Page 83 of The Golden Hour

Heather’s entire face softens. “I’m just going to miss this little girl,” she coos to Daisy, before glancing back up at Honey. “And you, sweetheart. It’s been my pleasure to take care of you both.”

Honey’s eyes glisten. “Thank you.”

Mason takes the wheelchair from the nurse and brings it over to Honey, who grimaces.

Mason gently reminds her, “Hospital policy.”

“That doesn’t mean much to me,” Honey mutters, but eases herself down in the wheelchair just as her mother appears in the doorway. Melissa had run downstairs to throw the bags in her car and pull it up to the curb.

“I got the car parked,” Melissa tells Honey with a wide smile. “Ready?”

“Get me out of here,” Honey deadpans, making him, her mother, and Heather laugh.

Melissa walks over to Mason and gestures toward Daisy in the car seat.

“Get the baby,” Melissa smiles down at Honey. “I got my baby.”

Mason grabs the car seat with gentle hands. He smiles down at his daughter, who is wearing an adorable onesie featuring an otter mommy holding her little baby.

Otterly Adorable, it reads.

“That’s the truth,” he murmurs to Daisy’s sweet little sleepy face.

He is relieved that she seems to have grown more comfortable around him over the last two weeks, and he only hopes it will get better once they are out of this hospital. She still prefers her mother, and he honestly cannot blame her for that either. She kind of hit the jackpot, in his opinion.

“Let’s go, baby girl,” he murmurs to Daisy and follows Melissa and Honey out the door.

His wife keeps glancing over her shoulder, looking for Daisy, and Mason reassures her with a small smile each time. Her tense shoulders drop every time she sees them, and he thinks it is a victory that Honey is trusting him with their daughter.

A small one, but he’ll take what he can get. Every inch, he’ll earn back the trust he lost.

The journey to Melissa’s huge SUV is made without spectacle at first.

As soon as they step outside, he sees his wife sigh and tilt her head up toward the sky. The air is muggy, but the sun is shining and Honey smiles as it washes over face. His breath catches for a moment at how fucking pretty she looks, before he glances down at his daughter and moves to get her out of the uncomfortable heat.

Phil and Rob installed the car seat base in the back of the SUV, so Mason finds it easy to click Daisy’s seat into place. He checks it once, then twice, then a third time, while Daisy just watches him curiously with those wide newborn eyes.

For one second, Mason lets himself breathe. Honey and Daisy are out of the hospital. They made it. They’re finally going home, which marks the start of the next part, but motion is motion. He can do more for Honey at home—bringing Daisy to her, changing every single diaper, cleaning every single bottle, and doing laundry. He can aid Honey in her recovery by tracking her blood pressure and medications, monitoring the incision, and cooking for her. He’ll do every single thing Honey was doing on her own.

Not to get her to forgive him, but because Honey deserves it.

He’s turning toward Honey and Melissa by the front passenger seat and sees her gently easing herself out of the wheelchair, one hand braced against the armrest, the other in her mother’s. Her face is scrunched in a little bit of pain, her stomach and incision still sore.

A loud shriek makes them all freeze and turn toward the source.

“Oh my God…” Honey gasps.

Dr. Felicia Lewis shrieks as she’s guided out of the hospital.

Two big security guards flank her, one holding her expensive purse while they try to maneuver her struggling body toward the exit. The doctor badge she always clipped to the breast pocket of her scrubs is gone, and you are not supposed to be without it because admin gets on your ass if you lose it. It’s a small detail, but it means everything.

Mason lets himself feel satisfied for one second.

Then he pointedly looks away from the nuisance that is Dr. Lewis.

Ellen had discreetly told him that there was something coming the day they left, her inner network of birds at the hospital keeping her in the know. And when Mason received an email letting him know the issue he raised with HR was being resolved, he figured Lewis was getting transferred.

He didn’t expect her to be fired.