“I had a dream the other night about how we only get one life. Woke me up right after two, stayed awake and stared at you so I wouldn’t lose my mind…”


Marie blinked a couple times to make sure she was reading the correct numbers. She had spent the first half of the day helping out at the shop. It’d been particularly busy during the cold winter as people wanted to come in for cappuccino and warm pastries. And the second half of the day was spent making plans for the wedding. She had managed to find a website that spelled out the things needed for a bride to plan her own wedding. So Marie dove head first into that and recruited Jess’ help in making sure everything was perfect.

So with Jess on Skype from Boston, and Marie devoting the past couple hours on save the date notices, she typed in the address of each name on the list of invited guests. At this point, the girls weren’t even talking anymore. Sofia had since been put to bed, and Marie sipped her tea, preparing herself for the next round of typing.

“What are you on now?” Jess mumbled. On screen, she was curled up in bed.

In the corner of the screen, Marie noted it was already one in the morning, which meant it was an hour later for Jess. “Spurgeon,”

“How many people are you inviting?”

“Around one hundred and fifty. We’re not expecting them all to attend though. Some are Marco’s extended family from Italy,”

“How many realistically?”

“Probably a hundred,”

Jess whistled out and rubbed her eyes. “I’m gonna get some shut eye. I’ll call you tomorrow,”

Her face left the screen, and Marie returned her complete focus to the notices. She had an hour or so before Marco would walk through the door, back from his road trip, and she wanted to be done with this by the time that happened.

But her eyes were getting blurry and when she saw 2’s, she began writing S’s, catching mistakes as she went along. By the time she got to the V’s and neared the end of the lengthy list, the front door unlocked and Marco stumbled through. His tie was look around his neck, dress shirt now untucked.

When he saw Marie on the couch, typing away, he was stunned she was still awake. He tugged his tie over his head and sat down beside her, cupping her head in one hand and leaned in to kiss it. “What are we doing?”

“Saving the date,” she located the address in her file and typed it onto the envelope template. “September 3rd, 2016 for the wedding of Marco and Marie. St. Paul, Minnesota.” She finished typing the address and exported the file, opening another one to begin the next. “I’ve only got a couple people left. Let me finish real quick,”

Marie looked over at him, and Marco leaned in again, pecking her lips quickly. As she continued on with her work, he reached his arm around her shoulders, and cuddled her into his body. She could sense him growing antsy beside her, so she rushed as much as she could without making any errors.

And finally when she finished the notice for Jason Zucker, she saved everything, and shut her laptop, twisting into Marco’s side. She set her hands on his chest, “tough trip.”

“Five game losing streak… I don’t know what you’re talking about,” he joked, nuzzling against her cheek.

“It’s just like last year going through this slump,”

“Only this time there’s talk that Yeo’s neck is on the line,”

“You think they’d really get rid of him?” She pressed her lips to his neck, sucking on his skin softly.

“I don’t think they’d make the threat if they didn’t intend on following through.” He pushed a piece of her hair away from her face and cupped his hand around her cheek, “I don’t want to talk about it. No hockey zone, remember? Tell me about the wedding instead,”

She beamed and tried to keep her composure. As amped up about the wedding as she was, it was a relief to hear Marco was just as excited about it. “Suspected weather is mid seventies, which is perfect because I wanted an outdoor wedding. We’re going to have this little wood altar with white fabric wrapped around it, and then we’re going have all these little twinkly lights strung up at the reception; very rustic. Lots of soft, neutrals with a dark purple accent color.” Marie looked up at Marco for validation, and got a goofy smile in return so continued on, “for flowers, I want purple tiger lilies and king lisianthus… they’re the most wonderful shade of purple.”

“And where’s all this taking place?”

“I’m torn between two. The Cedarhurst Mansion or the Camrose Hill Flower Farm.”

Marco pursed his lips together and ran his fingers over her shoulder softly, “seems like you’ve got this all planned out.”

“I’m the product of an east coast, country-club member. I grew up planning my wedding,” she giggled. “Do you have a preference?”

“I’d say try for Camrose Hill first. Did you talk to your dad about all this?”

She shook her head and reached for his hand. “I don’t want him to have any part of this. I’ll save up money from the shop, or whatever I have to do. The last thing I want is Bill Thatcher making us feel like we owe him something,”

“I got it. All of it,”

“I don’t want you to pay for it all either. At the rate I’m going, I’ll need some help… but I want to contribute as much as I can. This shouldn’t have to fall all on your shoulders,”

“It’s my wedding too,” he leaned in and kissed her lips slowly. “I want to make you happy,”

“You already do that,” she crawled into his lap and wrapped her arms around his neck. They kissed again as Marie laced her fingers in his hair, gripping at it gently.

---

With last year’s Valentine’s Day being a minor bust, Marie was set on making this year count. She’d be able to enjoy a drink with Marco, and even though they planned on spending the day in with Sof, there was a very real possibility of them being intimate tonight.

But the day started off with a celebration of Sofia’s half birthday. Over the past few weeks, Marie had begun to introduce solid foods. Mostly that consisted of mashed fruits and vegetables, but today she’d take a shot at Rice Krispies. For all intents and purposes, it shouldn’t have been a big deal. There was nothing too special about giving Sof soggy cereal, but the fact that both Marie and Marco would be home to experience it is why they waited in the first place.

Now, in the early morning, Marie and Marco sat in front of Sofia’s highchair, preparing the mush they were about to give her. She cooed and waved her arms, reaching out to touch Marco’s mouth as he mumbled to her in Italian.

Marie brought the plastic spoon to Sofia’s lips, mimicking the way she opened and took the cereal into her tiny mouth. She gummed at it, pushing some of it out with her mouth, which was quickly scooped away by Marie.

“I can’t tell if she likes it,” Marco stared. He sounded unenthused but the look on his face was of total pride and admiration.

“There’s not much to like about soggy Rice Krispies,” she lifted another small spoonful into Sof’s mouth. “But she keeps going for it so mission accomplished. Solid food success,”

Marco and Marie high-fived, followed up by giving each other a quick kiss. And after the food extravaganza was over, Marie retreated to the bathroom to shower up, while Marco took Sofia to the den. He propped her up in his lap, letting her chubby little hands wrap around his fingers, and continued his devoted Italian teachings. If anything, he was hell bent on making sure she spoke Italian.

Marie returned minutes later now dressed in her bathrobe, and sat beside Marco. He was still humming to Sof, trying to drill the words into her brain.

“Guardi, c’è mamma. Lei sembra carina, no?” Look there’s mom. She looks pretty, no?

Having heard so much Italian in the past months, she found it was beneficial to her learning too. Just by being around it so much, Marie was picking up on the language quicker than she ever imagined.

“La tua mamma è la più bella,” Your mom is the most beautiful. “Oltre a tu,” Besides you.

Sof reached up for his mouth again as he spoke, and let out a high pitched hum. He encouraged it by nodding and bouncing her in his lap.

“Can you say that? Mamma?” He kept repeated the movement of the word, and they both watched how Sofia stared at him intently, like she was trying to decipher a hidden code in it all. “You can do it. Mamma,”

Sofia looked down, clasped her tiny fist in his shirt and tugged at it. Her lips were moving but no sound came out. When Marie said the word this time, she let go of Marco’s shirt, flicked her eyes to Marie, and reached out for her hair, “Mmmma,”

Marie swore her heart stopped beating, and when she looked up at Marco, he was in complete shock, unable to take his eyes off of Sofia. “Oh my god, our daughter is a genius.”

She chuckled and looked back at Sof, “good job, Sof! Say it again! Mamma,”

Sofia waved her arms again, excitedly. She looked back at Marco’s shirt, and when he grabbed her hands gently, she glanced between the both of them like she knew exactly what she was doing. “Ma,”

Marco and Marie immediately began celebrating; cheering and bouncing about on the couch. Sofia was so taken by them, that she turned her lips upward and mumbled the word again. The more worked up they got, the more Sof was eager to say the word again and again. She undoubtedly had no idea what she was saying, so much as just stringing together noises. But to Marie, a word was a word.

“That’s probably the best Valentine’s Day present ever.” When Marie looked over at Marco, he was smiling at her. They both leaned in to kiss each other.

The day seemed to lag on mostly because they were confined to the condo. The thought of taking Sofia to the park was shoved away when Marie realized it was like twenty degrees outside. Most days the weather determined what could actually be done; with Sofia at least. Marie was still pretty hesitant to take her out when it was below freezing.

So they stayed inside. At some point in the early evening, they all gathered in the kitchen. Marie set Sof in the jumper that hung in the doorway. She loved that thing. From the moment she got set in it, her little legs would start bouncing. And the stronger they got, the closer to walking Marie knew she was.

Marco opened up a bottle of wine and poured two glasses, handing one to Marie as she came up beside him. “Happy Valentine’s Day to the best friend, lover, fiancée, and baby mama I could’ve ever hoped for.”

“Cheers to you, daddy.” She clinked her glass to his and took a small sip, looking back at Sof to check on her.

Marco kissed her again, and then turned towards the counter. There were several blocks of cheese on it, along with bread and crackers. Neither of them were particularly hungry, so they decided on an easy, yet fulfilling, wine and cheese night.

As Sofia jumped away in her bouncer, and Marco assembled the cheese and breadboard, Marie stared at him. Like most days, she spent the majority of it thinking about wedding plans. “Do you want a bachelor party?”

He flicked his eyes to her and licked his lips. A nervous chuckle escaped, “I feel like this is a trap.”

She furrowed her eyebrows, “it’s not. I’m jut trying to budget everything out,”

“If I say no, I’m lying. If I say yes, I’m a misogynist.”

“Then I’ll budget for them and the bridal party can figure out what they do with it.”

He smirked, “you’re leaving the planning of my stag party in the hands of single men in their mid-twenties.”

“I trust Nino,” Marie smiled and took another sip of her wine. “Besides, that means you have to trust Jess with planning mine,”

“That seems like an uneven trade. I’ve seen the parties she throws,”

Marie picked up his wine glass and brought it to the kitchen table as he followed behind her with the cheese. “Is someone jealous that random men in banana hammocks are gonna be all up in my face,”

He tried to play it off, pushing a cube of cheese into his mouth. “What’s there to be jealous about? I’m going to have women in fishnets and lingerie giving me lap dances… plural.” He offered a smug grin and sipped his wine.

“As long as you come home and fuck me, I don’t care what they do.” She leaned back in her chair and nursed her wine.

“Are you going to be my own personal stripper?” Marco set his glass on the table and leaned forward, grazing his fingers against her thigh. “Get naked and shake your ass for me?”

She grinned and chewed on her bottom lip, “either someone’s turning into a massive pig, or someone’s just very horny tonight.”

“You know I love you. I’m head over heels, crazy in love with you,”

Marie set her glass down and coyly stood up from her chair, gliding over and straddled his lap. She circled her hips over his, bucking them forward to rub herself against him. “You can’t handle a girl like me,” she pecked his lips and stood up, grabbing her wine glass in one hand, and then hoisted Sofia out of her bouncer with the other. “Don’t you forget that,”

She walked out of the room, swinging her hips just to drive Marco crazy. And the moment she was no longer in his line of vision, he grabbed at the wine bottle and meandered back through the house until he found her propped up in bed with Sof. They were staring at each other, Marie egging Sofia on until she heard the tiny little word she’d be dreaming of.

“Ma Mmmma,”

Notes

"Something I Need" by OneRepublic.