Caray, Caray!

Paloma is glad that they've found Maria again.  She's worried that Fidelia won't be able to handle her.  Ricardo tells her about what happened when Fidelia tried to call Paloma and got Matilde instead.  Inés thinks Fidelia will get the hang of dealing with Maria.  Ricardo takes his leave and Paloma and Inés  discuss the possibility of Ricardo marrying Maria.  Paloma thinks that's ridiculous.  Ricardo has done  the best he can.  Clearly Ricardo is in love with Inés and Paloma is glad to see him so happy.  Paloma figures Maria will be fine as long as she's taken care of.  She wants Inés to take care of herself and not consider the possibility of Ricardo being stuck in a marriage he doesn't want.  Inés verifies with Paloma that Matilde doesn't know anything about her "past."

Ricardo fills Mariano in on the latest developments.  He's also tormented with the idea that he "should have" married Maria.  He wants to marry Oriana, though, but she brought up the same question--who would he be marrying?  Oriana or Inés?  Mariano tells him that the church wouldn't obligate him to marry someone who's not in her right mind, so there's no concern on that score.  They both ponder the change in Sebastian's attitude.

Raquel runs into Inés in the courtyard and talks to her about the work on the new hotel, Berto being their first guest, and the guy who bought El Descanso asking about Oriana.  The name Eliseo Martinez doesn't ring a bell with Inés, but Raquel passes on the theory that the mystery man is Oriana's husband.

Ricardo goes back home, where Marilu tells him that the nurse and Elvira arrived, that Sebastian left and didn't leave a number, and that she bought Maria some clothes with money Fidelia gave her.  Ricardo tells her that Inés agreed to hire her as a secretary and Marilu at least behaves like this is good news.

Marilu bought Maria a bunch of club kid clothes.  Maria loves them, but the nurse and Elvira are both trying to convince her that it's not the right look for her when Ricardo walks in.  Maria tells him that Marilu bought her some supercool sparkly clothes, but no shoes because she didn't know her size.  Elvira tries to enlist Ricardo, who readily jumps in and tells her that he thinks she needs to wear some less flashy clothes.  He says Inés will buy her some other clothes.  Maria starts to pout about not wanting him to have a girlfriend and goes off to sulk.  Berenice explains that Maria just took her medicine, so it'll take a while for it to kick in.  She and Elvira are both grateful to Ricardo for giving them jobs again, and in such a pretty house, where they get their own room with a bathroom.  Ricardo asks them to please keep Maria away from his aunt and says she should probably eat in the kitchen.  He notices Maria playing with one of his aunt's antique dolls--that has a bell that sounds eerily like Matilde's--and tells Elvira and Berenice that he'd like them to take that doll away from Maria as soon as they can and he'll get her another one.  Maria starts talking about wanting to see Sebastian and lets slip that they have "a secret" together.  "If I tell you, it won't be a secret!"

Lina won a math contest and got a gold star in her notebook.  Lucina comes over to give Lina a hug and see how Inés is doing.  She tells them that Felipe has arrived with his wife and with all the things they left behind at El Descanso.  Inés sends Lina inside to do her homework, but really, she wanted a chance to ask Lucina about the person who was asking about her at El Descanso and her theory that Jose Luis is the one who bought El Descanso. Lucina explains that she thought it was weird that the guy doing the purchase knew her name and the real buyer never actually showed his face.  Inés tells her that Jose Luis is dead, per Ricardo, per Manolo, per the Columbian authorities.  Lucina is relieved that it was just a crazy theory on her part and obviously can't be true.  She asks Inés if she's thought about being a partner in the hotel or not.  Inés is still thinking about it.  Lucina goes off to take a shower and tells Inés to let her know what she decides.

Lucina goes back to their room and chews out Raquel for telling Inés about her theory.  She informs Raquel that Jose Luis is dead, according to Manolo, etc., etc.  Raquel could care less, as she's headed out, probably to find more conflicted teenagers to screw.  What?  You were thinking it.  Lucina calls Manolo to flirt with him, in a totally friendly way.  She mentions Oriana's name and says she can't stop thinking about her.  Manolo tells her she hasn't been heard from, but her husband ended up being killed in Columbia.  She asks about the hotel, but Manolo hasn't been by lately.  She tells him he's welcome at their new place anytime…at a discount.

Paloma reads Matilde the riot act about leaving her kids alone to live their own lives .  I tune out Matilde's crappy excuses for her behavior.  Matilde throws Palomita in Paloma's face.  Kick her out, Paloma, kick her out!  Matilde doesn't back down, even when Paloma tells her she's suffocating them.

Ricardo makes a borderline disgusted face when Padre Plaid tells him that Cesar said he wants to be a missionary.  He thinks what Cesar really wants is to get far, far away from his mother.  He and Padre Plaid have a bit of a laugh over that.  Padre Plaid says he'll encourage Cesar, but he advised Cesar to talk to his parents first.  Benigno calls Ricardo, who tells him that Maria is with him now.  He extorts more money since Ricardo isn't going to marry her.

Gross.  Benigno and his friend get it on…oh, but she has demands to make first.

Paloma, tearful, tells Matilde that, fine, she can do what she wants with her own kids, but she'd better quit messing with her granddaughter and great-granddaughter.  Matilde hints at Inés supposed past, but Paloma tells her she doesn't care and even if Inés had been a prostitute, she's still her granddaughter.  Matilde turns on the waterworks, saying Paloma never used to yell at her and now she's doing it all the time.  Paloma plainly tells her that she knows Matilde expected for her family to inherit everything when she died and she's angry that now Inés has shown up.  She promises the family won't be left with nothing and says she loves Matilde's kids, and even loves Matilde.  Matilde comes over to hug her and say they shouldn't fight.  Paloma looks like she's wishing they could do the "making up" thing without the "hugging" thing.

Back at Ricardo's compound, Inés can't convince Maria to dress a little older.  Maria tells Inés she doesn't want Ricardo to have a girlfriend, because he's HERS, and she's not going to let Inés dress her in ugly clothes.  She didn't move into this house just to watch some other woman take away HER boyfriend.  Inés can't placate her and Maria starts to physically attack her.  Berenice has to restrain her.  Cage match: Maria vs. Raquel in the battle of Ese Hombre es MÍO!  Who wins?  My money is on Maria.  Berenice threatens to take Maria to the hospital if she doesn't calm down.  Inés and Elvira are both shocked.  Elvira has never seen Maria attack anyone.  Inés begs them not to say anything to Ricardo and leaves.  Berenice thinks they have to tell Ricardo something because Maria is getting worse.  She thinks they can avoid telling him that Maria attacked Inés and just tell him that the doctor should check her out.  You know, before she attacks Fidelia or burns the house down.

Inés tells Ricardo that her makeover was a total fail.  She doesn't tell him anything beyond that Maria didn't like the clothes.  Ricardo offers to drive her home, but he'd rather have dinner and dessert.  And dessert.  He knows something's wrong and Inés says she just feels like a lot of things are getting in their way.  She doesn't want to talk about it, she just wants to go home.  Ricardo tells her there's nothing he wouldn't do for her.

Ricardo goes to visit Maria, who is busy fixing her baby doll with tape and smearing lipstick all over its face.  She invites him to come watch TV with her, but Ricardo wants to have a serious talk with her.  Maria pretty much outs herself by saying that Inés must have ratted her out.  She admits that she pulled Inés hair.  Ricardo tells her that she'd better not attack Inés or any other member of the household or he'll have her put in a mental hospital.  No more tantrums and no more rudeness.  Maria agrees, but she tries to have him forbid Inés from coming to the house--he won't agree.  She cries that  he loves Ines but not her.  He threatens to withdraw his friendship, and Maria backs down.  I really don't like him using that emotional manipulation with her.  And she probably should be under more care than just the one nurse can provide, especially after so many years of her father's bad treatment and being inconsistently medicated.  He keeps talking about "mental hospitals" and "asylums" like it's still some terrible punishment instead of somewhere she could get the treatment she deserves and a more stable environment.  I still don't understand why, if he objects so much to her being around other "crazy" people, he doesn't just buy a house for her and staff it with nurses and have a doctor on call around the clock.  This is so Mr.-Rochester's-wife-in-the-attic.  Maria gets a phone call from Sebastian.  He tells her that he'll call her tomorrow, since he's not alone and wants to make sure that she hasn't told anyone about what they talked about.  He yells at her for saying the word "secret" out loud and hangs up on her.

The next morning, Ricardo tells Piero about the phone call and the word "secret" being bandied about.  He's starting to be suspicious of Sebastian's motives and his sudden change of attitude.

Inés shows up and greets Marilu.  As they head into her office, Inés picks up an envelope, freaks out, and runs to Ricardo's office.  She shows him the letter--a blackmail note for $5M pesos or the blackmailer will tell everyone that she's not Inés.  Ricardo asks Paulina to come into his office.  He and Inés run through the list of who knows her secret and discard Felipe, since it was done on a computer.  Ricardo asks Paulina if she saw anyone slip the note under Inés' door and then asks her to get a list from security of everyone who came into the building that day.  Unlike Ricardo, Inés realizes that once you pay off a blackmailer, you can never stop.  Also, she noticed the letter said the $5M pesos was "to start with."   She's ready to give up, saying she knew this couldn't last.

Sebastian comes to visit Maria and she complains to him that they didn't buy her shoes.  And she wants high heels.  She bitches that she doesn't like Inés because she's Ricardo's girlfriend.  He tells her that she can't talk about, you know, what they talked about…or even utter the word "secret."  Sebastian says if she goes around saying that, they'll think something is going on between them.  Maria would be happy to tell everyone that they're dating, but Sebastian, understandably, vetoes that idea.  Sebastian tells her to make an effort to remember the two guys she was with.  "Handsome."  He presses her for more details.  The first one was skinny with soft hands and had hair all spikey like Sebastian's and eyes like Sebastian's, but the other one was rougher, maybe Sebastian's height, with brown eyes, and ugly.  She borrows his shades to go with her sparkly hat.

Paloma talks to Lina about being a former swimming champion.  Lina doesn't know how to swim.  Fabiola comes out to the courtyard to join them and even Sebastian comes to visit…and flirt with Fabiola.  He invites her to his housewarming party and gets Paloma's permission…though she advises him to get Matilde's permission.  Matilde tries really hard to say no, but has to cave, with Sebastian getting over her fake safety objections by promising to pick her up and Paloma giving Matilde a threatening look.

Marilu reports back to Fidelia about her strange first day at work and Inés reaction to the letter under her door.  Fidelia assumes it was slipped under the door, and must have been an anonymous letter, which therefore means Inés must have something to hide.  Funny how she and Matilde don't get along better.  They're both so good at jumping to conclusions.  Only Fidelia doesn't seem terribly thrilled with the prospect of Inés hiding something.

Maria lectures her dolls about going to school and drawing…seated.  She notices the missing doll and Elvira denies knowing where she is.  Berenice tries to get her to focus on the dolls she still has.  Elvira tells her they gave the doll back to Fidelia and the doll was only on loan.  Maria gets past them to head down the stairs in search of the doll.  She goes after both Fidelia and Marilu when she sees them, and then starts smashing things when Berenice pulls her away.  Berenice gets her to focus and breathe, trying to keep Maria from having a seizure.  Fidelia gets teary, picking up the picture Maria smashed of…a younger Fidelia?

Ricardo is checking the list, but he doesn't see anything suspicious.  No one strange came in and the only employees who don't check in are the higher-ups.  Inés supposes someone could have asked any one of the employees to slip the letter under her door, but Ricardo says that will be difficult to verify.  "What if it's Jose Luis?"  She tells him that even though the police think he died, Lucina was suspicious of the buyer of El Descanso and thought maybe that was Jose Luis.  "Maybe she's right.  Maybe he's alive."  Ricardo knows they couldn't identify the body, but he doesn't think Jose Luis could have survived.  "But what if he found some way to escape?"  Even if he did, Ricardo says, Jose Luis can't know she's Inés Valdivia now.  He thinks someone who knows her secret got an employee to slip the note under her door, and he suspects Raquel.

Tomorrow: Raquel denies being the blackmailer; everyone looks suspicious; Jose Luis is alive and he's looking for his wife and daughter.

Labels: mentir