Chapter 25: "Fools Rush In"
Unlike the last time, the next nine days really did fly by as fast as Lena could say "Spumoni." The only thing the group had accomplished was getting Angela to buy a watch for Tony for their anniversary. Tony, on the other hand, was being dense as usual. All the way to the mall, Matty and Robert hinted that a nice piece of jewelry or even a bouquet of roses would be a lovely gift. But all the hints in the world were nothing as soon as Tony passed the auto boutique that had a pair of sheepskin seat covers in the window.
"I can only blame myself. I wish I'd been able tu get him tu understand de women more." Matty said lowering his head as Tony entered the jeep with the big white box. "Jou know, I'm going tu get an earful from Lena when she finds out about dis."
"I'm just glad it's you and not me," Robert said with a huge sigh of relief and almost a giggle. "I guess we're going to have to hope that the watch will be enough."
Tony drove back down the street to Feldmar's Jewelry store, where Angela was supposed to be picking up the pocket watch that she was having fixed for Tony. Inside, Lena, Marie and Kate watched as she paced back in forth, trying to figure out what to inscribe on her real gift.
"Please, lady while you're deciding this watch is becoming an antique." The jeweler said, quite impatiently.
"Okay, okay I've got the perfect inscription, put "To Tony, I cherish our time." Angela said excitedly.
"Oh this is taking forever, Grandma." Kate said growing as impatient as the jeweler.
"She's never going to get it right on her own." Marie piped in.
"Don't a worry." She said trying to pacify her two girls. "I've got de perfect inscription, but I can't tell her just a yet."
"Oh, no, he's not my 'husband'" Angela said trying to explain who the watch was for. "Although we are very close and, lately, we've grown a lot closer. I've told him I really like him. And he's told me he really likes me too!"
"Now, Grandma?"
"One second." Lena said patiently.
"No, no, no I want to put something... I've got to say something... I'm tried of it being unspoken! I mean it's time I tell him exactly how I feel!"
Lena leaned over and whispered in Angela's ear, "The letters."
With instant recognition of what Lena meant, Angela looked the jeweler in the eye and said, "Put, 'It's time I said "I Love You".'"
"She didn't?" Robert said when the group was all loaded up in the jeep together again.
"Jes, she did! And unlike some people," she said looking at Joseph. "I am telling de truth."
"You mean she really did have 'It's time I said 'I Love You'' inscribed on the watch?" Robert asked again in disbelief.
"Jes! How many more times do I have tu say it! Our little girl, finally said it to someone other dan me! Isn't it wonderful?"
"But we have to do something to make sure she actually gives it to him." Marie said a little cautiously. "There's still plenty of time for her to back out."
"Well, then we're going to have to do everything we can to make sure they stick to each other like glue today." Robert said rubbing his finger on his chin. "The only thing is, how are we going to get past the seat covers?"
"What seat covers?" Lena said turning toward her husband.
The car ride over to the carnival was a quiet one for Angela. With the disappointment of the seat covers, she hastily made up an excuse as to why she couldn't give him his present yet. With everything that had happened between she and Tony in the last month, she had been expecting a quiet evening for two like they had had on their second anniversary. An uncomfortable car ride over to a loud and noisy carnival with the entire family, never even entered her mind. Without even thinking, she placed the watch in her purse and got ready for a night of low expectations.
"What are a we going tu do now? Lena asked to the group as they followed Angela and Tony around the maze of tents and merry carnival goers.
"Look there's Madame Alexandra's tent!" Joseph said pointing to the huge fortune teller sign. "We've got to get them to go in there."
"A Fortune Teller? Joseph be serious. That's never going to work. You know they're just a bunch of hocus pocus." Robert replied questioning his father-in-law.
"Not her! She and her family have always been on the mark. She comes from a long line of mediums. In fact, I went to go see her mother when I needed to find out where my wife had hidden the key to refrigerator. She knew right where it was."
"What?" Robert questioned in disbelief.
"My wife never trusted me to avoid the late night snacks." He said patting his belly.
"Boys, can a we get back tu de business at a hand?" Lena said a little impatiently. "At dis point, I'm willing tu try anyting."
With a few careful nudges, Mona was able to get Sam, her friend, Jonathan and even Mrs. Rossini to leave the couple alone for a while. The "Celestial Rat Pack" then convinced Angela and Tony to make their way into the tent..
As Angela and Tony took their seats in front of Madame Alexandra's table, the eight heavenly beings tried to crowd in behind her. "Some of jou are going tu have tu wait outside." Lena implored. "Dis tent is a not big enough for all of a us."
"Are jou kidding me?" Grandpa Mateo said, "Joseph and I are de heads of dis a family and I, for one, am not a going anywhere."
"Neither am I, Grandma." Kate spoke up, as she pushed her way in between her two grandfathers to get a better view. "This is my future we're talking about."
"O-kay, o-kay. But we a can't all talk at a once." Lena said giving up.
Noticing the congestion in the medium's voice, Matty asked. "Is a she really sick? Maybe dis a won't a work after all."
"Just give her a moment." Joseph pleaded. "With all of us here, she's bound to pick up something. Even with a cold."
As Madame Alexandra stretched out the hand she'd just blown her nose with and she told the couple that she could predict their future.
"So what info are we going to give her?" Nick asked.
"Tell him he's a housekeeper." Robert suggested to the fortune teller.
"You are a doctor." She said as she looked at Tony's hands.
"This is never going to work." Lena said with an air of annoyance.
"Your wife's a doctor?" Madame Alexandra said grasping at straws.
"Ad Exec and she's not my wife." Tony said in frustration.
"Fiancée?"
"No."
"Girlfriend?"
"Sorry! Time is up. Survey says, my best friend and my boss."
"Can we get them out of here now?" Marie asked noticing the time.
"Give her a minute. This will work, I promise." Joseph begged.
"All right, you are not married now, but you were, but not to each other." The Fortune Teller said struggling to pick up any kind of psychic reception.
"See I told you." Joseph said with a smirk.
"There's three children." Lena blurted out.
"Lena. . .Billy's not there anymore." Marie reminded her.
"Oops, I keep a forgetting." She said biting her nails.
Angela stepped in now, "Tony, in a way she's right. Jonathan is like a son to you and there was Billy."
"That a girl, Angela." Robert said with a smile.
"I see a change in a relationship with somebody very close to you and things will never be the same." Alexandra said as Kate pulled away from whispering in her ear.
"Well, that was blunt." Joseph said turning to his great granddaughter.
"I figured somebody had to get this thing moving." Kate said raising her eyebrows.
But hearing the word "change" caused Tony to go into defensive mode. He started talking about how he was happy with the way things were and that he wanted the next seven years to be exactly the same as the previous seven.
"Do something Alexandra!" Joseph yelled.
"No, no, deep down, there is something you want to change."
Thinking he was being funny, Tony made a crack about how he'd definitely be changing his barber after the horrible haircut he'd received just that morning. And with that, Angela got up and left. It was the last straw in an already disappointing evening. She felt the weight of her loneliness engulf her all at once and she just wanted to get away.
"His name! Call him by his name." Everyone yelled as Tony tried to follow her.
Madame Alexandra caught him by the arm, "I'm not finished with you, Anthony Morton Micelli."
"Ay oh, oh ay. Take it easy with that "Morton"... Wait a minute. How did you know that was my name?" Tony said a little shocked.
"I'm right?" She said in surprise.
"Yeah."
"Boy, that decongestant must be kicking in."
"Tell him!" All of them screamed at once.
"It's time I said I love you."
In the next few minutes, Madame Alexandra told him how she had seen those words "written across time" and how if he didn't kiss his true love by midnight, he could lose her forever.
Tony left the fortune teller's tent, laughing off her predication until he found out just how right it was. A few minutes later, he jokingly quoted her prediction when he found Angela at the hammer game. To Angela's real disappointment, even with fate screaming the obvious to him, she could tell he wasn't going to come around. In almost a gesture of surrender, Angela pulled the watch from her purse and handed it to him.
"Happy Anniversary." She said angrily as she walked away, not even waiting for his reaction to the inscription.
Standing there alone, he opened the box and looked down at the watch she'd given him. As he looked it over, he read the words that were etched on the back.
"'It's Time I Said I Love You.' Way to go, Morton." He said with regret.
"She told him." Nick said naively from across the midway. "Why aren't you all jumping up and down?"
"Dad. Does she look happy?" Marie asked as she pointed to Angela walking off alone.
"Well, what are we going to do?" Kate said placing her head on Lena's shoulder.
"I don't think there's anymore that we can do." Robert said watching his daughter in sadness. "It's all up to them now."
They all stood watching Tony as he showed the watch to Mona, Carmella and the kids. Joseph even got a laugh out of watching Carmella smack him with a good "Stunada!"
Standing there, they watched the group shrink from six to two. Sam alone was the only one left to talk some sense into him.
"Yeah, Dad, she told you she loves you. So, now the only thing that matters is. . . do you feel the same way?" Sam said trying to get her dad to open up.
"Well, yeah." Tony said, finally allowing himself to admit it out loud.
"Then Dad, why can't you just tell her?"
"Because I'm afraid to, Samantha. I mean, this is the most important friendship of my life and if we take the next step and it doesn't work out, I could end up losing everything!"
"I think you're running that risk now, Dad."
"Did you guys tell her to say that?" Joseph asked, turning to the family.
"No, that was all my Sam." Marie said with a huge smile of pride.
"Hee-Haw and Hallelujah!" Joseph yelled, almost loud enough for the living to hear.
As the minutes past, the group followed Tony around as he chased Angela. With determination now written on his face, they could see he was working up the courage to finally tell her how he felt. With the psychic's words clanging around in his head, he knew, as they all did, that it was now or never. He couldn't lose her, not over this. And he knew that for the first time in the seven years since he'd come to work for her, that he'd actually have to make himself face the feelings he really had for her.
When he finally found her in front of the shooting game, he tried so hard to get the words out once and failed miserably. "I love. . .I love. . .the watch. I love what the watch says."
In utter disappointment, Angela practically ran off, wishing him a happy life with the watch.
He had to chase her down again. This time he found himself determined that if nothing else, he would get that kiss.
Thinking she could hide, she went to the one place she knew terrified Tony more than any other ride in park, The Tunnel of Love. Getting on that floating swan alone wasn't her idea of a perfect evening, but at least knowing she was going to exit alone couldn't lower her expectations anymore.
"Run to her Tony!" Lena yelled as the "Celestial Rat Pack" actually ran along beside him.
At his quick pace, Tony left most of the group behind, but his mother was determined to see this through. She ran along side him and gave him that extra amount of balance he needed before he jumped into Angela's swan as it was trying to turn the corner.
As the couple disappeared through the ride's entrance, the family tried to enter behind them, but found their way blocked. Lena stood on the dock closing her eyes, trying to picture Tony, trying to picture Angela has she had millions of time before.
When the rest of the group finally caught up, Lena ran over to Joseph in tears. "What's going on, Joseph?"
Doing the same, Robert turned to Joseph as well. "Why can't we follow them?"
"Because your job for tonight is finished," said a short balding man in a white suit with big glasses walking up the path toward them. He walked up to them carrying a cane in his hand.
"Who are you?" Joseph finally asked.
"The name's Darwin. I'm one of the "Big Man's" assistants. He wanted me to let you know that you've all done an excellent job."
"What are you talking about? Is something going on that we don't know about?" Joseph said trying to get past his confusion and the smile that was beaming on the little man's face.
"This is their moment; they have to do this alone. You can't help them anymore tonight. They have to find the courage to finally tell each other how they feel. This is their last chance."
"But why can't we at least watch," Joseph asked.
"Would you want your family watching when you finally told the woman of your dreams that you love her?"
"Oh." Joseph said with a little smile, remembering back to when he had given Lena the same speech.
"Give them a few minutes, the next part of your jobs will start tomorrow."
"The next part? I thought you said we were done."
"For tonight. Tonight you've sealed the deal, they will be together, but there are a few more hurdles that need to be jumped before Kate is born. What can I say, they're human. They can't see the big picture as well as we can. . .at least not yet."
Fools rush in,
Where Angels fear to tread.
And so I come to you, my love
My heart above my head.
Though I see the danger there.
If there's a chance for me
Then I don't care.
Fools rush in,
Where wise men never go.
But wise men never fall in love,
So how are they to know?
When we met I felt my life begin.
So, open up your heart and
Let this fool rush in.
Sung by Frank Sinatra
Ch 26: Stardust coming soon
(Only 5 more chapters to go. Really, I promise. I'm not kidding.)