North Meets South, Worlds Collide - 15. Chapter 15

It took a few minutes before Tony’s father was talking much to any of us. We sat at the kitchen table where Tony had another cup of coffee. Kathleen was doing most of the talking to us. She was very pleasant. Then Angelo began asking questions, sometimes while she was talking. I got what Tony said about several conversations at once at the table. I was going to have to pay attention when everyone was there.

“So you’re from the South,” Angelo said quietly, but his mannerism said he was closed at the moment. His arms crossed across his chest as he studied me. “What do you do down there?”

“Now, I manage a hotel in downtown Charleston,” I said as Kathleen and Tony stopped to listen. “I was a cop before that. A police officer.”

“A cop?” Angelo asked as his eyebrow rose. “Why’d you give that up?”

“I was shot in the hip,” I explained. “I have a replacement in that hip now. It finished me as a police officer.”

Angelo nodded, thinking. “And before that?”

“I was a farmer.”

“A farmer!?” Angelo balked. “You mean cows and stuff like that?”

I nodded smiling. “Cows, chickens, and pigs occasionally. All kinds of vegetables. But that was more for us,my uncle and his wife and my grandparents. We are not a farm for profit now. I was raised on it. But we always had fresh milk, butter, cheese…everything.”

Angelo nodded again. “A farmer.” He was rolling that in his head. Now he was even more confused. “So how did you meet? It doesn’t seem possible for your worlds to meet.”

I explained about the church and how Tony and I met. “Mr. Delveccio,” I said. “I know he’s been through a lot recently. He is recovering, as much as a man can after seeing and going through what he did. I swear, I love him.”

Kathleen smiled when I said that.

“Papa…” Tony began, but I held my hand up to stop him from going further.

“No, Tony,” I said softly. “He’s your father. It’s natural for him to be cautious. He needs to know I’m a good thing for you.” Then I grinned at Tony. “Just like my father did to you. Let him question me. It’s only fair. He’s your father.”

Tony nodded with a sad smile. “I’m glad you see that.” Then he looked at his parents. “I love Mitch. He’s everything to me.”

His mother smiled even larger as she looked at her son. “Angelo, look at your son.”

Angelo looked at Tony, then nodded. “I can see he really loves Mitch.” He smiled. “He’s blushing. The sign for Delveccio men his heart’s truly involved.” Then he smiled larger. “He means it. His heart is in it.”

Kathleen shook her head. “He’s never done this with anyone before….not even Jean, the mother of Nick.”

Angelo seemed to reach a conclusion. “Okay.” He slapped his hands on his leg. “We’ll get to know you. Then we’ll see if what my son sees in you, we can see.”

A major step forward for Tony and me. Mostly for me. I only had his oldest sister, her husband and their children to go.

It was one o’clock when we returned Kathy’s car.

“How’d it go?” Kathy smiled at us when we walked in. “You survived I see.”

Tony nodded with a chuckle. “Papa was pretty thorough. But he’s reserving his judgment.” Then he grinned at me. “Now, you and I are going shopping. In Manhattan.”

“Great,” I said with little enthusiasm. I hated shopping. For me, if I needed something. I knew what it was, where I’d seen it, went and got it, I was done. I knew this was not going to be the case.

Tony grinned. “It’ll be fun! I promise.” Then he gave me a questioning look. “Now, for your first trip on the subway.”

No wonder you almost never saw a fat New Yorker. These people walked everywhere! Or took a cab or a bus. I held on to Tony’s arm as he maneuvered with having practiced for years and did it now without thought. Only occasionally looking to see if I was okay.

New York City was another world! There were so many people all going somewhere, all focused on what they were having to do. As Tony explained, the people here were all focused on what they needed to get done, they weren’t necessarily rude. I made sure I had Tony’s hand because if I lost him, I probably wouldn’t make it out alive. Then we exited to the street. I was a country boy. I looked at the surrounding buildings and all the people. This was a city! There was no comparison of this to Charleston, no matter how sophisticated Charlestonians considered themselves. Manhattan became not a fictional city for me anymore, it was real. Then I looked where we were.

“This is Time Square!” I said gazing at the famous part of Manhattan.

Tony looked at me smiling. “Very good.”

“Don’t be fresh.” I used what he’d often said to me as I rolled my eyes. “I’ve seen it on TV.”

Tony nodded. “I’m sure you have.” Then he smiled as he waved at all of it. “Welcome to my world.”

“It sure is big.”

“With one very major difference.” Tony pointed out. Then we, standing in the middle of Time Square, he kissed me. A good kiss, not that he ever gave me a bad one, but it was a good kiss. Then broke off and looked around. “See? Nothing stopped, everything is the same. No one was shocked or offended. They don’t care. If we did that at the intersection of King and Calhoun…”

I smiled. “There’d be accidents as drivers are so shocked, people would gasp…there’d be a cost.” I nodded. “I got it.”

“Now, to find you some suitable clothes to wear. We’re going to see the Rockettes tonight. After we skate at Rockefeller Center.”

“Skate? On ice.” I clarified. “I’ve never done that. Skate on ice, I mean.”

“Never?” Tony asked.

I looked at him with my eyes lowered. “We may get a frozen puddle, but freezing a whole body of water hard enough to skate on…” I shook my head. “Not going to happen. And not hard enough to skate on.”

“You have ice rinks!”

“Which only recently became possible,” I stated. “We simple country people never bothered to learn. Why?”

Tony grinned. “Well, you haven’t had the New York experience until you do. Let’s go.”

Ankles. That was what you needed to ice skate. Strong ankles. I roller skated, but this was….well, it wasn’t natural. Rockefeller Center was beautifully decorated, even in the daytime! That Christmas Tree is huge! There was the famous gold statue, there were the statues of the angels and trumpets. Christmas music was playing and I tried to skate. I spent a great deal of time on my ass, but it was fun. Tony, of course, didn’t fall, unless I pulled him down as I did. He found the whole thing extremely funny. It was good I loved him, or he’d pay dearly.

Then we went shopping. After a half dozen stores, I got two dressy casual outfits, three pair of shoes…Italian leather naturally…two coats and one dressy suit. I have no idea how much it all cost. They didn’t have price tags on anything! The thing was, the clerks all knew Tony by sight! Dolce and Gabbana, Boss, Giorgio Armani…we hit them all! We had to settle for Ready to Wear, we didn’t have time for custom made stuff. Whatever. I looked at Tony as I looked at my reflection in the mirror.

“Tony…” I began. “This isn’t me,” I said softly.

Tony looked a little worried. “I know.” He got up and approached me. “But it is me.”

“Why?” I asked. “I saw where you grew up. The houses so close together, I saw why you never mowed a lawn. There are no lawns. There was enough room for a driveway to get the car in the garage. The front had two sections you could have, but there were two rock gardens there. You weren’t raised that fancy.” I touched him gently. “I want to fit in here. Because I love you, but tell me why.”

He thought a moment. Then looked at me in all seriousness. “Probably for my parents.” He sighed. Then he grinned. “But I am gay, so this is just a part of it.” Then he was serious again. “You saw Kathy’s house. She married a doctor. She’s a nurse, but she’s doing well. You should see Louise’s place in Montreal! It’s huge! Literally a mansion.” He sighed again. “We don’t compete, but it’s like…” he thought again. “…we want to show Mama and Papa their sacrifices were not in vain. We are alright. In spite of any screw-ups, we’re doing well. And I’ve had more than a few.” Then he smiled. “Kathy and Louise were lucky. They married well, but they also did it for love. Now, I’m marrying for love at last.” He chuckled. “I know this is all…” he looked around. “…alien to you.”

I wrapped my arms around him. “Tony, I love you. Not the money or where you’re from, or the clothes you wear. You. If this helps, I do it willingly. But know this, as soon as we’re back in Charleston, this comes off and I’m back in my jeans and t-shirts.”

He smiled and laughed at that. “I won’t have it any other way.”

“Hello, Tony.” We heard behind him. We both turned and saw a man, in his thirties, but he was gorgeous!! Blonde, well-built and tall. His had a finely tuned chest and green eyes. Perfect skin.

“Luke,” Tony said offhandedly.

“Luke.” I nodded. In a city with millions of people, we come to a store and meet Tony’s ex-lover. I saw on his chest the name tag. He worked here. I did feel uneasy about it, but I saw Tony’s face. He wasn’t happy or excited, nor was he angry or upset. He had no emotions at all in his face.

“You look well,” Luke said.

“I’m doing very well, thank you.” Tony simply said. Then he moved so Luke could see me. “This is my husband, Mitch McKenzie. Mitch, this is my ex-lover, Luke Samuels.”

Luke’s face held a little pain when Tony introduced me as his husband. “Husband?”

“As legally married as we can be,” Tony answered with a nod. “How’s Curtis?”

Luke nodded sadly. “We broke up.” I gathered this Curtis was the man he cheated on Tony for.

Tony nodded. “I see.” Then he looked at the store. “You work here.”

Luke shrugged. “I have bills to pay.”

Tony nodded again. “Well, we have a show to go to. I’m showing my husband the good things in New York.” Tony was about to turn away.

Luke stopped him. “Tony, I’m sorry,” Luke said. “About us.”

Tony smiled. “I’m not.” He grinned at me. “Because of what happened, I found the right person to spend my life with. And I want to.”

I smiled at Tony. “I’ll change.” Then went to the dressing room, leaving Tony with Luke.

“You made your choice, Luke.” I heard Tony say. “I wasn’t good enough. That’s fine. But now I have someone I love, who loves me. I have no doubt about him, I trust him and he trusts me. I’m over you. Now if you’ll excuse us.”

I grinned as I took off the overly expensive clothes. This was now another situation was closed for me. I came out with the clothes I’d taken off of the dressing room and I handed them to another clerk who had helped us. “A blonde?” I asked irritated at Tony.

He smiled back as he rolled his eyes. “It was a lapse in judgment.”

I nodded. “I’ll say.” Then shrugged. “He was nice looking, though.”

“And that was all,” Tony said. “It was destined to fail.” He shrugged. Then he looked at something else. “What about these?”

I looked at the turtleneck sweater. “You have to have a neck to wear that.”

He smiled kissing me on my neck. “What did I just kiss?”

“To wear it properly, it should lay flat on your neck, they fold under my chin. No thanks.”

Tony pulled me close. “I love you.”

I grinned. “I know.”

We took a cab to Kathy’s house. In the city, out of the city and back again. We showered together, my idea. We could have sex and clean up right afterward. Then we changed for going to the Christmas Spectacular! We came down seeing Nick and David for the first time in a day.

David let out a wolf whistle. Nick grinned at us. “Whose that with you, Dad? Does Pop know you’re stepping out on him?” Then he brightened. “Wait! That is you, Pop! I didn’t recognize you.”

I grinned at him. “Runt,” I growled.

Kathy shook her head as she came in from the kitchen. “My God! You two look amazing!”

Tony put his arm around me and bowed a little. “Thank you.”

“So what’s tonight?” She asked. “Broadway?”

Tony shook his head. “That’s Thursday, we’re off to see the Rockettes.” Then he smiled at me. “Then maybe a carriage ride around Central Park.”

Kathy nodded as she walked up to her brother. “Tony, I can’t tell you how pleased I am for that you’re at last happy.” She looked at me. “We owe it to you. He’s a changed man.”

I shrugged. “This is the only Tony I know.”

“Trust us, Uncle Mitch,” Melissa said by her cousin. “He’s not. He’s come a full one hundred and eighty degrees from the man that left here. I like this one.”

Tony took my hand. “We need to go.” He was taking me to the door. “We’ll be late. Don’t wait up.”

“Remember, Louise and Mike will be here tomorrow!” Kathy called as we hit the street.

The Rockettes were fabulous! The sets, the lights were over the top for me. You could feel the magic of the season. And of course, I was clapping the hardest after it was over. At least from my perspective, I was.

Tony smiled at me. “I take it you liked it.”

I nodded. “That’s safe to assume.” Loving that Tony was no longer worried, not that he was in Charleston, about people here saw we were together. These were strangers, but he didn’t hide it that we were a couple.

“I’m glad.” Tony nodded. “We’ll get a nice meal now.”

I looked at my watch. “It’s late.”

Tony’s eyebrow rose. “And?”

I kicked myself mentally. Of course, the city that never sleeps. Duh.

He took me to this steakhouse. I saw the prices of the steaks, but Tony frowned at my surprise. “Stop it.” He said softly, but gruffly knowing what I was reacting to. And I will say the steak was….heaven! So tender and well done, chewing was almost an option.

As Tony and I walked through the city, it began to snow. I held a gloved hand out as a snowflake landed.

“They have snow in Asheville,” Tony said.

I shook my head. “This is Christmas Snow. That’s different.” I pointed to a clock. “It’s Christmas Eve.” Then I stopped him. “Thank you for sharing this with me.”

Tony smiled at me. “I’ll share everything with you. I love you.”

Hearing it over and over again, it still had that feel like it did when he first said it. “I love you, Tony.”