We're a Wonderful Wife Ch. 14

Thank you all so much for your patience. This chapter was the most difficult to write because it didn't want to be written. The story was supposed to end in a completely different way, but I couldn't go there, the story wouldn't let me. Had the story gone in another direction the final chapter would have been posted in December and it would have had a very dark ending.

The story screamed at me, demanding a proper ending, and I listened to reader input and with some help from my muse this is what she gave me, I hope you enjoy it. I've left clues and hints as to what the original ending would have been but I deleted every word of everything that happened after Chapter 8 and re-wrote it all.

Again, thank you so much for waiting.

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We're A Wonderful Wife

Chapter 14

All Good Things...

Dr. Carla Schaeffer, the medical genius that made Danh's birth possible, set April third as the official kick-off date of Operation Sue Lin and everybody was excited except for Duong, Ralph, and quietly, Don. Yes, the possibility of overcoming the loss of Sue Lin, a heartbreak that Don still believes that he caused, was tempting, the possibility of losing Lanh in a complication during pregnancy was terrifying. He's reminded over and over that tiny women have babies all the time, that Lanh is in no real danger, but then he reminds himself of their history - how many people get assaulted then run over by the same guy on Christmas Eve? Ralph and Duong had the same worries, but all three men kept their reluctance to themselves when they saw how happy and excited the chance to fulfill a dream made Lanh.

Lanh's endometriosis had been rigorously treated and results looked promising that she could conceivably bear a child. Now it's just a matter of harvesting a healthy ovum from her sister Kim-ly, adding Don's contribution, and planting the tiny fetus in a hormone riddled Lanh. When the big day to start Operation Sue Lin arrived, the three nervously entered Dr. Schaeffer's practice and there Lanh and Kim-ly were subject to an interminable barrage of tests and examinations while Don could only sit in the waiting room and read a magazine. As he nervously waited, his sister-in-law Tam entered the office looking nervous herself. She sat down next to Don who greeted her with his usual, "Nyyaaaa, what's up Doc?"

"That's only funny once you know."

"Yeah, but it's fun to say." He gave an obviously nervous Tam a hug. "You here for normal girl stuff?" He noticed that she was more preoccupied than normal, he was worried about her.

"Yeah, girl stuff."

"If you need something, like an ear to chew or a shoulder to lean on, I'm here for you old girl." Calling Tam "old girl" usually rates a response, at least a punch in the arm, but Tam continued to stare at her hands in her lap with a blank expression on her beautiful face. Changing subject Don asked, "How was dinner on Friday?" Don had cooked a special dinner for her and Jake. It was April Fool's Day and he was sure they were going to prank each other but he left before they finished dinner.

"It was good, thank you." However, she remained silent about what was bothering her.

Don turned her face to him with a finger on her perfectly sculpted chin, this was the first time he had ever touched her face and when their eyes met, he realized that her beautiful, perfect dark brown eyes were filled with tears. "Darling," he whispered, "whatever it is I want to help. I owe you so much, I have the time and now I have the resources. Please, tell me how I can help."

She looked down at her tangled fingers and whispered, "While I'm taking care of this issue can you clean my house, do my laundry and take care of my boys, all four of them?"

"Yes. Yes, I can. Will you need a nurse?"

Tam looked at Don and the expression on his face was serious, she's never seen him more serious. "Maybe," she whispered.

"Done." He took out his phone and started typing. Seeing the terrified look on her face he said, "Please don't make any decisions you'll regret. You have a big family to help you."

Does he know? Does he realize what she's considering asking Doctor Schaeffer to do? Now Tam was having more doubts.

As he typed a medical assistant leaned out from the receptionist's office, "Doctor Campbell? We're ready for you."

"One second please," and he continued to type, then he turned to Tam and said, "Help is on the way, so hold off on any decisions you have to make. I even found a specialist to help you with Jake."

"Doctor Campbell?" repeated the assistant.

Don was smiling again when he said, "Well, I have to go, they need me. It sounds like a pedagogical emergency." He patted Tam's hand. "That's why I'm here. Ta!" and he disappeared behind a door following the medical assistant. As he left Tam searched through her memory for the definition of pedagogical... She pulled out her phone and saw a text message from a house cleaner asking when she can come and start and is tomorrow soon enough?

Then a quick google search revealed, "Pedagogical = the means of and pertaining to teaching." That's when she started laughing with an inelegant snort.

The tests were complete but now came an agonizing wait as the three of them sat in Dr. Schaeffer's office. Finally, Carla came in and smiled and shook their hands each in turn, "How is my favorite menage á troi doing?"

"It's been a difficult winter," said Lanh. The terror of being trapped under a car watching Karole slip away not knowing if she was dead... it still causes her nightmares. A sudden thought hit - will my nightmares affect the baby? Maybe we should stop this now before it gets too far.

"We got to lay in the sun and play on a private island in the tropics," sighed Kim-ly. That was truly a dream come true and she hoped that Don could arrange another visit. Actually, he had arranged another visit but for someone else.

"I'm sure that daddy liked that," said Carla as she poured over the test results on her computer. Don never remarked on that statement and Carla never noticed, she became deeply concerned with what she saw in the test results. "This can't be..." she flipped back and forth between pages of test results on her computer, there's no way that these test results could be true, but there they were. She stared hard and long and nothing changed, so she decided to accept what her tests revealed. "Excuse me," she said, "I'll be right back," and she stepped out of the office leaving the three alone and shocked.

"What the fuck?" said a shocked Kim-ly.

Lanh turned to Don, there was terror in her eyes. "Something is wrong," she said in a tiny, shaking voice. Don put an arm around her and held her hand with his free hand and gave her a kiss on her cheek. He was searching for something to say that would soothe her nerves, but he had a hollow feeling in his gut that she was right.

"This isn't right," whimpered Kim-ly. There was such fear in her voice that Don released Lanh's hand and put his arm around Kim-ly.

"Whatever it is, we do what we've been doing for years, we stick together, support each other, and deal with it," said Don, but there was a hollow, empty pit in his stomach. He wanted to cry also but he tried to keep calm, to be a shelter in the storm for Lanh and Kim-ly.

Carla soon returned to the office with several sheets of paper. "Sorry, I had to grab these off the printer," she said to no one in particular. She sat down at her desk, took a highlighter, and on each page, she highlighted something in neon yellow, then she handed a page each to Lanh and to Kim-ly and she gave two pages to Don. "I'm sorry, but we can't proceed with our plans."

"What? Why!" demanded Kim-ly. She rattled the page that Carla handed to her.

"Not again," whimpered Lanh. "Not again," she crumpled her test results and started to weep.

Don on the other hand actually read the test results. "This can't be true, is this right?" It came out as a gasp.

Carla rose and said, "I'm going to step out of my office and give you a few minutes to read your test results and talk amongst yourselves, then I'll be back to discuss your next steps." She stepped out as Don tried to convince the shocked women to read their test results. In the outer office Carla peeked through the receptionist's window and thankfully her next appointment was early, "Dr. Nguyen? A word?"

Tam had her own reason for being there, a home pregnancy test sat in her purse, ready to show Dr. Carla, and a difficult request in mind that she was now reconsidering. Tam rose and stepped up to Carla, the doctor who delivered all three of her boys. "Can I help you?" Tam asked.

"Could you step into my office for a moment, I think your sisters need you."

Tam heard loud voices from inside Carla's office and muttered, "I knew it was too good to last." It sounded like the peace between her sisters was over. Fully expecting to see Kim-ly and Lanh throttling each other in anger, she stepped into the office.

~~~~~~~~~~*~~~~~~~~~~

Sandy and Ralph Campbell stepped into Nguyen's Pho restaurant at 2:20, and the place was full of their in-law families, they were almost all there. Huy and Ahnjong, Trung and Karole, Bao and Rosa, Duong and Mai, now Ralph and Sandy. The children were all in school, except for Arlo, Krissy and Danh who were enjoying their reunion and giggling and running around the tables to the chuckles of the few customers.

Ralph spotted Duong and asked, "What's going on?"

"I don't know," he said nervously. "Lanh called us from the doctor's office and said they need everybody here at 2:30. She sounded nervous."

"I got the same call from Tam," said Sandy.

Duong shook his head, how much more pain and sorrow can his little girl take?

Two thirty came and went with no explanation from the girls. This was the quietest time of the day at the restaurant, the lunch crowd was mostly gone, and it was too early for dinner, so the dining room was nearly empty except for a few regulars. Finally, the sound of stamping feet in the attached house portion of the building could be heard, people were stomping snow off their boots as they came into the residence portion of the building.

Without fanfare the five missing family members entered, Tam leading Jake and they were followed by Lanh, Kim-ly and Don. The three women lined up in front of the kitchen, while Don and Jake stood behind them. Before they could say something, a distraught Mai demanded, "What's going on here?"

Tam held up a finger, then glancing at her sisters she nodded her head and at the same time all three women recited in unison, "I'm going to have a baby."

"What?"

Lanh, Kim-ly, and Tam all started to explain something at the same time, and it came out a confused, jabbering mishmash just like when they were young. Finally, their father cried, "Dừng lại! (stop) One at a time!" just like when they were young. He pointed at Tam and said, "Nói chuyện." (Speak) He wasn't angry, he just wanted some order.

Tam smiled, shrugged, and said, "I had to go off the pill because I was having migraines and..." She smiled in joy as Jake hugged her from behind, "we are having a baby in November."

Her family started to rise to congratulate her, but a quick snarl of warning from Duong stopped them with a gesture and pointed to Kim-ly, "Nói chuyện."

Kim-ly gave a nervous smile and said, "I had to go off the pill also... for the procedure, and I'm..." but she was interrupted by Don before she could finish her announcement.

"We," corrected Lanh as she and Don gently touched her shoulders.

Kim-ly nearly burst into tears of joy and relief, she's not alone! She felt Don and Lanh behind her, holding her. "We are having a baby, in November" Don and Lanh hugged her as she sniffed wiped her eyes.

Duong didn't approve of Kim-ly's relationship with Don and Lanh, but she wasn't living a string of one night stands anymore and Don and Lanh loved her. Like Danh, this child will be loved and that's what mattered most. He sighed and pointed at Lanh. "Nói chuyện."

"They were going to take an egg from Kim-ly and put it in me," said Lanh, then she added sadly, "but they can't because she's going to have a baby."

Mai stepped up to Lanh and touched her arm gently. "Maybe after her baby is born..."

"That won't be necessary mommy..." she suddenly turned into a little girl that finally got the gift she always wanted for Christmas. "Because I'm having a baby!!!" she squealed at the top of her lungs. Fifteen years of failure were over! She finally felt like a woman, she did it, she's now whole again, a functioning woman. She and Don kissed passionately then the three sisters gathered in a group hug.

With a shriek of joy Karole flung herself at Lanh, crutches flying, tears of joy streaming as she cried, "Ah'm gonna be an auntie!" Her reaction caused laughter through everyone there and the whole family clustered around the three sisters, hugging and laughing, and Lanh! Everyone knew about her and Don's desire for a child and the horrible disappointments they suffered, and now it can come true.

Mai and Duong hugged and congratulated their daughters, but Mai was concerned, "You're so old!" she exclaimed, especially to Tam who was just past 40.

"I am aware of that mother," sighed Tam, "so is Doctor Schaeffer. She's labeled all of us as high risk, especially tôm." Being the Vietnamese word for shrimp and considering Lanh's diminutive size it's a fitting nickname now that Lanh has gotten over thinking she was being called a "stinky sea bug."

As the women laughed and chattered Don turned to Jake and said, "I didn't ask, how do you feel about this? You're really old too."

Jakes cane shot out catching Don in the shin. "Oops, I am so sorry, it happens sometimes. Did it hurt? It sounded really painful... I'm sorry, you were saying?"

"I was saying let's go across the street and get a drink, you and me." He had forgotten about that cane, for a blind guy, Jake has great aim.

"I heard that loud and clear," said Jake.

Don turned to tell Lanh that he was going to leave, and he saw that she was swamped by parents and well-wishers, so he told Tam that he was stealing her husband then Don led Jake out the door with Bao, Trung, and Huy following. Don led Jake to the Trackside Tap, a little watering hole across the street from the pho restaurant.

The bar was open, but it was mostly empty, it was still early in the afternoon and the bar was populated by a surly bar tender and a couple of die-hard drinkers. The bartender looked up in surprise to see five men stroll into the bar, the shortest one, the fellow wearing a military issue parka turned to the guy with dark glasses and a red tipped white cane and said, "What are you having dad?"

"Scotch please, single malt if they have any, if not I'll have a Dewars on the rocks, water back." As Jake seated himself Don came back from the bar with two glasses for Jake and a beer for himself.

"The bar tender said it's their only single malt," said Don as he sat down. "He told me what it was, but my brain is a bit frazzled today."

"Same here," said Jake as he swirled the amber liquid around in the glass. He sniffed it then took a sip, then smiled. "Glenmorangie. Not fancy but not bad." He leaned toward Don, sniffed his pint, and said, "Hamm's."

"Yeah, I really like Hamm's. You could tell by smelling it?"

Jake just smiled and held up his glass as a toast. When Don tapped his beer glass to Jake's whiskey Jake decided to come clean. He took a sip of his whiskey and said, "To be honest, no, I couldn't tell it was Hamm's by smelling it, I could barely tell it was beer. I do that to everyone when I hear what they order. Please don't tell anyone, they think it's my superpower."

Don chuckled. He really liked Jake; he's got a wicked sense of humor. Before he could respond, the Nguyen brothers joined them at their table. Bao sat directly across from Don and glared at him, Huy sat between Bao and Jake, and Trung sat next to Don and threw his arm around his brother-in-law and hugged him hard enough to rekindle memories of old injuries. "Congratulations! God you must be happy!"

"Happy, yeah. Excited, terrified, overwhelmed, scared... and happy."

"Did you ever think of what this will do to Lanh?" Huy asked.

Don was a little shocked, it's not like their plans were secret. "Well, the original plan was that she would end up pregnant, we just didn't expect it to happen like this."

"I'm sorry man," groaned Huy. "It's just that so much has happened... I'm so worried about her... she's been through so much... you both have... but she's so tiny... I worry that she won't make it."

"I know, same here. It keeps me up at night but I gotta look brave." Don sighed and looked terribly defeated, then he cheered. "Thank you for being there for us," said Don. "You and Ahnjong have been incredible." Then Don looked at Bao, he was angry and had turned red. "Do you have something to say?"

"Yeah," Bao lifted his glass and drained his beer then set his glass down and glared at Don. "What are you doing with my sister?"

"Married stuff."

"My TWIN sister," growled Bao. He was angry and was barely holding back. He's a student of martial arts and he can beat Don to a pulp in a variety of ways.

"That's really not any of your..."

Jake's hand grasped Don's arm, "Let me," he said quietly then said to Bao, "Where have you been for the past fourteen years?" When Bao didn't answer, he asked again, "Where were you while your twin sister sat alone night after night crying herself to sleep?"

"We talked every day," sputtered Bao.

"You talked work, you talked business, what did you say after five in the afternoon when the shadows start to set in? How often did you invite her over for dinner? You know, being her twin brother it's kind of hard for you to forget her birthday but you accomplished that feat fourteen times. You tended to miss Christmas a few times also... maybe a dozen."

"Look. This is between me and Don..."

"No, it's between you and Kim-ly," said Jake. "I'm done drying her tears of loneliness, Tam and I were the only ones she could turn to while Don and Lanh were in uniform protecting our asses. Trung and Huy were out of state, but you were just a few miles away and you wouldn't return a call."

Bao started to sputter, "I... I need..."

Jake was relentless but Bao wasn't going to punch a blind man, so Jake continued. "You need to go over there and beg her forgiveness for cutting her out of your life. Then you need to tell her you're happy for her, because for the first time in almost 20 years, she is happy. You need to tell her that you will be overjoyed to be your niece or nephew's godfather."

When Bao didn't say anything, Don said, "Dude, when I met you eighteen years ago you two were a team, you did everything together, then when you started dating Rosa, it's like you turned your back on Kim-ly. If we knew that you hate her that much, I never would have re-enlisted, she hates being lonely..."

"I DON'T HATE HER!" thundered Bao.

Jake was ice cold when he said, "you sure as fuck act like you do."

"I... I..."

"You need to talk with her and make things right," said Huy sadly. "We both do." He's seen it too and he had no idea what to say. He was as bad as Bao, he and Ahnjong had moved to Iowa for a few years putting distance between them and Kim-ly before moving back to Minneapolis. But now he's back in Grant Valley. He needs to let Kim-ly know he's here for her too.