Belo Horizonte, June 25, 1998
— Maria Luísa. - Anna says, running her hand over the beige dress on her belly.
She is lying on the grass with her boyfriend, Thiago, looking at the blue sky that Anna believes to be the color of her lover's eyes.
"What's in my mother's name?", asks Thiago leaning over his girlfriend.
"The baby's name will be Maria Luisa.", Anna smiles.
"My mother will surely love the honor.", Thiago comments, smiling as well. He looks at his girlfriend's belly, running his hand over it, and murmurs "Maria Luísa..."
"Yes," answers the blonde with long flowing hair.
"But what if it is a boy?", asks Thiago.
"It will be a girl," Anna replies with conviction.
"How can you be so sure?", questions the black-haired boy.
"Every night, I dream about my beautiful girl with hair as black as the night and eyes as blue as the sky. She will look like you in many ways."
"So you don't know if she is a girl?" Thiago asks.
"No," answers Anna, taking a deep breath while she caresses her belly, "Confirmation will only come when she is five months."
"Two months from now.", Concludes Thiago. He rubs his hand over Anna's belly "I hope to return when it's time to find out the sex."
"Yes, you will," Anna affirms. "I am sure that by then your father will be in better health and will be able to meet his granddaughter."
"You should come with me," Thiago proposes, sitting down.
"You know I can't," refuses Anna, hugging Thiago's back." I need to save as much money as possible."
" I already said that I would support both of you... that we are going to get married, you don't have to do any of that. I have money for both of us... Three." Argues Thiago.
"I don't want to. ", Anna refuses once again. "For the time being I prefer to stay like this. At least until I get to know your family."
"Don't worry." Thiago asks" They will love you. Just like I do."
"I love you Thiago," declares Anna, "Don't forget that."
"I will not forget ", answers Thiago kissing his girlfriend. " Promise me that you will quit your job from now on."
"But how will I pay my rent?" Anna asks worriedly. " Support me?"
"Here," says Thiago taking a key from his keychain, "This is the key to my apartment, stay in it until I return."
"I can't accept it," refuses Anna, embarrassed.
"Please, I just want you to have a peaceful pregnancy." Asks Thiago "I'll be back soon and we'll see a better place."
"Fine," Anna reluctantly agrees, taking the key, "just until you return."
" I will be back before you know it", says Thiago smiling
***
Belo Horizonte, September 1998.
Anna walks calmly down the sidewalk holding the shopping bags, there are only two blocks to the apartment. As she turns the last block she notices a beautiful black car parked there, she is sure that it doesn't belong to anyone who lives on that street because she has become friends with everyone. She approaches the car and verifies that the license plate is from Curitiba, Paraná. That information brought out the smile that had long disappeared on Anna's face. He is back, she thinks, running towards her apartment.
She opens the apartment door nervously and notices that the living room is empty, but that she inhales a feminine perfume different from hers. She checks the kitchen and the bathroom and when she reaches the bedroom, she is confronted with a female figure. A woman of almost fifty, with beautiful black hair tied up in a bun, wearing a black suit and dark glasses.
"Hello," says Anna, curious about this imposing figure, "May I help you?"
"Are you Anna Braga?" asks, the lady standing up elegantly. She takes off her glasses, showing a pair of beautiful blue eyes.
"Yes ", answers Anna " And who are you?"
"Maria Luísa Assunção de Almeida", answers the woman "Thiago's mother."
"Pleased to meet you.", Anna extends her happy hand, but is repelled by the woman's cold look, " I've heard good things about you."
" Well... I can't say the same about you," replies the woman, making Anna frown without understanding.
"Great," Anna exclaims, running her hand over her belly, drawing Maria Luisa's attention, "We were worried."
"Thiago told you not to wait for him anymore," reveals Maria Luisa.
"What? What do you mean?", Anna asks shocked, "He can't have said that... He was happy... He was happy that our daughter was coming!"
"Daughter?", Maria Luisa asks with a look of contempt, "Well, you should know that my son, just like me, doesn't believe it's his... How long have you been together? A year? Two?"
"Almost a year...", Anna replies.
"But it's not a year, right?", asks Mrs. Almeida, "How do you think my son will trust a person who might be giving him the belly rub? Someone who accepted to live in the apartment and practically live off him. Look, I know it must be hard for you to have invested so much in my son, but know that you will not reach your goal. If this child is his, we will give him a decent pension. But that is all you will get from our family."
"I don't want your money! ", Anna reacts upset," I want my Thiago! Please, let me talk to him. I know it was a misunderstanding."
"He doesn't want to talk to you," Maria Luísa alleges, "and now I know why. You are insistent, cunning... With this saintly face, you manipulate him, poison him against his family. But you don't fool me. I've known worse than you."
"Please," pleads Anna, "I love him, I never wanted anything from him. I just want to love him and for him to love me... And I want him to meet his daughter."
"Don't force a situation, dear.", asks Maria Luisa, "Who can assure me that this child is his? From what I saw you may be with the father of this child at that moment."
"How dare you?" Anna asks, offended, " I would never do such a thing ..."
"Well... How do I know it's not like that? " Maria Luísa asks " After all, you don't even have a family... She could be anyone who just wants to get along. A woman in life."
"Stop it," shouts Anna, slapping her mother-in-law. " Don't you ever dare say such a thing about me again!"
"Finally the holier-than-thou saint has shown her face," comments Maria Luísa, getting ready, "Give me the keys to the apartment. Go back to the street, that's what you deserve."
" Here." Anna hands the keys to Maria, " You can stay... I just want you to remember the harm you are doing to Maria Luisa."
"Who is Maria Luísa?", asks Maria Luísa, intrigued.
"Your granddaughter. Maria Luisa," answers Anna seriously.
"Do you really think that giving her the same name as mine will make her accepted in the family?", asks the skeptical matriarch, "How silly of you."
"You have nothing to do with my daughter's choice of name," replies Anna, "It's the name she deserves? She will live up to the name, unlike you."
"Look, Anna," Maria Luisa begins thoughtfully, "just know that I'm inclined to make a deal."
"I don't want any deal with you," refuses an irritated Anna.
"It's not for you but for this child who is not to blame for anything ", rebuts the matriarch dryly.
" I don't need any handouts from you," Anna claims.
"This child will need support," argues Maria, "Then stop your false pride and accept the proposal that Thiago made."
"Thiago would never make such a proposal," Anna claims.
" But wasn't it a proposal that made her move here? - Maria Luísa asks.
" It was," admits Anna, bitterly." Never."
" I bet you will when the time comes," Maria Luísa comments, narrowing her eyes, "Especially now that you're on the street."
"I won't. I'll make my way...", replies Anna, serious. She opens her closet and takes out her few clothes, throwing them into her old suitcase.
"You don't have to leave now," Maria says, coming closer, "I'll let you stay until the end of the week."
"No," Anna nervously refuses. She closes the suitcase and faces Maria, " You can stay... With everything. But know that I don't believe anything you said... As soon as Thiago shows up, I will tell him."
"As you wish," agrees Maria Luisa opening the bag, " But if you get tired of being proud, take my card. As soon as he calls me, I'll tell him to send the pension."
"Keep your card," rebuts Anna holding the bag with both hands.
"Silly girl," Maria Luísa comments, placing the card in Anna's jacket pocket, "I know you will call."
Anna turns around and leaves the apartment practically running. She couldn't imagine that her day would end this way. She is in the eye of the street and has nowhere to go. She sits down on the sidewalk crying, she cannot believe that Thiago is behind all of this. He rubs his hand over his belly, where the baby kicks hard. Now it's you and me against the world.
She dries her tears and begins to walk down the street when she meets Aline, a young woman with red punk hair who lived in the building across the street. She looks at the blonde worriedly as she approaches.
"Aninha, everything all right?" asks, holding Anna's arm as she staggers. " What are you doing out here? And what's with the suitcase?"
"His mother rang me from the apartment, I'm in the middle of the street." Answers Anna's dizzy.
"Come, let's go to my house," Aline determines, taking the pregnant woman's suitcase, "Come live with me."
"You don't understand," Anna cries, "I can't afford you."
"Anna, don't worry," assures Aline, "One day you will return this favor. What I can't do is leave you here in the middle of the street. Let's go."
"Thank you, Aline," thanked Anna, touched, "I promise that one day I'll return the favor."
"I know. " agrees Aline walking beside Anna.
***
The following week she was called in by her boss and told to leave. The justification was the cut in the budget and low sales, but she knew that the real reason was under her uniform, unaware of the injustice. Aline started to pay the house bills, but Anna doesn't like her to support the three of them. The only way would be to contact Thiago and demand that he at least recognize her daughter. But the phone left him was always disconnected.
She feels lost until she remembers the business card that Mrs. Almeida had left. It took a few weeks before she called the number on the card, after all, she only called because they had to move out of the apartment since they couldn't afford to keep it and go somewhere else, and she was forced to listen to the voice of the woman who had turned her world upside down.
"Maria Luísa, this is Anna," says the serious young woman on the phone, "we need to talk."
