Michael must've licked his lips a thousand times sitting in the lobby of the small wedding hall they conveniently found in the yellow pages.

He was too scared to look Tayler's way. He was too nervous to stare at her dark brown eyes that held so much sadness and grief in them. He felt guilty for putting her in this situation, just the look in her eyes made him sick. He tried to avoid it at first.

But every now and then, he would look at her from the corner of his eyes and admire her features he had come accustom to. But one thing he wasn't used to was the look of worry and defeat that she held now.

It broke his heart to see her like that and it killed him to know, he was the reason.

He heard her retching after the wedding ceremony. His heart ached the more he listened. To think, the thought of her stomach being in knots at the thought of marrying him. The fact that her sweet mouth was filled with bile at the thought of loving him, broke him.

He surely thought she loved him, but as he listened intently to her sobs, he knew he was wrong.

Against his better judgement, he placed his hand on her bouncing knee as they sat waiting for the reporter to come and join them.

She gave him a slight smile at the gesture.

"Thanks" she was able to mutter.

"No problem" he started.

"We have to make it look real right?" he added.

He knew that line alone would hurt her but in that moment he wanted to hurt her like she hurt him.

Her mouth fell agape at the comment.

How could he say that? She thought.

This must not be real for him either.

Just when she was thinking of brushing his hand off, a voice rang out.

"Hello you two" the sweet voice called out.

They young couple looked up with smiles. They were ready to play their part.

"Hi"

"Hi, how are you?"

They both stood and gave the interviewer Roxana Johnson from Ebony magazine a hug and a kiss on the cheek.

"I'm sorry to keep you waiting"

"Oh it's fine, don't worry" Michael tried to smooth over.

The two knew Roxana was somewhere speaking to Joseph about exactly what boundary not to cross when it came to the questioning and what pictures to use and not to use. But he was sure she would try anyway.

Of course, he made sure the picture of the couple kissing would not make the cut as he felt it was too vulgar and sending the wrong message to young America.

"So if its ok with you two, I would like to start the interview first and then pictures of you two and baby Elijah afterwards" she gushed.

The two beamed with pride and nodded in agreement. Before this whole charade, they would never subject their infant son to this type of exposure but when their secret love child threaten to get out to the press, Joseph gave them no choice but to control the situation with a staged wedding and a few photo ops to extinguish the fire that was sure to engulf the Jackson family and threaten their clean cut legacy.

After having small talk about the direction of the interview and what she hoped to establish by this, it finally began.

"Well first, I would like to start off by saying congratulations to the two of you"

The two giggled as their hands lay on top of each other's in Michael's lap.

"I can definitely see the newlywed bliss surrounding you too and the glow of being new parents is still shining. Now I have to ask, how does it feel to be married?"

"It feels unreal-" Michael started.

She looked over at him with a smile "it's almost like a dream"

Roxana laughed "Even finishing each other's sentences"

"I mean truly Tayler, how does it feel to be Mrs. Michael Jackson? I mean there are girls and women all over who prayed for an opportunity like this with any of the Jackson's and to be given the title of Michael's wife, how do you feel?"

She swallowed the lump in her throat. She was thinking on how she can choose her words wisely but she didn't want to take so long that it seemed forced.

"Honestly, it may sound cliché" she tried to recover quickly.

"But I never thought about him being a Jackson or marrying one. I mean of course, I knew he was and I was and still am fascinated by that bit but I see so much more than that. I see much more than what he is known for. I'm now married to Michael and not Michael Jackson that everyone thinks they know. I'm honored to know him past the fame so it truly just feels like an honor. That's the only way I can describe it."

Her voice held so much conviction that for a second she and Michael both forgot that it was a farce, an agreement, but they truly felt married and devoted to one another in this moment. He rubbed her hand with his thumb as a sweet gesture to let her know he was thankful.

"How sweet" Roxana smiled at the blushing bride.

"How did this union come about? Michael how exactly did you propose?"

Tayler laughed knowingly, wanting to know exactly what he was going to pull out of his ass. Joseph did gave them a script to follow but it was to be used as a guide. They couldn't possibly know exactly what she would ask the two of them.

"Umm" He giggled innocently.

"So it was truly just a simple gesture. One night we put the baby to sleep. And as I was looking at her, a thousand thoughts flowed through my mind. I thought back to the first time I saw her, our first date, when she gave birth to my son. She was just so strong, so beautiful and so delicate all at the same time. She was everything. Just being with the two of them, I felt whole, I felt like I belonged. Everything just made sense. So honestly" he giggled.

"In the spare of the moment, I looked at her and simply said marry me" he looked at her.

Oh he's good. She thought.

"Of course she didn't believe it and it was non-traditional. No ring, no down on one knee. Well not initially" he laughed.

"I got down on my knee and said it again"

"Of course, I was mortified" Tayler interjected.

"I wasn't prepared at all" she added.

"Here I was a few days after giving birth, looking sleep deprived, and crazy. And I had this man asking me to be his wife" she chuckled, playing along.

After sharing a laugh, Michael continued.

"I didn't care about that. In that moment, she was beautiful to me. All that other stuff didn't matter, I just wanted her as my forever. Sleep deprived or not" he gently kissed her hand.

Michael was laying it on thick and Roxana was buying it. She was smiling so much, it looked like her cheek bones would fall to the ground at any second. The couple might have been young but they were trained by Motown how to handle the media. The first thing is to lie or embellish as they would call it. The next thing to do is to give them a lot without saying too much.

This article was basically writing itself. They knew it would be filled with how much the two young love birds loved each other and the settle affection they gave one another.

Just a part of the plan.

Right?

"So how do you think it will be balancing a marriage and a new baby at this young age?"

"I don't think it would be difficult at all" Tayler chimed in.

"It's just like any other couple who is married with children. I mean, sure we have so much more growing to do and we should be hanging out with friends or just have fun while we're young.But I do think we should have waited. I mean I don't regret Elijah, but it's true. I also have to say, who is to decide what time is right for other people? I love Michael and he loves me and we love our baby and I truly believe with love, anything can be done" She finished.

"But aren't you worried about what message you're sending? What does that say to the teenagers and kids of today that follow you and Michael and look up to you too?" She asked staring between them.

"Sure we are worried about what others may think. But I have to agree with Tayler when she says that who is to say what's too soon and what's not? We're just like any other couple, except we have more of a spotlight and magnifying glass over us and what we do is more critiqued than others. But we don't want to send the wrong message, which is why we got married and let me say we didn't just get married for the baby like she said we love each other. We want to send the message that if you love someone, it's ok to be married and it's ok to have children. However, when you are ready. I can say that everything was a surprise" he giggled.

"But we are in a position that others are not. Financially and have the resources to support a family. So when you are ready, when you are in a position to care for someone other than yourself, if that's what you want to do, and if that's who you love then you do what makes you happy" Michael preached.

"I agree" She nodded.

Soon the interview was filled with a mixture of questions about how they met, how they found out they were pregnant, and how they told their parents, how are the brothers feeling about being an uncle, and of course what is coming up for the Jackson's.

Roxana asked about the birth of Elijah and Tayler gave her just enough but not too much detail of the special delivery of her precious baby. They spoke about parenthood and how poor Elijah keeps them up at all night.

Everything flowed so naturally and the chemistry was still there between the two. Before long, the ordeal felt less staged but truly it felt like this newly wed couple was enthusiastic about sharing their new life's journey with the masses.

They were speaking so openingly and vividly that they forgot their parents with the exception of Ed was standing off to the side, caring for baby Elijah.

"Hi baby Elijah" Roxana cooed as he was being placed in Michael's arms by Katherine.

The couple laughed at their sleeping son, who for a brief moment opened his eyes at Roxana but quickly rolled them shut.

"He's such a character" Michael laughed while adjusted the cap on his head.

"Ok so Michael and Tayler, sit here on the couch and we'll get pictures of you three. Then we'll do multiple shots of you standing with the baby in your arms" Roxana instructed.

The couple waited for the photographer to direct them on positioning. So they admired the sleeping baby and smiled to themselves.

"I think we should talk after this" Michael whispered.

She couldn't deny that his warm sent chills down her spine and made her shutter. To hear Michael speak passionately about their relationship and his feelings for Tayler, made her core melt. It had been a couple weeks since they've really spoke or spend any quality time with each other so just seeing him again and having him this close-

The familiarity shocked every fiber of her cells awake.

As much as she wanted to be anywhere alone with her new husband, she declined.

"I don't think that's such a good idea Michael"

Just as quickly as her high begin, she soon was faced with reality. They haven't spoken really since that day at CBS studios with Stephanie and the underwear situation and they for damn sure was not speaking when Joseph presented this stupid ass marriage bullshit to her. She was fed up and tired of having talks with anybody with the last name Jackson.

"I think it's important we talk. Joseph and mother really want you and the baby to come stay with us" Michael said lowly.

"Excuse me" the smile disappeared as she looked up from Elijah.

"Ok, is everyone ready for their close up. Smile big" Roxana's voice rang out.

Long time no see! I'm so sorry that I have not been updating AT ALL. I have not been motivated and I've been having writer's block. Also, I've just been busy with life. I truly need someone to pitch ideas with and just feed off of one another, if y'all are still reading. But let me know how y'all feel!

ALSO! I truly appreciate all the love and the people who have added this story to their reading list. I think of everyone who supports this book all the time, which is why I feel horrible for not writing but just thank you! You make me want to write and just upgrade my writing skills thank you.

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See y'all later