Remember the Time

Chapter 82

February 22nd, 1999

Mariah laid her head down on Michael's chest as he pulled the comforter up around them both. He spent the day recording while Mariah took some time out with the twins.

“So how was the park?” Michael asked.

Mariah huffed. “Terrible. There were paparazzi everywhere, then the fans started to notice and crowded around chanting and stuff. They scared the babies.”

Michael scrunched up his face in irritation. “They're not even speaking in complete sentences and they're already being chased around by those bastards.”

He frowned. “They're never gonna have a normal life.”

She nodded. “They'll have to get used to it. I'll just get something for their ears so all the yelling-”

“I don’t want them to experience that though--having their pictures taken by strangers and stuff.”

Mariah twisted her lips to the side, licking her teeth in what seemed like contemplation. With the girls getting older, it was going to be harder to keep them safe and their identities obscured. They weren’t always going to be with mommy and daddy, a harsh reality Michael and Mariah discussed before. The question they always found themselves facing was how to make sure their own fame didn’t interfere with their children leading relatively normal lives.

“Wait! I have an idea!” Michael shouted. “What if we covered their faces?”

Mariah sat up, looking at Michael curiously. “Covered their faces?”

Michael nodded. “Like put veils over the faces so that way when we're with them no one knows what they look like and when they're not with us they can walk around like normal kids.”

She wrinkled her nose. “That's not gonna work.”

“Why not?”

“One, they're babies. They won't keep them on, hell Noni barely can keep her glasses on her face.” Mariah pointed out. “Two, the babies are always with us. What would even be the point of doing it?”

“Well say they went out with a nanny-”

“We don't have a nanny!”

“Well if we did, then they could go out completely unnoticed.” Michael explained.

Mariah rolled her eyes. “Do you not hear yourself?”

Michael folded his arms. “Look, I don't want our kids to end up like the Lindberg baby or something.”

“You do realize we have Presidential level security, right?”

He shrugged. “Nobody is gonna protect my kids like I'll protect them.”

March 15th, 1999

Mariah walked out of the conference room with Mary and Louise. Tommy was pushing for her to work on a new album so she could fulfill her contract. She was planning on getting the album done as quickly as possible so she could focus her attention on other ventures.

“So I'll start looking to see when you can get in the studio.” Louise said.

Mariah nodded. “I've got some songs written already, I just need to figure out who I wanna work with.”

As she turned the corner, she noticed Tommy in the hallway with a shapely woman. Mariah narrowed her eyes as the woman flirtatiously flipped her dark hair over her shoulder while Tommy grinned seductively.

She tried to turn around so Tommy wouldn’t see her, but it was too late.

“Mariah!” Tommy gestured for her to come over. “I have someone for you to meet.”