I still do not own the rights to the Upper Hand or Who's the Boss? In case you thought I bought the rights since last night :D
The next morning, Tony and Angela stood by the fireplace as Mona walked down the stairs.
"So, what's this big announcement? I was in the middle of something."
"It's about the wedding." Angela said. "There has been a change of plans." A look of disappointment came across Mona's face.
"Oh no, Tony's got cold feet. You can't do this to me!" Mona exclaimed as she grabbed a hold of Tony. "Is it money? I have a couple hundred dollars set aside. You can have it all. Marry her and I'll give you the dowry."
"Mother." Angela warned. "The wedding is still on."
"It is?" Mona asked changing her tune. "You wouldn't take a poor widow's last penny would you?"
"Actually, what we have to say is good news." Angela stated. "We're bringing the wedding forward to spring break."
"That's wonderful. Now I won't have to be there." Mona replied. Angela gave her a bewildered look.
"What?"
"Well, you know every year for Spring Break I go to Ft. Lauderdale."
"Well this year you won't." Angela said in a scolding manner.
"I have to. If I don't go, there will be extra police for nothing." The smile on her face and the twinkle in her eye said it all. Just then, Jonathan walked in the front door.
"Look who's here." Michael Bower walked in behind him wearing a tan suit with a white shirt.
"Hi."
"You call that good news?" Mona asked.
"Dad came up to surprise us."
"What are you doing here Michael?" Mona questioned.
"Ah, still my biggest fan, Mona?" Michael said moving towards them. He walked past Mona and shook hands with Tony. He looked him straight in the face as he said, "I suppose congratulations are in order."
"Thanks Michael."
"Yes thanks Michael." Angela said almost completely emotionless.
"So, did you bring your teenage wife?" Mona asked.
"No. Heather hates flying." Michael replied.
"Aww, did you tell her the pilot could give her a pair of wings?" Mona mocked.
"Mother." Angela warned. "It's nice to see you."
"Mom, dad's going to take me on a safari."
"Well, that's very nice." Angela said looking at Michael.
"Hey-oh, you've been waiting for this trip for a long time, haven't you Jonathan?"
"Yeah."
"When is this trip?" Angela asked with a concerned look.
"I arranged this around everybody's schedules. Spring Break. That way it won't interfere with school or the wedding."
"I can't wait. This is going to be the best trip I ever had." Jonathan said excitedly. Angela looked at Tony awfully deflated. Mona looked over at the two of them.
"Go ahead Angela; break another heart." Mona said.
A little while later, Wendy and Angela were in the kitchen together; Angela stood by the table and Wendy was sitting over the plans at the table.
"A wedding dress in four days? You're trying to kill me aren't you?"
"Oh come on Wendy. You can do it. Just simplify the bridesmaids dresses." Wendy smiled.
"Now I see your game. You are trying to sabotage my shawls."
"Oh right." Angela said sarcastically. "I brought the whole thing forward to avoid your shawls." She crossed her arms.
"Now I am going to have the face the meanest seamstress in the world and grovel and beg and whine." She said grabbing her portfolio off the table, and walking towards the back door. Before opening the door, Wendy looked over at Angela. "You're lucky I'm good at it." When she opened the door, Michael walked through it.
"Hello Wendy, you look great. Did you lose weight?" Wendy took one look at Angela before pushing Michael out of the way and storming out.
"Out of my way."
"Bye Wendy." He said with a wave. Michael chuckled and closed the door behind her. "I suppose those diets do make you cranky." He walked over to the door. "Listen, I've talked to my travel agent and we put the safari back a couple of weeks. So Jonathan is one happy camper."
"Oh that's very sweet of you. Thanks Michael." Angela hugged him and kissed his cheek.
"Oh come on, what are ex-husbands for?" He sat down at the kitchen table. "You know, I've had quite a bit of time to think about our relationship. I realize most of the blame was mine. You are an amazing person. Your happiness means a great deal to me." Angela crossed her arms and looked down at him.
"What do you want Michael?"
"Look, I hate to see you making a big mistake."
"You mean listening to you?"
"I mean, marrying your housekeeper."
"I knew you were opinionated, but I didn't realize you were a snob!" Angela walked away from him and over to the sink.
"I'm a pragmatist." He adjusted in the chair to face her, even though she was facing away from him. "It may be fun." He paused. "Around here, it may even be fashionable to have a fling with the help, but marriage? Angela, you have nothing in common with Tony. You are champagne and caviar; he's hotdogs and beer." With that, she had to turn around to face him.
"It just so happens that I like hotdogs and beer!"
"No you don't." Michael objected. "You are just willing to settle for it. Just to stroke his ego. You're the bread winner. He never could be. You'll wind up resenting each other."
"Oh you would think of that." Angela sniped at him. "You wrote the book on resentment. But you could never begin to understand what Tony and I mean to each other." She said forcefully and slowly moving towards him.
"Stand by your man." He shook his head. "Very touching Angela; but you're not the only one involved here Angela."
"Oh come on Michael. You have a young wife waiting for you in L.A. Why do you care what I do?"
"Not me Angela." He paused for a moment. "Jonathan."
"Jonathan loves Tony!"
"That's my point. So just keep things the way they are. I don't want to see my son torn apart by another divorce." Angela was about to say something else when she stopped and thought about what Michael said. It was her worst fear. Michael hit a nerve that she wasn't sure could be repaired. Angela was always nervous that she would fail in another marriage; but until now, she hadn't truly thought about the effects of a divorce on Jonathan.
The next day, Angela walked in the front door from the office. There was a tall, misshaped item in the living room covered with a sheet.
"Hello?" Angela called out and Tony rushed down the stairs.
"What are you doing home?"
"Tony, I was hoping to hear, 'darling, you're home early. That means more time for us.'" She said as she walked from the door to the stairs and then kissed Tony with her arms wrapped around him.
"I planned to surprise you, but it's not ready yet." He said looking to the item on the floor.
"What's that?"
"The surprise." Angela looked up at him. He sighed. "Well I might as well show it to you now."
"Well, I'm dying to see it." Angela walked over to it. "It's so big."
"Remember the other day when you said, 'when we're married this house should have something of me in it?'"
"I do feel that is very important Tony."
"Well," Tony whipped the sheet off. "Here I am." Angela looked at the old television set that stood before her.
"Isn't it a little old?"
"Yeah; it certainly is. Mrs. Rossini has been keeping it for me all these years and now I just spent two hundred dollars getting it fixed up; but like you said Angela. You can't put a price on history."
"Oh, did I say that?" Angela asked sweetly. Tony wiped dust off the back of it.
"You know, my old man didn't make a lot of money. We were the last people in our building to get a television set. Then we bought this one. Second hand. It's a collector's item. But this is not just a collector's item; this is a piece of Micelli history." Angela looked at it.
"I suppose it says you alright."
"Yeah, and I even have the perfect place for it." He said excitedly and moved behind it. "Right here, that way it's the first thing you see when you walk in." Angela looked over at the door and then back at Tony and then she started crying. Tony walked over to her.
"Angela, it's okay. My family was poor, but we were happy." He handed her a Kleenex and she buried her face in it. "I'm just glad that something from my past has touched you this much. It shows how alike we are." When he said that, she cried louder. "Um, if you want me, I think I'll be in the garage. I need to repair the antenna." He said holding up a bent pair of "bunny ears." And then he walked through the living room door to the kitchen.
Mona was in the kitchen in a sweat suit doing jumping jacks to a music tape. Then she jumped her way over to the refrigerator and opened it. She grabbed a cup of yogurt from the fridge and started eating it while still listening to the tape. After a minute she turned it off.
"There's no point in lying." There was a knock on the back door and she opened it. A woman stood at the other side of the door. "I'll give you some food, but I can't give you money because I know you'll spend it on liquor."
"Mona, it's me, the reverend's wife."
"Oh, I'm sorry." Mona said with a smile. "I should have realized. I'm not sure why I thought you were a tramp." Then she welcomed her in and they sat at the table.
"Well, we don't see you much in church anymore Mona."
"Sunday is such a difficult day for me. After all my good deeds on Saturday night." The woman looked at her.
"The Lord loves a cheerful giver," She puts her hand in her bag, "which brings me to the purpose of my visit." She handed Mona a package. "This is for Angela." Mona began to open it. "Mona, that's not for you. That's for Angela."
"Oh I open all her gifts. It's a chance that it could be something I need." Mona looked down at the package after she opened it. "Books?"
"They aren't just any books. They are inspirational."
"Oh I see now, they are like religious marital aids, right?" Mona smiled and shrugged muttering to herself. "Well she's tried every other kind."
"Well, I have to go. There are so many sinners and just not enough time."
"You're telling me sister." Mona responded and they both stood up from the table and walked over to the door and Mona pushed her out with her package.
Mona rushed into the living room.
"Samantha! Hank! We're having a family meeting!" She called out.
"What?" Samantha called back as she and Hank came around the stairs.
"Why didn't I see through her story? It was always there staring me in the face. Why didn't I see it? Why, why, why?"
"Mona, is this where I'm supposed to slap you in the face?" Hank asked, a little too excited for his own good.
"Listen to me, the priest isn't leaving; which means there is another reason for Angela and Tony to move up the wedding."
"No." Samantha said excitedly.
"What else could it possibly be Sam?"
"They lied to us." She paused. "That's sweet."
"Sweet? She didn't even tell me, and I'm her mother."
"What are we talking about?" Hank asked.
"Hank, Angela's pregnant." Sam replied.
"Oh." Hank said and paused giving Samantha a look. "At their age?"
"Now listen," Samantha looked at Mona, "if this gets out, they will be really embarrassed. You know they can be old-fashioned."
"Not too old fashioned." Hank laughed.
"So let's not mention anything to anyone, alright?" Samantha looked over at Mona. "Mona?"
"But it's not fair. Think of how much humiliation I could cause Angela." Just then, Angela came walking down the stairs.
"Mother? Do we have any ice cream or did you finish it again?"
"Go with your instincts dear."
"Angela, let Hank go to the store and get you some. He'll be happy to."
"Yeah, I'll get anything you crave-" He stopped himself, "want."
"No, that's alright Hank. I'll just have some chocolate pudding." Mona cleared her throat and shook her head.
"You never stop hoping, do you dear?"
"And you never stop eating." Angela dropped her snide comment while crossing her arms.
"Little cranky are we Angela? I understand. Is there anything you'd like to tell me?"
"What is there possibly left for me to share? You've eaten everything else." There was a knock on the door and Angela walked over to open it. When she opened it, Tony's father-in-law Nick Milano stood there with a man she didn't recognize. "What a wonderful surprise Nick." She hugged him.
"I am honored." He said. "Angela, I would like you to meet my traveling companion; Mr. Stern." Angela held her hand out for him to shake and that's when they realized that Nick and Mr. Stern were handcuffed together. "Why don't you come in?"
"We can't stay long. I am just transferring this prisoner to another location."
"Hello Nick." Mona walked over to him.
"Oh my, Mona, I must work that into my next fantasy."
"Hi grandpa." Samantha said from across the room.
"Sam!" He looked over at her, and then walked over dragging his partner with him hugging his granddaughter. "My brave little girl."
"Brave? What are you talking about?"
"Yes this wonderful man would never have let me visit you if it hadn't been for your fight against your life-threatening disease." Samantha smiled at him.
"Thank you sir." She gave a few fake coughs. "Just seeing grandpa, I feel like I'm going into remission." He looked over at Hank.
"So, this must be your new husband."
"Yes, grandpa this is Hank. Hank, this is my grandpa."
"You know, I would have been at your wedding, but they discovered the tunnel under my cell." Hank laughed awkwardly.
"That's very funny." He said, finally able to quit laughing.
"Mr. Stern, those handcuffs are so formal, can't you take them off?" Angela asked.
"Yes, let me spend some time with my family."
"I don't know. It's against the policy."
"Just a few minutes?" Nick pleaded.
"Alright." He took them off of their wrist. "But don't you try anything, or I'll have you mounted over my fireplace."
Later on, Samantha and Hank were in the kitchen.
"Samantha, you never told me that your grandfather was a jailbird. You told me he worked for the post office."
"He does." She paused. "He sews the mail bags."
"And the way you just jumped in and starting conning that police officer. I've never seen that side of you before."
"I can't help it. It's just in my blood. I'm a "from the wrong side of the tracks" girl." Samantha walked over and opened the back door and then turned to look at Hank. "Let's go rob a bank, and then make love on the floor with our masks on." Then she walked out the door.
"Okay." Hank said turning around and following her outside.
Nick and Mona were sitting in the living room.
"Are you going to be able to be here for the kids' wedding Nick?"
"The wedding?"
"Yeah, they moved it up to Saturday." Nick looked at the officer.
"You have to let me stay."
"What wedding? Who is getting married?" Then Tony walked into the living room.
"Hey-oh, oh hey, what's going on?" Nick jumped up.
"This is who's getting married." He said putting his arm on Tony. "My son." He paused. "My only son." Nick touched Tony's leg. "How is the artificial leg?"
This was definitely odd. Tony didn't know why Nick was in town, but he was about to find out.
A/N: I think there is a Who's the Boss? episode where Nick died? Is that where Samantha was all okay, but then ended up falling apart? They didn't do that for this show, so I had to keep him in it… I'm sorry. Chapter 3 soon.
