We're a Wonderful Wife Ch. 13

It has been a rough two months in Colorado for Don, Lanh, and Karole. Luckily Kim-ly and Trung have stayed by their sides to help get ready for the big move back to Minnesota, Kim-ly remained close to Don and Lanh, and Trung has spent almost all of his time with either Karole or helping Don pack up the house. Karole's house has been sold, and there is a buyer eagerly waiting for the final closing on Don and Lanh's house. Now, it's time to go home to the farm in Minnesota...

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We're a Wonderful Wife

Chapter 13

The Love Boat

Don and Kim-ly finished stacking up boxes in Don and Lanh's garage and when he stacked the last box on the pile Don started gasping for air. "Where's your oxygen tank?" Kim-ly demanded.

"That stuff is all packed in Lanh's SUV," said Don as he eased down and sat on a box.

"You dumb fuck," scolded Kim-ly. Normally she wouldn't talk like that to Don unless she was scared or drunk, and right now she's cold sober. She gets terrified when Don starts gulping and gasping for oxygen and with everything that has happened to Lanh, he's neglecting his own health and his damaged lungs are not going to heal without his care. He's busy packing and cleaning and he's tired of tripping over his oxygen line, he's not taking his medications as required, he's too worried about Lanh and Karole to worry about his own health. Kim-ly handed Don the Albuterol inhaler, the same device used by asthmatics, and Don took a couple of puffs before handing the inhaler back to "Nurse Nguyen." At Lanh's request Kim-ly carried that inhaler whenever she was in Colorado, because Don refuses to carry it.

"Sorry, I get..." Don gave up on whatever weak excuse he was going to use, the look on Kim-ly's face said "I ain't buying it," loud and clear.

Kim-ly sat down on Don's lap and put her arms around him and said, "You need to start taking care of yourself, let Trung and me deal with the heavy lifting. Why don't you take care of the babies instead."

Don chuckled at her words. "Taking care of those terrorists is more work than anything else happening." But to be honest, things are getting better, Lanh is now walking on her own and Karole is in a wheelchair but she's finally out of the hospital. Movers were showing up in the morning to grab this pile of boxes, a charity was scheduled to pick up the remaining furniture and they were leaving for home in the morning. Real home, Minnesota - land of 10,000 lakes and two dozen dairy cows with Don and Lanh's name on them.

Watching Don suddenly start gasping for air reminded Kim-ly of four years ago when she and Tam flew to Germany to support their sister Lanh when Don was injured so horribly. Seeing Don lying in the hospital bed, it looked like every part of his body was bandaged or set in splints, terrified Kim-ly and forced her to face her feelings about her sister's husband. She has yet to admit to the L word, but time is drawing near when the three of them are going to have to face it. As she pondered her own feelings she noticed that Don was trembling. "Why are you shaking so bad?" Kim-ly scolded.

"I'm freezing," gasped Don. It is frigid in the garage, but it's not really bothering Kim-ly, with all the hauling and working they've been doing, she's been pretty warm, in fact she's sweating, which is dangerous in the cold, it's a quick trip to hypothermia when the temperature is low and your body is covered with sweat. She suspected that she would be shaking like Don is doing pretty soon.

"Ok, let's go hit the shower then I'll put in our very last load of Colorado Laundry," said Kim-ly as she helped Don to his feet. Don's gasping was over, he was back to breathing normally and they entered the house then checked on the babies, Danh and Krissy. They were snoozing together in their playpen so Kim-ly covered them up then followed Don to the laundry room where they stripped down, tossed their dirty clothes into the washing machine, then proceeded naked through the house where Don followed his sister-in-law into the bedroom.

Not long later a shiny new Ford F-150 wheeled into the driveway, what wasn't glossy black on that truck was glittering chrome and it wore shiny chrome twenty inch five spoke Crager SS Mags. Trung Nguyen hopped out of the driver seat and pulled the wheelchair out of the bed of the pickup truck, unfolded it, then wheeled it over to the passenger side. He opened up the rear door and helped his tiny sister Lanh out of the lifted truck, unfolded Lanh's walker and Lanh slowly headed off to the house. Trung then went to the front door of the truck and scooped Karole out of the front seat and set her gently in the wheelchair. Years of playing collegiate and semi pro hockey showed with the ease that he lifted Karole who was not a small girl. When she was able to stand, she stood "Five foot fourteen inches" tall because her momma told her it wasn't lady like to be over six foot tall. She and her best friend Lanh make quite a couple, Lanh only stands four foot eight, the foot and a half difference in height is very noticeable when the friends go shopping together.

"What do you think of your new truck?" Lanh asked Karole as Trung wheeled Karole into the house. Before he packed up his tools, Don made wheelchair ramps for Karole to make it easy to wheel her into the house through the garage.

"That thang is awesome!" Karole was in a wheelchair, her hands and arms in soft splints, steel rods were surgically implanted to repair the damage done by a drunken driver on Christmas Eve. They wheeled her around a tower of boxes that the movers were scheduled to pick up tomorrow. "Ah can see why Don says that these new trucks aren't trucks, he calls them four door limousines with a big trunk."

As they entered the kitchen, they found the house dark. Most of the furniture was gone, donated to different charities, the babies, Krissy and Danh were in their playpen standing up holding on to the sides. "Momomomomom!" Krissy held her hands out, opening and closing her hands as Trung lifted her up and set her in her mother's lap.

"Here you go pretty girl, here's your momma." He turned and picked up Danh and said, "Where's your momma little guy?"

"I think they're in the shower," said Lanh and she hobbled off toward the master bedroom.

Trung shrugged as his youngest sister hobbled off, the clacking of her walker announcing her transit through the empty house. Her husband is in the shower with her sister? As he pondered this, Danh made a grab at Trung's nose then laughed at him. "Damn this guy is cute, he really is. I wonder who his daddy is." He wasn't surprised that Kim-ly had a baby out of wedlock, she was always the rebel of the family, but no one ever mentioned the father when he was told about Danh.

"Don," said Karole as she kissed her daughter.

"Don what," asked Trung. The prodigal brother chuckled like this was a knock-knock joke or something like that.

"He's Danh's father."

"Bullshit!" Trung looked at Karole in shock.

"You didn't know?" asked Karole in complete surprise. "It's a little something that Lanh and Kim-ly cooked up after Don got almost killed in Saudi Arabia, they were both terrified of losing him and Lanh is infertile, so they made a little Don." Trung looked shock and angry, and Karole continued, "To be completely honest you might say that Danh's daddy is a test tube, but genetically Don is Danh's daddy." She explained how Lanh gathered Don's semen with a handjob and took it to their doctor who made the miracle happen with an egg cell from Kim-ly and the budding little egg cell was placed in Kim-ly's womb and that they didn't tell Don until the last moment.

"You're kidding!" But Karole shook her head. Trung looked at Danh and said, "Is Don your daddy?"

Danh didn't say anything, but Krissy started chanting "Da da da da da da!"

"Her too?" Trung asked.

"No, but Don is the only daddy she's ever known, no one else took the position... I'm still waiting for someone to come along."

Meanwhile, Lanh trundled into the bedroom and heard the shower in the bathroom running, Kim-ly was showering and Don was laying naked on the bed. "You ok, honey?" Lanh asked.

"Been waiting for you," he gasped as he tried to get up. The pain in his back was excruciating and it was nearly impossible to get up.

"Stop," Lanh gasped as the pain was clearly painted on Don's face. "Has the neurotomy worn off?"

"Yeah, I think so," gasped Don. He has several vertebrae that were compressed in the accident in Saudi Arabia, the bones have healed but the pain will be with him forever. A procedure known as radiofrequency neurotomy uses microwaves to "cook" the nerve cells that transmit the pain. It's a good procedure, relatively painless and quick, but it is temporary, in six to twelve months the pain returns. "I've got a pain specialist lined up in Bemidji, I can make an appointment for you too." He worked his way up to a sitting position and Lanh sat next to him. "Maybe it's good we don't have kids the way we keep busting ourselves up." Lanh nodded with her agreement.

Kim-ly stepped out of the shower, lithe and shapely, beautiful round breasts that wobble merrily with every step. She dried herself off with a towel and said, "We already have one kiddlet, do we want more?" She put a robe on and sat down next to Don.

"Yeah, three more," said Don. Kim-ly scoffed and rested her head on Don's shoulder.

"Let's make it five more," said Lanh as she leaned against Don and rested her head on his other shoulder. "Mom did it."

"They had an earlier start than we did," said Don. Kim-ly and Lanh's parents Duong and Mai were 19 when the oldest, Tam, was born.

"What, you think I'm a brood cow?" asked Kim-ly. Don started chuckling softly, then Lanh joined him until Kim-ly demanded, "What is so funny?"

"What is a brood-cow?" laughed Don.

"It's a... you know! A..." she was lost for words. Before she could say anything, Trung wheeled Karole into the room. Karole heard the brood cow remark and she joined in with the laughter, but Trung looked angry.

Trung saw two of his sisters sitting next to a naked Don. He set Danh on Kim-ly's lap and demanded in a loud voice, "What is this?" then Trung started to shout in Vietnamese but Kim-ly stopped him.

"Don speaks Viet," she said softly. "Don't say something in anger that can't be taken back."

"I just want to know what this is!" Trung demanded. He waved his hands at Don, Lanh and Kim-ly.

Don pointed to everyone in the room including Karole and Trung. "This is five broken people who have come together to support each other. That includes you."

Trung looked at Karole who nodded in agreement with Don. "This isn't some weird sex cult, we're just here for each other. Ah probably would have been stabbed to death by a meth-head a couple years ago if it wasn't for Kim-ly, Don, and Lanh."

"I just want to know what their story is," demanded Trung. "How did one guy end up with two of my sisters?" They looked at Trung and shrugged their shoulders simultaneously. Trung closed his eyes and shook his head sadly and asked, "Did you guys practice that?"

"Let's go get hotdogs, get some sleep, then hit the road," sighed Don. "You and me, we'll talk over dinner." When it looked like Trung was going to get angry Don said, "Trung... we really haven't put our relationship into words yet, give me a little bit to put it together."

"Ok... but hotdogs? Seriously?" asked Trung. He was expecting something fancy for a going away party, maybe Mexican, good Mexican is rare in Minnesota. Maybe even barbeque, the barbeque here in Colorado is really good, but they insisted on hotdogs. After getting dressed Don and Kim-ly got the last load of laundry in the washing machine and they headed out to the Big Dog.

The Big Dog was a great roadside restaurant made out of a giant concrete hotdog on a giant concrete bun constructed in 1948 out on highway 85 and was moved up into the mountains a few decades ago. Next to the giant concrete hotdog the new owners built a dining shelter with a roof and three walls. The open side provided a beautiful view of a wide canyon filled with trees and a babbling stream tumbling down the mountain. It's beautiful all year round, but with a gentle snowfall it's magical.

It was getting dark but there were lights scattered here and there in the area to illuminate the trees, the stream, and the gently falling snow. The three-sided dining shelter was kept warm by several wood fires that snapped and popped as the flames danced on the logs, the fires provided all the entertainment that Danh and Krissy needed. They cheerfully wolfed down their French fries and apple juice as the adults remained curiously silent.

It was a beautiful location and even with Trung's misgivings the hotdogs were incredible, he never had a Chicago style hotdog before, but it came buried under mustard, relish, onion tomato wedges, dill pickle, and peppers and was incredible. Kim-ly and Karole had BLT dogs covered with chopped bacon, lettuce and tomato with mayo, Don and Lanh had chili cheese dogs, but the evening had a sad taste of failure to it. Karole, Don, and Lanh moved here for a new chance and their attempt to grab the brass ring was destroyed. It was time to head home with their tails between their legs, lick their wounds, then come back out fighting. While Lanh, Karole, and Kim-ly sat with the kids, Don and Trung stepped outside into the snow and sat next to another fire where Don and Trung lit cigars and sipped a beer as they watched the fire in silence.

Trung finally broke the silence by asking, "Are you going to tell me what is going on with my sisters?"

"Sure, what do you want to know?"

Trung sounded angry. "I want to know what is going on with you and my sisters, it's like you're married to both of them."

Don slumped, his shoulders sagged, and he slowly shook his head. "I honestly don't know. All I can say for sure is that when we're apart we don't do very well."

"What do you mean?" demanded Trung.

"Before the accident, Lanh and I were falling apart... not our marriage, US. We as people were falling apart, Lanh was losing hours at both jobs, I was losing speaking engagements, we were trying to care for ourselves and Karole and Krissy because they lost everything. Karole's fiancé ran off leaving her alone and pregnant, then that asshole Jayce told the RCMP that she was cooking up meth for him. She lost her job, her truck got repossessed, and she was afraid that she was losing her house. Meanwhile Kim-ly was dying of loneliness so much she had a baby just so she wouldn't be alone," said Don as he stared into the fire. He didn't dare say the truth that Kim-ly was so in love with him that she had Don's baby so she could be with him. Don didn't even dare say it to himself.

"I didn't know," said Trung softly.

Don continued, "then Mai, Karole and Lanh got run over. It felt like someone ran over my brain, I couldn't function, I couldn't think. I honestly don't remember what happened between the time that Mom called while they were under the car and when Kim-ly showed up... but suddenly she was here. When she came out to join us it was like our lives were being put back together. I don't think Lanh would be walking now if it wasn't for Kim-ly. They're inseparable now." Don finished his beer and said, "and Kim-ly is really close with Karole, they called themselves "belly buddies" when they were pregnant."

"Weird," said Trung, "Kim-ly and Lanh weren't that close when we were young."

"Lanh says she was very close to Tam back then, she just remembers Kim-ly being mean to her," said Don as he continued to gaze into the fire. He heard this both from Tam and Lanh, and for a year before they got married, he felt guilty for driving a wedge between the sisters. That was until he met Jake, Tam's fiancé, at their wedding rehearsal dinner and realized that it was a natural drifting apart.

"I've heard that from Tam too," said Trung. "I don't think that Kim-ly was being mean, her and her twin brother, they were very playful."

Don turned to Trung and said, "look, if this bothers you, I'm sorry." He stood and tried to do something with his hands but neither he nor his hands felt at ease. He didn't want to continue but he, Karole, Lanh, and Kim-ly needed Trung to hear this. "This is us, right or wrong we fill a hole in each other's lives. No, we're not having a three-way group grope every night, we're still trying to figure out so many other parts of our lives before we could consider that." He warmed his hands over the fire and started on the hard part.

"We can't sleep separately; you couldn't possibly believe the nightmares. Each one of us has them, but Lanh is probably the worst. It takes both of us holding her close to calm her down, her terror is just..." Don shivered at the memory of Lanh's shrieks of terror, whatever she's seeing in the dreams must be horrific. "We hold each other close, and the night terrors pass us by."

Trung looked sad, "I didn't know..."

"I had been having nightmares before the accident, it was a premonition or something, but in the dreams, Lanh died... I was really falling apart. The only one we've really talked to is Mai, my dad, and my shrink. And no, Karole isn't fully part of this, she has no memory of getting hit by that asshole, and that's a blessing, she just remembers hurrying to see Lanh and Mai. But we're all close and we want to remain close. When the settlement money comes in Karole is considering buying the farm next to mine, so if you want to be part of this family, you have your work cut out for you Doctor Farmer."

Trung smiled when he was reminded of his degree, a PhD in Agronomy. "A hobby farm? You need to remember my specialty is poultry."

"Meh," said Don with an amused smirk. "You'll be downwind from us. Besides, I have a job lined up for you."

"What kind of job?" asked Trung.

"A teacher that's very important to Lanh, Rosa, and myself is retiring, Grant Valley high school needs a new boys athletic teacher and coach for the school hockey team. I want you to fill that position."

"Me? I've never taught gym."

"No, but you have taught, and you have coached hockey. I need you in that position. I'll introduce you to your mentor and the guy you'll be replacing as soon as we get back... Have you ever been to one of our swim meets?"

"Swim? Me? No... sorry I wasn't able to get away," said Trung.

"That's ok, you're in for a surprise. Luckily you speak the language," grinned Don.

After hotdogs they went back to Don and Lanh's house for the last time and put the kids to bed in a playpen that would be picked up by a charity within the week and finished up last minute packing. "Can you check to see if our call signs have been assigned?" asked Karole. The mobile radio in her truck was driving her crazy! She wanted to use it so badly, but she didn't have a license.

"If I hate it, can I change it right away?" asked Trung.

"Yes, but it takes a few weeks for the FCC to get their act together" said Don.

When Karole had regained consciousness in the hospital, she was soon bored. She's a very smart person and watching TV for sixteen hours a day was turning her brain into mush. While Don was visiting with her, she saw Krissy playing with Don's ham radio HT (handi-talkie) and asked what it would take to pass the license test. "You take a test of 35 questions, and you have to guess right 25 times." Before she knew it, she was studying to test for the technicians level ham radio license with Don and Lanh teaching herself and Trung. A local Amateur Radio club set up a test session for her and she passed her technicians exam with flying colors, and so did Trung.