Stay the Night

Chapter 10

February 23rd, 2002

Mariah slammed down the top of her suitcase and hurried out of the bedroom to sit it by the front door. As soon as Katherine gave her the news about her father having cancer, she booked the first flight to New York to find out exactly what was going on.

While she waited on Wayne to show up and take her to the airport, she pulled out her cell phone and dialed Michael's number.

The phone rang a few times before going into voicemail.

"Hey baby, I just got a call from your mom about my dad. I'm gonna be flying to New York to see what's going on. It's really important, so please call me when you can. Love you, bye."

She hung up the phone and walked into the kitchen to get herself something to drink before Wayne arrived.

As her mind raced with thoughts of all of the things that her father was going through, she returned to the living room, with an already half-empty wine bottle in tow. She tried stay positive; Her father was pretty healthy up until this point, so she figured a few rounds of chemotherapy would be enough for her him to kick the cancer.

At the same time, though, it was just all happening so fast for her. It seemed that every time she tried to pick herself up, life just threw something else in her way.

March 1st, 2002

Achoo!

Carey's little lungs were about to blow a gasket. He'd somehow caught the common cold and was sneezing over everything.

Nicole stared quizzically at her little brother. She chowed down on a S'more that Karrin made for her--her attention divided between her favorite TV show, Rugrats, and Carey. Allthewhile, Noelle focused on the show and Elizabeth napped.

"Baby brother you want some S'more?" She asked.

Carey turned his head.

"Huh?" She prompted.

Carey didn't move. But he did sneeze.

Nicole grimaced. "Baby brother, stop sneezing!"

"Don't tell my baby brother what to do!" Noelle shouted.

Nicole threw her graham cracker at Noelle's forehead. "You so stupid, Noni!"

"Nuh uh!" Noelle shot back, preparing to hurl the cracker back at her sister.

"Both of y'all, stop that!" Karrin demanded. "That's not nice. How do you think your Daddy would feel if you were saying these things?"

Nicole folded her arms.

"Hey! Ms. Attitude-"

Nicole turned away from the woman, storming over toward the balcony door. She gripped the sides of her stomach.

"Nicole, come back here!" Karrin shouted.

"No!"

Nicole could hear Karrin approaching her from behind. She took the opportunity to run back over toward Carey.

When Karrin followed, Nicole hugged Carey--holding onto the baby for protection from Karrin's wrath.

"Nicki, let go of him!" Karrin demanded.

Nicole shook her head, vigorously. She tried to crawl under Carey's body pillow, but he wouldn't move.

"Nicki, stop it!" Noelle yelled from her seat directly front of the TV. The younger twin promptly ran over to the body pillow to push her sister away.