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.

Esmeralda 38: Controversial Pregnancy

In the midst of merriment, All (except Fátima), were happy because of the acceptance of Esmeralda by Rodolfo. Esmeralda developed nausea again during the party, and Fátima took advantage of it to break the news of her suspicion to Rodolfo, that the young lady was already pregnant.

Crisanta queried Esmeralda if she had had conjugal relationship with José Armando, to which she said yes. At that point, José Armando decided to take her the next day to the hospital for diagnosis. Crisanta broke the news of her suspicion to both José Armando and Esmeralda that the sickness was that of pregnancy's early symptoms.

Esmeralda was alarmed about the forecast of Crisanta. José Armando was excited at the news of being a father. Crisanta requested him not to tell Esmeralda until after the pregnancy test is confirmed.

Crisanta did a home-made traditional pregnancy test for Esmeralda and the result was positive. Esmeralda, because of her inexperience about conception, was terrified by the results, because she suspected that Lucio may be responsible for it.

Fátima told Blanca of Adrián's romantic overtures towards Graciela. Lucio was furious with Melesio when that one told him that Esmeralda was no longer in his circle, but belong to another man now.

Esmeralda 37: Family Recognition

Fátima told Graciela of her suspicion that Esmeralda was pregnant. She was determined to exploit this pregnancy case to cause a fresh disharmony among the Peñarreal family, whose 23-year old wound of deception and separation needed desperate healing.

Blanca wanted José Armando to remain in Casa Grande, and tried to convince him to abandon his plan to move to Mexico. Rodolfo too wanted him to stay back, and also assured him that he would now reconcile with, and recognize his marriage to Esmeralda, his estranged daughter. He told him that he wanted things to continue as before, because the blow of this change is too much for him to bear.

After a few days of tension and uneasy calm in Casa Grande, Crisanta prompted Blanca to organize a special wedding dinner to celebrate the matrimony of Esmeralda and José Armando. She was happy because, Esmeralda, for the first time, had begun to call her mom.

Fermín advised Esmeralda to interview Juana, the housemaid of Lucio, to clear her doubts and sorrow, to know if Lucio had sex with her on that tragic night when Rodolfo took her to Lucio's house. During the family dinner to mark the wedding of the Esmeralda, Rodolfo asked Crisanta to bring out the special wine, so that he may propose a toast to the marriage of his 'two' children, the new happy couple: Esmeralda and José Armando. It was an emotion-laden night, Armando was touched by the warmness and acknowledgment of Rodolfo, he embraced him.

Graciela was consumed by romantic thought for Adrián.