“It may sound absurd but don’t be naïve, even heroes have the right to bleed… And it’s not easy to be me…”


Time was closing in on them as July rolled in. Marco had since returned from his extended Vegas and Montreal vacation, and was now adopting the fatherly role that would soon be thrust upon him. Marie’s every need went fulfilled as he went above and beyond the call of duty. Even when Carol came to visit to help out with the final preparations for the baby, Marco was insistent on helping out and learning as much as he could. When Carol demonstrated diaper changing, Marco was right beside her, soaking in her technique. And when she told them how to bathe an infant, he wanted a hands-on lesson. He was doing so well and yet Marie worried about him. She felt he was being so attentive mostly because he was afraid. Of course he had every right to be.

Carol had returned to the hotel for the night, leaving Marie completely alone as Marco had gone out with a small group of friends. That was probably the hardest part of the whole pregnancy; not being able to go out with Marco. She didn’t want to be around alcohol or smoke, and so on the nights Marco went out, she was left at home.

On nights like tonight when Marie could keep her eyes open, she opted to wait up for Marco. She liked to hear how his night was so she could live vicariously through him. But also on nights like tonight, Marco didn’t get home until late. Marie worried about him endlessly mostly because she knew his driving was sketchy at best. He was a good driver and could handle a car, but he drove fast and mixed with alcohol, things could go wrong real quick.

The first ounce of relief she felt was the moment she heard his key slide into the lock. She had been waiting on the couch for him, fighting every urge just to stay awake. He walked though the door pretty steadily; a good sign that he was in full control. And Marie twisted on the couch, throwing her arms over the back of it to face the door.

“Darling, you’re back late,”

“I wasn’t expecting you to wait up for me. You need your rest,” Marco replied, dropping his keys in the bowl by the door. He was slowly making his way into the living room.

“I wanted to hear about your night. How was it?” She paused to wait for his response. Only when he stepped into the soft light projected from the lamp, Marie noticed his eye was red and swollen with a matching cut on the cheekbone. “Oh my god, what happened?!”

Marie jumped up from the couch and ran around to him, lifting her hands up to his face gently. Marco deflected and held her wrists, keeping her fingers away from his cheek.

“You got in a fight! Marco, what are you doing fighting?”

“I didn’t get in a fight,” he retorted, pushing her hands away from his face and began to retreat for the kitchen.

“What do you mean, you’re all roughed up,” she stayed right on his heels and pulled an ice pack out of the freezer and held it up to his face.

He flinched when the ice touched his skin. But then he recoiled to the kitchen table and sat in a chair, “I egged a guy on… Provoked him,”

Marie sat across from him and rested her chin in her hand, “go on.”

“I don’t know, I just… wanted to feel something. These past few days I’ve felt numb so I tried to bury myself into learning parenting techniques from your mum and that just made me more detached. So I insulted some prick at the bar and let him take a few swings.”

“Did you feel it?”

Marco chuckled and pulled the ice pack away from his eye like he couldn’t really believe tonight had gone the way it had. “Barely. I feel like I’m going soft. The guys would make so much fun of me for acting like this…”

“Like what?” Marie furrowed her eyebrows. She hated that showing any emotion meant he was going soft. “Like a father? You don’t think Zach, and Ryan, and Jared have felt this way?” Instead of getting angry with him, she tried to cool herself off. After all, he was going to be a first time father and he was trying to figure things out, just as she was. “Instead of getting beat up, please just go talk to one of them. It’ll ease my already shot nerves,”

“I’m getting more and more afraid each day it gets closer. I don’t know how to do this… how to be someone’s father,”

Marie couldn’t help but smile at his confession. Maybe she should’ve been frightened by it, but the look of genuine concern on his face didn’t make her believe he was regretting fatherhood; just trying to deal with the change. “We’re not supposed to know yet. We have plenty of years to screw up and figure it out.”

He looked at her and reached for her hand. “I’m sorry about this,” he whispered and touched his eye with his free hand.

“No more getting beat up in bars, okay? There’s gonna be someone more important than either of us in a month, so we have to start making solid decisions.”

---

Marie tossed and turned all night, trying to get in a comfortable position. Lying on her back was now a thing of the past. When she lay like that, she couldn’t breathe and got dizzy. And good luck sleeping on her stomach. She was bound to sleeping on her sides, and shifting from her left to her right was becoming more of a chore than an ability.

When she sat up for the hundredth time that night, she realized the sun was now up. Beside her, Marco was no longer in bed. She pushed herself out from beneath the blankets padded out of the bedroom. Just as it was shocking to not be able to turn in bed, Marie was stunned to see Marco and her mom in the kitchen chatting amicably.

“Good morning,” she said sitting next to her mom. Marco was quick to turn around and hand her a cup of tea. “What are you two talking about?”

“Marco was just telling me about his night,” Carol mentioned offhand. Instantly, Marie and Marco looked at each other. “He mentioned he was pretty scared and nervous about the coming of your child,”

He turned back towards the stove and shuffled the bacon gently in the pan, only to turn back to place a bowl of cut up fruit in front of Marie and her mom. She picked at a piece of cantaloupe and held it up to her mouth, “we’re both nervous. But my appointment today is gonna go swimmingly, and the doctor is going to tell us we have a healthy girl on our hands. First-time parent jitters,”

She tried to ignore the fact that Marco’s eye had turned a purpleish color, and a blood vessel had popped, turning the white of his eye a deep red. With her mom serving as a distraction, Marie was able to focus on her as Marco continued to prepare breakfast. All she wanted was for her appointment to be over so she could spend the rest of her day watching the construction crew tear through her shop. Believe it or not, that brought an overwhelming sense of calmness into her life. While the men bustled around to restore the shop back to order, none of that was Marie’s job; not yet at least. For awhile, she’d be able to sit back and relax until renovations were finished. The crew had managed to stay on schedule and on budget so far, and with a few more weeks to go, Marie hoped it would stay that way.

Within the hour Marie was off to see the doctor. It was just like any other appointment, and she hoped to be out of there in a timely fashion in order to supervise the construction crew. What she couldn’t have guessed was that by the time she left the doctors office and got to the shop, watching the crew would be the lowest on her priorities list. A lot was happening so quickly, Marie couldn’t really wrap her head around everything.

The doctor assured her that everything would be okay. She went as far to say that many babies were born with this sort of thing and went on to live completely normal lives. All that sounded like was “your kid is sick and could live a normal life, but maybe not”.

“Miss?”

Marie flicked her head to the side and stared at the contractor. At this point she wasn’t even sure if she could form an intelligible sentence.

“The sign came today. It’s in the back if you want to check it and make sure everything’s okay,”

She smiled as pleasantly as possible despite being totally consumed with thinking about her child. But she made her way to the back of the shop and stepped up to the makeshift worktable with the covered sign on top of it. Hoping that everything was right, she lifted the white sheet and stared down at the black delicate script. If anything good was to come of today, it was that when she looked down at the name of her soon to be very own café bakery, she knew she had made the right choice: Scandy’s.

The bell that she had placed on top of the door jingled as someone stepped into the shop. Marie walked out from the back and sunk as Marco was making his way further in. The last thing she wanted to do right now was re-live her appointment. But ultimately, Marco had a right to know, and now it was her news to tell.

Again she forced a smile and hugged him, squeezing her eyes shut as he planted a kiss on her forehead. He was all sweaty and Marie backed up, scrunching her nose as she was more sensitive to smell since being pregnant.

“Heard the sign came in… How’s it look,” he asked heading towards the back room to see it. Marie took the opportunity to grab onto his arm, keeping him separated from the construction crew. He shot her a confused glance.

“It looks fine…” she murmured. It was now or never. She sucked in a deep breath and dangled her fingers loosely around Marco’s. “I called my dad today,”

Marco furrowed his eyebrows and shook his head, unwilling to accept what had just come out of her mouth. If anything, he looked more mortified than angry.

“I had no choice, Marco. Believe me, I would’ve called anyone else but I wouldn’t trust anyone else.”

“Trust? Marie, the guy nearly killed you!” He pulled his hand away from hers and ran it through his hair as it fell into his face, “trust me! If anyone, trust me!”

She shook her head and stepped towards him, but Marco just took another step back. “No you don’t understand,”

“Oh I get it. I hear you loud and clear. I’ve told you plenty of times I don’t want you contacting him. He can’t hurt you again because it kills me, Marie!”

As he took another step back, Marie lunged and reached for him. Marco went to pull away from her again, but before he could, Marie blurted out an explanation; unable to stop herself once she started. “The doctor found a heart murmur,” she paused to gather herself, noticing now that instead of backing away, Marco got closer. “She said it could be nothing, but in the event that it is something, we’d have to act fast. So I called him, Marco. Because no matter how much I hate him, he’s still one of the best cardiothoracic surgeons in the country. And if my kid has to have heart surgery, he’s the person I want doing it. I can rely on him as a surgeon if not for anything else,”

“I don’t want him near our daughter,” he begged and cupped his hands around her face. “Please we can find someone else… Anyone else,”

“If we want the best for her, it has to be him. Bill Thatcher is the best.”

“I don’t like it,”

Marie frowned and held onto his hand once again, “she could have an awful heart defect and if she does, she’ll need him. I hate to say it, but she’s probably safest in his hands.”

Marco turned away and rubbed his eyes. When he groaned, Marie reached forward and set her hands on his back. “I’m already an awful father. I can’t even protect her from this; from your dad, whose only goal in life is to ruin yours.”

“Stop it. Stop second-guessing your… fathering abilities. I’m gonna need you by my side as you are, keeping me calm. If you think I’m going to be cool and collected in a month when I have to push your kid out, you’re wrong. I need you. Besides you’re going to be a great dad. I’ve seen the way your dad is with you; you learned from the best.”

Notes

"Superman" by Five for Fighting.

I seem to be on a roll with the direction this story is heading, that I'm writing pretty frequently. Look for lots of updates fairly quickly! <3