“From what I’ve seen, you’re just one more hand me down, ‘cause no one’s tried to give you what you need…”


By February Marie was feeling closer to normal than she’d felt in awhile. Morning sickness had mostly evaded her, and now her main focus was fully recovering from the concussion. After spending the past weeks lying low, her doctor had finally cleared her to return to school. And thankfully, most of her teachers were sympathetic to her situation. They were willing to allow her to make up some of the work for full points, still giving her the chance to pass all of her classes.

It wasn’t easy though. Each day she missed, meant two hours worth of work for each class. Added to the amount of time she missed, Marie was looking at doing nothing but schoolwork up until summer break. She needed to catch up though; that was imperative. If she wanted to have the chance to have her own business, she’d have to make it out of school first. And by the time the baby came, she’d have to take even more time off.

Marco had been kind enough to make her breakfast before she headed off for school. And unfortunately, that’d be all the time they’d get to spend together until later tonight. With Marco having a home game tonight, he’d be gone most the day preparing for it. All that meant was Marie had extra time to finish up all her work.

On campus, Marie pulled her jacket around her tighter as the frigid February air started to nip at her. With her cell phone vibrating wildly, she pulled it out of her pocket, saw Jess’ name on the caller ID, and held it against her ear.

“You’ve arisen from the dead,” Marie joked, shrugging her purse up onto her shoulder.

“And how’s Mama Thatcher doing nearing her second trimester of pregnancy?”

“Alright. I’m past the point of vomiting and have since moved on to an extreme desire for Toblerone chocolate.”

“I see you’re keeping it classy,”

“Trying my best,” Marie sucked in a deep breath, “but I know you didn’t just call because you wanted to hear about my cravings… What’s up?”

“I just caught wind of some news,” Jess began, her voice now more serious than before. “Your dad’s in Minnesota,”

Marie felt the blood flee from her face, “how’d you catch wind of that?”

“One of the Lambda Chi boys is pre-med. Your dad was supposed to be a guest speaker in his class, but the professor said they’d have to reschedule because your dad had business in Minneapolis.”

“You think he’s going to find me on campus?”

Jess hesitated. “He had a private investigator follow Lizzie around. Found out she started dating Tyler Hammond.”

“Why’s that an issue? The Hammond family owns tons of publications in New York?”

“Tyler’s dad printed an article about your dad. Let’s just say it made some incriminating remarks… Marie, I think he could have someone out following you. Be careful, okay?”

“I will, thanks for the heads up Jess.”

The line went dead and Marie buried her phone back into her pocket. Almost immediately she felt her hair stand on end, and she looked around frantically, half expecting to see her dad standing in the distance. Fortunately she didn’t see him anywhere, so she tucked her head behind the collar of her jacket and rushed off for class.

Thankfully back-to-back classes kept her inside for most the day. She was surrounded by classmates and professors, and knew that her dad wouldn’t make any moves while she was around other people; that was too public. But once her last class of the day ended by mid-evening, Marie was left exposed. She hurried off for her car, not stopping to talk to anyone. There was one mission, and she had to do it: get to her car.

Even on the drive back to Marco’s, Marie kept flicking her eyes up to the rear view mirror. She wanted to make sure no one was following her. What was making her nervous was that her dad would be waiting for her in Marco’s condo. And without Marco there, she would be left vulnerable to him again. Not even knowing what car he’d have, she didn’t know what to look for when she pulled into the parking garage. For all she knew, it could be any of the unfamiliar vehicles she saw.

As she slid her key into the door, she murmured one more silent prayer and held her finger over Marco’s number, ready to call him should something go wrong. Marie kicked open the door gently, and had the breath catch in her throat.

“I take it Marco didn’t tell you I was here,”

Marie let out a sigh and shut and locked the door behind her. There in the living room, Marco’s mom sat on the couch with a cup of tea in her hands. She looked like she’d been waiting there for company for quite some time.

“He didn’t. But it’s nice to see you Mrs. Scandella,” Marie hugged her pleasantly as Sandra stood up in front of her. “What brings you down to Minnesota?”

They both sat back down on the couch. “My son told me about your news. I wanted to be here to talk about it in person, but just as I arrived, he was on his way out.”

Marie nodded her head but stayed silent. She couldn’t really gauge how Sandra felt about her being pregnant with Marco’s child.

“So now I’m waiting for him to get back so we can chat. But I heard you had a concussion a few weeks back. How are you now?”

“Almost a hundred percent. Marco’s been taking good care of me,”

“Well you’re carrying his child. I’d be disappointed if he wasn’t taking care of you. He should…”

A pounding at the door cut Sandra off. It was a sound that Marie dreaded because she knew that on the other side of the front door, stood a man who was looking to harm her in some way. Instinctively, she sunk back into the couch, and she noticed Sandra was staring at her in befuddlement.

“I need to use the bathroom,” Marie whispered, galloping out of the room. But instead of getting all the way to the bathroom, she hid behind the wall, out of sight of the front door, but within earshot. Sandra stood up and nonchalantly opened the door.

“Is Marie in?”

Marie brought her hands up to her mouth to keep herself quiet. Her dad’s voice thundered through the small condo, and she knew that Jess had been right. He had someone following her to find Marco’s address.

“I’m sorry, who are you?” Sandra asked. Marie had since moved so she could see the door, but her dad wasn’t able to spot her.

“My apologies miss. I’m William Thatcher, Marie’s father. May I see my daughter?”

Sandra turned her head to the side subtly and caught a glance of Marie cowering behind the wall. “I’m sorry, she’s not in.”

“Oh. Well then I’ll just stick around until she gets in…”

“Sir,” Sandra exclaimed sternly. Marie peeked to look at her, seeing her father’s hand on Sandra’s arm. “I think you should gets your hands off me.”

“I just want to see my daughter,”

“I told you she’s not here. Now I think you should go, Mr. Thatcher. And if I see you here again, I’ll call the cops.”

“You can’t keep a father from his daughter!”

“I told you, she’s not here!” Sandra slammed the door shut, locking it swiftly and peered through the peephole until Bill moved away from the door.

She walked back to her spot on the couch and picked up her cup of tea again, waiting for Marie to return as well. Once she did, Sandra looked over at her, “I know about your father. Marco called me to ask what he should do. I don’t like that man, Marie. I don’t like him around my son, I don’t like him around my grandchild, and I don’t like him around you.” She sipped her tea without losing one bit of her composure, “I have reservations for a hotel and I want you and Marco to stay there tonight. Your father will come back, I don’t want you to be here when he does.”

“I can’t keep running from him, because eventually he’ll catch up.”

Sandra finished her tea and set the cup on the coffee table in front of her and then placed her hands in her lap. “Rabbits bolt at the first sign of danger. It doesn’t mean they’re cowards, it means they’re smart.”

---

Marie ran for the hotel room door and yanked it open. Marco was leaning against the doorframe in much more casual clothes than she expected. He’d obviously gone home first to grab a pair of sweats, a t-shirt and a beanie before heading over to the hotel. He looked pretty beaten down from the day and Marie stepped towards him, wrapping her arms around his torso. They embraced each other in the hallway, able to communicate through silence.

Eventually, Marie looked up at him and pursed her lips. He returned her stare and only when they heard the elevator ding, did they retreat back into the room. Marco went to the bed and laid back on it, looking at the ceiling hopelessly. Marie followed him and crawled up onto his body, promptly resting her chin on his chest.

“He found us,” she whispered as she dragged her fingertips across the fabric of his shirt. “Why can’t he just leave us alone?”

“I don’t know, baby. But I don’t think he’s ever going to leave us alone,” he paused and brushed his fingers through her hair. “At least not until you’re living the life he wants you to.”

Marie turned her head to the side and stared out the window of the hotel room. “I’m scared,”

“I’m not gonna let him get near you. This is ending tonight. I’m not going to have us walking around Minnesota, afraid your father is going to pop up. He ruined Boston, New York, and Connecticut for you. He’s not ruining Minnesota too.”

He nudged Marie off of him and stood up, heading back for the door. “Where are you going?”

“You’ll be safe here tonight. He won’t find you here. But I can’t leave my mom alone at my place. I’ll call you in the morning okay?”

“Marco…” When he seemed to ignore her, she stood up from the bed and crossed her arms over her chest, “Marco…”

In an instant, he turned around and faced her. He could tell she was worried, and he walked back up to her, cupping his hands around her face.

“I want you with me for the baby appointment. It’s in a few weeks, please…” She begged and held onto his wrists.

Marco pursed his lips together and nodded, “of course. If the team’s in town, I’ll be there.” He bent lower and kissed her lips quickly, “I’ll call you tomorrow.”

As much as she didn’t want to believe it, it was probably better that Marco stayed with his mom tonight. Like he said, Bill would never find Marie at the hotel. But the chances of him going back to Marco’s place to harass or assault is mom was much more likely.

Marie flicked on the television and curled back up in bed. She was ready to put this entire day behind her. It had been the day from hell and unfortunately, it felt like it was never ending. Mostly she hoped to not wake up to a frantic call or text message about how her dad had ruined something else in her life. She prayed that both Marco and his mom would stay safe tonight.

Notes

"Hand Me Down" by Matchbox 20.

Okay, I'm like not so low-key obsessed with these two.