Remember the Time

Chapter 6

August 25th, 1996

Michael hated taking pictures, but he'd do it for Mariah. They had to take their engagement pictures before he left the country for the Save the Date invitations. He also had to convince her to call her mother; he didn't particularly like Pat for what she had done, but he felt like it wouldn't be right for her to find out through the media or  after the wedding.

He adjusted his tie and went downstairs where Mariah's stylist was just finishing up her makeup. She was wearing a tight red dress that Michael had half a mind to rip off her and say damn the photos, but she'd probably slap him if he did.

"Hey handsome." She said, observing herself in the mirror.

He put his arms around her waist. "Do you have anything important to do after this?"

She giggled. "No, but you have rehearsals, remember?"

He groaned. "They can wait."

"You better calm down before we take these pictures. I know your mother doesn't want to see the 'force' in full effect." Mariah said.

He laughed. "She doesn't know about the force."

Mariah raised an eyebrow. "What does she think the song is about?"

"I told her it wasn't about that, I forgot what I told her though." He said.

She shook her head. "Boy, you out here lying to ya mama?"

"Oh hush. I bet your mom doesn't know you lost it to me and not Tommy, Ms. I Wanna Wait Until Marriage." He pointed out.

Mariah rolled her eyes. "She can go to Hell."

"Don't be like that. That's your mom." He said. "I'm sure she has a reasonable explanation."

"Yeah, she does. He bought her." She folded her arms. "I don't want to talk about her right now, babe."

"Okay," He gave her a light brush on the lips. "Let's go take these pictures so I can take that dress off of you."

She laughed. "You're not taking this off, you have to work on your tank."

"I told you. I'm not worried about that tank, I worried about what's under that dress." He said.

"Like you don't know."

"I do know. That's why I'm trying to get back in there."

Mariah laughed, shaking her head and walked out of the bedroom to the living room. He followed her and Elizabeth was sitting in the living room with the photographer.

"You two look amazing." She said in her annoyingly high pitched voice. She seemed nice enough, but Michael couldn't get past her voice. It was grating to be generous, but he wouldn't be around her much longer and as long as she did her job to Mariah's standards he couldn't complain.

Mariah grinned. "Thank you. So, I guess we could take this outside then?"

Michael nodded. "Yeah, let's go to the spot I took you to when we were watching the fireworks."

"Okay." Mariah nodded and followed him outside. It was early in the morning, so the ranch was bathed in a golden hue. They walked down the stone path for a little distance until they reached the hill where Mariah and Michael had sat and watched the fireworks while his siblings had been preparing the surprise.

"This is nice. Really scenic." Elizabeth observed. "If we stand back here, there's a really beautiful silhouette with you two right now."

The photographer raised an eyebrow at Mariah. "How tall are you?"