Chapter 64: Our Little Girl

"Wait, Sam, don't you need to go pick up the kids?" Tony asked after glancing down at his watch. "It's after five already."

"Actually, I texted Fran a little bit ago. I'm just going to wait until tomorrow to bring them over to see the house. This weekend has been so wonderful that I don't want to upset the family dynamic until I have to. Not that Mattie and Maria will, but it would be different, and we still have some reminiscing to do."

"Are you sure, honey?" Angela asked. "You know how much we love them."

"You mean love to spoil them," Jonathan said teasingly. "But really, Sam, it will be great to have them here."

"I know, I know. But, like I said the other day, we hardly ever get to spend time as just the five of us, so one more night won't hurt. Plus, Fran said that they seem totally fine and settled over there for now," Sam answered.

"What about Tobin?" Tony asked, turning to Jonathan. "Shouldn't he be back from Boston by now?"

"I kind of feel the same as Sam. I didn't want to upset this dynamic we have going, either. So, he decided to stop and see his parents on the way home and spend the night there. He'll be over in the morning before we head to the gallery."

"Oh, speaking of tomorrow and this week," Katie said. "Ashley's mom is in town, so Mom, Dad, can we all do dinner together one night while she's here?"

"Sure, sweetheart," Tony said, smiling. "You know how much we love Ashley, so it will be nice to meet her mother. Why don't you all come over to our place in Brooklyn Heights Wednesday evening? I'm sure she'll appreciate having a home-cooked meal one of the nights that she's here, and I have a new recipe I've been dying to try out."

"Great! Thanks, Dad," Katie said. "I'll text Ashley to make sure that works, but I'm sure it will. You'll love Kathleen. She's really nice and down to earth."

Tony glanced over at Angela as soon as Katie said the name, Kathleen. Even all these years later, just the sound of that name gave them both pause.

Angela smirked at Tony before turning to Katie, saying, "We've been looking forward to meeting her, especially since it sounds like she doesn't get to New York very often to visit."

"Yeah," Katie replied. "Ashley usually goes to Florida to visit her because, for some reason, her mom doesn't seem to be a big fan of the City or Connecticut. But I know she's looking forward to meeting you all as well."

"Dinner will be ready in about 10 minutes," Tony said. "I think we can go ahead and continue our walk down memory lane if you kids want to."

"Of course," Sam, Jonathan and Katie said in unison.

"So, I think we were at the point when Sam and Hank eloped," Katie said. "Dad, just how mad were you when you found out Sam was engaged?"

"Oh, I was mad," Tony said as he recalled that tumultuous time in all their lives…

He was already in a bit of a bad mood that day because of Angela's suggestion about eloping rather than continuing with the wedding planning. Looking back at it now, he almost wished they had done that, but in the end, when they did finally get married, the wedding and reception had been perfect, and so them.

At the time, though, it had rubbed him the wrong way and made him feel that Angela didn't appreciate all the time and effort that he was putting into planning the perfect wedding. Years later, she told him it wasn't that at all. It was just that he had started to go overboard like he tended to do when he became singularly focused on something.

And, of course, his mood only got worse after falling off the roof. When Angela was finally able to get him to calm down and focus, and he realized what Sam had been trying to tell him, he remembered how not only angry but completely shocked he was.

Here Sam was, only a year and a half removed from almost getting engaged to Matt, and now she was engaged to this Hank guy at only 19 years old? What was she thinking? Yes, he and Marie had gotten married at that age, but it was a different time, and he was about to make it big in the Majors.

The whole rest of that day and evening were almost a blur now. Thank God he had Angela. She is and always had been his rock. She had been able to calm him down enough so that he didn't miss one of the most important days of his and his little girl's lives. And in the end, everything worked out just the way it was supposed to.

"Penny for your thoughts, Dad," Sam said, bringing him back to the present.

"Sorry, baby, I was just remembering you walking down the aisle. My angel in high tops," Tony said with a grin.

"You were a beautiful bride," Angela said, leaning over to squeeze Sam's hand. "Looking back at it now, I'm just so glad we were all able to be there."

"Me too," Sam said as tears welled up in her eyes. "As I said then, it was the craziest day of my life, but somehow everyone I loved was there."

Angela remembered how, after everything had calmed down and they all finally made it home, exhausted but happy, she and Tony ended up curled up on the couch together.

"Angela, she's married. Our little girl. Where did the time go?" Tony asked, his voice thick with emotion.

"I can still see her as that adorable little 11-year-old tomboy with the black eye who marched into this living room that first day. I never knew how much I wanted a daughter until then," Angela said as she snuggled into Tony's embrace.

"You and Mona were the best things that ever happened to her," Tony said, placing a kiss on Angela's forehead. "I thought I could do it all as a single parent. But, as soon as we met you, I knew we had found the piece of the puzzle that had been missing ever since Marie…"

"And you all were the missing puzzle piece that Jonathan and I so desperately needed."

"Angela, I'm still a little nervous for her. I mean, I hope she and Hank can make it work. But they're so young, and they're going to change a lot and have to worry about so many things over the next few years. And what if she gets pregnant? Marone a mi, I can't even think about that," Tony said with an involuntary shiver.

"Tony, Sam has a good head on her shoulders. She has hopes and dreams that I know she wants to fulfill before any of that happens. Besides, you know she and I have had several talks over the years about all of that. She's not going to do anything reckless."

"Again, another reason I'm so glad she has you as her bonus mom," Tony said, shaking his head. "I just don't know how I would have coped, especially since I didn't do such a good job of telling Jonathan the facts of life."

"That is definitely true," Angela said with a laugh. "But, we've managed to muddle through."

"What happened after you and Hank got back from your honeymoon?" Katie asked, interrupting Angela's thoughts about that long ago night.

"Well," Sam said with a cheeky grin. "We ended up having to live here for a while since the dorm didn't allow married couples, and there wasn't any married housing available. I think we drove Dad and Angela nearly insane."

"It wasn't that bad," Angela said.

"C'mon, Angela," Sam said, rolling her eyes. "I remember your little monologue in my old bedroom about trying to be with Dad and how we kept getting in the way. You were right, by the way. We were so self-absorbed back then. I still feel bad to this day that it caused so much friction between the two of you."

"It was just growing pains. After all, it was a new situation for all of us," Angela said as she remembered how she and Tony had made up after he finally took a step back and stopped interfering in Sam's and Hank's new life. They made it to Beauty and the Beast after all, followed by a quiet romantic dinner out and a nightcap at The Downbeat.

"Angela, do you ever wish you could just make time stand still?" Tony asked as they drove home late that night. "I feel like things are just starting to happen so fast. First Sam's wedding, then comes our wedding, my graduation and before we know it, Jonathan's."

"It's a lot," Angela agreed, reaching over to squeeze Tony's thigh reassuringly. "But we're so lucky to be able to celebrate all these milestones as a family. I can't imagine anything ever tearing us apart."

"Dinner's ready," Tony announced, as this time, he was the one to interrupt Angela's thoughts.

"So, what happened after everything finally calmed down from Sam's wedding and from them moving in and then switching places with Grandma?" Katie asked. "I still can't believe that Grandma agreed to that, but then again, she did have her moments."

"She certainly did," Angela said, a touch of sadness in her voice. She looked over at Tony as she thought back to what became the rockiest period of their lives…