After lunch at The Vasconcellos Family, Andreo Fanta suggested to Estrella Berrocal that she take Adán Rouco to see Mrs. Vasconcellos that her daughter, whom he had been reading about for more than twenty years, was in a good home.
When they arrived at the hospital, Adán Rouco entered the room with Estrella Berrocal.
Ms. Vasconcellos has just finished a round of chemotherapy, her face is haggard and skin and bones, but you can still tell she must have been a real beauty in her youth.
“Dulcinia, this is…”
Estrella Berrocal let out a laugh: “Mrs. Vasconcellos, this is my husband, Adán Rouco. ”
Mrs. Vasconcellos did not seem to expect that her daughter was already married to a husband, and there was a flash of surprise in her eyes, “So you’re all married.”
“Yes, Mrs. Vasconcellos, I have been married to Adam for almost a year.”
Adán Rouco nodded politely toward Mrs. Vasconcellos, “Mrs. Vasconcellos, hello.”
“Come and sit down, you two.”
Adán Rouco sat with Estrella Berrocal, and Mrs. Vasconcellos took Estrella Berrocal’s hand and said, “Dulcinia, I know I am not qualified to be a mother. Now that you are married and have a family of your own, I am sorry I have been absent from even the most important event of your life.”
“Mrs. Vasconcellos, I’m fine now, Adam has been good to me, you should stop blaming yourself, the past is in the past, I really don’t blame you, the most important thing for you now, is to get well.”
Mrs. Vasconcellos smiled charitably, “Fine, as long as you’re happy.”
Estrella Berrocal, still somewhat curious about her birth and what happened then, asked: “Mrs. Vasconcellos, how exactly … I was taken then?”
Mrs. Vasconcellos sighed and recalled, “When I was young, I met your father, Incendio Fanta, at a dinner party. After we met, Incendio Fanta continued to court me and I was so impressed by his romanticism and consideration that I married him, when the family business lacked funds. My father loved me so much that he helped the Fanta Group through the difficulties and soon after the marriage I gave birth to Incendio Fanta’s son, your brother Andreo, and at the time I thought I was the happiest woman in the world, but when I was pregnant with you I found out that your father had another woman outside.”
“Incendio Fanta married me because he wanted to marry into The Vasconcellos family to help The Fanta family overcome their difficulties, he never broke contact with his mistress Amara Montellano. He never broke contact with his lover, Amara Montellano, and even conspired with Amara Montellano to set me up, so I was blind to have married him. Amara Montellano repeatedly provoked me. When I went into labor, she secretly sent someone to take him away as a newborn, and I almost suffered depression because of it.
Estrella Berrocal can imagine how heartbroken and despondent Mrs. Berrocal is.
“But … why would Amara Montellano do that? Clearly it was her and Fanta Incendio who were in the wrong.”
Mrs. Vasconcellos growled, “Amara Montellano believes that my presence is the reason she has been a shady little girl for so many years. But don’t you think that if Incendio Fanta really loved her, she would have chosen to marry me for her financial resources? In the end, Incendio Fanta is too selfish, always thinking only of himself.”
Estrella Berrocal was furious: “How could Incendio Fanta do this! He was the one who tricked you in the first place, how could he join forces with Amara Montellano to set you up!”.
Adán Rouco, seeing that the mother and daughter were engaged in a conversation and that they had only met after more than twenty years, wanted to leave them their space and said to Estrella Berrocal: “I’m going outside to smoke a cigarette.”
Estrella Berrocal couldn’t resist remembering: “So she smokes less”.
Adán Rouco responded with indifference, patted her waist with his big hand and said, “Stay a while longer with Mrs. Vasconcellos.”
“Good.”
When Adán Rouco left the room, Mrs. Vasconcellos asked her seriously, “Dulcinia, this Adán Rouco, is he good to you?”.
Estrella Berrocal also nodded seriously and said, “Adam is very good to me, although he is not usually affectionate and welcoming in front of outsiders, but he is really good to me, like this time, when I left the house in private for something, he came after me in a hurry. And, he was very tolerant with me.”
“How nice, Dulcinia, mom doesn’t want you to follow in my footsteps, I met Incendio Fanta and almost ruined my whole life, I don’t want my daughter to also be deceived and wronged in her marriage. If one day she treats you badly, you must not put up with it, the door of The Vasconcellos family is always open for you. Even if … mother does not live so long, I will ask your brother to take good care of you”.
Estrella Berrocal, who had not felt the sensation of having her family behind her in too long, nodded vigorously with her eyes slightly reddened and her hands clasped with Ms.
Mrs. Vasconcellos’ tears also fell, “Dulcinia, can you … call me mom? Just once, okay? In all these years, I haven’t heard my daughter call her mother…”
Estrella Berrocal couldn’t bear to tell him no, “Ma …”
At the sound of “Mom,” Mrs. Vasconcellos sobbed, but smiled through her tears and replied, “Hi.”
Mother and daughter embraced.
Estrella Berrocal smiled, also a little bit half-smiling, and said: “Mom, I have good news for you, I’m pregnant, I’m a mother-to-be”.
“Really? That’s great, you should let Adam take good care of you, during your pregnancy, you should take better care of your health, if mom wasn’t sick, she could take care of you herself, but now that mom is in this state of health, she has trouble even taking care of herself. Dulcinia, mom is very sorry for you.”
“Mom, don’t always say you’re sorry, Adam will take care of me, don’t worry.”
Suddenly the door of the room rang and Estrella Berrocal stood up and said: “I think it’s Adam coming back, I’m going to get him”.
Estrella Berrocal rushed to the door and there stood a middle-aged woman, dressed in a beautiful but not unremarkable outfit.
“You are…”
The middle-aged woman looked sharply at Estrella Berrocal and scowled fiercely, “Are you Lupita Vasconcellos’ daughter?”
Inside, Mrs. Vasconcellos, lying on the hospital bed, heard Amara Montellano’s shrill voice and immediately became angry: “Amara Montellano? What are you doing here?”
Amara Montellano pushed past Estrella Berrocal, who was standing in the doorway blocking her way, and strutted on her heels, saying mockingly, “Of course I came to see how sick you are now, I’m still waiting for them to bury you the day you go to hell.”
“When I die, I’ll have my son and daughter to bury me, so I don’t need to bother you, an outsider, to send me away!”
Estrella Berrocal glared at the strutting Amara Montellano: “Miss Wei, you are not welcome here, please leave”.
“Lupita Vasconcellos, you are a soft head son and daughter, and your character does not go with you, Andreo Fanta has made the Fanta Group lose money to avenge your death. That son of yours is really something, and he is very ruthless, and now this daughter you just got back, what, is she going to take care of me too?”
Mrs. Vasconcellos hated the woman with a passion: “Amara Montellano, the man is in the eye of the beholder, if you have any shame, go now”.