“Oh yeah? Get your ass over to the Warden’s office,” I managed before cutting off the two-way radio and laughing again.
“Affirmative,” Sunny bit out, and I barely heard him over our laughter.
???
Sunny and Levi refused to return to cellblock eight, which was lucky, as Phil had done everything he’d needed to. I observed with interest as, an hour later, every door that had slammed shut opened back up.
Jack was beside himself to investigate and questioned them relentlessly about what they’d sensed and felt. Harry had already dived into his research, trying to track down the other witness whom this had happened to. If Harry found him, Harry would go with Freddie and interview him. There could be footage of theincident, which would be immensely helpful in comparing it to ours.
“Callie, I don’t know about you hitting cellblock eight,” Sunny said as we got ready for bed once we’d wrapped everything up that we needed to. People didn’t realise, but setting up cameras and mics took hours as we had to get the angles right and ensure full coverage.
“Sunny, I’ll be fine. Madi and Jack aren’t so stupid as to say ghosts don’t exist,” I replied as I climbed into bed.
“Madi and Jack? Babe, you aren’t going anywhere without me. Neither of them can pick you up and run!”
“Like you and Levi today?” I snickered, recalling the look on Sunny’s face when he arrived back at the Warden’s office. We’d chosen that to set up a command centre.
“Yup. Exactly. Trust me, Jack would likely try to capture the damn thing, and Madi would be right beside him,” Sunny griped.
“Sunny?”
“Babe?” Sunny looked at me as if I was going to agree with his worry. Silly man.
“Shut up and fuck me!” I ordered and burst into laughter as Sunny dived onto the bed.
Madisen
“Are you okay?” I asked as Levi stripped down. He hated sleeping in clothes, although he’d learned to keep his boxers on. I’d awoken three months ago to a pained yell and discovered Lily whacking his dick with a toy. Lily thought a worm had attached itself to him. Our girl had clearly recognised that Daddy had different parts to her.
After saving Levi and a part of his body I was particularly fond of, Levi realised he needed to wear boxers at least.
“Yeah. Trying to wrap my head around what I witnessed. Ain’t gonna lie, babe, I believed a lot of it was smoke and mirrors. Not that I’m calling Callie a liar, but you know these TV shows. They get a yard and take a mile,” Levi replied.
“Don’t let Callie or Sunny hear you say that,” I responded, laughing. “I never realised it was such hard work.”
“No, I thought they had a team that did everything for them. Today was a learning experience.” Levi finally kicked his boots off and yanked his jeans off.
I looked at his body. Five years had passed since we fell in love, and Levi remained in as great a shape as ever. He still exercised twice a week. As a painter and tattooist, Levi was usually seated for his jobs, so he worked out a lot.
“Thank you for this, Levi,” I said softly.
Levi crawled onto the bed and climbed under the duvet. He hauled me in close, and I leaned my cheek on his chest. It was a pose we’d repeated many times over the last six weeks, but tonight there were no tears.
“Love you so much, Madi. I wish I could carry your pain too,” Levi murmured, kissing the top of my head.
“Yeah. Things keep running through my mind. I know the hospital said that Mary’s brain was growing outside of her skull and she wouldn’t have survived, but the guilt is there.”
“They said it was common, Madi. There was nothing either of us could do,” Levi soothed.
“That doesn’t stop me wondering what would have happened if I’d taken more rest or got the pregnancy vitamins sooner. Everything just goes round and round in my mind. I carried Lily and DJ easily enough, so what did I do bad this time?”
“Babe, you hadn’t done anything wrong. It was simply one of nature’s cruel quirks. The doctors told us Mary wouldn’t havesurvived if she had been born, and it would have been very traumatic for her.”
“It was kinder this way,” I muttered, even though my arms screamed to hold my baby.
“Yeah.” And once more, Levi proved he knew me. “But it doesn’t stop the guilt and what-ifs we’ll suffer for a while.”
“No. And Sunny and Callie aren’t likely to treat us with kid gloves,” I replied.
