At the Rocha Mansion, Melissa turned off the radio to toast J.J.“May Josias Bezerra Rocha Junior continue to grow in health and safety, under the blessings of God and Everaldo!”“HURRAY!” Everyone exclaims.Alan made a point of looking at David to see if he would say 'hurray', and David did.Carmen gestures, “OK, now let's cut the cake. But no mess!”Henrique and James already run to the table while the other children line up.“I miss Caio and João Paulo.” Caroline asserts.“Both are working now.” Rosemary explains, “It will soon be our turn.”“Rose, will you work with me at Maggiezine? Aunt Maggie promised me a job opening.” Caroline comments effusively.“Only if we do a journalism degree together.” Rosemary holds out the plastic plate and receives a slice of cake, “Thanks, Aunt Carmen.”“You welcome. And it's good advice, Rose. I'm sure Maggie won't deny you both a spot. João Paulo is already working there.”David once again chimes in by pretending no offense, “I thought he'd want
At Crystal Blue, Josias and Gabriela now have lunch together.Josias comments gallantly, “Gabriela, you didn't have to wait for my pasta to arrive so you could finish yours. Now your plate must be cold.”Gabriela doesn't mind the cold food at all, as her heart is warm, “Don't worry. I thought it would be impolite not to wait for you. So, Josias, how are things?”“You saw her, Kate woke up—”Gabriela interrupts Josias without realizing how rude she was, “I meant in general, how is your family, your company...?”“Oh, that.” Josias laughs, “Well, the company is doing spectacularly well; we have new projects for the year 2000. I’ll give an opening speech for the Uélton Freire building in Vila Velha...”“Oh, can I go?” Gabriela widens her eyes, “Maybe Maggie wants an article for the magazine.”“Yes, you can go.” Josias nods, “It will be a pleasure.”Gabriela smiles widely and raises her wineglass to toast. Josias accepts the toast with his glass.Daryl enters the restaurant and sees the co
The next day, Katherine is calmer and stronger in her hospital bed. Doctor Braggart drops by to visit and check on her situation.“Your vital signs are getting stronger and you are no longer life-threatening, Mrs. Rocha, congratulations.”Katherine jokes, “Looks like only my car was a total loss.”She laughs, but notices something strange, “Doctor, why can't I move my legs?”Gabriela was about to enter the room, but she stops and listens to the question. She widens her eyes.Doctor Braggart smiles kindly, “Your legs have been severely injured and we even thought about amputating one of them. Fortunately, that wasn't necessary. We managed to contain the bleeding, operated on the femur, and counted on their regeneration.”“But I'm not going to be paralyzed, am I?” Katherine's eyes widen.Doctor Braggart nods, “There's nothing to be afraid of, Mrs. Rocha. But if you want to be calmer, we can do some tests...”“Yes, I want to be more relaxed! Let's not waste time, doctor.”“OK, I’ll conta
João Paulo enters Bernardo's office dangerously and closes the door with virility, glaring at Gabriela.“John, why are you so nervous?” Gabriela tries to hide it, but she feels shivers down her spine.“Do you really want to know?” João Paulo asks angrily, “Are you wanting to be attacked again? Haven't you learned your lesson yet?”Gabriela rolls her eyes, “Oh, that? No, if your sister-in-law is paralyzed, she won't be able to raise her hand to me without me hitting her first!”Bernardo tries to calm the situation, “My young people, don't fight. João Paulo, I was just saying to your colleague that the information still needs to be confirmed before being published.”“This is the basic we learn in college.” João Paulo continues to glare at Gabriela, “I count on the professionalism of Maggiezine and Marçal Publishing for this. Excuse me.”João Paulo turns on his heels and leaves with fury.Bernardo sighs in dismay at Gabriela's lack of wisdom. She lowers her head, aware that she made a mi
At Marçal Publishing, Vernon tries to calm João Paulo who is walking in circles in the office.“How many memories I have of this old office... Son, you can't be shaken by this kind of situation.”“Dad, my colleague who was supposed to mentor me at the company was trying to harm Kate again!” João Paulo goes to the phone, “I need to tell Josias about this!”Vernon puts his big hand on the telephone set, preventing João Paulo from saying, “NO, son! Don't make your brother nervous about anything. He has a lot of priorities at the moment.”João Paulo takes a deep breath, “You are right. Josias is a very busy man, he doesn't have to worry about my grumbling.”“But son, remember that you don't have to be so faithful to Katherine.” Vernon advises him, “She's been a bubonic plague and she reaped what she sowed. We all thought that was going to be the end of her, but God, in his infinite mercy, sent Everaldo to let her live a little longer to repent of her sins.”“She will never regret it if pe
Josias is back in his office. The desk phone rings and he answers it. “Hello?” On the other side, Gabriela tries to appease João Paulo's anger, “Hello, Josias. This is Gabriela.” Josias smiles, “Hello, Gabriela. How can I be of help? Does Maggiezine want an interview with me about my estimates for the year 2000?” “I want a nude shoot with you!” Gabriela doesn't dare voice her immoral desires out loud, “Actually, I wanted to know if João Paulo informed you about your wife.” “What about Kate?” Josias is on the alert. “Doctors are carrying out physical therapy tests on her to see if she will become paraplegic,” Gabriela explains cautiously. Josias widens his eyes, “Kate, paraplegic? No doctor informed me of this!” “Well, I was about to interview her, but Dr. Braggart was talking to her and there was this doubt. Your wife complained that she was unable to move her legs.” Josias frets, “Oh,
The next day, Rosemary is leaving the Teodoro building canteen when she meets Patrick. And again, the lobby radio is playing a romantic ballad, this time “Back to One” by Brian McKnight and Ivete Sangalo. Patrick smiles whisperingly while Rosemary wants to break the radio. “Tradition is being followed with force here, right?” “Shut up!” Rosemary spits, “I bet you chose this station!” “Me? I ain’t touching the sacred radio that belonged to the late Teodoro.” Patrick looks at the portrait. Beto appears to nail the portraits of Uélton and Harold, “Good morning, kids! Ready for another day of school? Rosemary replies, “I’m ready for another day of confrontation with Maria Clara. I think I’ll go to the academy and enroll in boxing classes.” Patrick suddenly takes one of Rosemary’s hands and affectionately declares, “Don’t dare to hurt those beautiful princess hands, Rosemary!” Rosemary pulls her hand back and shoots Patrick
Teresa appears in the lobby of the Teodoro building. Beto finished nailing to the wall the portraits of Uélton and Harold.The radio now plays “Holler” by The Spice Girls, making Beto laugh.“What was it, dear?”“Rose always complains that the radio only plays romantic music when she's around Patrick, and now that they're in school, the radio plays pop music.”Teresa smiles, “Honey, you can get ready to receive a marriage proposal.”Beto gets off balance and nearly falls down the ladder, “Wow! What is it, love? Isn't it too early for this stage?”Teresa bursts out laughing, “Oh doting father, ha, ha, ha!”Beto composes himself, “Our daughter needs to graduate and get a job.”“I don't think that will happen as long as she keeps distracted with Pat.”“Who is Pat?” Beto raises his eyebrows.Teresa laughs
Josias visits the Rocha Hotel since he didn’t have a day off for the staff. In the management room, Eugenio gathered David, Benjamin, and Sybil. “Why is that mere cook present at this meeting?” David asked disparagingly. “Because that’s how our boss ordered it,” Eugenio replied dryly. “I didn’t say anything and didn’t call this meeting, so if you’ll excuse me...” Benjamin and Sybil were horrified to see David leaving the meeting just like that. However, when he opened the door, David came face to face with his father. “David, where do you think you’re going?” “DAD!” David exclaimed, extremely surprised. “I didn’t know you were coming!” “Didn’t Eugenio tell you I was coming?” Josias asked with a scowl. David understood who the ‘boss’ was. Benjamin and Sybil felt vindicated. Josias sat down at the desk, taking Eugenio’s seat, while the manager remained humbly standing. “Very well,” Josias began the meeting in a formal tone, “I’m here just to make things crystal clear. First
Melissa and Mary visit the Mountain Café.“A guava juice for me, Mr. Mountain!” Mary requested, smiling sweetly.“Of course, my princess!” Rodrigo replied, thinking Mary was very adorable. “Neil will make a delicious cup for you.”“Thank you. But the princess is Carol,” Mary responded, striking a serious pose.Melissa and Rodrigo laughed heartily. Mary is something else...“Rod, how has it been managing the café in your father’s absence?” Melissa asked seriously.Rodrigo served a baked chicken pastry with ketchup to Mary. “I'm getting by, Melissa. Josias was here earlier, more concerned about my loss than his own, as always. Isn’t he supposed to be resting?”Melissa nodded. “My husband is like that: he only relaxes when all of us are relaxed.”“An impossible mission because of certain people.”Neilton approached with the glass. “Who ordered a guava juice?”“I DID!” Mary grabbed the glass and went to a table.Melissa leaned forward, “Neil, Rod, how are Daryl and Diane? Behaving?”“Cont
At João Paulo’s house, he and Josias were about to have a significant conversation.“Walter, do you want to go with your mom to the kitchen?” João Paulo asked, looking at Helen. “I think she made some walnut cake.”“It was carrot cake,” Sandra replied, already getting up from the couch.“You got it.” Helen appeared and picked up Walter in her arms. “Let’s let Dad and Uncle Josias talk.”“Bye, Uncle!” Walter waved goodbye to Josias.“Bye-bye, I want a piece later!” Josias chuckled.Once alone with João Paulo, Josias became serious. “Don’t let anything or anyone ruin this family scenario, little brother.”“I’m fine. No one wants to ruin anything,” João Paulo replied casually.“Well, I hope David hasn’t caused you any trouble.”“He probably doesn’t even know I exist, man.” João Paulo shrugged.“But I stopped by Café Montanha and found out that the Vasquez family has replaced the Mountain family as the ‘annoying people.’”João Paulo sighed in disappointment. “Yeah. They—”The doorbell ran
Josias visits Café Montanha for a coffee and finds Rodrigo there. “Rod, how have you been?” Rodrigo is taken aback. “How am I? You’re the one who suffered a horrific loss recently!” “But you also lost your father. We’re in the same situation,” Josias explained as he sat down on a stool. “I’m okay, Josias. Life has a way of cheering me up. For example, I’m back at the diner after Thierry decided to take his place at the supermarket.” Rodrigo smiled. “What about the photography studio?” Josias smiled back. “It’s still going to operate, and Thierry will make periodic visits. But he’s going to appoint one of the staff to manage the studio.” Rodrigo served a pizza pastry to Josias. “Thank you. Well, I hope everything is alright between you two. I need to visit Rosemary and meet Jean Luc — is that the name of the baby?” “Yes, the name of the supermarket heir. Meanwhile, Frank will be here or somewhere else.” Josias interjected, “If Frank wants to work at Rocha Constructions, count
At the Rocha Mansion, Josias receives a visit from Benjamin. “How have you been, Ben? Any news about your parents?” The two embrace. “Actually, that’s what I want to talk about.” Benjamin scratches the back of his neck. The embrace breaks. “Let’s go to my office.” The two gentlemen enter Josias’s imposing office. “Any problems with Adolfo?” Josias asks, becoming serious. “Not yet, but I hope not to have any,” Benjamin replies with some sadness. “You know, Josias, what happened with your father made me think about my family, about how important it is for all of us to be together in the final moments.” “That’s true. João Paulo can tell you that better than I can.” “I think you can say it too. Vernon was the father you never had.” Benjamin clears his throat. “So, I’ve been looking into some hotels and realized there’s a demand at the Rocha Hotel in Victoria.” Josias looks at Benjamin, understanding where he’s going with this. “You want to go to Victoria to be close to your pare
Someone rings the doorbell at João Paulo’s house. The homeowner goes to answer after taking a shower and putting on clean clothes. But when he opened the door, João Paulo felt like slamming it in the visitor’s face. “Don’t be rude!” Erasmo exclaimed. “What do you want, you old bore?” João Paulo shot back. Erasmo barged into João Paulo’s foyer. “The mourning is over. Let’s pick up where we left off.” “Are you crazy? Who decides how long mourning lasts? We just got back from the trip!” “Not exactly, it’s been a day. Life goes on, my friend!” Erasmo replied mockingly. João Paulo remained serious. “But I don’t want to continue living this way, where fights and intrigues are the order of the day. Mr. Vasquez, you have a business to run, and I have a family to raise.” “But you found time to slap my son-in-law when he was here defending his family, didn’t you?” “Alan was extremely rude, but that was some time ago.” João Paulo frowned. “I don’t feel the same anger as before.” “So a
At the Vasquez Mansion, Alan could hardly believe that the people were thinking about more intrigues and disputes. “Guys, don’t you understand that I even forgot the reason I slapped Uncle João Paulo?” “Ridiculous!” Erasmo gestured. “You just maintained respect because it was a difficult occasion. But now, the mourning is OVER!” “Do you think João Paulo will rest, dear?” Sofia asked, sitting next to him. Alan shook his head. “If Uncle João Paulo doesn’t want to rest, then he is truly despicable. But my dad is back in town. He wouldn’t dare to do that.” The news should have been uplifting, but the members of the Vasquez family merely exchanged silent glances. With Josias present, it’s quite likely that he will put a stop to their fighting. Alan turned to Olivia. “In the meantime, we should celebrate the recovery of my dear mother-in-law!” Olivia and Sofia smiled awkwardly because of the secret they were keeping. “That’s right, let’s celebrate life!” Erasmo wrapped his arm arou
Josias Rocha and his family returned to Lagoon City. Those who were waiting for them stayed in the mansion and greeted them cheerfully in the foyer. “WELCOME BACK!” Melissa, crying, embraced her parents, William, and the twins fervently. Josias greeted them with a light smile. “Where’s João Paulo?” William asked. “He went straight to his house. His kids needed to rest from the trip.” Melissa wiped her tears with her fingers. “Alan went straight to his mansion. Especially now that his mother-in-law has woken up from the coma.” “That was a scare; I thought we’d have two funerals,” Simeon commented. Everyone headed to the living room. “Is Paris very beautiful, Mom?” Mary asked. “Yes, sweetheart, it’s stunning. We’ll go shopping together another time, okay?” “Do you have pictures?” Ignacio asked anxiously. “Yes, son, we took some pictures.” Melissa sat on the couch, pulling out a package from her bag. Josias sat in the armchair, taking a deep breath. William approached him.
At Café Montanha, Daryl walks in for a coffee and finds Rodrigo at the counter while Neilton serves the others. “Hey, are we back to the old tradition?” “Don’t be a clown, man.” Rodrigo laughs. “Yes, Thierry is at the supermarket, as we agreed.” “Hi, Neil. Can you make me a cappuccino while I enjoy a natural sandwich?” Daryl places his order. “Sure thing, Mr. Mountain.” Neilton heads to the back. Daryl sits on the stool. “So, how do you feel after getting back to your element?” “I don’t regret at all helping my dear wife at the supermarket, Daryl,” Rodrigo admitted while preparing the natural sandwich. “I’m not talking about regrets.” Daryl joked. “But it’s undeniable that after Uncle Francisco’s passing, you prefer to stay here, carrying on the legacy he left.” “Just like Crystal Blue.” Rodrigo smiled. “Hey, I’m aware that you’re looking to open another restaurant in Sunset Village. Do you think you can manage it? How’s the prospecting going?” Daryl picks up the sandwich but