Page 144 of The Golden Hour

A tear trails down Honey’s cheek and lands on Daisy’s hair. Mason reaches out and catches the next one as it falls, and then Daisy reaches up, thinking it’s a game, and grabs onto Mason’s arms.

With his hand, he takes Daisy’s hand, and his other still cups Honey’s cheek. For a long minute, they just stay like that. Connected. Love between these three souls.

Peace.

Honey opens her mouth to say something, but before she can, their waitress appears with their food.

Reluctantly, Mason drops his hand to give the waitress room to place their plates, and thanks her. Mason’s eyes catch on the drawing Honey was doing, and he smiles when he sees she was doodling them under the sun in a field of flowers.

Honey catches his eye as she sees what he’s looking at, and his smile just widens. As he digs into his cowboy burger, he notes that Honey didn’t get a burger like she normally does; instead, she got a salad. Which isn’t odd, he’s seen her eat and enjoy salads before. But this is a little different; they usually order comfort food when they’re out.

In fact, Honey seemed to be portion-controlling herself at home, too. He wants to bring it up, but not here, not now. He won’t ruin this perfect day.

But later, he will ask.

Because he has a very bad feeling about why.

Daisy starts fussing before Honey can even take a single bite, crying and demanding her mommy’s attention back to her. Honey sighs and smiles down at Daisy, reaching in the diaper bag for a bottle when Mason shakes his head.

“You eat,” Mason says, standing to take Daisy from her.

“It’s okay, I can⁠⁠—”

“Baby,” Mason gently cuts her off. “I can hold her while you eat your meal. Come here, baby girl, let’s let your mommy eat.”

Daisy grows a little more fussy when she’s not in Honey’s arms, and even sitting on Mason’s lap, where she can see Honey, doesn’t help, nor does Ellie when she pushes the elephant away in favor of reaching out toward Honey.

Honey, who had finally taken a couple of bites of her food, sighs and holds her hands out to take Daisy back, but Mason shakes his head.

“She can fuss for a few minutes while you eat,” Mason says, before standing from the table once more. “Here, let me show her around Beverly’s.”

Honey watches with concern in her eyes as Mason walks around the near-empty restaurant with Daisy. She fusses for a bit, then gets distracted by the brightly colored knick-knacks on the walls, the fun pictures, and by Mason bouncing her around as soft rock plays from the speakers.

“Look, little flower. What’s that look like?” he asks, pointing to a painting of a colorful elephant. “Looks like your Ellie, huh?”

Daisy’s eyes—darkening to a soft brown like Honey’s—are wide as she looks at the art, and then a little smile crosses her face that grows and grows until it’s bright and wide.

“There she is,” Mason smiles, bouncing her. “There’s my girl.”

When he glances back to check on Honey, he finds her with her phone up, taking a picture of them, and he smiles at her. He turns Daisy and waves her tiny hand.

“Say hi, mommy. Blow kiss, mwah—” Mason says, lifting Daisy’s hand to her mouth and making an exaggerated mwah sound. Daisy giggles and doesn’t quite have the coordination yet to blow a kiss, but she seems to think Mason is quite funny.

Honey giggles, the musical sound striking him right in the chest.

“You’re a lucky kid,” Mason murmurs against Daisy’s downy hair. “You got the best mommy in the world, but I think we’re both pretty lucky there, because your mommy is my wife. And I love you both more than anything in this world.”

Honey snaps a couple more pictures before her phone chimes. The smile is wiped from her face when she reads the notification. He’s immediately on alert and walks back over to the table, Honey placing the phone to her ear on a call.

“Lorraine… they did? When?” Honey says, chewing on her thumbnail. Mason reaches and gently pulls it away, squeezing her hand in his to help soothe her. She looks at him and squeezes back, before her face seems to pale a bit more. “Okay. We’ll be there. Thank you.”

“What?” Mason asks, once she’s hung up. “Is everything okay?”

Honey nods, placing her phone back in the diaper bag and reaching for Daisy. Mason immediately hands her over and slides into the booth next to Honey.

“Hey,” Mason says, gently brushing a piece of hair from Honey’s face as she cuddles Daisy to her. “What’s going on, Honey?”

She raises her eyes to his.