Page 32 of The Golden Hour

“Honey?”

Mason leans down and places his face close to Honey’s. He thinks he sees her face twitch, then Honey makes a small sound.

“Honey, baby, I’m here. I’m here now,” he says, pathetically. He’s here. Now. Too late, maybe. “Honey…”

Her lashes flutter, and Mason feels dangerous hope well up inside of him. They keep working on her, feeding blood into her veins to replace what she’s lost. Too much of it.

“Honey?” he whispers.

Her eyes crack open, and she gasps for breath.

“Baby,” Mason says, his hands hovering all over her face, afraid to touch and unable not to. “Baby… my baby…”

“Mason…”

“Honey,” he laughs wetly, pressing a kiss to her forehead. “Hi. I’m here—baby, I’m here⁠⁠—”

“My baby…” Honey rasps weakly. Her eyes are open but unfocused, the usual warm brown, flat, black, and dull. Mason freezes. “Daisy… my Daisy… save her…”

“They are, baby,” Mason blubbers, feeling a fresh wave of tears spill over his cheeks. “They’re saving you and Daisy. I’m so sorry. I’m so fucking sorry, baby. I’m sorry, I’m⁠⁠—

“Daisy… my baby…” Honey whispers, her eyes going sightless before the monitors start screaming.

Fear grips him hard enough to knock him breathless.

Her eyes flutter closed.

“Honey?”

“Fuck,” Farah snaps. “We’re losing her. We have to get this baby out now!”

Those words are a shot of adrenaline. Mason feels his entire body tense.

“No,” he says, the word tearing out of him. “No, no, no—Honey!”

“Mason, move!” Weaver snaps at him.

“No—I can help,” he chokes. “I can⁠⁠—”

“You can’t!” Farah shouts at him, finally turning the full force of her fury on him. “She’s your wife, this is your baby—you know you can’t. Now fucking move so we can save them!”

They start moving Honey, pushing her out of the room and toward the elevator, toward surgery, toward her only chance left. Mason staggers on weak legs after them, but Melissa steps in front of him, both hands on his chest, and stops him.

She even pushes him back before pointing right in his face.

“No!” Melissa snarls.

He freezes in his tracks, eyes wide, chest heaving.

“Please—”

“She was leaving you, Mason,” Melissa says, her voice shaking with fury. He feels his heart stop dead in his chest. Horror builds inside him so quickly he feels like he might vomit. “Just before she collapsed, she asked her daddy and me to pack her things. She was leaving you.”

He stares at Melissa, trying and failing to comprehend the words.

Honey was leaving him.

Honey was leaving him.