Spring Valley couple’s love story was 52 years in the making

Vince Sacco and Mary-Jo Cinquemani are convinced their families were destined to merge.

Sitting inside their Spring Valley apartment, Mary-Jo pulled out a vintage photo of a grade-school class.

"Here's my dad, and here's Mary-Jo's mother," Vince pointed out. "So we go back to at least 1941. My dad had a crush on her mother."

It wasn't until recently that the two learned of the connection.

"Somewhere down the line, the families were supposed to get together," Vince said. "I'm just glad it wasn't my father or else I would be married to my sister right now, and that wouldn't look good."

Destiny took its time. Mary-Jo and Vince first met at age 5 in kindergarten in 1963. Later, at 10, Vince was shy, but smitten.

"She sat in front of me in fourth grade, and all I could do was daydream about her," he wrote in a personal story he calls "She's the One." "I was her Alfalfa; she, my Darla. I was a very shy little boy, but I worked up the courage at age 10 to ask her to be my girlfriend. To my surprise, she said yes."

Vince and his mother bought Mary-Jo an ID bracelet crafted from pot metal for her birthday. She said she still has it, along with a newer version.

After six months together, the two realized they were too young to be in a relationship and amicably split. Even then, Vince was convinced some day they would end up together.

Growing up in the section of New York immortalized in the 1993 film "A Bronx Tale," Vince and Mary-Jo couldn't help but bump into each other.

In eighth grade at Our Lady of Mount Carmel, Vince searched for her at the prom. He spotted her across the room but couldn't work up the nerve to ask her to dance. He turned to chat with his friends and felt a tap on his shoulder.

"It was her saying, 'Do you want to dance?' And I said, 'You talkin' to me?' She danced, and I just floated because I was sold by this girl at the time. She stole my heart," Vince said.

The dance ended, and she vanished. It was often like that.

Vince joined the Navy in 1974. In 1977, he was home from a tour of duty in Europe. As he was unloading gear in front of his folks' house, a car pulled up, the window rolled down, and it was Mary-Jo asking him to go dancing. They went and had a wonderful evening. And then she was gone. In the summer of 1978, it was the same thing: She strolled with him through New York's Botanical Gardens and danced with him into the night and then disappeared.

In December 1978, Mary-Jo announced she was moving to California. Vince, who was still in the Navy and couldn't follow her, was devastated, but he clung to hope.

"Do what you have to do," he recalled telling her. "There is no doubt in my mind that you and I are destined to be together. It might happen when we are in our 70s or 80s, but it will happen."

While many tell tales of star-crossed lovers, Vince is convinced he and Mary-Jo are bound by the stars.

"We were born in the same year, same month, same week, under the same moon," he explained. "We're celestial twins."

Born almost a week apart with Pisces as their sign, Mary-Jo and Vince wear fish necklaces depicting the Pisces fish as Yin and Yang, two contrasting but complementary halves.

In June 1979, she was visiting New York for a friend's wedding, and he was home on leave from the Navy. She invited him to be her wedding date. Mary-Jo held up a photo of the two of them from the wedding, she in a strapless blue dress, he in a white Bill Blass suit much like the one John Travolta wore in the 1977 film "Saturday Night Fever."

In 1983, Vince's sister invited him to go with her to a wedding. He said, "Sure, who doesn't love an Italian wedding?" The catch — the bride was Mary-Jo.

"She was the most beautiful bride I had ever seen. I just wasn't the handsome groom," he said. "Even in church, I couldn't raise my hand to object to it. It was her day, and I didn't want to ruin it."

"And you didn't know how I felt about you," Mary-Jo added.

Vince married and settled in Orlando, Fla. Mary-Jo was in California. Every so often, they would think of each other, but they wouldn't meet again until 1999. Mary-Jo's parents were in Florida when her father was rushed to a Palm Beach hospital. Mary-Jo called Vince, and he drove three hours to see her.

"All I could say when I saw her was, 'Wow'; 16 years later and more beautiful," he said.

In 2002, Vince was back in New York, and Mary-Jo was visiting family. The two met for cappuccino, and Vince told her he was getting married. Her marriage was going through a rocky point, and she was crazy about Vince, but this time she was the one who stayed quiet and wished him well.

In 2009, Mary-Jo was visiting New York and invited Vince out for coffee. Vince wrote her a letter to tell her how he had felt all those years.

"I thought it might be the last time I would see her," he said. "I didn't want to take my secret to my grave. I wanted her to know how long and how much in love with her I was and that I would always be there for her. All she had to do was call."

Mary-Jo and her cousin met Vince at a diner, and he slipped Mary-Jo the letter and told her not to read it until she was on the plane back to California. Her eventual reply was, "I've never wanted you more than I do now."

Both of their marriages, his second and her first, were crumbing. They chatted by phone almost every day as he tried to boost her confidence and encourage her to rediscover her voice.

Just as Vince was convinced they were getting somewhere, Mary-Jo delivered a devastating sentence.

"I want to try to save my marriage," she said.

He wished her luck and told her he wouldn't be calling again.

Less than 24 hours later, she called him back and admitted her heart wasn't in it.

In January 2010, he got the call he had been waiting years to hear.

"I signed my divorce papers, packed my stuff, found a place to live and want to start a life with you," she said.

Vince arrived in California on Feb. 21, 2010, which is Mary-Jo's birthday. It took almost two years for both divorces to be finalized.

On July 25, 2011, they were headed to the courthouse so she could change back to her maiden name and decided they couldn't wait another day to get married.

"All my life I have waited, for not a girl like you, but for you," was the first line in Vince's self-written vows.

"I am exhilarated by how much you love me and how much you waited for me," Mary-Jo vowed. "I am here now — and this is our time, and I want to make a life with you."

— Contact View contributing reporter Ginger Meurer at gmeurer@viewnews.com. Find her on Twitter: @gingermmm