Sequel: And So I Know ›
Status: FIN!
If I Knew
Ten
Felicia packed her last box and surveyed the contents of her life, packed away and neatly marked for the move to New York City. She smiled as the movers walked box after box out of her condo. Marc supervised them as they worked. They would drive her possessions to his place and then Marc and Felicia would really start their new life together. The last four weeks had been a whirlwind. Now 16 weeks pregnant, she was starting to show, her baby bump small. She had taken to talking to it when she was alone at home, sharing her fears, her happiness, her love.
They still hadn’t told their families, deciding it was news they wanted to share in person. After their doctors appointment later in the week, they would fly to Thunder Bay and tell their families. Felicia had already arranged to have everyone, Marc’s parents and brothers, her parents, over to Linda and Henry’s for a family dinner. Marc was bursting to tell them, especially now that she was starting to show and she was excited to share the news with them as well. She just wasn’t sure what the reaction would be.
She and Marc had been together less than nine months and they were already having a child together and moving in together. She worried that their moms wouldn’t approve and having their approval was important to Felicia. Marc tried to convince her they didn't need it but in the end, they were both in agreement that family mattered, especially their families. The Staal and Todd families had always been close and the only Todd child ending up with one of the Staal brothers was kind of a big deal between the families.
Her shoulder now healed a hundred percent, Marc came up behind her and wrapped his arms around her, drawing her back to him as the last box was taken outside. “You ready for one last appointment with Dr. Black?” he asked. Felicia nodded. After this appointment, where they would find out the sex of the baby, Felicia would start seeing her new OB/GYN in the city. “Let’s roll then,” Marc said, kissing the top of her head.
The unpacking in the city went more quickly than the packing and in two days, Felicia was officially moved into Marc’s place. They left for Thunder Bay immediately after, arriving at four in the afternoon. They stopped on the way to Marc’s parents house to pick up a cake an old friend of Felicia’s had made for her.
The pair was greeted by friendly smiles and warm embraces when they reached Linda and Henry’s. Felicia wore a loose sweater that hid her growing belly, a chunky knit hat, boots and leggings, the perfect winter outfit. She followed Linda Staal and Kira Todd to the kitchen joining Hailey and Tanya. The girls caught up while the Staal brothers rough housed in the backyard with Eric’s two sons and Jordan’s son, Henry Staal and Alan Todd watching from the sidelines.
They were called inside for dinner an hour later and the room was filled with laughter as stories were shared and reminisced about. After, Felicia brought out the cake and set it on the table. The three little kids oohed over the swirly pink and blue frosting and Marc and Felicia shared a smiled over everyone else as she made the first cut. A second cut and she slid out the piece of cake as hundreds of hershey kisses wrapped in pink foil poured out of the center of the pinata style cake.
The children laughed and Jordan scrambled to grab one of the kisses. He stared at the little paper tail sticking out of the candy before looking up at Marc and Felicia with a dumbstruck expression. Hailey grabbed the candy from him and squealed as she read the words.
“Shut up! Shut up! Shut up!!!” She jumped up from the table and hurried over to hug Felicia. “Seriously?”
“Seriously.”
“You and Marc?” Jordan asked.
“Me and Marc,” she confirmed.
“Fuck me,” he breathed out softly.
“Jordan Staal!” his mother reprimanded as she grabbed one of the candies for herself. She gasped. “You’re pregnant?”
The table exploded in voices, everyone talking over each other. “Everyone shut up and we’ll tell you whatever you want to know,” Marc spoke over them. He wrapped an arm around Felicia’s waist and she smiled up at him. “When Felicia got hurt last month, we found out she was twelve weeks pregnant. We were going to tell you sooner but we decided we wanted to tell you in person so we waited. We found out two days ago that we’re having a girl, right before Flea left Boston and moved in with me.”
“You’re living together?!” Jordan exclaimed. “And you didn’t tell me first?” he complained.
“You would’ve told everybody,” Felicia pointed out. “You can’t keep a secret to save your life.”
“Yes I can,” he answered pointedly.
“I told him that secret,” she responded, sticking her tongue out at him.
“I forget how ridiculously close you two are sometimes,” Marc said, rolling his eyes.
“Better get used to it. I’m not going anywhere,” Jordan smirked.
"She might get sick of you eventually."
Everyone at the table laughed. "You think after this long that now she'll decide not to be friends with Jordan?" Jared asked. "I don't think so."
Marc stepped aside, letting Felicia pass first inside his Thunder Bay home after a long night at his parents with their families. She pulled her boots off at the door and sank into the couch with a soft sigh. Marc smiled to himself as he watched her arrange herself on his couch. He took off his own shoes and straightened hers beside them before locking the door. He sat down beside her and opened his arms to her. Felicia accepted the invitation, curling against his side, letting Marc hold her.
With her head resting against him, her eyes closed as they sat in the silence, Felicia knew that this was where she always wanted to be. Ever since she left Thunder Bay at 18, she had been looking for someone to share her life with. Sometime around Jordan's wedding, she had decided that maybe that person wasn't out there and stopped looking.
And then Marc happened.
If someone had told her that she would kiss Marc at Jordan's wedding, that she would fall for him and that two years later they would find their way to each other and be together, and having a baby, she would have most certainly laughed in their face. But here she was, happy and content with exactly where her life was. With Marc Staal.
Of all the people in the world she could have ended up with in life, here she was with the boy who had loved to hate her. That she had loved to hate right back. No one that knew them growing up would have ever thought they would be where they were now. Felicia was pretty sure that even their moms had been taken by surprise when they first told their parents they were dating after coming back from orientation camp. She knew that she herself had been equal parts shocked and dismayed after running out of the barn after their first kiss. And when the feelings stuck around, she was just confused.
Now she felt that somewhere along the way, she had figured it out, that somehow, this was always where she was meant to end up, even if she had thought dating a Staal was never in her life plan. Now she couldn’t imagine there being anyone else. Marc understood things in her life that no one else could and he knew she would never question him when the game consumed their lives. They shared a history, things that now they could look back on and laugh about and tease each other about. What they had came naturally and the way Marc fit into her life, the way she fit into his, was everything she ever wanted.
“Tired?” Marc asked after several minutes, looking down at the woman pressed against him. Felicia yawned in response.
He wasn’t sure who he had to thank for Felicia's renewed place in his life, what he had done to deserve the chance, but he was grateful to have her. Never in a million years had he thought growing up, even as a teengager, that this would be his life. Even now he could remember how happy he had been to get out of Thunder Bay and away from her. If he could go back and tell his younger self what he had to look forward to, he would go back in time and do just that. He would pursue the chance to start things between them that much sooner.
There had been girls in his life, plenty of them. Being a Staal, playing in the NHL; those were things that made the simple pleasures in life easy. Felicia was not easy. She was complicated and opinionated and the opposite of every girl Marc had ever dated. Now he knew that had been his mistake. All the years wasted spent finding a girlfriend that wasn’t her when what he needed was Felicia Todd all along; she made his life feel whole.
So what if ending up here was not at all what he had pictured for his life. That she was not what he pictured for his life. He was positive that when Felicia pictured her own life, he wasn’t a part of the plan either. But they found each other, despite everything. He was happy, happier than he had ever been before. After two years of thinking about her, wondering what if, he finally had her. And it was the best thing to ever happen to him. This was everything his life was missing.
Marc pulled Felicia to her feet and took her hand, leading the way to the bedroom. He watched her as she pulled off her clothes, dropping them all haphazardly in the floor. Leaning against the door frame, he drank her in, falling deeper for her every second. She walked across the room in just a pair of boy shorts, pulling an old Sudbury Wolves t shirt of his from a drawer. She turned and blushed under Marc’s gaze.
“You look beautiful, Flea,” Marc whispered adoringly. He stepped into the room and stood before her. “I don’t know why you picked me but I thank god that you did.” He rested a hand on her belly and smiled. “I love you.”
“Ditto.”
They still hadn’t told their families, deciding it was news they wanted to share in person. After their doctors appointment later in the week, they would fly to Thunder Bay and tell their families. Felicia had already arranged to have everyone, Marc’s parents and brothers, her parents, over to Linda and Henry’s for a family dinner. Marc was bursting to tell them, especially now that she was starting to show and she was excited to share the news with them as well. She just wasn’t sure what the reaction would be.
She and Marc had been together less than nine months and they were already having a child together and moving in together. She worried that their moms wouldn’t approve and having their approval was important to Felicia. Marc tried to convince her they didn't need it but in the end, they were both in agreement that family mattered, especially their families. The Staal and Todd families had always been close and the only Todd child ending up with one of the Staal brothers was kind of a big deal between the families.
Her shoulder now healed a hundred percent, Marc came up behind her and wrapped his arms around her, drawing her back to him as the last box was taken outside. “You ready for one last appointment with Dr. Black?” he asked. Felicia nodded. After this appointment, where they would find out the sex of the baby, Felicia would start seeing her new OB/GYN in the city. “Let’s roll then,” Marc said, kissing the top of her head.
The unpacking in the city went more quickly than the packing and in two days, Felicia was officially moved into Marc’s place. They left for Thunder Bay immediately after, arriving at four in the afternoon. They stopped on the way to Marc’s parents house to pick up a cake an old friend of Felicia’s had made for her.
The pair was greeted by friendly smiles and warm embraces when they reached Linda and Henry’s. Felicia wore a loose sweater that hid her growing belly, a chunky knit hat, boots and leggings, the perfect winter outfit. She followed Linda Staal and Kira Todd to the kitchen joining Hailey and Tanya. The girls caught up while the Staal brothers rough housed in the backyard with Eric’s two sons and Jordan’s son, Henry Staal and Alan Todd watching from the sidelines.
They were called inside for dinner an hour later and the room was filled with laughter as stories were shared and reminisced about. After, Felicia brought out the cake and set it on the table. The three little kids oohed over the swirly pink and blue frosting and Marc and Felicia shared a smiled over everyone else as she made the first cut. A second cut and she slid out the piece of cake as hundreds of hershey kisses wrapped in pink foil poured out of the center of the pinata style cake.
The children laughed and Jordan scrambled to grab one of the kisses. He stared at the little paper tail sticking out of the candy before looking up at Marc and Felicia with a dumbstruck expression. Hailey grabbed the candy from him and squealed as she read the words.
“Shut up! Shut up! Shut up!!!” She jumped up from the table and hurried over to hug Felicia. “Seriously?”
“Seriously.”
“You and Marc?” Jordan asked.
“Me and Marc,” she confirmed.
“Fuck me,” he breathed out softly.
“Jordan Staal!” his mother reprimanded as she grabbed one of the candies for herself. She gasped. “You’re pregnant?”
The table exploded in voices, everyone talking over each other. “Everyone shut up and we’ll tell you whatever you want to know,” Marc spoke over them. He wrapped an arm around Felicia’s waist and she smiled up at him. “When Felicia got hurt last month, we found out she was twelve weeks pregnant. We were going to tell you sooner but we decided we wanted to tell you in person so we waited. We found out two days ago that we’re having a girl, right before Flea left Boston and moved in with me.”
“You’re living together?!” Jordan exclaimed. “And you didn’t tell me first?” he complained.
“You would’ve told everybody,” Felicia pointed out. “You can’t keep a secret to save your life.”
“Yes I can,” he answered pointedly.
“I told him that secret,” she responded, sticking her tongue out at him.
“I forget how ridiculously close you two are sometimes,” Marc said, rolling his eyes.
“Better get used to it. I’m not going anywhere,” Jordan smirked.
"She might get sick of you eventually."
Everyone at the table laughed. "You think after this long that now she'll decide not to be friends with Jordan?" Jared asked. "I don't think so."
~*~*~
Marc stepped aside, letting Felicia pass first inside his Thunder Bay home after a long night at his parents with their families. She pulled her boots off at the door and sank into the couch with a soft sigh. Marc smiled to himself as he watched her arrange herself on his couch. He took off his own shoes and straightened hers beside them before locking the door. He sat down beside her and opened his arms to her. Felicia accepted the invitation, curling against his side, letting Marc hold her.
With her head resting against him, her eyes closed as they sat in the silence, Felicia knew that this was where she always wanted to be. Ever since she left Thunder Bay at 18, she had been looking for someone to share her life with. Sometime around Jordan's wedding, she had decided that maybe that person wasn't out there and stopped looking.
And then Marc happened.
If someone had told her that she would kiss Marc at Jordan's wedding, that she would fall for him and that two years later they would find their way to each other and be together, and having a baby, she would have most certainly laughed in their face. But here she was, happy and content with exactly where her life was. With Marc Staal.
Of all the people in the world she could have ended up with in life, here she was with the boy who had loved to hate her. That she had loved to hate right back. No one that knew them growing up would have ever thought they would be where they were now. Felicia was pretty sure that even their moms had been taken by surprise when they first told their parents they were dating after coming back from orientation camp. She knew that she herself had been equal parts shocked and dismayed after running out of the barn after their first kiss. And when the feelings stuck around, she was just confused.
Now she felt that somewhere along the way, she had figured it out, that somehow, this was always where she was meant to end up, even if she had thought dating a Staal was never in her life plan. Now she couldn’t imagine there being anyone else. Marc understood things in her life that no one else could and he knew she would never question him when the game consumed their lives. They shared a history, things that now they could look back on and laugh about and tease each other about. What they had came naturally and the way Marc fit into her life, the way she fit into his, was everything she ever wanted.
“Tired?” Marc asked after several minutes, looking down at the woman pressed against him. Felicia yawned in response.
He wasn’t sure who he had to thank for Felicia's renewed place in his life, what he had done to deserve the chance, but he was grateful to have her. Never in a million years had he thought growing up, even as a teengager, that this would be his life. Even now he could remember how happy he had been to get out of Thunder Bay and away from her. If he could go back and tell his younger self what he had to look forward to, he would go back in time and do just that. He would pursue the chance to start things between them that much sooner.
There had been girls in his life, plenty of them. Being a Staal, playing in the NHL; those were things that made the simple pleasures in life easy. Felicia was not easy. She was complicated and opinionated and the opposite of every girl Marc had ever dated. Now he knew that had been his mistake. All the years wasted spent finding a girlfriend that wasn’t her when what he needed was Felicia Todd all along; she made his life feel whole.
So what if ending up here was not at all what he had pictured for his life. That she was not what he pictured for his life. He was positive that when Felicia pictured her own life, he wasn’t a part of the plan either. But they found each other, despite everything. He was happy, happier than he had ever been before. After two years of thinking about her, wondering what if, he finally had her. And it was the best thing to ever happen to him. This was everything his life was missing.
Marc pulled Felicia to her feet and took her hand, leading the way to the bedroom. He watched her as she pulled off her clothes, dropping them all haphazardly in the floor. Leaning against the door frame, he drank her in, falling deeper for her every second. She walked across the room in just a pair of boy shorts, pulling an old Sudbury Wolves t shirt of his from a drawer. She turned and blushed under Marc’s gaze.
“You look beautiful, Flea,” Marc whispered adoringly. He stepped into the room and stood before her. “I don’t know why you picked me but I thank god that you did.” He rested a hand on her belly and smiled. “I love you.”
“Ditto.”