Our Greatest Love Of All

Chapter 11: The Grammy Awards Pt. 1

March 1, 1994

Michael's POV

Tonight was the 36th Annual Grammy Awards, and Whitney was to attend as she was nominated for three awards. I can't even begin to describe how proud I am of this woman, and how far she's come as an artist and a vocalist. And to even have her as a girlfriend and the mother of my child is an absolute honor within itself.

But it was all going to change tonight... For you see, inside my pocket, I had a beautiful engagement ring that I was going to propose to Whitney with. Prior to coming to the event, I had informed both Whitney's parents of my proposal privately and they were absolutely thrilled for us. Unfortunately, John couldn't make it as he volunteered to watch Bobbi Kristina. However, Cissy was able to come and she even brought Whitney's honorary aunt, Aretha Franklin!

Aside from her being pregnant with our child, this is someone that I absolutely can't imagine my life without and I felt that I found my true match with Whitney.

Whitney's POV

While the evening continued to roll on, the winner for the Record of the Year was about to be announced. Unfortunately, I didn't win the Best Female R&B Vocal Performance, but I did win the Best Female Pop Vocal Performance and especially the Album of the Year. I just hope I can be fortunate enough to get this win!

As Michael and I stood backstage, the two announcers began to say,

"And the Record of the Year is... I Will Always Love You! Whitney Houston and David Foster!"

As I heard my song playing, I literally jumped for joy as my producer, David Foster began to make his way up to the stage. Taking my boyfriend in my arms, I immediately shared a sweet kiss with Michael as he said with a proud smile,

"Go get 'em, Baby!"

I nodded in return as I happily made my way over to the microphone as I ran up to David, squealing with joy as I hugged him.

I said to him, "You talk a lot!"

David replied, "Okay! Okay!"

I said to him, urging him to speak before me, "You talk a lot! Go ahead!"

David said, "I'll make this fast, because I know we've got a long night!"

I laughed in response as David went on to say,

"You know, I was thinking about this in finding this song and Dolly Parton for writing such a beautiful song. A beautiful string arrangement by Jeremy Lubbock, great engineering by Bill Schnee and de Vries' incredible promotion from Clive and Arista, and Roy Lot. A great movie from Warner Brothers and Bob Daly... It's a long list. Great music supervision Gary Lamella, Mori Crowe played beautifully by your band and sung incredibly by you."

I replied, "Thank you."

David continued on as I chortled and laughed at his statement,

"And I got to thinking, like I don't know what I did to be up here because it was all done for me! But anyway, on a personal note I'd like to thank Ralph Goldman and Brian Avenue, and my manager, my own Atlantic Records family, and most important, my wife Linda who I love. And all of our children who are here tonight, and my Mom who's up there tonight. Thank you so much! This is so exciting! And you!"

I laughed as David encouraged me to speak. Coming up to the microphone, I began to say,

"Well, he thanked everybody that I know! But thank you David, for such a great production. I mean, we did it! We did it together! Thank you Mommy and Daddy! Thank you Lord! Thank you, Michael! I love you so much, Baby! Hey, Pear! Thank you everybody that bought this record and who loved it! God bless you! Peace!"