Disclaimer: Oddly enough, Who's The Boss? is not my creation. Credit goes to the people it's owed to...
A/N: Firstly, thanks for the reviews for Happily and my other stories - it's so very, very nice to know people are actually reading & enjoying what I write. Secondly, I debated for quite a while on whether to go with the R or PG-13 version of this story, but ultimately decided to go with the original (I'm lazy that way!).
Rating: Chapter 6: R, Chapters 5 & 7: PG-13, all other chapters: G
Chapter 1
Tony had come to a conclusion. He wanted to marry Angela. More to the point, he wanted to marry Angela soon. The big wedding that had seemed so important to him a year earlier was pushed aside and forgotten. Besides, a big wedding took too much time to plan. And if he was going to marry her the day he came home, as he intended, time was a precious commodity. As it was, he'd need the help of the whole family if he was going to pull this off. He told Angela that he'd be home a day later than he actually was. He got Mona to organise Sam and Jonathan and Hank for the preparations. He told them who to invite, what decorations he wanted, suggested a caterer, and then left all the local details to Mona. But he ordered the flowers - dozens of pink roses. This was all going to be expensive, he knew, but it was worth it. He could just picture the look on Angela's face when she realised what he had done.
The three weeks passed by with amazing speed between planning the wedding, marking finals, and attending the farewell parties that were thrown in his honour. But the day to leave finally arrived and he rose early and hit the road with a happy heart. He felt a little guilty for lying to Angela that night on the phone. Pretending he was sitting in Iowa surrounded by boxes, when in reality he was camped out in some tiny motel room only hours away from her. But he thought she'd forgive him. Only, he hoped that she'd agree to a surprise wedding. It worried him a bit, the surprise part. Angela liked surprises, but only if she knew about them.
Driving into Fairfield, he thought of how different his life was from the last time he'd entered the town with a load of his possessions packed behind him. Sam was grown and married, no longer a rough and tumble street kid from Brooklyn. He was a college grad with a year of teaching experience behind him. And the love of his life was probably sitting in the kitchen drinking her juice and coffee before heading off to work. Life was good.
The love of his life was in fact sitting in her kitchen sipping her juice and coffee, reflecting with excitement that in a day Tony would finally be back in her life – for good. The last three weeks hadn't been easy. Losing Tony, if only temporarily, after finally finding him again seemed a cruel punishment. So she buried herself in her work, only barely registering the conversations that stopped dead whenever she entered a room. In spite of all the loneliness, she was happy. They were really going to make it.
Her mother had begged off a day of work complaining that Angela had been a slave driver the past few weeks. So she was genuinely surprised when Mona sauntered into the kitchen dressed to kill so early in the morning. But Mona explained that she had a big day of shopping planned and she hoped that maybe Angela would join her for an early lunch in the city and then take the afternoon off for a little pampering. With only a little bit of coaxing, Angela gave in, deciding it might be a fun change of pace. Besides, there really wasn't much to do around the office lately; she'd done two months worth of work in three weeks. She agreed and quickly hugged her mother before heading out the door to catch the train.
Mona waited a moment after Angela left before grabbing the phone to call Tony. He arrived minutes later, having been hiding around the corner waiting for Angela to leave. Entering the door, he grabbed Mona in a big hug, asking casually how things were. Mona greeted him with delight, glad that he was back – for all of their sakes.
By four o'clock, the house had been transformed. Gone was all the furniture in the living room and the kitchen was set up for the caterer. Thirty-some chairs were set up facing the kitchen door, an aisle in between. At the door stood an archway decorated with trailing ivy, ribbons, and the occasional pink rose peeking out as if they had grown there naturally. Huge bouquets of roses and baby's breath dotted the room, giving off a fragrant aroma. Vines with baby's breath trailed down the banister, framed the doors, and hung along the fireplace. And everywhere pink roses sprouted, giving the effect of a secret rose garden, almost magical in quality.
Tony gazed around the room, pleased at its appearance, amazed that they had actually pulled it off. For the moment the house was calm. The family was all off running last minute errands and the caterer wasn't due for 20 minutes. Hearing voices at the door, he glanced around one last time before ducking into the kitchen. The moment of truth had come.