Stay the Night

Chapter 5

October 1st, 2001

Mariah was eating her lunch while the nurse prepared her medication. The expecting mother took another spoonful of her bland jello with one hand, writing in her notebook with the other.

"Is there something wrong with the phones?" Mariah asked the nurse, barely looking away from her notebook. "I've been trying to get in touch with my family and nothing's going through."

The nurse, Barbara, turned to her with an uncharacteristically serious expression. "It might be because of the terrorist attacks. Everything's been pretty crazy since then."

"What do you mean?"

"It happened about two weeks ago. Good thing you left New York when you did." Barbara replied.

Mariah, stunned, slouched in her bed. "But my sister-" She tilted her head back up to meet the nurse's eyes. "Did my husband say anything about my sister?"

"Well, I haven't heard anything on the news. It was pretty bad though. Hundreds of people died and a lot are in critical condition. It was crazy too because of how fast it happened. When the first plane crashed, it was already a shit show. Then it happened in D.C. Then a second one hit the second tower. It was all a lot to grasp."

"There were three crashes! And no one thought it would be smart to tell me?" She questioned.

Barbara shrugged. "You're technically not in a place to hear it. You need to focus on recovering, not terrorism."

Mariah grimaced. Who was Barbara to tell her what she did and didn't need to know about, especially with her three children roaming around without her oversight.

Mariah gave up on her attempt at lunch, opting to chuck the plastic spoon down on the tray table beside her.

Knock. Knock.

Mariah glanced at the door. It was probably Michael. "Come-"

Swoosh.

"-In..."

Without warning Michael hurried into the room, Elizabeth in his arms, and Nicole and Noelle following close behind like little ducklings. Barbara saw her way out.

Mariah didn't know whether to smile or chuck a knife at her husband.

"Look Donut, there's Mommy." Michael said, pointing at his wife.

Mariah settled on a smile.

Elizabeth stared at her mother, clearly unsure of what to do. It was only Mariah's third time seeing the girls in nearly two weeks and she missed them more than they'd ever know. They seemed to be attempting to warm back up to her, but she could still sense their hesitance.

Mariah cleared her throat.

"Mike, can I talk to you for a second?"

Michael raised an eyebrow. "What's up?"

"There was a plane crash?"

He didn't say anything.

Mariah took a deep breath. "Why didn't you tell me?"

"You didn't need to know."

"You don't get to choose what I need to know!" She exclaimed.

She retained her composure. "Now tell me the real reason why you thought it was a smart idea to leave that out of our conversations."

Michael, shook, opened his mouth to speak. "Okay, I'll explain."

He sat down in the chair beside her bed, Elizabeth on his lap while the twins sat in the other two chairs. "First of all, I wanted to tell you that I got custody of the girls again."