Caray, Caray!

Okey dokey, folks, due to the schedule cramming tonight we jump right into the middle of a scene, mid-sentence, with no credits or anything. Fortunately, it seems we haven’t missed anything.

Orlando is telling Camila that due to his insecurities, she needs to decide right now whether she wants him, all or nothing, because really everything is about him and the fact that she has a million other concerns at the moment and probably hasn’t slept much in weeks doesn’t matter. Camila must have just given up on life, though, because she says she wants him. She doesn’t look too enthusiastic but emotionally blind Orly doesn’t notice.

Germán sits in his office, incriminating important shady papers in hand, and tells Carlota via telephone that the big important papers haven’t arrived yet. She throws a little fit and he promises her that she will have them by the following week, and if they haven’t come by Monday or Tuesday he will go to México City and fetch them himself. She claims if he delivers she will trust him unconditionally.

Padre Juan/Cris fidgets nervously on Natalia’s sofa and takes awhile telling her he needs to discuss something confidentially. Nat, unlike Carlota, does not get treated to a PJC striptease. Finally he asks about Sagrario, back around the time Paloma was born. Does Nat remember her pregnancy? Natalia tells him that Sagrario had trouble conceiving and had had many unsuccessful fertility treatments, so she was surprised when Sagrario called and told her that they were staying in Real del Monte because they were going to have a baby. However, Nat didn’t see her pregnant, as Nat was still in the D.F. and Sagrario and Javier had moved away. They went for Javier’s father’s funeral and never came back. Cris thinks to himself that it’s true; Paloma is Macarena’s daughter and was handed over because Mac was abandoned, either by him or by that other dude.

Emiliano asks Germs again about his history with Romina, and he wants a specific and detailed answer. Germy tells him again it was just the one time, nothing more, for realsies. Emo is a chip off the old bio-dad and doesn’t notice that Germs is twitching and averting his eyes as he promises there was nothing more. They discuss how much they’ve missed their friendship and that they had agreed to be each others’ wedding witnesses, and kiss and make up. Oh, this isn’t that kind of show. They hug in a heteromanly fashion and make up.

The new art teacher who is not Clara tells Paloma that the art exhibition starts on Saturday, and she’ll need to go to Pachuca to get her paintings set up. Paloma is thrilled to have a pretext to avoid the wedding.

Cris goes to Misery Manor and asks for Rufi, thinking she may have returned. Carlota slyly shows him all the way into the parlor before telling him Rufi isn’t there. She tells him not to keep wasting time on his base passions for a dead woman. He says his passions now lie in more godly pursuits, but he still wants to know the truth. Carloca taunts him, saying she knows he’s still carrying on with Natalia. Not so, says he. Then she makes her daily attempt to seduce him. He barely even reacts this time, he’s getting so used to this. He shows himself out.

Orlando bounds into the office and announces to Angélica that Camila has finally succumbed to his brainwashing and pressure, oops, I mean has agreed of her own free will and with no conflict and much happiness to marry him. Ange congratulates him and hugs him while looking sad. She says she’ll be leaving town soon. He says he still needs her. Ange says Vero must be about ready to come back. I doubt it, because she was only a few months along in her pregnancy several months ago, so even if she does have a few weeks available to work she’ll probably be wanting a maternity leave soon. Orly begs her to stay.

Monica is not too happy to hear that Camila has agreed to marry Orlando. She says Cami was pressured too much and should give it more time and give Rafael a chance to escape Diana’s clutches. Cami says there are no guarantees anything will last forever, so what the heck, she’ll take the risk and marry Orlando. Now that is romantic.

Romina calls Emiliano at work to bug him about wedding details. Invitations. “What else?” he asks brusquely. She needs the original and a copy of his birth certificate. “Fine, what else?” Orlando has offered to buy them a house; isn’t it thrilling?! Emiliano is looking more and more fed up with every word she says. She wants to go pick a fabulous house, but he thinks it’s awkward because they don’t know how much Orlando wants to spend, etc. Emo thinks they should just let Orlando pick the place. Romi doesn’t like that. He hangs up on her.

Paloma is sweeping and Carlota is washing dishes. Obviously this will not do. Carlota says she’s ordered up a new scullery maid. Paloma wants her to make it clear that the job is only for a few days, because surely Rufi is coming back; she wouldn’t dare not. Carlota seems to think otherwise, and accuses Paloma of being just like her mother, always thinking of others, as though that is about the nastiest trait imaginable.

Carloca says she hopes Paloma will come to see her as a mother, even though she’s direct and rude. “For our first mother-daughter outing, we will go ice skating in Hell,” says Paloma’s face. Cruel claims that she is nasty because her parents were very strict with her (so she wants Paloma to turn out the same way?), but her fondest wish is to have a warm loving relationship with Paloma. Paloma is suddenly very interested in her sweeping.

Padre Cris chats with Gabriel, who is busy restoring church artwork. Cris asks if the bishop has been around yet. Gabriel says no, but he’s expected later. Cris says he’s been wanting to talk with him for awhile, but with one thing and another he hasn’t been able to see him. “Oh, the same way I’ve been hoping to see my Mystery Girl,” Gabe awkwardly parallels. He’s willing to wait as long as it takes to find her, though.

Camila asks Paloma to not be a stranger and continue to visit her, even though Romina won’t be there. Paloma says she’ll visit when she can, but she’s moving to México City with Rufi and Dr. Bermúdez. She just has to get away, even though she’ll miss almost everyone. “It’s because of Emiliano, right?” asks Camila. Romina barges in and hassles both of them and drags Paloma away to her bedroom. Camila looks like she’s about to go postal.

Emiliano tells Orlando he has no interest in looking at houses; whatever he picks is fine. Orlando decides to take Romina instead. Then he tells Emo that if he doesn’t change his attitude, he will be living in hell. “I already am,” replies Emo.

Paloma tells Romina she won’t be able to attend the wedding because she has to go to her art show. Romememena is incensed. Paloma finally admits she doesn’t want to go watch Romina marry the man Paloma loves. Romina throws a fit and accuses Paloma of being a liar and traitor. Paloma says Romina is a nutcase, threatening suicide and claiming she can’t live without Emiliano’s love when she was tangoing with Germy the whole time. Romi still claims that isn’t true, and no one has ever had such a great love as the epic love of Romina and Emiliano. Paloma says she knows that isn’t true, since she has been his novia in secret for quite some time. I would add that there’s also the way he quite publicly admits he can’t stand Romina and doesn’t want to marry her…that often does not indicate deep and abiding lurve.

Camila is in the church, praying for enlightenment. She doesn’t want to make a huge mistake, but feels lost without her normal wits or her friend Mac’s counsel.

Romememena is outraged that Paloma dared to fall in love with Emiliano, after Romi saw him first. “Well, anyway, I guess our friendship is over, and I’m leaving town and we’ll probably never see each other again, but I’ll always love you and I hope you’ll be very happy,” Paloma tells her. Needless to say, there are buckets of tears gushing here. She hugs Romina and leaves and Romina actually looks very genuinely upset that she is losing her friend.

Cris sees Camila in the chapel and asks her to help him with something, since she was so close to Macarena. Camila agrees. Better not let Carloca see Cris holding her arm as they walk away…scandal!

Padre Benito is at the church office in Pachuca, trying to get the appointment-making priest guy to get him in to see the bishop when he returns. Other Priest says Obispo Calixto isn’t back yet, but will probably be very busy when he does finally arrive. No kidding; is he taking the slow boat or what? PB says it’s a delicate matter, the possibility of Cris having a daughter, and he doesn’t think they can trust the woman’s confession since she is a known liar and has been tormenting Cris for years. Wait, so they can discuss confessions in roundabout terms? I did not think so. Anyway, Other Priest says he thinks Padre Benito should talk to Cris and investigate himself, and draw his own conclusions.

Camila tells Cris that she doesn’t know all the details of Mac’s life, but she is quite sure that Mac was never in love with any man other than him. He is quite pleased to hear that. Cami remembers that Mac had mentioned that there was some secret between her and Carlota, something that could free her and Paloma from Carlota’s yoke (yugo), but she never found out what it was.

Rufi is in some hotel room somewhere with Jennifer. Jenny says she’ll call the hospital and find out when they can visit Grandpa, but it’s late so it probably won’t be tonight.

At school, Liliana tells Paloma she’s doing the right thing, avoiding the wedding and everything. Romina just threw a fit because she is jealous that Emiliano is in love with Paloma. Paloma says it doesn’t matter, he’s marrying Romi and they’re having a baby; moral victories don’t count.

Romina whines to her mother about that jerk Paloma who dared to admit she was in love with the groom. However, Romi is sure the baby will change everything and he will fall in love with her. Cami is all eye-rolly and says Romina already knows what she thinks about all this. Romina retorts that Camila agreed to marry Orlando and she doesn’t believe that she’s in love with him; what’s the difference? (Let me count the ways…infidelity, suicide threats, drugging, faked paternity test, selfishness, strong-arming, what am I forgetting?)

The doorbell rings and Romina goes to answer it, hoping it’s a present arriving. It’s Orlando, wanting to take them house-shopping. Romina is thrilled. They go to get their purses and Romina nudge-winks Camila, saying maybe Orlando is quite a catch after all. Camila already has a house, so I’m not sure she’s so easily convinced.

Diana and Rafael have a screaming divorce fight. Di says she’ll only agree to a divorce if there’s a clause that says Rafael can never marry again. He says she’s gone crazy. GONE?! She started out crazy, then kicked it up a notch. He says he will get his divorce, and it will include no considerations for her.

Turns out Rufi and Jenny are in Matamoros, Tamaulipas. Jenny returns to the hotel room with a shopping bag and says they have an appointment to see Grandpa, but he had one wish. He wants Rufi to wear the long white dress when she comes to see him. “How can I go out in this?” Rufi asks. Jenny doesn’t think Rufi should deny him his last wish.

Padres Benito and JuanCris discuss the possibility that Paloma may be Cris’s daughter. Cris tells Benito the story of the other guy that he heard from Carlota and which Paloma evidently believes, but he doesn’t think it’s true.

Carlota micromanages the dusting that Felipa, the new housekeeper, is doing. She says eventually she’ll have her trained right. Felipa is surprised and says she thought this was only for a few days, until Rufi returns. Carlota claims she would never fire Rufi (forgetting that she already did once), but life takes surprising twists and Rufi may not come back after all. Okay, creepazoid.

Padre Benito and Padre Cris continue discussing the characters of Macarena and Carlota, and who could have done what or lied about what else. Padre Benito says what Cris needs to do is find the supposed other father (dad, not priest, though we’ve got a surfeit of each in this show) and find out what his story is. Ummm, guys, this is a question science could answer with much more certainty.

Avances: Liliana, on Paloma’s behalf, is not giving up yet. She has a serious chat with Emiliano. He decides he isn’t giving up either.

Labels: amor