Page 10 of Sweet Surprise (Honeysuckle, Texas #2)

“I’d swear that horse knows she’s being sketched.” Jess sat on a bale of hay, watching her son hard at work.

“Don’t kid yourself.” Carson held back a chuckle. “Boots totally knows she’s the center of Mason’s attention. And she’s loving it.”

Jess’s shoulders shook with amusement. “I don’t think I’m going to argue with you. I just can’t believe the horse hasn’t moved a muscle since Mason started sketching. I don’t even think she’s twitched an ear.”

He knew that Boots would be the right horse to appeal to Mason and put Jess at ease.

Most of the night he’d been kicking around the changes that were happening faster than he could process.

Even though having Jess and Mason here was new and different and even strange in many ways, everything felt completely right. “I’ve been thinking.”

“Yes?” Jess gaze remained on her son.

“I need to tell my mother.” He cleared his throat. “About Mason.”

Jess dipped her chin in a short nod.

“Everything else aside, no matter what happens next, Mason is her grandson and she deserves to know sooner than later.”

“I know you’re right.” Her gaze darted momentarily from Mason to Carson and then back again. “And I know that she’s nothing like Todd’s mother…”

“But you don’t want another grandmother to reject him?”

A hint of smile pulled at one corner of her mouth. “You always did seem to know what I was thinking before I said anything.”

No matter how many women he’d met or dated, he’d never found the same connection as he’d once shared with Jess.

“Oh. Mornin’.” Clint led his horse into the stable. “Didn’t expect to find anyone here at this hour.”

Carson lifted his chin in Mason’s direction. “Artist at work.”

For the first time since he’d met Clint, the ranch hand actually smiled. “Your mother showed me a picture the boy drew for her yesterday. He’s good.”

Was it normal for a man to feel his heart fill his chest when someone complimented his son? “Very good.” Dragging his thoughts to Clint and the horse he walked into the barn instead of riding, Carson narrowed his gaze. “What brings you back this early?”

“I think he’s got a stone in his shoe.”

Mason’s head popped up. “In his shoe?” The kid’s gaze settled on the horse’s hooves.

“You want to help me clean out his hoof?” Clint waved his thumb over his shoulder at the horse.

“Can I?” Wide eyed, Mason looked to his mother and to Carson’s delight, his gaze darted momentarily to Carson.

That unsettled look from earlier was back on Jess’s face. Nibbling on her lower lip, she glanced at Carson. Understanding her silent question, he nodded at her. Shifting her attention to the ranch hand, she straightened her shoulders. “If you’re sure he won’t be in your way?”

“No, ma’am. I’d be happy to show him how to put a horse away.”

Again, her head snapped around to face Carson, and again he nodded, doing his best to offer a reassuring smile. “Okay, then,” she sighed. “I guess Mason is going to learn about horses today.”

“Come on,” he patted the small of her back, “let’s go find my mother.”

“Right. Your mother.”

He wished she looked more sure than he felt.

There was no doubt in his mind that his mother would be thrilled at a grandchild, but he was also pretty sure she wasn’t going to be overjoyed that Carson had been an absentee father for so many years.

Not that it was his fault. It wasn’t really anyone’s fault.

Just a little joke the universe played on them.

“Are we going to tell the whole family?” Jess kept pace beside him.

“No. My siblings already know. Well, not Kade, but everyone else.”

Her head bobbed. “I see.”

“I’m not sure why I waited to tell Mom.”

Tipping her head to one side, and closing one eye, she stared at him. “You really don’t know?”

Did he?

“You wanted more time to absorb it yourself.”

And she did it again. “Maybe. Yeah, I needed to feel more at home with everything before I broke the news to Mom. And maybe just a little fear.”

Jess stopped short. “Fear? That I don’t understand.”

“Garret railed into me pretty harshly about how everything came to be. I suppose I didn’t want to see the same reaction in Mom’s eyes.”

She kept walking. “No matter how old we get, we always want our parents’ approval.”

Stepping onto the back porch, Carson sucked in a deep breath and glanced at the mother of his son.

“Maybe,” Jess stared intently at the back door and then over to Carson again. “Maybe this is something you need to do without me?”

His gaze drifted from her to the door and back. This was one of the many reasons he’d loved her so long ago, she understood him better than he understood himself. If he wanted to see his mother’s true reaction, he’d need to be alone with her. Nodding his head, he tried to smile. “You’re right.”

A soft smile settled on her lips. “It happens sometimes.” Taking a step back, she blew out a soft breath. “I think I’m going to check on Mason, or maybe take a little walk.”

“You okay?”

“Very.” She nodded and let her hand fall on his forearm. “You’ve got this. It will be fine.”

Fine. Right. Sucking in a deep breath, he walked into the kitchen. “Hi, Mom.”

As soon Carson crossed the threshold into the kitchen, his mother looked up and then over his shoulder. “Where’s Mason and Jess?”

“Clint is showing him how to groom and put away a horse. Jess is taking a walk.”

His mother’s smile blossomed more than he would have expected from such a simple comment.

“Isn’t that wonderful.” Alice Sweet slapped her hands together. “He’s going to be a rancher.”

“That may be a stretch.”

With a casual shrug, his mom grinned and reached for a tea kettle. “I was just making a cup, would you like one?”

“Actually,” Carson pulled a mug from the cupboard, “I wanted to talk to you about something.” Setting the mug on the counter, he took the kettle from his mother.

The way his mother’s eyes twinkled with delight, he wondered what the heck the woman was thinking.

Alice turned and opened the fridge door, pulling out the milk. “What’s this about?”

Carson gestured toward the kitchen table. “Maybe we should sit down.”

His mother’s expression shifted, a flash of worry crossing her features before she carefully schooled them back to neutral. “Is something wrong?”

“No, not wrong,” Carson followed her to the table. “It’s just… important.”

Once they were seated, Carson took a steadying breath.

He’d rehearsed this moment in his head a dozen times since discovering the truth, but now that the moment had arrived, the words refused to come easily.

“Mom,” he began, his voice a little tighter than usual, “there’s something you should know about Mason. ”

Alice’s eyes leveled with his as she slowly stirred the sugar and milk in her mug of tea.

“Mason is my son,” the words rushed out before he could over think them again. For a moment, the kitchen was so quiet he could hear the wall clock ticking. His mother’s face remained perfectly still, her eyes fixed on his. Then a slow smile began to spread across her face. “I know.”

Stunned, he blinked. “You… what?”

“Of course I know.” His mom’s smile was now full and bright. “I suspected it the moment I saw him. Those dimples when he smiles—they’re exactly like yours were at his age. And the way he concentrates when he’s drawing? That’s you all over again.”

He couldn’t help the small laugh that bubbled forth. “I should have known you’d figure it out.” Like the old cliché his mother had both eyes at the back of her head, and a sixth sense that could fool a fortune teller.

“A mother knows her children.” Reaching across the table, she took hold of Carson’s hand. “And their children.” She quickly leaned back, her expression more serious. “What I don’t understand is why I’m only meeting my grandson now.”

“There was a mistake. Jess only found out the truth recently. She would never have kept this from us, or married another man had she known.”

Alice nodded slowly. “This other man raised Mason?”

“In a manner of speaking.” Carson tried to keep the edge from his voice. “According to Jess, Todd wasn’t much of a father. When he got sick and she had Mason tested, that’s when she discovered the truth.”

“And she came straight here.” Alice nodded, approval warming her voice. “That was the right thing to do.”

Carson cleared his throat. “I’m sorry things weren’t different. I just wish we hadn’t lost all those years.”

Alice’s brow furrowed. “You know what I always say.”

“If wishes were horses, beggars would ride,” Carson recited easily.

“That’s right.” His mother nodded. “There’s no point living in the land of coulda shoulda woulda. What matters is that you both know now, and you’re doing the right thing.” She lifted her chin, her eyes bright with unshed tears. “I have to thank Jess for bringing my grandson to us.”

“I’m sorry I wasn’t…” Words clogged in his mouth, smarter, more persistent, more inquisitive, a better man. What could he say?

“We can’t change the past,” Alice reached for her son’s hand with her free one, “but we can make the most of the future.” A mischievous glint appeared in her eyes. “And I have to say, you two being together makes perfect sense.”

Oh, hell she’d misunderstood. “Mom, we’re not—”

“I know, I know,” Alice said, waving away his protest. “You’re just old friends reconnecting. But a mother can hope, can’t she?”

The back door swung open before Carson could respond, and Mason bounded in, his face flushed with excitement, his mother at his heels.

“Carson! Miss Alice! I helped groom Pepper and checked all her hooves! Clint says I’m a natural!”

Alice beamed at the boy. “Did he now? Well, Clint knows what he’s talking about.”

The way the kid grinned from ear to ear, as proud as an Olympic gold medalist, the family scene could have been a Norman Rockwell painting. He couldn’t help but wonder how different their lives would have been if he’d not let her go so easily all those years ago.