The Room, Unslept in
A/N: Time for Chapter 32! We move on from the CD reveals to the next day of their Honeymoon.
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 32: Once Upon a Honeymoon, IX, Two by Two by Two
Friday, July 9th, 1993
The next morning, the radio alarm next to their bed went off to the gentle sounds of Chicago singing I Don't Wanna Live Without Your Love.
"Oh, Tony, I don't want to get up yet; it's always so cozy laying with you like this," Angela stated with a giant yawn and stretch. "Ooooh, interesting song to wake up to," she remarked out loud.
"… I don't want to love nobody else
I don't want to find somebody new
I don't want to live without your love
I just want to live my life with you
Oh, if I had to make it on my own
My life would never be the same
My love would never be the same
I don't want to live without your love
I don't want to live without your love
I don't want to face the night alone
I could never make it through my life
If I had to make it on my own
…"
Tony focused on the song and commented quietly, "Angela, this is what it was like missing you when I was in Iowa and longing to be with you so much that it was painful." Tony added with melancholy in his voice, "Nothing was fun anymore. I put on a happy face, but nothing was the same once you left Iowa."
"I know, Tony. It was hell for me, too." Angela reached up to his caress his stubbled cheek. Then she moved even closer to Tony reaching her arm over his blanket-warmed mid-section. The need for closeness whenever memories of the two months apart flooded back over her made her embrace Tony tighter. He held her closer appreciating their intimacy.
"Tony, there's something about being close to you that I never felt with anyone else. It feels like you can see into my soul when we're close like this. I can't get enough of you no matter how close we are or how many times we make love," Angela declared in a soft voice.
"Honey, I can see into your soul," Tony murmured to her appreciating her frankness and accentuating the "I can." He couldn't resist her sincerity when it came to how often she told him how much she loved him. "I'll never get enough of you either," Tony reaffirmed as he gave her a tender kiss. "I'm so lucky I get to love you."
"That's soooo sweet," Angela emphasized. "Hold that thought," Angela stated suddenly with frustration to Tony as she left their bed to use the bathroom. When she came back out a few minutes later, Tony noticed she had been crying. Her eyes were red and held unshed tears making her eyes glassy.
Knowing not to push too hard, and figuring it was the baby causing the tears, he gently asked if she was alright.
As she pulled the comforter up and cuddled back up to Tony, she assured him she was fine. "I'm okay, Tony, our conversation brought some intense feelings up and made me cry again." She shrugged gently and gave a soft sigh of contentment as Tony brought her closer to him. She maneuvered herself to get comfortable with their baby protruding slightly from her belly.
"I know, Sweetheart. I get those same feelings," Tony concurred. He moved his hand to brush off some hair that had fallen across her face. He gave it a small twirl as he gently moved the strands away.
Their room was quiet and warm, and a little while later they both fell back to sleep again in each other's arms. When they woke up a few hours later, they looked at the clock and knew it was time to get ready for the sixth day of their honeymoon. After the rainy day before, they were both looking forward to their day out. The rain was long gone. Bright rays of sunlight filtered through the curtains, so they could see it was a nice day out.
Tony reached over to the nightstand for the remote control for the TV in their bedroom and turned it on to The Weather Channel. Cuddled up against each other, their legs entwined, they both listened to the forecast and saw that the humidity had retreated for the next few days. "Angela, it looks like we have the perfect day for Central Park and the Zoo. How 'bout we go down to the restaurant this morning for breakfast?"
"That sounds wonderful, Tony. Let me go shower and get dressed." Tony couldn't help stare at his beautiful bride as she made her way out of their bed into the bathroom. Knowing his eyes were on her, Angela gave a quick turn back to Tony so she could smile at him and flip her hair before walking into the bathroom closing the door.
Soon he heard the shower water streaming down and turned back to the TV. Tony continued to watch The Weather Channel to find out what the weather was going to be like the next few days of their honeymoon. The Weather Channel "Weather You Can Count On" tagline played in the background while Tony got out of bed, grabbed his boxers, put them on, and went to open the door of their hotel room. He looked out into an empty hallway then bent over and picked up The New York Times newspaper laying in front of their door. He went back in to their room and saw Angela coming out of the bathroom wrapped in a towel her hair piled high on top of her head. Wisps of steam from her shower followed her out into their bedroom. She went over to the closet and pulled out a light rose-colored dress for the day and low-heeled shoes comfortable enough to walk in for the day. She went back into the bathroom to finish dressing and applying light summertime makeup. When she came out, she picked out a pink hairclip from Tony's wedding gift box and placed it in her hair.
She went over to the table where Tony had put the newspaper and picked it up to catch up on the news. Mostly, she paid attention to the advertising in the paper to see what trends she could pick up on that she could use in future advertising campaigns for her new clients. In the meantime, Tony went in to take a shower and dress for their day out, wearing a light rose-colored button-down shirt partnering it with a light pair of jeans. The shirt was almost exactly the same shade as Angela's dress. Anyone looking at them today would know instantly they were together.
When they were both ready, they went downstairs to The Palm Court and were immediately seated at a table for two and handed breakfast menus. They looked around and noticed that the restaurant was not crowded since it was the later part of the restaurant's breakfast hours. The aroma of fresh pastries and breakfast meats filled the room.
"Tony, this is lovely. I'm glad we have the chance to come down here for breakfast today. I think we should do this tomorrow, too, and maybe Sunday morning, too. Room Service has been nice this past week, but it's also pleasant to sit here again." They relished the full Palm Court breakfast experience enjoying being served by very attentive waitstaff. They indulged in eggs, waffles, breakfast potatoes, and fruit. They both selected the same teas they had the previous afternoon to finish off their breakfast with.
"Tony, it seems that ever since the morning sickness has mostly gone away, it's been replaced by non-stop hunger."
"You are eating for two now, Angela. I want you to stay healthy – the both of you."
"But …," she said worriedly.
"No, buts, Angela. I know what you're thinking. Don't worry about the extra weight. I'll always be here to make sure you've got just what you need. This is our honeymoon, and you can indulge a little bit this week. Even Dr. Nicholas told you to enjoy your honeymoon," Tony added to try to convince Angela to stop worrying about the weight gain that was inevitably going to come from being pregnant.
Not totally convincing Angela with those arguments, he added, "We can do plenty of exercise together after the baby is here if you don't think you can do it on your own." Tony told her lovingly, patting the hand that was resting on the table.
Then he added another argument he was sure would finally convince his wife to stop worrying. "There's always a certain exercise we can participate in after the C-Section heals. You can work off the weight that way," he added seductively.
"Thinking about that almost makes it worth the added weight," she added back in that special voice level he loved to hear that was uniquely hers to speak to Tony with.
"Come on, Sweetheart, let's grab some water upstairs from our room and hit the Park." Tony signed the guest check and stood up. He came over to take Angela's hand as she got up, and together they went back to their room to grab some snacks and water to take with them.
They left the hotel and walked out into the bright sunshine. They walked past the Pulitzer Fountain which was directly in front of the hotel and entered the park at the corner of 59th Street and 5th Avenue. As they walked through the park, they noticed a tree-covered, shady bench that they scurried over to before anyone else got to it. They took a seat close to each other. Tony took out two apples from the little bag he had with him and handed one to Angela. She took a bite out of it and started to laugh as some of the apple juice escaped her mouth. Tony took a napkin out of the bag and handed it to her as she continued to laugh.
"I can definitely say I like this marriage between us better than the first one," Angela blurted out of the blue.
Surprised to hear Angela bring that up, he decided to get her take on what her real thoughts were about their shocking annulment a few years back. "What do you think would've happened if we didn't get the annulment?"
"For one, I would've owed the IRS a lot of money, and they'd still think we were married," Angela answered so quickly, and without hesitation, that it conveyed a clue to Tony that this wasn't the first time this scenario had crossed her mind.
"Besides the money? Tony continued to probe. "When we were leaving that courtroom, you told me you didn't kiss on the first date, but as you'll recall that was NOT our first date ... not even our second or third," he continued.
"Yes, that's true, and you did … um hum … remind me quite a bit that night during dinner while we were dancing in that hotel restaurant," Angela said remembering that she really wondered how far they'd go that night. Then her mind snapped back into the reality of their situation back then.
"Oh, Tony neither of us were ready for each other … and then ….," Angela trailed off decidedly shaking her head realizing what that marriage would've really meant after what happened the spring of that year with Tony and ...
"I did like hearing you almost say my name to the judge and then describe what our wedding would be like. We didn't have the lake, but it was still us when we finally did get married last week," Angela told Tony changing the subject to their current realty. Satisfied with Angela's answer, Tony ended the conversation.
Tony squeezed her arm tenderly, and they continued to watch people walk by them. Since it was a holiday week, they saw a multitude of people go by – on skateboards, on bicycles, walking arm in arm. Older people and younger people, all lost in conversation or each other. They both finished their apples so Tony took the core from Angela and brought them to the garbage can across from their bench.
When Tony came back to the bench and sat down, Angela decided to lay down with her head on Tony's leg. He took her hand in his, and they sat in comfortable silence just taking in the rain-cleaned air and puffy blue clouds in the sky. Occasionally, Angela looked up and saw some squirrels running up the tree that was providing the shade for their bench. Tony watched other squirrels as they raced each other on the grass in front of him. Further in the distance he could see couples sharing blankets with picnic baskets. Children were running all over the place, some chasing dogs as the dogs chased flying Frisbees across the grass. Occasionally, they'd hear some music playing from someone's boombox laying on the blankets. Then he took his hand and started gently massaging Angela's tummy where their baby was slowing starting to make its appearance.
Angela broke their silence. "Tony, I've been thinking that I want you to teach me to cook and bake. I'm going to be home for a year, and I want to be able to cook and bake in case you're out. I've already perfected egg cracking," recalling the time she cracked an egg perfectly into the bowl when Tony was working at Yellow Submarine and she, Mona, and Jonathan were attempting to make a meat loaf to surprise Tony with. That ended when Mona started to enjoy kneading the clammy mixture a little too much. "The ladies in Iowa also taught me some recipes, so I know I can do it. I know I'll never be a match to your cooking, but I do want to be able to cook and bake chicken without it blowing up in the oven. I want to bake cakes and cookies for you and the family. I also want to be able to prepare foods for the baby when he or she starts eating solid food."
"Sure, Angela, I can do that. Just remember, there will be no meat grinder lessons, though!" Tony joked with her. Angela had long ago filled Tony in on what had happened with the meat grinder and her tie on their second anniversary.
Just as Angela burst out laughing, they were surprised by two people who had approached their bench from behind startling them.
"Well, look at you two here… I knew it! I even told Eddie I thought you were pregnant."
Tony and Angela jumped from their deep focus on each other to see who had walked behind the bench they were sitting on. Angela sat up swinging her dress back down her legs.
"Eddie! Emily! What are you doing here?" Tony and Angela chimed in together.
"Eddie convinced me to stay the week, and since classes don't start back up again until Tuesday next week, I took him up on it. He's even taken me to Brooklyn and given me a great tour of all the wonderful pizza places," Emily told the couple in front of her. "I also met some of his friends and family," Emily added with some excitement.
"You did look like you missed each other when we saw you on the dance floor during our wedding, so maybe it's not really a surprise," Tony added smirking.
Angela noted with anticipation, "Emily, that sounds serious."
"I've been thinkin' of maybe taking a trip out to California," Eddie supplied. "College has been looking very interesting lately. Tone, if you can do it, maybe I can, too. Pitkin Avenue has been abuzz with you going to college and then becoming a professor. You've done Brooklyn proud. California's got bugs, too," Eddie said. Eddie took Emily's hand in his.
Angela looked at them both as they had walked around the bench and sat down next to them. "Eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee," Angela offered with more excitement. Tony and Eddie put their hands to their ears but laughed as Emily joined in for a few moments.
"A big Eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee to the both of you, too," Emily started. "A baby! Congratulations to you. You didn't say anything, Angela. Wow."
"I really didn't want to say much to anyone until after the amniocentesis. I want to make sure everything is okay with the baby. And …"
"No, no, you don't have to say anything else, Angela. I understand," Emily told Angela and Tony with empathy in her voice.
"We're walking to the Zoo. Why don't the two of you join us?" Tony asked them.
"Emily, Eddie, you're welcome to if you want," Angela confirmed that they'd be welcome to come along.
"Nah," Eddie said. "We're going to head to the two-for-one tickets booth, and maybe catch a show later, but thanks you two." Eddie and Emily got up to leave.
"Emily, give me a call when you get home. I want all the details!" Emily returned the request telling Angela she wanted details, too.
They all stood up to give each other hugs. Then Eddie and Emily went on their way down the path towards the park exit.
"In such a large city, how crazy to run into those two," Tony laughed as he and Angela sat back down on their shaded bench.
"You can say that again, Tony." Angela was still surprised at their unexpected visitors.
"How 'bout we start walking towards the Zoo to see some of those seals," Tony broached to Angela.
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As they were approaching the stairs down to the sea lions exhibit, they were suddenly jolted into attention when they heard the footsteps of a small boy rushing towards them. They turned their heads to see a boy of about four years old heading straight for the stairs backwards, yelling, "Mommy, Daddy, look, look, look sealions."
Angela yelled for Tony to catch him before he fell down the stairs.
"Whoa, little buddy," he yelled catching the boy right before he stumbled head first down the cement stairs narrowly missing what could've been a scary situation. He stood the boy he had been holding up straight back on his feet again.
Angela breathed a sigh of relief as she helped to right the shirt he was wearing that had gotten roughed up as he almost fell. It was at that moment she caught a glimpse of the "Mommy" and "Daddy" the little boy was shouting out to. Tony did, too. They both gasped in unison.
A woman very familiar to them both was rushing towards them ready to reach down to pick up the scared little boy while a strange man pushed a baby stroller as he hurried to catch up to the woman who could only be defined as his wife.
"Luca, how many times have I told you to be careful over here?" the woman frantically voiced to the little boy.
"I'm sorry, Mommy," the little boy cautiously apologized to his mother who was now placing butterfly kisses all over the little boy's anxious, scared face.
"Tony, Angela," exclaimed the woman looking up to the saviors of her precious little boy, as she realized who the two people were who just saved her little boy from injuring himself as he surely would've flown down the cement stairs.
"Frankie Candino!" Tony exclaimed back in surprise and sounding very much like he did the day he ran into her at the Brooklyn carnival.
"It's Frankie Candino-Murphy now," she corrected Tony just as her husband rushed to join his wife's side.
The man who had rushed to join his wife and son had finally made it to their side with the stroller bobbling along stopped to listen to the conversation that was taking place. He was much taller than Tony or Frankie and had dimples when he smiled. "Thank you for saving our son," he blurted out gratefully. "It looks like you all know each other," he observed out loud realizing that the three of them were acquainted with each other.
"Liam, this is Tony Micelli and Angela ….," Frankie said before being cut off by Tony.
"Micelli," Tony quickly responded ensuring there was no confusion as to who he was with.
"This is Angela Micelli," Frankie quickly completed her introductions.
"Micelli? Micelli," he repeated. "Not Tony Micelli, Frankie's friend who played for the St. Louis Cardinals?"
Angela rolled her eyes listening to Liam call Tony "Frankie's friend," wondering how much she had actually told her husband about Tony and his Italian Stallionette wife.
Luca tugged at Frankie's shirt. "Mommy, let's go …. I wanna see the sealions," Luca stammered getting bored with the adult conversation going on.
"Shhhh, Mommy and Daddy are talking right now. How 'bout you check on your baby sister. See how Cinzia is doing," Frankie offered to Luca to get his attention focused somewhere else.
That seemed to distract Luca long enough to give the four of them some time to continue catching up. Angela watched as Luca went to check on his sleeping baby sister who looked to be about six months old. She stretched to peek at the baby girl who was wearing a cute summer outfit and a white bonnet that kept the sun off her face. She appeared to be none the worse for the wear after being jostled around as her curious father had run with the stroller to catch up with Frankie.
"Tony, I thought you were in Iowa, at least that's what my father told me after he saw Mrs. Rossini a few months ago."
"I was, Frankie, but I needed to be home in Connecticut with my family more than I needed to be out in Iowa," Tony told her as he smiled at Angela and took her hand in his.
"It was always Angela, wasn't it, Tony?" Frankie nonchalantly asked Tony as she noticed their wedding bands.
Liam listened attentively to the interesting conversation taking place between his wife and the couple standing in front of him.
"Yeah, it was," Tony told Frankie firmly. "So, you still a partner at that law firm with the tickets to Mets games?"
"Yes, as a matter of fact, that's how I met Liam. He was the new law partner managing the Mets account." Frankie went on to tell them how they met and how quickly they decided to get married. "Luca followed a year later. Then baby Cinzia seven months ago. I still live in the same apartment, but we're thinking of moving out to Long Island so the children can have more space growing up."
"Congratulations, Frankie," Angela offered to her.
"Thank you, Angela … and Tony … so how long have you two been married?"
"Six wonderful days," Tony happily told Frankie and Liam.
Frankie's eyes grew wide with that information. Thinking better than to say anything, she offered her congratulations, then "Well, we better get going before Luca starts getting restless again. Congratulations again, Tony and Angela."
"Luca, let's go and see those sea lions," Liam reached for Luca's hand. Frankie took the stroller and they walked away.
"Bye," Tony told them as he took Angela's hand in his and stood there a few moments thinking about what an awkward day it had been so far.
"Tony did you notice that Luca is almost five? It strikes me that Frankie wanted to get married, and she wasn't too selective in who she married either. She wanted a family, children," Angela added as she placed her arm through her husband's arm as they walked towards the sea lions splashing in the water.
"Angela, we don't know that for sure, but yeah, she did seem to get married very quickly after I told her I didn't want to accept her proposal."
"I think those two are going to have a very interesting conversation later when their kids aren't around," Angela said amusingly to Tony. "I saw Liam raise his eyebrows a few times while the two of you were talking."
"Maybe, maybe," Tony told Angela agreeing with her as he looked off into the distance at Frankie and Liam holding Luca's hands as Liam pushed the stroller with his other hand. "Now let's go look at some more of these adorable animals. I thought I saw a few cute baby seals as we were waking this way. We can come back here later."
Tony and Angela spent a few hours looking at the animals, both grateful that there were no more run ins with Frankie.
They loved the penguin exhibit and were able to watch them get fed. Then they decided to walk back to the Central Garden and visit with the sea lions. They were just in time to watch them get fed as well. They walked around the area to ensure they saw the sea lions above and below the water line. Even though it was crowded, they still managed to get great views of the exhibit.
As they walked around the Zoo, they took some time to visit the Grizzly Bears, Snow Leopards, and Snow Monkeys. They decided to skip the Children's Zoo just in case Frankie and Liam were there with their kids. Eventually, they made their way back towards the front of the Zoo to the exit to go back to the hotel.
"Tony, that was a wonderful way to spend a few hours. It's been so long since I was there, and this weather was perfect after so much humidity the past few days."
"I'm glad we came here today, too, Angela. We're both ready to come here next year with our little addition," he smiled at her as he took her hand walking through The Plaza lobby. Angela smiled back at him but still had apprehension in the back of her mind with thoughts of the pending amniocentesis.
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When they got back to their room, they discussed plans for the evening and decided to go to the Carnegie Deli. They had the Doorman get them a cab that let them out right in the front of the restaurant. After waiting in a short line, and despite the short extra wait, they got a table for two along the wall so they would have some extra space and privacy. Long menus listed different dishes that they both wanted to try, so they decided to get a few items to share like they did at Serendipity. They could also see other customer's orders and knew that the portions were huge. They started out with chicken noodle soup. A giant plate of soup filled with noodles and chicken were portioned out between them. Even though it had been a hot summer day, the soup was welcomed since they hadn't eaten since their large breakfast and snack earlier in the day.
In between the soup and main meal, they munched on some pickles that were put on their table. Angela was careful to eat only one pickle due to the sodium. She told Tony she didn't want to get swollen ankles so she spent some time savoring the pickle nibbling on it bit by bit much to Tony's amusement.
Their waiter walked by their table several times serving the other customers their meals. Then Angela could see their waiter walking towards them carrying a gigantic Hot Pastrami Sandwich. The plate was placed in front of Tony who smiled and told Angela that there was more than enough for the both of them, "I think there's enough here for our entire family, Angela. Look at this!" They both stared at the sandwich which held ½ pound of brined pastrami on fresh-sliced rye bread. In anticipation of digging into their sandwich halves, Angela's stomach rumbled causing them to laugh. "The baby must be able to anticipate what's coming," she joked back at him. Along with the sandwich they had decided to share a knish, so that followed the sandwich being placed in front of Angela. Angela cut the square knish filled with potato in half and put a piece on the extra plate their server had brought with their sandwich.
Angela and Tony took a whiff of their dinner and started to dig in. Because the sandwich was so large both decided to remove some of the pastrami just so they could even take a bite of the sandwich. "You know what, Tony, we can have the additional pastrami wrapped up and bring it back to our room for a late-night snack," Angela suggested. "We can ask our server for some additional bread to go, and we'll be able to make some more sandwiches later." Tony nodded his mouth too full of the sandwich to speak.
They savored their food from the famous deli which opened in 1937. "There's nothing like authentic New York deli food," Tony remarked as his sandwich half slowly disappeared.
"These delis are one of the best things about working in Manhattan. Always having access to this food is amazing," Angela commented back after chewing the bite she took from her own sandwich.
Their server came around to refill their water glasses and to find out if they needed anything else. Tony requested their check and some additional rye bread along with some foil to wrap their extra pastrami in. Then he added, "I think we'll take a piece of New York Cheesecake with us, too."
"Yum, Tony. I like the way you think. Our midnight snack is now planned," Angela gave Tony an approving smile.
Not being too far from their hotel, they decided to walk off their dinner. Tony carried the take-out bag. They relished their walk back in the now cooled-down summer evening. They stopped in a few souvenir shops realizing they only had a few days left of their honeymoon. They each picked out some NYC shirts for the kids. Not knowing what to get for Mona, they decided on a snow globe she could keep at her office desk or on her coffee table. Even though they lived close to the city, they both agreed that there was never enough New York City that you could enjoy. While looking at the different souvenirs, Tony came up with an idea, but he didn't mention it to Angela. He wanted to wait before he did anything about his idea but a big grin came over his face. Angela didn't notice it since she was at the cash register paying for the souvenirs.
They got back to their dimly lit suite about 10 and put all their purchases down next to the purchases they had made at Bloomingdales and Macy's a few days prior. Tony put the food on the table that they used for their Room Service meals moving the newspaper out of the way.
Tony turned the thermostat down to cool the room off as the room had gotten warm with the sunlight shining in all day. He then walked over to the drapes and shut them in both the main living area and in the bedroom. Housekeeping had come in and turned down the bed so Tony didn't need to. Then he walked over to the radio and found a slow, romantic song playing. Angela came into the bedroom to join him and told him how much she loved the song playing. Tony took Angela into his arms and they slow-danced around the room listening to Eddie Rabbit and Crystal Gayle sing.
"Just you and I
Sharing our love together
And I know in time
We'll build the dreams we treasure
And we'll be all right, just you and I
Just you and I
Sharing our love together
And I know in time
We'll build the dreams we treasure
We'll be all right, just you and I
And I remember our first embrace
That smile that was on your face
The promises that we made
And now, your love is my reward
And I love you even more
Than I ever did before
Just you and I
We can entrust each other
With you in my life
They'll never be another
We'll be all right, just you and I
And I remember our first embrace
That smile that was on your face
The promises that we made
And now, your love is my reward
And I love you even more
Than I ever did before
We made it, you and I"
"We did make it," Angela whispered as the song ended. Tony gave her a light kiss on her lips.
"We did a lot of walking today," Tony said to her with his eyes moving towards the bathroom.
"You read my mind. I could go for a nice shower before going to sleep. Want to join me," Angela suggested to Tony her eyes following his to the bathroom.
"You couldn't keep me away, Sweetheart."
The End – Chapter 32 of The Room, Unslept In – Once Upon a Honeymoon, IX, Two by Two by Two
This was definitely longer than expected. Even in a city like New York, you never know who you're going to run into. Tony and Angela's lives were filled with fate, so running into people they knew shouldn't have been too much of a surprise.
Chapter 33 coming soon