Refugio Para el Amor #23-24 Mon 6/11/12 Mati Selectively Spills the Soup, and Luci Has Bigger Rocks Than Rod (But We Already Knew That)

I wrote way too much tonight. Tomorrow will just be bullet points style. Enjoy!

Rod shocks his buddies by saying he doesn’t think he can go through with the wedding. He denies that it has to do with another woman—he’d be doing it for himself. The guys think it’s just pre-wedding jitters—just a symptom of his upcoming loss of freedom. They remind him of another friend of theirs who freaked out as he was putting on his tie before going to the church. But he made it to the church, and has been happily married ever since.  Rod doesn’t look convinced.

In the kitchen, Gala is telling her girl friends about how she turned on the waterworks and the drama to get Rod back in line and with the program. One friend wonders what happens if Rod decides to back out last minute. Gala is not about to let that happen.

At Chapultapec Park, Estella tells Matilde and Claudio about how her granddaughter has stopped crying herself to sleep, but still asks every night when her mother is coming back. Estella hasn’t yet heard from her daughter. Claudio and Matilde try to cheer her up. Claudio turns the conversation to Matilde, pointing out how many years it’s been since they’ve seen each other, and it’s Luciana who’s brought them together. Mati takes a bite of food, looks shifty eyed, and keeps mum.

Rod’s buddies are still trying to talk him off the ledge. With this attitude it may be Gala who dumps him! (Rod wishes he were so lucky.) Gala comes in just in time to hear her name and asks what’s up. The guys tell her that they think she just might dump Rod before the big day. Gala sets them straight. She would NEVER do something so low down dirty, so horrible to someone. (Ahem, Rod!) It looks like that pair of rocks Rod was just growing have shriveled back to pebbles.

Claudio tells Matilde that Luciana is an angel. The three talk about how Claudio met Luci in that awful place where that man tried to take advantage of her. Claudio thinks it’s an interesting twist of fate that it was Rodrigo Torreslanda who came to her aid in Club Inferno. Mati points out that Claudio helped her as well. Claudio can’t explain it. Luci just seemed so fragile and vulnerable, and something inexplicable drew him to want to protect her.  That’s why he’s so concerned about her being in Casa Torreslanda, since he fears the two Torreslanda boys are like their papa Max and could harm her. Mati sticks up for her niños—they’re good people. Claudio is glad to hear it, but in any case, Luciana is no longer alone.

Gala tells Gabriel and Marcos to butt out of her and Rod’s private life, and lays a possessive kiss on Rod. It looks like his pebbles have shrunk further. The other ladies come out of the kitchen with the snacks and lighten the mood. They talk about the pre-wedding party, which will be for family and friends in the Torreslanda house. Rod makes an escape with the boys to buy ice (I bet the freezer is FULL of ice). Maybe that’s what his cojones are made of, since they seem to melt so quickly and easily.

As the youngsters bump little cars (no, not in the way Beto and Connie used to in Gancho), the older folks continue to chat. Claudio thinks meeting Luci has been a catalyst for him confronting his past. He tells Mati and Estela how he ran into Rosalena at his wife’s gravesite, crying with much feeling.  “Matilde, you know what Rosalena meant in Aurora’s life. Had it not been for her, the time I was in prison would have been even more hellish for Aurora.” Matilde stuffs her mouth with more food, and continues to remain mum. He’s grateful that Rosa accompanied his wife in her final days, and he’ll be grateful to her his whole life. Matilde is saved from a longer trip down Memory Lane when the young people come back to the table to snack.

Rosalena questions Frigida about where everyone is. Seems they left, except for Pato who’s locked up in his room. Even Frigida asks permission to leave for a while. Rosa is surprised that Frigida has any friends to go see. LOL! Frigida confirms that she has no friends—friendship doesn’t exist, at least not for her.  Her grandfather always told her that friendship is like a flower that you water (regar) and care for, but she’s never wanted to care for it, nor waste the water.

Gala’s scolding Valentina (blond friend) about even suggesting that Luci might make an appearance at the wedding like she did at the anniversary party. Valentina thinks she was the prettiest girl there and quite lovely. Gala puts the blame on stupid, useless (inútil) Frigida. Speak of the devil. Julie calls Gala to give her the update on Frigida. Valentina is as aware of karma as we are, and tells Gala the things we do to others are like a boomerang—comes right back at ya. Gala is not pleased that her friends won’t get with her obsessively bitchy program. 

 Luciana and Lorenzo tell the group how they ran into each other at the Torreslanda party. Lorenzo brags about how beautiful she looked, and Luci stops Mati before she spills the beans about her bucket of mud mishap.

Aldo and Pato are in Pato’s room playing a tic-tac-toe video game. Pato is really making great progress, but he’s starting to get a bit of cabin fever (this is a good sign). Aldo offers to take him wherever he wants to go, whenever he wants, except for work hours since his uncle is treating him like a Roman slave.  Aldo starts talking about what a looker Don Jerónimo’s daughter is. He wants to befriend Don Jero so that he can get to know his daughter. Pato puts a stop to that line of thinking. His father would kill him for fraternizing with the employees, and especially not with the daughter of respected Don Jero.  (Oh, that’s rich!) Aldo says it was a joke (broma).

Oscar brings Connie home and gets a big goofy smile on his face when she invites him in for coffee.  They join Max and Rosa who are also having coffee. The men go off to have something stronger, and Connie and Rosa kvetch about how handsome Oscar is.

In the library, Max begins to confide in Oscar about Claudio Linares. He wants Oscar to review some documents related to Claudio for him. He’s worried because years ago Claudio swore revenge, saying that he was accused and imprisoned unjustly. Oscar asks if it’s true. Max gets defensive and says that’s every criminal’s excuse. Oscar looks skeptical.

Mati continues her “mis niños son muy buenos” campaign about the Torreslanda kids when Luci explains to Claudio how Pato and Hannah planned and helped her with everything so that she could attend the party in style. Marianita bumps into Don Aquiles near the popcorn stand. He makes such a fuss that Violeta’s ears perk up and she immediately knows who he is. He has moved out of sight by the time she gets around the other side of the stand, however.

Claudio, Lorenzo and the gang talk about how hard it is to find work in small towns and also in Mexico City. Violeta breaks the news to Luci that she just saw Don Aquiles. Luci begins to freak out. They all try to convince her that it must have been someone else.

Meanwhile, Don Aquiles is hugging a stuffed killer whale (LOL!), while getting the Het Het update from his flunky on a pay phone.   I wish they had shown him playing all those carnival games to win it. Actually, he probably stole it from the hands of some little kid. He thinks the big city is just weird—men dressed like women, and women dressed like men! He waves his stuffed friend around as he describes losing track of Lorenzo. He’s going to go home soon.

Rod and the boys talk business over dessert (that deal Max won’t agree to) and bore the girls to death. The door porter rings about someone being there to see Gala, and she gets all mysterious about it. Rod is suspicious.

Back at Estela’s, Mati refuses a ride home from Claudio. He leaves, and everyone else mentions what a good, kind man he is. Mati keeps mum. This time she has no snacks on hand.

Max continues to tell Oscar about what a resentful person Claudio is. As his lawyer and his friend, he wants Oscar to be on top of this. Oscar doesn’t think it’s worth the effort for Max to be drawn into something like this. Does Max really think that Claudio is going to risk his freedom to do him harm? “No hay enemigo pequeño.” (There are no enemies who are insignificant/All enemies are major enemies.) “Claudio Linares is my enemy.”

Claudio says goodbye to Polo and Lorenzo. He wants to talk to Lorenzo soon about Don Aquiles, and he especially wants to talk to him if he starts working for the Torreslandas.

Inside, Mati is ready to go, and Estela wonders why she didn’t take Claudio up on his offer if she’s leaving so soon. Luci is sure it has to do with the beef between Claudio and Max. Mati doesn’t want to look for trouble if she can avoid it, and she doesn't want to talk about it.

Julie has taken Frigida, who refused to be taken out for a meal (why pay for something that she can get for free at work?), for coffee. Frigida has her designer bribe purse clutched to her bosom. Gala’s pissed and Frigida needs to fix it. Frigid explains how she ruined Luci’s dress. It’s not her fault that she made herself pretty all over again. Julie says it’s a shame, because they could have filled that “nice” bag with bills, bills, bills. Frigida is determined to make it so.

Now we see Gala’s mysterious guests. It’s the fricking press! She’s called a hostile takeover press conference, forcing Rod to play the perfect, expectant groom to the whole world. (Nicely played Gala.) After the press and their friends have left, Rod’s ready to blow his top. He doesn’t like surprises.  Gala tries to kiss his anger away.

Hannah’s friend Lula has found out that her crush, Boris, has a crush on Hannah and she is ticked off. She bitches and whines, and blames Hannah. She thinks Hannah was trying to make a fool of her. Hannah swears that she’s not interested in him, and she’s going to tell him.

Aldo whines to his uncle about all the heavy lifting he’s had to do and that he needs an assistant. Max tells him to go to the gym and get in shape instead.  Aldo keeps trying. He has the perfect candidate—Luci’s brother. “Do you know what no means? I make the decisions here!”

Melissa’s wrapping up a visit with Pato who wants to know where Hannah’s been. Melissa and Aldo get him up to speed on Hannah’s love life complications. Max comes in and continues to scold Aldo, while Pato looks on with an amused smile. Later, Aldo continues to put more effort into getting out of work, than doing work. This time he’s whining to his mom, and pretending to have back problems. He thinks he should be doing more important work.  Connie’s not buying it. She tells him to get one of those mover’s back braces, take an aspirin, and get some rest. She goes to bed and turns the light off.

Lorenzo tells Polo about his boring, uneventful work at the funeral home. Polo doesn’t think the crap they have to put up with in the club is that great either—just ask his sister. Lorenzo is wide-eyed impactado.

Mati and Luci talk about Frigida and Gala being in cahoots to ruin her dress to keep her from the party. Luci finally tells Mati about Gala ruining her book and flushing her necklace.

Rod interrupts Frigida’s late night snacking to ask her to get Matilde. He wants to speak with her in the library. Mati tells Frigida that she’s in a tattling mood, and just might tell Rod what Frigid did to Luci the night of the party.  When Mati enters the library, Rod says he wants to talk to her. Well, Mati wants to talk to him too, and it’s about Luciana. What a coinkidink! That’s who Rod wants to talk about too. He’s crazy in love with her, but he’s getting married to Gala in 10 days. Mati begs him not to hurt Luci—she’s a good innocent girl who doesn’t deserve to be hurt. Rod swears he wouldn’t hurt her. “Perhaps not intentionally, but your girlfriend sure would.”

Frigida tries to convince Luci that SHE was the one who left the mud filled bucket in front of her own room. (Now how exactly would that work?)

Luci feeds Pato dinner and Hannah enters and tells them about her fight with Lula. Pato and Luci are sure that a friendship as old as theirs won’t end over this. Luci thanks Pato again for the surprise of the dress and Hannah and Melissa’s help. Pato wants to know why she was so late, and why she wore a different dress. Ruh, roh!

Lorenzo is not pleased to hear about Luci’s one night in El Inferno from Polo and Violeta. Lorenzo wants to make Lastra pay for harming his sister, despite Violeta and Polo telling him to stay clear of Lastra, who already paid with a few days in jail.

Meanwhile, Lastra is still plotting with Ivan to get Luci back in his clutches. He wants Ivan to offer Luci’s brother a job. In fact, he thinks he can get both Luci and her brother to work there. No one puts him in jail! Plus she humiliated him and scarred him. She deserves what’s coming to her.

Oh, now Mati is finally letting it all out. She tells Rod about all of Gala’s antics—the book and the necklace. “A jealous woman is a very dangerous woman.” Rod can’t believe his ears.

Gala is at work looking over the pictures from the party to put in the magazine. The problem is that all the photos are of Luci or Luci and Rod. She’s not a happy camper.

Lorenzo continues expressing his small town thinking to Polo. He thinks Violeta’s work at a place like El Inferno is shameful. It’s not the same for Polo because he’s a man. Polo (who is quickly becoming one of my favorites), tries to set him straight. Violeta is good, positive, and has a good heart.  Lorenzo admits this is true. She even accepted him into her home, after not having seen him for years. Polo loves Violeta. He is sure she’ll make a great mom someday. Lorenzo says he’ll be the godfather of their kid. Polo’s not so sure Violeta’s interested in him. Plus, he has nothing to offer her. Lorenzo advises him to get a move on before some other guy swoops in and snaps her up.

Luci and Hannah have just finished telling Pato the tale of the ruined dress. Pato wishes they had told him before, but Luci is so over it now. Luci leaves them alone to talk. Pato tells Hannah she can’t blame Boris for not falling in love with Lula, and instead falling for her. “You can’t give orders to the heart.”

Rod and Mati continue to talk. She’s not telling him this stuff to gossip. It was he who provoked all of this. Does he expect his fiancé to just accept him giving gifts to another woman? It was just a b-day gift, Rod says. “There are no good things that appear bad.” (No hay cosas buenas que parecen malas.) “Don’t play with Luci’s feelings! Don’t hurt her! If Gala did something like this, it’s your fault. You’re about to get married. Why are you sniffing around someone else?” After another plea to not hurt Luci, she leaves him to sulk.

One of the town gossip ladies has coming knocking on Paz and Magda’s door late at night to tell them the hot chisme. She helps herself to an elephant ear cookie, and tells them Don Aquiles left town. He’s surely in D.F. chasing after Luci. Paz is sure Lorenzo will keep her safe.

The next day, Golden couple Gala and Rod, looking mighty spiffy, appear on the cover of Caras magazine. Luci looks at the magazine and remembers her last round of hot kisses with Rod. As she returns to the house with the magazine and groceries, Rod drives out the gate and hops out of his car. She tries to ignore him, he wants to know why she never told him about the necklace, she doesn’t answer the question, he grabs the magazine and looks at it, then he demands that she get in the car, she refuses.

Mati’s still in a truth telling mood and tells Pato her theory about Frigida being the culprit behind the ruined dress. Later in the kitchen, Mati and Frigida trade insults. Frigida says if Mati tattles on her to the big bosses, she’ll just tell them who paid her. Mati says she’s no gossip (well, only when she wants to be). She’s no saint, but she has ethics. Anyway, when Rod goes after Gala for all the crap they pulled, Gala might just throw her under the bus.

Rosa’s guilt is now affecting her appetite. She tells Connie that the terrible thing she did is eating at her. Padre Honesto told her to be, well, honesta. She needs to confront her guilt head on, in order to be at peace with herself. The only way to do that is to tell Claudio Linares the truth. Rosa tells Connie about Claudio being out of jail and finding her crying at the tomb. Connie tries to make Rosa feel better and tells her to think before she acts. What she did with the baby is better than that child growing up knowing that her mother was dead and her father was a criminal.

Rod continues to behave like a caveman and forces Luci to get in his car and go with him, so that she can tell him the whole truth. (Dude, didn’t you just hear the whole truth from Mati?) He takes her to a park and she stalks off angrily. He demands to know why she didn’t tell him about what Gala did. She says it was her business.

R: These things shouldn’t be hidden. It’s abuse that should be reported, don’t you realize?

L: You know what I realize? That you are going to get married. And I don’t want to get myself mixed up in your plans. And there was no reason for me to do so.

R: You know quite well what I feel for you!

L: And you think that I’m happy in this situation?

R: No! This thing about me getting married…

L: You are getting married! And you’re going to get married and go live with HER! And I’m going to remain in your house, working!  And you know what? I want to do that in peace!

R: No one could be at peace in a situation like this. I can’t permit an injustice like this.

L: Injustice? What’s unjust is that you’re doing this to me when you’re about to get married. You know what? You’re girlfriend is right. She’s just defending what’s hers. I know my place very well.  I beg you to not approach me and tell me these things.

R: What are you saying? That you want nothing to do with me?

L: Exactly! And I don’t want any more problems, and especially not with your mother. I’m sure she’s going to ask where I am, and if she doesn’t find me she’s going to be really angry. So TAKE ME HOME!!!

Whew! We just found out who has the boulders and who has the pebbles between those two. Rod is totally whipped. He apologizes for causing her so much trouble. She begs him to understand that she needs this job. She doesn’t want to leave Pato, Hannah or Mati. And now her brother is here and she needs to send money to her mother. Rod seems to finally get it. Luci marches back to the car.

One of the gossip ladies gossips with Paz and Magda about Don Aquiles, who never goes anywhere, going to the big city, just when Lorenzo left. How curious…

Lorenzo is cool with Aldo not being able to give him a job. They shake on it as amigos. Don Jero comes up with Vicky on his arm and Aldo tries to flirt with her. Don Jero shoos him off to work. “Don’t even think about letting that kid chat you up. He’s a real disaster.” Don Jero explains that Aldo is Don Max’s nephew.

Claudio meets with Lastra’s lawyer about clearing his name. The other lawyer thinks it will be difficult. Oscar comes to see him. Oscar says Max is very generous and wants to come to an agreement, to avoid problems in the press. Claudio is not playing that game. Max may be rich and powerful, with a good reputation to protect, but he (Claudio) has nothing to lose. He shows Oscar to the door.

At breakfast, Lorenzo tells Violeta about winning all that money gambling. Violeta tells him about the gambling in the back rooms of Inferno. Lorenzo wants in. (DON’T DO IT!)

Hannah lets Boris down gently, while Lalu stalks them in the background. She listens as Boris begs Hannah for a chance, and then approaches them and agrees with Boris! She wants Hannah to give him a chance. She loves Hannah lots and will never stop being her friend. The three of them are cool with each other again.

Magda kicks Don Aquiles’ door down, roughs up Procopio, and makes him tell her where Don Aquiles is. Magda seems way too upset for this to just be about Luci.

Frigida is doing damage control with Pato and putting the blame on the chauffer for the misplaced bucket of goop. She then calls Gala and tells her the cat’s out of the designer bag. “Estúpida!”

Aldo’s telling the family at dinner about Lorenzo. Luci gets to listen in as Aldo says he’s sure Lorenzo will get a job at el Inferno. Luci nearly drops her platter.

Gala decides to make Rod forget all about the mischief she’s been up to by greeting him in her apartment with sexy lingerie and passionate kisses. Rod’s not in the mood to play. “We can’t go on like this.”

Padre Honesto comes for a house visit. Rosa speaks to him alone in the library and still refuses to tell Claudio the truth.

PH: Why? Do you think Aurora would have survived if you hadn’t failed her?

R: It’s not that. Aurora was going to die. There was no remedy for that. That’s why I was to take care of her daughter.

PH: And you didn’t take care of the little girl?

R: No. Not only did I not take care of her, I gave that little girl away.

Avances:  Mati realizes that Luci is Aurora and Claudio’s daughter. Gala cries about losing control of everything. She greets Rod wearing only a fur coat, and seems to be in total control of that situation. Rod admits his great love for Luci to Pato.