Page 151 of The Golden Hour

And the hospital came back with a number that showed how scared they were of Honey.

Six-point-five million dollars.

The number had made Mason’s heart stop, and Honey suck in a gasp when Lorraine read the settlement offer. Not because any amount of money could ever make what happened okay. Nothing would ever make almost killing Honey and Daisy okay.

But this was so much more than a financial victory to them.

It meant that Honey had stood up for herself and her daughter. It meant that she was not crazy. It meant that at least one bad doctor was finally gone, and while the money was a drop in the bucket for St. Mary’s, it was some form of accountability.

They have bigger problems to worry about anyway.

Once Honey signed on the dotted line, officially, they were disconnected from St. Mary’s for good.

Lorraine had placed in the settlement that they also had to release all of his residency documents and transfer them over to CHOP. It didn’t need to be in writing, but Lorraine and Honey had insisted.

Just in case.

And once the money hit their bank account, they cleaned house. They paid off all of his student loans. They paid off their parents' mortgages at Honey’s request. They bought the building where Phil’s garage was. They set up a trust fund for Daisy and put money away for college or whatever she wants to do when she grows up.

And for Christmas, they bought Honey a brand-new car. A nice, big, light-blue SUV with enough space for Daisy and…

Well…

Maybe one day.

She loved it and was completely surprised when Mason and her father pulled it into the driveway. Mason wanted her to have something special when she returned to work. Something safe. Something only hers.

When he told her that, she reached toward him and squeezed his hand.

“Thank you for my fancy new Mom car,” she giggled from the front seat, hands on the steering wheel. She gave him a pose and asked through the open window, “How do I look?”

“Perfect,” he answered, breathless, honest, wrecked with love.

Mason felt like he couldn’t breathe for a second, relishing the carefreeness of the moment, the rush swelling in his chest, the absolute high of doing something that made Honey glow like that.

Hm.

Maybe that was an addiction that should stick around.

It feels like a blank slate.

Or rather, it feels like a good foundation for building something great.

Something better.

“How about right here?” Mason asks Daisy, reaching for a high branch on the tree. She smiles. “I’ll take that as a yes.”

Mason places her ornament on the tree. When he turns, he sees Melissa with her phone raised, taking photos of them. Phil and Rob are downstairs, grabbing the boxes of decorations from the basement. Marlene rushes into the kitchen when the timer goes off on the Christmas cookies.

And Mason is with his wife and daughter.

“Perfect,” Honey says, glancing at the ornament, then at Daisy, then at him.

“Agreed,” he murmurs.

Honey’s face somehow softens even more, and she hides her smile in their daughter’s hair. Mason grabs and holds Daisy’s hand, helping her tiny fingers reach toward the ornament.

The speaker starts playing “Merry Christmas, Baby” by Bruce Springsteen, and Melissa gasps loudly.