deputy was sprinkling was a godsend. "Do you have one of these?" he asked the deputy showing him the highlift.

"Roger dat," said the deputy and he grabbed one off of their SUV. The jacks look like old-fashioned bumper jacks on steroids, Don and his dad Ralph have one that they use for pulling fence posts back on the farm. The deputy sheriff and Bill Hutchenson put one on either side of the Cadillac and slowly, click by click, began to lift the weight of the car off of the victims. As the car started coming up, Bradley Davis started to move, it looked like he was starting to wake up.

"Deputy, these jacks are not going to be very stable," said Bill Hutchinson. He pointed to Bradley Davis and said, "if he starts moving, you're going to have to shoot him."

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Don arrived on scene and the parking lot was filled with emergency vehicles, news vans, and gawkers. He parked his old Chevy S10, scooped up Krissy, and headed over to the center of the activities. A cop tried to hold him back, but Don said, "That's my wife in there, Krissy's mom is there."

"Momma!" wept Krissy.

The cop looked at the little girl that Don was holding and looked skeptical, as far as he knew all the women involved were Asian, this blond-haired, green-eyed baby couldn't have a relative involved. The cop saw the desperation in Don's face and said, "I can't let you in, but step over to the ambulance, if anyone tells you to leave tell them I told you it was OK."

Don made note of the cop's name from his uniform then nodded and stepped over to the ambulance and introduced himself. Because of all the fender benders that had happened because of the ice covering everything, the ambulance and rescue trucks couldn't get close to the incident scene.

"We've already transported one to Mercy General," said a member of the ambulance crew.

"Was she Asian? Was she a blond?" Don was getting desperate.

"We don't know fella, that was another ambulance crew, but I can ask, hang on." The EMT went forward in the ambulance and started to make some radio calls.

Don tried to get closer to the rescue efforts, but the on-scene commander wouldn't let him in the cordoned off area. "That's my wife in there!" cried Don.

"Then let us help her," said the fireman.

Don understood but he needed to be near Lanh. He could see several firemen crouched around the front of a huge old Cadillac convertible that was lifted up with huge bumper jacks like the one he uses on the farm to pull fence posts and sapling stumps. He heard Lanh's high pitch cry of pain and terror and suddenly Don flashed back sixteen years

"Không phải anh! Không phải anh!" Lan's shriek of terror filled 17-year-old Don's ears, he didn't know that she was crying "Not you! Not you!" all he knew was that Lanh was terrified and in pain and she needed him. He was in computer class and her cries of terror clutched at his heart and squeezed tight. He jumped up and dashed out into the hallway, his class followed him. They knew someone was going to get a beating and it was probably going to be Don, and they wanted to watch.

Don dashed down the hallway toward her shrieks of terror and saw Joshua Grimes, he had ripped open Lanh's blouse and now he saw Joshua slap Lanh's face. Don's vision went red with rage, how dare they touch my love! Without thinking, Don put his head down and charged headlong into the biggest, strongest, angriest bully in high school. Don body slammed Grimes into the lockers, freeing Lanh from the ape's grip.

"Lanh! Run!" was all Don got out before Grimes proceeded to beat Don to a bloody pulp while his entire class stood by stupidly and watched. The beating Don took went on for a full ten minutes, a beating that gave Lanh nightmares for years to come and it put Don out of school for weeks, but all he would say was "Lanh! Run!" He took the beating quietly knowing that Lanh was safe.

And now he was ready to take whatever pain they could dish out if only to save Lanh, but he couldn't. He had a baby in his arms, they weren't trying to hurt Lanh, they were trying to help her, there was nothing he could do for her. Everything in him said to run to her but all he could do was press against the wide yellow tape that proclaimed in bold black letters, "Accident Scene - Do Not Cross" and shout "LANH! I'M HERE FOR YOU!"

She cried out one more time, this time Don could see that it was the rescue crew lifting her and the back-board onto the stretcher. He watched the stretcher come closer and closer to him slowly; he could hear Lanh whimpering as they approached. Finally, the stretcher carrying Lanh came up to the ambulance and Don called "Lanh! I'm right here! Em yêu! "I'm here!" At the same time Krissy reached for Lanh and started crying. His beautiful wife looked so banged up and bandaged, her cute nerd glasses were broken, the EMT had hooked them on the neck of her blouse.

When Lanh heard him call her sweetheart in Vietnamese, she tried to turn to look but she was strapped down and unable to do anything but rotate her eyes. "Chi yêu," she gasped. She was about to say something when Krissy saw her and wailed "Momma!" and all three started crying. As they loaded Lanh into the ambulance she said, "Help Karole!"

Don was torn, he wanted to follow Lanh, but Lanh asked him to stay for Karole. He promised he would ensure Karole was removed from under the car and watched sadly as Lanh's ambulance pulled away.

He could see the rescue team jack up the caddie even more. Soon Don could see that Karole was being slid out from under the car but then the EMTs started working on her and they were there for a long time. As another ambulance backed into position Don watched with mounting sorrow and anger as the EMTs by the Cadillac transferred Karole's motionless body to a stretcher then covered her up, strapped her down then wheeled her to the ambulance.

"Karole! We're here for you!" called Don as the gurney came up to the ambulance, "we love you Karole!" but there was no reaction. As they raised her gurney up to fit in the ambulance Don pulled back the blanket that covered Krissy's little face. "Krissy is here for you too, we love you."

Krissy was scared of what she saw but she must have realized it was her mommy, she spat out her teething pacifier and cried "Momma!" followed by tears, not the whiny shrieks of a wet or hungry baby, but the painful cries of a tiny heart being broken as the love of her life was carried away. Don couldn't hold back either and cried, "Karole, I love you!"

Karole's perfect green eye, the one not covered by a bandage, popped open in surprise, then filled with tears. Don's eyes and Karole's unbandaged eye stayed locked to each other as she was eased into the ambulance. "Are you the husband?" asked an ambulance driver.

Don suddenly realized he had no idea what he was, neighbor was an accurate description, but it wasn't complete. Finally, he said, "I'm her stepbrother." Now that she gave him power of attorney, he could even say that he's now Karole's father if he wanted, he's got that legal power. He started to climb in the side door of the ambulance, "We're coming with," he said firmly.

The EMT stopped him and shook his head, "No, it's not pretty, the little one should not see this," and the EMT ran a trembling finger up Krissy's tiny tear-stained cheek. "We're transporting her to Mercy General with the other two," and the ambulance left with lights flashing and siren blaring. As the ambulance left, Don's shoulders slumped, his mind was numb, his heart was shattered, his hand curled around the pill bottle in his pocket.

He walked toward the car that almost killed Lanh and may have killed Karole; the police were leading the drunk that was driving away in handcuffs. Don positioned himself so that they would lead the drunk right to him, and he got a good long look at the bastard that ruined his life. When they neared Don, the drunk slurred, "Wha da fuck you lookin' at?"

"You have a beef with him fella?" the sheriff asked.

"Nah, I have a lawyer to do that for me," said Don so softly the cop barely heard him. Then he turned and there was a fireman, he was covered in blood and anti-freeze, and he looked exhausted. Don realized that he owed his entire life from this moment forward to this man, but when he tried to put his heart into his words all he could say was, "Thank you for saving my..." His throat tightened up and the words wouldn't come.

"Are you her husband?"

"I'm married to the Asian, the blond is my..." again he was trapped for a word, until today he had never thought to describe his relationship with Karole, finally he said, "stepsister."

The fireman saw the shattered soul reflected in Don's eyes. "Good luck man, I wish you nothing but the best," how do you say Merry Christmas to a man who almost lost everything?

Don thanked him again for saving the three women who mean the most to him, then he turned and there was a TV camera in his face, an eager looking Hispanic girl breathlessly asked him, "Was that your wife under that car?"

"Yes... and she still is my wife."

"Can I ask you a few questions? I'm Norma Rodriguez from Action New 34 and the entire front range is talking about this story."

"Sure, I guess, I'm Don Campbell, this is Krissy and..."

The reporter held her hand to her ear as she listened to instructions from her director back at the studio. "I'm sorry but they want to lead with this, can you do this live?"

"Sure," said Don. Rather than ask him questions and find out background for the upcoming interview, the reporterette, as Don thought of her, turned and started adjusting her makeup. Now his distaste for news was reaching new highs, they were looking to make money off of his agony. Out of habit he took out his phone and looked at it as he waited for the news reporter. His phone was packed with notices of calls and messages, but he had turned off the ringer... then he noticed that there was a text from Mai, it was a picture of a guy dragging Lanh out of a booth at Don Pollo's by the wrist, the text from Mai said he came from the company that Karole worked for, she went on to say that Lanh told her that he was Karole's boss... Don looked again... it was the guy that hit Lanh!

"Ok, we're going live in 3... 2... Christmas Eve sorrow as two Weld County women were hit by a car outside of a popular Larimar County night club, I'm Norma Rodriguez live and on scene..." The lights dimmed and Norma turned to Don and said, "They'll be coming back to us in thirty seconds, can you handle it?"

"Night club? They were here for lunch!"

"It's just a name," said Norma, clearly disliking the fact that someone who is not a journalist has an opinion contrary to her own. "Anything else?"

"There were three women, my wife, her mother, my stepsister."

"Ok, we'll cover that, and we're back in 4... 3..." She lifted her microphone and said "I'm Norma Rodriguez on scene where a Christmas Eve tragedy nearly claimed the lives of three women here outside of Don Pollo's restaurant, I have with me Don Campbell, husband of one of the women that was critically injured. Don? What are you feeling right now?"

Feeling like that was a stupid fucking question. "Norma, my feelings pale in comparison with Krissy's feelings right now. This is Krissy's first Christmas, Krissy got her first tooth today, and Krissy said her first word today, but she may never see her mother alive again..." Norma was thinking to herself 'what a score! This guy is a natural! and using the kid like this! Don looked into the camera and said, "This little angel's first Christmas was shattered by the actions of a drunk member of management at Torgeson and Briggs Financial Consulting."

He said that on live TV? Norma was shocked. She sputtered and stuttered for a moment, but the Action News 34 News Director pulled the report back at the studio immediately losing Norma her chance at a network posting. "How could you say that?" she shrieked as the director said, "We're clear," in her earpiece.

"Let me show you something," Don turned his phone so she could see the picture Mai sent him. "That's the guy who hit my wife, her mother, and Krissy's mother. He assaulted my wife inside the restaurant and then ran her over outside of the restaurant moments later. There. I just handed you a huge fucking story and I have a nasty feeling you're going to sit on it. Unless you plan to expose this asshole just leave me and my family alone. If you want more information out of me, speak to my lawyer." And he turned on his heel and left. Master Sergeant Campbell was back, and he was done taking shit from people.

Twenty minutes later Don pulled up in front of their house... he could no longer call it a home; he was beginning to hate this house. He had swapped out his little chevy for Lanh's big SUV there in the parking lot and drove home in the 3-year-old Nissan Armada. Krissy was soaked and she was probably hungry, so they dashed into the house and got her a couple of sleepers, and an actual jacket. Don was in such a hurry when they left for the accident, he had just wrapped her in a blanket. They're going to be in the hospital for a while, so he prepared accordingly.

He filled Krissy's bag with diapers, clothes, formula, blankets, bottles and whatever toys he could find then headed toward the hospital in Lanh's SUV. As they left the driveway the phone rang, and Don went to hang up, but he hit the wrong button. It wasn't his phone that rang, it was Lanh's cell phone account that was linked to the internal cell phone on the Armada. "Why don't you answer your phone?" said the voice that called him.

"Kim-ly, I'll give you three guesses and I dare you to get it wrong." Don's emotions were so torn up that he didn't want to speak to anyone about anything, but he almost cried with relief to hear Kim-ly's voice.

"I'm sorry but no one's heard a word since Mai called an hour and a half ago."

"Oh God, has it only been an hour... I'm not doing this very well... and I have Krissy. How did Lanh handle it when I got blown up?"

"She had the whole base helping her and compared to her, you're crushing it. What's going on?"