“Mariposa, come on sweetie, please don’t cry, I promise, I’ll call you soon as I get to New York, okay?” Regina squatted on the floor in front of her little sister Catalina as the little girl stood and cried pitifully.

The video shoot had gone smoothly, Regina was better in front of the camera than anyone had suspected and surprisingly enough, she seemed comfortable in everything they made her do. The only thing she firmly disagreed with and refused to do was the bedroom scene that the director wanted her in lingerie for. Regina refused on the grounds that only her boyfriend had access to that view and the rest of the world would just have to do without it. Her exact words had been, “Sorry, I’m a slut only for my boyfriend.” Marshall didn’t stop smiling all day after that.

After the video was shot, Regina spent the remaining two days before her trip to New York packing up her apartment and putting all her things in storage. The only things she did pack were her clothes, a small collection of books, several notebooks and the entirety of her CD collection which amounted to almost a thousand CD’s. Marshall had spent most of his time helping her, taking two trips with his car to the local storage center.

But now, now it was time for her to say goodbye. She didn’t know when she was coming back, the schedule for the next few months would be given to her in New York. Right now she was just going on what Dre said she would be doing, though he didn’t know the final schedule even for Marshall. The label taking on Regina was a last minute thing. Though they had been hesitant to scramble and make the last minute decision to allow Marshall to put her on the first single, they were anxious to get this single off the ground considering how long it had been since Marshall’s last album. He wasn’t really nervous as to how the album would go, but it had been a while since he’d put out a single.

Catalina stood before her, large tears rolling down her cheeks from her big blue eyes. Regina felt like a creep. After the party and the blow up with her parents, Regina hadn’t gotten a chance to sit down and really explain to her what signing a record deal meant. Catalina and Regina were very close, she usually spent one day a week with her, but since she’d met Marshall, she hadn’t spent as much quality time with her little sister as she usually did.

“But why do you have to go?” Catalina asked.

“Because sweetie, I have to go talk to some people, and start work. This is going to be my new job.”

Regina tried her best to explain, but to a nine year old who had to live with a father that wasn’t exactly loving, and a mother that was sure to start looking for a husband for the kid any day now, her big sister leaving was incomprehensible to her. All she saw was Regina leaving and no idea of when she would be coming back.

Marshall stood nearby, watching as Regina went through much of the same situation that he had dealt with only a week ago with Hailie. He hated saying goodbye to her. Jesus, Margrita, Salvador, Gloria and Ricky stood by along with a few other family members who had come to the airport to send Regina off.

“Can I come visit you sometime?” Catalina asked as she used her tiny little fists to wipe away tears.

“Of course you can. School is over for you soon, so you can come and stay with me a whole week, okay? I might be a little busy sometimes, but you can see what I’m doing, and you’ll be right there with me, that sound okay?” Regina asked as she took Catalina’s hands in hers and squeezed them.

“You promise?”

“En mi corazon, a tu corazon, nunca olvidar, no promesa pequena, no promesa granda ire olvidar. Bien?”

“No te vayas! No te vayas Brisa, no!” Catalina cried as she flung her arms around Regina’s neck.

“La mariposa, bicho pequeño de hermana, usted tiene tales alas bonitas para volar en, seré su brisa de cabalgar en, yo lo ayudaré a salir el suelo y ver el cielo, por favor no llora, mi mariposa.” Regina sang as the little girl cried and clung to her.

Marshall hadn’t been aware that Regina had such a beautiful singing voice. After she finished the little song she picked Catalina up in her arms and stood up walking towards her family. Marshall stood back and kept his distance, letting them have their moment.

He heard various little comments, in each family’s language, and Regina’s flawless replies in each language. She hugged each of her grandparents after she handed over Catalina to her brother. Her parents had refused to come.

“Good bye, everyone, I love you all!” Regina said as she stood away from the group and gave one final wave.

“Goodbye Marshall, we’ll miss you too!” the grandparents called. Marshall nodded and felt strange all over for having them include him in the family as easily as they did.

Regina turned to Marshall and took her bag he’d been holding for her.

“All set?” he asked. Regina nodded mutely, shouldering her bag and walking forward a few steps. She turned and waved one more time, catching Catalina’s eye and smiling as best she could at her.

Marshall waited until they were in flight before saying anything.

“What’s that you call your little sister?”

“What, Mariposa?” Regina asked.

“Yeah, what does it mean, what language is it?”

“It’s Spanish for butterfly. She calls me Brisa, it’s our nicknames, nuestro apodos.” Regina replied calmly.

“And Brisa means what?”

“Breeze. She came up with that when she was four, she said that a butterfly needs something to fly on, and I helped her fly. So she called me Brisa.”

“That’s cute.” Marshall laughed.

“Yeah, poor kid, I’m gonna miss her a lot. I feel bad, cause I haven’t spent that much time with her the last few weeks.” Regina said shaking her head.

“She’ll understand eventually.” Marshall replied, knowing that was a big fat lie. Hailie never understood why he kept leaving her. He couldn’t figure out why he didn’t have enough courage to quit and just go home to his daughter.

“I hope so. I just wish I didn’t have to leave her with my parents.” Regina said sadly.

“Does he hit on them too?”

“No, only me. I’ve always kept an eye on them, and Ricky swears that he has never laid a hand on him or Catalina. If he still hits my mother I’m not sure, but Ricky also said that he hasn’t touched her either. But if he does hit her, I don’t care, as long as the kids don’t see it. I just don’t like the idea of my mother thinking she’s gonna start looking for a husband for Catalina.” Regina replied as she fiddled with the edge of her shirt.

“She’d start already?” Marshall asked surprised.

“Yeah, I was nine when she started telling me that she was looking for a ‘good man’ for me to marry. What a joke that was,” Regina snorted.

“That’s not legal though.” Marshall replied.

“No, it’s not, and if they try to force her to marry anyone, I’ll take them to court.” Marshall listened to the stiffness in her voice and knew this was something that must have plagued her thoughts everyday. Wondering if each day was the day they tried to sell of Catalina the way they sold off her.

“Lets change the subject, I don’t want to think about it anymore,” Regina said finally, resting her head on his shoulder and closing her eyes. Marshall thought of one more thing though, that he wanted to ask her, and decided he would anyway.

“What was that thing you said to her, after she asked you to promise?” he asked, turning his head to watch her. Her eyes didn’t open as she repeated the Spanish saying she’d learned as a child from her Abuela.

“En mi corazon, a tu corazon, nunca olvidar, no promesa pequena, no promesa granda ire olvidar. In my heart, to your heart, never to forget, no small promise, no large promise, shall be forgotten.” Marshall couldn’t find the words to respond to it, and was saved when her breathing turned slow and even, signaling she was asleep.