Little Girl Don't Grow Up Too Fast

What the World Needs to Know

 The queen of country arrived a few hours before the show, excited for yet another opportunity to play at the home of country music, the Grand Ole Opry. Her team accompanied her in the dressing room, making small chat and helping her get ready. Her manager, Ann, was aware of Charlotte and had been planning for a big press release to come when the time was right.

"So are Mike and Charlotte coming tonight?" Ann asked Carrie.

"Yes," Carrie nodded. "I'm so happy that she gets to be here with me but my stomach has been in knots about it. I still don't know how to really go about it."

"I do have something we can go with if you want, but you may not like it," Ann admitted.

"Do share."

"You can make Charlotte known tonight in whatever way, shape, or form, then I can confirm it in a press release. Oprah has been wanting to get an interview with you and she would be a great person to cover the whole entire with. We can even have Charlotte and Mike go on there too."

"I don't know about that," Carrie hesitated.

"I know, just think about it," Ann told her. "You don't have a ton of time though."

"I know, I'm honestly so nervous about tonight. Not knowing what other people may think of this is making me sick," the country star admitted.

Melissa, who was working on her hair, set the curling iron down and turn Carrie's chair to face her. "Care, don't get yourself worked up about something like this. You shouldn't be concerned about what the press thinks about your personal life. You're getting a chance to develop a relationship with your daughter that you never gave yourself before and because of that you've become so much stronger and happier than I've ever seen you. Whether the media sees that, who cares? All of the people that love you and support you see it and are so proud of you."

At that point, Carrie had tears streaming down her face, just from being overwhelmed with emotion. Her, Melissa, and Ann had become so close ever since her career started in the first place and they had always been by her side, even when things weren't all that pretty. She hugged the both of them, so thankful that she could have women like them in her life.

"I'm sorry, I probably screwed up my makeup," Carrie giggled, looking in the mirror and trying to fix it.

"Don't worry about it. Sit down and let me fix it," Melissa instructed her. Once the singer had finally composed herself and she was in a much calmer state, Melissa decided to make small talk with her like always. "So when are Charlotte and Mike getting here?"

"Um, probably soon. I know once she was home from school and Mike was back from practice they were going to get changed and head over. Traffic is probably bad as always though."

"Charlotte must be so excited," Melissa noted.

"Oh my gosh, yes," Carrie instantly lit up thinking about her daughter. "Sometimes I forget that's how we reconnected in the first place is because she was such a big fan of mine."

"How's Mike been handling it all?"

"A lot differently than how he was at first, that's for sure," Carrie lightly joked, but was still serious. "Honestly though, he's been so amazing and he's trusted me so much, and we're so comfortable with each other. Like when something comes up with Charlotte, we aren't afraid to meet and talk about it or call each other."

"Wait, Care," Melissa stopped her.

"What?"

"Do you still have feelings for Mike?" Melissa questioned.

"What?! No!" Carrie started to get defensive and hide herself from blushing.

Melissa's eyebrows raised, "I'm just asking. It's okay if you do."

"There's the country queen!" Ivey squealed as she hopped into Carrie's dressing room. "And some stragglers followed me in!"

Following behind here was Charlotte in a pretty floral laced dressed that ended right above her knees, with cute brown cowgirl boots, and her beautiful blonde hair was down and straight, sweeping past her shoulders. "There's my gorgeous girl!"

"Mom, you're so pretty! I love that dress," Charlotte admired, hugging her mother.

"Awe, thanks," Carrie smiled. As she was hugging her daughter, she then caught a glimpse of Mike. He seemed so tall and handsome in his buttoned down shirt, blazer, and dress pants, his short hair neatly swept back. She couldn't help but notice the bouquet of flowers he was holding. Once she let go of Charlotte, she knew she was caught staring so she couldn't just ignore Mike.

"Hi," Mike smiled as she approached him.

"Hey, thanks for coming."

"Yeah, you look beautiful," he told her, wanting to hit himself for saying that out loud. Carrie blushed, trying to hide it knowing eyes were on her.

"Ooo, I forgot! We picked these out special for you!" Charlotte squealed, grabbing the bouquet of flowers from her father.

"Oh my, these are beautiful! Thank you so much," Carrie's eyes lit up. Her face was so red at that point as she made eye contact with Mike, knowing that he was the one that had bought them.

"Carrie, you should probably head out there. You gotta go on soon," Ann said.

Carrie's team of people started filing out of the dressing room, Carrie following them. Right before exiting the room, Melissa walked by and tapped Carrie on the shoulder before quietly telling her. "Yeah, there's no way there's nothing between you two."

Before she knew it, Carrie was taking the Opry stage as she heard the intro to Wasted starting to play. As she belted out all of the high notes to the hit song, she glanced to the side of the stage where she saw her daughter, happy as can be, singing and dancing along. It was in that moment that Carrie knew what she wanted to do. It was going to open a whole can of worms, but it was time.

"Thank you," she told the crowd as the first song of the night came to an end and they were clapping and cheering her on. She had suddenly became so nervous and so self conscious in that moment. She felt as though she was going to pass out on stage thinking about what she was about to do. Sending a little prayer up to God, she took a deep breath, and did what she had to do.

"So someone very special to me is here tonight," Carrie began. "I wasn't in the best health and frame of mind twelve years ago before everything took off, and that caused me to make a mistake that I'll have to live with my entire life. But I'm so glad that I was given a second chance to make things right, and getting to know her and getting to have a relationship with her has been the best thing that's ever happened to me. So Charlotte Marie, this one's for you."

She knew the audience was probably left confused for the moment, but also knew that the story would spill soon especially when the music to All-American Girl began to play. It was going to be a long road ahead, but she used the rest of her time on stage to hide from whatever was going to go on off stage. She looked to the side of the stage once again, her daughter smiling brightly at her, and in that moment she knew that despite all of the chaos that this might cause, no matter who she may piss off, even if her career was going to fall to shambles, she made her little girl proud, and that was enough for her.

The band ended the show with Blown Away and Carrie thanked all of her fans going out that night to see her before she exited the stage, immediately taking a hold of Charlotte, wrapping her up in her arms. Charlotte was so thankful that this didn't have to be a secret anymore, and she felt as if this really gave her assurance that her mom wasn't going to take off and leave her again. She was there for the long haul.