Chapter 5
Chapter Five
Two years later…
After the debacle in the Reflection Room, Mason took it upon himself to keep a closer eye on Nana and do whatever he could to keep the old lady’s ticker running for as long as possible.
Nana Sutton was intimidating in her own way and had never seemed overly fond of Mason, but she meant a great deal to Sky and Sarina.
Sky’s life was going well in the city, from the scraps of news Mason got from Nana and the various articles he had read.
Sky’s debut novel had been a huge success due to his style of realistic, small-town horror and gripping prose.
It spent months at the top of the bestseller lists and was being adapted into a streaming series.
He was finally being recognized for his brilliant, baffling mind and creativity, and from a distance, Sky seemed happy.
Mason didn’t want another loss to ruin Sky’s streak so he pushed Nana to the beach in her wheelchair a few times a week and brought Sam by with lunch on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, after picking him up from preschool.
Sam got a kick out of Nana Sutton’s feisty attitude and she lit up like the 4th of July whenever her great-grandson came into the room.
She also loved the meatloaf from Joe’s Diner on Main Street so Mason and Sam brought her an order with a side of mashed potatoes and banana pudding every Friday.
Sam always had a grilled cheese and fries and Mason’s standing order was a tuna on rye with a side salad.
He was juggling Sam, a bag of to-go boxes, and flowers for Nana when they climbed the Sutton House’s front steps. “Go ahead and press the doorbell, buddy.” Mason leaned so Sam could reach it.
The door opened almost as soon as it rang and the housekeeper, Ms. Ashley, was breathless and shaken as she ushered them in. “Thank goodness you’re here, Mr. Mason!” she whispered as she took the bags and the flowers from him.
“What’s wrong?” He set Sam down but he had a feeling it was bad by the way her eyes watered and her hands shook.
“Mrs. Sutton isn’t…herself today,” she said quietly. “I wanted to call the doctor or Mrs. Sarina but she said she would wait for you. Only you,” she mouthed.
“Me?” Mason’s neck swiveled.
She nodded and her gaze flicked to Sam. “You should hurry.”
Mason swallowed hard, mustering his courage.
“Okay.” He looked around, scrambling to make this moment as gentle and easy as possible for Sam and Nana, and eventually Sarina and Sky.
His cheeks puffed out as he looked at Sam, then lowered to a knee.
“Hey, buddy. Can you do me a favor and hang out with Ms. Ashley while I visit with your Nana? Go ahead and eat your grilled cheese. You don’t need to wait on us. ”
“I was thinking of making cookies.” Ms. Ashley attempted a watery smile. “Would you like to help me after you eat your lunch?” she asked Sam.
He nodded rapidly. “I’m a good cookie baker!”
“That’s right, Sammy.” Mason gave his hair a ruffle, then pulled him close and kissed his soft black curls as he held him. “Be good, okay?”
“Okay!” Sam hugged Mason’s neck before racing off to the kitchen.
“Go ahead and call Dr. Klein and ask him to come as soon as he can,” Mason said to Ms. Ashley, then calmly headed up the stairs.
For the life of him, Mason couldn’t fathom why Nana wanted to talk to him.
She had tolerated his hovering for the last two years but he wouldn’t describe them as friendly by any means.
Knowing the Suttons as well as he did, Mason braced himself before softly knocking on her bedroom door and letting himself in.
Nana’s tall, lithe frame had shrunk and she looked almost like a child in the massive mahogany four-poster.
The covers were pulled up to her chin and she was faded—pale and still.
She had been coming downstairs less over the last few weeks but Mason had hoped she’d bounce back once the weather warmed.
“Is that you, Mason Cartwright?” Her voice was a weak rasp but he snapped straight to attention and nodded quickly.
“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 and I’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 knew the moment I 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 to finally share the truth with someone else.
The thing he feared most was 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 why you would 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 right place, 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.”
“What about Skylar?”
“I want to help him too but you know how impossible it is to get through to Sky if he doesn’t want to talk to you.”
“That’s not what I meant,” Nana said sternly. “Sky would have forgiven you two by now if this was just about Sam.”
“What do you mean?” Mason was too afraid to confirm or deny anything.
She was quiet for a long moment, smiling but sinking as her energy waned. “I always thought the two of you had more chemistry.”
“Damn it, Nana. Can’t you just—? Your doctor will be here in…” He glanced at the clock on her nightstand, trying to guess how long it would take him to get to Roseview.
“No, I can’t. There’s a reason I didn’t want Sarina in my medical business. Dr. Klein has been expecting this as well.” She set her hand on his. “It’s almost time to send for her but there’s something else I need to tell you before you call Sarina.”
“Does it have to be me?” Mason didn’t care if he was a giant baby, he didn’t want to inherit another terrible Sutton family secret.
“Yes.” Nana sighed sadly. “And this one is a doozy.”
Nana wasn’t kidding and Mason was shaken to his core when he messaged Sarina and told her she needed to get to Sutton House as fast as possible.
He couldn’t tell her what Nana had shared and had to stand back as his best friend said goodbye to her grandmother.
They didn’t tell Sam why and they all managed to be strong as he kissed Nana on her cheek and told her to have a happy nap before Ms. Ashley whisked him back downstairs for warm cookies and cartoons.
An hour later, Nana passed. Both Mason and Sarina were heartbroken that there wasn’t time to send for Sky but Nana left a lovely video message for him.
Mason and Sarina helped her record it, crying as she told Sky how proud she was of him and that she couldn’t have asked for a more perfect grandson.
Finally, she ordered him not to waste his tears or time mourning her, but to move forward and find more joy, because he had so little of it in his life so far.
“I wish there was some way to talk to him and warn him before we send this,” Sarina said.
Mason shook his head. “He’ll hang up if he hears either of our voices. We could have Adele call,” he suggested but Sarina rejected the idea.
“She’d make it so much more traumatizing.”
In the end, it was Dr. Klein who made the call and gently broke the news to Sky and sent the video.
“What if this is it?” Sarina had asked after they returned home with Sam and tucked him into bed.
Thankfully, his last day with Nana would be remembered as one with freshly baked cookies, grilled cheese sandwiches, and a peaceful goodbye.
But there was no way of knowing how Sky had taken the news or how he’d remember the day.
“What if Sky never comes back after Nana’s funeral? ”