A woman wrapped her shawl tighter around herself with her free hand, as she crossed the plaza holding the hand of a small boy while his big brother walked alongside. The wind was picking up the remaining leaves and tossing them in the air, driving them and the breeze from the snow-covered mountains through the pueblo. Don Diego de la Vega smiled and waved at the tiny family, and the boys waved back. The mother smiled at the handsome caballero.
The school was coming along well with the new school teacher. He was an older man, who seemed tough and crusty but the children loved him. Diego was sure a stick was threatened but not needed most of the time. He didn't hear of many canings anyway and he talked to several children regularly.
He wondered again what it would have been like to have a brother to share his life with, and how it would have been different. One of the drawbacks of his encounter with his lost twin. Gilberto would have shared every moment of his whole life if he hadn't been stolen. A sense of a great loss hung at the back of his mind lately, and it was worse than never knowing about his brother.
"What are you thinking about, Diego?"
He turned his head to acknowledge his father. "Just thinking."
"You're thinking about Gilberto again, aren't you?" Alejandro said softly. Diego stiffened and glanced down. "You are my son, and Gilberto was part of both of us."
"I know, it just seems so unfair sometimes."
"Yes it does," Alejandro admitted. He was silent for a few minutes, and they both scanned their surroundings.
"Winter is coming," Diego said softly.
"Definitely a chill in the air."
Dismounting at the tavern, father and son went their separate ways, Diego to his newspaper office, and Alejandro to his usual place in the tavern. Diego had promised to meet his father for an early lunch, after a decent morning's work at the newspaper.
"Buenos Dias, Don Alejandro," Victoria said, as she smiled at him. She was serving people across the room but was expecting him to arrive at roughly the usual time.
"Diego isn't with you?"
"Busy at the paper, Victoria." Alejandro stared at her for a moment. "Were you waiting for him?"
Alejandro raised an eyebrow as the tavern keeper flushed, and almost dropped her serving tray. Meals and drinks threatened to fall as she visibly startled at the suggestion.
"No, not really," she said. She placed the last of the meals down on the customer's table, and moved to behind her counter, shelving the tray quickly.
Alejandro watched and waited until she regained her composure. What with the strange things that had been happening around the pueblo lately, anything at all was possible. He had found and lost a son within half an hour, watched his other son fight like a trained soldier, why wouldn't Victoria have feelings for his son? The unexpected was a normal occurrence these days.
She smoothed down her skirt and brushed a stray curl from her forehead. She was calm and collected within moments, the smile and the intelligent eyes shining. Alejandro wondered if his son had feelings for her as well. He didn't know...he had never been told anything about Diego's romantic plans, except that he would not marry a woman he did not love.
The alcalde entered the tavern, heading towards the fireplace. He rubbed his gloved hands vigorously. He had obviously been busy and was taking a break from whatever he had been doing. The sergeant was close behind as usual and quickly joined a friend.
"How has your day been, Alcalde?"
"Complicated." He sounded tired. "My men are very undisciplined, and I can only blame myself for their weaknesses. They stumble around like raw recruits, Don Alejandro."
"You will persist and they will be the finest in Alta California."
"You have a great deal of confidence in me, Senor. I hope you have not misplaced it."
"With Zorro not having been seen for over two months, we need someone to defend the pueblo."
"Perhaps Risendo did manage to kill him after all. I mean that man…." The alcalde stopped and eyed Alejandro carefully. "Excuse me, Don Alejandro, I did not mean to mention your son."
"Risendo was a brilliant man, poisoned from birth by a cruel woman. If anyone could have hunted down Zorro and destroyed him it probably would have been Gilberto."
"Well, yes. Exactly. Poisoned."
"I will tell you again that I don't hold you responsible for his death. If you hadn't acted, Diego would have died. I know that for certain, Alcalde."
Ignacio nodded in silence and stared into the flames in the fireplace for a few moments. "Senorita Escalante, a hot coffee if you please."
"Of course Alcalde."
"You can sit with me if you wish, Ignacio."
"Thank you, Senor. I will, although my work drives me today," Ignacio said, sitting opposite the caballero.
"Taxes?"
Ignacio stared at Alejandro briefly. "Not yet. The funds in the treasury are adequate for the time being. Taxes are not due for some time."
Alejandro nodded.
"The road takes most of my time. We are making good progress. It will be the finest road in the colonies. Thanks to the help Diego and his friends have freely given me. I never realised he was friends with one of the greatest civil engineers in Spain."
"Diego is full of surprises. He met a lot of people while he studied in Madrid."
"I can't remember much about him, he was so much younger than me. He was always very popular, always had a crowd around him."
"He likes to keep more to himself these days. His interests absorb his time," Alejandro said.
"The newspaper?"
"Yes," Alejandro said. "Of course I have no real idea how such things are done, but he seems to spend most of his waking hours in that shack. His injuries were more serious than I first realised. Gilberto managed to get in a few good lunges."
"Of course. A scholar's mind is hardly prepared for combat. It must have been a great shock to his constitution."
"Indeed," Alejandro said.
Ignacio drained his coffee cup and placed it down on the table top with a slight bang. He stood, nodded to Alejandro and Victoria and left the tavern. His strides conveyed the haste of his business, as he made his way to his horse. Sergeant Mendoza hurriedly left the tavern, abandoning his friend hastily and the half-eaten stack of tamales.
"Don't trust that man too readily, Alejandro. A leopard does not change his spots and a pig doesn't wander too far from the mud." Alejandro's old friend, Don Eduardo had spoken from his nearby table, and Alejandro turned to him. The other man was frowning in thought and concern.
"He did save Diego."
"That he did. But in doing so he saved himself, Alejandro. You do see that?"
"Eduardo, I'd rather think better of the man. Perhaps he has changed? Thinking the worst of him is hardly fair."
"Do you really think so?" Victoria said as she swept by to collect the coffee cup and other discarded dishes. "I cannot really trust him."
"Well, I expect the worst and hope for the best," Alejandro's friend said, slapping him gently on the shoulder. "That's the wisest course of action."
"Yes, you are right of course." Alejandro shifted uncomfortably. The alcalde could not really have changed over so short a time. A change had come over the alcalde but if it was permanent, it was much too early to say. Eduardo paused for a moment, and then changed the subject.
"Alejandro, do you know the man who left the tavern as you walked in?"
"My mind was on other things. Is there a stranger in town?"
"He's been coming to the tavern for a couple of months, but never talks to anyone. He dresses well, and rides a fine horse but hasn't bothered to introduce himself. I think he arrived just when you and Diego were recovering from your injuries."
"That explains why I haven't met him yet. We have only just started socialising again."
"Well, he's a rude man, and there is no need to meet him. Too proud and haughty if you ask me. Jose says he has a hacienda near the river."
"Very well then, Eduardo. An interesting new addition to our fair pueblo."
"Very unlikely, but he comes and goes regularly I believe," Eduardo added.
"Sit down and talk to me of the man."
"No, I can't. My Felicia has lost a shoe this morning, I'd better see the blacksmith before the wind really picks up out there."
Alejandro waved as Eduardo left the tavern, turning his coat collar to the wind.
It hadn't snowed in Los Angeles for about seven years, but the chill was picking up. It hadn't rained for over half a year, not really. If it wasn't for the river it would be a desert. Alejandro could tell that the mountains had received snow and the river would surge. He hoped the bridge would hold out this year, though he doubted it.
Victoria paused by Alejandro's side. "I know who the man is. He is the new school teacher. He is working wonders with Marie's sons. I can't recall his name. He comes into the tavern before school starts."
"Well, a scholar in the schoolyard. That is a promising turn of events." Alejandro smiled and thought that it might interest Diego to know another educated man was now working in town. It might help him get out of the doldrums he had fallen into. He hadn't been quite himself for some time.
ZZZZ
Diego entered the tavern for a late lunch, instead of the early one he had promised his father. His dark hair was mussed, ink-stained his fingers and somehow the side of his nose, and he was in shirt sleeves. He slid into his usual seat with a sigh.
"I'll get you a large coffee," Victoria said, as she saw him. "And a cloth to wipe you down with. How on earth do you get yourself so dirty?"
"Nice to see you too, Victoria," Diego mumbled under his breath but Alejandro overheard.
"She isn't criticising you, Diego. She is mothering you."
"Well, I wish she would stop." Diego had spoken a little too loud, and the people around them stared as a hush fell over the room. He shivered, and his father sighed.
"Where is your jacket, Diego? Aren't you freezing?" Alejandro took his own jacket off and draped it around his son's shoulders. The jacket was far too big for the younger man, as he had a different build. It floated on his shoulders and was far too short in the length.
"You'll get cold, father."
"I have been sitting in a warm tavern for most of the morning, and you have been working up a sweat in that newspaper office. You'll make yourself sick," Alejandro said, pushing the offered jacket back around his son. "Felipe, go and fetch the jacket."
Felipe glanced at Diego and shook his head at Diego's absent-mindedness as he left the tavern.
Alejandro tried to ignore Diego's shivers as much as his son tried to hide them. There was an uncomfortable silence, and the general conversation picked up again. Victoria approached with a bowl of obviously hot water and a soft cloth.
"Can I clean your nose for you? Please? It will be easier than getting a mirror from upstairs." She was much less forceful now, and her voice was warm and comforting.
Diego relaxed and managed a tired smile. "Just my nose, Victoria. I can manage the rest of the ink. It's mainly on my fingers."
Victoria gave him a nervous smile and gently washed the ink away from his nose. He closed his eyes to make sure drips didn't get in his eyes. He sat obediently until she was sure it was all gone, and then washed his fingers carefully after she left about her duties.
"Diego," Alejandro said softly. "What is going on?"
Diego glanced at his father with concerned surprise. "What do you mean, Father?"
"There is something going on between you and Victoria."
"Me and Victoria? Don't be silly, Father. I am hardly Zorro."
"Yes, no… I don't know. You have always been friends, ever since you were children."
"She is a lot younger than me."
"Most marriages have age gaps."
"She is in love with Zorro. And he with her, obviously."
"And what of you?"
"I don't come into it, Father."
Alejandro was speechless for a moment, staring at his downcast son. Was that it? Was Diego lovelorn? Pining over a woman he couldn't have? If Zorro was alive...but if he was dead? The path might be clear for a courtship once Victoria had accepted that her hero was never coming back. A marriage of convenience could even be arranged. There might be grandchildren in his future after all.
"I don't want to talk about it."
"Then we won't, Diego. Tell me about your newspaper, and drink your coffee. Look, here is Felipe with your jacket and you can hand me mine again." Alejandro shelved his racing thoughts and half thought out plans and concentrated on the son he had almost lost only weeks ago.
