Stay the Night

Chapter 18

August 14th, 2002

“We back in business!” Jermaine Dupri said, fistbumping Mariah. “You had me scared for a minute girl. I was worried I was gonna have to sign you to So So Def.”

Mariah called Jermaine up a few days prior to schedule a studio session to put down a new song idea. When she showed up at the studio, she was greeted by a more-than-excited team of her old engineers, and of course JD himself.

Mariah rolled her eyes. “Yeah, right. You couldn't afford me.”

“Exactly! Especially not with all the promo you're gonna need after-” He paused.

“You're sure you good?”

She nodded. “Better than ever.”

She picked up her glass of wine and glanced back down at her notebook. “You don't know how bad I've been wanting to be in the studio.”

“Uh oh, what he do?”

Mariah raised an eyebrow. “Michael? Oh we're fine, I'm talking about myself. After that damn funeral and then there’s this note that my dad wrote where he basically said I wasn't his daughter…” She closed her eyes, trying to find her center. “So I've been dealing with that, and then with Mike and the kids gone it's all I've been thinking about. I mean, I can only clean the house so many times.”

Jermaine appeared shell-shocked. “Wait, your dad said what?”

Mariah rested her chin on her fist. “That he didn't think I was his.”

“Wow...talk about deathbed confessions.” He replied. “So how are you feeling about that?”

“How am I supposed to feel? I almost wanna believe that somebody else wrote it.” She sighed. “But I know that's not true. My grandmother never thought I was his either.”

Jermaine shrugged.

“Well- I mean- It still could be fake. How do you even know it’s not?”

“Because Michael knew about it. He's the one that found the letter.” She explained. “Now where would he even see that if not from my father?”

Jermaine went quiet for a moment before slamming his hand on the table and pointing at her. “Your sister planted it!”

Mariah raised an eyebrow. “I don't think Alison's even smart enough to pull that off.”

But you are making me realize something...

August 17th, 2002

After a week of performances, Michael had somehow ended up back in Germany and decided to meet with Martin Bashir for filming. Dressed in a silk green shirt and black pants, he was seated on a pillow as he talked to Bashir about his views on the world and how he felt people viewed him. He was starting to relax around the man and was able let himself really open up on camera like never before.

Bashir leaned into him. “Do you sometimes despair of human nature?”

Michael smiled in spite of himself. “Yes. Yes, of course.”

“Can you do anything that's right?” Bashir continued.

Michael looked away and swallowed hard. “No. No. No, no, no--No matter what you do there's always somebody who will say something about it. You have--they're opinionated, you know? No matter what you do. No matter how well you--how good your intentions are there's always some jerk, some mean spirited person to try to bring you down and all you wanted to do was bring some love, some joy, you know?” He chuckled sadly. “That's all.”