Ch 14: The Fortune Cookie

"Okay what does yours say Tony?" Angela asked as she handed Tony the last fortune cookie.

Tony always hated ordering fast food, but with finals starting in a few days, studying took priority over cooking. Tonight, he and Angela found themselves sitting together alone on the living room floor. Several boxes of Chinese food sat half eaten in front them on the coffee table. Sam was out with Bonnie and a bunch other friends. Jonathan, Tony had guessed earlier, was out at Arby's jumping on "Horsey" sauce packets. Mona had disappeared at lunch time, same as every other Friday. There was no sign of her and Angela knew there was no reason to think twice about it.

"Well, let's see," he said breaking the cookie in half. He flattened the paper between his fingers. "Beware of a change in an important relationship," Tony read aloud.

"Wow, that sounds kind of ominous." Angela said taking the slip of paper from him.

"Ominous or exciting? I wonder with who," he said raising his eyebrows jokingly.

"Come on, Tony be serious."

"About a fortune cookie? Come on, Angela. Have you ever really followed the advice of one of these things?"

"Well, I don't know." She said a little sheepishly.

"Come on. You have, haven't you?" He said nudging her in the ribs with his elbow.

"Okay, yes." She giggled with embarrassment. "Well, you would have no way of knowing this but the night before you and Samantha came to my door. Jonathan and I had take out from this same restaurant."

"Really?" This time he raised his eyebrows curiously. Placing his arm on the couch behind her head, he waited for her to continue. "And?"

"And. . . I remember the fortune distinctly. It said, 'Don't be afraid to welcome a stranger into your home.'"

"For Sam's sake, I'm glad you paid attention."

"Not for yours, Tony?" The words escaped her lips so quickly, she couldn't believe it was she who had said them.

"And mine." With his arm already laying on the couch behind her, he used it to pull her in close to him. With their lips millimeters apart, he whispered, "Definitely mine." Their lips met and he deeply inhaled, taking in the soft fragrance of roses that always seemed to follow her. The kiss was delicate, yet passionate and filled with all the anticipation of the unrequited love between them.

"Really?" Lena said, staring at the storyteller with her jaw almost to the floor.

"No, not really." Joseph said, snapping his fingers. "Gottcha!"

"Estupido!" She said smacking Joseph as hard as she could on the arm. "Why would jou go and get my hopes up like that?"

"I don't know. I just wanted to see if you would fall into my trap." He said wringing his hands together, with an evil grin. "And of course, as usual. . ."

"I don't know why you keep falling for it, Lena?" Robert said smiling at her as he moved his pawn a space to the left. He and Matty were playing a game of chess at the table next to where Joseph had been telling Lena the tall tale version of Tony and Angela's evening's activities.

"Jou know Lena. He does get jou every time." Matty said smiling at his wife. "It's jour own fault for not watching dem jourself.

"Okay, so let me guess den. She didn't say it, right?"

"Right. She said something like, 'Thank you, Tony.'"

"And instead of de kiss, she blushed and he blushed and dey each decided to call it a "night?" Am I right?"

"Yes, pretty much."

"Well, thanks for giving a me some ting tu think about. At least."

"Lena, don't feel bad. Joseph's just pulling your leg. Things are going slow with Angela and Tony. I think he just needs a good laugh."

"Sure," Joseph said winking at Nick.

"At my expense. Well, if jou are so bored why don't jou go down dere and do someting tu try tu bring dem tugether?"

"Because I don't know what else to try." Joseph said with a definite hint of genuine frustration. "I've tried everything I can think of, and I can think of a lot. Moonlit strolls in Atlantic City, baseball conventions, poetry, musical bedrooms, Jonathan playing cupid, family struggles, first dates and even passionate sleep talking. I mean, my gosh! And that's just the stuff that we've played a hand in. I haven't even begun to mention all the ploys that Mona has come up with on her own. What more do you want from me? Don't you think that I want them together as much as you do?"

This was a side of Joseph that none of "The Family" members had seen before and it was a shocking to say the least. His usual smile had vanished and his cheeks were now a milky white. Lena, especially, was not used to the jolly man's sudden manifestation of real pain.

She walked over to the white bath robed man and placed his hand in hers.

"Jou know putting dat fortune in Angela's cookie all dose years ago was a stroke of gene-y-us."

"It was, wasn't it?" Joseph said as his cheeks returned to their normal shade of red.

"By the way, who stuck that fortune in Tony's cookie tonight?" Robert looked around at the group and waited for someone to raise their hand. When no one answered, Joseph pulled out his handkerchief and began wiping the beads of sweat now forming on his forehead.

Any kind of warning, a direct warning like Tony's fortune was a red flag to Joseph. It was a sign that everyone needed to be put on alert. Some kind of storm was going to start brewing and he knew that they were heading into some dangerous territory.

"Okay, boys and girls," Robert said taking charge of the situation. "It looks like we are in for a difficult, if not hostile, next few weeks. I have a feeling that if we didn't plant that note, someone else did. We better buckle up everyone, 'its gonna be a bumpy ride.'

"What do you mean, Joseph?" Lena said with heart now racing.

"It means that we are going to have to keep an eye on our kiddos 24/7 and help make sure that one of them doesn't get pulled into some unchartered territory.