Time

Nineteen part four.

I realized standing in the doorway of that room, that, that's what she was ultimately asking me to do. I smiled and helped her on top of the piano like I used to before I sat down at the bench and took a breath with my fingers on the keys. "P?" She whispered gently, snapping me out of the trance I was in. "I w..want you to start performing a..again. I know y..you miss it." I raised my eyebrows and laughed quietly as I began a ballad of She's Always in My Hair and thought about how right she was. She knew. My fingers moved across the keys with ease and I smiled when I saw her watch me with her head tilted. I did miss it. But it wasn't my priority. My priorities had shifted drastically once we got Ian, once Mya's issues with her pregnancy made themselves known. I had been successful for a long time and I had come to understand that God was telling me to spend time with those I loved most because tomorrow was never promised.

I was okay to never perform again, to never release another album if it meant choosing between my family and my career. "I do, you're right. But I have new responsibilities and desires now and that's raising a family with you. You've given me the best gift, something music cannot ever provide." Mya wasn't satisfied with my answer and shook her head while I played, switching into Elephants and Flowers as she bent her knees. She was adamant. The itch was always there in the back of my mind - intensifying whenever I created or played an instrument and regardless of how much I tried to hide it, Mya still knew me like the back of her hand.

Getting on top of the piano and sitting with her, I toyed with the ring on her finger and kissed her slowly, taking her bottom lip in between my teeth as I tried to divert the conversation. In a lustful manner, my hand instinctively went to her breast without thinking and Mya whined, softly pushing my hand off of her body almost immediately. Her breasts weren't that much bigger than before she got pregnant, but they were extremely sensitive. I frowned when I blinked and didn't see her in front of me anymore. She wasn't even in the room. I was beating myself up as I walked back towards the bedroom to go apologize, calling her name every now and then to see if I could hear her movements. I felt horrible.

"Babe? Are you in here?" I whispered, peeking my head around the corner into the entrance of the bathroom where I found Mya in the tub with a washcloth over the breast that I touched. She was sweating and I could see that her breast was throbbing and extremely swollen. She was hurting so much that her knuckles were turning white and I grabbed her cellphone out of the drawer in a panic before walking back into the bathroom. She didn't move, but she raised her head just enough to see me standing there with the phone up to my ear. It rang twice before the person I wanted to hear picked up. "Good morning Miss Mya. Is everything okay?" Dr. Smith asked, sounding like she was on call and walking somewhere. By the time I looked at Mya again, she was out of the tub and in bed, the washcloth under her like it'd been so many times before.

"It's Prince. Um, is this a bad time?" I was panicking on the inside, but Mya's doctor kindly told me that it was never a bad time, and that we could call any time we needed. I liked her. "I went ahead and took Mya and Ian on that vacation I told you about. But um, I was wondering if we needed to fly home." I had walked out of the room so that Mya wouldn't see me begin to panic on the outside and become worse than she already was.

"Okay, take a breath and tell me what's going on. You sound terrified." The sound of her sitting down in a chair was heard and I did what she said, slowly beginning to explain. "Mya's breasts have became extremely sensitive and she's been using cold washcloths to relive pain. It's only at night. Well, I accidentally touched her about twenty minutes ago and now she's sweating, seems kind of out of it and her right breast seems to be extremely swollen and has a 'heartbeat' per say. W..what do I do? She's kind of scaring me. It just..came out of nowhere." I whispered, my voice cracking as my eyes watered with worry.