Chapter 13 – Victoria comes back to Los Angeles

Since Victoria left Los Angeles nearly three months ago she had only sent a letter to the De la Vegas telling them she was settling nicely in Monterey. But, the truth was she could die of boredom there. She hardly knew anybody and, because she didn't have a tavern to run and Juan spent long hours at work, she had a lot of spare time she didn't know how to use. She still didn't love Juan and their relationship was polite and correct, more like friendship, perhaps a little bit more passionate for Juan because he loved her. She wished his kisses could make her feel like Zorro's did.

Zorro should have been the person she would miss the most, but he wasn't. She surprised herself when she realized the person she missed the most was Diego, the one that had always been there for her. She missed their friendship, spending time with him, playing card and chess games with him, the long conversations, his piano lessons… she even missed his boring explanations of scientific experiments. Recently, she had been thinking about Zorro's last words to her, when he advised she should marry someone like Diego. She wondered if Zorro knew something that she didn't, that she would need social company and entertainment to be happy, in addition to love. If she had paid attention to those words before, the final result could have been quite similar, with a husband whom she liked, but she didn't love, but with an important difference: she would not feel so lonely, bored, and somehow neglected. Juan was out at work at the Naval Office for many hours a day, while Diego would have been at home and she would have been still busy in Los Angeles supervising the tavern. Her situation could only get worse if Juan was sent out to sea again. Her only joy was that she suspected she could be pregnant already. Children would keep her busy.

One morning Victoria got a letter from Diego. It was a formal invitation for his wedding. Rather than feeling happy for her friend, she felt a disturbing torrent of jealousy and envy, and a great sadness. It was the turning point for her, when she realized that the reason she missed him so much was because she loved him. She always had, in her own twisted way. She cried all day long because it was too late for them.

ZZZ

Karl Jäger and his team of ruthless bounty hunters were on their way to Los Angeles to hunt for Zorro and claim the 6000 pesos reward. He was the German leader of a bunch of killers who acted within the law, dispatching criminals with a price on their heads. Travelling all over North America, they were usually welcomed by the local authorities, who would turn a blind eye on their debauchery in return for help to get rid of their outlaws. The group would make sure they had hunted —and nearly every time that meant killed— all the criminals around an area before they would move on. That meant all the criminals with a substantial reward to be paid, otherwise they would not bother. They were known in some circles as "the cleaners".

The best skilled men for the job were the Russian brothers, Vladimir and Yuri, soldiers of the Don Cossack Host who had travelled to Alaska three years ago. They had fled their country after killing a member of the Denisov family, a noble man, in a dubious fight over a woman. As Cossacks soldiers they had to provide their own uniforms, horses and weapons, so when they got in trouble they boarded a ship in a hurry and travelled to Alaska on full soldier gear with all their military belongings. Initially, they settled at New Archangel and became sea otter hunters in the Russian fur trade business, but they didn't like it at all. They preferred to kill able men rather that defenceless animals, so they left Alaska and travelled down the coast searching for another occupation, also very keen to get away from any other Russians in case their past would catch up with them. In San Francisco, they came across the bounty hunters and were very eager to join them when they had the chance. Since then, they had learnt to speak English and Spanish and were the most dangerous men in the group.

ZZZ

The next day, when she had calmed down a little, Victoria told Juan about the letter.

"Juan, I got a letter from Don Diego de la Vega. It is an invitation for his wedding," she said, trying hard to keep a neutral tone.

"Don Diego is getting married? It was about time. His father will be pleased. Do you want to go? When is it?"

"In a month. Yes, I would like to go. And you?"

"In a month? So quickly? Maybe Don Diego has been a naughty boy! He didn't even have a girlfriend when we left, did he?" he said, laughing.

"I don't know," she said, with a higher pitch than she intended, blushing a bit with the innuendo.

"I thought the wedding would be much later than that. Sorry, I can't leave right now; we are very busy at the moment at the Naval Office. Would you like to go on your own?"

"How?"

"On the stagecoach, the same way as we came here. Sorry I cannot travel with you, but I know that you are quite bored here in Monterey. I think a few days in Los Angeles would be a good distraction for you, and you could use the time to sort out the situation with the tavern. I know you didn't have the time before because we moved out so quickly. What would you like to do with it? Sell it? Rent it?"

"I don't know. I still don't know what my brothers want to do. They haven't told me."

"All right, take it just as relaxing holidays then, and visit your friends. You told me before the De la Vegas have been like your family and Don Diego has been like a big brother to you. They will be pleased if you attend the wedding," he said, unaware of her change of heart. Otherwise, he would not have been so keen to let her go at all.

A few days later, Victoria found herself again in the stagecoach, this time on her own. She would have a few days ahead to think carefully before she arrived in Los Angeles, two weeks before the wedding. Unravelling the mixture of feelings she had for Zorro, Diego, and Juan, would be a very difficult task, but she promised herself that at least she would not let her feelings show when she met Diego again.

ZZZ

Diego had only been at the tavern a few times since Victoria left, one of them when he saw Cristina disguised as Leonardo for the first time. He used to spend a lot of time at the tavern just to see Victoria, but now there was no point in going there for several reasons: he didn't drink alcohol; didn't need to socialize that much as he was so busy with Cristina and the wedding; and the other women didn't cook as well as Victoria did. And, above all, she wasn't there anymore.

ZZZ

Victoria came out of the stagecoach and went straight into the tavern. Pilar and Alicia, who had been in charge of it since she left, were very pleased to see her.

"Victoria! What a surprise! What are you doing here?" Pilar said, coming out from behind the counter to greet her. She hugged and kissed her boss and friend. "How are you? I didn't know you were coming! Alicia, look who is here!"

Victoria was also happy to see them, but she was even happier to find out Diego was not at the tavern, so she could procrastinate a bit longer about talking to him without making a fool of herself by showing her new feelings.

ZZZ

The bounty hunters arrived at Los Angeles in the afternoon. Karl and the Russians went straight into the Alcalde's office, while the others headed towards the tavern.

"Mi Alcalde," announced Mendoza, "three gentlemen are here to see you. They look… serious."

"Serious? What do you mean by that, Mendoza? Who are they?"

"They say they are bounty hunters. They mean business, mi Alcalde."

"Bounty hunters, ah?" De Soto smiled, stroking his beard. Maybe they would be the answer to his prayers. "Let them in at once, Sergeant."

"Sí, mi Alcalde, enseguida," Mendoza said, saluting with his hand and kicking his heals. He left and three men came into the office shortly after. De Soto stood up and saluted them. Mendoza was right: they looked serious, especially the two tall, good looking blonde ones, dressed with a long blue tunic and armed to the teeth.

"I am Ignacio De Soto, Alcalde de Los Angeles. What can I do for you?"

"I am Karl Jäger. I am here with my team of bounty hunters to capture Zorro and any other criminals in the area with a price on their heads," said the smallest and oldest of the three, who didn't bother to introduce the others. His accent was very thick and strong, and foreign. "We would like you to provide us with a free place to stay while we do that, and someone to cook and clean for us," he demanded.

"How long would it take you to apprehend Zorro?"

"Not long, hopefully. I am aware the local government has been trying for years, but we are experts in our trade, and you should agree with any of our demands if you want to have the job done."

De Soto was very impressed with the man's self-confident attitude. They talked for a while about what they would need, and De Soto agreed to most of their requirements because he was very eager for them to start as soon as possible.

ZZZ

Two weeks before the wedding, Diego went to the Newspaper's office in the pueblo to print the new issue. With an unusual move, he decided to go into the tavern first. An invitation to the wedding had been sent to Victoria and her husband but they had not replied yet, so he thought it would be worth asking Pilar if she knew anything about them. Even if he wanted to see Victoria, he wished that she would not be able to come because he was afraid it could be very disturbing to see her before the wedding. On arrival to the tavern, he told himself once again he didn't love her anymore, tied Esperanza to the rail and went inside, unaware that Victoria had arrived a few hours earlier in the stagecoach.

He approached the counter looking for Pilar, but he could not see her. Hearing some noises behind the counter he leaned over it to look at the other side. He saw a woman bent down dragging a heavy box of wine bottles.

"Can I help you with that?" he said, assuming it was Pilar who was struggling with the bottles.

"Oh, thank…" said the woman, standing up to face him. She didn't finish. She stood there stiff, blushing. "Diego! How nice to see you! How are you?" she finally said, after a few seconds, which seemed like years.

"Victoria! I didn't know you were here. When did you arrive?" Diego said, once he could make himself speak after the surprise. Victoria came out from behind the counter and approached him, hesitating for a moment before she hugged him. Diego felt a rush of suppressed feelings reappearing in an instant. Oh… no… This is not good. Not now.

They sat down at one of the tables, chatting for a while, over-cheerfully, both pretending they were just the best friends in the world and nothing else.

"I am very sorry I wasn't there for your wedding, and also because I didn't get to say goodbye when you left," Diego apologized. Victoria held his hands to reassure him. The contact made him shiver.

"Don't worry about it. It wasn't your fault, it was mine. I should not have left in such a hurry. I was very sad I didn't get to see you either." She looked at her hands, realizing they had been holding his a little bit too long. She let go of them and stood up. "I will get us a drink. Lemonade?"

"Yes, thank you," he said, following her with tormented eyes when she walked to the kitchen.

ZZZ

Cristina came into the tavern disguised as Leonardo. She had promised Diego she would not get in trouble anymore and would not fence with anybody other than him, but she still wanted to exercise with her horse and play the male role as much as before, because she enjoyed it so much. She had seen Esperanza tied to the rail and she looked forward to surprising Diego as the Italian, but she was the startled one at that point. Inside the tavern she saw Diego talking to a beautiful woman, laughing a lot, and then holding hands. She felt a sudden pang of jealousy when she realized he cared deeply about her. She sat down at a table hiding behind a group of rough looking men, staring at the couple. The beautiful small woman stood up and went into the kitchen. She looked at ease in the tavern, so Cristina concluded the woman was Victoria, the one who ran away from Zorro. And from Diego, who was clearly still in love with her. Her jealousy escalated when she saw the way Diego was looking at Victoria as she walked away, so she decided to interfere. She walked resolutely towards the kitchen, passing close to Diego without looking at him.

"Buona sera, signorina," the Italian said, touching his brim, bowing to Victoria when she came out of the kitchen. Cristina knew she should not wear her hat indoors because it was impolite, but she always did to make it harder for anyone to recognize her. So far, nobody had ever told her anything, but maybe they didn't dare. "Your beauty is torturing my heart. Who are you? Sei bellissima!"

Victoria was baffled about the intentions of this stranger, who stood in her way and moved with her every time she tried to go around him to go back to Diego's table. She didn't know anything about the mysterious Italian, because she had not had the chance to find out about all the gossip in town since she left.

"I am Victoria Ortiz, the owner of this tavern, and I would appreciate if you could move out of my way, please," she finally said, sternly.

"Of course, signorina, scusi." The Italian bowed again, drawing a wide arch with his hand, following the path towards Diego, who was looking at him shamefully, biting his lip, flushing red. "Oh, I see, you are drinking with il mio caro amico Diego," he added, following Victoria to their table.

"Diego, naughty little rascal, you didn't tell me there were such belle donne in Los Angeles," he joked, elbowing Diego, pushing him aside so he could shamelessly sit down at their table uninvited. "What's that? Oh, lemonade, my favourite, grazie mile."

The Italian took the jar and the glass from Victoria's perplexed hands, serving himself to drink the whole glass at once. Victoria gaped at him, shocked at his cheekiness and his lack of manners, while Diego looked at him horrified.

"Who the hell are you?" she finally said, sitting down, so angry her good manners were forgotten. She tolerated the stranger at the table just because it looked as if he knew Diego.

"I am Leonardo DiCaprio, signorina, at your service. I am a good friend of Diego, a special friend," the Italian said, placing his arm around Diego's wide shoulders, shaking his whole body enthusiastically. Diego tried to smile, embarrassed. While shaking him, Cristina pinched Diego hard in the trapezius muscle, where she knew it would hurt, and he jolted in pain while still smiling. "He is the best, isn't he?" she finished, ruffling his hair to a mess.

"How did you two meet?" Victoria asked, getting more and more perplexed. She had never seen Diego so friendly with any other man.

"Oh, we met here a while ago. The poor thing was very sad that day after his girlfriend left without saying goodbye," the Italian said in a pathetic, sad voice, shaking his head. Victoria blushed at that point, and Cristina loved it. "But he is all sorted now. He is getting married in less than two weeks. Isn't it great? His broken heart has been mended by a very special lady," the Italian added, ruffling Diego's hair again.

After this, Cristina had enough of the charade. She thought she was going to burst into tears if she didn't leave.

"Nice to meet you, Victoria. I have to go. Ciao. I will see you later, much later," she said, her eyes throwing daggers at Diego. She walked out of the tavern very quickly, with her particular smooth pace, jumped on her horse and galloped away, fighting the tears.

"Don't pay attention to him, Victoria. He is crazy. He is Italian," Diego said, smiling weakly when he recovered from the shock, as if that would explain everything the stranger said and his behaviour. "Are you coming to the wedding?"

Victoria nodded, still speechless. She was delighted to discover Diego had been interested in her, at least in the past.

"Perfect. I will see you there. Or sooner… You should come round for dinner sometime. Sorry, I have to go now. Goodbye."

He stood up and left the tavern in a hurry. On his way out he saw a group of men talking loudly at one of the tables. They looked quite menacing and they carried a lot of weapons with them, but he didn't pay much attention because he didn't have the time.

Diego was following Cristina shortly after, riding Esperanza very hard, making the mare run as never before to catch up with the Italian's horse.

ZZZ

"Who's that man in such a hurry?" said Karl, coming out of the Alcalde's office in time to see Diego galloping away as if possessed by the devil.

"That one? That's Don Diego de la Vega. Maybe he forgot one of his stupid experiments running at home and the house is about to blow up," De Soto sniggered. "I met him at University at Madrid. Don't worry about him, he is equally harmless and useless, quite a jerk".

"A jerk, ah?" he mused. A useless jerk doesn't have such balance over a horse. He had a look at the pages from the Alcalde. Besides Zorro, the list had only five more bandits with a price on their heads in that area, because the masked man efforts to bring any criminals to justice kept that list quite small.

"Mendoza! Take these gentlemen to my empty property by the river. They will stay there until they capture Zorro. And tell corporal Márquez to stay there with them. He will cook and clean for them," De Soto ordered, quite excited about the prospect of Zorro being finally captured. The soldier would keep an eye on the bounty hunters while they stayed at his house. Besides, he didn't trust them to send a woman alone to the house; he didn't want any added problems.

"Sí, mi Alcalde. Ahora mismo".

ZZZ

A couple of miles away from the pueblo Cristina realized Diego was following her. She was even more upset and angry with him when she saw the way he was pushing the mare, which was naturally slower than her horse, and much older. She slowed down Perseo to a halt and turned around, waiting for him.

"What are you doing? You are going to break her, she is not Toronado!" she barked at him when he stopped beside her.

"I know, and I am sorry," he said patting the mare, which was snorting, blowing and breathing very fast due to the effort, with a worrying harsh noise coming from her chest, "but I have to talk to you," he said, jumping off Esperanza. He held Cristina's reins, waiting for her to dismount.

"There is nothing to talk about. You love her, it is too obvious. Let me go," she said, pulling the reins to turn around while pushing the flanks with her heels. Diego held the reins firmly in place.

"No, we need to talk. Please, come down."

She groaned, furious, before she jumped off from the stirrups, leaping over the horse like a professional jockey.

"What? What do you want?"

"You have the right to be jealous, Cristina. I am sorry. I have to admit it, I still have feelings for Victoria," he said, distressed, with a broken voice. Cristina slapped his face very hard, leaving a bright red mark, and walked quickly away from him, fighting back the tears.

"Wait!" he called, but she ignored him. He followed her and grabbed her by the left elbow. "Wait."

She turned around and tried to slap him again, but he held her hand firmly by the wrist.

"Please, let me explain," he said, holding her by the elbow and the other wrist while she tried to get away from him. "I love you. I want to marry you, I really do. I am stunned to discover I still love Victoria… but I do, I can't help it," he said with great sorrow.

She was fighting like a wild animal now, wriggling to get away from his strong grip, with tears flooding down her cheeks. He was holding her so firmly that it hurt, his fingers digging into her flesh. Without thinking, she pulled up her knee, hitting Diego very hard on his groin, a movement that she had used so many times before when fighting with men. He cried out, astounded by the unexpected blow and the sudden pang of pain. Releasing her, he bent down, dropping to the ground in agony.

"Why?" he cried pitifully, curled up in a ball with his eyes closed. But she didn't know why. It was an automatic reflex, a rehearsed flowing motion to use when overwhelmed by a stronger man in a hand to hand fight.

"I am sorry, Diego, I didn't mean to kick you, but you were hurting me. It was a reflex. I use that all the time to get away from the thugs when they grab me… you know that," she said, upset, kneeling down close to him, touching his shoulder to comfort him. He shook it to get away from her, refusing the contact, while puffing quickly to endure the pain like a woman in labour. She stood up, silently crying a river by his side. Knowing that a blow to the testicles caused an excruciating pain that didn't last too long, she left him alone to recover on his own time.

When the pain started to ease he stopped panting and opened his eyes to look at her. Blinking, he asked again.

"Why? Why did you kick me?"

"I told you I'm sorry. I didn't mean to. You were hurting me, and I reacted on instinct. Are you all right?" she said, offering her hand. He hesitated, in case she was thinking on dropping him half way as he had done before to her. Finally he took it, and she helped him up without any tricks. Unable to stand up straight he stood there still bended at the waist.

"No, I am not. It hurts… so much. Don't do that again, ever. To anybody," he said with a weak smile. "If I didn't love you, I would be very inclined to kill you right now."

"Kill me then, so you won't need to worry about me, only about your precious Victoria!" she said, disdainful, still crying.

"You are not listening! I can't cope with this right now."

He started to walk towards Esperanza, limping noticeably. He wondered how he was going to be able to ride a horse hurting like he was.

"I am listening," she said, wiping away the tears with both hands.

Diego was glad he could stay a bit longer before attempting to ride. He limped back to her.

"All right, I will start again. I am very sorry I made you cry, but I was trying to be honest," he said, pausing for a moment, thinking carefully about the next set of words. "I thought I didn't love Victoria anymore, but I still do. It doesn't change anything. I love you now, but I will need a bit more time to forget about her. I realize that now. I am sorry. Less than four months have passed since she left—it is not enough. I've been in love with her for many years."

"What do you want me to do then?" she asked, softly, coming closer to him.

"Nothing. Just bear with me, give me time. She doesn't know I'm Zorro, anyway, and she doesn't love me as Diego. She never did, she is just my friend, so you shouldn't look at her as a rival." He walked a couple of unsteady steps towards Cristina and hugged her. She clung onto him, crying again, burying her face on his chest. "I just need more time. Just give me time," he repeated, whispering in her ear.

He reached into his pocket for his expensive laced handkerchief, and offered it to Cristina when she broke the embrace, helping her to wipe her tears off.

"We will be fine, don't worry," he said, kissing her forehead.

ZZZZZ