Caray, Caray!

Renata enjoys seeing her property again after 25+ years. In the fields she flashes back to her younger self, strolling about, picking grapes and eating them as those around her toil to maintain her estate. Inside the Hacienda, she remembers telling her dad about Pablo, being summarily slapped and dragged around by the hair. Pre-Crazy Con makes an appearance. It seems that in each place Ren sees anew, she recalls events that happened there. In the present, Abi tucks her into bed. As soon as Abi leaves, Ren rushes to her armoire and pulls out a box of keepsakes, like Abi’s bootie and Pablo’s bandana, which she inhales deeply.

At the hospital, Diana tells Mat she wants to see the baby, so that she can no longer be criticized for not having seen the baby. Diana, the point is that you love the baby, not merely see him, so you may still be criticized. Just giving you a head’s up.

Meanwhile, Abi remembers Mateo’s stoopid plea, that she forget him and go back with Diego. I detest this, how since he has finally made up his own mind about what life he will live, he must also make up her mind. He needs to get her squared away for his own benefit, not for hers, since he’s sending her to a loveless sham of a marriage. Dude, you made your bed, so go lie in it and let Abi figure out her own life. Not that I believe she’s capable of that, but it’s the principle of the matter.

The next morning, Ren is letting it all hang out of her nightgown, and now I know she knows it, because she ain’t blind anymore! Then she lifts it up to put lotion on her legs, and Fausto opens the door. She asks him why he doesn’t knock, and he wants to know how she knew it was him. “I can smell you. You put on extra cologne. It’s not that I can see. I can’t see.” Fausto asks where Abi is, Ren says she went to Diego’s and Fausto gets upset. Ren wants to know why he cares so much, and says that she will support them if they decide to marry again. Fausto blows her off with words, but makes a menacing fist in her face, and Ren doesn’t flinch. Go, girl! She asks him to leave so she can dress. How would she have played it if he only pretended to leave?

At Diego’s place, Diego hears Domingo’s forlorn, accusatory cries in his head. Enter Nieves, asking, “¿Por qué estás chillando?” so sensitively, considering chillando is crying like a big baby or bawling. It’s like asking, “Why are you blubbering?” Anyways, it’s because he can’t get Domingo back since he’s not married. It’s the moment Nieves has been waiting for, and she says, “I’ll do it!” She hasn’t forgotten their plan. Diego agrees, and they jump and hug. Then Abi comes in, just enough to eavesdrop and hear the wedding plans, before she leaves without being seen. After she is gone, Diego clarifies, “This is just so I can get Domingo back. We won’t live together, and there definitely won’t be any horizontal mambo-ing.” A considerably subdued Nieves agrees to that, but says they must at least live together to convince the authorities, and Diego agrees to that. So many things wrong here, starting with: was Abi actually coming back to Diego per Mateo’s idiotic bidding? Yeah, because if she can’t have Mateo, Diego is the only other guy on the face of the Earth. Good thing he’s out of jail on “p-p-paw-roll.” Next, does Diego realize that he is putting Nieves in the role he usually plays with Abi? Just like he always asks Abi to marry him without love, he will marry Nieves without love. But something gives me the idea that Abi would still have to put out or get out with Diego, whereas Diego breezily lets Nieves know that relaciones are a no-go. Finally, Nieves, in an even weaker position than Diego is with Abi, accepts such terms. What is wrong with people in Real de San Andrés?

Abi rides her horse back home, and converses with it, too. “Why do I care about Diego marrying somebody else?” The horse tells her to stop being an ass.

At the Hacienda breakfast table, Ex-Crazy Con is condemning men who “love ‘em and leave ‘em.” I have no clue why. Is it a continuation of a subject from last night’s episode, which I couldn’t watch? It seems to be against Fausto, but it makes me wonder whatever happened to Bruno’s mysterious offspring, since it turned out not to be Diego. Fausto takes it up a notch by implying she means the sacred Pablo Ramos, who loved and left Renata, high and dry. At that sacrilege, Ren and Con storm off.

When Ren gets back to her room, Macaria is there rifling through Ren’s armoire. Mac closes it quietly and attempts to leave undetected, but Ren “smells” her, too. But not before she flashes back to Mac telling her in that very room to run away with Pablo. Ren says, “I wish I could see your face. I can’t imagine what the years have done to it, living with all your bitterness.” Mac defends herself, but this round goes to Renata.

Nieves finds Abi in the Hacienda kitchen and breaks the news about her and Diego’s upcoming nuptials. Abi is cool to her. Nieves explains about their silly arrangement, and Abi seems to believe that only she should enter into sham marriages with Diego. Hopefully the marriage will take place, and since it would be legal on paper, Diego couldn’t really pursue Abi in those circumstances, unless he would do to Abi what he judged Mat so harshly for.

Helena and Mateo escort Diana home from the hospital, into the Hacienda foyer. Ren asks after baby Gerardo. Mat says that the baby is evolucionando bien, which I suppose means “coming along nicely,” but it sounds like he is turning into a chimp. Then Comandante Barragan shows up, and Ren urgently wants to talk with him. He asks if Fausto is in, but no, Fausto has gone to the ayuntamiento.” A word with a few different meanings, especially regarding Fausto.

Max and Teodora are at Lucio’s old place, and Max is looking for the family jewels. Literally. Teo says he’s going to have to go back to Porfirio for money for his treatment, but that’s why Max wants to find those jewels, so he doesn’t have to. Max and Teo proceed to share a touching scene where all is forgiven and understood about the past, and they declare their love for each other very sweetly. Teo even proposes marriage, and Max accepts! Ximena puts a damper on things by coming in to summon Max to his uncle. Max won’t go without Teo, and Xi says, “Fine.”

Ex-Crazy Con and Ren are in the study with Barragan, insisting that although Lucio may be guilty, Fausto must hang with him. But Barragan has no proof. Renata reveals that she can see, and that earlier today she saw how much Fausto’s friendly and caring words differed from the cruel and dangerous expression in his eyes as he talked to her. She will be the secret weapon to bring Fausto down, with her fake continued blindness, which Barragan must agree to keep secret.

The Phantom lets Max know that it hurts him (The Phantom) that Max felt the death of Lucio Ramírez much more than the death of The Phantom’s brother, who was more of a father to Max than Lucio ever was. After that he warns Max that they must leave this pueblo, because Max has powerful enemigos there. Well, Max ain’t budging. Max presents his novia to The Phantom, who is underwhelmed with Max’s choice of a housemaid as a wife, after all the money invested in his education and lifestyle. Max gallantly defends Teodora, and points out that the aforementioned late brother married una sirvienta doméstica (Max’s mom Casilda) and was very happy. Besides, Teodora has a heart of gold, and that’s what really counts, and no doubt The Phantom wishes that his beautiful, high-class, cold wife were more like Teo. Touché, Max! The Phantom concedes the point, and Ximena is like “I’m right here. I can hear you,” but only with facial expressions throughout the exchange. Finally, The Phantom declares that if Max stays, he and Xi are staying, too. They are family.

Diana reclines in bed and whines (chilla) to Helena, “Where is Mateo? He promised he would be at my side, all. the. time.” Barragan comes in and Helena makes herself scarce. Barragan wants to question Diana about her relationship with Lucio and what she knows about Padre Francisco’s death. Diana starts denying to the left and to the right. “I’m pretty. Men want me. He wanted me, but I said no. That photo is doctored. Why don’t you investigate who ran me over and leave me alone?”

Later, Barragan has taken Helena out to cenar, and he tells her knows her big secret. “Secret? What secret?” she says lamely. He knows Fausto is Mateo’s dad, and he’s fine with it. Why wouldn’t he be? He knows people have lives, pasts, make choices, live with the consequences. He knows it was a hard situation and that she could have done what she did then, and, wait for it, still be a good person today. They vow that together they will find out the truth about what happened the day Gerardo died. Renata, can you please take a lesson here?

The Phantom and Ximena are alone now, and she berates him for not asking her if she wanted to stay in this mugroso pueblo. He thought she’d be thrilled, since she always comes here, and since Dr. Pat is here. Either way, he’s got the perfect remedio so she won’t be bored – she’ll plan Max’s wedding! Money is no object, of course. Now, will she call the nurse? He needs to use the bathroom. Unless she’d like to help him? “Ni loca” she responds, witheringly.

Diana has hobbled downstairs and runs into Mac, who doesn’t miss the opportunity to tell Diana that Mat is at the hospital with Abi. Mac smiles tauntingly and Diana grimaces.

At the hospital, Abi says she likes to look at Mat’s kid because he’s like an extension of Mat. She wishes she were the mom. Mat tells her to talk to Diego about that. She tells him Diego has the wife and kid stuff covered already, so she’s out of luck there. Then Dr. Pat comes to take them to the baby. As Abi and Mat kneel by the baby, Mat starts losing it with his emoting, gushing on and on how strong the baby is, how loved, that he’ll nunca, nunca, nunca  leave him. Somebody slap him, he’s hysterical! Protect the child from a lifetime of this! Besides Mat, the jury is still out on if the baby is really yours.

Final scene: Diana waits in Fausto’s bedroom, to confront him for throwing her to the dogs with Barragan, re Padre Franciso’s death. “He saw ME and YOU together, not me and Lucio.” “Lower your voice, woman!” She says that she isn’t going to wait around for another attempt on her life by him, and enumerates an impressive amount of attempts so far, including but not limited to: drowning, smothering with pillow and running over. She whips out a gun, and he whips out a bigger one. Just about now Renata wanders in, wanting to ask Fausto a question. Even though Diana and Fausto are squared off holding guns on each other, the woman doesn’t bat an eye! She’s great! Secret weapon, indeed.