We're a Wonderful Wife Ch. 12

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."

֎ ֎ ֎ ֎ ֎ ֎ ֎ ֎ ֎

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.