Caray, Caray!

Capítulo 175: In Pursuit of Truthiness

Amalia excuses herself and edges away carefully leaving Luisa alone and hyperventilating. [I hope they have paper bags handy in the courthouse.]

The Naz barrels into Said’s house: ¡Vengo por las cosas de Jade! (I’m here for Jade’s things!) She is only looking out for her brother. She doesn’t want people to say he is the kind of man who gives things to his wife and then demands they be returned. When she paints Rania and Amina with the odalisca brush, the sisters protest. Mi amor, retorts the Naz:
Si no fueras una odalisca, mi hermano nunca se habría casado contigo.
(If you weren’t an odalisque, my brother would never have married you.)

And she orders them all – Rania, Amina and Said – to help pack Jade’s things and carry them downstairs.

Rania angers Said when she complains about the way the Naz talks to her. (Said: She talks to me like that too! She talks to everyone like that!). And Amina gives her sister a warning: You talk too much! Keep it up and he’ll send you back!

At the del Valle home, Lucía is interrogating Consuelo about her ‘Tía Hilda’. [Maybe she’s the one who should have gone to law school. She’s pretty good at this.] Lucía is going to file a criminal complaint: Tell them they’re going to jail. And unless you take me to them right now, you’ll be in jail with them.

In Mohamed’s house, Latifa and Zoreida ask Alí to come with them to pick up Jade’s belongings. but he is still fuming. Don’t mention her name in my presence, he says.

Lucía pulls up to the sKank residence with a reluctant Consuelo riding shotgun.

Down the street Gloria is dismayed to hear (via the Ramoncito Wire Services) that Alej has been visiting Natalia.

Alej gets back to the restaurant. Your mother’s looking for you, Ramón tells him, and Diana waited two hours for you, then finally left with Pablo.

In the land of the sKanks, the UbersKank has no fear. The UbersKank has no shame. Karla is nervous and even Consuelo hangs back, but Hilda marches up to Lucía and says, in her most elegant English: Hello lady!

She says that Lucía’s husband is unwilling to man up and take responsibility for his child. Lucía fires right back. Those sKanks will pay for their false accusations! But when Hilda pulls out a photo of Roberto clowning with a very pregnant Karla, Lucía is left slack-jawed; Hilda twists her mouth in a way that makes her look even more grotesque than usual.

Karla, come here, says the UbersKank. Leave Roberto Jr with Consuelo. Roberto Jr??? echoes Lucía miserably. And she listens with increasing despair to their story. When she hears that Karla met Roberto at the Beach Club, she protests: He only goes there with me!

The court proceedings continue. Leo describes the birthmark which his sons inherited from his late wife. And now Daniel has the very same mancha.

Leo never had a past encounter with Dora, he assures the judge. And while he is sorry to cause her distress, he has no intention of giving up his claim to Daniel’s paternity.

Roberto, allowing his attention to stray to his own contested paternity, passes a note to Enrique: ¿Y si me rehuso hacer el examen de ADN?
(And if I refuse to do the DNA test?)

And Enrique answers: It would be worse for you because the judge would interpret your refusal as an admission and would declare paternity without the exam results.

It’s Dora’s turn to testify.

Albieri is looking for Luisa. No, Cris hasn’t seen her.

That is because Luisa, chest still heaving with rage, is back at the clinic. Albieri is cheating on me with that reporter, she tells Anita and Julio. How could he? I devoted myself to him and he just discards me like trash! Now he’ll find out what it’s like not having me at his side!

Malicia, with supreme self-confidence, strides into Empresas Ferrer on her 6-inch tacones (the heels have grown with her arrogance) and demands an audience with Leo. She is convinced that Clara is lying when she tells her Leo is gone for the day. She wants to speak to Clara’s superior. Carolina wheels around to face her. She is of ‘higher rank’ and she confirms what Clara has said. Malicia leaves her card with Carolina with a message for Leo to call her.

Malicia drives right past Escobar on her home and their eyes meet. He smiles expectantly and starts to approach her. She smirks and keeps on going.

Clara calls Rogelio. She wants him to know that Malicia showed up at her office just to upset her. He explains that Malicia had a perfectly innocent reason for being there: she is planning a surprise celebration for Leo! (Does anyone else think Rogelio is too stupid to deserve Clara?)

That Leo is the next one on Malicia’s list is obvious to Clara and Caro. But this time she is taking on Cristina’s man. And, says Clara:
¿Sabes qué? Con Cristina no va a poder. ¡Cristina tiene que vengarme!
(You know what? She won’t get away with it with Cristina. Cristina has to get even with her for me!)

Lucía tries frantically to get past the guard at the entrance to the courtroom. She has to find Roberto! Lucas sees her and gently leads her away explaining that she will have to wait.

Inside the courtroom, Dora is telling her story: how she worked as a manicurist and how she told Luisa, one of her customers, about her desire to have a child; how Luisa convinced her to go to Albieri’s clinic.

At the clinic, Dra Silvia determined that it was Dora’s partner who was infertile. The plan was to do an artificial insemination using a donor who resembled her partner, Osvaldo.

And while Dora is testifying:
Estela and Jade are getting acquainted. They hear someone at the door. Estela peers out to see who it is and the Naz whooshes past her and into the room followed by Latifa and Zoraida. There are smiling introductions and updates on the home situation. She hears about Alí, Rania and Said but when Jade asks about Jadiya, the question goes unanswered.

Latifa wants to know how Jade met Doña Estela. She explains: This is the house of la sombra. On the night she left, she was walking down the street and Allah led her to an encounter with him:
La sombra hizo por mí lo que Lucas nunca hizo. Me trajo a su casa, me recibió aquí, y él hizo que hiciera la historia con Lucas pero con amor.
(The shadow did for me what Lucas never did. He brought me to his house, he received me here. He repeated my story with Lucas but with love.)

Back in the court building, Lucas and Daniel come face to face. Daniel pauses for the obligatory head-scratch and then asks Lucas why he abandoned Jade. You don’t abandon a woman you love!

You don’t have my problems, retorts Lucas. Besides, you’re the same as me – you’ll end up just like me!

And in the courtroom, Dora continues to tell her story:
Osvaldo had rejected the idea of artificial insemination forcing Dora to choose between a child and her partner. She chose the child but by using a donor resembling Osvaldo, she hoped he would warm to the idea eventually. Dra Silvia did all her treatment but the evening she was supposed to implant the fertilized eggs [yes, I know – it’s not artificial insemination. Let's all just tighten our beanies and keep going] Dra Silvia was called away unexpectedly. So the following morning, Dora returned to the clinic and Dr Albieri did the procedure.

At this point, Dora is overcome with emotion. She never thought, she says, that the happiest day of her life would be the beginning of her worst nightmare.

The judge calls for a 15 minute recess and Dora’s lawyer reassures her and helps her regain her composure.

As soon as Roberto steps outside the courtroom, Lucía swoops down on him and tells him about the photo. He is sure it is a fake. No, she wails, you look like a real couple in the picture – you’re touching her pregnant belly! And they say you spend every morning at the Beach Club and many nights too!

Roberto insists on his innocence. He is sure a DNA test will exonerate him and then they will sue the sKanks for psychological damages.

A distracted Albi wanders by still looking for Luisa. She’s not with me, says Cris.

Luisa the Huntress has tracked Amalia to a classy-looking restaurant where she likes to work. Luisa asks: How long have you and Albieri been in a relationship? Amalia tries to explain that there is no romance. She is Albieri’s biographer and they’ve been working together for a few months. To Luisa, that is as much a betrayal as an actual affair would be. She says to Amalia:
Nadie puede escribir una biografía de Albieri sin contar conmigo.
(No one can write Albieri’s biography without my help.)

When Albieri comes home during the court recess, Luisa is ready to pounce. Amalia confessed everything, she says. She know he gives Amalia little gifts -- perfume (this is a lucky guess on Luisa’s part) and books -- and all he gives Luisa are cheap pens and pencils. He sees her as a secretary. A very efficient secretary.

This is what happens, Albieri now realizes, when you allow the camel into the tent. He tells her:
Tú me ofuscas, tu me ahogas, me quitas mi espacio.
(You confuse my thoughts, you suffocate me, you take my space.)

He goes on: I need to talk to someone alone without another person correcting me and answering questions for me. I’m proud of what I’ve done and I want the satisfaction of talking about it.

So now I’m just someone who gets in the way, says Luisa bitterly.

The phone rangs. It’s Enrique telling them the proceedings are starting again. Let’s go, says Albieri. Now you need me -- to defend you, says the stony-faced Luisa. And she gets in her car and drives away leaving Albieri standing alone in the street.

Marina has been left in charge at Casa Ferrer since Marisa is meeting with her therapist and Lucas, Leo, Marisa and Cristina are all at court. The insufferable Paula shows up and Natalia invites her inside. There’s really nothing Marina or the security guard can do to stop here. Nobody wants to be responsible for provoking Natalia.

Did you bring what I asked for? asks Nati. Paula grabs a decanter of whiskey and taking swigs from the bottle, she follows Nati up to her room.

Marina is over her head. She calls Rosa for help. The situation is about to get worse, she says: Fernando is coming over too! Just at that moment, Andrea walks through the door and Marina passes her the phone. Rosa explains her concerns and tells her:
¡Esa casa está patas pa’ arriba!
(That house is upside down. Literally, paws up.)
Rosa is relieved when Andrea agrees to stay there until Marisa comes home.

Nati is telling Paula about Alej’s visit and how she told him the baby wasn’t his. He has a girlfriend, she says:
¡Que disfrute porque no va a ver a su hijo!
(Let him enjoy himself because he’s not going to see his child.)

When Andrea enters the room, Nati asks her nastily what she wants: Did my mother send you? Andrea says she and Alej were concerned about her. The pregnancy is no concern of Alejandro’s, she says. The baby isn’t his. I’ve been with a lot of men. Tell her, Paula. And Paula confirms: Con media ciudad. (with half the city). Nati turns to Paula and asks: Did you bring the good stuff? Paula pulls out a plastic envelope and Andrea leaves.

Andrea finds Alej at the gym. She sadly confirms what Natalia has already told him: the baby isn’t his. You need to get on with your life, she tells him. The Natalia we knew isn’t coming back.

Escobar is talking to Clara on the phone. She would like a copy of the document he had drawn up requesting that Malicia return his apartment to him. He doesn’t understand why she wants it, but agrees to bring it to the house that night.

Julio overhears Escobar’s end of the conversation and praises him for the absence of rancor. He suggests reconciliation may be in the air. Escobar likes that idea. He’ll take some flowers and wine to Clara’s tonight.

Clara isn’t really looking for a romantic gesture from Escobar. She wants to be able to show the apartment document to Rogelio, Zein and everyone else at Salamandra so they will finally see that Malicia is a money-grubbing tramp. And Carolina agrees: It’s time for everyone to know what a gem she is.

The friends agree that Malicia’s next target is Leo. And Cristina had better watch out – because she’s won over every man she has set her sights on.

Dora is still testifying:
Cuando Daniel nació yo me di cuenta que no parecía para nada a Osvaldo. Todo el mundo lo notó.
(When Daniel was born, I realized he didn’t look at all like Osvaldo. Everyone noticed it.)

As Daniel grew older, he looked less and less like his family. Dra Silvia had gone abroad and there was no one to explain what had happened. The jokes, the rude remarks of strangers took their toll. And Dr. Albieri wouldn’t stop bothering her, wouldn’t let her be simply be Daniel’s mother. So finally, to escape from all that, she took Daniel and she fled.

Outside the courtroom, Cristina asks Luisa what’s wrong. What’s wrong, she tells her, is that she is tired of Albieri’s treatment, tired of being stepped on, ignored and degraded.

Alej and Diana meet up at the beach. She knows he went to see Nati, she starts to say. But he interrupts her and tells her: I came here to begin something. I still love Nati but it’s over. And Diana answers that she will always be there for him. He gives her a cinematic kiss. And she gives it right back.

Credits roll.

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