“Then I found myself alone, hopin' someone would miss me, thinking about my home and the last woman to kiss me…”


As November was ending, with Marco’s mustache beginning to look utterly ridiculous, Marie prepared for Thanksgiving with the Spurgeon’s. They’d be having a quiet night in where Marco, Jared, and Matt could sit around watching football, and Marie could put together a meal with Jared’s wife. Their life had become a joint venture of meeting up with teammates to lighten the load of responsibility. And come December, Marie would devote her life to planning for Christmas and searching for a new home to move into.

Marco would be home from practice any moment, and he was to take Sofia out to keep her out of the way while Marie put together the side dishes. She figured she could do that much since Danielle was utilizing her time to make a turkey large enough to feed five adults and three children.

Sofia was pretty good about keeping herself entertained, but as morning turned into afternoon, she started to meltdown. The last thing Marco ever wanted to do was take a tantrum prone Sofia out in public. She figured he’d put her down for a nap before they did anything. So when he walked through the door fifteen minutes later to find Sofia whining, he brought her to her crib and let her calm herself down.

He was chipper as ever coming back into the kitchen. Sitting down at the table, he rummaged through the bag of mini marshmallows in front of him. Marie caught him in the act and raced to take the bag away from him, needing the marshmallows for one of her recipes. Just then, his phone buzzed and Marco picked it up, shooting the sender a quick reply.

“You’ve been a pretty popular guy the last couple days,” she mentioned offhand. Since the start of the week, it seemed he was always on the phone or sending someone a text.

“It’s just Paul,” he referred to his agent and set his phone back on the table, settling back in his chair.

“He doesn’t usually call you this much. Are you sure it’s not a secret lover,” Marie mocked and set a layer of marshmallows on top of mashed sweet potatoes. She’d put it in the oven one she got to the Spurgeon’s house.

Marco smiled and tilted his head to the side, spinning his phone around in a circle, “apparently there’s something flying around the rumor mill… he heard my name’s being shopped around,”

Marie’s heart dropped into her stomach and she spun around. Marco waved off her worried expression.

“I’m one year into a five year deal with Minnesota. They’re not shopping my name around, yet at least.”

“You’re sure about that?” She turned back around to her work, not completely happy with his account on the matter.

“Baby, I’m not going anywhere. Paul’s been checking in on it and keeping me in the loop. So far he thinks the talks have been pretty futile; a lot of mentions but nothing serious,”

Marie tried to stay rational, despite wanting to flip out. “What’s gonna happen if you get traded? I have the shop here,”

“See this is why I didn’t want to tell you,” he pushed his phone into his pocket and stood up, moving up behind Marie and wrapped his arms around her waist. “I knew you’d freak out and worry, and there’s no reason to. I’m not getting moved. We get to stay in Minnesota, bad weather and all,”

She tilted her head as Marco began to kiss her neck, “maybe I should hold off on looking for a house until all this blows over, then?”

“No. Keep looking. You might miss out on a really great house if you wait until the trade deadline. We control our own lives okay? The sport doesn’t do it for us,”

“You’re calm, too calm.”

“Leading by example, my dear. Chill out, baby. We’re not going anywhere.”

She really wanted to be as calm as he was about the situation. But whereas Marco had spent the majority of his life under the gun about trades, she’d never had to experience that. This was the first time a trade was being brought to her attention. Until now, it was just an afterthought, never something to actually ponder. Over the past couple years, Minnesota had become the home Marie never really had. She never felt like she ever really belonged anywhere until Minnesota. And now there was a threat that she may have to leave. The only good part of that was that Sofia was still young. She hadn’t yet started school and didn’t have any friends she was particularly drawn too. But still, they’d be leaving a home and a town that she’d grown used to. Having to leave Charlie and Matt, two guys that had become particularly fond of Sof, would be tough on all of them. As Marco left her, she offered a silent prayer that they’d stay put in St. Paul; that the trade rumors would be just that; rumors.

At dinner that night, Marco carried on like nothing was out of the ordinary. He roughhoused with the boys in the backyard as they threw a football around, and then cuddled with Sofia when they came back in. He was exactly the type of man any girl would dream of: supportive, loyal, athletic… only his job left much to be desired. The thought of marrying a professional athlete is idealistic. Hell, marrying a man pursuing a passion for a living is idealistic. But an athlete is an entirely different breed. At some point, Marie knew she’d have to make some concessions for his career. Whether that be being a single parent during the season, having him on the road all the time, and eventually moving because of a trade. But she never thought the trade aspect would come so quickly.

Regardless of whether or not the rumors were true, Marie tried to enjoy the holiday. She was living a pretty blessed life, and didn’t want to get caught up in the negativity of one aspect of it. She’d continue looking for a new house, just as Marco asked. If that made him happy she could do it. Being settled in a new place by April would be key. Having to deal with the logistics of a new house while dealing with a newborn wouldn’t be the best for her sanity.

---

More so than with Sofia, Marie was finding that being pregnant the second time around was more draining than the first. Everything hurt the first time, but now it was to a whole other level. Standing was a task that took far more energy than it should have. Her feet constantly ached, back throbbed, and even once the morning sickness should’ve been done, she felt nauseous more times than not.

Rushing around town gathering things for the holidays didn’t help either. Jess and Rob would be on their way in just a couple days, and they’d be staying for a week; just ‘til after Christmas. Between the cooking, cleaning, planning, and coordinating, Marie didn’t even have a chance to look at homes for sale. She couldn’t even allow that to be a thought for her yet. There were too many things to do, and moving would have to wait.

Marco’s busy schedule didn’t help either. He was pretty much booked until his few days on break for the holiday. He had just left for practice not long ago, leaving Sofia with Marie, who had a rather long list of things to do before Jess showed up. She was convinced that she had too many things to do, and not enough time to do them.

And then she heard him come back through the door. She didn’t really think anything of it. Maybe he realized he forgot his wallet or cell phone and came back for it. She just reburied herself into the to-do list even as he dropped his keys in the bowl by the door.

“What’d you forget?”

Now he was just crouching in the doorway as Sofia jumped in her bouncer. Marie turned in her chair and looked back at him. For needing to be at practice, he wasn’t in that big of a hurry.

Marco held onto Sofia’s hand, focusing solely on her. “I got traded,” his voice was monotone, untelling of whether or not he felt any real emotion on the matter. “To Colorado,”

“I thought you said it was a non-issue…” Marie was hoping that he’d turn around and tell her he was just kidding.

“Paul called when I was in the car and said as of six this morning, my rights have been turned over to the Avalanche. I’m on the next flight to Denver,”

Marie stood up and covered her eyes. “I’ve got too much to do right now, this can’t be happening.” She placed her hands on her hips and felt tears welling up. “So what? We’re just supposed to leave everything here and relocate to Colorado?”

“Can we talk about this while I pack?” Marco took Sofia out of her bouncer and carried her out.

Marie was quick on his heels, “you’re just leaving?!”

“I have no choice. Not showing up isn’t an option,” he sat Sofia down on the bed and dug through the closet until he found his suitcase. “My rights have been signed over. The Wild aren’t cutting me anymore checks.” He looked back at Marie as he laid a couple t-shirts into his bag, “I know it’s hard. If it were up to me, I wouldn’t be relocating us. If you want to stay here and be closer to the shop, I will support your decision. That’s fine with me, I want you to be happy.”

“Well being apart from you wouldn’t make me happy,” she folded her arms and pouted. This is not how she thought the holidays would turn out.

“Marie,” Marco smiled and walked over to her. “Stay here, let me figure out if I’m temporary or a new fixture in Colorado, and we’ll go from there. If I’m permanent, we can sell this place, settle down in Denver, and you can run the shop from there.”

“When will you know? Jess and Rob were supposed to come out here,”

Marco stroked her hair. “By tonight hopefully. I’ll pack as much as I can, and if Colorado is a sure thing, we can load up the cars and drive back to Denver after the Christmas break. I’ll figure out our living situation over there and make things as easy as possible on you.”

“The things I do for you…”

“I know, baby. And I appreciate you,” he kissed her lips quickly and got back to packing.

Marie couldn’t even stick around in the room for that. Watching him made the whole thing too real. This year, they’d be spending Christmas in a house that wouldn’t even be theirs by the New Year. Mostly she felt blindsided by the whole thing. Because Marco had told her not to worry, it wasn’t something she allowed herself to think about. And now, she was caught totally off guard.

When Marco left that afternoon, Marie felt that everything she loved and believed in was slowly being destroyed. Nothing was easy anymore. The relationship with Marco that had once been carefree and simple was nothing like that anymore. They never went on spontaneous dates or adventures; those things had to be planned in advance. The world appeared to be working against them. And now, sustaining the relationship felt like another chore to add to the long list of things to do.

Notes

"On The Road To Find Out" by Cat Stevens

Only four more chapters!!!! I know this one was pretty short, but the last few are longer, so it kinda evens out! :)