"Josias, my love, can we talk in the kitchen?" Melissa asks. Her serious, dark face is making Josias worried.
"God, what was that calling about?" Josias asks and decides to follow Melissa into the kitchen. The phone rings again and Romualdo answers it.
"Silva Construction Company, Romualdo Silva, how can I help you?" He frowns, "Ah, young Mr. Barbosa... what was it this time?"
While Adrian tells the whole story of yesterday in his version, omitting everything wrong he did, Josias and Melissa are already talking in the kitchen.
"Josias, I want to be straightforward. Since we're getting married, we can't have any secrets between us. A while ago, Adrian got in touch over the phone, we started talking and he said he's dating Carmen. She spoke a lot of lies about us. I was furious and started to disprove it, so Adrian said we could meet up to talk in person."
Josias puts his hand on her shoulder, patient and understanding. "And you went."
Melissa
Wallace is ready to leave for work when Pamela catches his eye. She is breastfeeding Caio. "Honey, how about we register our son as soon as possible?"Wallace stops walking and turns to her with a smile. "Yes, dear, we need to do this. My job... anyway, I'm going to talk to the supervisor and ask for tomorrow's day off so we can go out and go to the registry office."Pamela smiles with relief. She thinks that with Wallace registering Caio as his son, Josias would have no chance of taking her son. "And what's the full name?""We will call him Caio Chaves Freire, as it should be." Wallace shrugs, "Never that it will be Caio Rocha, because the other refuses to admit that he is a father, right?""Okay, let's get him out of the boy's life." Pamela snarls, "Caio will never know that he had a father who rejected him, the poor guy can grow up traumatized by that.""Well then, honey, I'm going to work. See you later." Wallace exchanges a light kiss on Pamel
Pamela is more and more surprised by what Cristina said. Was that her mother, that lady who just wanted to sit on the couch and religiously follow the soap operas?Cristina had a different attitude: that meekness and passivity of yore had disappeared and now we see a strong and determined Cristina to help her daughter.Pamela pulls out two chairs for the two of them to sit on; the daughter with more urgency to sits down. "Mom, what are you saying?""You are the mother of this baby, and it is not fair to take my grandson out of your arms just because people don't like you." Cristina reasoned with her.Pamela decides to pretend that she didn't know this, so as not to reveal that she is in cahoots with Jeremiah. "But, mother... this is horrible! Will I ever be at peace? Wallace is already willing to take over my son and tomorrow we are going to the registry office. Why do these people want to complicate things?""It's because they believe you will be
At night, Josias is talking to the Campos family. He is sitting in Simeon's armchair while the others are on the sofa."And then, dear," Melissa asks, "What did Igor tell you?""He said the ideal option would be for William to be eighteen and have a stable life." Josias answers.William reacts discouraged. "By then, Wallace has already registered my son as his."Josias smiles and reassures him. "Don't worry, Will. Igor made sure this is not irreversible. The biological father always has more rights than his stepfather. It will be much better for you to fight for your son when you can provide for him. And preferably, married.""This is still going to take time," William responds with relief. The rest laugh."So it would be the case that we try." Simeon says, "Raymond agrees. Cristina is out of the cards.""Yes, Igor prefers that you plead for custody of the baby in court until William reaches the age of majority," Josias explains.
The discussion continues, now with William actively participating. He is angry, he even trembles with rage, and he can't take Pamela anymore. Pamela would rather die than admit that William is Caio's father, so she smiles weakly and begins to disguise: "Don't be a clown, William! I know you are dying to own my body, but we never—" "Enough of lies, you crazy!" William screams, frightening the others, "Everyone here already knows that the father is me! Caio, is that my son's name? So that's it, Caio is our son!" Pamela's mouth opens, and then she reacts: "And how are you going to prove that you are the father?" "In the same way that you will have to prove that the father is Josias," William replies. Pamela gulps. "Well, we never—" "Of course, Pamela, don't you remember?" William takes a deep breath to continue, "That night when we had a soccer game on the field here, and I caught you talking to Josias, thinking that the two of you were c
"Getting married, Pamela?" Wallace is gaping when he hears Pamela ask if he wants to marry her. "Have you become a lesbian? It's the man who asks the woman to marry him."Pamela takes offense at the question and crosses her arms. "So you're gay, because we have been dating for centuries, lived together, raised a child, but you never asked me to marry you! Do you want to stay like this all your life?"Wallace feels pummeled by the Reason. Pamela is right; they are already practically a family, without the required documentation!"Let's take advantage of that you have time off tomorrow to get married, so it will be easier for us to register Caio with your last name!" Pamela tries to coax him with some exasperation.It is Pamela's anxiety that makes Wallace curious. "Is something going on, Pamela? I agree that we need to get married, but that idea came a bit suddenly, don't you think?""There is nothing sudden!" Pamela snorts, pushes a chair, and sits
Pamela feels trapped as if she were an animal about to go to the slaughterhouse, but who insisted on hiding in vain from her destiny. She starts to sweat and shiver. The hands that hold the baby stroller also shake and that bothers Caio. He groans with impatience."Stop bothering the baby!" Melissa warns her."Pam, is that true?" Wallace asks her, frowning and very irritated, "You said you went yesterday to your mother's house, that you two made up.""Exactly, that's why I can't have talked to Josias," Pamela responds smartly.However, Josias was not going to allow the lie to continue; today was the day of truth: "I was visiting my girlfriend's family and Pamela came by surprise, giving insults and we ended up arguing. Some truths came out."Pamela's eyes widen and she looks at Josias as if she says: 'please don't tell!'"So that's why you went all weird back to the apartment." Wallace continues, "I knew, I felt that you were very anxious an
Josias narrows his eyes, trying to understand Pamela's last words. "What did you say? What did I get?""You won. Didn't want to be with Caio, take him on as a son? There, problem solved. You can have him."Josias widens his eyes in such a way that he is comical. "Are you completely out of your mind? Are you giving me Caio's custody just so I don't have to tell the truth to Wallace, so he can marry you?""Yeah!" Pamela speaks with emotion, tears are almost shedding, "Don't you understand, Josias? Marrying and being happy with Wally is the only thing I have left. Wally is the only man who respects me, who treats me with affection and dignity. You may even be right when you said that I don't feel love for him, but I still don't want to walk away from him! And that's what will happen if you or William opens the mouth."Pamela can't take it anymore and lets the tears spill down her face. Josias doesn't have time to get emotional; his mind is working, processin
At Melissa's house, all the people are together with Dora; they are still stunned by what happened a little while ago.Dora is lulling Caio to make him sleep. "So, guys, what went wrong?""Josias," William remains shocked, "why didn't you let me tell Wallace the truth?""Because of Pamela's proposal." Josias explains, with the serious and icy countenance of every CEO, "She guaranteed that she would disappear from the map, or at least she would leave Happiness Slum and she would never meet with us again; so that Wallace doesn't discover that I am not the Caio's father.""What a soulless wretch!" Melissa screams, "Did she give up her son's custody just to keep up the lie? There is the proof that she didn't deserve to be a mother!""She wants to get married and be happy with Wallace, although I don't think she loves him exclusively," Josias commented."Not really, but that's where I worry." William states, "If later on Wallace finds Pamela chea