Chapter 3: Misery
The following morning, Tony and Angela throughly enjoyed waking up for the first time together as an engaged couple in their own home. Mona's comment didn't deter them from enjoying their togetherness; it only deterred them from keeping their door unlocked. They spent the next few days making up for lost time both in and out of the bedroom. By the end of the week however, they both came down with bad colds, as predicted the result of being out in the cold in their wet clothes. Saturday morning came around and they both found themselves cuddled up under blankets on the sofa.
"Hopefully Jonathan gets back soon from the pharmacy with our medications. This headache and congestion are the worst" she said as she cuddled even further into Tony's side.
"I've got an Italian cure that is guaranteed to make you feel better…" he said with a wink and a smirk.
"Oh really…" she said as he leaned down and began kissing her passionately. Just then, Samantha and Mona walked in, causing Tony and Angela to jump apart.
"No tongue… Mother's watching…" said Mona.
"I think it is so adorable how you and Angela have been acting since you got engaged… like love sick teenagers…" said Samantha.
"Now Samantha, we are not that bad!" said Tony as both Mona and Samantha gave him a look. Jonathan came in the front door with a bag from the pharmacy.
"Are they at it again? Oh please… the foot rubs, the cuddling… my mother… could we pull a drape around the scene?" said Jonathan.
"I can't watch" said Mona.
"Hold on… isn't this exactly what we always wanted? To finally see these two showing their love?" asked Samantha.
"I've seen it, I'm disgusted. Let's hose them down…" said Mona.
"Mother!" said Angela.
"It's too much!" said Mona.
"There can never be too much love…" said Angela as she snuggled into Tony, pulling the blanket up over them both.
"I agree!" said Samantha.
"Yes in fact what we have is beautiful and innocent…" said Tony as his hands under the blanket found a sensitive, ticklish spot on Angela's upper thigh, causing her to let out a deep moan.
"Okay I spoke too soon…" said Samantha as she rolled her eyes.
"Anyway, the new guy at the pharmacy is a complete idiot and lost your prescription Mom. The only one they had was Tony's but he said it should be ready in a few days. I swear that guy needs to be fired!" said Jonathan as he handed them Tony's medication.
"What? You need your medication too! I'll go down there and give him a piece of my mind!" said Tony as he began to cough.
"You aren't going anywhere Tony! I'll be fine- I will call tomorrow morning and see what is going on. I just want to rest today and that's exactly what you will be doing too!" said Angela.
"Well let's let these two sick lovebirds cough up a lung in peace!" said Mona as she went back to her apartment. Jonathan headed upstairs while Samantha went into the kitchen to make them new cups of tea.
"Aside from resting, I thought maybe the next couple of days we could start planning the wedding. You still thinking mid-November? That doesn't give us a whole lot of time!" said Tony.
"Yes- I don't want it to get lost in the holiday season. This way we can spend the week or two after Thanksgiving on our honeymoon before Christmas. Besides, I really only want something on the smaller side anyway" she said.
"Alright! Let's rest up today and then tomorrow we can really start planning! I've already started jotting down some ideas so we can add yours to it" he said.
"Sounds like a plan… but first I need some Tylenol and more tea. Maybe we can take a nap too" she said as Samantha came back in with the tea. They finished the tea and then headed back upstairs to rest for the afternoon. As promised, Tony gave her his Italian cure, once in the afternoon and twice in the evening.
The next morning, Tony was starting to feel better. He was up and made them both breakfast in bed. He brought the tray of food up and stood by her side of the bed, gazing down lovingly at a sleeping Angela. After a few moments, Angela started to wake up, slightly startled at Tony standing over her.
"Tony! How… how long have you been standing there?" she asked as she tried to wake up a bit more. She still felt sick so it wasn't all that easy as all she wanted to do was go back to sleep.
"Not long… it would be weird to just be standing there watching you Angela!" he chuckled as he placed the tray down.
"I made us breakfast in bed. I woke up feeling a bit better so I figured I'd get moving a bit. How are you feeling?" he asked as he sat down next to her.
"Eh… so so… but this breakfast is already making me feel better! You made the pancakes into little brown hearts!" she smiled.
"Love cakes… I got the idea from an article in Mona's cosmo- twenty ways to say I love you with batter! You know for seven years I've always thought about doing these sweet things for you but I was always afraid to, you know, overstep my bounds but now I don't have to worry about that! Expect all these little things and more Angela!" he said as he started eating his breakfast.
"This is delicious Tony! From what I can taste of it at least!" she laughed as she finished the food.
"Well you're going to spend all day in bed resting Angela. I'll probably need to rest a bit at some point too, but I'm going to make sure you don't lift a finger… just rest, rest, rest!" he said.
"Thank you Tony" she said.
"You up for a little wedding planning? I've started jotting some things down here and there" he said as he pulled out a two inch, filled to the brim, three ring binder. Multicolored tabs were visibly sticking out of the pages and pamphlets were falling out on all sides.
"Jotting some things down Tony? When did you start? 1988?" she laughed.
"Well… to be honest… after Jamaica when we had our conversation on the bench, I started trying to figure out how I could ever get myself together for us. I knew eventually I'd get it together- I didn't realize just how long I'd take to get there. Anyway… since then, whenever I've seen something I thought would be nice, I put it aside. When I started thinking about proposing, I really stepped it up and then… here we are!" he said.
"Oh Tony! That's so sweet! I feel bad I didn't do the same! I mean I pictured us getting married so many times but nothing concrete… I already feel about three step behind!" she said as she started to open up the binder.
"So with the time constraints, I figure we'd need to dial back my original plan but I think a lot of it can work, assuming the venues are still available. I figure if we decide on a specific date, place and time, we can get the invitations out within a week or so. Then it's the details we will need to iron out- music, flowers, song choices, color schemes, food choices, my tux, your dress, bridesmaids dresses…" he started to ramble on until Angela stopped him.
"Slow down Tony! Let's look at venues first and figure out how many people we want. Then we can call and see if they have the date open. I'd like a small wedding, maybe twenty people. How about you?" asked Angela.
"Twenty people? That doesn't even cover one block from Brooklyn! I was thinking about a hundred to a hundred and fifty people. The country club holds two hundred so there would be wiggle room if we went over" he said.
"One hundred and fifty people? Do we know that many people? And if we do, should we invite them all? We are still planning on doing this wedding this year right?" she asked with nervous laughter.
"What? We have to invite my family, your family, work and school friends, friends of the kids, and then of course my Brooklyn friends. It doesn't mean they will all come but how can we not invite them?" he asked.
"Okay then… how about a date? We said November. How about the sixteenth? Maybe late in the afternoon? A small ceremony outdoors if the weather permits and then a reception afterwards" she said.
"I love it! I can call the club and see if they have that date. Although, don't you want to get married in a church? We could have Father Marconi officiate! Oh he would love to do it Angela! Then we could have the whole wedding ceremony then the big reception afterwards!" he said enthusiastically.
"Okay I guess… okay how about the invitations. I see the fifth tab is marked invitations. Are there options or is one already on order at the printers?" she asked very sarcastically.
"No, nothing has been ordered but I did see one that I liked. What about this one?" he asked as he pulled out a simple invitation with pink roses, elegant fonts and graphics.
"Oh Tony this is perfect! I love it!" she said.
"Alright! Date, venue and invitations down! Let me go make some calls and see what I can do. You rest up… I'll be back up in a little while" he said as he grabbed the empty trays and headed downstairs.
Angela decided to go through the wedding binder more in depth. She couldn't believe he had all this prepared for so long. She took out a pad of paper and started putting down her own ideas but soon exhaustion overtook her and she ended up falling back asleep for a few hours. Tony came up around lunchtime with a cup of tea and some lunch on another tray.
"Hey Angela… how are you feeling?" he asked.
"Maybe a little better but this cold is just not letting up. I need to call over to the pharmacy and see about my medications" she said.
"I already called and they should be ready later today. Jonathan was right… that new worker there is a real idiot! It took him ten minutes to find you in the system!" he said.
"Figures… I really hope it's ready soon so I can start to feel better" she said as she took a sip of her tea.
"So the good news is… the club has a cancellation for November sixteenth so I was able to book it! I also called the church and spoke to Father Marconi who also confirmed that day! The invitations can go in tomorrow with all our details. The club gave me information for a band they use as well as a florist, bakery and limo company. We can pick out what we want but I saw the perfect cake already! Page seventy three of the binder…" he said as he flipped open the binder.
"That is very nice Tony…" she started as Tony interrupted.
"You like it? Perfect! I already ordered it Angela! And I know you love pink roses so if you flip to page eighty five, you'll see the arrangements I picked out…" he said as he flipped the pages.
"How long was I asleep? Is there something you didn't plan yet?" she asked with some irritation.
"Oh there's plenty I haven't done yet Angela! There's so much for us to still do!" he said.
"Well it looks like you've got a handle on it for now… I really need to get some work done Tony. Maybe afterwards we can look at it again" she said with little to no enthusiasm in her voice.
"Uh yeah sure Angela… I'll be downstairs…" he said as he kissed her forehead.
"Angela! You have a fever! Okay missy no work for you! You need to stay in here and rest! No ifs, ands or buts! I'm going to make sure you're not disturbed while you rest!" he said as he shut the door.
"Great… I can't even do my work, plan our wedding… what else is he going to take control of? What I eat? When I can use the bathroom?" she said out loud. Just then, Tony stuck his head back in the room.
"I brought you up some chicken soup before with your tea. I'm going to go cut some fresh fruit for you to get you more vitamin c. Also, I haven't cleaned your bathroom yet, so if you can hold off using the bathroom until I get to it that'd be great!" he said as he left the room again, causing Angela to punch the pillows in frustration.
The rest of the afternoon and early evening, Angela tried in vain to relax. She managed to sneak some of her work in despite Tony's words. She had to hide the work what felt like every few minutes as he kept coming in to check on her. After a while, she didn't know what was making her more miserable, her cold or Tony. She decided to sneak downstairs as her fever broke and she was feeling a little better.
She crept down the stairs and looked around for any signs of Tony. When she didn't see any, she took a deep sigh of relief and came all the way into the living room. Mona came through the kitchen door and caused Angela to jump.
"Oh Mother it's you… is Tony around?" she asked.
"No he wasn't in the kitchen" said Mona.
"Thank god!" said Angela as she collapsed back on the sofa.
"I knew Tony was getting on your nerves! I took one look at that binder, listened to all those wedding arrangements being made without you… I knew it was only a matter of time!" said Mona.
"No he's not! We've just been spending a lot of time together since we got engaged and then of course sick. It would be nice to have just one moment to myself out of my prison… I mean room, that's all…" she said.
"If you want more space, a say in your wedding and maybe an early release from prison for good behavior, then just tell him" said Mona.
"I just don't want him to take it the wrong way. Besides… maybe the problem isn't him. Maybe it's me…" she said sadly.
"You?" asked Mona.
"Tony is a very warm, passionate, demonstrative person and I'm well, kinda…" she started to say when Mona cut her off.
"A cold fish?" she said.
"I wouldn't say that!" shouted Angela.
"Me either… I cleaned it up…" said Mona sarcastically.
"I was going to say restrained. Deep down I happen to be a very hot blooded, passionate person who just wants to be able to have a say in her own wedding!" said Angela.
"Of course you are Angela! You're a volcano ready to explode…" said Mona as she rolled her eyes.
"Exactly!" said Angela. She had a thought that if her mother knew exactly how passionate she was in this new relationship with Tony in the bedroom, she'd have a different tune, if she would have even believed her.
"I'll go warn the villagers!" said Mona.
"I just have to get used to being around someone as expressive and thoughtful as Tony. As wonderful and organized and controlling and over the top…" said Angela. Just then Tony walked in the front door.
"Angela! What are you doing out of bed? I went to the pharmacy to get your medication but the idiot still didn't have it ready! C'mon let's get you back to bed" said Tony.
"I think she might prefer to be down here Tony…" said Mona, for once trying to make Angela's life easier.
"There's a draft down here… no she needs to be upstairs…" he said as he picked her up off the sofa and brought her upstairs.
"I'll check in on the prisoner in a while Angela!" Mona yelled up the stairs. She shook her head as she headed out the back door to her apartment.
After Tony had sufficiently tucked her into bed, Angela had enough and knew she needed some space. She threw on some clothes and snuck out of the house. She didn't know where she wanted to go as she still didn't feel very well, but soon stopped at a diner close to the house. Once she got to the counter, she ordered a cup of tea. One tea turned into four quite quickly.
"Another herbal tea" she said to the waitress.
"You've had four of those already honey" she said.
"And she wants another… what's the worst that can happen? She gets really mellow and starts singing Joanie Mitchell songs?" said the cook to the waitress. They were obviously married and got into an argument.
"Man trouble honey?" she asked after she finished yelling at him. She gave Angela a laundry list of reasons why she might have man trouble after she confirmed that was why she was at the diner.
"He loves me too much… I had to get away" said Angela.
"Oh! One of those fatal attraction things huh? That can be rough" she said. Just then, Tony walked through the front door and called her name, stating that he had been worried sick.
"Is that the guy?" asked the waitress.
"Yes" said Angela as she looked back over at Tony.
"And I was feeling sorry for you!" she shouted as she hit Angela with a towel. Tony and Angela decided they needed some privacy and headed to sit at a table away from the counter.
"I've been looking all over for you! Thank god I spotted your car in the parking lot! What are you doing here?" asked Tony.
"Well… to tell you the truth I was feeling… like… I needed to get some fresh air" she said.
"Well, you should be home, in bed resting… I'll open a window" he said as he tried to help her up from the table. Just then, the waitress and cook came over and gave them advice about being open and honest with each other. After bickering back and forth, Angela realized that while annoying and loud, they had a point.
"Tony they're right. We have to be honest if we want this to work" she said.
"Honest? Honest about what Angela?" he asked.
"About everything! I came here to get away from you! I… I was feeling smothered and overwhelmed and controlled" she said.
"I don't understand…" said Tony. The cook and waitress came back over to try and explain it to Tony but ended up getting in another fight.
"You couldn't go to Burger King?" pleaded Tony. They looked at each other for a few moments before Tony spoke again.
"I… I've been making you feel uncomfortable Angela?" he asked.
"Well… yeah… and I… I didn't want to damage our relationship and I didn't want to hurt your feelings or… look into that incredibly sad face you're making right now…" she said as Tony made a sad, pouting face.
"Well, it's good that you told me. Honesty is good…" he said.
"Honest?" she said.
"Yeah, yeah… I mean just because we are in love and engaged doesn't mean things should change. Back when we were just friends we could say anything to each other" said Tony.
"Exactly!" said Angela with a smile, thankful Tony was understanding where she was coming from.
They continued talking about each other's insecurities- Tony trying too hard because he felt Angela was, as Mona put it, the cold fish, and Angela feeling smothered and not heard about what she wanted for their wedding. They agreed to both be more open with one another and moving forward, compromise on what they want for their wedding.
"Oh Tony… you don't have to try, you know I love you…" she said as she took his hands in hers and gently squeezed.
"I love you too Angela! C'mon Angela let's go home…" he said.
"You meet me at home, I'm going to try and deal with that idiot at the pharmacy. I can't go one more day without my medication!" she said.
"Alright… just be careful. I love you!" he said.
"I love you too Tony… so very much!" she said as she gave him another passionate kiss. He walked her to her car and watched as she drove away. Soon, she pulled into the parking lot of the pharmacy and headed inside.
"Hi yes I'm here to pick up my prescriptions, one for my birth control and the other for my cold that my doctor sent over. The name is Angela Bower" she said.
"Oh yes I think you were in earlier to pick them up" said the worker. Angela just shook her head, knowing this was the guy both Jonathan and Tony dealt with.
"No that was my son and my fiancé. I really need both now" she said very impatiently.
"Okay let me check… ah yes here they are!" he said as he handed her the medications. She quickly paid for them and headed out the door, wanting nothing more than to be back home, wrapped in Tony's arms.
"Did you just ring up that woman?" asked the worker's supervisor.
"Yes I did!" he said with a sense of pride.
"Did you let her know the side effects of that medication? The antibiotic stops the birth control pill from being effective" said the supervisor.
"I… of course I did! What am I an idiot?" he laughed nervously as he left the counter and headed to the break room, wondering if this line of work was really for him.