SERIES: Italiano Song

PART: 8 of 9

RATING: PG-13 (Adult content and Adult thematic material)

PAIRING(s): L/L; S/C; F/E; some Shirley/Anthony DeFazio

DISTRIBUTION: To LW, Kai, Myself and FG so far; any other archives are welcome to ask, but disclaimers must be included, my email left intact. send a URL, and provide full disclaimers as well as credit me fully. Please inform me if you are going to submit my work to any sort of search engine.  Please do not submit my work to a search engine that picks out random sets of words and uses them as key words, such as "Google"

 

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CATEGORY: Romance

FEEDBACK: PLEASE?!

SETTING IN TIMELINE: During "Festival," after part one and just before part two; some alternate material from the established canon for the episodes.

SPOILLER/SUMMARY: What if Laverne's grandmother had taken a shine to Lenny instead of Squiggy during "The Festival"? 

NOTES: Basically follows the events and timeline of "The Festival," though using some alternate material. 

 

***

 

"Bambino!  watch your spoon!"

 

Laverne jerked the dripping utensil away from her wrist, depositing a splotch of tomato sauce on her grandmother's once-clean stove.  "Aww geez - I'll clean it up..." she robotically walked toward the roll of paper towels nailed on a rack near the kitchen sink.  Her grandmother stopped her with a hand pressed to her wrist.

 

"You sit and help Leonardo with the bread.  Slice the cheese into thin pieces, remember." Alessia shook her head as she turned back to the sauce, carefully turning over the boiling plum tomatoes.  "You see what your Papa does?  Always with his temper!"

 

Laverne had similar thoughts, but she could not bring herself to voice them.  He had a reason to be angry.  Frank had always labored under the impression that he wasn't good enough to carry the DeFazio family name - that he was somehow half the man his late father was.  Everything about the trip had been about impressing Grandma, from Laverne’s faking her knowledge in Italian  to her father's bringing Edna as proof of his getting over Josephine.  If they had taken the time to consider what sort of person Alessia was, they would have realized that she loved them without fancy airs. 

 

"He'll come back, Vernie," Lenny said softly.  She looked up to see him watching her sympathetically.  In this mess, he was the only consistent joy - fixed in her mind as a new love, a new constant to rely on.  She squeezed his knee under the table, and then yelped when something damp brushed the back of her palm.

 

"Maggie," she sighed, petting the dog's soft head.  Maggie had lodged herself comfortably between Lenny and Laverne under the table, her head on Lenny's left foot and her back paws resting on Laverne's right.  The dog seemed to sense the tension in the room, and preferred to remain close to her master.  "He'll come back when he's calm," Laverne replied to Lenny.

 

Lenny nodded.  "I got all this bread done," Lenny handed the tray to Alessia.

 

"Good, now I put together the brochette," she turned back to the stove.  "Leonardo, please check on Andrew.  I think he may need a new ice pack."

 

Lenny nodded.  "Come on, Maggie," he took her leash on his way out of the room.  Laverne knew that he hoped to take the dog for a walk and miss the return, and wrath of, her father.

 

Laverne finished slicing the cheese into slices, carrying the platter to her grandmother.  "I'm all done, grandma." As Alessia turned to her, Laverne saw tears slipping down her cheek.  "Are you okay?"

 

"How could he think I don't love him?" Alessia asked her granddaughter reflectively.  "Your pappa is my bambino, my only son."

 

Laverne decided to use the truth to her power.  "You're hard on him."  Her grandmother's sharp eyes made her wilt a little.  "Sometimes.  You act like you like me more than you like him."

 

"Foolishness!  I love Fabrizo - I don't show it," she admitted, "but I love him always!"

 

"Then maybe you should let him know, Grandma," Laverne said quietly.  "Before it's too late."

 

Alessia knew that Laverne still felt the sting of her mother's death - they had never gotten in their goodbyes.  "I will, Bambina," she patted Laverne's hand.  "Get the cacciatore from the refrigerator - we'll make a big feast for the neighborhood!"

 

Laverne grinned, then did as her Grandmother bade.

 

 

***

 

The mood in the living room was anything but congenial.  Gino and Mando sat at the dining room table, holding ice packs against their shoulders - Squiggy sat opposing them, holding one to the back of his head.  Lenny had taken Maggie out for a walk, though his presence was not quite missed by the room's occupants - they were too busy listening in on the three-way fight between Anthony, Shirley and Carmine taking place in the hallway.

 

"...And I don't care how either of you feel about it!" Laverne heard, as she came out of the kitchen.  "I'm not your girlfriend any more, and I was NEVER your girlfriend in the first place - and I certainly won't be, now that I know you told Mando and Gino we...shared lunch together."

 

"But I never told them we...ate tuna, Shirl, I swear!"

 

"It's too late.  You don't respect my privacy, Anthony!  I hope you'll be interested in remaining my friend..."

 

"I ain't gonna..."

 

"PLEASE, Anthony," Shirley hissed.

 

"I...I'll do whatever makes you happy."

 

"And as for you...How could you mistrust me?"

 

"Looks like I wasn't too off-base!" The truth in Carmine's voice made Laverne wince.

 

"You had Leonard follow me around with a camera - look me in the eyes - you had Leonard follow me around with a camera, trying to get PROOF that I was cheating on  you!  How do you think that made me feel?"

 

"I couldn't be with you - I wanted to see -"

 

"See if I started acting like you do when I'm not around?" Laverne winced again, sitting beside Squiggy to be better able to hear more.  "You don't trust me, Carmine, and I don't want to be in a relationship with someone I can't trust."

 

"I waited for you!  I waited ten years for - "

 

"We both made a mistake," Shirley said coldly.  "I believed I could trust you.  You believed that I wouldn't take our promise seriously.  I did, I was, until I realized you were having me followed.  I really loved you, once."

 

"Now?"

 

"Now...I don't know how to feel."

 

"Angelface..."

 

"Don't.  You're trying to soften me up, but I can't let you.  I'm going to be mad at you for a very long time."

 

"Who was Anthony to you, Shirley?"

 

"A perfect gentleman.  Nothing like you.  Excuse me."  More words were exchanged, in tones too low to hear, and then muffled footsteps sounded.  The door opened, and the room's occupants began to busy themselves, pretending not to have heard a thing.  Laverne rose. 

 

"Shirl, are you okay?"

 

The brunette's blue eyes were sparkling with tears, but she shook her head.  "I'm okay," she said in a bright voice. 

 

"Where did Carmine go?"

 

"He said something about driving back to Milwaukee," Shirley explained.  "And Anthony’s going home."

 

"Are you sure you're..."

 

"I'm fine," Shirley said briskly.  "That smells heavenly.  Does your Grandmother need help in the kitchen?"

 

Alessia popped her head out the door.  "Could someone help me with the pasta?"

 

"Me!" Shirley volunteered, walking over and disappearing inside of the kitchen. 

 

The front door promptly slammed open, admitting a livid Frank DeFazio to the room.  Laverne pivoted around stiffly.  "Pop..."

 

He held out a hand.  "I ain't mad at you no more," he flopped down on the sofa.  "I'm mad at that greasy bum."

 

"Hey!" Squiggy shouted.  "Leave me outta this."

 

"The other greasy bum!" Frank retorted.  "Where is he?"

 

"Lenny is not a greasy bum!" Laverne protested.  "He's my boyfriend!"

 

"Since when?"

 

"Since this week!"

 

"Since this week, she says!" Frank chuckled.  "You're tellin' me you love him, and two weeks ago you were tryin' to get rid of him!  A month before that, he was lyin' in a gutter outside the Pizza Bowl, waitin for his roommate to finish doin' I don't know what to whatever he was out with that night!  The man's a bum, Laverne - he ain't good enough for you!"

 

"Ma lo amo, Pappa!"  Laverne held her hand over her mouth, stunned by her own outburst.  Lenny had entered the apartment, Maggie on a leash, and had heard the meaning in her words, if not their actual content.

 

"Laverne..." both men in her life said simultaneously, but she had crossed the floor to embrace Lenny. 

 

"Me amo," Laverne told Lenny, and kissed his lips gently.  Then she turned to her Pop.  "If you want Grandkids some day, you're gonna have to accept that."

 

"Grandkids?" A little note of anxiety entered Lenny's voice.

 

"Later," Laverne said gently.  They would have a lifetime of later, as far as she was concerned.

 

"I thought you didn't know any Italian," Frank said.

 

"Me neither," Laverne admitted.  "It just kinda came out."

 

"I bet you can't remember anything else," Gino countered smartly.

 

"You're right," Laverne responded cheerfully.  "But I only want to know what I need to know."

 

Frank watched the two lovers together, silently thoughtful for a moment.  "You gotta prove somethin' to me, kid," he said to Lenny.  "You gotta prove that you can take good care of my Muffin."

 

"Pop..."

 

"I can," Lenny said.  "I'll make a good living for us."

 

"Pop, we're only dating!" Laverne burst out.  "You're actin' like we're engaged!"

 

"Hey, the sooner you do that, the sooner I get grandkids!" he wrapped a bearish arm around Lenny's neck.  "How'd you feel about 'Rafaela' for a girl and 'Eddie' for a boy?"

 

Lenny sputtered beneath Frank's touch.   Alessia entered the room, a steaming platter of chicken cacciatore between her oven mitts.  "Let's get this chicken outside!" she said brightly.

 

***

 

Outside, Grandma DeFazio's neighbors had gathered, setting up tables and putting their homemade goodies out.  The brisk air required light jackets for all - or shawls, in Alessia's case.  She watched Frank lay out two piles of Chinette as she cut through the cacciatore with a knife.

 

"Fabrizo," she said softly.  "Come, sit by me." she indicated the two folding chairs Mando had dragged out for them before departing with Gino.

 

Frank reluctantly took his spot beside Alessia.  "Nice day," he said idly.

 

"Nice day for a cruise."

 

He tensed.  "Mama..."

 

"...I think you might like this," she handed him an envelope.  Reluctantly, he pulled it open. 

 

"Three tickets for the Queen Mary," Frank gasped. 

 

"I thought you might wanna bring Edna when we go," said Alessia brightly.  "She is a charming one."

 

"You had these tickets the whole time?" Frank blurted out.

 

"Yes," she said.  "But I know how important it is for you to prove your love to me.   I don't understand why you don't believe that I love you."

 

"All my life, you used to say to me - Fabrizio, stand up straight!  You shame your Papa when you slouch!  Fabrizio, learn your lessons!  This D shames your Pappa!  Ever since he died, I been tryin' to live up to him, I been takin' care of you - and none of it made your proud of me!"

 

"Of course I'm proud of you!" Alessia said softly.  "You're a good man who takes care of his family and loves his mama.  I may have been hard on you, but I wanted you to become a great man, and you did," she watched Laverne and Lenny, dancing closely to music piping down from the bandstand.  "You gave me a lovely granddaughter, who will give me lovely great-grandchildren.  For that alone, I am proud of you."

 

Frank squeezed his mamma's hand.  "I love ya, ma."

 

"I love you, bambino," she echoed. 

 

In the silence, they sat meditatively.  "When will you make a decent woman out of Edna?" Alessia asked suddenly.

 

A commotion in the middle of the crowd saved Frank.  From the higher pitch of the voices involved, Lenny was the arguer.  Alessia was on her feet and in the thick of it in minutes.

 

"...She's my dog!"  Lenny snarled, his fingers caught beneath Maggie's leash.

 

Staring him down was Wilmer Malachi.  "She's mine!  I left that mut...eh...I left her outside and she ran away."

 

"You liar!  She was starving when I saw her - and you had her tied up to a dumpster."

 

"Lenny's tellin' the truth!" Laverne interfered.  "She was dirty and wet and out in the middle of a rainstorm!"

 

"Maggot's a dumb dog," Wilmer snorted.  "She don't know where she lives.  She don't even answer to her name."

 

"Shows you what you know!  Maggie's the smartest dog I ever met."

 

"Enough with this bullshit - come on, Maggot!" He grabbed Maggie by the collar, and the dog lashed out, trying to bite his hand.  "You dumb mutt!" he reared back, ready to hit her.  Lenny had thrown himself between the Malachi’s fist and Maggie when a strong hand grabbed him by the wrist.

 

"You wanna hit a dog, Malachi?  You know that's against the law, right?" It was Anthony, his eyes sharp and cool as steel.

 

"Just 'cause she tried to bite me.  She's MY property..."

 

"Possession's nine-tenths of the law," said Anthony.  "And I got at least six witnesses willing to say Lenny's hand this dog for four days."

 

"I also got an old, rotting piece of clothesline rope and pictures of the welt around Maggie's neck!"

 

"We got cops in our family, Malachi," Anthony threatened.  "Whatta you got?  Some hoods, maybe?"

 

Wilmer sniveled, but pulled himself away from Anthony's hand, trying to remain cool.  "Keep the dumb mutt.  She should live with someone who has fleas, anyway."

 

"She don't have fleas - 'course, I'm sure you don't know the difference.  Crotch crickets usually end up going to the brain,"   Laverne retorted.

 

The wicked snickering surrounding him chased the Malachi’s down the street.

 

Lenny hugged Maggie.  "Guess you're all mine now, right girl?"

 

She barked happily.

 

"Why are we all standing around?” Alessia shouted.  “On with the festival!”

 

“Anthony,” said Shirley, “that was such a brave thing to do.”

 

“Anyone decent would’ve done it,” he shrugged.  “And I did it for Lenny.”

 

“I’m glad we’re going to be friends,” Shirley smiled.  Her smile turned to one of disgust as Squiggy planted is head against her shoulder.

 

“Hey, Shirl, since you’re not attached no more, how’d you feel about doin’ up a little wing ding with me?”

 

“When pigs fly.”

 

“I can make that happen...”

 

“Go with him,” Anthony shrugged.  Shirley did so with a smile.

 

Someone tuned up Buddy Holly and a whirlwind of dancing and eating began.   Shirley with Squiggy, Lenny with Laverne, Frank with Edna.  Alessia felt a tapping at her shoulder, and it was Anthony.  “Can you dance, Grandma?”

 

“As well as any girl your age,” she retorted.  He took her into the crowd’s midst dancing. 

 

 

***

 

The next morning, Alessia found herself among the family, bustling them through breakfast in preparation of the Monday morning bus.

 

“Do not forget your guitar, Leonardo!” she scolded. 

 

“I wasn’t gonna,” he took it back from her.  Quickly, he gave her a hard hug.  “Thanks, Grandma.  If you wanna keep Maggie...”

 

“It is fate.  You are meant to keep her.  You treat the bambina well.  Make sure she eats!”

 

“Eating’s the least of my problems!” Laverne retorted, as she emerged from the bedroom.  “Edna’s waiting for the cab downstairs - she said it’d be ten minutes.”

 

“Only ten minutes?” Shirley fretted.  “I haven’t finished looking at these brochures!”

 

“Shirl, there are medical schools in Milwaukee!”

 

“I know that - I just want to get a feel for what it costs,” Shirley sighed, dropping the pamphlets onto the table.  “Thank Cousin Mando for me...”

 

“You make keep them, Shirley.”

 

“It’s all right,” she picked up her suitcase.  “I won’t be attending school in New York, anyway.”

 

Laverne took her friend aside.  “You wanna stay here, Shirl?”

 

She had been considering it, but that was a fact that only her best friend knew.  “I was thinking about it,”  she admitted to the curious stares of Alessia and Lenny.  “But I can’t.  I don’t have the money.”

 

“You may stay with me,” Alessia offered grandly.

 

“No,” Shirley said.  “I’m gonna make my own way - no more relying on anyone - especially not men!”

 

“Not even me, love chops?” Squiggy asked, puckering up.

 

“Andrew, save your lips for someone who wants them.”

 

Squiggy rolled his eyes.  “Ernestine wants ‘em all right - but she’s saving herself for marriage.”

 

“She told you that?” Lenny asked.

 

“Yes she told me that,” Squiggy mocked.  “She’s a classy girl with principles.”

 

“And a lotta hair,” Lenny retorted.

 

“You ready to start fightin’ Laverne for the razor every morning?”

 

Lenny blushed and looked at his girlfriend.  “You know we ain’t that far along!”

 

“Yeah Squig - we’re datin’.” Laverne retorted, pulling the strap of her shoulder bag up.

 

“Well, I’m gonna keep writin’ Ernestine.  She’s a real keeper.”

 

“Boy, you have a girlfriend - I got a girlfriend - Shirl don’t got a boyfriend.”

 

“Yeah - that must mean the end of the world’s nigh,” Frank noted tartly, as he entered the room from the bathroom.  Below, a horn honked.  “Okay!  Everybody out!”  he looked at Lenny and Squiggy.  “You two, what’re you doing with the dog?”

 

“Oh, we got a real great plan!” Lenny smiled.  “We’re puttin’ a coat on Squig...”

 

“...and some dark glasses...” Squiggy added, putting them on.

 

“...and we’re gonna pretend Maggie’s a seeing-eye dog!”

 

“So don’t no one squeal!” Squiggy said, taking the dog’s leash.  “’Cmon, mutt.”  Maggie pranced Squiggy to the door - but not without banging him into the wall. 

 

“Lemme help you with your bags,” Lenny said to the girls.

 

“Aww, that’s so sweet of you, Len,” Laverne said, handing over two heavy suitcases. 

 

“And you can take these,” Shirley said, looping her purse around his neck.  “And this,” she stuck a traveling case under his chin.

 

“It’s practice for marriage,” Frank told an overloaded Lenny as he followed the girls out the door.   Now alone, the mother and son embraced.

 

“Be easy with him.  Do not press him to give your daughter what neither are ready for.  Love is like an olive.”

 

“You’re tellin’ me not to squash their olive?” Frank retorted, and Alessia heaved a sigh.

 

“I’m telling you to tend their garden,” she said.  “And you call me every week!  I want to be able to recognize your voice when we go on the cruise next year!”

 

“Every week!  I promise, Ma!”

 

A horn honked below.  “You go and take care of our Laverne.”

 

At Frank’s departure, Alessia rushed over to the window, just in time to see Lenny and Laverne reach one of the two cabs waiting for them.  He pulled open the door and held it for Laverne, then let Frank climb in after her.  Alessia waved, and he looked up, his blue eyes lit from within with merriment.  He waved, smiled and disappeared from view, but not from her heart.

To Part 7
To Part 9