Stay the Night

Chapter 60

September 1st, 2004

Mariah was sitting in the studio, working on two new songs for her album. Karrin left Michael the night before, and Mariah hoped it was for good. She couldn't stand seeing the girl with her husband, almost acting as if she were above her in some way. Mariah chuckled at the thought.

Every night since she moved in, Michael would come to her in the night, and they'd talk. It was the intimacy she craved when they were married, how he'd hold her and just talk. No sex, just good conversation. Yet, there was a part of her that knew it wasn't real. The Michael she met, the Michael she married, and the Michael she had now were three distinct men, each with their own flaws. 

Keep trying to convince myself
You ain't no good for me
Make futile resolutions
That I'm gonna let you be

She paused. How can I let him go when he's the only man I've ever loved? He gave me my children, my home, and I'm supposed to just let him go? 

But every time you come back
My defenses start to wane
And I can hardly break away
And then I go
When I, when I, when I feel it

She tapped her pen on the table, staring at the lyrics. Once she knew she was satisfied, she pushed the pad aside.

She rested her chin on her hand and tapped the table. She was waiting for her co-producer, James Poyser, to meet her. They were finishing up a track she'd written called 'Mine Again.' She wrote the song months ago but scrapped it after finding out about Karrin. Recently, she'd been more reflective and decided to record the song, allowing herself to feel the full range of emotions the situation had caused.

Was it my fault?

It was a question that she kept finding herself coming to, though she couldn't really determine was 'it' was. 

She looked down at her wedding ring, toying with the band. Sometimes she wondered if it were cursed. She knew it was a silly thought, but she couldn't help but wonder. Michael first proposed to her on tour with the ring, only for her to find out that he had a brief fling with Naomi Campbell when they may or may not had been on a break with one another. He re-proposed with the ring after they made up and she threw it at him and stormed out after she lost Prince. Only for him to propose again three years later, this time with an added band. Then he finally moved it from her right hand to left and made her a wife. Only to cheat twice.

She pulled her book back towards her and re-read the lyrics. She could feel the love for her husband deep inside of her, waiting for her to take him back and make things right again. Maybe she would.

September 6th, 2004

Janet was sitting in Michael's kitchen while her brother cooked lunch for the house. The older kids were running around outside while Melanie sat in her highchair, babbling to herself.

Janet leaned over and pinched her niece's cheek. "What you talking about, Red?"

"She's always talking about something," Michael laughed. "She's a mess already,"

Janet smirked. "So who's more of a diva? Melanie or Lizzie?"

Michael paused; Janet could hear him tapping his foot as he thought. "I'll say Lizzie, only because Lizzie can say more than 'eat eat' right now,"

"Eat!" Melanie shouted, eliciting a laugh from her father.

"I'm getting it ready, baby," He assured the one-year-old. 

Janet looked over her shoulder to check in with the kids. Nicole and Noelle were kicking around a soccer ball while Elizabeth sat under the shade of an umbrella, watching with disinterest.