So much time passed with Hush sitting in their living room, no one remembered when she was supposed to deliver.

—We should take her to the hospital. I mean, she should’ve had that baby weeks ago, no? Esperanza asked Bobby.

—It wouldn’t hurt to get her checked.

On a Saturday, when everyone in the Colón family was home, with all their strength and abilities of coercion, they convinced Hush to go to the emergency room. At Hush’s request, Dallas disguised Hush’s face with big sunglasses and a scarf wrapped around her head. They stood around her when the nosy old neighbor opened her door to find out what the commotion was. They went around the block, avoiding Broadway, the luncheonette.

It had been five years since they had visited the emergency room as a family. That’s when it hit Dallas, Esperanza, and Bobby that Santo’s death had been long ago enough that it wasn’t as painful, that they had moved on, and become a family without him.

Esperanza told the nurse she was Hush’s mother, and she went in with Hush as the doctors performed a sonogram. This must be a good job, Esperanza said. Maybe I should take a class, amazed by the small black screen with the impression of the baby inside Hush. —Is it a boy or girl? Esperanza asked.

—Do you want to know, Hush? the nurse asked.

Hush shrugged, busy reading the patient’s rights, taped to the wall.

—Hush is having a girl, the doctor said and looked over at Hush, who looked disinterested about the child who was keeping her from leaving for college as planned.

Esperanza asked the doctor to take some tests, to find out if Hush was healthy, because she wasn’t eating and her pregnancy had been going on for so long. When did she expect the baby?

—She’s fine, the doctor said. —Any day now, the baby should come. Maybe a few weeks. It always feels like the last few months take forever. I often believe the baby comes out when it knows its mama is ready.

Esperanza didn’t want to admit it, but she was looking forward to having a baby in the house. She liked the spark Hush ignited in Bobby. She actually caught him smiling, and the coldness from juvie in his eyes was no longer threatening. For once, the Colón family was together in the living room, joking and talking, fighting and playing as Hush propped herself in the sofa’s corner, reading anything she could put her hands on.

—Hush? Bobby tried to talk with her but his tongue was tied.

—Yes, Bobby?

He was afraid he would make her cry, scream, or that she’d get bored with anything he had to say. He assumed she was a bit fearful of men after what she’d gone through with Oswaldo.

—What is it, Bobby? His cheeks were flushed. He wasn’t breathing right. He had never cared about anyone in that way before.

—What you reading? he asked, feeling stupid.