“It’s alright to cry, even my dad does sometimes. So don’t wipe your eyes, tears remind you you’re alive…”


If anything, it was shocking because Marie thought she had a couple weeks left. But alas as August made its debut, their child wanted to do the same. When Marie realized what was happening at three o’clock in the morning on August first, she flung her fist down on the Marco’s chest in a panic. Unfortunately he wasn’t the soothing companion she hoped he’d be.

When he realized what was happening, he shot of out bed, trying to be productive. But he ended up walking aimlessly in circles, forgetting what he needed to grab for the hospital. Luckily Marie had taken the time to pack bags a few days ago, and she held onto her stomach with one hand and bent over to pick up the bags with her other. She stood back up and sucked in a deep breath. Her eyes squeezed shut and her hands closed into tight fists as another contraction started tearing through her.

Marco was at her side in seconds, taking the bags off of her shoulders and placing them on his. He tried to get her to move and head towards the front door, but Marie held up her finger and Marco knew he needed to give her a minute. Being as patient as possible, he waited until she exhaled and opened her eyes, before ushering her out the door and into the car.

“Will you call my mom, and my sister, and Jess… and your parents? I’ll call my dad when I get settled,” Marie spoke softly, turning down the already quiet jazz music.

He nodded and reached over to set his hand on her stomach, rubbing his thumb back and forth against it. She placed her hand over his and took another staggered breath in. “We’re gonna be parents,” he smiled and looked back to the road.

“I’m not ready for this. What if her heart…”

“She’s going to be fine. We’re calling your dad, and that’s all we can do.” He paused and pulled his hand away from her stomach, replacing it on the steering wheel, and looked over his shoulder before changing lanes. “And if he does any harm to our daughter, I’ll kill him.”

Marie groaned and looked out at the darkness of the early morning. “I wish my mom was here now. I’m scared,”

“I’m here. I got you. We’re good,” he tried to reassuring, but even he doubted whether or not his words were helping. Just as much as he was trying to convince Marie, he was trying to convince himself too.

The drive was pretty quiet except for the contraction that ripped through Marie’s body. They were now nearly fifteen minutes apart, and by the time Marco led Marie into the hospital, the pain had since passed.

Everyone in the hospital was super kind and gentle, and Marie tried to be pleasant with all of them despite being uncomfortable. The nurses were doing more than their share of work in attempting to keep her calm. As they put it, first-time mother anxiety was one of the worst. But finally they left, and so did Marco as he began going through his list of people to call. Marie shuffled through her bag and pulled out her cell phone, flipping through it until she found her dad’s number. It’d be nearly six in the morning in New York, so she figured he’d be up.

“Marie,”

Her dad’s voice shocked her, and she hoped she was making the right decision. “It’s happening,” her voice was shaky and she tried her best to stay in control of her emotions.

“Okay well stay calm. I’ll be there in a few hours, and I’ll be in touch with your OB.”

“Dad,” she gasped just as Marco came back into the room. He obviously still hated it, but figured he’d just have to deal with it.

“Don’t stress about it. Many babies have heart murmurs. Usually it’s nothing,”

“What if it is something,”

“Then I’ll fix it. Don’t worry about it, Marie.”

He hung up shortly thereafter and Marie looked down at her phone. She hoped that if she stared at it long enough, her dad would come back on the line and keep reassuring her that everything would be okay. Despite everything he’d done to her and how she resented him for it, he seemed like her daughter’s only hope.

Marco came and sat on the edge of the bed. He didn’t say anything, nor did he have to. They were both frightened, but there wasn’t anything either of them could do until their little girl was actually out in the world.

Slowly but surely, time dragged on. Morning pursued and Marie continued to writhe in pain in steady intervals. This had been going on for five hours before Marco’s parents showed up, flowers and balloons in hand.

“Buongiorno,” Marie was the first to speak, eager to show of her progressing Italian skills to Francesco.

His face lit up and he rushed to the bedside, cupping Marie’s face in his hands and kissed her cheeks, “ah! Bella e intelligente!” Beautiful and smart! Francesco backed up and gently nudged his elbow into Marco’s ribs, “hai una buona lì.”

Marie looked up at Marco, knowing she hadn’t learned that much of the language yet.

Marco’s cheeks turned red, “he said I’ve got a good one here.” He wrapped his arm around his dad’s shoulders and started in on a private conversation between them.

Meanwhile, Sandra sat beside Marie and placed her hand on her leg, “how’re you doing so far?”

Marie didn’t want to frighten her with talk about the potential heart defect, so she opted to keep to menial subjects. “Okay, I guess. It’s nice to have someone here that’s gone through it before. Marco can only understand so much before his imagination just kicks in.”

“And boy does he have a good imagination. Hopefully your child goes easy on you. My other three were easy, but Marco…”

“Marie, darling…” Marco murmured, holding her cell phone in his hand. He looked terribly disturbed, “your father just landed.”

Sandra, having had a confrontation with Bill, looked on at Marie in terror. By the look on Marie’s face, she could tell there was something they hadn’t told the parents.

“Mum, pop… how about you two go get some coffee, and I’ll call you when we have less company in here.”

Francesco led Sandra out of the room, and once they were gone, Marco looked back at Marie and shoved his hands into his pockets. He was trying to figure out a way to cope, and as it looked, it wasn’t working. Before either of them could say anything, there was a knock at the door.

The anesthesiologist tiptoed into the room. He murmured it being the moment she had been waiting for, and then produced a rather large needle. Marco groaned at the sight and walked to Marie’s side as she eased herself up into a sitting position. She swung her legs over the side of the bed and gulped as Marco squatted in front of her, holding onto her hands. When her hospital gown parted in the back and she felt the tip of the needle press against her lower back, Marie squeezed her eyes shut and inhaled deeply, trying to distract herself from the pain. Marco kissed her hands until he spotted the anesthesiologist pulling the syringe away. At that point, Marco lifted his head and watched the doctor leave just as quietly as he had entered.

Marie wrestled against Marco’s grip and used it to her advantage to stand up. She pressed her hands against her lower back to brace it, and began pacing back and forth in an ever growing level of discomfort. All Marco could do was follow her around the room, being by her side just incase she fell or stumbled in a fit of pain.

All of a sudden she stopped, and her face contorted into the same aching grimace as before. Marco lunged towards her, pulling her into his chest and rubbed his hands along her back.

“Marco,” she cried out, elongating the end of his name. It felt like her body was being shredded apart.

“I know, darling,” he whispered, pressing his lips to the top of her head. Slowly he began swaying side-to-side, getting into a rhythmic motion. “You’re doing beautifully, you know that? And don’t worry, I’ll have a nice long chat with our daughter and explain that this sort of behavior is unacceptable. No destroying mummy’s body. Daddy happens to like it just the way it is,”

“Marie you really shouldn’t be standing. Where’s your doctor? I find it odd I have to be the one telling you this,”

She felt her heart sink and knew Marco’s did the same, because with her head against his chest, she swore she heard his heart stop momentarily. Marie watched as her dad threw down his bag and made himself comfortable. And then she turned to Marco, watching as the muscle in his jaw pulsated. He looked beyond aggravated, and all Marie could do was press her hands against his chest, getting his attention back on her and not on her dad.

“Lay down, Marie. C’mon,” Bill grabbed onto Marie’s shoulder.

Instinctively, Marco pulled her away from his grasp. The men glared at each other, unwilling to break first. And finally Marco led Marie back to bed, helping her ease down in it. Bill reached at the end of the hospital bed for Marie’s chart and flipped through it. His eyes flicked between that and the monitors by her bed.

“Mr. Scandella, how’ve you been?”

Marco pursed his lips and refused to look at Bill. He just crossed his arms over his chest and tried to focus on Marie.

“Mr. Scandella, I asked you a question.”

“We didn’t call you here to fraternize,” Marco snapped, turning towards Bill. “You’re here because if my daughter has a heart defect, you’re going to fix it. That’s it. One foul move, and I’ll come after you so quickly. You’re not forgiven for the shit you pulled. I’ll hate you for the rest of my life because of that.” Marco walked back to Marie and brushed her hair away from her face.

“Understood, son.”

“I’m not your son,”

---

Marie let out an ear-shattering guttural scream. She was having a harder time with this than she ever could’ve imagined. But it was also more stressful than she had ever imagined. When labor was in full swing and the doctor gave her permission to push, Bill had thought it right for him to be present. But neither Marco nor Marie wanted him in the room. And after it led to a fight between him and Carol, Bill eventually complied and waited in the NICU, while everyone else waited in the designated waiting room.

Marco sat at the bedside, allowing Marie to squeeze his hand as hard as she needed, and every so often, he’d lean in and murmur encouraging words to her.

“Just a few more pushes,” the doctor prompted.

Marie shook her head and squeezed her eyes shut. Marco ran his thumb beneath her eyes, wiping away the tears that started to fall, “you got it, baby. You’re doing great… almost there,”

“I’m gonna kill you for this,” Marie hissed through her teeth. Although she quite possibly was serious about it, it lightened up the mood in the room and everyone chuckled. Her eyes flicked open when Marco set his lips on her forehead and she squeaked out another scream.

“Okay Marie, one more good push…”

“I can’t…” Marie cried, squeezing Marco’s hand even harder.

“Yes you can, you got this baby.” He pressed his lips to her hand. When she sucked in another deep breath to get it over with, he nodded his head, “go, go, go…”

She pushed and screamed until her screams weren’t the only ones in the room anymore. A huge pressure left her body and all of a sudden, the pain was over. Another little person had taken over the screaming duties, but then tears started gushing from Marie’s eyes. She turned towards Marco and buried her head in the base of his neck, weeping while he tried to comfort her.

Within moments, a little pink blanket was being thrust towards Marie. She took it and cradled the little person against her body, tucking the blanket down to see her face. When Marie looked up at Marco, he too was staring down at their daughter, tears welling up in his own eyes. He spotted Marie staring at him, and he bent forward and kissed her forehead, curling his fingers in her hair gently.

“Good job pretty mama,”

“Alright Marie, we’re going to stitch you up and then get your little girl over to Doctor Thatcher so he can take a look at her heart, per your request.”

“Thank you,” she mumbled, bringing her fingertip up to her daughter’s tiny hand. She couldn’t even believe that the tiny person was hers and Marco’s.

A good amount of discomfort later, the doctor and nurses carried the little tiny bundle of pink blanket out of the room. Marie and Marco watched the train of people leave until they were left alone. She looked up at him and reached for his hand again, needing some support as she was left with her thoughts.

There were so many things that could go wrong, yet there was an equally good chance that nothing was wrong at all. They both hoped for the latter but prepared for the former.

“You get the husband stitch?” Marco murmured playfully.

Marie gasped and rammed her fist into his chest, “you’re such a prick.” She giggled and turned away, pretending to be angry with him.

“That’s not nice,” he leaned in again to kiss her lips.

“If you ask a fool question, you’re going to get a fool answer,” she paused and looked down at her hands. “How long do you think it’ll take?”

“I don’t want you worrying about that. There’s nothing more you could’ve done, so if something’s wrong, you’re dad’s going to take care of it and that’s all.”

Notes

"Even My Dad Does Sometimes" by Ed Sheeran.

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