Chapter 3

“Are you asleep yet?” Lanh whispered.

“I was,” groaned Tam, “until you climbed in bed with me.”

“I can’t sleep.” Lanh snuggled closer to Tam. “I’m so excited for you!” Then, after a long pause, she added, “We were afraid you gave up on men.”

“If I told you that I did, and Jake is just my beard, would you go back to your own bed?”

Lanh looked at her sister like she was crazy. “Jake has a beard.”

Tam realized that if she didn’t explain the beard reference, she’d get no peace. “Look, sometimes a gay person will date someone from the opposite sex so people will think they’re straight. The person they’re dating is called a beard.”

Lanh sounded relieved. “I know Jake couldn’t possibly be your beard.”

“Good.”

“Because you said you don’t date.”

“You’re killing me tôm.”

It was Lanh’s last night as a Nguyen, and she agreed she would sleep under her father’s roof this one last time, but Tam was also sleeping under her father’s roof. Being a Catholic father, Duong put up Jake in Bao’s room, because even though they were in their late twenties and living together, this was not allowed, not under Duong’s roof. Jake and Tam realized rules were rules, so Tam was sleeping in her old room with Lanh, glad that the new Marissa wasn’t bunking with them.

“I want to know!” Lanh was literally bouncing. “Where did you meet? When did he ask you out? How did he propose? What did ba say when he met Jake? What did má say?”

“Ok, one story then it’s off to bed for you, ok?”

“Yes má.”

“Ok, Jake teaches English Lit at the University and we’ve known each other on a professional basis for a couple of years. It was Kim-ly who hooked us up when she was visiting last year.”

“Kim-ly? How...?”

“I introduced her to Jake, and she said, “Hey buddy, are you dating anyone?” when he said no, she told him I was sensitive about my looks and maybe dating a blind guy would help me pull my head out of my ass.”

“No!”

“She did. And he invited me to go to a concert right then and there.”

“NO!”

“That was over a year ago, annnnnd, we’ve been living together for the past three months.”

“That explains why you smile a lot now,” whispered Lanh. “When did he propose?”

“Last month, I told him about your proposal at Christmas, so when má and ba came to visit for Easter he asked ba for permission to marry me. Ba gave him that grouchy old dad act but finally said yes, and he proposed to me right there in front of them.”

“He asked for permission?” asked Lanh. She chuckled. “Don had balls when he told dad he wasn’t going to ask for permission.”

Tam smiled at the memory. “Yeah, Kim-ly and the boys were terrified that he was going to throw Don out of his own house.”

“You weren’t?”

“No. Mom, dad, Ralph, Sandy, and I all knew it was coming. Last Thanksgiving Dad had decided that tomorrow would be your wedding day. He was playing you two.”

“Should have said something,” muttered Lanh. “We could have had a double wedding.”

“We’re going to do it when Don comes to get you this summer. Would you like to be my maid of honor?”

“I hope my angels come tomorrow...” said Lanh softly.

“So will you Lanh?” but Tam got no response. “Tôm?” But the bride-to-be was fast asleep. “Brat.”

Over at Campbell’s farm, the sun rose far too early for Don that morning, and he dragged himself out to help with milking. After milking the cows Don returned to the house and finished putting the white paper and red ribbon on his gift for Lanh. He and Kim-ly were up past midnight finishing up the project and she fell asleep on the couch. Ralph went back up to his room to get a nap and Don shook Kim-ly awake and sent her home. Then he sat down to a cup of coffee with the cordless phone next to him. He only had to wait a few minutes for the phone to ring. “Hello baby,” he said without waiting to hear who it was that called.

“Mmmm good morning sweetie,” whispered Lanh. “Were my girls good for you this morning?”

“They were fine, mostly. Bò Kho was a bad girl again.”

“Do you think I’m going to be bad in bed tonight?” whispered Lanh into the phone.

“Heh, heh, that’s what I’m hoping for,” kidded Don.

“Oh you! I’m serious!”

“I think pastor was right, I know I’m going to be super tired, I didn’t get any sleep last night, and at milking this morning, Bò Kho kicked me.”

“Oh no! Are you ok?”

“I’m fine, but she did come close to ruining your wedding night. Why did you name that thing Bò Kho?”

“It was a warning,” explained Lanh. “She was a bad calf and I got tired of her antics. Bò Kho is beef stew. It used to be on the menu at the restaurant, if she kicks anyone again, it will be back on the menu.”

“Ok, when you get here, your present will be waiting, it will be wrapped with a bright red ribbon and a big red bow. You need to open it right away.”

“I can’t save it for later?”

“No, you’re going to want to use it right away. Oh baby, I can’t wait to see you again, I miss you so much,” said Don, hoping he didn’t sound like he was whining. “I missed not seeing you in the morning.”

“It’s going to be so nice to wake up next to you tomorrow,” sighed Lanh. “I love you.”

“Love you.” Don hung up and headed outside into the chill spring air. Rosa and Sydney were already busy arranging things in the bunkhouse. They got in through the outside door.

Don found that cousins Billy and Geoff Odegaard were up all ready and working at the grills. They built their grills out of a 55-gallon drum cut in half lengthwise. These became large charcoal grills for chicken, steak, burgers, and brats. Next to the grills were three-foot-tall vertical metal panels arranged in an oval containing a huge cooking fire. It had heavy vertical rods at each end, on which was mounted the spit and the electrical rotisserie motor. Don helped his cousins wrestle the pig onto the spit over the blazing hot fire and watched.

“Thanks man, that’s always the worst part,” said Geoff.

“Yeah man, it’s good to see ya,” said Billy. “It seems like every time we plan to get together, there’s a hurricane in Louisiana or some damn thing.” Billy and Geoff were tree surgeons full time, and when there was a storm, they would go help with fallen trees wherever a good hand at a chain saw is needed.

“I’m just glad you could make it, and hey, if something happens and you have to run off, leave the pig,” grinned Don.

Once the motor was connected to the spit and the pig started rotating over the hickory wood fire, Don went for a walk. He wandered around the farmyard that he grew up on, second guessing his decision to enlist, but he knew he couldn’t afford to go to college on what the farm pays, and he certainly couldn’t afford to put Lanh through college either. They had talked long and hard about it and decided that to get a good start and remain a Minnesota farmboy and farmgirl, a few years in the military, is the most agreeable option.

He let Marissa out of her pen and led her on a walk like Lanh so often does. Better let her get her exercise now before the guests arrive, and off they went. Before he knew it, he found himself back at the pond, feeling lonely and lost, with a tiny goat following him. He missed Lanh so much and knowing that in a few hours, they would be reunited and together for the rest of their lives didn’t help. Slowly, the sun crept higher in the sky and the morning mist was parting. Standing at the edge of the cattails, he looked up on the rise to the east side of the pond where the stand of pine trees was. A tent was pitched there for them to relax in later if they wanted. Lanh genuinely loves to come back to the pond to simply unwind. He was hoping they would get a warm evening before he heads out for basic training. He’d like to take Lanh camping here.

He was amusing himself with dreams of naked dips in the pond with Lanh when he noticed two women watching him from the edge of the wood, both tall and blond, one appeared to be older than the slightly shorter one who had tinted the tips of her hair purple. They were almost hidden by the morning mist and if they hadn’t moved, he never would have noticed them, but when he noticed them, their features became more discernable. The older one waved at him and shouted, “Love you both!” but it sounded like she was far, far away, at the end of a long tunnel, a weird, muffled echoing sound, so he could barely make out the words. Marissa charged up the hill at them, but with a swirl of the morning mists on a puff of wind, they were gone, leaving Don and the little goat alone and confused.

At the same time, Lanh was up, but she didn’t know what to do with herself. She wasn’t hungry, but she went to make a nervous breakfast, but her mother stopped her. “We have a meal waiting for us,” she assured the anxious teen bride.

She went to take a warm shower and wash up for the day’s activities, but she was told by Kim-ly, “Don’t worry about that, trust me.”

In frustration and a mad desire for something to do, she went into the restaurant kitchen and started scrubbing out a wok that didn’t really need scrubbing. Tam found her and shrieked, “Don’t! You’re getting a manicure in a few minutes!”

“What can I do?” she cried in frustration.

“Get your stuff together and get in the car, we’re leaving!”

She looked up at the large kitchen clock and found that the time, which refused to budge all morning long, had somehow jumped ahead an hour. “I’m going to be late!” she squeaked and ran back into the house to gather her áo dài, vest, and khăn vấn, the traditional hat worn with the áo dài, but her mother assured her it was there at the farm, and it was anxiously waiting on its tardy owner.

“Where are ba and the boys?” Lanh asked nervously as Tam drove out to the farm.

“Relax! They’re already out there too,” said Kim-ly from the front passenger seat.

“Any second thoughts?” asked Mai.

“Yeah,” grumbled Lanh, “we should have eloped back in September.”

After the longest ten minutes in the history of minutes, they arrived at the farm and found that there were plenty of people already arriving. A fellow whom she recognized from the swim team stepped up to the car and opened the driver’s door for Tam. He was wearing a black t-shirt that said “Valet” in gold letters. “Just leave the keys in the car ma’am ... Hi Lanh!”

“Hi Davey.” She did not expect to see him here.

But suddenly, her door opened, and Bao was there in his black tuxedo. He was flanked by identically dressed Huy and Trung. Bao held out his hand and whispered kindly, “Come on Cinderella, your prince awaits.” Lanh was shocked at the look in his eyes. He looked caring! Her other brothers always treated her like a fragile toy and left her alone, but being closer in age, Bao spent his life taunting and teasing her. She wasn’t ready for this change in his demeanor. But she took his hand and stepped out of the car and all three kissed her on the cheek.