The Old:
-Nora freaks out when Rebeca threatens to take her with her on a long trip away from Puebla and Marcelo Escalante. She grabs a letter opener, starts wildly stabbing a chair and ends up cutting Rebeca in her crazed state. She takes her freakout to her room, as Alonso bangs on her door and begs her to open up, and Lucia tries to get him to calm down so that he doesn’t collapse from a heart attack. Just another night in Casa Gaxiola.
-The next morning, while breakfasting on coffee, fruit and bitterness, the Zúñiga family is interrupted by the cops, who’ve come to arrest one of the male members of the household for the murder of (their shared lover) Ligia Cervantes. Rod, not the deserving Amador, is cuffed and dragged away. Just another morning in Casa Zúñiga.
The New:
Brigida orders Amador to do something, but all he does is promise his scared son that he’ll get the best lawyer and get him out. He urges Rod not to say ANYTHING, then gets into a screaming and shoving match with the detectives. Brigida demands to know what’s going on and why they’ve accused Rod. Amador swears he knows nothing. “Listen to me, Amador. If I find out that you could have done something to prevent them from taking my son away, I’ll KILL you!” Amador tries to calm her down with promises of getting the BEST lawyer, before running out the door to his car, at the same time trying to figure out just who he can call. He passes on calling Ricardo, saying to himself that he can’t (call the guy who will surely realize Amador is the killer and use it against him).
Over in Casa Gaxiola, Lucia hands Tere the letter from Lalo. She’s super confused about who Lalo is, and why he’d write to her. She reads the letter—“Teresita, ever since I met you, I haven’t been able to stop thinking about you. Will you accept going on a date with me this Sunday?”
Lucia finds a very pensive Alonso having coffee in the garden. He didn’t sleep well, and was never able to find out what caused Nora’s freakout from Rebeca. He doesn’t think the therapy is working for Nora. Lucia reveals to him that the therapy isn’t working because Nora’s stopped going. Al wants to know why Lucia didn’t inform him, but she points out that if Nora doesn’t want to go, then no one can force her or help her. “But we have to do something!” Lucia knows, but is at a loss for ideas. She heads off to the fabrica to pick up info she needs to work on the marketing, and to get more blood donors signed up. She warns Al that now would not be the best time for Nora to find out about her and Marcelo getting hitched. Al agrees.
At the hospital, Marcelo’s surgeon comes in to tout the wonders of youth and good health. Marcelo can go home right now. He just needs to make sure he takes it easy at home for at least 5 days, and come back in 8 days to get his stitches (puntadas) removed. While Mili goes to pay, Marcelo and Rafaela confab. Rafa will get word to Lucia to go straight to Marcelo’s apartment. She warns him that he can’t keep the engagement a secret from Mili forever. He gives her the bad news that Mili’s coming to stay with them a few days. Her being his mother and all, he couldn’t refuse.
Amador desperately rattles the locked doors of Mario’s law firm, in search of a lawyer. The street cleaner tells him they’ve all gone to Ligia’s funeral in the Civil Cemetery.
Al gets the keys from Tere and goes into Nora’s room. He finds her sleeping peacefully, and breathes a sigh of relief as he strokes her arm. When he leaves the room, we see that she’s wide awake. Al next stops is Rebeca’s bedroom to try once again to find out what set Nora off. Rebeca claims it was a silly little argument—nothing really. She’s feeling sorry for herself and whining about how she’s “lost” Nora, the most important person in her life. Al says they’ll figure it out together, no matter whether or not their marriage has gone down the crapper. He suggests that Rebeca get her cut checked out by a doctor, since it looks inflamed. She snippily says she’ll drive herself to the hospital, and it won’t be Sara she sees.
At the cemetery, Padre Samuel wraps up the funeral service. Mario introduces himself to Daniela and gives her his condolences and his card, in case she needs anything. She thanks him graciously and leaves. Magda wonders to Mario why Daniela’s name sounds so familiar…Leti’s also curious about Ligia’s cousin, who seems so different from Ligia. Sergio explains the police found Dani’s contact info in a note she left for Ligia. Just then, they spot Amador running up to Mario. They listen in as Amador begs Mario to represent Rod. Mario turns him down, because it would be a conflict of interest with their Zúñiga vs Gaxiola case. He wonders why he doesn’t ask Ricardo for help. Mario and Magda leave, and Sergio offers his lawyer services to help his friend. He runs off with Amador, and leaves his car with an open-mouthed Leti.
Lucia consults with Nazario on the list of workers who’ve agreed to donate blood, and is about to run off to the hospital when Normita stops her with the good news of Marcelo’s return home. Normita, hussy that she is, shamelessly flirts with Naz. He runs away quickly. Lucia runs into Lalo on the way out, and tells him the letter was delivered, but his fair lady gave her no message in return. Said fair lady, brings Nora breakfast and leaves before she is subjected to one of Nora’s tantrums. Nora’s clearly upset to hear that her mother is not home and left a while ago (without saying goodbye to her).
Rebeca is busy at the hospital, getting her hand treated, and running into Marcelo as he’s wheeled out by Rafa. At first, she makes a half-hearted attempt at fake politeness. Then, when Marcelo tells her Rafa knows all, she lets her true face show. “It’s a shame you didn’t die!” She once again tells him to leave Puebla and Lucia, for good. Marcelo’s heard it all before and is bored. When she threatens to tell Al all, he tells her that nothing would make him happier. This little snipe-fest comes to an end when Mili comes down the hallway. Mili and Rebeca compete to see who has the best resting bitch face. Mili wins and Rebeca slinks away. Mili’s headed home to rest and get some clothes—then she’ll meet up with them at Marcelo’s.
Magda and Mario stroll towards his office, wondering if Rod could have really killed Ligia. Magda decides to wait for him in the square while he runs into his office to get some documents. That’s where Ric finds her on his way to see Mario about Zúñiga vs Gaxiola. She tells him to go on his way, because Mario hasn’t had any time to even look at the offer yet. She knows he’s just looking for an excuse to see Leti. Ric tries to defend himself. He never even knew Sara was pregnant. Well, the fact that he was two-timing Sara with her, and then dumped her on their wedding day for god knows what reason, is plenty of reason for him to be persona non grata around these parts! Ric is tired of being the only bad guy in this story. “I’m not the monster that you think!” Ric thinks it’s time for her to know the truth about what happened, even if she doesn’t want to. “It’s time you knew, that the only one at fault is your sister. For Rebeca…for her, I dumped you.” Magda’s listening now. Ric spills the whole sordid truth about how Rebeca seduced him, and promised to run off with him, and he fell into her trap because he always had a thing for her and he was stupid. By the time he realized that the only thing she cared about was preventing him from marrying Madga, it was too late. Magda weakly says she doesn’t believe him, as a tear rolls down her cheek, but she clearly does believe that her sister betrayed her in the worst way.
Said sister is in the midst of destroying her daughter’s life, as she tries to make Nora feel guilty about the freakout Rebeca provoked. She tries to manipulate Nora by saying that it’s clear to her that Nora hates her and she won’t forgive Nora this time. “I’ve reached my limit with you.” Nora looks like a wounded little 5-year-old, and with tears in her eyes she tells her mother that she doesn’t need her forgiveness and regrets nothing! But clearly, she does.
Mario comes back to the square and finds Ric instead of Magda. Ric smugly tells Mario that Magda left on a personal family matter, and rubs it in that he and Magda share a history, where Mario doesn’t even exist. Mario’s ready to break his face if he doesn’t get the hell out of here. Ric points out that they have business to take care of, but Mario inform him he’s been too busy dealing with his secretary’s murder. And oh, by the way, the son of your buddy, Amador was arrested for the crime and probably needs you!
Both Amador and Sergio try to pretend that they have faith in Sergio’s lawyering skills, as they question the detectives about why Rod was arrested. They learn Daniela’s testimony about seeing Rod with Ligia that night is what got him thrown in the pokey. Amador gets to go in to see Rod for 10 minutes. Through the bars, he tries to calm his son down, but also fishes for info on how Rod started up his fling with Ligia. Rod explains that it was a rebound after the Lucia/botched wedding debacle. Amador informs Rod that it was Dani’s testimony that put him there, then he helps Rod craft an alibi. When he talks to the cops, Rod must tell the cops that he left right after Dani left, around 8:30 pm, and went straight home. Amador will make sure that Brigida backs up his story.
Mili finds depressed Dani back in their apartment. She barely bats an eye when she hears Dani’s cousin was murdered and Lucia’s ex is the primary suspect. She couldn’t care less. (Me va y me viene.) She shares her bit of gossip about Marcelo getting stabbed and he and Lucia getting back together. Is Dani going to run away again, or is she going to stay and fight?
Marcelo and Rafa return to his place, and Lucia’s already there with a dozen red roses for her man. He says a kiss would have been enough, then tries to get a makeout session started. Lucia puts a stop to that, since he’s not well enough, but Marcelo wants to get as many kisses as possible in, before his mother shows up. Lucia points out the obvious, that Mili can’t stand her. Marcelo says she can’t stand him either, and he’s her son! Speaking of his mother…she told him that she saw Lucia speaking to a man in the hospital (the hussy!). And it’s not that he’s a possessive jealous jerk, but he just doesn’t want to get the wrong idea…Lucia tells him about Dr. Andrade, Nora’s psychiatrist, then tells him about Nora’s major freakout the night before.
Hottie Dr. Andrade is meeting with Alonso to discuss that freakout. He’s glad Al called him. Al is desperate. Sometimes it seems that Nora is losing her mind, and he doesn’t know how to help her. Roman reminds Al that if Nora doesn’t want help, no one can help her. Al asks Roman to make a house call, and perhaps that would help convince her. Al points out that Nora doesn’t trust him or Lucia, and lately has even stopped trusting her mother. “Can I be frank? In the short time that I’ve been treating Nora, I’ve been able to perceive that her problems are not just her jealousy of her sister, but part of her instability comes from the relationship she has with her mother. In order to help Nora, we also have to treat her mother.” Al is sure Rebeca would agree to it, since Nora is the most important person to her.
Magda enters her sister’s room, and without a word, delivers a LONG overdue slapdown. WOP! Magda’s right had becomes acquainted with Rebeca’s left cheek. WOP! Left hand, meet right cheek! Right hand and left cheek are about to renew their acquaintance, when Rebeca manages to deflect Magda’s palms of fury. Magda reveals that Ric spilled the beans. Rebeca claims it's all LIES. “What would I gain by doing that?!” Magda knows that her sister did it for the simple pleasure of destroying her life and seeing her unhappy. She doesn’t even let the beyotch touch her. “We are NOTHING to each other! YOU are nothing! You are a piece of crap! The devil herself! And I swear, Rebeca, one day you will pay dearly for all you’ve done!” Magda marches out, with Rebeca screaming after her that it’s all lies, and she best not spread it to Al. Nora comes out wondering what all the yelling is about.
Lucia makes Marcelo the Gaxiola recovery meal—a sandwich. Her sammy-making skills look on point—Nora should take lessons…On second thought, we don’t want to give her yet another reason to hate Lucia. Anyway, Lucia shares her fears with Marcelo. She thinks that someone targeted him and it wasn’t just a robbery. Marcelo is a bit too cavalier about the whole thing, and thinks that Rebeca is the only one who would want to see him out of the way. Lucia points out that he’s also been a thorn in the side of Amador, who also has plenty of motive to hurt him. She’s worried that someone will come after him again. “What, do you think they’ll try to finish me off (rematarme)?” Lucia doesn’t even want to hear him say it out loud. Marcelo baits an anvil and assures her he won’t let anyone get in the way of their happiness.
Ric has gone to Casa Zúñiga and gets more details on the murder case from a hysterical and confused Brigida. She usefully supplies Ric with enough info for him to realize that Amador asked him to provide an alibi for the same night and time as the murder of Mario’s secretary. He assures her he’ll help get Rod out, but neither of them know where Amador is and why he’s not answering their calls. Ric starts to leave for the police station, but Brigida wants to know something first. Was Amador really with him last Wednesday night (murder night)? Ric remembers Amador asking him to lie for him, then he tells Brigida that she has no reason to doubt her husband’s word.
At the police station, Sergio explains that Rod will be held in the local jail for 72 hours, while the police gather more evidence and try to make the case against him. If they gather enough evidence, then Rod will be charged and transferred to prison. If they don’t, then they’ll have to set him free. This isn’t good enough for Amador. Just because he was in the apartment that night, shouldn’t be enough to jail him. Sergio points out that he was the last to see her alive. All of a sudden, Amador has new info. Rod left right after the cousin and went right home. Sergio isn’t quite buying this, especially because Rod lied to him that the last time he saw Ligia was weeks ago. He’s not accusing Rod—he’s his friend, and he wants to help and will fight for Rod. And if charges are brought against him, Sergio will personally find the best defense lawyer in the state to represent Rod. Amador can’t even think about that. “That’s not going to happen. We’re going to do everything we can to get him out of here before the 72 hours is up.”
Leti is blowing up the Casa Gaxiola phone trying to locate Lucia to pass on the hot gossip. She leaves a message with Tere. Luckily, Sara gets home and she gets to share all the lurid details about Rod getting thrown in the pokey for murdering Mario’s secretary. Sara doesn’t really think it will affect Lucia too much, since she’s so gaga for Marcelo, who was released from the hospital. Leti now has a good idea about where Lucia is.
Lucia is trying to force Marcelo to go take a nap in his bedroom, but it seems like he’d be more interested in doing other things, as he flirts with Lucia. Is she sure she still wants to marry him? She says she does, but she has a series of conditions. 1- Their wedding has to be very simple. Agreed. 2- They have to wait until after her Tia Magdalena gets married. Marcelo agrees, with some protest. 3- Lucia wants their first daughter to be named, Adriana, like her mother. Agreed. 4- The most important—Lucia wants them to get the hell out of Puebla right after they get married, and put as much distance between them and her Tia Rebeca and her sister as possible.
Marcelo pushes back. He’s made a commitment to her father (to work at the fabrica). Lucia is sure Al will understand. Neither Marcelo nor Lucia notice that Mili and Dani have entered the apartment, as Marcelo insists that he HAS to speak to Al and tell him everything—the reason why he came to Puebla, to search for the woman responsible for his brother committing suicide, and that he committed many mistakes in doing so. Mili marches right into the bedroom and interrupts. Now she knows the reason why he came to this backwards hellhole. She demands to know the woman’s name! She has a right to know! Marcelo and Lucia stare at her in shocked silence. Mili turns her bitch rays towards Lucia, and grabs her shoulder in a death grip. “It’s obvious that you also know who killed my son. Tell me, who killed my son! TELL ME!”
