We're a Wonderful Wife Ch. 14

"Outstanding," grinned Coach Mach as they shook hands. "Are you truly done globe hopping now?"

"Completely done. I'm going to stay home and raise cows and kids. You remember my sports crazy brother-in-law Trung I hope."

"I sure do, we talked forever a few weeks ago. Hey, it's almost time to greet the troops, would you like to say hello?" Paul asked Trung as they shook hands.

"Sure, the worst they can do is laugh at me," grinned Trung.

"This bunch doesn't have the mental horsepower for that kind of activity this early in the morning."

A few minutes later they were standing in the gym where the boys' class was lined up. It looked like they would be doing gymnastics this week, the big gym was filled with parallel bars, uneven parallel bars, vaulting horses, springboards, even a trampoline. At Coach Mach's invitation the morning girls class joined the boys, and they circled around Don, Trung, Krissy, and Danh. The one-year-olds were in awe of the crowd of students, they had never seen such a big crowd of people before.

The girls' class was the freshman class and there was a lot of ogling and swooning over Trung, then Don noticed an embarrassed little wave from the girls class. "Our niece is here," whispered Don. Trung looked and there was Rosa's oldest girl, Chau lined up with the freshmen.

Trung waved to her and softly said to Don, "She sure is Lanh junior." With Chau's glasses and a mouth full of braces she looked exactly like her Aunt Lanh when Don first met her 18 years ago. The resemblance to the love of his life almost broke Don's heart.

Krissy noticed her too and cried "CHOO!" and she let go of Trung's finger and sprinted toward the girls' class with Danh in tow. "Looks like your class is growing a little, Coach Voeller," joked Coach Mach and the girls class teacher went to investigate. Paul Mach continued, "This is Doctor Donovan Campbell, he was a student of mine a few years ago. He was on the swimming team and set the state record in the 200-meter free style. He went on to a career in the US Air Force. He's back here in Grant Valley where he's hoping to be elected president of the school board."

"What's he a doctor of Coach? Being short?" The mouth that said that was attached to a slightly athletic looking slacker who reminded Don of the bullies that prowled these hallways fifteen years ago.

"Ericson!" bellowed Coach Mach.

"Oh, that's ok Coach," said Don who stepped up to Ericson and he continued with a grin. "I've found that the class clown is usually making up for other shortcomings." He saw that Ericson didn't miss the accusation that Don made. While his peers laughed and Ericson experienced a slow burn Don continued. "I was probably one of the worst students this high school ever saw, until Coach Mach took me under his wing and helped turn me around and he turned me on to education. That's a blessing that should be bestowed on a few students." Standing right in front of the troublemaker and ignoring him while speaking to the class intimidated the kid more than addressing him directly, a trick Don learned when training groups of hardheaded young airmen.

Don noticed that the girls in his audience were paying attention to Trung, a muscular, handsome fellow, so he decided to wind it up quickly. "I went from a D minus slacker to top ten in my class and number one in the state thanks to Coach Mach and the sister of this big guy behind me. I'm not here to talk your ears off, but if you have questions, I'll answer any questions you might have later. Personally, I'm just here to see an old friend and show my little boy where I went to school. The fellow you want to pay attention to is my brother-in-law, Doctor Trung Nguyen. He'll answer any question you may have."

"Remind me to thank the living hell out of you later," whispered Trung in Don's ear, then loudly to the students he said, "Hi, I'm Mister Nguyen, I actually went to school here for one year, I graduated early and went on to UND where I played defense on their hockey team for five years. I also ran marathons, threw shotput, and played lacrosse. My primary background is in agronomy, and agriculture is one of the things I want to concentrate on. I want to become involved with your Future Farmers of America club, I hear that your FFA needs a little bit of help, and I think I can provide that help."

He continued to talk about his first love, agriculture, and if anything, he won over the girls. Their teenage eyes shifted to Trung and he was sure that he felt their eyes on his body as he spoke about his second great desire, hockey.

A blond freshman girl whispered to the girl next to her, "He's so hot!"

"Ewwww!" cried the girl, "He's my uncle!" then covered her mouth in embarrassment as the girls class laughed at her.

"Love you too, Chau," laughed Trung. "Small towns, gotta love 'em, right?"

Even though she was dying of embarrassment Chau looked at her blond friend in shock, Uncle Trung? Hot? She never thought of Uncle Trung as anything but her dad's brother with the blond wife. Ewwww!

"He is! Look at his arms!"

"Ewww, stop!" shaking her head and waving her long wavy black locks Chau led Danh and Krissy back to Uncle Don who was standing over by the foam block pit where the students land after bouncing off the springboard.

"What's the matter sweetie?" he asked. "Did we embarrass you?" He picked up Danh and set him in the block pit where he sat in a huge pile of soft foam blocks and marveled at the magnificent toys.

"No. Kayla did," said Chau as she hoisted Krissy into the block pit. "She thinks Uncle Trung is hot."

"A lot of people do. You just see him as Uncle Trung, but other people see him differently. You see your mom as mom, but when we were in high school a lot of people thought she was hot."

"Like who?" Chau demanded as she tried to keep Danh from biting a foam block. She was shocked that anyone would find her mom hot.

"Well... your dad for one."

"Mom was hot?" Chau wrinkled her nose.

"Oh yeah, but she scared guys away, she was a tough chick. Just like Sophia." Sophia definitely took after Rosa while Chau took after her Aunt Lanh. Just then the guys and girls of her gym class started running laps with Trung shouting encouragement. "You better get going," said Uncle Don.

"Ok." Chau turned to join the run when she stopped and said, "Are you really going to be our principal?"

"No, that's just a silly rumor. Don't you worry about that."

"Whew!" said Chau as she was about to join her classmates.

"I'm going to be your principal's boss... Go! Run!"

~~~*~~~

"Hello?" Bao opened the Campbell's kitchen door and poked his nose in and called "Hello?" again but there was no answer. He headed back to the barn but the blond fellow he spoke with earlier was no longer there. "Well shit." Then he heard a loud 'clank!' from the tractor shed and headed over to the large steel building where the tractors and implements are stored and maintained. The ground was a bit muddy and there were a few snow piles left slowly being eaten away by the gentle rain, but the gravel driveway prevented his shoes from getting too muddy. He found the blond guy RJ in the shed with Ralph, they were working on a wooden towbar for an antique hay rake. "I poked my nose in," said Bao, "but nobody answered."

"She's in her office in the basement," said Ralph without looking up, he was clearly unhappy with Bao.

"Just go in," said RJ. "But don't be tracking mud across the floor or Mrs. Campbell will have words with you."

"I can't picture Sandy having words with anyone," chuckled Bao.

"There's more than one Mrs. Campbell," grunted Ralph as he freed a rusted bolt.

"They tend to gang up now," said RJ nodding in agreement.

"Gotcha," said Bao and he headed back to the house where he kicked off his muddy shoes in the mud room and crept down the basement stairs. Down there he found Kim-ly hard at work, reading glasses on, hair tied back, her fingers dancing on the keyboard. Her laptop was plugged into a docking station with two large screen monitors, full keyboard and mouse. She had mentioned that she had a nice set up, he didn't realize how nice it was. This corner of the basement, behind the washer and dryer and hanging laundry was separated from the basement with curtains and the two walls that she faced were paneled like an office in a lavish office building. He stepped up to Kim-ly and watched as she typed up an email to a client reporting her success at untangling an issue with his taxes.

"Um, Kimmy, I uh... I was hoping we could have a talk."

"I'm just finishing up DiGregorio's taxes, I sent you a copy of the email."

"I want to talk..."

"There's nothing to talk about." She took off her glasses, rose, grabbed her laptop out of the docking station and walked past Bao without meeting his eyes and disappeared up the stairs.

Bao paused to see if she would come back down but there was no sound of her moving around upstairs. He looked around the basement and found a small room packed with radio equipment, next to that was a large room with what looks like a large train layout that was under construction. Three rail track made out of parallel steel tubes, Bao was sure this was a Lionel layout even though there were no trains, just a box car or two.

Bao headed upstairs and looked around the ground floor and didn't see Kim-ly anywhere. "Kim?" he called a few times, but he didn't hear a reply. Eventually he saw Karole's truck pull into the driveway and Don hopped out and he pulled out a sleeping Danh from the back seat, a diaper bag and infant car seat. As Trung backed the truck out of the driveway Bao helped Don carry his load into the house.

Don gestured for silence as they carried Danh, his car seat and bag into the sitting room and placed Danh in his crib and covered him up. "I didn't expect to see you here," said Don.

"I came to see Kim-ly, but I guess she didn't want to talk."

Don placed a few pieces of kindling from the kindling box in the fireplace along with some crumpled newspaper and got a fire started. "She can be like that," Don said as he placed a few logs on the irons. As he stood up he said, "She will come around, you need to believe that, but she hurts."

"Did she talk to you?"

"No, the only one she talks to is Lanh, and she's not going to say a word to anyone else until she settles with you."

Bao's head spun, his life was so full of Rosa, she quickly became his spicy Mexican treat, then came Chau and Sophia, that he didn't realize how much he left Kim-ly out. It's like the moment that he introduced himself to Rosa, "Hi, I'm Bao," and she responded, "Hi, I'm interested," that his life switched over and headed off in a new direction and he left everything behind. He wanted to blame it all on her goodbye, but he realized in the end it was him. He opened his mouth to respond to Don and he realized he was home, back in his home office staring at the wall.

"Are you ok?" It was Rosa asking, not Don. How did he get home? He looked around the apartment they had lived in for the past fifteen years like he'd never seen the place before. Slowly it came back, leaving Don's house without a word and driving home like a zombie, his mind filled with what he did.

"Oh baby, I fucked up so bad."

Rosa knew exactly what he was talking about. He was a good, loving father and a wonderful husband. He gave his girls everything they could want on an accountant's salary, pinching pennies until they screamed for mercy. He could have taken on bigger clients that would have paid more money, but that would have taken time away from the time he spent with his three girls. If he had a failing it was that he was a lousy brother and son. She sat in his lap and put her arms around his neck, "I know papi, but don't give up."

"It's like I cut off my arm and didn't realize it..." He realized that he was going to have to tell Rosa now, while he had courage. "We were so close..." He had to tell her. He should have told her years ago, but he was terrified, this isn't the kind of thing that happens in Minnesota but... "We were lovers," he whispered.

"I know," she said softly.

"How did you know?"

"Your eyes miho, when you look at her you don't look at her with brother's eyes, you look at her with lover's eyes."

"How long have you known?" Bao was shocked that his wife knew his deepest, darkest secret.

"Since the day I first saw you with Kim-ly. She looked at you the same way."

~~~*~~~

Lanh arrived home just as Bao was leaving. She got out of her SUV as Bao walked past and got into his beat-up old Toyota Tercel. Lanh tried to get his attention, but he never even looked at her. Confused, she went into the house and found Danh asleep in his crib, a fire just started in the fireplace, and Don sitting on the floor in the bedroom looking at the closet. "What's going on? Danh's asleep, you're sitting on the floor and Bao walked past me and he didn't even say hi."

"He's had a rough day," said Don as he eased Lanh into his lap. He kissed Lanh, pointed to the closet, and said softly, "So has she."

Lanh squinted at the closet, the sliding doors were open, and she could see in the dark corner a glimmer of Kim-ly's eyes. She was crouched down in the back hidden behind the stacks of shoes and other items. "Oh honey!" Lanh gasped and crawled over to the closet on her hands and knees. "Was he here to see you?" Kim-ly just nodded her head, still embarrassed that she couldn't bring herself to talk to her twin brother. "Oh sweetheart," pouted Lanh. "Let me give you a hug." The girls cuddled together, for once in her life Kim-ly was leaning on Lanh for her strength.

The girls hugged each other, and as Kim-ly's tears subsided, Lanh reached out to Don and said, "You can come join us."

He shook his head sadly and said, "Can't get up. Back."

"Come on Kim-ly," sighed Lanh. He's been working too hard, and his back gave out again. "We need to help the old man get up off the floor."

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

It was a warm spring with warm evenings, perfect for camping. Don, Lanh, and Kim-ly headed back to the pond on the John Deere tractor hauling their John Deere hay wagon loaded with improvements to the camp site. On the hay wagon was a load of firewood, food, clothing, and a new picnic table.

As they pulled up to the pine grove near the pond Lanh stopped the tractor, then Don hopped down from the hay wagon, helped Kim-ly down off the wagon, then helped Lanh off the tractor. They were only 15 weeks along but Don wasn't going to take any chances. "Here we go you hot busty thing!" grinned Don as he helped Lanh down.

"Whoo hoo! Baby got boobs!" taunted Kim-ly as she led Danh up the path to where the tent was set up. "Can you say boobs Danh-Danh?"

"Boots" said the lad as he carefully stepped over sticks and twigs.

"Close enough."

"Leave my boobs alone!" demanded Lanh as she carried a cooler to the camp site. "It's the first time I've ever had any." Which was an exaggeration, but Lanh's breasts are starting to get larger as are Kim-ly and Tam's breasts.

"Y'all gonna catch up with me any day now!" They didn't have to turn around to see that Karole and Trung snuck up on them with Sandy's electric golf cart.

The family campground was set up, Don, Lanh, and Kim-ly have a big Army surplus canvas tent which is rapidly becoming their retreat. It's set up on a raised wooden platform and has three rooms separated by canvas walls plus an awning out front that they can sit under when it's raining. On the other side of the firepit, campsites were cleared for people to throw up their own tents. Huy and Ahnjong had their tent up and Bao and Rosa had a tent set up, In the big green canvas M*A*S*H style tent Don, Lanh, and Kim-ly were in one room of their tent, Karole and Trung in the other room, and the big room was set up for Tam, Jake, and their boys.

While tents were going up Don turned to Karole and asked, "Are you ready?"

"Ready as I'll ever be," she sighed and they walked over to the hay wagon where a burlap sack waited for them. He put the heavy sack on the golfcart and they wheeled to a spot where Karole said, "Stop!" Her head was spinning, so much had been revealed to her, so much to dredge up. "Yeah, this is the place, put it here." She indicated a point on the grass not far from the campsite.

Don pulled a large chunk of rose quartz from the bag and placed it where Karole indicated. "I remember this place," said Don. "It's where we buried Marissa, and the day we were married I came out here for a walk and I thought I saw Lanh's angels, they were right here." He also remembered standing here watching Lanh, Tam, and Kim-ly skinny-dipping years ago.

Karole however remembered burying Lanh's ashes here... then Grandpa Noah told her that this is where she and Ralph found Don's body a year later. She sighed sadly, the piece of Rose Quartz the size of a basketball came from Colorado, so did Lanh's ashes. But that timeline was broken, she shattered it when she saved Lanh. Her thoughts were a thousand miles away when Don said, "Are you pregnant?"

Karole was shocked, why would he ask that? "What... me? Oh, hail no!"

"Good, let's go get a beer, I feel like someone just walked over my grave."

Soon the kids were playing at the "beach" a flat area where the edge of the pond was shallow, and the little ones could play in the shallow water naked. With Huy and Ahnjong being lifeguard for the kids, Don took Bao and Kim-ly out for a rowing lesson. Don leaned into the oars, his lungs now supplying oxygen with each breath after several balloon angioplasty treatments that he had throughout the spring. He propelled the old wooden Jon boat the length of the lake as he explained the necessity of needing to roll the wrist and concentrate on how both arms are pulling with the exact same effort. "It's an exercise of harmony between the left side and the right side."

Reaching the far end of the lake he spun the boat around and smiled at Bao and Kim-ly who sat in the back seat. "Ok, your turn, Bao, you come sit here." Being very careful because Bao is a weak swimmer, they changed positions, but Don had Bao sit right of center. "Now Kim-ly, you come here and sit next to Bao."

"What are you doing?" hissed Kim-ly.

"This is an exercise in teamwork," said Don as he took a length of rope and tied Bao's left leg to Kim-ly's right leg. Then standing on the aft fishing platform he said, "It takes communication and teamwork to do something as simple as row a boat." As he said that, Lanh came up behind them in their little 12-foot-long sailboat and bumped into the stern of the rowboat. The moment she bumped into the rowboat, Don stepped onto the sailboat, sat next to Lanh and gave her a kiss. "See you at the dock!" and they sailed silently away.

Bao and Kim-ly sat there staring at the stern of the rowboat in silence. "I don't know how to say how sorry I am," Bao finally said. "I got so involved with Rosa that I forgot the whole world."

Kim-ly simply glared at him. It's been fifteen years since he's been this close to her this long. Both ached to untie the rope around their leg but both were stubborn and left it in place for their own reasons. Bao left it because he truly wanted to be next to Kim-ly, and she left it because it was one of Don's crazy ideas, and she's grown to love his crazy ideas, no matter how much they hurt at first. She finally took a deep breath and said the first words to him she's spoken to him in person since his wedding. "Row."

"Can't we talk about this?"

Talk? She wanted to scream in his ear so loudly that he'd lose hearing in that ear for decades. Instead, she decided that actions would speak louder than words, she leaned back and slapped him as hard as she could. Unfortunately, a good slap requires elbow room, but it was a start and for some reason it hurt them both, it was like stepping on your own toe.