October 3rd, 1996
Michael sat back in his chair while Pat narrowed her eyes at him. He couldn't say that he was particularly fond of Pat anymore, not after all she had done to Mariah. If she was willing to sell out her own daughter, he would make an effort to tread lightly with her.
"My daughter tells me that you two are getting married." Pat said.
He nodded. "We are. On the 18th of December."
"Why are you trying to destroy her career?" Pat inquired.
"Destroy?" Michael scoffed. "You think setting her up in a faulty marriage was going to help it? Mariah and Tommy wouldn't have stayed married, not if she wanted to live."
As the words left his mouth, he felt angry all over again as he thought of the pitiful state Mariah had been in when she had first moved into Janet's house. As much as he hated to think about it, the reality of the situation was that if Mariah had stayed, there was no guarantee that she would have lived this long.
Pat rolled her eyes. "You're dramatic, just like her. Tommy wouldn't have killed her, if she got out of line-"
"Out of line?" He shook his head. "He was supposed to be her husband, not her father."
"As a wife, she had a job and she refused to do it. At that point, what was I supposed to do?" Pat questioned.
Michael curled his lip. "Are you serious? Your daughter could've been killed."
"He and I talked everyday. He told me what he did and why he did it. Mariah knew what she was doing wrong. Now she's in a dangerous position with him as her boss and her ex husband. He can destroy her if he wants to." Pat snapped.
Michael frowned. "You're forgetting something: you created that dynamic. If you had left our relationship alone, Mariah wouldn't be in this position."
"If I had left your relationship alone." She mocked. "Mariah would be in a worse position. The second those allegations came out was the moment your relationship with her put her in jeopardy. I did what I could to protect her. Tommy offered to keep her career alive and keep those allegations from affecting her."
Michael nodded. "I can understand that."
He was getting into Pat's mindset now. She didn't want to see what Tommy had done to Mariah, because she believed that he was only trying to protect Mariah and her interests. Now that the protection was gone, she was scared as to what would happen to Mariah's career.
It reminded him of a comment Mariah had made about Pat failing to protect her in her childhood. Though Mariah hadn't told him what she was referring to, he wondered if Pat felt some guilt about it and had felt some need to protect Mariah this time around.
"You can't marry her." Pat continued. "It'll-"
"I'm not here to ask for your approval." He said. "I'm marrying Mariah regardless of if you approve or not. I just wanted to mend the rift between you and Mariah so you can be there to see it."
Pat paused for a moment, glaring at him. Michael had no choice but to be honest on the matter; Mariah's father had given his blessing and Mariah herself wanted to marry him. He couldn't have cared less if Pat wasn't happy about it.
"You can't-"
"How come I can't?" He chuckled, amused by Pat's reddening face. "Mariah is a grown woman and she wants to marry me. There's nothing you can do about that."
She let out a groan. "Well, what do you want me to do?"
October 4th, 1996
Mariah, Elizabeth and Janet were in the middle of cake tasting. Janet had expected the food selection to be the easiest part of the wedding planning, but Mariah was much fussier about food than she liked.
Janet dug her fork into a vanilla cake with butter cream. "I like this one."
"You like all of them." Mariah pointed out. "Taste this one."
She pushed a plate over to Janet. "It's red velvet."
Janet frowned. "I'm not a big fan of the red velvet. Only when it's made right."
Janet glanced behind Mariah and saw Michael creeping up behind her. Before she could react, Michael put his finger up to his lips, shaking his head. Janet's eyes darted back down at the cake and she tasted it.
"You know, I like this. This was prepared right." Janet said as Michael put his hands around Mariah's eyes.
A grin spread across Mariah's face as she ran her hand across Michael's face. "This isn't who I think it is, is it?"
Michael chuckled as he pressed his lips to her ear. "It could be."
Mariah pulled his hands away and she got up from the chair, jumping on Michael and wrapping her legs around his waist while he planted a kiss on her cheek.
"What are you doing here?" Mariah asked.
Michael set her down. "I don't have another show until the seventh, so I decided that I could come here and see how things are going."
"Awww, he missed you." Janet said in a sing-song voice, causing Michael to blush.
Elizabeth was smiling as well. "You two have such a beautiful relationship. Mariah was just talking about you and I could've cried."
Janet inwardly rolled her eyes. Mariah had been explaining how she and Michael came to be and Elizabeth had thought of it as the perfect love story, but Janet didn't think so. She loved them together, but she knew their story was flawed. Michael and Mariah both had huge egos when they first met, and their previous marriages had humbled them quite a bit, particularly Mariah.
Michael laughed lightly. "Oh it's a story alright. So what's going on here?"
"We're trying to decide on the food for the wedding. Cocktail hour, reception, wedding cake all of that." Mariah explained.
Michael nodded as he took a seat next to Mariah. "So Dunk, which one's the best so far?"
Janet shrugged. "I like the marbled cake, but Mariah likes the red velvet."
He nodded. "I'll be the tie breaker."
Mariah and Janet each passed him a plate of their favorite. He took a moment, looking between the two. He took a bite of each, and then began to stare at them again.
"Both of those are really good. Is there anyway to have the layers alternating with both of the flavors?" He asked.
Janet and Mariah looked at each other.
"Why didn't we think of that?" Mariah asked.
Janet shrugged. "Sounds good to me."
October 5th, 1996
Mariah buried her head in Michael's chest, relishing in the closeness. She hadn't seen him since the beginning of September and missed him terribly. He would be leaving that evening so that he could get to Tunisia for his show, so she was spending as much time with him as possible.
Michael tightened his grip around her waist and nuzzled her neck, eliciting a quiet giggle from her. "Michael..."
"What?" He inquired, voice husky with sleep and one of his hands went from her waist to her breast.
She knew what he was up to, he had made it very clear the night before that he missed more than just her company. She was still sore.
She moved his hand. "Babe, I'm sore."
"I'm sorry." He murmured. "I just missed you."
She chuckled. "I could tell. I missed you too."
She rolled over so that she was on top of him, looking his eyes. "When will I see you again?"
"I could come back after the show in Tunisia and stay for a day before I go to Korea. After that, I have nothing. We won't see each other until the wedding." He said.
Mariah nodded. "It really sucks doing all of this without you. Janet is a really great help, but she's not you."
He rubbed her cheek with the back of his hand. "I know baby, but in two months you'll be trading in that engagement ring for a wedding ring and you'll be with me."
"At least for this leg." Mariah frowned. "I need to start recording this album soon."
Michael nodded. "Of course. I think this will be your most personal album yet."
"Why do you say that?" She inquired.
He shrugged. "Tommy won't be able to tell you what music you can and can't make. You can say what you want on this album."
She nodded. "You're right."
"Have you spoken to your mother anymore?" He asked.
Mariah raised an eyebrow. "Who?"
"Your mother." He repeated, a bit louder.
Mariah shook her head. "Who?"
"Patricia Carey." He said.
She shrugged. "I don't know her."
Michael laughed. "That's cold-blooded. I'm sure your mom would love to hear from you."
Mariah sat up and yawned. "You say that like you've talked to her."
Michael looked out of the window and Mariah froze. "You talked to her, didn't you?"
"I had to." He defended. "I just couldn't bring myself to marry you without talking to both of your parents."
She threw a pillow at him and got out of the bed.
"Where are you going?"
Mariah ignored him and slammed the bedroom door as she left the master suite and walked outside. She didn't even want to see Michael at that moment. Pressuring her to talk to her mother was one thing, seeing her behind her back was something altogether.