Stay the Night

Chapter 41

October 21st, 2003

Michael laid on the couch watching his kids play. Mariah had locked herself in the bedroom with her humidifier since it was the day in between shows. Her rituals around preserving her voice seemed so dramatic to him in a way. She would just sleep in the room with humidifier and not speak to anyone.  Not that it mattered anyway, his wife had been distant lately and as the days went by it seemed more and more unsettling. He could hear her late at night pacing the floor and mumbling to herself, but he could never catch what she was saying. They were nearly leading separate lives. 

"Hey, Mike."

He turned his head at the sound of Karrin's voice. "Yeah, Kay?"

The young woman came out of the bedroom, dressed in a tight white tank top and blue jean shorts. 

"The little one's out of milk, is it safe to ask the queen-" Karrin rolled her eyes jokingly. "if she's willing to pump?"

Michael smirked. "Good luck, you know it's one of her quiet days."

"Thank God." Karrin replied before sauntering over to Mariah's room.

Knock. Knock. Knock.

A few moments went by before the door slowly creaked open. Mariah rubbed her eyes and tilted her head to the side at Karrin.

"Mommy!" Elizabeth shouted gleefully, rushing over to hug her mother's leg. 

Michael narrowed his eyes as Mariah gently pulled away from their daughter, focusing on Karrin. 

"Melanie is out of milk." Karrin explained, taking ahold of Elizabeth's hand. 

Mariah nodded and disappeared into her room before returning to the door with two bag of breastmilk. 

"Thanks." Karrin said, taking the bags. 

Mariah nodded again and closed the door, presumably to go back to sleep. 

Michael leaned back on the couch, bothered by her rejection of Elizabeth. Of course, without her saying anything the interaction may have came across harsher than she intended, but her recent behavior said otherwise. He felt like they may have been leading separate lives, but Mariah seemed to avoid Elizabeth at all costs, more than the rest of the children. She was unnecessarily rough or harsh, awkward would be a better word to describe the interactions between mother and daughter. Michael tried to compensate for Mariah's strange behavior, but with his own projects coming up soon he wasn't sure how much longer he'd be able to do so.

Karrin re-entered the living room with Melanie on her hip and a bottle in her other hand. She settled beside Michael on the couch before giving Melanie the bottle. 

Michael grinned. "You'll make a great mother one day."

"Ha! You and Mariah have given me five reasons why I should never have kids." She laughed. "I don't know how you all do this, especially with all of the traveling and the fame. Hell, I can't even leave the hotel anymore because people keep seeing me with y 'all." w

"Watch your language in front of my babies." He chided, before continuing. "I'm just saying, you're a natural."

Karrin smirked before turning back to Melanie.

"What?" Michael inquired.

"Nothing." She shook her head. "Nothing at all."

November 8th, 2003

Mariah hated to admit it, she was actually glad that Karrin had come along. Karrin was actually fairly competent with the kids and now that Michael was prepping to leave for the states to promote his last Sony album, Number Ones she would be leaning on the girl even more. He would shooting a music video in Vegas and that shoot would wrap just in time for him to meet her and the kids at home for a break before she went to Portland to continue her tour.