Angela's surprise and elation quickly turned to shock and disheartenment when she realized what she was actually holding. She was holding Teresa's ring. She couldn't believe it. What was Teresa's engagement ring doing in Tony's drawer hidden away? She thought Teresa had kept it. Tony had never said otherwise so she had just assumed Teresa still had it. But obviously she didn't since she was holding it in her hand. A cold feeling overcame her. Did this mean Tony wasn't over her? Was he holding on to it as some kind of hope that one day they would get back together? After all they would be together and married now if Elliot hadn't offered him the job at Ridgemont.
Angela's thoughts were racing. ' He still has feelings for her! No, he loves you Angela! If he does then why did he keep the ring? Why didn't he tell her to keep it? Or why didn't he sell it or something?' Her thoughts were tumbling all over each other.
"Angela, I'm returning your jade bracelet and necklace." Mona said walking into the room and over to her dresser where her jewelry box sat. She placed them inside and turned to Angela. She looked like she was a million miles away.
"YOO HOO! Earth to Angela!"
"What?" Angela asked distractedly.
"Angela! What is it?"
Angela held up the ring in her fingers.
'Oh dear. Angela found her engagement ring. Okay Mona, just be cool. She doesn't know about the video surprise or that you,Claire, and the kids know. My God Tony! Couldn't you have found a better hiding place?! Ok. there isn't anything you can do about that now. You just need to act as surprised as she is.'
Mona walked over and sat beside her. "Angela! This is great! This is amazing! Now look, I think the best thing to do is put the ring back where you found it and just forget that you did. Tony probably spent a lot of time on this and you don't want him to be disappointed so..'
"It's Teresa's," Angela said quietly.
'Its what? Who's? I'm sorry dear I must need my ears cleaned out. I thought you said it was Teresa's."
"It is and I did."
"Whoa! Wait a minute. Are you sure?"
"Yes, I am sure Mother. I remember seeing it on her hand. THIS IS HER RING!" Angela threw it on the bed and stood up. She started pacing.
"Mother, what does this mean? Is he still in love with her? Is that why he kept it?"
"Angela, stop pacing you're making me dizzy! Now sit down and we will talk about it."
Angela sighed and sat back down. Mona picked the ring up.
"Okay, let's take this one step at a time. You found this ring where?"
"In his drawer. I was putting his laundry away."
"Okay. And you are 100% sure it is or was Teresa's?"
"Yes, I am 100% sure. Mother, what am I going to do?" the tears fell from her eyes and she grabbed a few tissues from her box on her nightstand,
"I think you need to ask Tony about it. There's probably a very good explanation."
"Yeah, sure there is. He's still in love with her and regrets breaking up with her and moving back here."
"Angela, you are being ridiculous! Tony loves you. He broke up with Teresa and he came back for you!"
"No, he didn't. He came back for a job."
Mona groaned. "Angela, please let's not go over that again."
"Well what else am I supposed to think? Tony has that -she pointed to the ring- hidden away."
"Maybe he forgot he had it."
Angela looked at her and rolled her eyes. "You seriously think that?"
Mona nodded. "Yes, I do. Look, think about it this way. Tony and Teresa break up because she doesn't want to leave Iowa. He moves back here and wants to get back together with you and you reject him..'
"I didn't reject him."
"You rejected him! 'Mona emphasized. "And then Jonathan graduated from college, you were in your car accident and almost died." her voice shook on the last words. Angela grabbed her hand and for a few moments they sat in silence.
"And then he started his new job." Mona continued.
"So?"
"So, it means that a lot has happened since he has come back. He probably put the ring in his pocket when Teresa gave it back to him and just forgot about it."
"You really think so?"
"I do. Angela, please don't do what you always do and overthink this."
Angela sighed. 'I just.. I'm so confused. When I first saw it I thought he was planning on proposing. And now…' she shook her head.
"And now I think you should put the ring back where you found it and talk about it with him later. We have the kids coming over and you don't want to ruin Nicky's first time watching 101 Dalmatians do you?"
"Of course not. "
"Okay then." She handed the ring to Angela who walked over to Tony's bureau and put the ring back.
DING DONG
"Okay they're here. Now come on." Mona stood up and after looking at the drawer where the ring laid inside Angela followed her.
TAKES PLACE AT THE SAME TIME.
Tony was driving home after a long day in a terrific mood. He still couldn't believe that in a week he and Angela would be engaged-again. 'Again?!' He sighed. 'They should be married. Okay there isn't anything you can do about that. The past is the past.. In a week you will be engaged to the love of your life. All you have to do is be patient and wait.'
He went over everything in his head. Renata had finished the tape and it was perfect. He was so glad Samantha and Jonathan had recommended her. Mona was keeping it safe in her apartment and Sam was keeping her engagement ring safe at her house. He hadn't wanted to take any chances that Angela would come across it. So things were falling into place. Even Joanne, Diane, and Pam seemed to have let go of the ridiculous idea that he was having an affair with Renata. He was planning on telling Angela about it after they got engaged. After all, he didn't want her finding out from someone else. And when she found out what really happened he knew that she would understand.
He arrived home and noticed that Jonathan's car and Hank and Sam's minivan were both parked in the driveway. He pulled up beside them and got out of his jeep. He entered through the back kitchen door and noticed Claire stirring something on the stove.
"Hello Claire!"
She turned around. "Hi Tony! How was your day?"
"It was good. How was yours?"
"Good. Dinner will be ready in a few minutes."
"Okay I'll let the others know." he left the kitchen and went into the living room where everyone else was.
"Hi everyone!"
Sam, Hank, and Jonathan returned his greeting.
"GRANDPA!" Nicky yelled and ran over to him.
Tony picked him up and swung him around. "Hey there Buddy! Are you all ready for tonight?"
"YAY! I can't wait! Can we watch the movie now?"
Tony laughed. "No, first we're going to eat. Claire said dinner will be ready in a few minutes." He put him down. "I'm going to change." He walked over to where Angela was sitting and gave her a kiss on her cheek. She looked distracted like she didn't realize that he was there.
"Angela? Sweetheart, are you okay?"
"What?" she looked at him. 'Oh yeah I'm fine."
"Are you sure? You seem distracted."
"Oh we just had a long day at work." Mona assured him.
"Okay. I'll be down in a couple of minutes. He went upstairs while Sam, Hank, Jonathan, and Nicky went into the dining room.
"Angela! You need to snap out of this!"
"I'm trying Mother."
"You need to do more than that."
"Okay. Okay. I know. Come on, let's go." They went into the dining room where everyone else was sitting down. Claire had brought everything in and they were all waiting for Tony. After a few minutes he entered having changed into a pair of jeans and a blue and white striped polo shirt.
"Okay gang I'm starving. Let's eat!" He rubbed his hands together and sat down.
"Sounds good to me." Hank said and picked up the bowl of mashed potatoes. He served himself and then passed the bowl to Sam. After a few minutes everyone's plate was filled with Claire's delicious dinner- roast beef, mashed potatoes, mixed vegetables, and fresh homemade biscuits. For dessert they were having strawberry shortcake.
"MMMM this is so good Claire!" Sam told her.
"Thank you."
Everyone else gave their appreciation too.
For a while everyone was happily eating away-well almost everyone- but Angela was doing her best to make sure no one noticed that anything was wrong.
But he did. He noticed how distracted she was and knew it was more than just work. She barely looked at him. Everytime he caught her eye she would quickly look away or pretend she hadn't noticed. There was definitely something going on. Any other time he would have come right out and asked her but he knew it would have to wait until later that night.
After dinner and dessert was over and the kitchen cleaned up they all retired into the living room to watch the movie. Hank and Jonathan brought over the chairs that were in front of the fireplace and set them on each side of the couch. Mona and Claire sat in the two side chairs while Angela, Sam, and Nicky sat on the couch-with Nicky sitting in between them. Tony turned the tv on and put the tape in and sat down next to Angela. He picked up the remote and pressed play.
"Okay here we go!"
He put his arm on the back of the couch and assumed that Angela would move closer to him and put her head on his shoulder. But she didn't. Instead she moved away from him and he felt a chill coming from her. He couldn't figure out what was wrong. But he also knew he didn't want to ruin Nicky's first time watching 101 Dalmatians. So he would wait until everyone had gone home.
And then he could get to the bottom of everything.
LATER THAT NIGHT
Tony and Angela were getting ready for bed. She had barely spoken to him the entire night and he couldn't take it anymore.
"So I think Nicky really liked the movie don't you?" he asked, hoping to get her to say something.
"Yeah, I do. I'm glad he did." she said quietly.
"And dinner was really good too."
"Yes, it was."
Tony groaned. "Okay Angela. Enough is enough! What is going on?"
Angela shrugged. "I had a hard day at work."
Tony shook his head. "No, it's more than that. You barely looked at me at dinner and when I sat down next to you on the couch instead of moving closer to me like you usually do you moved away and I felt this chill coming from you. So what is it? Have I done something?"
Angela didn't respond. Instead she walked over to his bureau and opened one of his drawers. She pulled the ring out and sighed deeply. She shut the drawer and turned back around.
"What do you have there?"
She walked over to him and held the ring up.
"Why do you still have Teresa's ring Tony?!" she asked, her voice shaking with pain and anger.
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A/N: I had completely forgotten that Tony had Teresa's ring so I wanted to address the issue before things went any further.
Thanks to AngelEyes for your help and advice!
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