Chapter 12: Becoming A Family (I)
"Guys, it's getting kind of late" Tony said as he looked at his watch and saw that it was just past 10pm. "We should probably think about wrapping this up and getting some shut eye soon."
"Maybe we should let you and Mom sleep together up in Sam's old room?" Katie said teasingly.
"Actually," Sam said, "Since it's already past 10, why don't we all just stay here tonight? Our own version of a sleepover? I'll call Hank's parents and tell them I'll be back over to pick up the kids sometime tomorrow."
"I've got a better idea," Jonathan said. "I can bring over that air mattress I have, for Mom and Tony, and then the three of us can crash in the apartment. Our couch folds out into a bed that you and Katie can share," he offered.
"I'm good with that, if you are, Sweetheart," Tony said glancing over at Angela. "I wasn't exactly relishing the drive back down to Brooklyn at this time of night."
"Works for me," Angela said smiling. "You know how much I still love spending time in our house."
"Ok," Sam said, "Now that that is settled, I think we have a little bit more time to continue our discussion."
"Yeah," Jonathan said. "I don't remember a lot about our trip to California, but I know there was some kind of custody issue that came up between you and Dad and things got very weird for a bit during the trip," he finished looking over at his mom.
Feeling Tony put his arm gently around her, Angela started to speak haltingly. "It was a bit of a stressful time that ultimately turned out for the best for all of us, thank god."
"Jonathan, your father realized what a special little boy you were, while we were out there, and thought that he and Heather wanted to be parents even if just on a part-time basis. He decided that he wanted joint custody which, of course, shocked me."
Turning to Tony, she continued, "No, it shocked both of us. By then, we really were a team; at least a parenting team," she finished smiling warmly at her husband.
"That's the first time I really think I felt like we were a family," Tony said. "Your mom and I had really started to make a lot of parenting decisions together, and I know we had both already fallen in love with each other's kid," he continued with a grin.
Jonathan and Sam exchanged a smile before Jonathan prompted, "So, how did the situation get resolved?"
"Well," Angela said leaning over to squeeze Jonathan's shoulder, "After Michael and I both got our lawyers involved, I realized that it was selfish of me to try and keep you from your dad, now that he was actually showing interest, so I decided, much to Tony's chagrin, to give him joint custody."
"Very true," Tony said. "I was not happy with your mom's decision, but we talked it out, and in the end, Michael being Michael, realized he wasn't ready to be any kind of parent. And as I told your mom later on that night, he was incredibly dumb to walk away from both of you. Thank god though because his loss was definitely my gain."
"I am sorry, though, Sweetheart, that you lost so many years with your dad," Angela said with a catch in her voice.
"It's ok, Mom. I'm honestly not at this point. I had Tony, which was infinitely better, and I'm really grateful for that," Jonathan said. "I really can't imagine it any other way. You definitely made the right decision bringing him and Sam into our family."
"Thanks Jonathan," Tony said with a catch now in his throat. "I can't imagine it any other way either, and I'm proud to have you as my son."
"Ok, ok," Katie said. "I'm about to cry, so enough with the sappy stuff! What happened next?"
Tony and Angela immediately locked eyes as they both realized that the fateful Thanksgiving dinner at Mrs. Rossini's had come not too long after their return from California. While on the surface and to the kids, it had seemed innocent enough, for Tony especially, it had caused a seismic change in what he realized he wanted when it came to relationships.
"Well," Tony said slowly, "I guess you could say Thanksgiving that year was an eye-opening one."
"For both of us," Angela interjected with a laugh.
"That's the Thanksgiving that we spent at Mrs. Rossini's isn't it?" Sam asked. "What was so special about it for you two?"
"Let's just say that by that point, I was flummoxed enough by Angela to realize that what I was looking for in a relationship had changed," Tony said pulling his arm a little bit tighter around his wife.
"Really Dad?" Sam said. "I remember you being really into that girl that Mrs. R had invited. What was her name? Gina or something?"
"Well, I was, at first," Tony said as the heat rose in his cheeks. "But, somewhere along the line," he continued with a wink at Angela, "I realized being waited on hand and foot wasn't all it's cracked up to be. If anything, that night showed me that I wanted someone who had more going in their life than taking care of me. That I was looking for someone like Meryl Streep," he said grinning at Angela before kissing her cheek softly.
"Meryl Streep?" Katie said. "That doesn't make any sense!"
Laughing, Angela spoke up, "It's a bit of an inside joke between your dad and me. The point that I think Tony is trying to make is that his vision of what he was looking for in a partner was evolving as was mine. While I didn't enjoy seeing him being waited on like that, I had begun to realize how much I had come to rely on his presence and friendship along with just the day-to-day things like the cozy way we had started to end our nights sitting on the couch, drinking tea and just talking about our day."
"Sounds like you all were already acting like an old married couple, well, at least in certain ways," Katie said with a grin.
"Well, Jonathan did set them up on that date a few months later to try and get them to do the thing they weren't doing that married couples do," Sam interjected with a giggle. "That was some Valentine's Day…"