Sweet Love [Book Two]

Chapter Ten

Chapter Ten

Mariah's POV
A few days later
"Surprise!",everyone popped out of their hiding spots as I walked through the door of Chyna's house. All my friends and family threw a baby shower for me.
I sorta jumped back in shock and tears were brought to my eyes. "Aww you guys'!"
"C'mere mama."Chyna said pulling me into a hug. Everyone else came over to gimme a hug as well.
"Mariah, I love your outfit!",Cassandra cooed.
"Thank you, yours too."
Mom came over to me with a big smile on her face and said,"Hey baby, are you okay?"
I nodded,"Yeah, why wouldn't I be?"
Her eyes darted to the side of the room and said,"You got company." then she walked away over to my dad. I looked over to where she had motioned and saw Chris standing in the corner of the room not making any sort of contact with anyone. He looked miserable.
"Hey girl."someone said from behind me.
I turned around and saw a smiling August standing in front of my with his hands stuffed in his pockets.
"Oh, hey."I gave him a faint smile.
"You don't have to say anything Mariah. I understand."
"Understand what?"
"Look, I know you and Chris arguing has something to do with me. I guess he ain't feelin our friendship too much and it's causing problems for y'all."
"It's not th-"
"Lemme finish. You and I are always gonna be friends, but that right there" he nodded towards Chris "that's your husband. That's the father of your child and I ain't tryna be the reason why y'all ain't together. So, I'mma fall back and hopefully you and Chris can fix what ever going on because its pretty obvious it's tearing you guys apart."
"August I-"
"Now, I know you ain't finna pull a fast one on me right in front of everyone Mariah."Chris blared from behind. Then he turned over to Chris and yelled," Look May, June, July, whatever the fuck your name is. How many times I gotta tell you to back up off my wife?"
"Chris stop!"I pleaded.
"No, I'm tired of him pushin up on you. It ain't gon happen no more."he sized up August with daggers in his eyes.
"It ain't even like that Chris."August stated.
"Chris, have seat."Mama J ordered.
"Chris bruh, listen to your mom."Michael said.
He ignored everyone's comment and said,"I'm not tellin yo sorry ass again nigga, STAY THE FUCK AWAY FROM MY WIFE!"
I sighed in frustration and grabbed Chris by his arm and led him outside. We stopped in front of his car and I said,"Chris you don't even listen to me or I don't even know how to get through to you anymore."
"What do you expect me to do? I'm trying to get you to know that i wanna be the man you married an-"
"Shut up. Just shut up! God! I'm done crying over you and praying that you will change but you just don't get it! August came over to tell me that he was going to fall back because he felt like he was the reason we were fighting all the time. I actually started to believe that maybe he was the reason up until you just pulled that little stunt."
"Shit."he muttered.
"I yell, I scream, I move out, and I said we needed a break so I really don't even know why you're here because I don't want you here anymore. You're starting a whole bunch of problems for no reason."
"I don't know why I'm here either." he said in a low voice.
Immediately I regretted saying all those harsh things to him because I remembered how sensitive he can be. "Chris I-"
"No, don't say anything else. I can see I've hurt you and everyone else much more than I expected. I'll get out of your way. Just do me a favor okay?"
"Sure."
"Can you call me when your going into labor? I'd really like to be there."and with that he got inside his car and drove away. Leaving me standing by myself in confusion, heartache, and regret. He was doing all of this to prove he loves me, that's gotta count for something right?

Chris' POV
I did it again got damn it! I hate myself for what I've become. I was so sure that if I'd played it cool today then I'd be able to talk to her and tell her all things I refused to talk about since I was a kid. The thing that drives me to insanity. But then I saw her talking to him and I lost it. I looked stupid in front of my friends and family but the that broke me the most was to see how my mother looked at me with pity.
I was driving around in circles for a bit but then I decided to just pull up in some random neighborhood. I been sitting in my car for the last twenty minutes just crying. Crying because I don't have that answers to my problem and crying because I keep messing up everything good that comes into my life. I've never cried this much over a woman before and it sort of scared me to know that I was but I just couldn't stop the tears from flowing.
"Lord, what have I done?" I sniffed "What do you want me to do to make things right again?"
I sat there in silence up until I heard the sound of a basketball being dribbled on someone's driveway. I looked out of my window and saw three little kids outside playing basketball. I wiped my eyes and decided to go over to them and say 'hi'.
The second I got out of my car and they noticed who I was they stopped their game of basketball and ran over to me. "Hey you're Chris Brown!" one of them said.
I chuckled,"I am?"
They all nodded.
"Why do you look so sad?", another asked.
"Can I trust y'all?"
They all nodded. I squatted down to one knee and said lowly,"My wife is kinda mad at me right now and I don't know how to make her happy."
"Did you talk to her?"
I nodded,"It just made things worse."
"My mama said that if I ever need help I should go to church."
"Go to church huh? Well that makes sense."
"Chris will you sign my basketball?"
"Of course."I reached into my pocket and pulled out a black pen and singed his Spalding basketball.
"My mom bought you CD and she's always plays it in the house."one of them said.
"Oh yeah, do you like it?"
"Mmhm. i really like the one that goes like, look at me now, look at me now."he started to dance to his own singing and soon his two friends started to join in.
I laughed,"Man, I love y'all. Hey, make sure you keep listening to your moms and dads. And keep playing basketball, I saw y'all out there playin like Lebron!"
They nodded and ran back over to their basketball game and I watched them play for a little bit before I decide to get back in my car. I started driving away and my mind raced back to what the kid back there said. Church huh?

Mariah's POV
Two Days Later
"Uhh,"I groaned as another sharp pain pierced though my belly.
I laid on my bed just thinking about Chris. this isn't the longest I've been away from him but I just hate how things ended between us. We both got burned in the end and I just wanna take it all back. All of it.
It's actually been awhile since I've actually seen him genuinely happy. I would do just about anything to hear his sweet voice right about now. I giggled to myself. I can remember when he was out on tour and we were Skyping and all I could think of was how much i missed him. He was so far away yet he was able to use his God given talent to draw us in closer. He came up with a song called 'I Love You'.
Man, I love that song so much I can practically hear him singing it right now.
"I love you oh, and baby there's nothing in the world that I won't do for you."
I quickly sat up in my bed wincing at the pain shoot though my abdomen. Wait, that was my imagination, that was real. I can hear his voice singing the song.
"I gotta tell you about a million trillion times, baby you're the best thing in my life."
There it goes again. I got up from my bed and walked on over to the balcony door and stepped outside. I looked down over the railing and saw Chris standing in my backyard singing.
"For once in my life, Once in my life, I can see clear, Cause you open my eyes, For once in my life, Once in my life, No doubt in my mind, You're the only one for me, Baby can't you see......"he looked up at me with pleading eyes.
I looked around and whispered,"What are you doing? You gonna wake Tyson and my parents up"
"I came to see you. I just had to."
"Well you've seen me so.."
"No, I wanna talk to you. Face to face."
"Find a way up here then, because you can't go through the front door or my dad will shoot you with his hand gun."I said truthfully. My dad doesn't play around with shit like this. Especially after he was at the baby shower and saw how Chris went off on August, he'll be pretty salty towards him.
"Aight, I'm climbing up but if I fall it's on you."he joked.
I cracked a smile as I watched him climb up the house and onto my balcony. I don't know what it was but I felt myself reach out and give him a hug. He held me tight and kissed my forehead.
I pulled away and asked,"So what did you have to tell me?"
"I came to tell you you were right. About everything. I overreacted about your friendship with August and I was the one tearing this family apart and I'm sorry. If I could take everything thing back these past two months, please me believe me when I say I would."
"Chr-"
"No, I have more. I never told anyone this and neither has my mom or Taylor, but my pops walked out on us when I was about 6 years old. H-he told me he was goin out to pick up a carton of milk and he never came back."he stuttered. His eyes started to water and he clenched his jaw in order to keep himself from crying.
"Chris I-"
"And I know that it ain't an excuse for my reckless behavior, but I used it as one."he nodded his head and sniffed "I kept telling myself I wasn't gonna be like him and that I would step up to the plate like he never did. I guess I followed down the wrong path and took my feelings out on the bottle and the blunts just so I could go to sleep at night feeling good but the truth is I don't feel good. Not with out you in my life Mariah. I need you back. I want us to raise our family in our house. I understand if your still mad at me. Shit, if I were you I'd hate me. I hate myself for all the things I did to you. I guess I really am no better than my pops."
There were tears streaming down my face. I never knew that his father abandoned them. That explains why he's so protective of him mom and Taylor. And why he got so mad when I told him he wasn't a man. Or why he tried so hard to be a role model for Tyson. It all made sense.
I walked up to him and wrapped my arms around his waist and hugged him tightly. "I love you Chris and I think you're a million times better than your dad." I looked him in the eyes and wiped away his tears then kissed his soft lips.
"You mean that?",he asked.
I nodded,"I swear."
"So does that mean you're coming home now?"
"Yeah."
"You know, I've been practically living at the church by our house since the baby shower. After the baby is born, I really want us to start going. An-"
"Chris!"I screamed as loud as I could.
"What?"
"I think my water just broke."
"That's what happens when you buy Aquafina you need to buy some Dasani water bottles inste-"
"No you idiot, I'm going into labor. It's time."
"It's time?"
I nodded quickly.
"Fuck! It's time! It's time! It's time! What do I do?"
"Take me to the damn hospital!"I yelled.