I pushed for over an hour, Gram and Farrah at my knees, bracing against them as I burst blood vessels in my cheeks and eyes. They encouraged, cajoled, and wiped my face with a cool washcloth—but nothing, and no one, was a substitute for Asa.

“I need Asa, Gram,” I wailed, completely out of my mind with fear and exhaustion. “I’m tired. I want Asa.”

“I know, darlin’. But he can’t come so we’re gonna have to make due.” She wiped my hair back from my forehead with the palm of her hand. “Let’s get your boy out. You can do this, Callie.”

“I can do it,” I answered with a nod, any reassurance giving me strength at that point. “I can do it. Let’s get him out. I want him out.”

“That’s right. Push, Callie. Push!”

I grit my teeth and bore down, and within minutes, I felt him sliding from my body, screaming.

They laid him on my chest, covered in gross white crap and blood, and all I could think about was how much I loved him, and that he had Asa’s nose.

“Why are his balls so huge?” Farrah gasped in fear.

The nurses started laughing loudly. “There’s a lot of pressure on him in the birth canal, and he’s got mom’s hormones running through him. They’ll go down in a few days,” a nurse assured Farrah as she gently picked my boy up. “I’m just going to weigh him and test him real quick,” she directed at me, giving me an understanding smile. “I’ll bring him right back.”

“Take pictures, Gram!” I called to her as she followed the nurse to the little bed on the other side of the room.

The next few minutes were a disgusting mess of delivering the placenta and getting stitches. Yes, stitches. The only downside to having children with Asa was his son’s ridiculously broad shoulders.

“Here you go, mama,” Gram called tenderly as she brought the baby to me and laid him on my chest again. “You might want to start trying to breastfeed. Good for him to start right away.”

“Okay,” I whispered, reaching blindly for the button to raise my bed as I watched him open and close his mouth. “He looks like Asa.”

“Yeah, but he’s got your skin, lucky little booger,” Farrah commented quietly, reaching out with one finger to touch the side of his face. “What’s his name?”

“William Butler Hawthorne,” I answered, watching as her eyes widened before she schooled her features.

“Good choice,” she replied with a small smile. “Hey, Will.”

Chapter 65

Grease

Almost five months down and only twenty more to go.

I was trying not to count the fucking minutes, but it was hard as hell. Shit wasn’t bad inside—if you didn’t care about the nasty-ass food and complete lack of freedom. Thankfully, we had boys on the inside, so I’d rarely had to bust heads to make sure fuckers left me alone. Between the other Aces locked up for a variety of crimes, and my size, guys didn’t mess with me much.

I picked up the phone and went through all of the shit I needed to do to call Callie, anxious to hear her voice after a night of barely any sleep. We’d passed her due date a couple of days ago, and I couldn’t’ sleep wondering if she was okay. After all our years of living far away from each other, I was used to not seeing her gorgeous face every day, but it fucking sucked that I couldn’t call her whenever I had the urge. I had to wait until the fucking designated times, which usually meant I was waiting hours before I had the chance.

Her phone rang and rang, and when she didn’t answer, my heart started thumping hard in my chest. I tried to tell myself that she was probably sleeping, or forgot her phone somewhere, but I knew in my gut neither of those were true. She always answered her phone, no matter what she was doing.

I hung up and started the process over again, calling Rose this time, but she didn’t answer, either. My hands were shaking and my chest felt like it had a hundred-pound weight on it as I hung up and started again. The guy behind me in line started bitching about how he was waiting for the phone, and it took all I had not to turn around and shut him up. All it would take was one fist to the jaw, but I knew if I started a fight, I’d have to wait God knows how long before I got to a phone again.

I took a deep breath in relief when Cody answered.

“Hello?”

“Hey, man, it’s Grease,” I told him quietly.

“Hey, how’ve you been?” I could hear cars in the background and wind blowing into the cellphone, making my gut clench for a second as I imagined life outside.

“I’m good. Livin’ the dream,” I answered flatly, causing him to chuckle.

“Yeah, I bet. What’s up?”

“I’ve been trying to get a hold of your sister, but no one’s answering. You know where she might be?”

There was silence on the end of the line for so long that I thought I’d lost him. “Hello?”

“Yeah, I’m here. I just—no one has gotten a hold of you?”

“Not sure how they could,” I replied calmly, as I felt myself breaking into a cold sweat.

“Yeah, just a sec.” I heard some shuffling, and Cody said something to someone before it was silent on his end again. “Had to go out in the hallway—class is starting.” He paused while I held my fucking breath and clenched my teeth against the need to scream at him to just spit it the fuck out.

“Callie went into labor yesterday,” he told me quietly. “It took a while, but she had him this morning. Gram says everything went well. She’s doing good and so is the baby.”