Remember the Time

Chapter 9

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.