Apologies Denied vs. Apologies Accepted by JuliaBC
Milana exhaled, letting out a breath she hadn't even been aware of holding, when she heard the news of Ricardo's saved life and cancelled execution.
"I do wish Zorro had stayed so that I could have spoken to him," Anna Maria said, glancing almost accusingly at her cousin as she said the words.
Anna Maria had avoided mention of the fact that Milana had let herself be serenaded by the man thought to be Zorro...until now.
"Why didn't you tell me the note was from Zorro?" Anna Maria finally asked.
Milana shrugged. "Because I knew how you would react," she said.
"How?" Anna Maria demanded.
How you always reacted when you were a child and someone took your favorite toy, Milana reflected. Like a petulant child, with tears as big as a crocodile's.
"I didn't want to hurt you, I didn't think you'd ever even find out," Milana said.
"But you didn't have to be there when Zorro came," Anna Maria said. "You didn't want to hurt me, so why be there?" Her voice showed frustration... And pure confusion. Anna Maria had never known someone to do something like this to her, the golden girl of Monterey.
"If Zorro had written you a love letter and requested your presence on a certain balcony, would you have refused him?" Milana demanded, showing more rare spirit in the face of her angry cousin.
"No, but that's because Zorro..." Anna Maria paused, realizing that she was treading on shaky ground.
"Is what? Yours?" Milana asked, eyes flashing. "Because that could not be true. He isn't a toy, Anna Maria."
"And I don't think of him as one, he's a man," Anna Maria spat. "One who loves me."
"He's said that?" Milana asked coolly.
Anna Maria narrowed her eyes. "No."
"I didn't think so. That's why my conscience didn't twinge at the thought of being on that balcony. Zorro wrote me a letter. Now don't say I had reason to doubt it was from him."
"But you did!" Anna Maria exploded. "He doesn't love you! He's never met you!"
Milana thought of a young man who frequently visited Anna Maria. She thought of countless coincidences and someone who knew far more than he'd ever let on. Diego.
"Never is a long time," Milana responded. "And don't say that you knew it was Ricardo."
"I did," Anna Maria said smugly. "As soon as he complimented you, I knew it had to be Ricardo. Zorro doesn't trade useless compliments and those were word that Ricardo might have used a hundred times before on me."
Milana stifled a smile at the realization that Anna Maria might have just shared more than she intended to. "Well, it wasn't Zorro. There's no trouble now , is there?"
"But it might have been, Milana," Anna Maria said. "So then what?"
"I'm not going to apologize," Milana said softly, remembering a time when they were children, a forced apology when Anna Maria wanted Milana to share a doll and Milana wouldn't because it was new, hers, and she didn't want to share with a cousin who didn't really care for dolls or take good care of them.
Anna Maria stood. "Then it's just as well that my hacienda is finally ready for me to return to it," she said. "If you ever want to... Talk to me, you know where to find me. Give my love to uncle Pepito."
"Buenos dias," Milana said casually. "And don't wait on that apology. You'll be disappointed."
An angry silence as Anna Maria mounted the stairs to the guest room to gather her things was the only response.
It had to be a week before Ricardo showed up at the Del Carmen hacienda, looking a bit lost.
When Milana received him, she wasn't sure what to say. "Anna Maria isn't staying here anymore, surely you know that by now. It's been a week."
"Surely it's not that inconceivable that I came to see you, Milana," Ricardo said, stepping forward to take her hand but she swept it away from him.
"Actually, it is, considering that you've never spoken two words to me except to goad Anna Maria or Diego into saying something silly or doing something rash," Milana said.
Surprised, Ricardo almost took a step away from her but steeled himself. "I didn't realize," he said, pausing. "I came to apologize for tricking you but I see that there's a bit more I have to apologize for."
"A bit," Milana said. "But I don't care if you apologize or not. Don't feel like you have to soothe my ruffled feathers. I am not my cousin. I don't hold grudges. And if you think that apologizing to me will get you back on Anna Maria's good side since your duel with Zorro...you're talking to the wrong person."
Ricardo inhaled. "You injure me more than Anna Maria could," he said. "You don't truly think my motives are that bad, do you?"
"I have no reason to think otherwise because you've given me none," Milana returned.
He surveyed her, turning off his flirtatious side and speaking in a frank tone. "Are you sure you don't hold grudges?"
"I'm sure, and neither am I a fool," Milana said.
Ricardo nodded. "Fair enough. I am sorry for fooling you, Milana. I apologize deeply for singing such a song when I didn't mean it, when I was impersonating someone else. But as you said, you aren't a fool. Well, neither am I. A joker? Yes, I'll admit to that. But a fool? No." He paused, considering his words. "Why did you accept the invitation? I knew as soon as I saw you trying on all of those gowns how excited you were! I could tell immediately that you would say nothing about who sent you the note to your cousin, that you didn't care about hurting her feelings in the face of seeing Zorro in person so don't set yourself above Anna Maria anymore in my presence."
"Of course, no one could ever measure up to her in your eyes or Diego's, or even Zorro's!" Milana said. "Forgive me for considering myself and not my cousin for once in my life!"
Ricardo crowed. "So that's all it was. Don't lie, Milana. You're just as selfish as you profess your cousin to be." Ricardo shook his head, forestalling her angry response. "Milana, if you truly loved Zorro, you wouldn't have left him alone in the garden when the soldiers came in. You would have stayed and defended him. The only reason you were in that garden was the same reason Anna Maria came out when I played her first night back, though she's since professed that she only cares for Zorro. Vanity, Milana. We're all guilty of it."
Milana felt her eyes sting. "This is the oddest apology I've ever received. It seems more like an accusation."
Ricardo stepped forward and lay a hand on hers, which tightly gripped a chair back. "Don't get me wrong, I am including myself in that group. Why else do you think I push on towards Anna Maria when I know she'll never choose me? It's not really about sentiment at this point. Now it's just pride...vanity. The hope that I can hurt Diego's pride enough to stop him from before he fully loses his heart to a woman who's colder than ice and head over heels for another man."
Milana glanced up, utterly shocked to see no guile in Ricardo's expression. "I think I may have misjudged you, Senor Del Amo," she said after a long moment, her throat choked.
"Most people do. But I will admit that I think I musjudged you, too," Ricardo said, straightening. "Do you accept my apology?"
She nodded, and the smile she received in return dazzled her.
A/N: I'm on a bit of a Zorro kick recently and still not entirely sure why. Enjoy :)