Subject: Book 3 Chapter 8 part a.... part b tomorrow...
Author: Marta I (198.232.250.51)
Date: 10-28-1999 13:32
Chapter VIII
Juan and Pedro Noel have gone to the convent looking for Monica.
Pedro Noel went to speak to the nuns and he comes back and tells
Juan that Monica has gone to Campo Real. Juan is angry. Pedro Noel
tells him that it is to be expected. They sent for them from Campo
Real.
J: Who told you?
PN: Sister Tornera.
Juan thinks HE (Renato) must have sent for her. Pedro Noel asks what
else could she do after that kind of news? Be reasonable. Juan is
indignant, pacing hard... Let's go!! I don't want to hear about it
any more. Want to see Monica face to face!! need to ask her why she
left without consulting me first.
J: She's still MY WIFE (in the best tradition of La Mentira) and I
left her HERE (convent) and NOWHERE ELSE!! She will pay for making
me (J) go there to get her.
PN: Get her? At Campo Real? You're not thinking of ...
J: Why not?? I'll get her wherever, even if she went right into hell
itself, it's the same!!!
Monica finally managed to calm down her mother (drugging her). The
messenger from Campo Real had arrived at Catalina's after she found
out and had left for Campo Real by herself. Then he went to the
convent to tell Monica. He told Monica that Catalina was already on
her way.
Monica asks Padre Vivier about Aimee's death. Padre Vivier says that
he only saw from a distance but he CAN say that noone pushed her
into the ravine/abism. Renato was pursuing her and her horse was
running wildly, she was not even holding to the straps. Then the
horse jumped off. REnato was behind her in pursuit. That is true.
But if he had reasons to wish her death, or if he was trying to stop
the horse and save her, Padre Vivier cannot tell. Only Renato's
conscience would be able to answer that.
PV: Did renato hate his wife?
Monica begs Padre Vivier not to ask her about that now. Have Pity on
me (M). Monica is suffering because of her own doubts. Padre Vivier
wants her to tell him about it, but she doesn't know. She would even
give of her own blood to find out the truth. She's desperate!! PV
tells Monica that he's sorry for insisting in her telling him what
she knows, but he is trying to find out because Sofia wants him to
testify in her son's behalf.
M: Are they accusing him? Someone other than my mother blames him??
PV: Other gossipers, but most of all the unexplained passion that he
looks at you with accusses him. My intention is to save souls, not
to pay attention to the gossip. That's why I want to get to the
truth. God give you (Monica) guidance and strength, my child.
Monica goes to the D'Autremonts' cemetery and finds Aimee's grave.
She finds it alone, following the tracks that they all left when
Aimee was burried hours ago. She sees many flowers thrown carelessly
over the revolved soil. She cries. SHe whispers a forgiveness for
Aimee. SHe also wonders what Aimee did? How far did she go to end up
like that??
Renato finds Monica there. He throws himself on her, hugging her,
kissing her hands. She yells at him to let her go.
M: What gives you the right to approach me that way??
R: You're right. Again.. I deserve your anger, your disgust with me.
But don't reject me... because there's a truth in my heart that
balances all... I love You!!!
M: I don't care!! Your love is no good to me now... and this
toumb....
R: I did not open this toumb!! I did not want her death!! I didn't
hate her... I hated her for
just a moment, an hour... while I still loved her. When I still did
not see clearly what was in my soul. I hated her and at that time I
would have killed her, but that moment passed, she survived it. My
rage turned to you, everything turned against you with stronger hate
than the one that my belief that she, my wife, had betrayed me, had
created.
M: What are you saying?
R: The truth... a truth that I haven't told anyone. A truth that I
did not want to admit even to myself. If I claimed self-proclaimed
rights over you and handed you to Juan del Diablo as a punishment,
it was because, without realizing it, I already loved you.
I didn't understand it then. I only felt it burning through me. I
loved you since childhood,
unknowingly. You realized it then that you loved me, but you kept
quiet.
M: Don't go there again. Don't stir the past. It was like a dream...
R: It was love that you gave up on ... I know now... I understand.
Aimee approached me, took your place, and you turned away. If you
had found another love, jealousy would have awakened me. But you
left alone, and turned distant, cold...
M: It had to be that way. Everything is dead... like Aimee. We don't
need to talk about the past. If you say something, let it be what I
need to know. How did she die? Why do they accuse you of pushing her
into death? Let your conscience speak. The past doesn't matter
anymore.
R: It matters to me. I lost you because of it. There's no fault of
mine. I swear to it. She made the trap and then fell right into it.
She was a lie. SHe lived a lie all along. Even the child she bore
was a lie!!
M: What???!!
R: My mother can prove it.
(Now Renato turns the questioning on Monica)
R: Why would I want to kill her? OR do you think like your mother,
that there was a reason for me to do so? Was Aimee guilty of
something other than just lies and deception? Did she stain my
honor? Did she drag my name? Those that give me the accussing stares
seem to know something about it. I need to know!! Not because of
her, she's already dead.. But because of the man who is still alive!
He who will pay with his life if that betrayal turns out to be true!
M: You cannot do that, Renato!! You can't dig and search for more
dirt to throw in the name of one who's already dead! I have suffered
more than you and I have already forgiven her with my heart.
R: I forgive her... but HIM!!!!...
M: If you love me, you cannot search for a pretend rival... If you
love me as you swear, it should not be that important what she did
or did not do.
R: It matters for what it hurt my dignity! For how it hurts my image
in your eyes...
M: It's not your heart but your rage that speaks. ANd I don't want
to hear it!
R: You're trembling... and that answers my suspicions. The rival who
she betrayed me with is the same man I handed you over to in a
moment of rage. He's my black shadow, my eternal rival, the enemy
which nature and society keep putting in front of me.... Juan Del
Diablo!!!
M: No!.. No!!
R: What are you afraid of?? For him or for me?? Do you think like my
mother, that he's the stronger one, that I cannot win a fight with
him?
M: You're nuts. He has done nothing against you. He does nothing
because I don't matter to him. Would he have left me at the convent
if he loved me? Would he accept that request for annullment of our
marriage which will set us apart forever without a protest? We don't
matter to him. With the money he won over you he is making a
business for himself. He got fishing boats and is building himself a
home at Cabo del Diablo.
R: He's doing all that?? How do you know?? Why do you care about him
and what he is up to??
(this only gets better... tune in tomorrow... same web site... out
of nowhere...
as if answering a call ... here comes Juan!!!)