I place Viviane on speakerphone. “Oi, Tia. O bebê vai nascer logo.”

I hear Tia Viviane suck her teeth. “Sim, já estou sabendo.”

Well, if she already knows, why isn’t she scrambling to get to her daughter?

“I need to put my makeup on first,” my aunt explains. “I can’t go to the hospital without something on my face.”

I glance at Dean before I return my attention to the road. He scrubs a hand down his face to hide his smile as he waits for Max to pick up. Yes, by the looks of things, he, too, is now fully aware of the depths of my family’s wackiness.

“Just meet us at Natalia’s,” I tell Tia Viviane. “Where’s Mãe and Tia Mariana?”

“They’re getting themselves together,” she says. “Don’t worry. We’ll be there soon.”

I can’t with them. Not now. Sure, they may miss the birth of Natalia’s child, but at least they’ll look cute when they eventually join us.

Twenty minutes later, Dean and I pound on Natalia’s front door. She swings it open, her sweat-slicked face twisted in a grimace. “Hey, you two.”

I immediately pull out my phone. “I’m calling 911. You need an ambulance.”

“No,” Natalia forces out through clenched teeth. “They’ll figure out a way to charge us ten thousand dollars for a ride on a glorified ice-cream truck. Don’t do it, Solange.”

“Okay, so what do you want us to do?”

“I’ll get in your car. Drive me to Holy Cross. My OB is on call there. The contractions are like six minutes apart, so we should be good.”

“Fine. Let’s get your stuff together.” I turn to Dean. “We don’t have time to wait for everyone. Can you call Max and Lina back and tell them to go directly to the hospital instead? Ask them to update the tias too.”

He nods, his eyes softening as he lifts the phone to his ear. “On it, Captain.”

I appreciate that he isn’t offering suggestions or activating the mansplaining gene. Instead, he’s patiently waiting for any instructions, and that in itself makes me less anxious about my limited role in the situation. I reach out and give his hand a squeeze. “Thanks for being here.”

“Of course,” he says with a wink. “Wouldn’t want to be anywhere else.”

“Honest?”

“Honest.”

Natalia sucks her teeth. “Oh my gosh, you two. I’m the one having the baby. If you can get your heads out of each other’s asses long enough, I might be able to get to the hospital to pop this monster out.”

She waddle-stomps up the steps to the second floor of her and Paulo’s townhome. I scurry after her, appreciating the excuse not to meet Dean’s gaze.

In the bedroom, Natalia’s muttering to herself as she double-checks the contents of her overnight bag.