The Room, Unslept in
A/N: Time for Chapter 26! A dream of a honeymoon continued – filled with music and love and fun activities. This chapter begins the continuation of The Story of Us, the CD arrives with the gift of music for Angela and Tony.
PS – I don't own any of the characters from Who's the Boss? I also don't own the song(s) I use in this story. I also don't own the dialogue I sometimes use in the chapters. I've tried to pick songs that remind me of Tony & Angela and their relationship. If you'd like to hear them, check out YouTube or Spotify – you can find just about everything there.
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Chapter 26: Once Upon a Honeymoon, III – The Story of Us, Part 2
Wednesday, July 7th, 1993
Angela and Tony started out their day much like the day before, in each other's arms cuddling, slowly getting ready to get out of bed to start their day. Luckily, they didn't have to hurry. Their breakfast wasn't due for another 30 minutes they noticed looking at the clock beside their bed. They were enjoying being lazy, something they seldom got to do at home with a house full of busy people.
Room Service delivered their selected breakfast at 10:00 a.m. Tony was the one who got out of their bed first to answer the door knock. He had the Room Service attendant set up the table for them. He signed the receipt and gave the attendant a large tip.
He walked back into the bedroom to find their bed empty except for a pile of sheets, pillows, and a comforter. He heard the shower running and knocked on the door letting Angela know that breakfast was ready. "Tony, I'll be out soon," she answered back.
She came out of their bedroom wearing a charming blue, loose-fitting sailor dress with short sleeves and a red bow tie. A white ribbon held her hair off her face. He licked his lips causing Angela to comment on how he must be enjoying what he was looking at.
"You know I am, Angela. You'll be the cutest wife in the stores today."
"Thank you, Sweetheart," she smiled at him. Everything looks wonderful again." Ever since the morning sickness started to abate, Angela found her appetite returning and hurried to take her seat at the table.
Tony rushed into the bathroom, took a lightning-fast shower, and then hurried back out to join Angela at their breakfast table. He was wearing a light blue shirt with light jeans to which Angela returned the compliment he gave her earlier. They both enjoyed Belgian waffles with blueberries and orange juice. Whipped cream was served on the side. Of course, there was coffee and tea as well. Angela enjoyed going through the different tea choices in the little basket on the table. "Tony, let's go to The Palm Court for Afternoon Tea tomorrow."
"We'll make a reservation on the way out before we leave," Tony agreed letting Angela know he was happy to go.
After breakfast and getting a reservation for Afternoon Tea, they left The Plaza and walked towards Bloomingdale's. It was a hot, muggy day, but the streets were crowded with people bustling into different stores and eateries along the way. Angela took Tony by the hand and walked him to the Ladies Clothing department once they arrived at the store. She picked out a few dresses that would work for both business and for home until she transitioned into maternity clothes in a few weeks, she quietly hoped to herself. She also picked up something for Afternoon Tea at The Palm Court the next day. Tony was patient as she tried each one on and then came out of the Fitting Room and modeled the dress for him. He realized how stupid he was to have made such a fool of himself the few years prior when she wanted to take him shopping with her. He enjoyed watching Angela so excited about each dress she tried on and then waited for Tony's reaction when she came out in the new dress. He noticed how each dress managed to hide the baby just enough until she was ready to let people know their exciting news. After selecting some dresses, she selected some pantyhose to go with them.
"Tony, do you want to get anything while we're here before we check out?" she asked as he was gathering everything Angela selected while walking to the cash register. "No, I don't need anything right now. This first stop was for you, Sweetheart. I'm ready to head to Macy's once we've paid." As Tony gave the saleswoman Angela's account information, he also told her to send the packages to their hotel. The saleswoman told them their purchase would be delivered the next morning to The Plaza.
Next, Tony and Angela grabbed a cab and headed to Macy's. On the way to The Cellar, they noticed the Baby department in their sightline.
"Do you want to go over?" Tony tentatively asked her while gently pointing towards the Baby department.
"I'm not sure, Tony," she hesitated and then added, "I'm still worried about the amnio in two weeks."
"Sure, we don't have to go over there if you don't want to," he reassured her.
"Well, I do want to go over there, but I also don't want to go over there. No, let's wait," she finally decided. "No one except our family knows right now, well, maybe except for the people who danced with me at our wedding and gave me quizzical looks," she ran on. "There's always the possibility of running into someone we know," she reasoned out loud getting a nod and chuckle in agreement from Tony. Tony marveled at how Angela could think out everything to the smallest detail.
"Then let's head down to The Cellar," Tony excitedly said to Angela as he grasped her hand and walked them to the Down escalator.
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Even though Tony and Angela grew up in the tri-state area, neither had ever been on the Circle Line cruise around Manhattan, so that was the late afternoon activity they selected. Angela was pretty sure she wouldn't have to worry about being sick on the cruise, but she took airsick bags with her anyway. Tony giggled as he saw how prepared she was to be sick on the cruise. He even went so far as to ask her if she really wanted to go.
"Tony, I'm sure I want to go with you on this short cruise around Manhattan," she told him confidently. "Both of us have never done this before, and I've heard it's very relaxing. We can sit inside or outside depending on the wind. I'll be fine." She gave him a hug, "Tony, you'll always be watching out for me." She squeezed his arm and stretched slightly to reach his ear where she whispered to him how she couldn't' wait to watch him with their baby. He gave her a hug and kissed her lips.
They had selected The Best of NYC tour which lasted two-and-a-half hours. Tony was glad he remembered the camera so they could take pictures with the NY scenery in the background. They enjoyed the ride around Manhattan. They did spend most of the time on the outside deck so they could get some photos as they passed by all the landmarks the cruise took them by. They appreciated seeing all the sights and wondered how they had never gone on this cruise before. They pointed out: The Empire State Building, the Brooklyn Bridge, The Chrysler Building, George Washington Bridge, and South Street Seaport amongst all the places they went by. Other people on the cruise were more than happy to take photos of them when they asked. They especially liked when the boat stopped long enough for them to get their picture taken together in front of The Statue of Liberty. The time passed so quickly.
After the cruise, they went to Chinatown to get some dim sum. They were both ready to head back to The Plaza after their long day out. Angela even managed to doze off for a while on their cab ride back.
As they were walking through the hotel lobby, they were stopped by the Front Desk to pick up a package that had been delivered for them. They walked over to the Front Desk and were handed the soft envelope with a large Encanto Records label holding the two CDs Peter and Jon dropped off for them.
They enthusiastically rode up the elevator and hurried to their room with Angela slightly dragging Tony along the long hallway.
They had barely made it into their room before Angela opened the padded envelope and took out two wrapped CDs. They were both wrapped in silver wedding paper and tied with silver ribbon. A small bow completed their packages. One CD was labeled, "For Angela Micelli," and the other labeled, "For Tony Micelli."
Tony turned on the radio and the both of them sat down on the couch in the living room area of their room. They continued to stare at their wrapped CDs not wanting to open them yet, preferring to savor the moment before they'd find out what songs each of them selected.
The radio was playing in the background as they each stared at their respective packages. The song playing on the radio, I Want Candy, caught Angela's attention.
"Tony, I could go for a chocolate bar right now," Angela stated referring to the song in the background.
"Angela, I don't think that's the kind of candy they're referring to in that song," Tony said shaking his head wondering if she got what the song was really referring to.
"I get that, but I have a craving for a chocolate bar."
Tony got up and walked over to Angela who had gone over to one of the bags they had brought back from a store in Chinatown. She was rummaging through the bag but couldn't find the chocolate bar she had picked out at one of the little grocery stores they'd stopped in.
"Angela, now I have a craving for 'candy,' and it's not a chocolate bar I'm craving." He put his arms around her from the back and started kissing her neck.
Angela turned into Tony and let him kiss her distracting her from her chocolate bar craving. He reached up and took the ribbon out of her hair, slowly walking her to their bedroom.
"It looks like I'm going to have to drop my craving for that chocolate bar for the moment, huh?"
"Yeah, I think so," he whispered in her ear.
They left the wrapped CDs in the living room and walked into their bedroom; the CDs forgotten for the moment.
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"Do you want anything else from Room Service tonight?" Tony asked her as they lay in each other's arms wanting to make sure she didn't go to sleep hungry.
"What about our CD gifts?"
"It can wait until tomorrow. Actually, I have something of my own to give you as a wedding gift."
"Tony, you didn't need to get me anything. You're the only gift I need … or want or want to unwrap. But, since you said something, I got you something, too."
Tony got out of their bed, put his boxers back on, and went to his suitcase and dug into it until he pulled out a medium-sized, flat box wrapped in pink-rose colored wrapping paper that had a big magenta bow on top.
Angela still loved surprises and gifts and looked at him with excitement as he brought the box back to their bed and handed it to Angela. He sat back against his pillows and watched her. She had sat back up against the pillows pulling the comforter up against her. She pulled off the bow and neatly unwrapped the paper. When she opened the box, she found a box filled with hair accessories laying in pretty, flower-covered tissue paper: hair combs, hair clips, headbands, and an assortment of hair ribbons.
"Tony, how thoughtful. What a wonderful gift this is!" she exclaimed as she started taking the accessories out of the box, holding each one up and carefully inspecting it. "I love this. Thank you so much," Angela was so happy with the gift she wound up in Tony's lap and rested her head on Tony's shoulder. Then she started placing kisses all over his face as he started talking to her.
"Angela, I can't even begin to tell you how long I waited to run my hands through your beautiful hair," Tony confessed as he started to run his hands through Angela's hair. "Those hair ribbons of yours have been such a turn on. I really, really struggled to not take them out of your hair all these years, especially when we were sitting alone on Saturday nights watching old movies together and no one else was around."
"So that's what you were always staring at when I'd turn towards you and saw you staring at my hair."
"Every so often I'd get lucky and realize you'd accidentally fallen asleep on my shoulder, and I'd get the rare chance to have your hair against me. Those were my favorite nights."
"Tony, that's so romantic. Thank you so much for this beautiful gift." She gave him a big kiss on his lips. When they parted, she added, "Now I have to get you yours." Angela quickly scooted out of their bed, grabbing her bathrobe laying on the edge of the bed, and went to the bedroom dresser drawer where she had stored various shirts and underwear and hidden Tony's gift. She pulled out a large box, walked it back to the bed and handed it to Tony. She got back in and pulled the sheets up, shivering a little from the cold air in the room. He looked at the perfectly wrapped box in shiny, navy-blue paper with a big yellow bow in the middle of it.
It was a heavy box, so he was careful as he unwrapped the box. When he opened it, the gift was being hidden between taped tissue paper. He opened it and saw a picture of himself with Angela staring back at him. It had been taken the night they started to reconcile after that horrible six-month period in summer 1990. The picture was taken the last night the Starlight Ballroom was open. Tony hadn't noticed pictures being taken, but Angela had. She had sought out the photographer after Tony had gone to the restroom and asked for a business card. She saw the photo and knew she had to have a copy. She never told Tony, but she had bought a matte version, 11 x 17, put it in a gold-trimmed frame and hid it at the bottom of a drawer in her bedroom dresser that she knew Tony never went into. She was saving it for a special event that she thought might never happen, but never giving up hope still the same that it would. Now, here they were, and Angela was positively giddy that she had finally been able to share this picture with her husband.
As he stared at the photo, he knew they were meant to be. It was all over both of their faces, even though they hadn't officially gone beyond a simple reconciliation after "her." Angela was absolutely gorgeous in the black dress she had on. Her hair was flowing down her back pinned back on one side. Thinking back to that night, he remembered her make-up was perfect, and it was one of the rare nights she had perfume on.
"Angela, I love this! How did you do this? Where did it come from? How come I've never seen this before? I don't remember anyone taking pictures that night," all of these thoughts pouring out of Tony at once.
"Tony, I think you had other things on your mind that night. There was a photographer walking around the room. He wound up capturing us at a perfect moment. I chased him down while you weren't around. I saw the photo at his studio and had to have it. I'm so glad you like it."
"Like it? I love it. I want to hang it over the fireplace in our bedroom," Tony decided.
"I would love to look at that picture while lying in bed with you as a fire crackles in the fireplace," Angela sighed.
"I wonder whatever happened to Nick and Jenny," Angela pondered remembering the story that helped begin to heal the rift between Tony and her. "I wish we had gotten their contact information that night," Angela said.
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As they were lying in bed admiring their wedding gifts, Tony decided to bring up a subject he'd wondered about for years even though they had said they wouldn't talk about family stuff on their honeymoon. Neither of them had managed to avoid talking about family or the baby so far, so Tony figured this would be okay.
Tony took both of the boxes and moved them off the bed onto the large dresser that Angela had taken his gift out of. Then he got back into their bed and he and Angela snuggled up together.
"Angela, I've always wondered something …" he looked into her eyes thinking about the gift Angela had just given him and began, "Angela, you are the most gorgeous woman I've ever known. I've been attracted to you since we were kids. Why do you let your mother make fun of you like she does? Remember when I accidentally inhaled those chemicals and passed out in our kitchen?"
"Yes, of course I do. You scared us all half to death."
"There was that dream I had while I was passed out…"
"JoJo?" she asked him with a hint of jealousy in her voice.
"Gary?" he asked her back.
"Yeah, yeah .. Remember, we said no family discussions this week … or baby discussions … well, I know we've broken the rule a few times, so ask me more about what you want to know," Angela conceded, validating what Tony had thought about this topic wondering if he should broach it or not.
Tony continued down this path he wanted to know more about. "I don't know what I was thinking while I was passed out, but there was one thing I do remember. We were sitting in our kitchen and Mona started making fun of you again, and I told her to stop it. It felt so good to stick up for you, and we weren't even involved as a couple during that dream. I had this overwhelming desire to protect you."
"I see," Angela said knowing that Tony had been around for a lot of the putting down that Mona had done to her over the years. "Tony, it's been going on for so long. I don't know why she does it, but I did have a conversation about it with Dr. Bellows. She wanted to know more about my relationship with Mother, so I told her about it."
"But she's constantly putting you down. I know she loves you. She should be talking about how wonderful you are. How beautiful you are. What a great mother you are. How proud she is of you for opening your own business and making it such a success. How beautiful you are. I'm sorry that I'm guilty of doing it to you, too, following Mona's lead. I feel terrible for doing it. I know I won't ever do it again. I don't understand where it's coming from, Angela, she's your mother. It boggles my mind," he knew seeming to plead with her to get more information.
"Tony, I don't understand it myself. I think she doesn't take herself seriously and has a difficult time processing tough information – unhappy information. Dr. Bellows thinks it might be jealousy. You know that Mother was very young when she got married and had me. She had a daughter to deal with and didn't get the chance to go to school or have a career like I did. She lost Daddy so young. It might be her way of dealing with it," Angela surmised.
"Dr. Bellows helped me talk it through and asked me to decide if I wanted to say something or not. I've been thinking about it more lately, especially with a baby on the way. I don't want the baby growing up thinking it's okay to talk that way to a child growing up or in front of a child. Jonathan had to listen to it, and I'm sure it hurt him. Remember how he was affected by the kids ogling my mother when he was running for class officer. He's a lot like me and keeps things bottled up not wanting to deal with any confrontations."
"Angela, thank you. I think I understand it more now. I'll support you if you need me to. You need to speak up to your mother. She picks on you for no good reason, and I'm sure it doesn't help your self-esteem."
"Tony, I love you so much for your support. Let's go to sleep now. I'm not hungry tonight now, but I am so tired."
"Good night, Angela. Have sweet dreams," Tony said kissing her good night.
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At some point during the night, Tony started dreaming about the day he inhaled the chemicals and returned to the high-rise apartment he had woken up in. He went on to remember how Angela had come in and slapped him. He rubbed his cheek in his sleep. He went to Angela's house for dinner and remembered the conversation he had with her, leading Angela to select Gary over him because Gary had a history with her and he didn't.
Then he was back in his office in Iowa talking to Angela and finding out they weren't going to make it as a couple. The pain in the pit of his stomach gutted him. It was overwhelming as he watched her walk out the door, reminding him of the inconsolable pain he felt after he lost Marie.
He tossed and turned in their bed, finally waking up from the angst and loss he was feeling. He went to the bathroom to try to forget his horrible dreams. The light in the bathroom woke him up further and returned him to the present. He went to the sink to wash his face and wipe away the tears that had fallen while he was sleeping. He opened his eyes wider to make sure everything had been washed away, but missing some sweat that had formed on his eyebrows. He opened the bathroom door, turned off the light, and walked back into the bedroom, happy that the moonlight coming through the crack in the curtains lit up their room enough to ensure he wouldn't walk into any of the furniture.
When he returned to their bed, he spent a few minutes watching Angela sleep. She was laying on her side with her back facing the window. The comforter was all the way up past her chest. Her hands were on her pillow, and he could see her engagement and wedding rings on her hand. He smiled enjoying how sweet and peaceful she looked sleeping. A feeling of longing overwhelmed him. It was a longing for his wife knowing she was his, leaving him with a sense of absolute bliss and reverence. He got back into their bed and shifted his body closer to her. He started caressing her arm. Then he started kissing her ring finger hand. Tony slowly moved from Angela's hands to her lips, causing her to gradually wake up. "Mmmm, Tony, you sure know how to wake your wife up." Then she saw a look in his eye revealing to her this was more than a simple wake up kiss.
"Tony, are you okay?" she asked him with a worried and concerned tone.
"I am now, Angela. When I think of how close we came to not being here like this, it hurts my heart."
"What brought this on, Honey?" Angela asked pushing his hair away from his eyes noticing some sweat on his brows.
"A dream I had earlier tonight, Ange."
"I'm sorry, Tony. Maybe it's going to take a little longer to get over the past year, more than your coming back here, our talk on the beach, and even us getting married." She reached out for him. "But I know something that'll help you …."
They spent the next few hours making love not caring how late they stayed up. They needed each other, and that was more important than anything else. Tony made sure she selected the positions so she'd stay comfortable, and he didn't want to squish the baby. At some point during the night, Tony called Room Service and asked them to change the time of their breakfast delivery to 11:30 a.m., the latest they could get a morning meal delivered. Angela giggled in the background as Tony gave the Room Service attendant on the phone their updated information. "Tony, I would bet this isn't the first time, they've gotten a call like this in the middle of the night." Tony moved back to Angela looking into her eyes and cuddling with her. Every so often he'd caress her cheeks. "Tony, I can't be without you, I love you so much."
"Angela, I love you too so, so much.' Eventually, both of them became exhausted again and fell into a deep, contented sleep with their legs wrapped around each other.
The End – Chapter 26 of The Room, Unslept In – Once Upon a Honeymoon, III, The Story of Us, Part 2
Chapter 27 coming soon … the honeymooners open their musical gift
Author's Note: You'll have to wait until the next chapter to find out what songs Tony and Angela decided to gift each other. The two of them decided on another activity in this chapter over taking those CDs out of their giftwrap. I really thought they wanted to open those CDs this night, but obviously, they had other more important things on their minds when they got back to their room. Sometimes we authors have no control over what their characters do. ….
