Some updates: A great big thank you to everyone still reading. I am unable to keep up with posting every Saturday, so from now on I will post when I can. There is much more to come with this story. However, there will be no more M rated chapters. I'm sorry, but if I wrote every single M chapter for the rest of this fic, I would never finish it. There will be plenty of implied M; including this chapter. Once again, thank you for reading, it keeps me going.
An Unexpected Christmas Present Part III
A private dining room held six ecstatically happy people. The family was gathered at a round table; Tony seated at Angela's left, with Mrs. Rossini next to him. Jonathan was situated in between Mrs. Rossini and his grandmother, with Sam completing the circle, bridging Mona and Angela. A white tablecloth and a centerpiece of pink roses were the bridal decorations. Champagne was poured and enjoyed. The wedding reception was in full swing when Sam asked, "why didn't you two do your traditional Christmas morning dance to, "In The Mood" yesterday?"
"How could we Sam? If we had danced, the difference between this year and all the previous years would have been obvious," Angela answered.
"Completely ignoring the fact that not dancing was a glaring admission of the truth," Mona pointed out.
The realization stunned Angela, how could she not have seen that, "oh, yeah," was her sheepish answer. Her companions around the table laughed slightly, all except for her beloved husband who was too busy gazing adoringly at his new wife. He touched her cheek and she looked at him, the very definition of a blushing bride.
"So dance now," Sam suggested, hesitantly, she didn't want to break up the picture before her; but forcing them onto the dance floor would provide a new opportunity for picture-taking.
"Here? We don't even have any music," Angela protested. She did have a point, there was no music; or at least, no music other than the sedate, 'music to dine by' in the background to be precise. As no one counted that as music, Angela was correct in her assessment.
"Since when do you two need music?" Sam stated a truth there.
"Come on, Angela; I missed dancing with you yesterday," her new husband leaned toward her to whisper in her ear. She looked at him, her eyes sparkling even more than the champagne, a small smile tremulously appeared as she blushed. She nodded in agreement. The word "no" would be microscopically existent from this day forward in Angela's manner with Tony. He stood up and held his hand out to her, she took it and they stepped away from the table.
Four eager faces watched them dance; it wasn't possible for Tony and Angela to be self-conscious because they were lost in their memories as well as each other. Also, it wasn't as if they hadn't danced in front of their family before. Sam looked at them and sighed, finally; finally they were together. They looked so right together, in her eyes they were the epitome of the perfect couple. She hoped that someday she would have a relationship like that; one based on trust and friendship, but with that little spark that turned everything from mundane to ethereal.
Ethereal was definitely how the happy couple looked at the moment, dancing away to their favorite song, even though it was only playing in their hearts. Mona had never had a more satisfied look on her face than the one she expressed at the moment; and that was saying something because Mona was often a very well satisfied woman. Jonathan felt a sense of completion, like at last the inevitable had happened. He accepted this gladly, but certainly wasn't going to go overboard like the rest of the family was. For instance; Mrs. Rossini, who had left her chair and was taking pictures of Tony, Angela and the rest of the family from every angle possible. The professional photographer was adept at avoiding her, he was far too experienced at this to let an amateur get in his way.
Dinner was mercifully served, the photographer took his pre-arranged chance to disappear for a while. He would return when the cake was brought in; then conclude his duties at the completion of the cake cutting and depart. Mrs. Rossini put away her camera, temporarily sparing Tony & Angela from any more blind spots from the flash photography.
Angela suddenly realized she was hungry and savored every bite of dinner as though she had never eaten before, although she would never recall what it was she actually ate. There was too much euphoria to concentrate on something as commonplace as food, no matter how good it was; plus her mother was taking pleasure in a jab or two, "eat up, dear; you'll need your strength for later," earned giggles from the rest of the family, but only glares from Angela and Tony. Tony willed his mother-in-law to behave with his glare. She pouted, but reigned in her sarcasm; even if she did consider Tony's silent admonition unfair. After all, no matter what she said, Tony and Angela were going to have more fun tonight than she would, so why shouldn't she take her fun where she could get it?
After dinner a small white cake with pink roses and a crystal heart-shaped topper was carried to the table. Angela sighed loudly at the sight of the beautiful cake and wanted to cut into it immediately; but was stopped by the children.
Sam and Jonathan moved to stand in front of their parents. They put an arm around each other and held a piece of paper out between them. Sam started speaking, "to our Mom and Dad...
Angela was already searching for a tissue, her mother pushed some over to her, she mouthed, 'thank you' and even though they were still seated, she leaned on Tony for support. He put an arm around her and kissed the top of her head. Angela gave up the pretense; who was she kidding? There was no way she was going to make it through this without the strength of her husband surrounding her. She snuggled her way into his lap, he held her more tightly. Now comfortable, she clutched the tissues and smiled at the kids to continue.
Jonathan took his turn, "the two people who have been there for us through everything."
Then they said together, "you've sacrificed so much for us; putting your relationship on the back burner to devote yourselves to us. You may have thought we didn't notice, but we did. We noticed everything. And we waited."
Sam alone said, "and waited."
Jonathan took his turn, "and waited."
"and waited," an exasperated Sam's turn.
"and waited," Jonathan sounded like all the weight of the world was on him. The rest of the family laughed; Mona wryly, but relieved.
Back together the kids said, "but at some point we learned that you were teaching us that love isn't a fairy tale."
Jonathan continued, "it isn't the cliché diamonds and flowers that advertisers; sorry, Mom," she smiled at him, "try to sell us as being the only way to love."
They continued taking turns, Sam taking the next line, "love is supporting each other through your darkest moments."
"It's being there for each other, no matter where or when."
"It's shared laughter around the dinner table."
"It's taking care of each other, when you're sick and when you're well."
"It's walnut brownies." Angela's face lit up when Sam said that one, or at least it lit up as well as it could through her tears.
"It's family movie night on the couch." Tony smiled in remembrance of many happy nights on the couch; not all of them necessarily having to do with movies.
"It's a look across a crowded room," those looks had always kept Sam going when she hoped for a real relationship from them, she thought no one could look at each other the way they did and not be madly in love, and that thought sustained her through the years as she impatiently waited for her Dad and Angela to get together.
"It's compromise," Jonathan would be pragmatic.
"It's dancing; not because it's the only way to be close, but because you don't want to dance with anyone else."
"It's making each other laugh."
"It's learning from each other and growing together."
"It's bringing out the best in each other." At Jonathan's words, Mrs. Rossini sobbed; she tried to sob on Mona's shoulder, but Mona brushed her off. Tony quickly and briefly took one hand off Angela to squeeze Mrs. Rossini's hand in support. She was very grateful for his concern.
"It's an evening spent talking."
"It's treating a child in need of a parent as your own," Jonathan and Sam were back together again on that one.
"It's a basketball game in the driveway," Jonathan had noticed that his mom and Tony had been playing more basketball recently. Angela was amazed, she had no idea the change was this obvious.
"It's supporting each others dreams and doing anything you can to make those dreams come true."
"It's showing us that even though saying the words is important; the deeds are important too."
"It's the joy of knowing your best friend is also the person you trust the most to take care of your heart." Sam got Mona with that one; she tried to hide her emotion by suddenly finding something very interesting to look at through the windows of the dining room. No one was fooled, after all, there was nothing to see in the darkness, but they let her get away with it. Angela wanted to reach out to her mother, feeling that her mother was thinking of her father; but as she herself was a sobbing mess, there wasn't much support she could give; and her mother would only have brushed her off anyway. Mona recovered quickly, she wasn't going to let anything interfere with tonight's joy.
Jonathan forged ahead, knowing that even though emotions were on display, everyone was, underneath it all; happy, "it's patience, honesty, compassion and forgiveness."
"It's being around someone you can be yourself with because they accept you for who you are," Sam said before Jonathan joined in with her again to finish their toast.
"You're the best mom and dad anyone could ever hope for; thank you is not sufficient for all you've given us. Today you start a new chapter in your lives together, we hope each day brings you ten times more love and joy than you've already shared throughout the years."
They put down the paper and reached for their champagne glasses before they said, "finally; we want to say, hallelujah, it's about time! Salut!" They clinked glasses with each other, then touched Mona and Mrs. Rossini's glasses as well. Angela tried to join in, she really did, but she could barely pick up her glass long enough to touch Tony's glass and take a sip of champagne. The rest of the family recognized her dilemma and made the effort to bring their glasses to hers; the lovely sound of glass touching glass creating their own pealing wedding bells.
Angela dried her tears and held out her hand. The kids walked over, she clasped Sam's hand, then using every once of strength in her managed to tear herself away from Tony's support long enough to hug each child. She couldn't stand up, that was a task beyond her capabilities at the moment; but she held them and said, "Thank you, that was the most beautiful toast I have ever heard. I love both of you so much."
She was overwhelmed again by the answering, "we love you too, Mom," also in unison. She kissed each child then sank back into Tony's arms and let his warmth and strength encompass her. Tony wanted to stand up to hug the kids, but his new wife required more attention right now. He reached out to say thank you to the kids; seeing his predicament they walked over to him and hugged him as best they could. "Thank you," he said to them in reference to the toast, "I didn't know you two were paying such close attention over the years."
"Everyone was paying close attention," Mona stated the obvious.
"You more than anyone else, Mother."
"Watching you two run from each other for seven years did have some entertainment value. You should have listened to me all those years ago, Angela. I know what's best for you; and, as always, I was right. You've been happier the past few months than you have ever been. Face it, Mother knows best."
"Yes, Mother," Angela humored her mother; but wasn't really all that focused on her.
Mrs. Rossini tried to dry her eyes, but could only blubber out, "that was the most beautiful toast I have ever heard," she sniffled, "you should have that framed."
"'s a wonderful idea, Mrs. Rossini," Angela managed to answer, her head resting on Tony's chest, which he certainly did not mind.
"I'll make sure it happens," Mona declared, she didn't trust anyone else at the table to be thinking clearly enough, "I'll have your marriage license framed too, as a wedding gift."
"Oh, Mother, what a wonderful idea! Thank you!" Angela gushed.
"If I could, I would have it bronzed," Mona deadpanned.
"I'm sure you would. Why not make copies and hand them out to all your friends as party favors too," Angela joked.
"Don't tempt me," Mona answered, secretly noting that handing out copies of the marriage license would be a fun event for the future wedding reception. It would be easy enough to do under Angela's nose at the office; after all, the copy machine was her domain. Her decision quickly made, Mona returned to the present, "now, will you please cut the cake, or are you going to wait for seven years to do that too?"
Angela decided not to dignify her mother's "joke" with a response. Instead she smiled and looked at Tony, he smiled back at her. Together they picked up a knife and cut the cake while the photographer clicked away. They pulled out one slice; chocolate, of course, and placed it on plate. Tony then procured a fork and quickly culled the perfect sized bite for Angela. He thought about teasing her with it; infinitesimally briefly, after all, they did have a wedding night to celebrate later and he didn't want any anger to interfere with the perfect evening. The look Angela was giving him also dissuaded him from kidding around, her eyes were sparkling, her face aglow with love; she looked at him with such affection that he was awed and humbled by the freedom of her emotions as currently expressed contrasted with the way she had been repressing them previously.
He touched the fork to her lips and she closed her mouth around the cake as though it were ambrosia from heaven; which in Angela's heart and mind, it was. "Mmm," she sighed, her eyes closed in ecstasy as she tasted the morsel.
Tony wondered how quickly they could leave their own wedding reception.
Angela opened her eyes and looked at Tony with a rather devilish glint. She couldn't know what he was thinking, could she? He wouldn't put it past her. But instead of suggesting they find someplace a little quieter, Angela took the fork from her husband and proceeded to extract a piece of the cake for him. The way she managed that alone made Tony swallow in anticipation. Angela grinned inwardly, she loved beguiling Tony. "Open your mouth and close your eyes and you will get a big surprise," she vamped.
Tony disobeyed and leaned forward to whisper in her ear, "Angela, there are other people here, tone it down, will ya?"
"Well, if you insist." She pretended to be slightly hurt, then brought the fork close to her lips as though she was going to eat the second bite herself. Seeing Tony's alarm out of the corner of her eye, she burst out laughing and fed the cake to him. She then gave him an apologetic quick kiss for teasing him. He didn't mind the teasing. In fact, if Angela kissed him, she had his absolution to tease him whenever she wanted.
Mona had to put her hand over her mouth to hide her grin as she noticed that Angela didn't even bother to use a fresh fork. Everyone else noticed it too, but no one commented. Jonathan just shook his head, wondering how he was possibly going to live in a house with newlyweds. Sam was glad that everything had worked out so well and that her Dad and Angela were obviously very much in love and very happily married.
"You gonna share that cake with the rest of us at some point?" Mona brought the two oblivious guests of honor back to the ground.
Angela gave her an, 'of course' look.
Mrs. Rossini took charge, she reached over to the cake, "here, I'll cut the rest of it; I don't think we can really trust either one of you with a sharp object." She finished the cutting and distributed the cake to the rest of the family; who enjoyed it, but nowhere near as much as Tony and Angela enjoyed it.
Angela didn't mind being relieved of cake cutting duties; after all, the less cake cutting she had to do, the more time she could spend concentrating on Tony and the way his delicious lips enclosed around cake. "Lucky cake," she thought; then wondered how quickly they could depart their own wedding reception.
Tony disrupted her plans by wanting to get back to something Mona had said that intrigued him, "What did you mean when you said, 'all those years ago'? Just how long have you been trying to push us together, Mona?" her new son-in-law asked.
"From the day before you moved in, if I know my mother," Angela answered, and she did know her mother.
"Don't be silly, Angela. I had to see how well he got along with Jonathan first."
"So, five minutes after I answered the door?"
"About that, yes."
Angela rolled her eyes; there was no way her mother could be serious about this and she wasn't going to play along.
Tony was amused by the conversation, but he sensed there was more to the story, and he was curious,"Mone, you said specifically that Angela should have listened; implying you said something to her. When?"
"Which time?"
"So there was more than once?"
"Of course," Mona counted on her fingers in fond remembrance, "let's see, there was the morning Angela woke up thinking she had slept with you the night before..."
"Mother! I did not want that secret known!"
"Too late; and why not? Tony knew about it years ago; if you lived through the embarrassment of him knowing, you'll live through everyone else knowing too."
"What about the kids!"
Mona leaned over and stage whispered to Angela, "What about them? I think they are old enough to learn the truth."
The kids were interested, very interested if judging by the shocked expressions on their faces. Mrs. Rossini wasn't quite as shocked, but she was very intrigued.
"We were drunk, and nothing happened," Angela declared.
"You were drunk. I had to sober up to put you to bed," Tony reminded her.
"Wait. You put Angela to bed?" It was a question both Sam and Jonathan wanted answered, but neither would dare to ask, so they were both grateful to Mrs. Rossini for asking instead.
Tony rolled his eyes and sighed, resigned to his fate; now that this was out in the open, he had to clear it up, "It was Angela's birthday. She went out with friends and came back...very happy." Angela smiled at his choice of words. "We baked a cake..."
"You mean you tried to bake a cake," Mona corrected, remembering the disaster area masquerading as a kitchen the next morning.
Tony gave her a look that said if she interrupted again there would be no more story. She wisely kept her mouth shut; grinning, but shut.
"As I was saying, we baked a cake; Angela...got tired, I carried her upstairs and put her on the bed, still wearing her clothes. I got her nightgown and pulled a quilt over her. Then I left."
"You left out the kiss," Mona prompted, ever so fake innocently. Tony was amazed Mona had managed to keep her mouth shut for even that short a time.
"Mother!"
"You told her?" All these years Tony had thought that to be their little secret, so much for secrets.
"I was hung over."
"Great," Tony sighed.
"Wait, which birthday was this, and where were we?" Sam asked.
"Angela's first birthday after we moved to Connecticut. You and Jonathan were in Brooklyn."
"You used me as part of your sordid plot?" Mrs. Rossini, asked, pretending to be shocked.
"There was no plot, and there was certainly nothing sordid," Tony answered.
"Well, why not? You two all alone in the house; it was the perfect chance to be sordid," Mrs. Rossini admonished.
"They must be making snowballs in Hell right now; because for once I agree with her," Mona said, although it took every ounce of strength she had to say it.
"Can we get back to this kiss, please?" Sam wanted all the details she could get.
"We were drunk; it doesn't count," Angela said with finality.
"The hell it doesn't," her mother said. So much for finality.
"I don't remember it," Angela said; trying to deflect in any way she could. It was a tactic doomed to fail, not only because everyone could see right through it, but also because Angela couldn't keep a smile off her face and her eyes from becoming even more unfocused.
"Another lie," her mother pointed out.
For reasons known only to themselves, Tony also started grinning. They caught each others eye and started laughing. Tony leaned to whisper in his wife's ear, "so Angela, do you remember, 'losing each other as friends'? Angela collapsed into giggles on her husband's shoulder. The rest of the family just stared at them as they lost themselves to their past. Angela finally pulled herself together long enough to grin wickedly at her husband and say, "uh huh; you?"
"Oh, yeah," was all he had to say to send her off into another fit of giggling. He watched her, charmed and delighted; a smile on his own face with enough wattage to light up Dubuque on its own.
Mona shook her head; these two were in their own little world. It was the most revolting display of gooey infatuation she had ever seen; and she had seen a lot. They had shed their repression and jumped into reckless abandon with no stops in between. Things were going to be very different around the house. Whether this was a change for the better remained to be seen. For now, Mona was going to have a little more fun with them, she barged ahead, "then there was the morning after your second anniversary..."
This created the desired effect as Tony and Angela managed to stop gazing at each other. Angela blushed and turned away from Tony. She picked up a fork and tapped it against the plate as a way of controlling her anger and embarrassment at her mother for bringing this up. She tried to glare at her mother; but her blissful state of being couldn't allow it.
"Whoa, wait a minute; what happened then? Wasn't Dad in the hospital with appendicitis?" Samantha's eyes widened as she continued, "what else happened that you haven't told us?" Although her curiosity was nowhere near satisfied on this whole birthday kiss phenomenon; this new information Mona introduced piqued her interest even more.
"Oh, just an 'I love you' and a very confused and scared Angela, that's all," Mona dropped ever so not nonchalantly. Even though she said the words as indifferently as possible, everyone knew Mona was inwardly exultant over having these tidbits to tease her daughter with. Judging from the long ago dates of some of these events, Mona had been waiting for years for just the right moment to strew these potentially jaw dropping secrets publicly; which, indeed, she had, and it hadn't been easy for her to keep these secrets all this time.
"You told your mother about that too?" Tony asked Angela, even though the answer was obvious. Was there any moment in their past she hadn't shared with her mother? He hoped they still had some secrets; he decided it would be something to discuss when they were finally alone.
"I wasn't sure how to handle it, ok?" Angela turned to her husband, exasperated; then turned away to glare at her mother for dropping that secret. She shrugged honestly nonchalantly in return, she was immensely enjoying watching the reactions of everyone around her. The kids and Mrs. Rossini had eager 'tell us more' looks on their faces.
"I tried to get her to see the light Tony, I really did; but she was always stubborn and absolutely terrified of her feelings for you," Mona shared.
"I think you are over-stating the situation, Mother," she tried to deflect. Her mother had gone too far; that post-surgery chat was deeply private to Angela; or it least it had been before her mother decided to broadcast it to the world.
"You were terrified and grasping at any excuse you could come up with," Mona said, winning the argument. Also true, and Angela was not happy with her mother for bringing that up.
"Please tell me what happened, Angela, I'd really like to know," Sam interrupted the mother-daughter squabble. The last thing she wanted was for a full blown argument to erupt during a wedding reception. If she could get Angela back to whatever had happened that night, it should diffuse the situation.
Angela looked at Tony; he nodded. Since her mother had started the conversation, there was no backing out of it now. Angela was not going to let her mother tell the story though, she wanted it told truthfully, not with any embellishments her mother would add, and Angela shuddered to think about the embellishments her mother would inevitably add.
"I don't really know where to begin..." Angela started, she took a deep breath, the remembrance of seeing Tony so vulnerable that night still sent a ripple of fear through her, "your father was in the hospital, just before they wheeled him in to surgery..."
"I was drugged," Tony defended himself.
"True," Angela agreed quickly, "and no one can be held to anything said under that much anesthesia." The less discussed about that night, the better, Angela decided.
Mona's "bwack, bwack," chicken noises in response to Angela's statement caused her daughter to cross her arms and glare at her while simultaneously evoking laughter in the kids.
"You really said, 'I love you' then?" Sam wanted confirmation. She'd waited so many years to hear them say "I love you" to each other, and they'd said it years ago; or, at least, her father had. Of course they all remembered Angela saying the words; but her being asleep at the time negated them. What a waste. Samantha toyed with the idea of bringing up Angela's revelatory birthday, but decided she didn't dare cross that line; however she did wonder why it seemed so many important things happened around Angela's birthday.
"As I said, I was drugged. End of discussion."
As far as Mrs. Rossini was concerned it was most certainly not the end of the discussion, "it took you five years from your first 'I love you' to get to the altar?" She raised the back of her hand to Tony's head, "stunod." Tony backed away in defense.
"Pathetic," Mona agreed.
"How can you say that? Our relationship has always been complicated." Angela defended her new husband.
"It was only complicated because you two were too stubborn to acknowledge the truth," Mona cut through the denial with laser like truth.
"I want to hear the whole story," Sam persisted.
"I don't know what there is to tell you, honey," Angela answered, "your father was in the hospital, going in to surgery. He was worried about what would happen to you if...anything happened to him...," this was a painful thought five years ago; now, Angela stopped mid-sentence, unable to even acknowledge that she could someday lose Tony.
Tony noticed his wife faltering and squeezed her hand, silently telling her that he would take over telling the story. She looked up at him gratefully. "I asked Angela to take care of you if anything happened to me," Tony said. Sam smiled, glad to know that Angela would have been there for her if she needed her. Angela momentarily tore her fond gaze away from her husband to smile at Sam, then went back to smiling at her husband, just to make sure he was still alive and well.
"My memory is a little foggy here, but apparently as I was being wheeled out of my room; and remember I was very drugged," he wanted to make sure this was clearly understood, "I said, 'I love you'."
Angela beamed in remembrance; if she had been able to put any sort of focus anywhere else around the table she would have heard sighs from both Sam and Mrs. Rossini. Little smiles appeared around the table; except for Mona who elected to go for a full grin; finally, vindication was hers. She let Tony and Angela have their moment of gazing at each other then said, "and how did that make you feel, Angela?"
Angela was going to fight sarcastic fire with sarcastic fire, not taking her eyes off Tony she said, "your psychology degree has no power here, begone, 'doctor' before somebody drops secrets you don't want told too."
Mona ignored her and pushed forward, "Very well, I'll bide my time. Ok, it's bided; now answer the question, everyone wants some honesty out of you two."
"I plead the fifth," Angela smiled, still not taking her eyes off Tony.
"Angela, we are losing patience."
Angela rolled her eyes, "fine. I was shocked," and she finally managed to stop looking at her husband only to snuggle up to him even more to say, "and scared," which was said so softly everyone had to strain to hear her. Tony kissed her hair.
"But did you love him?" Mona asked even though she knew the answer.
"If I hadn't, I wouldn't have been so confused at the time; it would have been easy to ignore the whole thing," Angela answered evasively.
It was a hollow victory for Mona; here was her daughter, now married to this man and she still couldn't express how she felt about him in the past.
"So you talked about it?" Sam asked, wanting as many details as she could get; they were exploring topics she hadn't even known existed and she wanted the full story on their romance.
Tony and Angela looked at each other, silently trying to figure out how to answer that question. "You could say we danced around the topic the next morning," her father answered.
"You mean you avoided it," Mona answered a little more honestly.
"No, we simply chose to...not talk about it," Angela tried spin the truth.
"You avoided it," Jonathan said simply.
Tony tried to control the conversation, "when I woke up that morning I barely remembered who I was, let alone anything I said. It was the nurse who mentioned it. I did not handle that news well. You don't tell your boss you love her..."
"You do if you love her," Mona said, enjoying every second of this.
Angela crossed her arms and glared at her mother.
Tony did his best to express thoughts it took him years to come to terms with, "it could have been a very awkward situation; no, it was an awkward situation; both of us unsure of how the other felt. Each of us trying to get the other to say something. Wondering what would happen if we did cross that line; but in the end, backing away. It wasn't the right time; deep down, I think we both knew it."
Angela agreed, and added one more thought, "but there was that little hope that we would broach the subject again someday." Something changed in their relationship that day. They'd moved from a work based relationship to a 'friendship with a possibility of more' basis of their relationship. How ironic that it happened as they were celebrating their work relationship; and without them even knowing it.
"Yeah?" her new husband asked; at the time of their original 'conversation' he hadn't been so sure they would ever return to the subject. He was alone in a hospital room wondering if his relationship with Angela had been irrevocably damaged. After all, she let him off the hook. He'd wondered at the time if that was because she wasn't interested in him at all.
"Yeah," his new wife confirmed; somehow healing the memory of the sadness of a lonely man in a hospital bed with that one word; to say nothing of the confused and lonelier woman she was as she lingered in the hospital hallway.
"But did you mean it, Dad?"
"I don't know, Sam; it was a long time ago. In some way, yes, I meant it; but if you compared it to the way I feel now, then it was nothing."
Angela looked at him and radiated nothing but love.
"It's so sad, all those years you could have had together," Sam said.
"It would have been too soon, Sam," her father stated.
"He's right, Sam, we weren't ready yet," Angela agreed.
Sam still didn't agree with them, she didn't think it would have been too soon at all; but as she didn't have a say in the matter and as it was all moot at this point, she kept her mouth shut.
Mona, however, didn't; and now it was time to have some fun with Tony, and torment Angela some more while she was at it, "and don't forget the time I tried to give you a push, Tony; you were just as stubborn as Angela."
"Mona," Tony warned. She answered him with the most innocent look she could imagine.
"When was that?" Angela asked, silently noting that she was going to have to ask Tony for the full report on this later.
"Your birthday a couple of years ago, the one you spent at Joe's," Mona teased.
Tony glared at Mona.
"Oh, that birthday," Angela was sorry she asked, "I don't think we need to reiterate that birthday. At. All," she said, using the no nonsense Executive Angela tone of voice to show she meant it.
"No need, I got the whole story from Joe; and I've already shared it with everyone else anyway," her mother answered blithely. Sam couldn't believe Mona brought that birthday up; but was also thrilled, Mona's recitation of Joe's information at one of their club meetings only whetted her appetite for the full story.
"Great," Angela sighed, defeated.
"You two had the perfect opportunity then, why did you do anything about it?" Her mother continued.
"Mona, as I told you then; Angela was sleeping, she couldn't be held to anything she said," Tony reminded her.
"Call me Mother."
"Mother?"
"Yes, it might make it more difficult for you to lie to me that way."
"You know I am not lying to you, Mother, you were part of that conversation." Calling Mona 'Mother' was not going to last beyond that one time, that was for sure.
"I was referring to the conversation you had at Joe's; my son-in-law, I'd like to hear about it from your point of view," Mona persisted.
"There's nothing to tell, Mother;" okay, maybe twice; but that one was for defensive sarcasm purposes only.
"Nice try, but I know there was a hug involved," Mona played her ace.
The rest of the family was looking at them; also expecting details. There was no getting out of this, Tony and Angela knew it; but how were they to talk about something so special to the two of them, yet retain some of its intimacy for themselves? At least Joe had been polite enough not to eavesdrop on their conversation, or if he had, he'd been polite enough to keep the details to himself.
"There isn't much to tell, we had to discuss it since I knew Tony knew I said...something. Believe me, I didn't want to discuss it," even after all this time she still couldn't come to terms with what she said in her sleep; which, considering she was now married to the man was ridiculous, but Angela was still embarrassed by her past. She wished her mother would drop this topic, but knew that wasn't going to happen.
"So you backed away again?" Mrs. Rossini said, shaking her head at all the lost time.
Tony was so close, so very close to a sarcastic, "no, we didn't back away, in fact we were secretly married that night, all this time and you haven't noticed?" But his innate respect for her kept his mouth shut. If Mona had said that, all bets would have been off; not out of disrespect, there was just a different dynamic in his relationship with his now mother-in-law. But Mona hadn't said it, so he answered Mrs. Rossini, "we weren't ready. Either one of us."
That should have been the end of the discussion, but Sam was so lost in romance tonight that she wanted more details, "tell us more about the hug," she prompted.
"What's to tell?" Angela looked at Tony, "It was a hug, a nice hug; I can't believe Joe betrayed us and told you about it, Mother."
"I can be very persuasive," Mona's Cheshire Cat grin caused Angela to roll her eyes.
Angela looked at Tony and touched his cheek, she was almost glad their hug had been betrayed because it was bringing happy memories, "I never wanted to let you go," she said softly, "and I was sorry that we weren't ready yet," she looked into his eyes, "and I was desperately hoping I wouldn't have any more dreams like that." Tony laughed and pulled her close, kissing her temple as she snuggled in to him.
"Reality beats dreams any day, doesn't it, Angela?" her mother teased.
"Mother!"
Mrs. Rossini decided to change the subject, sort of, "what is it with you two and Angela's birthday?" Sam was secretly glad she asked because now she didn't have to tackle that subject.
"Well, it's one of my favorite days on the calendar," Tony answered.
Angela pulled away to look at him, she broke into a huge smile, then kissed him.
Sam looked across the table at them and sighed.
Eventually Tony whispered, "I hope your birthday wish came true."
She looked at him, "oh, it did," she whispered back.
There was a limit to Mona's treacle tolerance and as those two were now exceeding it, she needed to get them back to the present and fill them in on all the important information, "so what finally made you two ready? You were very close to spending the rest of your lives claiming the, 'we weren't ready' excuse. What finally sent you over the edge?" she demanded to know.
Tony and Angela looked at each other, trying to figure out the answer. They both shrugged. Angela tried to formulate some sort of a response, "I don't know that it was one thing, Mother. It was more...not wanting to maintain the status quo anymore." Tony and Angela smiled at each other over the way they'd upset the status quo of their relationship.
"Maybe we were finally...ready," Tony suggested.
"Or maybe you were tired of waiting," was Jonathan's theory.
"That too," his mother agreed, wholeheartedly; "suddenly it seemed that all the reasons we had for staying apart weren't so important anymore. You two have grown to a point where we wouldn't lose you if things didn't work out between us."
"Wait a minute, don't blame us for staying apart. We were both always all for this," Sam interrupted; Jonathan nodded his head in agreement with her.
"Sam, think of it, if you father and I had tried a relationship earlier and it hadn't worked; you would have moved out, been gone from my life;" she acknowledged her son, "and Tony would have been gone from Jonathan's life. It was too great a risk." Even to this day she couldn't bear the thought of losing Sam or of Jonathan losing Tony.
"So that's it? We grew up and you two finally decided it was time?" Jonathan tried to clarify.
"There was more to it than that, Jonathan. I'll be graduating in May and my life will have new possibilities. I'll be something more than 'Angela's housekeeper' and 'Sam's Dad'; not that I don't love being your Dad, Sam; and it's still very true that you'll always be my little girl. There just comes a time in life when you can't define yourself by your kids." The kids understood.
Angela had something to say, "Tony, I told you in Jamaica, it doesn't matter to me what you do."
"Stop right there," Mona had them, Angela had referenced Jamaica and she didn't even have to bring up the subject herself, Angela was unwittingly giving her mother the opening she wanted, she seized the opportunity, "Jamaica. We want answers. Now."
This wasn't going to be good. Tony and Angela looked at each other; if they didn't want to talk about Joe's; then they certainly didn't want to talk about Jamaica.
"I'm losing patience, you had Angela on the beach, in the moonlight; in Jamaica; we all saw it," Mona pressed.
"Except me," Mrs. Rossini pouted. Sam had told her the story, of course, and even though it was the next best thing to being there, it still wasn't as good as being there.
Tony and Angela tried to avoid the faces of everyone else at the table; it wasn't working. Mona tapped a finger on the table, "do you need a reminder?"
"No!" Angela answered quickly, then blushed. She turned to Tony; although he should have been concentrating on how they were going to disclose as little as possible about that night, he was too distracted by the charm of Angela's blush. They looked at each other, unable to agree on how to approach this topic; which truth to be told, neither wanted to approach. Their conversation had been significant and full of promise. Fulfillment of that promise had been delayed by their own choices. There were times in the ensuing months when; unknown to the other, both Tony and Angela wondered if that promise would ever be fulfilled. Going back to that night wasn't going to erase the pain, and neither wanted to revisit that pain at their wedding reception.
"Let's just say, I wasn't ready yet," Tony said with enough emphasis to end the conversation; he hoped.
"Obviously," Mona said under her breath.
"Did you say something, Mother?"
"What? Me? Of course not, Dear."
Angela crossed her arms and looked at her mother dubiously; but decided it was probably best to let whatever her mother said go.
Sam wanted more answers, she'd been intrigued about Jamaica ever since her little chat with Angela, and now, she hoped, she could finally have her curiosity satisfied, "was that the first time you discussed marriage?"
Tony started laughing, "the first and up until our engagement, one of the very few. Only under threat of penalty from the Federal Government did we ever discuss the topic."
"You should have stayed married," it was no surprise to anyone that Mona felt that way and expressed it emphatically.
"It wasn't what we wanted, Mona."
"No, it wasn't," his wife agreed, "we wanted romance and flowers and..." Angela was starting to ramble, her eyes unfocused, she was fading off, losing her way in the realization that when the wedding actually happened, it did happen the way they wanted; in fact they were still in the midst of the experience. Fortunately, the day she and Tony were married was living up to the dreams she had on the day she and Tony were un-married.
Now that Angela was lost in romance, Sam saw her chance to hear all the engagement details she'd been denied up to this point. Angela's starry eyes and showing off her ring while preparing for the wedding only tantalized her; she pounced, "now that you're married, do you think you could tell us about the proposal?"
Angela's focus returned instantaneously, finally a topic she wanted to talk about. Mona saw the change in her daughter and marveled at her ability to reign herself in so quickly. "That must have been some proposal," she teased her daughter.
"Oh, it was," she sighed in fond remembrance, her eyes lit up again as it dawned on her that she could finally let everyone in on the secret, she hadn't realized how much she wanted to share that wonderful evening with the rest of their family.
"Angela; yo, Angela, spill, will ya?" Sam was losing patience.
Angela clasped Sam's hand across the table; she told her the whole story, from the long train ride home to the moment the ring was slipped onto her finger.
Mrs. Rossini was sobbing and wiping her eyes again.
"Wow," Sam said at several moments throughout the story and at the end.
"Can you say something other than, 'wow'? You've been saying it all day," Jonathan said.
"Sometimes there just aren't any other words," Sam sighed.
"Nice work, Tony," Mona approved.
"Thanks Mona, it achieved my objective."
"I'll bet it did."
"Mother."
She shrugged innocently.
"I still can't believe you planned our wedding without us knowing about it," Angela said.
"Our original intent was to finally push you two together, we named ourselves the 'Enough Is Enough Club'," Mrs. Rossini stated.
"Imagine our shock when you two actually managed to get together without our help," Mona quipped.
"I'll never forget that morning," Jonathan said, then added, "no matter how hard I try to," under his breath.
"It was a great morning," Mona affirmed.
Angela turned to her mother and said, "I'm surprised you didn't throw a party when you found out."
"Don't worry, dear, we did; fortunately you bought all the lies I came up with to explain the charges on the agency's credit card that month."
Angela shook her head and grinned wryly, then asked, "when did this club of yours start?"
"Just after the Sock Hop. We'd had it with both of you; if there were such a thing as the Nobel Prize for stubbornness you two would have won it for that night," her mother continued, "you outside moping over Tony while he was inside singing to you."
"He wasn't."
"Yes, I was," Tony defended himself.
Angela looked at him in awe, "you were?"
"Of course."
She kissed him; kissed him the way she so desperately wanted to kiss him last summer. All the sadness she remembered from that night was washed away, leaving only a beaming bride in its place.
The rest of the family watched this kiss with smiles on their faces; their wedding kiss was wonderful, but this one might top it.
Mona took note of the way Tony and Angela were silently reminiscing and knew the wedding reception was over, "fun though this has been, we have a plane to catch in the morning," she dropped.
"We do? Where are we going?" Angela questioned.
"We, meaning the four of us, have a charter to Key West," Mona explained.
"Key West? I thought everyone was staying here." Angela still wasn't following.
"Staying here? You two are on your honeymoon. Six is a crowd," Mona pointed out the obvious.
Angela was startled by this realization; in her mind this was still a family vacation, the fact that it was indeed their honeymoon caused her to charmingly blush. She leaned back into Tony and giggled. He put an arm around her and kissed the top of her head and said, "you are so cute."
"You're the epitome of a blushing bride, Mrs. Micelli," Mrs. Rossini said.
Angela gasped and leaned over Tony, another action he did not mind at all, to clutch Mrs. Rossini's hand, "say that again, please?"
"What? That you're blushing like crazy?"
"I think she means the 'Mrs. Micelli' part," her mother said, enlightening Mrs. Rossini.
Angela did indeed mean that part, but couldn't confirm this as she was giggling once again.
"Fine," Mrs. Rossini looked Angela in the eye and said, "Mrs. Micelli," which only caused Angela to snuggle back into Tony's arms and giggle even more.
"Oh, Mrs. Micelli," Sam wanted part of the fun too.
Angela complied and smiled at Sam, continuing her giggles.
Jonathan was not partaking in this game. Tony wasn't either, although he was flattered by Angela's response to her new name, it seemed the ladies were carrying this a little too far. "Enough," he said simply. Angela pulled away to look at him, "why, Mr. Micelli, what's bothering you?"
"There is nothing 'bothering' me, Angela," he emphasized; but then stopped as he saw a little sadness creep into her eyes. "As I said, there is nothing bothering me, Mrs. Micelli..." he really didn't have to say anything more as this had its intended effect as Angela once again collapsed into giggles.
Jonathan rolled his eyes, "I'm going to have to move out of the house."
"Jonathan, don't be ridiculous," his mother pulled herself together long enough to say.
"You expect me to live with...newlyweds? You won't be able to keep your hands off each other. Maybe Sam and I can get an apartment together somewhere," Jonathan suggested.
"No," was his mother's simple answer.
"I think it's nice seeing them like this; it's what we always wanted isn't it? To see their love acknowledged instead of ignored as they did all those years?" Sam declared.
The family members were in agreement with that; but Jonathan still had a good point to make to his sister, "you don't have to be around it all the time."
"Maybe I could move back home." Sam heard the words come out of her mouth, but it was like someone else was saying them, she didn't know where that idea came from. She couldn't move back home; could she?
Angela managed to cut through her wedding induced euphoria long enough to say, "Sam! That would be wonderful!" Tony also approved of the idea.
"I don't know, Sam, they've been so lovey-dovey it's been downright revolting," Jonathan warned.
Angela said, "we have not been that bad," which she really believed.
"Please! You two haven't seen yourselves from an objective point of view," Jonathan corrected.
Perhaps her son was right, Angela relented, "Jonathan. We won't be so 'lovey-dovey' when we get home."
"Are you sure?" he asked very dubiously.
Angela looked at Tony, he gave her an 'I don't know' look for an answer. She wished she could calm her son's fears, but in her heart, she didn't want the honeymoon effect to ever go away.
Mona was once again the voice of reason, "This isn't something to worry about now, you two have a marriage to consummate, which shouldn't be too difficult with all the Honeymoon Practice you two have managed the past few months."
"Practice makes perfect; it's the first rule of sports," Tony said.
"Then you two should be Nadia Comaneci at the Olympics by now," Mona countered.
"You got that right," Tony agreed.
"Tony!" Angela said, trying to pretend to be aghast at his words, but unable to pull it off through her uncontrollable laughter.
Mona intrigued them with her next statement of fact, "there's champagne waiting for you in your room."
"Well, why didn't you say so? What are we doing hanging around here?" Angela said, making it sound like the champagne was the only enticement to leaving.
"And new night clothes too," Mona said rather suggestively.
Now Angela was scared; very, very scared, "great," she said, rather sarcastically.
"But don't worry, the rest of your boring clothes are there too; not that you'll need them," Mona retorted.
"Mother!" Then she said to Tony, "she's going to be insufferable from now on, isn't she?"
"Yup," he agreed.
Her mother affected a 'who, me?' look, "what?" she shrugged, "everyone knows you're on your honeymoon. Good night, you two."
"She's kicking us out of our own wedding reception," Angela pouted to Tony.
"Fine, we know when we're not wanted," Tony pouted back.
"Guess we'll have to leave."
"Guess we will."
All four of their dining companions said together, "go!"
Angela tore herself off of Tony's lap and held out her hand to him, he joined his hand with hers and stood up as well. The rest of the party also got out of their chairs, Sam ran over to Angela to hug her; then her father. They held each other for a long time, when they let go Sam was a little overcome with happiness, "we've waited so long, it's so nice to see you two so happy. Please, always stay this way."
"We'll do our best, Sam," her father answered as he wiped away a stray tear or two from his daughter's face. She nodded and remained leaning against his side.
Jonathan came over to hug his mother, "I'm happy for you too." Angela held him and said, "thanks, honey." He turned to Tony, Sam moved over to lean against Angela as they watched their beloved men share a quick hug. Angela wiped a few more tears away from Sam's face, then she and Jonathan stepped away from their parents. Sam still appreciated having someone to lean on as Jonathan put his arm around her to watch the rest of the goodbyes.
Mrs. Rossini was next to hug Tony, which only set her off into another round of tears. "Tony, there were so many dark days when I was angry at the hand you'd been dealt. The unfairness of it all...now, at least happiness has returned..." she could say no more as she broke down into more tears.
"Thanks, Mrs. Rossini, I couldn't have made it through the worst without you."
This caused Mrs. Rossini to sob even more; but she realized she had to let them go, she wiped her eyes, "I'm sorry, it's just so beau...beaut..."
"I think she means beautiful," Sam said as she walked over to lend support to Mrs. Rossini. She nodded her head as she turned to Angela; then caught Angela up in a bear hug so tight, Angela thought she might suffocate.
"Thanks, Mrs. Rossini," Mrs. Micelli said as she patted her back. Sam pulled her away from the happy couple and the three of them returned to the table for more champagne.
Mona walked the couple to the doorway. She hugged her new son-in-law and said, "Tony, I want you to make sure Angela always has that sparkle in her eyes."
"I'll do my best, Mona."
"See that you do."
"After all, I would want to be a disappointment to my mother-in-law."
"That's a good son-in-law."
He kissed her cheek and let go so she could hug her daughter, "oh, the times I almost lost patience with you two. Now, will you please go and I don't want to hear from you until we are back in Connecticut."
Mona stepped away from Angela, but Angela wasn't quite ready to leave yet, "Mother..."
"Now is not the time for a sappy speech, Angela."
"It's actually the perfect time, Mother; but I will just say thank you, for everything."
Mona smiled, "you're welcome."
Then hugged again, quickly, then Mona said, "get out of here, will ya."
Angela kissed her mother, then took Tony's hand. They turned around long enough to wave goodbye to their family, then didn't see them again until 1992.
Tony and Angela followed Mona's directions to their room. They were thrilled to find it was much more than a room; it was an unusual octagonal shaped bungalow at the end of a very private winding path, facing the water. Angela tugged Tony's hand to hurry him along the path; but he stopped as she opened the door. She turned back to give him a questioning look; he answered by picking her up and carrying her across the threshold, firmly shutting the door behind them with his foot. All Angela could think, and thinking itself was becoming an effort, was that married life was wonderful.
"Make sure we do this when we get home too," Angela managed to say.
"The picking you up or consummating part?"
"Both," she said as though that should have been obvious.
"Of course."
A short hallway opened into the bedroom; Tony put his wife down, but still held her hand. They looked around the room, it was beautiful. Floor to ceiling glass took up four sections of the room; the middle two panels were French doors that opened on to a wrap around deck. A hot tub was tucked into one corner of the deck. Moonlight was streaming through the windows. They walked to the door, opening it to let the sound of the waves caressing the sand on the beach waft up to them.
They squeezed hands and continued out to the deck enjoy the moonlight. Tony put his arm around his wife as she put her head on his shoulder. They gazed out over the water for a few moments, until Angela drew her head away and pulled just far enough apart to face him. She touched his cheek, "Tony, it's our wedding night," she said with vulnerable wonder, the day had been so chaotic, that it hadn't really dawned on her that this long awaited night had finally arrived.
Tony looked at her with so much love, he touched her waist, "yes, it is," he said softly.
Although they knew a night of delights waited in the room, they didn't want to miss the romance of the balcony. There was tenderness in this moment as well as they simultaneously pulled each other closer and lost themselves in a lengthy kiss. When they finally separated they smiled at each other and silently decided to leave the outside world for a while.
Closing the balcony door behind them, they gazed around the room, they saw the promised champagne set up in a corner, and the feared night-clothes on the bed.
"When did she have time to do this?" Angela asked, amazed.
"She must have had the hotel staff take care of it."
"Hmm, good point," Angela trepidatiously walked to the bed to confront whatever it was her mother thought appropriate for their wedding night. When she saw her mother's choices, she was relieved; confused, but relieved, "tasteful, I have to say I am surprised. A nice silk robe for you."
"And a very slinky satin nightgown for you," Tony approved, touching the gown.
Angela looked at the nightgown, "it's not very different from what I'm wearing now; maybe we could save it for another night."
"You don't want to change?"
"Why waste the time? There are other considerations...," she deftly tugged the end of his bow tie.
"Such as?" he asked with a raised eyebrow, wondering what she might astonish him with now.
"Tony, they say all men look good in a tux, but you elevate it to an art form. I've always thought you should be confined to two states of dress: in a tux or naked." He let out a sputtering laugh of surprise at her confession. She had more to say, "I've yet to determine which I prefer, but I'm willing to conduct more research on the hypothesis; in the name of scientific research and the benefit of mankind, of course."
"Of course; and just how would this research 'benefit mankind', Angela."
"Well," she leaned closer, "I know I would be very," she kissed him quickly, "very," another short kiss, "very happy," she put her arms around him, starting her research by kissing him much more thoroughly. Tony helped her with this research by encircling her with his arms, and holding her tightly.
Although Angela conducted research throughout the night the only conclusion she drew was that further research was warranted.