“Yes, ma’am.”
“Get over here. I don’t have much time left,” she ordered with an impatient huff.
Mason hurried across the room and around the bed. He kneeled next to her and gathered her hand in his. It was cold and felt brittle in his large hands so he cradled it carefully.
“Don’t say that, alright? I promised someone special that you’d stick around for a little longer.”
She shook her head faintly. “It’s time and I’m ready.”
“Nana,”he said firmly but her eye cracked open and she glared at him.
“You might be mayor out there.” She put him in his place with a fierce scowl. “But I’m in charge in here and I know my own body, young man. It’s done andI’m ready,” she repeated.
“What if we aren’t?”
She scoffed and shut her eye again.“Too bad. I’ve had enough of this family’s nonsense. Good luck sorting them out.”
Mason grimaced. “Me and what army? You know it would take a battalion just to wrangle Adele.”
“To hell with her,” Nana muttered. “She’ll be just fine, it’s Sarina and Skylar I’m worried about. How are you going to straighten out this mess with them?”
“What?” Mason croaked, suddenly sweating. “What mess?”
“I know that boy isn’t yours.”
Mason drew back, stunned. “What? Of course?—”
Her eye snapped open again. “Don’t you lie to me! I was fooled for the first few months of Sam’s life but I knew when his face changed and he started to smile on his own… I know where he got that smile and I know exactly what happened.”
“Do you?” Mason’s eyes dropped to their hands.
“I knew Stewart’s lies would come back to haunt this family after he died.”
Mason’s eyes swung back to hers. “Stewart’s?” he mouthed, unable to find his voice and she humphed in disgust.
“I knewthe momentI saw the two of them together that they would ruin everything. At least he left behind beautiful children.” She paused when Mason’s eyes widened and she sighed. “Three that I’m certain of and a possible fourth.”
All Mason could do was nod, he was so dumbfounded. He didn’t know how she had figured it all out but it was a relief tofinally share the truth with someone else. The thing he fearedmostwas Sam and Roseview learning that Mason wasn’t really his father. But keeping that secret had been eating him alive.
“I couldn’t figure out what happened between the three of you after Stewart died and why Skylar wouldn’t come back. Then, I realized who Sam’s real father was and I asked myself whyyouwould do it—why you and Sarina would rush into marriage after so many years, and why you claimed Sam as yours. You had something to hide too, didn’t you?” she asked and Mason nodded jerkily. “And Skyler figured it out.”
“Can you blame him for hating us and never wanting to see us again?”
She shushed Mason, shaking her head. “I’m trusting you to sort that out after I’m gone. You’re a good man and your heart has always been in the right place.”
“I’m trying my best but…I keep making things worse with Sky,” Mason confided.
“Your heart is in the rightplace,but is it with the right person?”
“I am! I love Sina and Sam and they’re all I want,” he insisted.
Nana snickered softly at him. “No, they aren’t. They’re all you’ll let yourself have and you believe it’s your job to protect Sarina.”
Mason frowned. “I…literally vowed to protect her when we married.”
“Ha! You made that vow when you were children. You’ve always been Sarina and Sky’s knight in shining armor but you picked wrong. You weren’t meant to save the princess, were you?”
“I was.” Mason nodded, still certain that he’d done the right thing when he asked her to marry him. “I know it’s…strange, but we love each other and we’re really happy, Nana. I love Sina and Sam and I will always take care of them.”