Esmeralda 39-45: Doubted Paternity

Esmeralda was terrified by the announcement and confirmation of her pregnancy. She strongly suspected Lucio, who had sexually abused her about 3 days earlier, to be responsible, so she became cold and unenthusiastic towards José Armando.

José Armando was confused that Esmeralda did not share his joy about the pregnancy, and was acting strange by avoiding any contact with him. Rodolfo was about to scold Esmeralda for acting cold towards José Armando, when she told him that the reason for her action was because she was unsure who was responsible for the pregnancy between Lucio and José Armando.

Rodolfo had to propose an annulment of marriage to José Armando because of the possible scandal of doubted paternity between Lucio and José Armando when the news blow open. Armando did not know what was going on, he was happy that Esmeralda would soon become a mother of his son.

Fátima continued in her evil plans by seeking to know if Esmeralda's marriage to José Armando could be annulled by making Esmeralda to be expelled from the house on the excuse that she abandoned her husband.

Fátima visited Lucio to hatch her evil plans against Esmeralda. Dominga was furious to learn of the the suspected sexual abuse of Esmeralda by Lucio. Fermín also advised her to tell José Armando about her suspicion when Rodolfo drove her as a prey into the hands of Lucio. Rodolfo deeply regretted his action of driving his own daughter into the hands of a wicked man who was now being suspected to have impregnated her.

When José Armando went to question Lucio on what transpired when Esmeralda slept the night in his house, Lucio suffered a heart-attack and would have died but for the noble act of José Arming medically attended to him and saved his life. Due to this factor, José Armando did not have the time to find out the truth from him.

Esmeralda visited Lucio who was seriously ill, to ask him to tell her the truth of what happened on the night that he held her captive in his house. Lucio lied to her by telling her that he was responsible for her pregnancy, and that she was carrying his son. Esmeralda was devastated by this disclosure.

José Armando was disappointed when Esmeralda told him that Lucio was responsible for her pregnancy. He vows never to forgive Esmeralda for being unfaithful to him. He visited Lucio again, who, this time, confirmed to him that Esmeralda was carrying his baby.

Fátima, for the umpteenth time caught Graciela and Adrián in a romantic session, and this time, she made a huge scandal out of it, with the hope that Rodolfo would send Adrián out of the house. This did not happened. It rather opened the eyes of Rodolfo, to know that Adrián and Graciela were lovers, and that Fátima was scheming for Graciela to marry José Armando for pecuniary interests.

The cloud of hatred and doubt over her pregnancy was so thick in Casa Grande that Esmeralda had to take Dominga, and both left Casa Grande for Mexico City, because José Armando did not forgive her.

Blanca was anguished because of the departure of her only child, Esmeralda, from Casa Grande. She accused Rodolfo and José Armando for being the architect of her sorrow, due to their cruelty towards Esmeralda. She insisted that both men must go to Mexico city to seek out her daughter, and also bring her back to Casa Grande.

In the city Esmeralda went with Dominga to live in the home for the poor, which the Catholic Church manages. Esmeralda was hospitalized and given a bed-rest to save her from stress and prevent a miscarriage. When she woke up on her hospital bed, she requested from her guardian, Sister Piedad, to help her find a job.

Esmeralda was resentful and believed that José Armando never really loved her. Fátima reassured Graciela that she would scheme to make José Armando annul his marriage to Esmeralda, so that Graciela would now marry him. Unfortunately for her, she and her daughter were the only ones in Casa Grande, who did not yet know that Esmeralda, and not José Armando, was the true heiress and child of Rodolfo.

While Rodolfo employed detectives to search the whole Mexico city for his daughter, Fátima already discovered that they were holed up in the Home for the poor, but she hid up this information from the knowledge of Blanca and Rodolfo.

Meanwhile, Lucio was frustrated and helpless because he too did not know where esmeralda and dominga disappeared to.